Pirates

In Marcus Rediker’s book, Villains of All Nations, the author depicts the lives of

pirates and how piracy affected the development of capitalism. People who attempted to

gain profits by transporting materials or slaves on the sea were affected by piracy. The

merchants, plantation owners and the official governors were the actual assailants who

made poor working class engage in piracy. The author puts more focus on the

organization, liberty and equality among pirates instead of concentrating on their killing,

robbery and violence.

During early eighteenth century, the poor were more willing to become pirates.

These poor included the sailors for the privateers and merchant vessels, slaves, seamen

and the low class. People had no rights in the lower classes and were all abused by their

masters. Before people became pirates, they suffered from terrible working conditions.

Low salary or no salary was received at all.

For instance, the sailors of the vessels of merchants suffered, because of the rotten

food, they always felt starved and lacked nutrition. They experienced devastating

diseases as they traveled around the world. Sailors had harsh jobs, which might cause

them disabling accidents. In addition, the discipline that the officers made was brutal and

often murderous. In return, the sailors only received low wages. In the book, Villains of

All Nations, Samuel Johnson made a comparison between the life on ships and in jail.

Samuel Johnson explains, “For being in a ship is being in jail with the chance of being

drowned…a man in jail has more room, better food and commonly better company.”1

Sailors in privateer vessels were a little better in food and salary. Most sailors were

willing to become pirates.

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 The autonomy of slaves depended on which part of the colonies they were in.

Slaves in the upper north had more right and freedom than in the lower south. According

to the class lecture, the plantation owners used a system called the “Gang Labor System”

to regulate the slave in the tobacco plantation strictly and watched them very closely.”

The slaves had no freedom at all in the south. Based on the class lecture, “The plantation

owner created the ‘task system’ to adjust the slaves, which gave them certain tasks. Once

they completed their task, they would have the opportunities to manage their time. They

had a little free time.” Generally, nobody wanted to be a slave, even though they were

forced. Slaves always attempted to find a way to escape. Therefore, when the pirates

captured the slave trading ship, a lot of slaves were enthusiastic about joining the pirates.

Rediker says, “Edward England and other pirate captains found slaves to be excellent

recruiting grounds.”2

An assumption could be made that the pirates’ opponents were the ones who

made them engage in robbery of ships and killing people. As a result, pirates were people

who had been poor working class. The pirates were from different parts of the world and

represented different races, backgrounds and national origins. It was significant to

explore the world that the pirates lived in. Actually, the pirates created their own

democratic community.

The pirate’s community had three different classes. The quartermaster had the

supreme power; he controlled the pirate captains and crews. The pirates’ captains had

more authority than the crews. The intention of the quartermaster was to prevent the

abuse of authority and counterbalance the power of captains. Rediker explains, “The
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captain can undertake nothing which the quartermaster does not approve.”3 The crews

endowed the captains with unquestioned authority in fighting and chasing vessels. The

community of pirates was based on democracy because the pirates themselves voted and

selected their captains and quartermasters. Captains and quartermasters had knowledge

and trust among pirates. Rediker states, “And yet neither the captain nor the

quartermaster represented the highest authority on the pirate ship. That honor belonged to

the common council.”4 Captains could be removed from their positions. “Thomas Anstis

lost his position as captain.”5 The policy of democracy on the pirate’s society was

important to mention because it had a long-term effect on the United States to become a

democratic country. In the United States today, the citizens have the rights to vote for

their officials and presidents.

The pirate’s source of food, weapons, gold, silver, and other items was based on

capturing the vessels of large merchant companies. Piracy was a crime against the

property of merchants, who traded on the sea. Rediker reveals, “Pirates broke the law as

they stole property, taking plunder in money and cargo, and as they destroyed property,

throwing goods riotously in the sea, burning and sinking ships.”6 The development of an

Atlantic economy was directly influenced by the actions of pirates. They were about to

destroy the emerging the nation-state and the rise of capitalism. Pirates were opponents

of the government as long as the merchants were trading. Rediker says, “The King’s men

in court explained in 1717, ‘It is the interest of the state that shipping be improved.”7 The

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merchant also explained in a petition to the government that they were victims of sea

traders.

