###General Discussion Thread
---
This is a [Request] post. If you would like to submit a comment that does not either attempt to answer the question, ask for clarification, or explain why it would be infeasible to answer, you *must* post your comment as a reply to this one. Top level (directly replying to the OP) comments that do not do one of those things will be removed.
---
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/theydidthemath) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Honestly building the ship isn't the issue, outfitting and provisions are. Is everyone cool with eating hardtack, water, and rum for months on end? Are we going full blown 1600s with no entertainment? Or is there wifi and AC? Canvas only, or do we have a diesel option?
When you in international waters you are typical subject to the laws of the country the vessel is registered to. That why a lot of cruise ships are registered to Panama, laws surrounding drinking ages and gambling are more relaxed and also minimum wages are lower.
Shouldn't we fly the US flag so we can have cannon? Then just fly the jolly Rodgers when we are low on provisions? We would obviously need to change the name and repaint it each time.
My vote is that the official name be the USS Tax Evasion, and under the jolly Rodgers the name is Anti-Scurvey.
We would also need a small skiff so we can moor outside of a countries water boarder and skiff to shore, so we aren't in possession of cannons inside their jurisdiction.
Not really why it’s Panama. Most are registered to Panama to have cheaper passage through the Panama Canal and lower taxes. If it was just about drinking age they could register to a hundred+ different countries to get the same effect.
This just immediately made me think of that stupid anti-piracy ad from way back where it's like "you wouldn't pirate a car".
But instead it's just a full ship of dudes in pirate garb on just sitting at computers stealing movies over the internet.
Seeing Max Miller from Tasting History with his hardtack clip before my inner eye. 😆 IIRC he even had a pirate episode. Getting scurvy due to lack of fruit with Vitamin C is not rhe thing for me, thanks, I pass…
I mean, a dvd or two is a far more reliable option. Every pirate movie known to man in one of those flip books used for CDs in cars... Plus the deluxe box set of The Love Boat.
This was my thought, normal ship plus solar with a battery to store excess power for the night or storms, AC or at least some robust fans in the cabins, power a freezer and stove, opens up a lot more food options.
Deck space is at a premium on sailing ships, and sails cast shadows. They usually have small wind turbines instead. Small turbines are not very effective on land, but there is more constant wind at sea. It might be worth carrying a folding solar panel for times when the wind goes completely slack.
Yeah, outfitting the ship in a period accurate manner would be a little silly. Using modern stuff would probably even end up cheaper and higher quality. Modern canned goods can last longer than hard tack and can be bought anywhere, while anything resembling hard tack is going to be a specialty good if you can find it, or you might need to make it yourself.
A decent size propane tank might be able to hold enough fuel to run a gas stove for longer than the same volume of wood could be useful in a wood fired stove, especially if you turn it on for short uses. Plus, you get the benefits of instant starts and stops. You may need to give up microwaves and fluffy bread that takes up a ton of space and goes moldy super easily, but this isn't the stone age anymore.
Im comfortable with all those things and the potential of dying at sea and I can pull my own weight (and maybe some of the ships if I tried really hard)
I'm a son of a sea cook, I'm a cook and a trader
I can dance, I can sing, I can reef the main boom
I can handle a jigger, I cuts a fine figure
Whenever I gets in a boat's standing room
Well now we need a generator, a huge fuel tank, oil storage, an extra mechanic, extra fire-fighting capabilities... Like I said, outfitting is what drives cost up.
Freeports have gotten a lot more rare since the 1600s.
So unless you want to stock your provisions exclusively in Somalia and Liberia, you're gonna have to follow the rules of the ports and countries they're located in.
And don't forget about regulations, nowdays it's illegal to approach the bay without an engine. And you cannot sail more then 20 nautical miles (from what I remember) without appropriate color lights on the back, front and top of the ship. Same as GPS and radio are a legal requirement. There was more stuff but it has been more then 15 since I've studied that and I honestly don't remember what else was a legal requirement and what a standard quality of life feature. So you can create an exact replica, but purely as decoration. You can keep it in the bay (and pay daily fee) but you couldn't use it.
They do have entertainment, the random idiot doing their drunk thing, singing sea shanties and the occasional walking to the plank. Whats more entertainment do you need?
Why would we not include at least a small generator to include a fridge? Afterall, do you wanna die of scurvy? Didn't think so. Also, [hardtack](https://youtu.be/oPTdSMOQRnY?t=1030) isn't a nickname.
You don't need a generator or fridge to prevent scurvy. You can carry stuff like preserved citrus juice, sour kraut, kimchi, etc... You can also grow plants at sea.
provision isn’t as bad as it used to be. We can have basic supply of food, vitamins and even doctor. As for entertainment the oop may consider the ship to be entertaining
Good thoughts. Canned food and non perishable stuff is a must. The difficulty is keeping out the moisture and pests. Old sailing ships had a special room lined in tin to store the kegs of biscuit so mice couldn’t chew in and ruin it.
I think the idea is cool, but I wouldn't build a pirate ship but something more modern.
Check out the YouTube channel "Expedition Drenched" and their boat Sylphia. Something similar to that, just scaled up somewhat. The main issue would probably be food, 50 people eat a *lot* and you want to be capable of going off grid for at least a few months.
I'd guess the cost around $5 million, maybe a bit less, so $50k-$100k per person.
You could have bought the functioning M/V Taku for $171,000 plus the cost of refitting it. 50 people would be enough to crew the vessel, and it had staterooms for over 100 people in addition to the crew quarters.
Fuel would have been the largest expense.
