Pirate Discourse

[Sir_Catherine]

This is inspired by my own questions and by various comments made in Kitty's bad persona thread.

First off, I'll admit my very limited knowledge of pirates. Second, I'll be clear I've no wish to create a pirate persona for myself, just to better understand pirates in an SCA context.
My only experience with SCA and pirates has been a poor one. Too much I note pirate personas as excuses for ill behavior with little regard to actual history.

So, my questions...

When and where are pirates valid in an SCA context? Ie, when in history and where geographically?

What would their craft be like? Someone mentioned being unable to watch pirate movies due to the ships being shown, okay, what would a real SCA pirate ship look like?

What weapons would they use? What weapons common to the general image are out of period and what are in period?

What would their garb be like? I'm assuming metal spiked leather of the Hot Topic variety and tri-corner hats of the Jack Sparrow variety are not it.

Just when and where does the general modern connotation of pirate emerge from? I'm guessing colonial times and Euro-colonial trade, but correct me if I'm wrong.

Please, feel free to post your own questions and to answer the ones you are able. More questions of my own may follow.  

[Out to the Black]

Well pirates have existed pretty much as long as sea trade so they are definatly in period. However, the modern conception af what a pirate looks like (influenced heavily by Hollywood) is actually from the 18th century so they're a little out of period. They are also very popular.  

[MorganOfCalafia]

Pirates have been around since the first ships so you could call Vikings pirates. The golden age of piracy, which is what we see in Hollywood with Edward Teach Anne Bonny, Marry Reed, blah blah blah, is out of period. My goal with my ship is to be as period as possible. I've looked at Grace O'Malley a bit and she's Elizabethan but my crew and I want to do at least a bit earlier than that.  

[Not-So-Sweet Transvestite]

I spent two hours writing out a fascinating and well documented reply which Gaia totally ate. Sadly, you get none.

Long story very short, most of what we think of as pirate is 17th and 18th century, there are decent pirates in the SCA (though some are "with" the SCA not "in" the SCA and may fall slightly outside our period), and there's a difference between pirate personas and pirate movie fans. Give it a couple years and you'll see the pirate movie fans disappear, god willing. It's like when Braveheart came out everyone needed to be a misinformed highlander. It'll pass.  

[Sir_Catherine]

Bad Gaia! I already knew movies aren't the reality, but aside from confirming this no one seems ready to say what a pirate in period is. I appreciate the fact you wrote it all out, even if it didn't get posted!  

[Out to the Black]

Sorry for the lack of helpfulness, I only know enough to know that pirates did, in fact, exits. It's not something I've researched. I'll have to ask some of my piraty friends if they've got some info for you.  

[(((rasberry~kimiko)))]

Um...I'm no expert in pirates, I actually opened this in hopes of learning more. On the subject of garb and equipment, though, I would guess and have always heard that pirates wear and use what is typical of the period they live in...any definitively pirate garments/equipment would give them away. I can confirm that the modern image of a pirate does come from colonial times, though. Sorry to be so unhelpful.  

[Sir_Catherine]

I'm getting the sense that "pirate", properly done, is more of an occupation than a look. Ie the garb, weapons and ships would be pretty similar to those otherwise used in a culture/place/time but unlike honest merchants the ship would be used for piratical purposes, and thus the crew would be pirates. Is this a safe basis on which to judge SCAdians who call themselves pirates? Essentially expect that they generally represent the look of the time and place they say they are of and that their persona's line of 'work' is what sets them apart?

This almost seems to simply an explanation, but it's a notion I thought I'd bring up. To go this route would be to say there is no general pirate look. It rather pulls the rug out of what I think most "pirate" personas are looking for, but would allow for true to history style SCA pirates.  

[Out to the Black]

That actually sounds like a reasonable idea but you might want to also consider that a pirate would, by definition, be a seafaring sort so the garb of more legitamate sailors might be somewhere to look. Trading vessels, and the like. The clothing and manner of merchant in Rome might be rather different than those of the captain whose boat carries him exotic spices, even though they're both Italian. And said captain's apparel would be different again from that of the hands on his ship, who probably don't dress much like farmers. At least not while they're actually working.

Another thing to consider is Privateering. If you were a privateer, you didn't have to hide what you were in the country that sanctioned you even though you were still a pirate to everyone else.