Since International Talk Like a Pirate Day is quickly approaching I thought we might change our centuries up a bit. Now we all know that people typically think of "pirates" as the 17th to 18th century portrayals, commonly, but what about the viking era? There are many early pirates and even some pirates of recent. So let us see YOUR pirate! :cool:

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Pirates carried all kinds of swords, there was no standard issue. They certainly used hangers which are a variation of a saber.

Are the majority of hangers shorter than an average sabre? Sorry, spelled "sabre" wrong initially. Oops. Another question would be the rapier. It seems the rapier would not be the weapon of choice because of the length. There is not a lot of room on a ship for combat with a rapier or a similar sword, correct? :?:

Saber should only be sabre if rapier is going to be rapire.

M.

We tend to think of pirates as being scruffy ruffians on the fringes of society, but there were also privateers, pillaging the merchant ships of the enemy, who were part of the nobility. One excellent example (who is very relevant to this website) is George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland. He was famed for his exploits in the Carribean, wreaking havoc on Spanish shipping and briefly capturing the fort at San Juan, Puerto Rico. You can call him a privateer, buccaneer or pirate, but the man had class:

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He was appointed Queen's Champion after the retirement of Sir Henry Lee, and his Greenwich armour survives today as one of the finest examples of English garniture in existence.

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The armour of a pirate!

Well, according to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabre it may be spelled either way. So, nobody is wrong. :D

It is true that in the early days pirates (privateers) were authorized to conduct raids and attacks by their governing country. If I remember correctly politics created the actual act of piracy that forced privateers to do business for themselves to keep to what they knew best. Correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks Dan, that does seem very plausible. Most sailors aboard ship in those days would not wear socks and shoes so they could get a better grip on deck and so on, from what I have read. I would imagine that once on shore they may actually wear shoes and their finest attire, depending upon their station of course.