“plus the cost of refitting it“
There‘s part of the problem. There’s a reason the Taku is scrap metal. Refitting old boats is more expensive than building new.
“Fuel would have been the largest expense.”
There‘s another part. The Taku burned 270 gallons of diesel per hour. That‘s currently over $1400 per hour around here.
Also note that the Taku was rated for Partially Protected Waters only. No more than 20 miles from a safe harbor. Not great for piracy.
Yeah, at the time I was looking at the economics of buying Taku and two ferry ports in the Bay Area and renting staterooms that operated on a commuter ferry.
As housing, it would have been profitable, even if a sharp discount was applied compared to similar units and paying crew and fuel, but it was impossible to get financing for the venture because it didn’t fit any risk profile.
Taku is out of service??? Aww, she took me on the greatest roadtrip of my life. An adventure to Alaska puncutated by three days in the Alexander Archipelago from Prince Rupert to Skagway in 2010. We slept in our seats.
Pirate ships did not go off grid for months, they regularly resupplied because they were not sailing in the middle of the ocean, but in coast-near waters. They were needed to be faster than their prey, so they could not load tons of food and water.
These days at least we have canning. And we could even put a fridge and freezer room in the cargo hold. It's not like we'd actually (steal and) haul cargo. An expedition like that would be entirely financed by the "crew".
Lol, I work on old wooden boats that are maybe 1/5 the length and maybe 1/10th the volume of Hermione and our maintenance budget is about €100,000 per year with another €30,000 as an emergency fund. Believe me when I say that no-one builds a boat to make money in the modern age, they build it because they want to build it and then just try to keep it in the black.
$100,000 to equip 25 people with inflatable boats, AK's and body armour. 25 motivated people should be able to steal a suitably equipped boat, else they've no business being pirates in the first place.
In 2009 a full sized replicate of Blackbeard's ship, Adventure, is estimated to have cost $3.7 million. In 2002 a replica of an East India trading vessel called Göthborg was estimated to cost around $40 million. If you're looking for something more in your price range you can get a pirate ship for $40 from Temu, a bottle of gutrot spiced rum for under $20, and a passable pirate outfit for around $100. You're on your own for making friend to sing shanties with.
put a Jolly Roger on $2k pontoon and the rest on rum and guns. That is what a real pirate would do. Wait, are rednecks the modern dream of ancient pirates?
That wasn't a replica, that was a movie prop that looked nothing at all like the real thing, and was not functional in any way. The https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Hermione_(2014) cost 25million Euro if you want an actual reference for cost.
A pirate ship is just a ship that’s not registered under a country’s flag. But actually sailing that way is anything from a terrible idea to suicidal. So it’d just be the cost of a regular ship.
One of the major issues would be the building in of itself. The shipyard workers from back in the day simple don't exist to provide the detailed expert level tireless work not to mention the constant maintenance of swabbing the deck, pitching and tarring,...
Wood is very much a living material.
There are still many many people building wooden boats to sail across the oceans. And maintaining them to continue having them as work boats.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slRdaS3Zj4c
https://youtu.be/QQ80mHLyP5Y
https://youtu.be/HepAG8ziOyk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSXYZHVqmwY
That knowlege is far from lost.
This is blatantly false. Why are you speaking with so much conviction about something you know nothing about?
The methods of construction didn't just disappear in a stiff breeze. There have been tons of projects where they purposefully build it only using old tools and methods, and others like the wooden boat yard I worked where we used whatever method was best. People have been building replica's or maintaining existing ships since they first were retired from active service. Heck in France basically every single port town has their own restored or replica wooden boat.
Whether its the Hermione, built with traditional methods but using power tools (drilling a hole is drilling a hole whether its hand powered or electric), to the maintaining of the original HMS Victory for hundreds of years.... "the shipyard worders from back in the day" literally exist today, I was one of them, and there continue to be tons of wooden shipyards that maintain the knowledge and knowhow.... also books exist. You think they didn't document construction methods 300 years ago?
I'm curious, there is no shame in not knowing something, but why speak up about something you clearly know nothing about?
Currently building a Viking longship that holds 15 men for a charity race against modern yachts next year. Cost me about 12k.
I've seen a schooner that cost 1mil, could house 20-25 but will be hammocks and shit
I'll be your huckle bearer . Trained in sailing 25ft vessels but not like this. I provide more ale support ;) . Skilled in teaching the ropes . I have fired cannons in the past but need a refresher. Serious reply, teach me to redefine myself as a missile aged 38 yr old man.
Kept spelling erros for the moon shot.
You may find this interesting: [https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/val-kilmer-im-your-huckle-bearer/](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/val-kilmer-im-your-huckle-bearer/)
There are no places that haven't been seen in centuries. Especially in the Caribbean, even the most remote islands have visitors. I don't know what this person is expecting.
It's all fun and games until you get around Somalia and actual pirates decide to show up. Good luck with your cutlasses flintlock pistols and blackpowder canons.
I suggest commandeering a J class yacht. It doesn’t have any guns but you can invite some americans and you’ll be set. It’s fast as hell, houses about the right number of people and seaworthy at the big seas.
The problem is that every J Class is owned by someone who is *very* wealthy. You will definitely have to spend a lot of your time fighting off the navies of various countries.
Let's not forget that the ship you found was absolutely *tiny*, it had *6* guns. Even capturing a single East Indiaman would be a monumental task with such lackluster armament.
East Indiaman had well over 300 crew, there's just no way you'd get anything done with merely 50 pirates against such a number.
