Robbery on high seas

Pirates are scary but colourful characters who can be found in real life as well as in the movies

Pirates are robbers. They live in boats and rob ships. Long ago there were many pirates. They can still be found today. They sail off the coast of Africa, South America and Asia. Sometimes pirates are called different names, like buccaneer (buck-can-neer), privateer (pry-vat-teer) or corsair (kor-sair).

Famous real pirates

Blackbeard was one of the most scary pirates. His real name was Edward Teach. He used to tie a rope in his hair. Then he would set the rope on fire. He died in 1718.

Ching Shih is also known as Zheng Yi Sao. She was a woman pirate in the 1800s. She married a famous pirate king, Zheng Yi. When he died, she took over his ships. She robbed ships and towns from Macau to Guangdong. In 1810, she agreed to stop being a pirate.

In the movies