Comment on Makes sense
Dasus@lemmy.world 1 day agoIf you got a pile of gold, you have something of inherent value, which you could, for instance melt down into bars.
If you have something worth a lot of money, you’ll always find someone to buy it.
You’re really thinking more like someone having stolen the Mona-Lisa in the 21st century than pirates plundering raw wares and possibly some valuables.
Hell a bit more than a hundred years ago a servant could rather easily, if they wanted, just steal all the jewelry and valuables of their mistress and if they actually went further than like 100 miles from where they stole them, the chances of getting caught would be quite small. Or especially if they were actually a professional thief and knew a fence.
But pirated didn’t need to worry about any of that.
They’d just sail into a pirate haven, basically proto-anarchist societies, and they weren’t in short supply either.
shalafi@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
Meh, we’re mostly on the same page. I wasn’t thinking so much of legit authorities acting. More like someone will want to steal that gold. Best to keep it on the down low, dole it out slowly, kinda like money laundering. Avoiding the thugs vs. avoiding the authorities? Am I making sense? I have no idea any more.
Dasus@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
Sort of but not really. For instance a pirate ship might plunder a. merchant ship full of silk and calico and a tiny bit of gold and silver. They’d share the gold and silver, according to the articles, ie the rules of the ship. (Which were pretty strict at times, like boy’s boarding school strict.)
Then they’d sail into a favourable port, a pirate haven, like Port Royal. Sell the silk and calico, share the profit with the crew, then prolly spend some of it while the boat resupplies and then cast off to find another ship to raid.