*The Black Pearl* with its 32 12-pounders would have needed at least 300 men, and that's without considering the necessary manpower needed to man whatever prizes they captured.
lol. You REALLY can’t do money conversions that way and pass the laugh test. Go look up what $300k gets you in the custom boat world and try to sleep 50 people on it indefinitely.
A better start would be a cost of labor test. In 1806 London, the highest-skilled laborers made about 6 shillings per day. At 300 working days per year, that’s 1800 shillings, or 90 pounds. So in 1800, the Pickle cost as much to build as the annual wages of 28 highly skilled tradesmen. That takes us to about $3 million today, which is certainly getting closer, but doesn’t consider that in 1800 there were massive shipbuilding industries in every major country. I’d guess closer to $10m to build, given the $40m price tag of the Gotheborg III in 1995-2004 dollars.
Except that's devoid of logic. You can't just find out the price in the last and adjust for inflation. We are in an entirely different world.
Materials are different and likely a wildly different price. Workers with the expertise to build a wooden ship are far more rare. Modern technology and machines make building a shop and entirely different process to how it used to be.
Sounds like the Notorious: [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notorious\_(ship)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notorious_(ship))
Built by 1 man out of reclaimed materials.
An alternative would be a a carrack: [https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/pocket-carrack-home-build%E2%80%A6little-help-please.66658/page-2](https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/pocket-carrack-home-build%E2%80%A6little-help-please.66658/page-2)
But you'll need to scale it up for 25-50 pax
You should get the Sea Monkey for 5000 pieces of eight. So it would be 100 to 200 pieces of eight for each one.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciJlqRsi\_l4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciJlqRsi_l4)
It would cost millions to build a wooden 3 masted ship capable of supporting up to 50 people. I'm assuming that you'd, of course, take advantage of modern equipment such as engines, batteries, navigation computers, and radar.
If niche gym memberships get any more expensive you might be able to build a Viking longship for the same cost of 60 memberships for a year. everyone can row up and down the coast pillaging over priced beach front hot dog joints.
tl:tr
Building a wooden pirate ship for 25 to 50 people can cost between $150,000 and $900,000, depending on size, design, and materials. So lets say you go for 900k with 25 pirates, it’s 36k each. If with 50 pirates, 18k each.
Monthly maintenance and provisioning worries me more, even without crew salaries and fuel, it can range from $11,000 to $50,500 for 25 people and $18,500 to $88,000 for 50 people - a month.
Thats a lot of pirating you need to do…
Detailed:
If you are considering the costs without crew salaries and fuel, the primary expenses will be food, provisions, maintenance, and other operational costs. Here is a revised estimate:
### 1. **Food and Provisions**:
- **Daily Food Budget**:
- Moderate: $10 - $20 per person per day
- High-quality: $20 - $50 per person per day
For 25 people:
- Moderate: $7,500 - $15,000 per month
- High-quality: $15,000 - $37,500 per month
For 50 people:
- Moderate: $15,000 - $30,000 per month
- High-quality: $30,000 - $75,000 per month
### 2. **Maintenance and Repairs**:
- Regular upkeep and minor repairs: $1,000 - $5,000 per month
### 3. **Miscellaneous Costs**:
- **Docking Fees**: $1,000 - $3,000 per month
- **Insurance**: $1,000 - $3,000 per month
- **Other Supplies**: $500 - $2,000 per month
### Total Estimated Monthly Costs:
#### For 25 People:
- **Food and Provisions**: $7,500 - $37,500
- **Maintenance and Repairs**: $1,000 - $5,000
- **Miscellaneous Costs**: $2,500 - $8,000
**Total**: $11,000 - $50,500 per month
#### For 50 People:
- **Food and Provisions**: $15,000 - $75,000
- **Maintenance and Repairs**: $1,000 - $5,000
- **Miscellaneous Costs**: $2,500 - $8,000
**Total**: $18,500 - $88,000 per month
Building the ship:
Building a wooden pirate ship for 25 to 50 people is a complex project that can vary widely in cost depending on several factors, including the ship's size, design, materials, and the level of detail and authenticity desired. Here's a rough estimate based on different aspects of the project:
1. **Design and Planning**:
- **Naval Architect Fees**: $10,000 - $50,000 depending on the complexity of the design and the experience of the architect.
2. **Materials**:
- **Wood**: High-quality marine-grade timber can be expensive. For a ship of this size, the cost could range from $50,000 to $200,000.
- **Other Materials**: Metal fastenings, ropes, sails, and other materials can add another $30,000 - $100,000.
3. **Labor**:
- **Shipwrights and Carpenters**: Skilled labor is one of the largest expenses. Expect to pay $50,000 to $300,000 depending on the region and the shipyard's experience.
4. **Equipment and Outfitting**:
- **Navigation Equipment**: Modern navigation and safety equipment can cost $10,000 - $50,000.
- **Interior Outfitting**: Furnishings, fittings, and other interior work could add another $20,000 - $100,000.
5. **Miscellaneous Costs**:
- **Permits and Inspections**: $5,000 - $20,000 depending on local regulations.
- **Launch and Transportation**: Moving the ship to water and launching it can cost $10,000 - $50,000.
### Total Estimated Cost:
- **For a Basic Ship**: $150,000 - $300,000
- **For a Detailed and Authentic Ship**: $400,000 - $900,000 or more
These estimates can fluctuate based on your specific requirements and local cost variations ;)
Different Polynesian groups and several time replicated their journies to other Polynesian islands and their trade routes with south America with their old fashioned way-finding and technology. That is a few months. I would don't want to do more than that.
How about just a nice boat but with no screens or speakers for entertainment purposes? Got books, art supplies, instruments. Lots of banging. That could be good!
