Why haven’t we ever heard of Irish pirates? And what happened to them?
The pirates of the Caribbean may be more famous, but they only terrorized the high seas for some 70 years. The pirates of Ireland thrived for something like nearly 14 centuries (that’s 1,400 years!). There are records of Irish pirates attacking Britain and capturing locals going back to 400 CE (just for comparison’s sake, the Talmud Yerushalmi had been written down about 50 years before that). Fast forward to the time of the Mayflower. A massive Irish pirate alliance was just coming to an end…. That’s a lot of pirate history for a country that’s kind of out of the way.
*(See “A Pirate Glossary” below to learn some pirate words.)
The night’s so dark it looks like velvet. Turn toward the sea… see those tiny twinkling lights? I think they’re lanterns!
Lean in, let your eyes search the dark, look closely. Is that a group of men gathered there? Shh! Don’t make a sound, they’ll hear you on the rocky ground.
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