Pirates of Nassau Museum a "Reality Show" for Pirate Fans

While the news and movie theatres are once again filled with pirates and treasure, a good pirate museum will help you get the facts straight. Chart a course for the Pirates of Nassau Museum in the Bahamas.

After dodging a costumed live pirate outside the entrance a block from Bay Street, one descends to the hold of a typical schooner. The hold contained not only their supplies, but also the physician's office or operating room.

It might surprise you to learn that pirates not only needed ordinary foodstuffs (salt pork, salt cod, water, beer, rum, sugar, flour, spices), they also routinely kept livestock. Anything from chickens on up - goats, sheep, piglets, even cattle - were kept in a desire for fresh meat and eggs.

Livestock were used first, and replenished at island ports where pirates traded whatever trinkets they had for more. Natives gladly swapped chickens or pigs for ordinary items like combs, ribbon, shoes and stockings, or buttons. When livestock could not be had, or they were under sail for months on end, pirates had to rely on the cook's skill at making salt pork edible, preferably boiled in beer.

The ship's surgeon was a key crew member in spite of the primitive state of medicine in that era. He amputated shattered limbs, cauteried wounds, sewed lacerations, and administered medicines if he had any. Medicine was so valuable that Edward Teach (Blackbeard) would likely have made his escape from Charleston if he had not awaited the arrival or medical supplies worth 300-400 pounds sterling, needed to save the life of a cabin boy.

So after the visitor emerges from the ship's hold, he enters the street-level museum. There you learn the pirate's code and democratic traditions. Far from being a motley crew of lawless cut-throats, pirates negotiated the rules of the ship's charter before setting sail, and every article was voted on my all. Long before democracy was practiced by any government, it was the norm in pirate society.

Officers were elected. Even the captain was elected, and could be removed by the crew. Often the captain was constrained in his authority, needing the crew's vote on appropriate punishment for a crewman's infractions. The crew imposed a code of discipline on itself, necessary for smooth operation through months or years in cramped quarters.

Spoils were divided according to the agreed-upon ship's charter. Officers took a larger share. The captain might take 2 shares, then the quartermaster, surgeon, boatswain, and master gunner were awarded one and a half shares. Special payments were often made, like 100 pieces of eight for being first to sight a ship later boarded and looted. A form of workmen's comp was common: each man crippled in battle was given 800 pieces of eight in Bartholomew (Black Bart) Roberts' charter. (Robert's charter is given below.)

Providence Island was historically a favorite pirate nest, along with Port Royal in Jamaica, Cuba, and most of the Caribbean. The Caribbean was ideal due to the wealth of safe anchorages and harbors, often with wood, water and other provisions. It was situated amid heavy shipping with little competent protection or law enforcement. With the sugar-rum-slaves triangle proving so lucrative, companies were slow to object to losses.

The Carolinas' many inlets were long used in smuggling and pirating, and were a popular den until cleared out by Governors Johnson and Spottswood. Edward Teach (Blackbeard) established a base at Ocracoke.

In 1703, Nassau was plundered by the French and Spanish. Many inhabitants fled, and the following year the British Governor abdicated. The power vacuum was filled by pirates by 1714. While ports like those on Jamaica and Cuba were in use for decades, Nassau's pirate days were numbered.

A new Governor, Woodes Rogers, was determined to clear the Nassau port of the some 500 pirate ships anchored there. He hired a former privateer, Benjamin Hornigold, to prey on pirates with his crew. Rogers' fleet grew to three, and not only did they clear the port but also repulsed a Spanish attack in February 1720.

Rogers' efforts resulted in pirate trials on December 9-10, 1718, with public hangings of eight convicts on the 12th. One, a fellow named Augur, requested a glass of wine, and he "drank it with wishes for the good success of the Bahama Islands and the Governor."