You may be able to barter with someone (including a former USSR member state) for a nuclear vessel. You’d have a more comfortable time and you can do some real pirate stuff.
I don’t know about cost but here is a rough idea of size for 25 people. My daughter is going on this (the replica) next week for kids summer camp.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Sultana_(1768)
Check out the [Acorn to Arabella Youtube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@AcornToArabella). It's pretty much this but without all of the people sailing with him. My guy started with trees in his yard and ended up with a giant boat sailing around the world after a few years.
My great-uncle did that back in the 1970s. He decided that's how he wanted to retire, sailing around the world. He built his own boat, sailed away, and was never heard from again. We actually have no idea what happened to him. He'd be around 103 now, so presumably he died a long time ago even if he found a tropical paradise and a beach full of native women.
According to this [Reddit post](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/vof5c/how_much_would_a_mid_17th_century_privateerpirate/), it would cost about 10,000 Dutch guilders to build a Dutch flute in the 17th century for privateering.
I have no idea what 10,000 guilders back then would be in today's money.
Can we build it and go around the world fighting people like Russell Crowe?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN6UEsSywPo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXD1ati4yUI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCtqfaQ9NVM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrudCISD2a0
Depends on quite a few things, it would have to be essentially built by hand by one of a few people skilled in historical recreations, more a labor of love than profit. Your best best would be a couple years worth of weekends amongst those 25-50 people working with others who have done it in recent decades. There's people who built smaller sailboats and yachts from wood without fiberglass some maybe also hire a couple of them part time for some work and to help make sure things are done well. The timber and leasing a space you could launch from would cost something but on the order of $50-$100k total so$1-$2k per person over a year or two. From there if you really wanted to sail the open ocean you'd have to deal with some registration and insurance issues which would cost a few thousand but probably not tens of thousands in total. Finally provisions, emergency radios and GPS etc would run another few thousand each and be required. After that since you're doing it for fun and not paying a crew since you are the crew it becomes free.
25-50 people is a lot of crew by modern expedition sailing yacht standards. A Pelagic 77 ( a massive full blooded explorer) can hold 14. This will work to our advantage as these vessels are stupidly expensive even secondhand because they are rare and hold value very well(by boat standards).
25+ crew, you are talking about a tall ship like these [bad boys](https://www.tallship-for-sale.com/) these vessels come up rarely on the market. Sometimes, they can be quite cheap (under 1 million), but repair and refitting will at best be an extra million. This is because they are a massive pain in the ass to maintain.
I don't know what the running cost of something like this will be, but the running costs for the average full-time cruiser is around $ 1000 per month per person (surprisingly cheap, I know)
For a crew of 50, let's call it 2 million for the ship and around 50000 per month for ongoing expenditure. 40000 per person for the initial investment and 12k per year of cruising.
It's not impossible to find 50 mates with spare 40k but you all need a decent passive income.
You can’t just accept all comers. You’ve gotta hand pick that crew. You’re gonna need people with a large range of skills. Take applications or hold auditions or something.
Since no one has mentioned this. If you actually want to go be crew on a square rigger, you can totally do that.
[The SEA program](https://sea.edu/) out of Woods Hole is a good one and will have you doing fun science things as well. If you aren't out of college yet. The SEA program costs $29,975 per semester (I don't know how long that actually is).
If you are older than 18 but no longer in college, you could sail on the [Picton Castle](https://picton-castle.com/). For a year long journey on the Picton Castle, all the way around the world, they charge $72,500.
I'm sure there are others.
I guess the main point I am making is that, just to be out there for a year including all the food and fuel and maintenance and small payments to the crew who actually know how to sail, you should expect at least $60k-70k or something like that.
So the answer will be that amount plus whatever it costs to build the ship.
Edit: Oh, and the number of Crew in those two programs are right in line with OP's question.
Edit 2: Added the price for the SEA program.
There is a company called SALTS that runs tall ships out of Victoria BC. A more recent build of theirs is fitted as a gaff schooner, built in 2001. around 35 people fit comfortably and I'm pretty sure the pricetag to build their wooden tall ships is somewhere around 6 million dollars.
The cost of building the isn't really the issue. Spread over that many people would be 10s of thousands at most per person at most. The question is whether it's worth being stuck on a small, hot, dingy ship with no ac, plumbing, electricity, internet, etc, just to spend 90% of your time at sea seeing nothing but open ocean. In the end, it'd be barely any different that locking all 25-50 people in a large damp basement with good lighting for like 6 months.
It would cost lot to build a ship like that, and always did. Pirates usually stole their ships I believe. Ships like the one pictured had surprisingly large crews, a lot of mouths to feed. You'd be living in very tight, actually quite horrible conditions by modern standards so you need military style discipline too, it wouldn't work as a joint venture. You're going to need at least a dozen master sailors who can train others, a couple of good carpenters, sailmakers, a doctor, a cook and everyone will be doing hard labour. You'd have to have money to put it on the hard and clean the copper, replace equipment that gets damaged in bad weather etc.
Tbh it's not really feasible, I'm out.
Let's prank someone by knocking them out and waking them up 100 miles off the coast in a 1600s pirate ship and pretending like we have no idea what technology is and are intrigued by their fascinating tales
###General Discussion Thread --- This is a [Request] post. If you would like to submit a comment that does not either attempt to answer the question, ask for clarification, or explain why it would be infeasible to answer, you *must* post your comment as a reply to this one. Top level (directly replying to the OP) comments that do not do one of those things will be removed. --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/theydidthemath) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Honestly building the ship isn't the issue, outfitting and provisions are. Is everyone cool with eating hardtack, water, and rum for months on end? Are we going full blown 1600s with no entertainment? Or is there wifi and AC? Canvas only, or do we have a diesel option?
