Pirates and Slavery: The Unromantic Reality

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This video might be my most important one so far, as we delve into the critically overlooked involvement which pirates had in the slave trade. Contrary to popular belief, pirates weren't egalitarian, abolitionist, or revolutionary. They didn't deliberately seek out slave ships to liberate the slaves chained aboard. For a slave aboard a Guineaman, the worst possible fate, was to be captured by pirates.
Sources:
Black People under the Black Flag - Arne Bialuschewski
Piratical Schemes and Contracts - E.T Fox
The Slave Ship - Marcus Rediker
The Many-Headed Hydra - Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker
The Buccaneer's Realm - Benerson Little
The Golden Age of Piracy - Benerson Little
Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period - John Franklin Jameson
A Cruising Voyage Round the World - Woodes Rogers
A New Voyage Around the World - William Dampier
www.british-history.ac.uk/cal...
Timestamps
0:00 Introduction
03:20 Attitudes towards slavery
07:50 Buccaneers and slavery
10:43 How pirates treated slaves
15:46 End of the pirate slave trade
20:47 Recruitment
#blackhistorymonth #blackhistorymonth2023 #pirates #history #slavery

[@thecreweofthefancy]

We called out the Whydah Museum on Juneteenth for them making a "pirates were liberators" type posts last year. It's frustrating how many people want to use myths to make themselves feel better. Thank you for telling the truthful information. Yes, pirate history is full of adventure and it's exciting, but it's insulting to everyone if we ignore the dark and often scary realities.

[@GoldandGunpowder]

How did the Whydah Museum respond?

[@thecreweofthefancy]

@@GoldandGunpowder they deleted it and made a very half hearted apology which was mainly complaining about trolls. (Trolls who included a Doctor of History whose specialty is piracy, as well as a few likes on the comments from some of our mutual acquaintances.) I make no qualms saying that the lack of historical awareness from the Whydah Museum is depressing. It's a site I want to visit, but I can't justify paying for bad history.

[@rachdarastrix5251]

That doesn't make sense. Pirates were just bandits at sea. If you feel relatable enough to bandits that you need to paint them as "maybe not so bad" in order to feel better about yourself then maybe you should just start addressing some of your own problems.

[@thecreweofthefancy]

@@rachdarastrix5251 my logic exactly. They represent a great vehicle to teach history, but overall they were terrible people.

[@L_Train]

It's not only pirate history but much of the history of North America after European and African contact which is very much dark and brutal. I appreciate this channel and any others which work to dispell myths and set the record straight about history.

[@_p3t3r_34]

In Netflix's Lost Pirate Kingdom there's a scene, where Blackbeard captures a slave ship, after which he says to the slaves below "you are now subjects of the laws of piracy!" or sometnig like that. I know that the producers wanted to show him as a slave liberator but honestly... I understood these words to be a threat, not a relief.

[@intraphage]

Yup, they did it to create shock value when they revealed that he sold slaves at the end of Episode 5 I’m assuming. But yeah, it’s generally a good example of ambiguous script writing to save spoiling later events👍🏽

[@theicepickthatkilledtrotsk658]

You are one of the few channels committed to showing what pirates actually were, not playing into the many pop culture myths about them. Also, I am a big fan of your other channel Baltic empire.

[@GoldandGunpowder]

Thank you for enjoying it. Next week's Baltic video will be very interesting IMO

[@levimark9810]

This channel is a gem in a pie of coal. Let's enjoy and learn from it while we can. Btw love the name @The ice pick that killed trotsky

[@abnerdoon4902]

Wait, he's the one behind Baltic empire? Nice.