Now the city's three forts, Fincastle, Montagu, and Charlotte, look out over a tranquil turquoise harbor filled with ships: sloops, big cruise ships, the mail boat, and many private yachts. (Another fort was where the British Colonial Hilton now stands.) The statue of Queen Victoria still watches the city from Parliament Square.The Royal Bahamas Police Force Band, complete with leopard skins, performs a Changing of the Guard ceremony every second Saturday at Government House (up the road from the pirate museum, away from Bay Street and the harbor).

This peaceful scene is a warm and welcoming place to explore history and nature. There's museums and historic forts, the flamingoes still march at Ardastra Gardens zoo, and hibiscus and palms are everywhere. Come and learn what it is to truly relax. Can you hear the Pirate's Song in the background?

"THE PIRATE'S SONG" (from The Pirates Own Book, originally published 1837)
To the mast nail our flag it is dark as the grave,/ Or the death which it bears while it sweeps o'er the wave;/ Let our deck clear for action, our guns be prepared;/ Be the boarding axe sharpened, the scimitar bared;/ Set the canisters ready, and then bring to me,/ For the last of my duties, the powder-room key./ It shall never be lowered, the black flag we bear;/ If the sea be denied us, we sweep through the air./ Unshared have we left our last victory's prey;/ It is mine to divide it, and yours to obey:/ There are shawls that might suit a sultana's white neck,/ And pearls that are fair as the arms they will deck;/ There are flasks which, unseal them, the air will disclose/ Diametta's fair summers, the home of the rose./ I claim not a portion: I ask but as mine --/ "Tis a drink to our victory -- one cup of red wine./ Some fight, 'tis for riches -- some fight, 'tis for fame:/ The first I despise, and the last is a name./ I fight, 'tis for vengeance! I love to see flow,/ At the stroke of my sabre, the life of my foe./ I strike for the memory of long-vanished years;/ I only shed blood where another shed tears./I come, as the lightning comes red from above,/ O'er the race that I loathe, to the battle I love.

Bartholomew Robert's Charter (from Capt. Charles Johnson's A General History of the Pyrates, 1724)

Every man shall have an equal vote in affairs of moment. He shall have an equal title to the fresh provisions or strong liquors at any time seized, and shall use them at pleasure unless a scarcity makes it necessary for the common good that a retrenchment may be voted.

Every man shall be called fairly in turn by the list on board of prizes, because over and above their proper share, they are allowed a shift of clothes. But if they defraud the company to the value of even one dollar in plate, jewels or money, they shall be marooned. If any man rob another he shall have his nose and ears slit, and be put ashore where he shall be sure to encounter hardships.

None shall game for money, either with dice or cards.

The lights and candles shall be put out at eight at night, and if any of the crew desire to drink after that they shall sit upon the open deck without lights.

Each man shall keep his piece, cutlass and pistols at all times clean and ready for action.

No boy or woman to be alllowed amongst them. If any man shall be found seducing one of the latter sex and carrying her to sea in disguise, he shall suffer death.

He that shall desert the ship or his quarters in time of battle shall be punished by death or marooning.

None shall strike another aboard the ship, but every man's quarrel shall be ended on shore by sword or pistol in this manner: at the word of command from the Quartermaster, each man being previously placed back to back, shall turn and fire immediately. If any man do not, the Quartermaster shall knock the piece out of his hand. If both miss their aim, they shall take to their cutlasses, and he that draws first blood shall be declared the victor.

No man shall talk of breaking up their way of living till each has a share of 1,000 pounds. Every man who shall become a cripple or lose a limb in the service shall have eight hundred pieces of eight from the common stock, and for lesser hurts proportionately.

The Captain and the Quartermaster shall each receive two shares of a prize, the Master Gunner and Boatswain, one and one half shares, all other officers one and one quarter, and private gentlemen of fortune one share each.

The musicians shall have rest on the Sabbath Day only, by right, on all other days, by favour only.

(Much of the material presented in the text is either from a personal visit by the author, or from materials in the public domain, including "Jolly Roger" and "The Pirates Own Book" which are Dover reprints.)