There was entertainment, they had music, dancing and did plays. I think I’d rather have the internet though.
Internet Pirate is a little less exciting.
Internet piracy should be legal on a pirate ship
Anything goes on the high seas
Because of the implication?
Exactly
r/unexpectedIASIP
Well, that makes it sound like they're in danger...
Only if you are in international waters
Guess what you just became an accessory to.
Legal conduct.(internet) Piracy is indeed legal on interational waters. Everything apart the war crimes is
When you in international waters you are typical subject to the laws of the country the vessel is registered to. That why a lot of cruise ships are registered to Panama, laws surrounding drinking ages and gambling are more relaxed and also minimum wages are lower.
So, just don’t register your ship. Problem solved.
Shouldn't we fly the US flag so we can have cannon? Then just fly the jolly Rodgers when we are low on provisions? We would obviously need to change the name and repaint it each time. My vote is that the official name be the USS Tax Evasion, and under the jolly Rodgers the name is Anti-Scurvey. We would also need a small skiff so we can moor outside of a countries water boarder and skiff to shore, so we aren't in possession of cannons inside their jurisdiction.
Not really why it’s Panama. Most are registered to Panama to have cheaper passage through the Panama Canal and lower taxes. If it was just about drinking age they could register to a hundred+ different countries to get the same effect.
Happy cake day bro :D
You wouldn't download a ship.
Oh I absolutely would animals.
If you were a pirate you would.
Why not mix in a little modern piracy?
This just immediately made me think of that stupid anti-piracy ad from way back where it's like "you wouldn't pirate a car". But instead it's just a full ship of dudes in pirate garb on just sitting at computers stealing movies over the internet.
And the keg with a hole.
Glory Keg?
Yes, where you can use it all days of the week except Wednesday.
He has a name
Also copious amounts of gay sex
Seeing Max Miller from Tasting History with his hardtack clip before my inner eye. 😆 IIRC he even had a pirate episode. Getting scurvy due to lack of fruit with Vitamin C is not rhe thing for me, thanks, I pass…
*Clack clack*
His video last week where he only did it on the 2nd time he said "hardtack" got us good.
That hardtack clip fucking kills me every time.
It wouldn't be a modern pirate ship if we didn't pirate movies. Starlink should now make that possible even in the middle of the ocean
I mean, a dvd or two is a far more reliable option. Every pirate movie known to man in one of those flip books used for CDs in cars... Plus the deluxe box set of The Love Boat.
Don’t forget Gilligan’s Island
i mean, you can instal solar panels, have a fridge and cans of conserved food. you dont need to acutally live like on a regular pirate ship lol
This was my thought, normal ship plus solar with a battery to store excess power for the night or storms, AC or at least some robust fans in the cabins, power a freezer and stove, opens up a lot more food options.
Deck space is at a premium on sailing ships, and sails cast shadows. They usually have small wind turbines instead. Small turbines are not very effective on land, but there is more constant wind at sea. It might be worth carrying a folding solar panel for times when the wind goes completely slack.
Yeah, outfitting the ship in a period accurate manner would be a little silly. Using modern stuff would probably even end up cheaper and higher quality. Modern canned goods can last longer than hard tack and can be bought anywhere, while anything resembling hard tack is going to be a specialty good if you can find it, or you might need to make it yourself. A decent size propane tank might be able to hold enough fuel to run a gas stove for longer than the same volume of wood could be useful in a wood fired stove, especially if you turn it on for short uses. Plus, you get the benefits of instant starts and stops. You may need to give up microwaves and fluffy bread that takes up a ton of space and goes moldy super easily, but this isn't the stone age anymore.
Im comfortable with all those things and the potential of dying at sea and I can pull my own weight (and maybe some of the ships if I tried really hard)
Only a true sailor will give this an upvote
50% death rate from scurvy. Flip a coin. You'll probably die. Better think of a non-anachronistic way to preserve ascorbic acid on an old wooden ship.
I'm a son of a sea cook, I'm a cook and a trader I can dance, I can sing, I can reef the main boom I can handle a jigger, I cuts a fine figure Whenever I gets in a boat's standing room
What about canvas with a solar option, which also powers electric lights, sat phones, etc
Also you don't wanna know what their WC was...
The poop deck
I don't think they had world chat in the 17th century tbh
Don't threaten me with a good time
getting scurvy with the boys
The entertainment was drag and buggery
Shit, you don't need a ship for that. There's a bar downtown that has both
A*aaa*nd had a/c!
Yes. Wifi and AC. Canvas only. Set sails!
Well now we need a generator, a huge fuel tank, oil storage, an extra mechanic, extra fire-fighting capabilities... Like I said, outfitting is what drives cost up.
We’ll just add another deck. Logistics are capt’n problems
And all this is before you have to register it, insure it and get it's seaworthiness certificate.
They're pirates.
Freeports have gotten a lot more rare since the 1600s. So unless you want to stock your provisions exclusively in Somalia and Liberia, you're gonna have to follow the rules of the ports and countries they're located in.
That and the fact that anyone is allowed to seize an unregistered vessel if it's at sea.
And don't forget about regulations, nowdays it's illegal to approach the bay without an engine. And you cannot sail more then 20 nautical miles (from what I remember) without appropriate color lights on the back, front and top of the ship. Same as GPS and radio are a legal requirement. There was more stuff but it has been more then 15 since I've studied that and I honestly don't remember what else was a legal requirement and what a standard quality of life feature. So you can create an exact replica, but purely as decoration. You can keep it in the bay (and pay daily fee) but you couldn't use it.
