Who was the first pirate to sail the seas?

Question

My daughter came home with this question from school today.

Answer 1

That is kind of a tough one. Piracy is as old as the history of sailing itself. Some of the earliest pirates were the Phoenicians who plied the Mediterranean from about 2000 B.C.. While the Phoenicians conducted much legitimate trade, they also didn't flinch from attacking other merchant ships or even coastal towns. Later, around 150 B.C. the Cilician pirates from Turkey took control of the Mediterranean until 67 B.C. when the Roman senate ordered Pompey, a brilliant Roman general, to hunt them down. He was successful in clearing the sea of them within three months. Pirates again became prevalent on the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages. While on land, crusades were conducted by Christian Europeans to get control of the "Holy Land" of the Middle East, held by Muslims, pirates conducted similar battles on the Sea. These pirates, known as the Corsairs, were skilled Muslim and Christian seamen who attacked ships owned by those of the opposing religion. The booty they gained was often the crew and passengers of the ships as well as the cargo. Men and women were sold as slaves or, in the case of those from rich families, ransomed for cash.

But the period of piracy with which we are most familiar begain soon after the New World was discovered. In 1494 the Pope split the territory of the New World between Spain and Portugal. Thus all the gold in the new world, especially that of the Aztecs belonged to Spain and Portugal as a result of papal sanction. This obviously did not sit well with other European countries, so they started attacking the ships carrying the gold back to Spain and Portugal. To get more ships out there, other countries began using privateers, in which the country would issue a letter of marque and allow individuals to outfit a ship for war, attack Spanish ships and the individual could keep half the booty and send the other half back to the country who issued the letter of marque. In effect, privateers were legal pirates, at lest legal in regards to the countries they worked for. There were many privateers, but the most famous was Sir Francis Drake.

Of course, people started attacking more ships that just those that they were commissioned for. And in times of peace, the pirates just kept going even though their country of hire was not requesting them to attack more ships.

Then, in 1630 a treaty was signed with Spain that allowed the English and French to colonize some of the lands along the Spanish Main. Many of the European settlers wound up on the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic). One of the main sources of food on the island was wild pigs originally introduced by the Spanish. The settlers barbecued the pigs on open fires called buccans or boucan. From this the settlers eventually got the title buccaneers. The Spanish became nervous over the many buccaneers on Hispaniola and sent hunters to slaughter the pigs. This backfired as the buccaneers, with their food supply gone, turned to piracy to meet their needs. Many of the buccaneers, who also referred to themselves as the "Brethren of the Coast," moved to the island of Tortuga, off the coast of Hispaniola and it became a pirate stronghold. Its fresh water, fertile ground, good anchorages and defensible harbors made it ideal for their needs. However, around 1700 the supply of gold from the new world to Europe began dwindling and there were not as many ships to attack. Piracy began to die out.

It experienced a breif resurgence when in 1713 the Treaty of Utrecht brought an end to the War of Spanish Succession. Suddenly there were thousands of seamen unleashed from military service and few jobs. Many went to sea again as pirates. It is from this period that some of the most famous pirate captains emerged: Captain Kidd, Black Bart Roberts, Calico Jack and, of course, Blackbeard.

As a result, there is no real answer to who the first pirate was... it depends more upon the definition of pirate and which period is being discussed.

Answer 2

Christopher Columbus

Answer 3

Would be impossible to say. Pirating has been around for as long as man has been going to sea.

Answer 4

Noah

Answer 5

Davy Jones!

Answer 6

I don't think your daughter can use it but I would say Noah.

Answer 7

If we are talking about actual pirates then I think it was black beard....