Buccaneer Pirates Quiz | Other People

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. When you think of Pirates you think of the Caribbean, white sand beaches, tall ships, brave captains and tricorn hats. This idea comes from the "golden age of piracy". When was this?

Answer: 1650-1730

The "golden age of piracy" was between about 1650 and 1730. At this time piracy was common in the Caribbean.

2. A certain activity that pirates enjoyed was not allowed aboard most ships. Whenever the ship made port they would get involved in it. What was this activity?

Answer: gambling

Gambling was strictly forbidden aboard most pirate vessels and whenever they made port the crew loved to spend their profits on gambling. They also liked drinking and card games, of course. If they were caught gambling on board then they would be severely punished.

3. What year is the first recorded time that the "Jolly Rodger" (skull and crossbones) flag was flown on a pirate vessel?

Answer: 1700

The Jolly Rodger is recorded to have first been flown in the year 1700. It was not actually usually the black background with white skull, typical flag we think of today. It was usually a red flag and sometimes had a skull emblem on it. The Jolly Rodger is believed to have come from the medieval Knights Templar.

They flew a red flag with crossbones on it and when they took up the life of piracy they used the same flag.

4. The pirates had strict rules aboard their vessels. If these rules were broken then the person who violated the rule was punished. They had many punishments, which of these punishments is NOT believed to have been a common punishment used by pirates?

Answer: walking the plank

In fiction walking the plank is a popular pirate punishment, but it was very rarely used. This is odd as walking the plank is the pirate punishment that is the most famous.

Marooning, cat o' nine tails and sweating are all other punishments used aboard a pirate ship. If you were marooned you were left on a small island with no resources. You would be given a pistol so that you could shoot yourself. Cat o' nine tails was a type of whip. It had nine strands of rope knotted the ends. Many men didn't survive this lashing. Sweating is where you were made to run round the mast until you collapsed or possibly even died of exhaustion.

5. Chinese pirates tended to favour a certain type of ship. What was it?

Answer: junk

The junk was a small vessel favoured mainly by Asian pirates. This ship could carry up to 15 cannons.

The other names are all other types of ship used and favoured by pirates and sailors during the golden age of piracy.

6. Pirates had to make port sometimes and they had havens where it was safe for a pirate to go without being arrested. What was the biggest pirate haven during the golden age of piracy until an earthquake destroyed it? (Hint: it was in Jamaica)

Answer: Port Royal

Port Royal was described as "the wickedest city on earth". It was destroyed in 1692 when an earthquake hit, but was swiftly rebuilt. This time it had a stronger governor and a naval influence, this ensured that the pirates would not return. Instead they moved to places like Nassau, Tortuga and Charlestown.

7. Many of the most notorious and feared pirates were women. The earliest of these was a Irish woman known as "Granuaille". What was her real name?

Answer: Grace O'Mally

Grace O'Mally was the famous Irish woman known as "The Pirate Queen" or "Granuaille". She fought for her rights and the rights of her countrymen. She was the only daughter of a sea captain, after he died when she was a teenager; she went to sea, taking command of his ships.

All the others are notorious female pirate captains who were as respected and feared as much (if not more than) their male colleagues.

8. A common alcoholic drink drunk by the pirates was a rum, water, lemon juice and sugar mixture. What was the name given to this drink?

Answer: grog

Grog is the name given to the alcoholic drink of pirates. It is derived from a nickname for an admiral who liked to drink.
Caulker is a stiff glass taken when a drinking bout ends.
Oggins is another name for the sea.
Belay is a word meaning "stop that" or "shut up".

9. There were many positions aboard a ship. One of them was assigned to small boys who had to carry gunpowder to the guns during battle. They were known by what name?

Answer: powder-monkeys

The powder monkeys were eventually promoted to gunner's mate or gunner. That is if they survived! Another job was given to young boys aboard a ship. If they did not become powder monkeys they would become cabin boys. They would do basically any little jobs needing doing aboard the ship.

10. Put these pirate guns in order from largest to smallest.

Answer: musket, blunderbuss, pistol

The musket is the largest of these three guns. Similar to a rifle, this gun took time to load but was an accurate and deadly weapon in the hands of a good pirate.

The blunderbuss is in-between the pistol and the musket. It was good for short range fighting aboard a ship.

The pistol was the favourite small arm weapon of the time. They required some skill to aim and lots of the models were clumsy and hard to aim.

Source: Author ardhoniel

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor DakotaNorth before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Buccaneer Pirates Trivia Quiz

While pirates are a romantic ideal in many films and novels, how much do you know about the real dark history of the true pirates? Aargh! Shiver me timbers, and enter if you dare!

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