[@GoldandGunpowder]

Post-script notes(stuff I learned later or wasn't able to fit into the video): - Examples of buccaneers who settled down as slave and plantation owners(sans Morgan): Richard Guy, Laurens Prince(the owner of the Whydah), George Brimacain - From a 1666 resolution by the council of Jamaica, listing a number of reasons why it is necessary for the island to grant Letters of Marque: "It hath and will enable many to buy slaves and settle plantations, as Harmenson, Guy, Brimacain, and many others, who have considerable plantations." - It was common that new arrivals in the Caribbean felt sympathy for slaves(Jean-Baptise Labat, Charles Leslie), but they would eventually get used to and accept it(Labat later owned slaves) - 43/64 of my currently uploaded videos mention or discuss slavery. 18/33 of my coming scheduled videos do the same. Basically, the matter of slavery is intrinsical to understanding pirates and has always been a big part of my content. - Slavery on the island of Bermuda was instigated by pirates. The first blacks on the island were "Spanish negroes" invited by the English to teach them how to plant and cure tobacco, and were treated like sharecroppers. From 1620 onwards, English privateers began importing slaves seized from the Spanish, who were shared out between the chief magnates and set to work the land(Source: Craton, Michael, and Gail Saunders. Islanders in the Stream, Volume I : A History of the Bahamian People, p.71) - "Nooooooo white people were also enslaved by Barbary muslims!!1 other races also did slavery!!!!" I get multiple comments like this and if you tell me this you lack any form of situational awareness. If it wasn't obvious by my profile picture, I cover European colonial sea rovers during the so-called Golden Age of Piracy, so I will focus on the piracy practiced by this group...not by groups which were entirely different and would require very different sources from those I have access to. - Above also ignores the fact that much of the Barbary slave trade in the 17th century was practiced by white European renegades that converted to Islam, taught them how to build and man European-style sailships, and commandeered their most powerful fleets, Jack Ward for example. Will add more points when I can think of or discover it.

[@philipsalama8083]

I really don't understand why people jump to "well non-whites did slavery too" as an attempt to shut down conversation on the slave trade. Like, you're not attacking white people, you're just talking about history as it happened. Why do people get so defensive about the actions of their ancestors generations ago?

[@simba4805]

It's fascinating to me how much people just believe what is easier to accept. Pirates were basically regular people, maybe with a higher percentage of criminals and psychopaths, but otherwise regular people of the time. They weren't all monsters and they weren't all saints - there might have been a few but overall they were a symptom of their time. Thank you for continuing to create such great content and for touching on the topics others keep ignoring.

[@donaldhysa4836]

I never heard anyone say pirates were liberators of slaves. Who believes this?

[@blackhawkdown342]

The idea that pirates are liberators is akin to them being free men and egalitarians. Revisionism is sometimes to blame but not always as its very difficult to fully grasp the motivations and mindset of people who lived hundreds of years ago. There is a tendency to view the old as bad, backward and wrong by extension this viewpoint makes those who opposed the old order good. Sometimes the past wrong is brutal enough to where people will condone any counter movement or disruption of it, no matter how violence or immoral those events actually were. Pirate media is rife for this sort of exploitation because most of the movies are coming in the wake of gangster movies. "Bad guys with a code of honor" is a trope that never fails to sell.

[@ingold1470]

Also the ancient forms of egalitarianism were highly militaristic, an idea less comprehensible in our relatively peaceful age. It was equality and rights for the armed men of the warband or the citizens who could afford to kit themselves out for military service, a different story for everyone else.

[@anon2034]

@@ingold1470 This.

[@seanturner1197]

I never even thought of pirates as revolutionaries, abolitionists or even liberators. Just plain old, armed thieves.

[@playmsbk]

Whenever someone mentions the idea that pirates were liberators I always remember that old meme from a children's book that read "good pirates never steal another person's property". 😂

[@jasperoliger]

As a writer this channel is so valuable! I've been working on a story set in the 1670s Caribbean, and this channel has saved the book lol

[@mean0B]

How's it tagging along? Title?

[@adam1993williams]

I’d really like to read that if possible?

