PAST CRIMESisland. They preyed upon the Spanish and gained the status of privateers. They
cooperated with merchants who, while trading with the Spanish colonies, also
financed the attacks upon Spanish shipping. This was highly profitable for
both the pirates and the merchants, and Port Royal became one of the richest
towns in the Americas, its profit from privateering far exceeding the value of
its legitimate sugar plantations.
Port Royal had a safe harbour conveniently sited on the shipping lanes, big
enough to hold many vessels, and well defended. It also became known as the
most desperate sink of iniquity in the New World. There was a great deal of
debauchery, drunkenness, public disorder and excess. There was a tavern or
drinking den for every ten inhabitants of the population of some 6,500 in the
later seventeenth century.
As the town eventually gained more respectability, all this changed. Anti
piracy laws passed in 1687 turned Port Royal into a place of pirate execution,
at Gallows Point. In June 1692, the town was hit by a massive earthquake,
which destroyed most of the northern part. Excavations have revealed
buildings and ships from its pirate heyday both on land and underwater.
Taverns, markets and houses have been investigated. There was a wide variety
of different building techniques in the preearthquake town. Some were built
of brick, with several floors, multiple rooms and traces of businesses. Plaster
and paint were used, as were decorative brickwork patterns. One excavated
building seems to have housed a woodturner/cobbler and a tavern, with jugs,
bottles and tankards among the finds. Other buildings were simply timber
framed shacks.
Pirate crews often organised themselves along surprisingly democratic
lines. The captain and the quartermaster were elected–the captain was the
fighting leader, but it was the quartermaster who dictated what prizes to take
and where to sail, as well as controlling the sharing out of the booty. There
was also a system of compensation relief, as each pirate paid an amount of his
share into a common fund to support the injured. Nor were they as
bloodthirsty as often supposed–it was more sensible to scare the target ship
into surrender, which would happen more readily if the victims believed they
would be spared. The image of vast quantities of pirate gold, however, is far
from the truth. Mostly their loot consisted of necessities – food, water,
clothing, weapons, ship’s supplies, and alcohol. Apart from anything else,
these items were easier to sell than jewels. The money would be shared out
among the crew according to seniority and responsibilities.
Further evidence of piracy has turned up in London’s East End. An
excavation has found pottery from many countries including China, Germany,