Pirates – Simple sailors or brutal thieves? | DW Documentary
Pirates of the high seas still enjoy a romantic image, today. Many legends surround the most famous buccaneers. But who were these men? Simple sailors or brutal thieves? How did they live? This film journeys back in time for answers.
The period between 1690 and 1730 is considered the golden age of piracy. Pirates continue to occupy a special place in the legends of sea adventure: As romantic figures and heroes of stories, pirates still enjoy a positive image today.
But does this image — shaped by Hollywood and fiction — correspond to reality? So far, only a few wrecks of pirate ships have been located and little is known about the everyday lives of the crews. On Mauritius, and in the bay of the Sainte Marie Island off Madagascar, two research missions are seeking concrete answers to these questions.
Archaeologists are exploring the remains of the “Speaker”, the ship that belonged to the famous pirate John Bowen, who died 1704. The scientists are also researching traces of his crew’s stays ashore. Until now, the history of piracy was thought to be largely localized in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean; only a few historians suspected the existence of pirates off the coasts of Madagascar.
Over the course of his research in the National Library of France, archaeologist Jean Soulat from the LandArc laboratory in Paris discovered documents that led his ideas in new directions — and turned his previous ideas about piracy on their heads. He decided to put together an international research team of archaeologists and historians to conduct further study. For the first time, numerous aspects of pirates‘ daily lives – on land, and on the water — are being recreated.
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Video “Pirates – Simple sailors or brutal thieves? | DW Documentary” was uploaded on 04/12/2025 by DW Documentary Youtube channel.