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Pirate parties How were their entertainments?
Pirates lived from day to day and their parties were as brutal as they were. They had no limits when it came to eating or getting drunk. They didn’t mind spending everything they had.
Their wild amusements and their follies on beaches and in harbors
After spending many days locked up in a ship, without setting foot on dry land, pirates and sailors disembarked like crazy. Games, revelry and pirate parties on the beaches of the Caribbean islands.
A life of debauchery: drinking anything, smoking or chewing tobacco, prostitutes, … All these pirates were waiting for their chance to get rich. But Spain did not make it easy for them. The system of Spanish galleon fleets was very effective for many centuries, because of the security of not losing ships in the crossing to and from America.
Lovers of wild life and excesses
Pirates and their paradisiacal islands, gambling, squandering, the game of dice, the game of cards, brothels …
Nowadays, parties are still famous in places with beaches, usually islands in the Caribbean Sea. Areas such as Cartagena de Indias in Colombia, Cuba Island, Jamaica Island (Port Royal), Bahamas Islands, Tortuga Island, are places with the best beaches in the Caribbean and associated with music and fun. Fun for all ages even for the little ones, with Disney Cruises with pirate fun for children.
Drugs, gambling and women
Knowing and taking advantage of the winds was essential for sailing.
A life to do whatever they wanted, without limits. Once the party started, it was better not to bump into them. Herds of drunken pirates would arrive in Jamaica, looking for taverns and whorehouses.
They took all the drugs they could get their hands on, had fun with all the games and searched like crazy for prostitutes.
Living your last fun
They were having fun like desperate madmen
After weeks or months, searching for prey or fleeing inside a boat, in terrible conditions, their dream was to reach dry land and have fun.
They dreamed of doing everything that could not be done on a ship, which was almost everything. If they had been lucky enough to get a good haul, they thought only of spending it quickly. They had no time to waste. Perhaps in the next boarding they would not survive. Arriving ashore soon the pirate games began, the animation was explosive. They needed to have fun as if it were the last time.
Desperate abandon
As soon as they arrived at the port, pirate animation and debauchery was the norm. And like desperate madmen they got drunk, gambled, fornicated, fought, etc.
Usually the booty came from some merchant ship they captured. It was good business.
But the pirates were never able to defeat the Spanish fleet system that worked very well for centuries, a fleet of merchant ships was protected by huge war galleons that closed their battle formation when any ship approached.
Drinking alcohol and in large quantities
In desperate search for alcohol
They drank anything with alcohol in it, especially rum, beer and wine. Drinking and in large quantities was their desire.
Some, when ashore, were hardly ever sober, from the frequent drunkenness they took. For this reason it was not strange that they lost everything they had obtained in the distribution of the last booty.
Tobacco smoking or chewing
Smoking was not allowed on ships because of its danger.
The ships of the time were made of wood, so it was dangerous to light a fire on them. It was forbidden to light a fire on them. They only did it for cooking, and only when the sea was calm and there was no storm in sight.
Like the sailors of the time, they were content to chew tobacco, rather than smoke it. When they came ashore, they usually looked for pipe tobacco and smoked like crazy.
They were looking for the company of prostitutes
They sought the presence of women when arriving in port in the islands, especially Jamaica and the Bahamas, which were protected by England.
Women were not allowed on board ships. The sailors of the time were very superstitious and believed that a female presence on board would bring them bad luck.
Actually what it caused, was a huge amount of fights between them, because of these skirt issues. That is why it was forbidden to avoid serious problems.
When arriving at the port, women were allowed on board. So waiting in the ports were plenty of women eager to help spend the pirates’ booty.
Paradise and fantasy islands
Parties with rum and women on the beaches
The Caribbean, with its many islands, with wonderful beaches, was paradise for everyone. An ideal place to party with an abundance of women and alcohol.
As not all ports admitted the pirates, they had to go to their shelters, where they were safe, so they could organize their parties and orgies. The island of Jamaica, under English control, did admit them and gave them all the facilities to settle there, with their ships. It was a way of joining forces against a possible Spanish invasion of the island.
Generally they were sparsely populated islands, but they used to have the essentials, and governed by the pirates themselves. One example was Tortuga Island, where a Pirate Republic was maintained for almost 80 years.
Like crazy for betting
The forbidden game on board, they gambled it all away
Because of the fights, and possible cheating, it was not allowed to play on the ships. Although sometimes they looked the other way, so that they could have a little fun, if they had been on board for a long time.
They would soon do so when they left the ship. When they came ashore with a good haul, they gambled with huge amounts of money. They always lived on the edge, and did not mind risking their fortune, because they could lose their lives in any boarding, or street fight.
Uncontrolled waste of gold
They made their whims come true and at the moment they were
They spent large amounts of the booty, on things of little value, but which they coveted. The merchants awaited the arrival of the pirates, since they did not care about the real price of the objects. They bought without caring about the price, if they liked something very much.
The Dice Game
With huge stakes between them
A very popular and very common game was to play with wooden DICE. A simple game, but surrounded by emotion, and more if they had many glasses too many.
In a short game they lost large parts of the loot. A very exciting game if you bet money. A simple game where luck is fundamental.
The Deck of Cards game
Illustrated playing cards of the period.
The decks of cards of the time were often a good entertainment in the ports. They played sometimes not so peacefully and drinking like possessed. Fights between drunken pirates were common. The taverns where they could enter were full of criminals like them. People without fear of death, willing to risk everything to fulfill some of their whims and desires.
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