[@jasperoliger]

@@adam1993williams unfortunately I'm still only about half way through my first draft of it, my process tends to be very slow

[@blixer8384]

This is part of the reason why when I tell Pirate Stories for like TTRPGs and stuff I always set them in fantasy settings. I love to indulge in the romanticized tropes of piracy and it feels less irresponsible when it’s set in a fictional world that does not have to reflect the historical reality of the Early Modern Period. Because it’s my opinion as someone who studied history academically. And if you’re writing a story that used historical figures and events you have a responsibility as a writer to not misrepresent those figures and events. To paraphrase Atun Shei-Films it may not matter if people think Pirates dressed like 18th century Spanish mountain bandits; but it does matter if they believe pirates were liberators and proto-abolitionists when they were among the most prolific slave traders in the Caribbean.

[@svenweisserfuchs1297]

I've run (and am currently running) "pirate" campaigns in an alternate history version of our world...but I make it clear that it is VERY much alternate history. My players may play characters that take from the big bad empires and free slaves and fight for freedom but it's with the understanding that this game is about pirate FICTION and not reality; something I've always made clear in our first session. Pirate fiction is fun, it's exciting, and it allows for a lot of creativity. None of these things are bad, and I think pirate fiction is a good thing overall. But it's channels like this one that gives important historical background and context to how the fiction mutated from reality, how our entertainment is born from legends and dime novels more than reality. And by acknowledging that reality do we understand historical context and try to learn from the mistakes of our past.

[@_MrPixel_]

Ironic in Pirates of the Caribbean there is deleted scenes where Jack was supposed to give slaves to Beckett but he refused so technically jack Sparrow is a bad pirate

[@danielmorris7648]

I mean it is really Disney if they aren't pushing narratives though?

[@maarekstele2998]

To be fair pirates of the Caribbean is like Indiana Jones, it's not meant to be historically accurate

[@GoldandGunpowder]

Yeah I've seen it. It's also the reason why Davy Jones wanted Jack to give him 100 slaves specifically

[@maarekstele2998]

@@GoldandGunpowder i really liked that scene pity it was cut

[@danielmorris7648]

Slavery held back industrial development for almost a thousand years. There's a reason why the industrial revolution started right after the western world stopped using slave labor. Even today in non-white nations slavery or near-slavery is extremely common and is currently holding back their economic development is a major way while at the same time benefiting the 1% in the west.

[@Marane8]

Slavery only restrains industrialization in the exporting economy profiting from their labor. In another nation, which imports the raw produce and turns it into goods for sale, the wages pf slaves are irrelevant so long as they don't impact price margins.

[@Fatherofheroesandheroines]

The industrial revolution started in the 18th century. So that's just not so. There even factories in the South of America though not as many as the North. Slavery didn't slow down anything but it was something that slowly got moved away from. There is STILL slavery today even in modern countries. So again that's not what happened it just slowly died out in the more blatant forms at least in the West.

[@caioalmeida4139]

Blacks were seen as less than humans y white intellectuals during the 19 century

[@kudjoeadkins-battle2502]

The Industrial Revolution was built off of the slave trade.

[@blackore64]

Slavery arguably created the capital necessary to start the industrial revolution

[@spirospagiatis4731]

Here's my pirate meme : Edward Low to one of his enemies : I'll cut your heart out with a spoon!!!!😡😡😡 Charles Harris (his lieutenant) : Why a spoon, sir?🤨 Why not an axe?🤨 Edward Low : Because it's dull, you twit!!!😡 It will hurt more!!!!!!😡😡😡

[@dalemoss4684]

Pirates were by definition men without scruples who would do anything for money- rob, murder, ENSLAVE- if that doesn't sound romantic or swashbuckling, that's because it's not. but that all gets swept under the rug. Awesome video.