The pirates were especially interested in capturing ships full of slaves. Slave ships

were big, sturdy, well armed and full of various cannons. Capturing the slave ship had

negative effects upon the colonies in America. The lack of slaves slowed the process of

economic development. According to the class lecture, “The colonists required a

tremendous number of slaves to do the plantation work. The production of rice, tobacco

and corn would decrease, so the merchants and government were not making good

profits.” On the other hand, the slaves were more willing to become pirates with short,

better lives than being slaves for the masters without rights. Recruiting more slaves could

strengthen the power of pirates.

The problems of the government and the merchants were getting worse. At the

beginning, the government attempted to hang a small number of pirates in public in order

to warn people. “William Fly was the one who hanged for piracy.”8 The number of

pirates rose steadily and the numbers of vessels that were seized by pirates also increased.

Under the support of royal officials, merchants and clergymen, the government had a

campaign to clean the sea. The government adopted the following two methods to stop

the attacking trade from continuing. The two methods were, “More vigilant naval

patrolling and ever-greater numbers of spectacular executions.”9 The government was

much harsher on pirates. The number of pirate executions increased. The government

also rewarded people who captured freebooters whether dead or alive. In order to defend

the merchant ships, money were paid for the injuries and larger sums should be paid to

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the family in case of death. The government also spent money on technology to improve

the battle ships to extirpate the pirates. In February 5, 1722, “Many of the pirates were

drunk, grapeshot killed Roberts and a cannonball blew away his ship’s mainmast. The

fight was over.”10 After the fight, although there were a few pirates remaining, in 1726,

they were almost rooted out of the world.

In the way of ideology, Satan possessed the pirates and they were the antithesis of

Christianity. Mather, one of the officers in the book said, “Pirates were sea-monsters,

who has been the terror of them that haunt the sea.”11 The pirates represented evils, which

went against God. Rediker brought the term of God out because God had long-term

effects on the forming of the United States. In 1630, John Winthrop inspired US people

by the belief of “A City Upon a Hill” in the colonies. They believed that they were

superior and God was watching over and protected them. In the nineteenth century, US

people believed in “Manifest Destiny.” They should extend and take land toward the

western territories because this was God’s goal.

The weakness of the book has several parts. First, when Rediker depicts the

community of the pirate ship and how this multiethnic community works out, he ignores

some historical background such as the fundamental basics of pirate culture. Rediker

should mention the forming of piracy. Second, Rediker pays no attention about the

recruiting of some specific poor working class, which was the white indenture servants,

younger sons of Colonists, and the apprentices. These people also experienced great

economic oppression. Third, Rediker provides little mention about the relationship

between pirates, merchants and government officers and how they influenced each other.

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The author gave the book an improper title, Villains of All Nations. These pirates were

not actually the villains; they only murdered the merchant sailors and captains by their

bad reputation after the merchant vessels surrendered. The pirate’s opponents were the

ones who made them behave bad to make a living. The pirates sought revenge against

their enemies.

The strengths of the book are numerous. First, Rediker describes the vivid

horrible experiences of sailors on the merchant vessels and privateer. Rediker provides

examples of why these people would get engaged in piracy with short, but splendid lives.

Second, Rediker depicts the community of pirates and how they organized their social

order based on democracy. Third, Rediker paints a picture of how the government reacted

to the acts of piracy. The policies toward piracy were getting stricter when the pirates

acted severe and barbarous. The pirates were finally extirpated out of the world.

Through discussing the book, Villains of All Nations, the interconnections

between the pirates and the colonist merchants, sailors, official governors can be viewed

explicitly. The pirates were the dominant of the sea once and affected the development of

capitalism. As the government invented superior ships and persecuted numerous pirates

in gallows, the pirates were eventually rooted out of the world.