Disclaimer: Below is a “tale” of the doom of the Carribean Pirates. This whole story is not a historical fact but another pirate tale where the facts are told like a fairy tale. The implied similes are simply perspectives rather than facts and the perspectives are not necessarily the “popular” or “true” versions. Please take in the story with a grain of salt. The references and examples are only done to make the story more interesting rather than factual. Some believe in the tales and some do not. Here is our story.

Once upon a time,

For over a century, (late 1500s to late 1600s) the Carribean was full of pirate ships. The pirates ran their own distinct code of law in every ship. It was an honor code of sorts with common themes in the Carribean . It covered benefits for the people who lost limbs, punishments and loot sharings in writing. The world was a happy world for the average pirate at the time. In late 1500s and early 1600s, British, French and the Dutch were perfectly content on letting pirates run under their flags to loot the Spain’s Treasure Fleet and cities. There were many small cities that became pirate safe havens.

The nations awarded the early pirates for sharing their Spanish loots with land, money and nobility ranks. The old pirates started their own plantations and created their own lands and became the governors of their old safe heavens in many cities such as Tortuga, Port Royal and Curacao that became the hubs of the Carribean. The old pirates realized the value of taxation of merchants and pirates “legally” rather than risking their lives in the open seas. They gave pirates, for a fee, “letter of marque”s as a legal warrant to pillage Spanish Main. Though, this revenue by itself was not enough. They formed military alliances to control trade routes and revenue sources. They banned ex-compatriots from these routes to protect their income sources. They broke the pirate code that they adhered to in their earlier lives by allying themselves with the old enemy, the governor of Havana, representative of Spain in the Carribean. The Havana Governor, encouraged by these “lawful” allies decided to make the Carribean a hell for the pirates. The old pirate code was broken again as the pirates of the sea lined up to reap whatever little prize money is there from Havana and became pirate hunters.

By early 18th century, the monopoly and stranglehold of the main powers (nations) was so strong, the old days became tales like a Hollywood movie. The veteran pirates cried in the slump bars of Port Royal over their glory days. Desperate for even a mirage of victory, they even started to cheer for the rich “innocent” merchant gaming the “evil” Spain’s economic system as if they were re-living the good old days of pillaging. The Spanish power was also in decline living its own sunset in the hands of the corrupt aristocracy and merchant class. At the end, the pirate code became nothing but a great Hollywood movie where the good guys do no evil.