[@jackrice2770]

Good job on a complicated subject. I've been doing a little reading and have stumbled across a couple of grad student papers with interesting ideas about this period. One researcher offers the idea (which I think I support) that pirates were an integral part of the colonial economy in the 17th & 18th Centuries. The author points out that the roles of merchant, traders, explorerer, mercenary and smuggler were not clearly defined, the words we use today delude us into thinking of these as distinct occupations. Many sea-going men of the time carried out all of these roles at one time or another. European fishermen were notorius for supplementing their income by smuggling. As for slavery, it must be seen in the context of the world of that day, where slaves were pretty much a given in every society. Medeviel Europe had the serf system, which was slavery, but after being ravaged by centuries of disease and war, the population was inadequate for the labor demands of the time, and thus 'workers' gained a tiny bit of leverage. Still, reading the original accounts of the 'ruling class' shows the utter contempt they held for -all- "low born" persons and generally cared not a wit for their well-being or even survival. We can't even get into the role of religion, just keep in mind that while the Christian nations were busily enslaving nonChristians, the Moslem nations were busily enslaving Christians; we can go as far afield as China or the Americans, where one Native American group would conquor and enslave another. I don't understand while people can't grasp how an African might be involved in enslaving fellow Africans, when that was the accepted standard of the day. If the general public is getting their historical education from Walt Disney Corporation or Netflix, Santayana will have been proved right again: "Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it."

[@ahiwalter9153]

the problem is equating all slavery to one standard. There were & still are varying degrees of slavery wherein yes, none were free but certainly some forms of indentured servitude & slavery were far kinder than others…

[@Captain_Cinnamon]

Yes, the only channel we can actually rely on in terms of truth. Nice to know reality from illusions

[@witchboy44]

Even the best historical KZbinrs I watch fall for these historical inaccuracies of pirate history, again, thank you for your hard work of putting the actual history in an easy to consume way. It’s important that even dark history is remembered accurately.

[@macdiggitty]

Love these videos! I appreciate the raw and blunt presentation. Looking forward to future videos!!

[@theob.8458]

This is the first time someone’s actually made a nuanced study of the history. Rather than just black and white like a lot of major Internet “historian’s”. For that sir thank you.

[@LegendaryFrigate]

I like it that you’re seeing pirates for what they truly were/are, not some romantic caricature of the „jolly, good-hearted seafarer seeking freedom“.

[@HippoBean]

Pirates were opportunists, it's foolish to think that they wouldn't have exploited slaves when given the opportunity. Of course many crews did indeed recruit Black people, but like you said, this was highly dependent on the individual circumstances, needs and attitudes of the pirates and can't be taken as the norm like pop culture often does.

[@junglerajah7838]

Thanks to you I’m more interested in actual Pirate history rather than other channels that still carry on those misinterpretations of how historical pirates are still widely viewed. I’d rather be learning the harsh truth of history, especially pirate history, than some fabrication that distorts the truth. Aside from Caribbean pirates, Barbary pirates have also been doing the same practices as well in the Mediterranean, but many of their slaves were of European descent. Unlike the Atlantic slave trade, slaves weren’t bought from tribes that kidnapped people from other tribes in exchange for valuable goods, but were abducted when their villages were raided and were sold in ports in North Africa. I believe this slave trade took longer than the Atlantic slave trade as there was no pressure within the Ottoman Empire to abolish it. So, European navies had to do crackdowns within the Mediterranean to prevent corsairs from continuing their slave trade.

[@bookofroger]

Finally some real hard unbiased truth!

[@RabidPancakeDisorder]

I find the topic interesting due to its variety between crews. Henry Avery, my favorite pirate, was well known to trade and capture slaves during his career, he even worked as a slaver prior to his Navy and pirate career. But this view might be different for various groups in different times, of different nationalities.

[@merafirewing6591]

Interesting. Guess Black Sam Bellamy got off pretty lucky that he got the Whydah Galley with no slaves on it.

