Gold, ok where did we have it from ?
Discussion
Piracy was strange in those days, the Capt. Jack Sparrow type pirate is a 15th/16th c myth.
My ancestor started out working for the Admiralty (he was considered the best navigator in the Navy at the time, we have all inherited his Maths ability but thankfully not his slightly 'iffy' tendency to settle arguments with death) raiding ships for the good of the UK treasury (TREASURE!) and they ran the risk (being laden with treasure) of being pirated themselves, they were also not obliged to send all of it back, well actually they were, but who can say who did over this ship or that, so it was a free-for-all.
He remained a smuggler and gun runner until his death.
My ancestor started out working for the Admiralty (he was considered the best navigator in the Navy at the time, we have all inherited his Maths ability but thankfully not his slightly 'iffy' tendency to settle arguments with death) raiding ships for the good of the UK treasury (TREASURE!) and they ran the risk (being laden with treasure) of being pirated themselves, they were also not obliged to send all of it back, well actually they were, but who can say who did over this ship or that, so it was a free-for-all.
He remained a smuggler and gun runner until his death.
Gene Vincent said:
Ali_D said:
Gene Vincent said:
$18.39 per ounce 1848, $1620.00... £90 million?
Good genes gene!Now thats an ancestor worth celebrating. Just don't mention it to the Spanish as they might want it back now.
A cold-blooded killer (30+ notarised cutlass run-throughs, including two females pirate captains), slave trader and he is known to have Black-flagged 3 ships (Black pirate flags meant "We're coming to get you and we're going to fight to the death, no-one on your ship will be spared, Red flag meant if you offer no resistance we'll only kill the Officers) He liked cats though!
oh and by the look of it he was well ahead of his time in the equality stakes. If your a woman pirate captain I'd have been a bit miffed if he let them live while killing the men.
Pesty said:
His name?
oh and by the look of it he was well ahead of his time in the equality stakes. If your a woman pirate captain I'd have been a bit miffed if he let them live while killing the men.
Aaron Smith.oh and by the look of it he was well ahead of his time in the equality stakes. If your a woman pirate captain I'd have been a bit miffed if he let them live while killing the men.
On his death some of his children (plenty) changed their names due to the huge and unwanted notoriety, Johnson and Vincent usually, St. Vincent was where he met his Cuban Mistress, who was also a pirate.
BTW, the female pirates were almost as many in number as the male and a thousand times fiercer... notorious Black Flaggers.
interesting chap
twas all self defense must have been pretty good at self defense to kill 8
http://bettman.wordpress.com/2010/07/30/aaron-smit...
twas all self defense must have been pretty good at self defense to kill 8
http://bettman.wordpress.com/2010/07/30/aaron-smit...
Edited by Pesty on Friday 27th July 18:08
The author of the autobiographical account 'The Atrocities of the Pirates'? Still available I see.
Now it gets interesting!
According to this link he was a bit less selective about his targets than you'd thought.
http://bettman.wordpress.com/2010/07/30/aaron-smit...
Now it gets interesting!
According to this link he was a bit less selective about his targets than you'd thought.
http://bettman.wordpress.com/2010/07/30/aaron-smit...
Lost_BMW said:
The author of the autobiographical account 'The Atrocities of the Pirates'? Still available I see.
Now it gets interesting!
According to this link he was a bit less selective about his targets than you'd thought.
http://bettman.wordpress.com/2010/07/30/aaron-smit...
It's not quite as simple as you might think, for example the Preyovant was used for a few of the shipments of bullion back to the UK for a number of years, the Captain of the Preyovant was paid but the amount unloaded was not the same as loaded, eventually Aaron found out, so he caught the ship and killed the Captain. Seems reasonable to me, for the time that is. HMS Industry was a poorly armed transport and again this ship was stopped and Aaron wanted the Captain to take on board more looted treasure taken from the Maroc... a fast Spanish cutter, Red flagged by Aaron but due to the Spanish Captain trying to trick Aaron into letting his guard down meant all the crew were put to the sword (25 men/women)...The Captain of the Industry, didn't like being boarded and told what to do, they fell out and after boarding left, no crew hurt or killed, no treasure put on board. The Vittoria was a Dutch ship captured by another pirate ('Princess' Caroline Granville, a vicious bNow it gets interesting!
According to this link he was a bit less selective about his targets than you'd thought.
http://bettman.wordpress.com/2010/07/30/aaron-smit...
h apparently, but a brilliant tactician, specialised in taking down these cutters, friend of Aaron) and given to the UK as an Excise Cutter, it was fast, very fast, it was well armed and had a seasoned and fierce crew, the 'Greyhound' class of ship was a daunting prospect, as it was British Aaron just de-sailed the cutter with grape-shot by coming at her from an angle but also de-masted her, probably accidentally, a lot of damage a few dead, 10 or so... this encounter was the reason Aaron was given 3 tidings.Tidings were where you were tied to a jetty at the expected high tide line and your eyes were at that level, you were tied there for 3 tides and it was Gods will if you survived, or as Aaron put it, you paid the Wharfman well and survived, which he did.
