Were there ever actual organizations of pirates?
score:18
Its been two years since this question was scribed, and nobody else be bringn' it up, so perhaps now be th' time to be tellin' th' tale o' th' Red Flag Fleet. It be also th' tale o' Cheng I Sao, th' pirate queen o' th' South China Sea.
Cheng originally got into th' business by th' traditional method: being captured by pirates. She hit it off well enough with captain Zheng Yi that they were married in 1801. Over th' next 3 years Zheng created a jolly alliance that eventually became known as th' Red Flag Fleet. When Zheng visited Davey Jones' Locker in 1807, Cheng (after considerable political maneuvering) took over control o' th' fleet.
Under Cheng, th' Red Flag Fleet reportedly grew to 1,800 ships, and around 70,000 lads, wenches and sprogs. They were effectively th' government o' Guangdong province, and controlled th' entire underworld in th' South China Sea, o' course charging merchants for safe passage. They even had their own laws and taxes. At one point th' Chinese organized a large fleet o' their own to destroy th' Red Flag Fleet. Th' main result o' th' ensuing battle was that Cheng's fleet gained 63 new Chinese-built ships.
Cheng retired a very wealthy wench indeed, and visited Davey Jones' Locker in 1844 at th' ripe age o' 69.
Upvote:2
"Did different ships bearning the skull and crossbones ever come together under one flag?" I kind of doubt it.
The likely result would have been a mutiny against one or more of the ship captains, who would then have been made to "walk the plank."
A Jolly Roger was kind of a loner. Getting two or more of them together was kind of an oxymoron, unless it was for an orgy.
Upvote:3
Some pirates came together and formed democratic nations as associations like the Republic of Pirates from 1706–1718. There were the Barbary states run by coastal pirates in Africa and the Regency of Algiers which was an independent democratic stratocracy from 1659 to 1830. From 1552–1775, a republic was created with Cossacks - many of them pirates - called Zaporozhian Sich.
Upvote:6
The Victual brothers, a fourteenth and fifteenth century group first organised to aid King Albert when he tried to defend against Queen Margaret in a war for the Swedish crown. They can arguably have been said to have started as a band of privateers, but when Albert was forced to make peace and give up his crown, they continued their piracy without any veneer of legitimacy.
They had safe harbours in Rostock, Ribnitz, Wismar and Stralsund, and occupied and plundered around the Baltic sea and as far away as in Frisia. They eventually occupied Gotland, and brought all trade in the Baltic to a halt. Margaret had by that time united Denmark, Norway and Sweden, but sought help from Richard II in England. Eventually, the Teutonic order drove them from Gotland.
The Victual brothers were followed by the Likedeelers, based in Frisia, which plundered around the North sea instead, until about 1440.
Upvote:31
Arrr, tharr niver has been an orgarrrnization o'pirates in t'traditional sense.
Tharr may well ha' been brief alliarrrnces o' convenyence, for when ye can trust a man no to make ye walk the plank, ye may help each other in gathering in the booty! Also now an' then a Cap'n of dark renown might set up his followers as minor cap'ns in their own right, and so he could head a flotilla o' six or seven ships, all answerin' to hisself. As Oi recall, Cap'n Morgan is said to've led 11 ships, and Blackbeard had several likewise. There were never much formality o'structure and organisation tho', as each Cap'n led by his own charisma an' force o' personality.
We pirates be a free and unruly breed, and don't take kindly to no paperwork. Arrrr!
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