Pirates! by Susan Brownrigg

My book Kintana and the Captain's Curse is inspired by the 'Golden Age of Piracy' between the 1650s and the 1730s. Many people associate pirates with the Caribbean because of the famous theme park ride and film series - but did you know they also inhabited a small island off the coast of Madagascar!

Ile Sainte Marie - or Nosy Boraha in Malagasy - was home to 1500 pirates at the height of the golden age, and some may even have been buried on the island as the cemetery features headstones engraved with skulls and crossbones!

Pirate cemetery, Ile Sainte Marie, Madagascar

Pirates who stayed on the island include David Williams, Thomas White, John Every, Thomas Tew and best known William Kidd - who inspired the plot of my book.

William Kidd

William Kidd was born in Dundee, Scotland in 1655. He was employed as a pirate hunter but apparently wasn't very good at finding pirates so his crew grew mutinous and forced him to turn pirate! 

Kidd and his crew captured a ship called Quedah Merchant along with her cargo of silks, opium, iron and saltpeter (a vital ingredient in gunpowder) and renamed her The Adventure.

Unfortunately they soon learned that the ship was rotten and leaky so they stripped her of anything valuable then deliberately scuttled (sunk) her off the coast of Madagascar.

Later, Kidd asked the English authorities for a pardon, blaming his crew for his actions. This was granted and he sailed to Boston, America but on arrival he was arrested! Kidd was taken back to England to face trial. The evidence was heard really quickly and he was found guilty of several counts of piracy and of murdering one of his crew.

He was sentenced to hang. On the day of his execution the rope snapped on the first attempt - but the second try was successful. Kidd's body was placed in a gibbet and was placed at the entrance to the River Thames as a warning to others not to turn pirate.

Treasure hunters and divers continue to search around Ile Saint Marie for the wreck of Kidd's ship and any of his booty!

Captain Kidd with his buried treasure
from Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates

The second pirate who inspired by book is Blackbeard! Originally from Bristol, Blackbeard's real name is traditionally reported to be Edward Teach although some researchers think it may actually have been Edward Thatch!

His nickname came from his long black beard, which may have reached down to his waist! He used to tie tapers into his beard and hair and light them so smoke would billow around his head during attacks on other ships - making him look terrifying!

In 1718 Blackbeard had accrued a flotilla of ships and he used them to blockade the harbour near Charlestown and during one week he attacked nine ships as they left, and plundered them.

The local governor sent Lieutenant Maynard to capture Blackbeard. Maynard told his men to hide below deck, so when Blackbeard and his crew came on board they ambushed them.

In a man-to-man battle with Maynard, Blackbeard received five gunshots and 25 stab wounds, before he died from his injuries.

After his death, his head was chopped off and hung from his ship as a warning to others not to become pirates. A story began to spread that his headless body had been swimming around his ship looking for his head!

This woodcut from 1725 featured in Charles Johnson's book A General History of the Pyrates features the famous Jolly Roger flag and shows a skull and crossbones.

Charles Johnson's book included lots of stories that may or may not have been true, but which had a big influence on how people think of pirates ever since. It particularly inspired Robert Louis Stevenson to write Treasure Island and J M Barrie to write Peter Pan - two very successful pirate books for children.

Individual pirates designed their own flag. Blackbeard was said to use this flag featuring a horned skeleton - perhaps representing the devil - spearing a heart. In his hand is an hour glass. The message seems to be something like Your time is up! You're going to die!

Among the crew named as working for Blackbeard was a pirate called Israel Hands. Israel features in Treasure Island and is thought to be based on a real person.

Israel Hands depicted by Howard Pyle

He is the third pirate who inspired my book. It is said that Blackbeard shot Israel Hands in the knee and when asked why, the captain said "if he did not now and then kill one of them they would forget who he was!"

An injury like that, may well have led to an amputation. Israel was said to have later become a beggar in London - though in my book I have given him a reprieve and he is running a pet shop on Ile Sainte Marie with his daughter Kintana.

