Pirate+Ships


 * The Bireme**

The bireme was used by pirates and many navies for almost 900 years. Some of the first pirates in history used this ship, they were called the sea peoples. Later, Cretan pirates used the ships. Even Pompey the Great used a form of the bireme. Through the years, Romans upgraded the ship and eventually it evolved into the trireme, which had more ores to increase speed. Then they evolved into lembos which had even more ores for even more speed. After that, the bireme was made into a hemiola which was agile and fast because of its light weight, many oars, and its sail. Then they made faster open-decked ships to hunt down pirate ships, and these were called triemiolas.

By: Dalton

During the early Middle Ages, the knorr was the most common ship used. The had a single sail and came to tip at each side to cut right through the water. As trading grew, piracy also did, and because of that a new more upgraded knorr evolved. It was called the cog, and it had an enclosed deck to protect cargo and a rudder on the stern. Later, the cog increased in size and had platforms for fighting, making it a basis for all warships to come. Another ship of the medieval times was the caravel. It was powered by a sail, and it was lightly built which made it fast and agile. Like the cog, it also had platforms, but it was not considered a warship. Next, the carrack was built. It had some of the earliest artillery and huge platform for fighting.
 * Medieval Ships[[image:arrrpirates/knorr_under_sail.jpg width="185" height="155" align="left" caption="The knorr" link="@http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/norse_ships.htm"]]**

By: Dalton

The Sloop is the main ship of the 17th and 18th century. The name actually applies to a large group of ships, all of them with a single mast. They were the largest single type of ship in the Caribbean and American waters. It could reach up to 12 knots, and it could carry 75 men and 14 small guns in the 17th century. In the 18th century, it could carry more guns, and the American century sloop could carry only 8 small guns. The Brigantine could carry 100 men and 12 small guns.The Sloop was one of the most common ships, and is still used today.
 * The Scoop on the Sloop**

By: Cierra

**The Elizabethan Era: The Golden Hind**  A galleon was a popular war and cargo ship of the Elizabethan era. A regular galleon could weigh up to 500 tons and could displace up to 1200 tons. There were smaller versions of the galleon, but these weren’t considered true galleons. The Golden Hind was a ship of the Elizabethan era built for racing and captained by Sir Francis Drake. It fought a small galleon named Cacafuego, and won getting one richest hauls of pirate booty ever. The Golden Hind was about 75ft long, 25ft wide, and weighed in at around 120 tons. She carried 18 guns. The English race-built Golden Hind was much faster and sleeker, allowing it to out maneuver other bulkier galleons.

By: Dalton

The Junk is shrouded in mystery. Who built it? Why is it called the “Junk?" No one really knows who built it, but legend has it that Emperor Fu Hsi, the child of a sea nymph, taught the Chinese how to build the Junk during the Han Dynasty, and they have been using it ever since, especially the pirates in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth century. It was called the 'junco' by the Portuguese. The word junco is based on the Indonesian word, djong, which means ship. Junco eventually transformed into Junk.
 * The Junk**

By: Dalton and Cierra

The galley was a long, lean ship with a narrow hull mainly used by Barbary pirates. It was light and quick, able to take advantage of winds with its lateen sails, but most of its power came from a maximum of thirty oars. The oars took a couple of men apiece to row the boat. It was narrow so that when the pirates fired the cannons in the bow, the enemies had a smaller target. The galley was not good for rougher waters, as it had low sides. The name “Galley” actually refers to a number of ships, most with oars. The galley I described above is the most used design of that type of ship.
 * The Gab about the Galley**

By: Cierra

The Whydah was a ship owned by Samuel Bellamy, one of the more famous ship wrecks found off of Cape Cod. It weighed three hundred tons, had twenty-eight guns, and could carry over one hundred men. Bellamy captured it from a British slave trader, who used it to carry cloth, liquor, hand tools, small weapons, slaves, crew, and other things. The slave trader was believed to have carried up to seven hundred men on deck, including crew. The slave trader took people from West Africa and carried them to the Caribbean. It was able to do thirteen knots. Under Bellamy, the Whydah was used to plunder other ships along the east coast of America. The Whydah came to a terrible fate on April twenty-sixth, 1717, when it fell prey to a vicious storm.
 * Why the Whydah?**

By: Cierra

Many people know about the famous Blackbeard and his ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge. What a lot of people don't know is what type of ship it was, or how Blackbeard got it. The Queen Anne's revenge was a sloop, a former French slave ship that used to be named 'La Concorede.' Blackbeard captured it off the island of Martinique, which is located in the Caribbean. It had sixteen cannons, weighed two hundred tons, and had a crew of seventy five under Blackbeard. Scientists know where Blackbeard’s ship was wrecked, and they have found the remains of the ship. It is located off the coast of North Carolina. They have even brought up the cannon of the Queen Anne's Revenge.
 * Queen Anne's Revenge**

By:Cierra