page_title: Piracy in the Atlantic World
section_title: Origins
hierarchical_section_title: Piracy in the Atlantic World / Pirate demographics / Origins
caption_attribution_description: Pyle's doodle of the carriage of a treasure chest by a pirate and a black man, as they are led by pirate captain William Kidd
context_page_description: Piracy was a phenomenon that was not limited to the Caribbean region. Golden Age pirates roamed off the coast of North America, Africa and the Caribbean.
context_section_description: Geographically, they "left behind little or no property and few documents by their own hands." Most of the pirates were from England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Of that population approximately one-quarter were linked to British port cities like Bristol, Liverpool, and Plymouth. Approximately one-quarter of the populations were associated with men of the West Indies and North America. The others "came from other parts of the world such as Holland, France, Portugal, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, and several parts of Africa."
  Seafaring "became one of the most common male occupations" for Africans and African-Americans in the early 19th century. Black sailors filled about one-fifth of the population at various sea havens. Becoming a pirate offered a choice of other occupations for African-Americans that could improve their conditions. "Africans and African Americans both free and enslaved were numerous and active on board pirate vessels." Some chose piracy because the only other option was slavery. Some black pirates were escaped slaves. Boarding a pirate vessel became a way to escape to the Atlantic North undetected. Escaped slave Frederick Douglass disguised himself in "sailor's garb," and "was able to travel undetected to the North and his freedom." As crewmen, blacks made up part of the "pirate vanguard." They also worked the seafaring trades of "ship building, caulking, and sail making."
caption: Howard Pyle's doodle of the carriage of a treasure chest by two pirates, a caucasian and a black man, as they are led by pirate captain William Kidd
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