WRITING CHALLENGE: A lot of pirate stories feature a hunt for buried treasure - with clues on a map. Can you design your own map? What features will you include? A harbour, a fortress, secret caves? Don't forget to mark a big X where your treasure is located. You can use your map to plot out your own treasure hunt adventure!

Susan Brownrigg is the author of Kintana and the Captain's Curse, and the Gracie Fairshaw mystery series. (Uclan Publishing)

Find out more at susanbrownrigg.com

Evolution, extinction and the island of Madagascar by Susan Brownrigg

Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world but 600 million years ago it was part of a super continent called Gondwana!

Today the island is only 250 miles from the east coast of Africa and is very special because of its biodiversity with approximately 90% of its plants and animals being endemic - not naturally found anywhere else in the world.

 The island of Madagascar is now 250 miles off the east coast of Africa

The island is probably best known for its lemurs - these prosimians are primates that evolved before monkeys and apes. They range from the tiny mouse lemur, to the bouncy sifaka to the strange nocturnal aye-aye.

Lemurs - along with other animals and plants are thought to have reached the island after it broke away from Africa. Some may have used a land bridge that is thought to have sunk into the Mozambique Channel 40 million years ago, while others may have crossed on natural rafts such as hollowed out tree trunks.

 The aye-aye is a nocturnal lemur. Illustration by Jenny Czerwonka.

The island had many different habitats and as they spread out, over time they slowly adapted to their new environment and developed into new species. In evolutionary biology this is called adaptive radiation - just like with Darwin's Galapagos finches.

An estimated 2,000 years ago the first humans arrived on Madagascar. The island was very different to today and was mainly forest. Those early settlers would have seen dwarf hippopotamus, giant tortoise, huge 'elephant birds' and 16 species of giant lemur all which are sadly now extinct.

The giant lemurs including one that was as big as a gorilla that browsed the ground for food and another similiar to a huge koala as well as the giant sloth lemur that hung from tree branches!

Evidence of these 'megafauna' is known because of found fossilised bones. But in 2020 an international team of scientists including Dr David Burney and Dr Julian Hume made a very exciting discovery in Western Madagascar - a cave painting which seems to include an image of a giant sloth lemur!

This cave painting is believed to depict a giant sloth lemur © Burney et al 2020

 

There were several species of elephant bird (aepyornis) that were three metres tall! Their eggs were bigger than those of the dinosaurs and fragments of shell can still be spotted in the south of the island.

 

 Elephant Bird by illustrator Jenny Czerwonka

 

These enormous birds are believed to have been hunted to extinction - bones have been found with cut marks evidence of butchery - and their eggs would be an important source of food too. The eggs are bigger than a human egg and are the equivalent of 180 chicken eggs!

 

WRITING PROMPT: There are lots of creature feature films featuring gigantic animals on the rampage including Godzilla, King Kong and Tarantula! Can you create your own mammoth sized beast? Will it be a megasnail, a ginormous bat or a huge goldfish! What chaos would your creature cause?

 

Susan Brownrigg with her replica elephant bird egg

 

Susan Brownrigg is the author of Kintana and the Captain's Curse, and the Gracie Fairshaw series. (Uclan Publishing) Find out more at susanbrownrigg.com 

 

Women's History Month special - female pirates

My pirate book Kintana and the Captain's Curse is about a young girl who helps her ex-pirate pa run a pet shop on Pirate Island, Nosy Boraha, a small island off the north east coast of Madagascar. 

Kintana craves a life at sea - so when she has the chance to join the crew of the Nine Sails a pirate ship - she is thrilled.

There is only one problem - the quartermaster thinks she is a boy, so Kintana must keep up the pretence or risk the wrath of the captain!

Madagascar was used as a hideaway for pirates

Women were often considered bad luck on ship, but there were real female pirates - the best known being Grace O'Malley (Gráinne Ní Mháille), Anne Bonny and Mary Read.

