For thousands of years, pirates of various sorts have preyed on innocent ships at sea. Their exploits have been documented by the likes of Cicero and Homer in ancient Rome and Greece, and Vikings were once the scourge of the sea, plaguing seaside towns throughout the middle ages. However, the bloodthirsty pirates most commonly portrayed in movies and books today are those from the Golden Age of Piracy—that is, the 16th and 17th centuries.
Walking the Plank:
The phrase itself, “walking the plank”, dates back to 1769, with the first documented reference being when a seaman named George Wood confessed to a chaplain that he had made several men “walk the plank.” However, while the confession certainly took place, whether or not Wood actually made people walk the plank is still open to debate, owing to the lack of direct evidence.
Truth Revealed:
In the “Hollywood” representation of this Golden Age of Piracy, the standard way to kill anyone aboard a pirate ship is to simply make the individual “walk the plank”.
Pirates did make people walk the plank every now and then, but historical records seem to indicate the practice was extremely rare. In fact, pirates preferred not to kill their victims. If they gained a reputation for killing everyone on board of every ship they took, crew members would simply fight to the death every time a group of pirates hopped on deck. That would be an awful lot of work for the pirates, who usually just wanted to take the gold and run. If they did need to get rid of someone, it was much faster to simply push them overboard rather than set up a plank and have them do it themselves.
There are known instances of pirates having people walk the plank, with the generally accepted reason behind this practice simply being that the pirates did it to amuses themselves on those rare occasions there actually was time for it.
As to some specific other examples of pirates having people walk the plank, one of the more well-known cases was on board the Dutch ship Vhan Fredericka. In 1829, pirates boarded the ship near the Virgin Islands and murdered almost every crew member by tying cannonballs to their feet and having them walk overboard. However, all in all, there are only about five cases of “walking the plank” that can be definitively proven by historical records. It’s possible that other instances occurred that were not recorded or whose records have been lost to time, but most likely the practice wasn’t nearly as commonplace as fiction would lead you to believe.
The Cache:
In true pirate fashion, the treasure must be searched for. The cache is a small treasure chest with the sought after booty inside. The treasure is about 20-25 feet NorthWest of GZ. Be careful, there is potential traffic traffic and possible muggles nearby, keep an eye on the kids and pets.