[@ChicoNahui]

Amazing and important video! Keep up the great work

[@mageillus]

This is what makes this channel THE best pirate KZbin channel

[@bickyboo7789]

Your channel is great man. Keep up the good work.

[@unknowntrooper_2791]

A giant topic and a good overview. Important addition to the discussion that is sadly still very much limited by dramatic passions of people about a difficult topic. A good video, with good points. Cheers! 🏴‍☠

[@easyexistence107]

What an incredibly well presented and concluded take on this. Neutral, factual and entertaining. Thank you for making these videoes.

[@ravenb3048]

I have a pirate meme: Traders, having just reacjed Charleston: Hey, Blackbeard. We have something for you. Blackbeard: Is it a cure for syphilis? His emissaries: I -oh. Blackbeard: Then I don't want it! The traders are then locked up.

[@pyrrhusofepirus8491]

I always found the attitudes of slavery during this era to be very interesting, because on one hand it’s viewed as abhorrent but on the other hand it’s tolerated. It’s viewed as a terrible thing but also something that just exists, like disease, sin or poverty it’s apart of the human experience. I wonder as the attitudes of the slaves themselves, of course they rarely liked their circumstances and many would try to escape. But apart from the fact they and maybe their families were enslaved, did they have any real opposition to slavery as an institution or practice itself?

[@a.bizzle9699]

Pure historical lecture. Brilliantly done.

[@piraticvs]

But muh slave liberators and shiiiii

[@rebralhunter6069]

Gold and Gunpowder: I'm tired of pirate history being reduced to silly memes >:C Also Gold and Gunpowder in the comment sections: Teehee funny pirate meme

[@GoldandGunpowder]

Spiros is a national treasure and his comments must be pinned

[@Zlorthishen]

i prefer uncomfortable truth to pleasant lies

[@JohnSmith-nh2te]

much respect to you for making this video

[@sapeurmaboul4046]

one of the video i feared the most , that said, you almost talk about that in your debunk video

[@GrudgeyCable]

Awesome video my guy!

[@conorvaughan9870]

Great video thanks . You are very well read . Love from Australia ❤

[@ingold1470]

There is one pirate game with that loop albeit in a different time period, it's the Viking Conquest DLC for Mount and Blade: Warband.

[@skeeverskeeyo7331]

Thank You for your excellent work. Praise the Algorithm.

[@PyroGothNerd]

Now that I watch this, can we give a shout-out to Fox's Peter Pan and the Pirates for having Captain Hook try to use the Lost Boys as Galley Slaves in the episode revealing how he and Peter first met? A literal 90's kid cartoon felt the need to bring up pirates enslaving people while many shows wouldn't have brought it up at all. And they didn't paint it as a "well it's because Hook's a villain thing" it was clearly painted as a pirate thing. If kids can handle that reality, so can adults.

[@hoboronin]

Well put together

[@defiantvoyage]

15:24 I sorta remembered the “Old Pirate Crackers” video from way back in the day haha

[@ingold1470]

That classic WoW soundtrack is so ingrained that I recognize it wherever it's used.

[@hailmary2959]

John "Bartholomew" Roberts supports TND

[@nekronavt]

As for a native Belarusian, that lukashenko example at the end of the video hits hard. Huge respect for your work on actually researching stuff.

[@TheEggeater1111]

Dude you keep it real.Great video on a serious topic. As usual I applaud your objectiveness.👏🏻

[@Brandon-lw3eg]

Please all music names

[@sapeurmaboul4046]

it's the video i should rewatch everytime, if i have to seriously make pirates stories and that would be difficult

[@azuretiger-kfpmarketingstr6018]

Even as someone who like the romanticism of piracy I appreciate the candidness of realities. One cannot claim to oppose corruption and power without an acknowledgement of such.

