The Good of the Bad

A pirate marooned

The word torture has the capability to spark fear into the eyes of many. It is the action of inflicting extreme pain on another as punishment for the purpose of gaining something out of it. Pirates are the masters at coming up with various methods of torture in order to cause fear in their victims or to acquire information from their victims. The several techniques of torture they used varied in levels of efficiency. Pirates used a copious amount of methods for torturing and punishing their victims throughout history, but each method had different effects.  

Throughout the many written books on pirate, a large quantity of them describe the evils the pirates have done via the use of torture and punishments. For example, in the book Under the Black Flag it states,” ‘Low cut off the said Master’s lips and broiled them before his face, and afterwards murdered the whole crew being thirty two persons’.” (Cordingly 130). To give background knowledge, Governor Hart describes the pirate Low punishing the Master of the ship he has boarded onto. He uses such extremes because the Master has dropped the gold Low was seeking for into the sea. This illustrates the extent of how far the story of Low has gone that even Governor Hart has heard about it showing the effectiveness of the punishment. Additionally, David Cordingly also states,” …Dona Agustin de Rojas, the leading lady of Portobello. She was stripped naked and forced to stand in an empty wine barrel. The barrel was then filled with gunpowder, and one of the buccaneers held a lighted fuse to her face and demanded to know where she hidden her treasure.” (132). The description of this unique type of torture shows the creativity and length a pirate would go to ensure their victims give up the location of their treasure. This would be shown to be an effective type of torture as they were able to gain the knowledge needed to acquire the treasure. David Cordingly mentions earlier on page 130 that the infamous method of torture called “walking the plank” is a myth despite the many depictions of this technique in our favorite pirate films and novels. Walking the plank is when prisoners are forced to walk off a plank of a ship and ultimately drown in the ocean. Although this type of torture was rarely used, there has been one known example of it being used. David Cordingly describes the passengers of the ship Vhan Fredericka being forced into the sea. However, one passenger was able to escape by giving away the location of the treasure. This shows the effectiveness of this torture method had potential as it gave away information that they wanted. Lastly, the most common form of punishment is marooning. It is when an individual or individuals are left behind on an isolated island where they were basically stranded. Victims of marooning face a very slow death from either exposure of the elements or a lack of food. Marooning was used for several reasons such as punishing pirates for committing crimes among other pirates or for settling disputes. Under the Black Flag says, “On one occasion Blackbeard made use of marooning as a means of ridding himself of some of his crew.” (Cordingly 136). Essentially, marooning was used for almost any reason. It was an effective method for punishment to make sure the victim dies a very slow and painful death.

In conclusion, the varying types of torture and punishment by pirates have shown to give results on differing levels of extent that allowed them to rule the seas. Depending on how cruel a pirate was, the degree of their cruelty could leave an individual scarred or save their life. Even though there are a lot of approaches in dealing with their enemies, most of them are effective in getting any information they need from them. Marooning was widely during these times as it was used for various distinct reasons. Thus, the torture and punishments by pirates were a necessity since they needed to do what they could to gain any information they needed and to spark fears into those across the seas.

Cordingly, D. (2006). Under the black flag: the romance and the reality of life among the pirates. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks.