Pirates

Yayyayyayyayyayyayohmygod. Pirates. That would be my thing.-supermegan 

Pirates, seadogs, whatever. Pirates is pirates. Now, when you hear the word pirate, you probably think: hooks, peg legs, eye patches, big hats...and that's all good and well. That era of piracy was the best business they ever had. It was the Caribbean pirates, between the years 1560 and 1720. The business was booming because of conflict between European countries as to where they could settle. Nothing better than to catch a goods ship unawares...

This flag. You're probably very familiar with it, perhaps because of Johnny Depp...? Anyways, this flag belonged to Calico Jack, THE worst pirate ever (in my opinion). He was a sissy, to put it lightly. GIRL pirates were better than him. He gets his name from his odd fetish with calico clothing. Hmm...

The Jolly Roger. The famous pirate flag, used at least once by every ship out there. It says only one thing to passerby..."Death is coming." There are many variations of this flag, such as the one with crossed swords under a skull (You think this wise, crossing blades with a pirate?), and then there's Blackbeard's flag. Picture this: A skeleton, balancing an hourglass in one hand and a spear in the other. The spear is pointing down at a bleeding heart, with three drops of blood dripping, dripping, dripping...Are you scared? You should be.

And now, I have to talk about Blackbeard. He is the most famous pirate ever. Edward Teach was one of his many names. He had over a dozen wives. The name Blackbeard comes from the vicious mass of tangle set upon his face. He liked to stick lit matches in there before battle, for a rush. Yeah...Blackbeard was generally indestructable. He had many bases, the most known of in North Carolina (yay!) He made deals with the governor at the time, so he wouldn't get hung. But that didn't stop the Virginia government. They set out to destroy this man. And that's what they did. There was a river chase. Blackbeard was shot 6 times and stabbed more than seventeen before someone finally cut off his head. Alas, it was the end of the Monster. It is said he buried his many treasures along the coasts of his favorite rivers. Perhaps you've heard the term "X marks the spot." Arr, that be were it came from.

Now, don't get me wrong, pirates are still alive and booming today. They still cause about 13 million dollars in worldwide losses every year. They are more modern, and more dangerous, but pirates is still pirates. The spirit lives on forever.