[@giannidcenzo]

Right. Great video

[@gabrielcoelho2346]

Is that a fully traversable gun turret in that slave ship at 18:12

[@melonlord4055]

It's the same trap that causes people like cowboys, vikings, steppe nomads, and the lot to be heavily sanitized. They were enemies of established hierarchies that survived to today, and since we criticize those hierarchies today we glorify its enemies of the past. Vikings are celebrated for killing Christian clergy and nobles. Mongols are celebrated for destroying China and Islamic empires, the brutality and harshness of Confucian and Islamic hierarchies somehow justified the existence of the Yuan dynasty and the irreparable depopulation of Persia. Cowboys were their own mess of people from all races, nationalities, and sexes all hating each other and doing horrific things to each other. It's the exact same thing people do when they justify the Nazis or the Japanese for killing British imperialists or Russian commies, or justifying Soviet rapes of German women, but THOSE people are at least usually rightfully recognized as unhinged and sadistic.

[@chrisidoo]

Funny enough, Jack Spar- Captain Jack Sparrow was branded a pirate *because* he refused to deliver Beckett's slaves.

[@halloween_vibz]

Regardless of weather they did participate or not I still love the history of pirates and pirates in general ever since I was a kid

[@EllismaceOX]

Is this music in world of warcraft or am I mistaken?

[@Zedigan]

I like how you touched on slave labour still existing to this day. Its too often swept under the rug and ignored because chocolate is yummy and we need our morning coffee

[@AW-kr9fl]

This channel is excellent

[@juliogouvea9447]

I would love a video about shantyman and pirate songs, if you haven't done it yet.

[@joeroche406]

thank you for your understanding of slavery and its patterns in the world that have never disappeared

[@SgtValentine8448]

I will ask a question. If you have ever played Rimworld and have purchased or captured someone and made do slave labor. I simply ask why did you do? You would probably answer. “I needed them for labor. This is a case study of Frontier societies. Either you leave everyone alone and eventually they will form societies or you force people to work together to make societies. That is how it works. The Caribbean being a great case study.

[@hailmary2959]

Where can I find the art at 10:45 ?

[@GoldandGunpowder]

I scanned it from a book I own

[@hailmary2959]

@@GoldandGunpowder What book is it?

[@susannowak5544]

I do truly appreciate your bold and bald discussion of the whole tangled topic of tribalism…racism, classism, etc. Thank you.

[@JVJ_2000]

Hopefully the next video is about Henry Jennings. Would love to know more about his origin, friendship with Charles Vane and rivalry with Hornigold.

[@GoldandGunpowder]

There are no documented interactions between Vane and Jennings AFAIK. I think Colin Woodard wrote a few of them as assumptions in his book, but in documented history there's no mentions of Vane before the post-Pardon period in Nassau

[@JVJ_2000]

@@GoldandGunpowder most of my knowledge is from the book Pirate Republic by Colin Woodard. But i would like to know the historical truth or atleast your findings. So it definitely requires a whole video dedicated to it.

[@JVJ_2000]

@@GoldandGunpowder Maybe even a video about the political and economical structure of the Pirate Commonwealth, pre and post pardon. You can say it like a story, from the Jennings-Hornigold rivalry and post arrival of Woodes Rogers.

[@aleccope1320]

These people were grappling with a spirit that all humans have had for many millennia

[@balazsvarga1823]

Slaves were practical outlaws. It makes sense if they recruited useful ones, used what they needed and sold the rest.

[@humbertocobian4740]

Great video. Grim and real.

[@erievhs]

Broooooo you are a G my dude

[@damionverine7159]

I will say that while the game shies away from depicting it overtly, it does mention somewhat frequently that the pirates in the game are quite racist and have no problem with slavery. Specifically hornigold tells edward "you let him carry a gun?" Regarding adewale, jack rackham says he is gonna sell adewale after marooning kenway and vane, and Roberts talks about selling slaves. Edward alone seems to not be super comfortable with racism or slavery, and eventually ends up becoming an assassin to demonstrate that he is a man with a cause greater than simple self enrichment, which is the internal struggle he has for the whole game.