Back on topic...
A large chunk of all the gold and wealth the UK had 'acquired' was by piracy, we would often call these pirates 'Privateers' to give them respectability, but in essence they were pirates.
...and back off!
Another largely unknown pirate a contemporary of Aaron Smith was Captain 'Butcher' Bill Kent, as his name suggests he was not the easiest man to get on with, but he gave millions to the Treasury for amnesty but was hung by the local Excise men when he came in to drop off some stolen Silver from a Portugese ship, about 8 tons!!!
Bill Kent was more like the pirate we have in our imagination, always drunk, fierce and argumentative at all times, a founder member of the nasty bd club whereas Aaron didn't drink (a trait that seems genetic as I don't nor did my father or do my sons) was polite and well read and cultured.
Princess Caroline Granville was not her real name, no one knows who she was, except she was from Harwich, she took her name from a ship she helped capture, it was captured by a ship captained by Bill Kent.
A large chunk of all the gold and wealth the UK had 'acquired' was by piracy, we would often call these pirates 'Privateers' to give them respectability, but in essence they were pirates.
...and back off!
Another largely unknown pirate a contemporary of Aaron Smith was Captain 'Butcher' Bill Kent, as his name suggests he was not the easiest man to get on with, but he gave millions to the Treasury for amnesty but was hung by the local Excise men when he came in to drop off some stolen Silver from a Portugese ship, about 8 tons!!!
Bill Kent was more like the pirate we have in our imagination, always drunk, fierce and argumentative at all times, a founder member of the nasty b
d club whereas Aaron didn't drink (a trait that seems genetic as I don't nor did my father or do my sons) was polite and well read and cultured.Princess Caroline Granville was not her real name, no one knows who she was, except she was from Harwich, she took her name from a ship she helped capture, it was captured by a ship captained by Bill Kent.
Edited by Gene Vincent on Saturday 28th July 12:33
GTIR said:
So did Aaron get lots of shagging?
Did he shag other lady pirates or did he have an entourage?
A bigamist almost certainly, a few 'wives' in ports in the Caribbean.Did he shag other lady pirates or did he have an entourage?
Sex was quite common, it is why so many pirates were mad, syphilis, final stages include violent madness.
There were plenty of women on board ship at that time, as crew and others as entertainment or wives.
The 'tradition' of women being bad luck on board was a British Naval thing used in an attempt by Nelson and others to form a disciplined naval force.
Women had their own specially made Cutlasses, lighter and thinner and as a result far more wieldy than the mens, so much so that the design changed and the cutlass of the early 1800s is a perfectly balanced and fearsome bit of kit, that allowed two-handed use, the women also changed the use of guns on board, 'Lady' Grace, female pirate based around Polperro in the 1830s had a revolving 7-shot shotgun as well as everything else you'd expect, I think she must have been 'well built' as she reportedly used the gun in one hand and a cutlass in the other... a pre-menstrual 'Lady' Grace would not have been a cheery sight for a few poor souls!
My guess is that the female pirates would not be particularly gracious and lady-like in their demeanour and not attractive at all and were not a bit of totty whose arse you pinched, unless you wanted to be dead real quick, formidable, that I guess would describe them.
My last on this, as the thread has gone miles off course, but I have to add in defence of my slightly 'off-centre' ancestor, he was a genuine war hero, he fought in the war against the US and was the Navigator and Gunnery Master on HMS Shannon and that devilish Bill Kent performed the same tasks on HMS Nova Scotia, both ships battled and won against their equals from the US Navy who always had superior numbers of men but lost.
They cut their teeth in a fearsome war and both were brave souls but were cut adrift without pension... they had no place to go other than to stay on the high seas and cut themselves a living.
Both the Shannon and the Nova Scotia roamed the Atlantic as 'privateers' occasionally during that time, the Shannon was a regular visitor to St. Vincent.
They cut their teeth in a fearsome war and both were brave souls but were cut adrift without pension... they had no place to go other than to stay on the high seas and cut themselves a living.
Both the Shannon and the Nova Scotia roamed the Atlantic as 'privateers' occasionally during that time, the Shannon was a regular visitor to St. Vincent.
Gene, this is fascinating! Please don't stop.
If you don't mind me asking, where is your information from? Have you got memoires or are these 'stories'/anecdotes (sorry - for want of a better word) part of your family's heritage that get handed down? Or have you researched it?
You've got so much knowledge it's worth writing a book!
If you don't mind me asking, where is your information from? Have you got memoires or are these 'stories'/anecdotes (sorry - for want of a better word) part of your family's heritage that get handed down? Or have you researched it?
You've got so much knowledge it's worth writing a book!
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