Pirates: What Was Life Really Like During the Golden Age?

Ever wondered what life was REALLY like for pirates during the Golden Age of Piracy in the late 17th and early 18th century? Historian Luke Tomes is on a mission to find out, boarding a 17th Century replica Spanish Galleon to learn more about the world of trade in which piracy was born and what conditions were like for sailors at the time. Luke then is given behind-the-scenes access to the National Maritime Museum's new exhibition on Piracy, seeing some of the most priceless artefacts relating to the Golden Age, including one of the first editions of 'A General History of Pyrates', published in 1724 and written by Captain Charles Johnson. In it we see some of the first depictions of the most notorious pirates in history, like Blackbeard, Bartholomew Roberts, Anne Bonny and Mary Read. Finally, Luke travels to AC Sporting Targets in North London, where he meets up with John Hargreaves to test some of the weapons that would have been used by and against pirates during a raid at sea. Visit the National Maritime Museum to see their new exhibition on 'Pirates': https://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/nation... Check out the El Galeon Andalucia: https://www.fundacionnaovictoria.org/... and AC Sporting Targets: https://www.acsportingtargets.com/ You can now become a History Hit member right here on YouTube! Join for access to a new exclusive documentary every week, and access to over 160+ of our documentaries presented by world renowned historians like Dan Snow, Eleanor Janega, Tristan Hughes, Mary Beard, Matt Lewis and more. Get an exclusive release every week by signing up here: https://bit.ly/45Y4Oyg #pirates #goldenageofpiracy #realhistory 00:00 Introduction 01:45 Pirate Ship: El Galeon Andalucia 06:15 Below Deck 08:17 Pirate Raids 11:30 Who Were Pirates? 13:09 Pirate Objects: Pipes, Dice, Gambling Tokens 14:59 The Pirate Code: Bartholomew Roberts 16:44 Pirate Objects: 17th C. Flintlock Pistol 18:58 Pirate Weapons 21:22 Captain Willian Kidd 22:39 Firing Flintlock Pistol 28:23 Firing Musket 32:21 Firing Blunderbuss 37:16 Firing Swivel Gun 42:42 The General History of Pyrates (1724) 45:44 Anne Bonny and Mary Read 47:35 Edward Teach (aka 'Blackbeard') 49:22 Conclusion