[@ani65ans94]

Remember HIS'STORY is to the victor. It should be rendered.

[@Jendor_IV]

The ending on this one was brutally hounest!

[@hawkticus_history_corner]

I know its the fifth movie, so take it for what its worth, but Jack hates Slavery, its what got him turned pirate in the first place. But yes, i understand your point

[@yourdadsotherfamily3530]

Love the turn to ethical consumerism at the end lol

[@brookingsbeachcomber]

Free the Avocados

[@caioalmeida4139]

Have you heard about Francisco de Souza de Felix, a Notorious Slaved trader, also pirate?

[@user-bv7zo6vd4m]

Thanks for pointing out modern imperialism and slavery in the end

[@lolihitler4198]

incredibly based conclusion thank you mr sid meier's pirates rabbit hole man

[@michaelpreston233]

very awakening , however aggrivating.

[@YaMumsSpecialFriend]

Cracker episode mate, appreciate your honest expose of how it really was👌🏻

[@AdamSmith-gx9qm]

Wasn’t Sam Bellamy against slavery?

[@samditto]

Source?

[@BeautifulGazelle06]

I feel like showing slavery among pirates in pirate media might honestly be beneficial for storytelling even beyond historical accuracy; if you use pirates as villains then owning slaves would help show how evil they are, and if you use one as a hero maybe you could have your protagonist be an exception to the norm or give them a character arc of being apathetic or pro-slavery and becoming anti slavery over time, making your protagonist more sympathetic to a modern audience (even if it is unrealistic).

[@undead9999]

Wether we like that or not pirates were regular guys. They didn't take to the seas to right the wrongs of their time. That they ended up becoming romantic antiheroes is our fault, not theirs. Sure maybe some captains had more black crewmen, but many more saw slaves as valuable cargo as spices and rum. Not to mention that slave ships are very good as pirate ships. They are strudy, can be rigged to operate as galleys, and be operated with a skeleton crew. To add to that the cargo hold can fit a lot of men to pack a punch during boarding.

[@sashakhan1262]

Isn’t paedophilia also a crime in British law and the UCMJ now? So there’s no reason it would be extremely common, just common enough that you’d need a deterrent.

[@oblivian1308]

I love you

[@anon2034]

20:38 Well, he did abolished them.

[@aick]

I've watched a lot of your videos but this one made me subscribe. Thank you for not whitewashing history.

[@SomasAcademy]

~5:43 Lascars were not slaves, but contracted crewmen, somewhere between typical sailors and indentured servants in terms of freedom. Lascars were at some points illegally enslaved - we know it happened largely because of records of the East India Company intervening on the behalf of Lascars who had been sold into slavery - but they were a distinct class from enslaved Indians.

[@GoldandGunpowder]

yeah correct, when making this video I was under the impression that lascars was a general term for indians but it only referred to the sailors was you said, Indians were still purchased as slaves

[@patron8597]

Aye, the Poop deck damage of G&G be imense here.

[@sashakhan1262]

Apparently the first Tudor authorisation for slavery in British territories in the Americas refers to the slaves as “infidels” rather than as “n-oes” or “blacks”.

[@wewlad8172]

The biggest issue of the Era is that they viewed Piracy as a lesser crime than Slavery

[@johnaaron37]

Ahh, you always confuse me with your release date of sid Meier's Pirates. I grew up playing the pc version, circa 1987 lol

[@d.t.7819]

💜

[@DIEGhostfish]

In all fairness to the sleazy watermelon seller, it was cheaper just to force em over the next convenient border than to send em all the way back. (How the hell did they even GET to Belarus anyway? Who the hell when trying to get into Europe wants to go to, or through, belarus?)

[@creepybasil]

Love that I can be educated without a censor telling me what's appropriate to learn

[@ingold1470]

Were Puritans in the West Indies less likely to buy slaves? I remember Albion's Seed asserting that the reason slavery did not flourish in the New England was not just the climate but also a culture that favoured working for yourself.