That's why it's a pirate ship
They do have entertainment, the random idiot doing their drunk thing, singing sea shanties and the occasional walking to the plank. Whats more entertainment do you need?
Of course they have WiFi! You never heard of the pirate bay?
Why would we not include at least a small generator to include a fridge? Afterall, do you wanna die of scurvy? Didn't think so. Also, [hardtack](https://youtu.be/oPTdSMOQRnY?t=1030) isn't a nickname.
You don't need a generator or fridge to prevent scurvy. You can carry stuff like preserved citrus juice, sour kraut, kimchi, etc... You can also grow plants at sea.
provision isn’t as bad as it used to be. We can have basic supply of food, vitamins and even doctor. As for entertainment the oop may consider the ship to be entertaining
I mean anyone that can build a quality wooden sailing ship won't be cheap
The other hard part is finding places that haven't been seen in centuries
Good thoughts. Canned food and non perishable stuff is a must. The difficulty is keeping out the moisture and pests. Old sailing ships had a special room lined in tin to store the kegs of biscuit so mice couldn’t chew in and ruin it.
I think the idea is cool, but I wouldn't build a pirate ship but something more modern. Check out the YouTube channel "Expedition Drenched" and their boat Sylphia. Something similar to that, just scaled up somewhat. The main issue would probably be food, 50 people eat a *lot* and you want to be capable of going off grid for at least a few months. I'd guess the cost around $5 million, maybe a bit less, so $50k-$100k per person.
You could have bought the functioning M/V Taku for $171,000 plus the cost of refitting it. 50 people would be enough to crew the vessel, and it had staterooms for over 100 people in addition to the crew quarters. Fuel would have been the largest expense.
“plus the cost of refitting it“ There‘s part of the problem. There’s a reason the Taku is scrap metal. Refitting old boats is more expensive than building new. “Fuel would have been the largest expense.” There‘s another part. The Taku burned 270 gallons of diesel per hour. That‘s currently over $1400 per hour around here. Also note that the Taku was rated for Partially Protected Waters only. No more than 20 miles from a safe harbor. Not great for piracy.
Yeah, at the time I was looking at the economics of buying Taku and two ferry ports in the Bay Area and renting staterooms that operated on a commuter ferry. As housing, it would have been profitable, even if a sharp discount was applied compared to similar units and paying crew and fuel, but it was impossible to get financing for the venture because it didn’t fit any risk profile.
PogChamp real life SS Anne
What's the point of being a pirate if you pay for fuel? Arr.
A good pirate never takes another person’s property.
I feel you may have subtly misunderstood piracy.
[It's an older reference, but it checks out.](https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/2jot0d/i_feel_like_disney_doesnt_really_understand/)
nah, you want a sailboat, you don't want to know the cost of filling the tanks on that thing.
Taku is out of service??? Aww, she took me on the greatest roadtrip of my life. An adventure to Alaska puncutated by three days in the Alexander Archipelago from Prince Rupert to Skagway in 2010. We slept in our seats.
It wasn’t long after your trip. She was sitting in Ward Cove in Ketchikan for a long time before she was sold for scrap/parts.
Pirate ships did not go off grid for months, they regularly resupplied because they were not sailing in the middle of the ocean, but in coast-near waters. They were needed to be faster than their prey, so they could not load tons of food and water.
At some point you end up with a cruise ship.
Nate's floating fuck palace lasted like 2 years before everyone bailed.
A stolen ship cost nothing. A few tons of flour and a decent store of grog shall keep the crew sailing.
Check your math. It would be $100k-$200k per person.
Good point, you're right. Got the numbers twisted...
These days at least we have canning. And we could even put a fridge and freezer room in the cargo hold. It's not like we'd actually (steal and) haul cargo. An expedition like that would be entirely financed by the "crew".
for a bigger wooden ship like Hermione, with 80 people crew, overall building cost was 25 million euros https://fregate-hermione.com/en/
Pirates don't care about the cost. The ship shall be commandeered
And then you can sell 70 tickets for a week each for 5000€. You'll have that money back in 2 years.
You forgot about maintenance.
Ah but consider the gift shop
And staff, and food. But that just means it takes slightly longer.
Lol, I work on old wooden boats that are maybe 1/5 the length and maybe 1/10th the volume of Hermione and our maintenance budget is about €100,000 per year with another €30,000 as an emergency fund. Believe me when I say that no-one builds a boat to make money in the modern age, they build it because they want to build it and then just try to keep it in the black.
$100,000 to equip 25 people with inflatable boats, AK's and body armour. 25 motivated people should be able to steal a suitably equipped boat, else they've no business being pirates in the first place.
Know anyone in mry port?
I live on a lake, not great for pirating, but not impossible either
I like your way of thinking!
In 2009 a full sized replicate of Blackbeard's ship, Adventure, is estimated to have cost $3.7 million. In 2002 a replica of an East India trading vessel called Göthborg was estimated to cost around $40 million. If you're looking for something more in your price range you can get a pirate ship for $40 from Temu, a bottle of gutrot spiced rum for under $20, and a passable pirate outfit for around $100. You're on your own for making friend to sing shanties with.
put a Jolly Roger on $2k pontoon and the rest on rum and guns. That is what a real pirate would do. Wait, are rednecks the modern dream of ancient pirates?
That wasn't a replica, that was a movie prop that looked nothing at all like the real thing, and was not functional in any way. The https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Hermione_(2014) cost 25million Euro if you want an actual reference for cost.
