To the Caribbean, great centre of piracy, came men from many
European countries. Among the first, as early as 1530, French
Huguenots, driven out by religious wars at home.
Pirates used small light craft, faster than the bigger Spanish ships
they attacked. They were tough and desperate, expecting no mercy if
they lost. And when they won, the ship's quartermaster controlled the
share-out of the captured loot at once. But most of what the men
gained from their daring exploits was lost immediately ships entered
port.
Contrary to popular fiction, pirates, with one particular exception,
never made a prisoner walk the plank. The skull and crossbones flag
usually associated with pirates was rarely flown. And if it was
necessary to maroon a man they gave him a loaded pistol to allow
him to put an end to his misery. Pirates were, in fact, amazingly
humane towards the majority of their prisoners.
Columbus named the small island of Tortuga, about twenty miles
long and four miles wide. To him it resembled a sea-turtle, so he
called it La Tortuga the Turtle.
The Brethren of the Coast the originals were French, of Huguenot
stock settled on Tortuga. Some of them habitans farmed the
land. Some mostly from Holland built boats of local timber,
swift lateen-rigged craft, and sailed them. In the colloquial speech of
the Brethren the boats were frei-bote, so the crews became
freiboteros. And the English version was freebooters.
The freebooters had to transport a third section of the Brethren to
Hispaniola and back. There this section hunted wild cattle or sought
the hordes of wild boar. These hunters had learnt the Indian method
of curing hides over an open fire pit called a boucan. So they called
themselves boucaniers anglicised to buccaneers!
Towards the end of the 17th century the buccaneers of Tortuga struck
openly as pirates against the Spanish.
Haiti's 1961 (Tourist Publicity) issue of eight stamps is a pirate issue.
Two of the stamps show a map of Tortuga; the remaining stamps
show pirates pirates on the beach, pirates in the rigging and
pirate ships. The pirates depicted conform to the popular view of
what pirates looked like.
A Turks and Caicos Island (Pirates) issue of 1971 has four stamps.
They show a Pirate Sloop, Pirate Treasure, a Marooned Sailor,
Buccaneers.
In February 1970 St. Kitts-Nevis's general issue of sixteen stamps
could have been called a Pirate issue. The sixteen designs are a
picture-gallery of pirates, their ships and their weapons. The series
starts with a ic. stamp showing pirates coming ashore at Frigate Bay
to bury treasure.
The English Two-decker (Ic.) was a warship typical of those used by
naval authorities in their attacks on pirate ships. Vessels like the 16th
century Caravels (4c.) were liked by pirates, being fast and with a
shallow draught.
The 17th century Dutch flute (60c.) or fluite, meaning shallow
was a craft most adaptable for the needs of pirates. Like the Caravels,
flutes had flat bottoms and could be manoeuvred close inshore.
The Garrison/Ship Gun (20c.) is probably a 32-pounder with leaden
cannon balls. Coastal fortresses and pirate ships had numerous
cannon, often built on wheeled trolleys so that they could be used on
shore or on board ship. The Railing-piece ($2.50) was a small
short-range cannon mounted on forks at the ship's rail.
The 15c. stamp shows a Piece of Eight. The Spanish piece of eight
was a dollar worth eight reals hence the name. When cut into
eight pieces it was still legal tender.
The $5 stamps depicts "Hawkins and Drake", both privateers
commissioned by Queen Elizabeth I. Sir John Hawkins (1532-1595)
was the first Englishman to traffic in slaves, importing them into the
West Indies from Africa. Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540-1596) was
knighted aboard the "Golden Hind", one of two surviving ships of the
first round-the-world voyage; later he "singed the King of Spain's
beard" by destroying 33 Spanish ships in Cadiz Harbour. Both Drake
and Hawkins were active in the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
It is difficult to decide who was a pirate and who wasn't. Drake and
Hawkins are not generally thought of as pirates. They sailed with
commissions issued by the Queen. Yet their actions were the actions
of pirates.
But no one questions the term pirate when applied to Henry Morgan
(5c., with "Fireships"), L'Olonois (6c., with "Pirate Carrack"
another typical pirate vessel), and Captain Roberts ($1, with "Death
Sentence").
Captain Jean David Nan was known as L'Olonois because he was
born at Les Sable d'Olone. He was a mixture of terrible brutality,
cunning, and audacity. He exulted in bloodshed and boasted that he
never spared a prisoner's life.
The background to Captain Bartholomew Roberts on the $1 stamp is
a replica of a document sentencing to death members of his crew
"... to be Hanged by the Neck 'till you are Dear, Dead, Dead!"
Captian Roberts had great ability and skill a product of the
merchant service. Captured by pirates, at first he refused to join them,
but later accepted the captaincy after being selected by vote. A
colourful pirate, always immaculately dressed, famed for his red
The Australian Stamp Monthly, April, 1974
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Posted 09/21/2010 9:21 pm