[@GoldandGunpowder]

West Indian puritans were only in majority in the Bahamas, which AFAIK was not a common destination for slave ships, partly due to the islands being so poor. They did have slaves but they also had a much larger tendency of liberating and even intermarrying with their slaves

[@CosplayZine]

Was not the queen Anne's revenge a prior slave ship? If Blackbeard actually said "blacks were a bakers dozen" or something to that nature, then that would indicate for him a black birder was a prize if a merchant ship was otherwise not available and even preferred because they had less defense than merchant ships. And doesn't the first quote in the video basically prove that they thought "pyrates were a problem" regarding their slave trade? One might say that was very much "the straw that broke the camel's back" and a good reason to assassinate Blackbeard while his associate Horigold remained untouched and the like. I totally agree on the points of the video games tip toeing around the darker subjects so they can sell games to the kids and their parents can pat them selves on the back keeping them innocent of the crew ways of the 18th century. Same goes for potc. The assassins creed had you as a whaler, treasure hunter and so many things that a pirate generally didn't need to do. Not that they couldn't and even wouldn't do that in a extreme pinch but by many accounts was usually the "honest man's game" to have done that type of career. Most didn't have those skills or tools. With that said, at the time of the 18th century and the centuries aft and fore the slave trade was usually an "honest man's trade". It was the law of the land at the time after all. There were plenty of slave traders who were pirates on the side yes. But perhaps not very good pirates or not very lucky? If one didn't have a "flying gang" of ships to take a portion of the loot for every success then they might have been not so good or brave to be a pirate And one might consider the slave trade (as bad as it sounds) "moon lighting" or dabbling in other business where they could in fact be successful. To be a slaver you need contacts, tools, patients and must weigh the risks verses possible reward. Not saying Blackbeard was against it at all though just to be clear. In fact he likely was kind to the black birders who gave up what possibly became his flagship without a fight. Slaves were a handful. More disgruntled than many possible captives at times. There were nets on the slave ships to keep them in. They'd often jump over board if they weren't too weak to do so. These nets, most pirates ships did not have apparently. Some were successful pirates who didn't want to stay on their dad's boring slave plantations. Some didn't want the risk a slave rebellion on a ship with lots of valuables on it in effort to sell slaves for a living. Perhaps they may have only took a few strong slaves as their crew or as slaves if they their crew agreed to that. A pirate had to be careful where he sold his cargo because of their own bounty and anyone who was associating with a pirate could/would be heavily harassed like someone you mentioned on the channel. Pirates weren't always considered the heros to their towns people like history tries to make them. There's evidence some were harassed for supporting pirates. Slavery was only as profitable as the effort to keep the slaves alive,feed and under control and then the crew had to decide if they would make efforts to stop plundering and make deals with these law abiding slave masters. All I can say is that if I was a pirate in the 18th century, I wouldn't have been the one to volunteer to watch and care for a slave. Might have to find a slave to watch a slave but who is watching him? Lmao. Now as far as having/owning slaves...some of them did sure. Slavery in some form has existed since the times of early Egypt and likely even before that. Thanks for not sugar coating it but as you mentioned it's a bit difficult to say the roles they may have had on a pirate ship. Situational I'm sure. Speaking of sugar, pirates likely used it for their favorite coco and slaves were the reason it was so readily available. So I may have just proved pirates weren't against slavery in one sentence.

[@GoldandGunpowder]

I included Bennet's quote because it's often been recited as the evidence for pirates being liberators, and it's the only evidence there is for it, against the stacks proving the contrary. In the end, the quote was a desperate plea for help from a colony under threat of attack from pirates, and should be taken with a pinch of salt

[@DIEGhostfish]

Dustwallow march!

[@patrickhenry2845]

If Pirates were thieves. Why wouldn't they be slave traders or owners?