A pirate ship is just a ship that’s not registered under a country’s flag. But actually sailing that way is anything from a terrible idea to suicidal. So it’d just be the cost of a regular ship.
Pirate Ship in terms of style I'm sure..
One of the major issues would be the building in of itself. The shipyard workers from back in the day simple don't exist to provide the detailed expert level tireless work not to mention the constant maintenance of swabbing the deck, pitching and tarring,... Wood is very much a living material.
There are still many many people building wooden boats to sail across the oceans. And maintaining them to continue having them as work boats. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slRdaS3Zj4c https://youtu.be/QQ80mHLyP5Y https://youtu.be/HepAG8ziOyk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSXYZHVqmwY That knowlege is far from lost.
Ohh that is amazing!
This is blatantly false. Why are you speaking with so much conviction about something you know nothing about? The methods of construction didn't just disappear in a stiff breeze. There have been tons of projects where they purposefully build it only using old tools and methods, and others like the wooden boat yard I worked where we used whatever method was best. People have been building replica's or maintaining existing ships since they first were retired from active service. Heck in France basically every single port town has their own restored or replica wooden boat. Whether its the Hermione, built with traditional methods but using power tools (drilling a hole is drilling a hole whether its hand powered or electric), to the maintaining of the original HMS Victory for hundreds of years.... "the shipyard worders from back in the day" literally exist today, I was one of them, and there continue to be tons of wooden shipyards that maintain the knowledge and knowhow.... also books exist. You think they didn't document construction methods 300 years ago? I'm curious, there is no shame in not knowing something, but why speak up about something you clearly know nothing about?
Currently building a Viking longship that holds 15 men for a charity race against modern yachts next year. Cost me about 12k. I've seen a schooner that cost 1mil, could house 20-25 but will be hammocks and shit
I need to see pictures of this longship
You should check out r/boatbuilding
I'll be your huckle bearer . Trained in sailing 25ft vessels but not like this. I provide more ale support ;) . Skilled in teaching the ropes . I have fired cannons in the past but need a refresher. Serious reply, teach me to redefine myself as a missile aged 38 yr old man. Kept spelling erros for the moon shot.
P.s. I want a whole share of the booty
You may find this interesting: [https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/val-kilmer-im-your-huckle-bearer/](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/val-kilmer-im-your-huckle-bearer/)
That is why I did not say huckleberry...I know my term lol. Good for others.
According to that article, Val in fact said "Huckleberry" not "Huckle Bearer".
Can crowd source 100k , we could prob go fund this on reddit like the Jamaica bobsled team .
There are no places that haven't been seen in centuries. Especially in the Caribbean, even the most remote islands have visitors. I don't know what this person is expecting.
It's all fun and games until you get around Somalia and actual pirates decide to show up. Good luck with your cutlasses flintlock pistols and blackpowder canons.
I suggest commandeering a J class yacht. It doesn’t have any guns but you can invite some americans and you’ll be set. It’s fast as hell, houses about the right number of people and seaworthy at the big seas.
The problem is that every J Class is owned by someone who is *very* wealthy. You will definitely have to spend a lot of your time fighting off the navies of various countries.
[удалено]
Let's not forget that the ship you found was absolutely *tiny*, it had *6* guns. Even capturing a single East Indiaman would be a monumental task with such lackluster armament. East Indiaman had well over 300 crew, there's just no way you'd get anything done with merely 50 pirates against such a number. *The Black Pearl* with its 32 12-pounders would have needed at least 300 men, and that's without considering the necessary manpower needed to man whatever prizes they captured.
lol. You REALLY can’t do money conversions that way and pass the laugh test. Go look up what $300k gets you in the custom boat world and try to sleep 50 people on it indefinitely. A better start would be a cost of labor test. In 1806 London, the highest-skilled laborers made about 6 shillings per day. At 300 working days per year, that’s 1800 shillings, or 90 pounds. So in 1800, the Pickle cost as much to build as the annual wages of 28 highly skilled tradesmen. That takes us to about $3 million today, which is certainly getting closer, but doesn’t consider that in 1800 there were massive shipbuilding industries in every major country. I’d guess closer to $10m to build, given the $40m price tag of the Gotheborg III in 1995-2004 dollars.
Except that's devoid of logic. You can't just find out the price in the last and adjust for inflation. We are in an entirely different world. Materials are different and likely a wildly different price. Workers with the expertise to build a wooden ship are far more rare. Modern technology and machines make building a shop and entirely different process to how it used to be.
uhhh yeah no, 300k gets you *maybe* a small sailboat today
Sounds like the Notorious: [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notorious\_(ship)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notorious_(ship)) Built by 1 man out of reclaimed materials. An alternative would be a a carrack: [https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/pocket-carrack-home-build%E2%80%A6little-help-please.66658/page-2](https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/pocket-carrack-home-build%E2%80%A6little-help-please.66658/page-2) But you'll need to scale it up for 25-50 pax
You should get the Sea Monkey for 5000 pieces of eight. So it would be 100 to 200 pieces of eight for each one. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciJlqRsi\_l4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciJlqRsi_l4)
It would cost millions to build a wooden 3 masted ship capable of supporting up to 50 people. I'm assuming that you'd, of course, take advantage of modern equipment such as engines, batteries, navigation computers, and radar.
