What Is a Pirate Without His Pirate Ship?
To talk of pirates is to talk of murder, plunder and theft on the seas or sea coasts. To talk of pirate ships is to talk of theft in the first instance, because practically every pirate ship in existence was a stolen one. Pirates did not, as a rule, have shipyards where they could build their own ships. They would typically acquire a new ship after an attack. If a ship was not worth keeping, it would be destroyed or perhaps sold or — what the barnacles — just left to rot. Those that were judged to be in good pirate-ready condition were converted to pirate ships, often after alterations such as the adding of extra guns or the removal of bulkheads so as to increase the space for their ill-gotten plunder. Some ships became pirate ships after a mutiny; and still others saw the Jolly Roger hoisted after a privateering crew, upon reaching the end of their commission, decided that the plundering life was indeed a good one. Most pirates preferred light, fast ships such as brigantines and sch