Grace O'Malley (1530 - 1603) is known as the Pirate Queen of Ireland. She was born at Belcare Castle, Westport and grew up on Clare Island, County Mayo. Her father was an Irish Chieftain and Grace's family earned their money from fishing, trading and taxing other fishermen. 

At age 11 she decided to go to sea.

 A statue of Grace O'Malley/Gráinne Ní Mháille

According to legend, her father refused to let her go, warning her long hair would catch in the ship's ropes. In response she cut off her hair, earning her the nickname Gráinne Mhaol - Bald Grace. 

Another story about Grace is that an hour after having her baby while at sea, her ship was attacked by pirates. Grace wrapped her newborn son in a blanket, and went on deck to rally her crew, leading to the capture of the pirate vessel.

Grace travelled as far as Spain and the Isle of Barra in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland on her piracy missions, often stealing cattle on her trips. Between attacks she retreated to her home on Clare Island - a three storey 'tower house' that still exists - Granuaile's Castle.

At age 56, Grace was captured and imprisoned by Lord Bingham, the English Governor who was appointed to rule over Irish territories. She lost much of her power and money as a result.

Grace O'Malley, the Pirate Queen, at an audience
with Queen Elizabeth I at Greenwich Castle.

In 1593, Grace had an audience with Queen Elizabeth I, to petition for the release of her son who had been arrested by Bingham. The Queen granted her requests on condition that she end all rebellion against the crown. But she refused to return land to Grace that Bingham had stolen from her.

Grace is thought to have died in her early 70s around 1601-1603. She is buried in the abbey on Clare Island.

Anne Bonny (left) and Mary Read disguised themselves as men

Most of what is known about Anne Bonny and Mary Read comes from the book A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates by Captain Charles Johnson, first published in 1724.

 

 Anne Bonny

Anne Bonny was born near Cork in Ireland. Her father was an attorney at law, her mother was his  family's maid! When news of the scandal broke, her father left his wife and went to Carolina in America with Mary and her mother where he became a successful merchant.

Anne was said to have a violent temper and Captain Johnson says she killed an English servant maid with a knife. Anne ran off with a young man 'who belonged to the sea and was not worth a groat.'

They took a ship to the Island of Providence. There Anne met the pirate John 'Calico Jack' Rackam nicknamed for the cotton clothing he wore.

Calico Jack

Anne had lost interest in her husband, and was very taken with the pirate so when he suggested they elope together and go to sea with him, in men's clothing, she agreed.

Together they attacked coastal traders and fishing boats until one day they attacked a sloop.

On board Anne met a Dutch sailor and she was very taken with him.

Calico Jack became very jealous and was set to kill them both when it was revealed that the sailor was in fact an Englishwoman in disguise. Her name was Mary Read.

Mary Read

Mary Read was born in England. The book tells the story of how her mother disguised Mary as a boy after the death of her brother to deceive her mother-in-law into providing a crown a week in maintenance.

At age 13, Mary was put to work as a footboy, then later gained a place on board a man-of-war, In Flanders she became a cadet with a foot regiment, before switching to a cavalry regiment.

Mary fell in love with a Fleming comrade and they were later married, but their happiness was shortlived as her husband died a short time later.

Dressing in male clothing, she joined a vessel bound for the West Indies - the ship was taken by English pirates who kept Mary with them.

Mary Read slays a fellow pirate in a duel.

 

Anne, Mary and Calico Jack were all captured in Jamaica in 1720 and put on trial for 'piracies, robberies and felonies.'

All three, along with eight other members of Jack's crew, were sentenced to be executed. Both women then 'pleaded their bellies,' - they were both pregnant.

Mary sadly died before her baby was born. No record of Anne's execution has ever been found - perhaps her wealthy father was able to secure her release.

Susan Brownrigg is the author of Kintana and the Captain's Curse, and the Gracie Fairshaw series. (Uclan Publishing)

Find out more at susanbrownrigg.com