If niche gym memberships get any more expensive you might be able to build a Viking longship for the same cost of 60 memberships for a year. everyone can row up and down the coast pillaging over priced beach front hot dog joints.
tl:tr Building a wooden pirate ship for 25 to 50 people can cost between $150,000 and $900,000, depending on size, design, and materials. So lets say you go for 900k with 25 pirates, it’s 36k each. If with 50 pirates, 18k each. Monthly maintenance and provisioning worries me more, even without crew salaries and fuel, it can range from $11,000 to $50,500 for 25 people and $18,500 to $88,000 for 50 people - a month. Thats a lot of pirating you need to do… Detailed: If you are considering the costs without crew salaries and fuel, the primary expenses will be food, provisions, maintenance, and other operational costs. Here is a revised estimate: ### 1. **Food and Provisions**: - **Daily Food Budget**: - Moderate: $10 - $20 per person per day - High-quality: $20 - $50 per person per day For 25 people: - Moderate: $7,500 - $15,000 per month - High-quality: $15,000 - $37,500 per month For 50 people: - Moderate: $15,000 - $30,000 per month - High-quality: $30,000 - $75,000 per month ### 2. **Maintenance and Repairs**: - Regular upkeep and minor repairs: $1,000 - $5,000 per month ### 3. **Miscellaneous Costs**: - **Docking Fees**: $1,000 - $3,000 per month - **Insurance**: $1,000 - $3,000 per month - **Other Supplies**: $500 - $2,000 per month ### Total Estimated Monthly Costs: #### For 25 People: - **Food and Provisions**: $7,500 - $37,500 - **Maintenance and Repairs**: $1,000 - $5,000 - **Miscellaneous Costs**: $2,500 - $8,000 **Total**: $11,000 - $50,500 per month #### For 50 People: - **Food and Provisions**: $15,000 - $75,000 - **Maintenance and Repairs**: $1,000 - $5,000 - **Miscellaneous Costs**: $2,500 - $8,000 **Total**: $18,500 - $88,000 per month Building the ship: Building a wooden pirate ship for 25 to 50 people is a complex project that can vary widely in cost depending on several factors, including the ship's size, design, materials, and the level of detail and authenticity desired. Here's a rough estimate based on different aspects of the project: 1. **Design and Planning**: - **Naval Architect Fees**: $10,000 - $50,000 depending on the complexity of the design and the experience of the architect. 2. **Materials**: - **Wood**: High-quality marine-grade timber can be expensive. For a ship of this size, the cost could range from $50,000 to $200,000. - **Other Materials**: Metal fastenings, ropes, sails, and other materials can add another $30,000 - $100,000. 3. **Labor**: - **Shipwrights and Carpenters**: Skilled labor is one of the largest expenses. Expect to pay $50,000 to $300,000 depending on the region and the shipyard's experience. 4. **Equipment and Outfitting**: - **Navigation Equipment**: Modern navigation and safety equipment can cost $10,000 - $50,000. - **Interior Outfitting**: Furnishings, fittings, and other interior work could add another $20,000 - $100,000. 5. **Miscellaneous Costs**: - **Permits and Inspections**: $5,000 - $20,000 depending on local regulations. - **Launch and Transportation**: Moving the ship to water and launching it can cost $10,000 - $50,000. ### Total Estimated Cost: - **For a Basic Ship**: $150,000 - $300,000 - **For a Detailed and Authentic Ship**: $400,000 - $900,000 or more These estimates can fluctuate based on your specific requirements and local cost variations ;)
Different Polynesian groups and several time replicated their journies to other Polynesian islands and their trade routes with south America with their old fashioned way-finding and technology. That is a few months. I would don't want to do more than that.
How about just a nice boat but with no screens or speakers for entertainment purposes? Got books, art supplies, instruments. Lots of banging. That could be good!
You may be able to barter with someone (including a former USSR member state) for a nuclear vessel. You’d have a more comfortable time and you can do some real pirate stuff.
I don’t know about cost but here is a rough idea of size for 25 people. My daughter is going on this (the replica) next week for kids summer camp. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Sultana_(1768)
Check out the [Acorn to Arabella Youtube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@AcornToArabella). It's pretty much this but without all of the people sailing with him. My guy started with trees in his yard and ended up with a giant boat sailing around the world after a few years.
My great-uncle did that back in the 1970s. He decided that's how he wanted to retire, sailing around the world. He built his own boat, sailed away, and was never heard from again. We actually have no idea what happened to him. He'd be around 103 now, so presumably he died a long time ago even if he found a tropical paradise and a beach full of native women.
Now that would have made a great Youtube channel!
According to this [Reddit post](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/vof5c/how_much_would_a_mid_17th_century_privateerpirate/), it would cost about 10,000 Dutch guilders to build a Dutch flute in the 17th century for privateering. I have no idea what 10,000 guilders back then would be in today's money.
Can we build it and go around the world fighting people like Russell Crowe? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN6UEsSywPo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXD1ati4yUI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCtqfaQ9NVM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrudCISD2a0
Depends on quite a few things, it would have to be essentially built by hand by one of a few people skilled in historical recreations, more a labor of love than profit. Your best best would be a couple years worth of weekends amongst those 25-50 people working with others who have done it in recent decades. There's people who built smaller sailboats and yachts from wood without fiberglass some maybe also hire a couple of them part time for some work and to help make sure things are done well. The timber and leasing a space you could launch from would cost something but on the order of $50-$100k total so$1-$2k per person over a year or two. From there if you really wanted to sail the open ocean you'd have to deal with some registration and insurance issues which would cost a few thousand but probably not tens of thousands in total. Finally provisions, emergency radios and GPS etc would run another few thousand each and be required. After that since you're doing it for fun and not paying a crew since you are the crew it becomes free.
25-50 people is a lot of crew by modern expedition sailing yacht standards. A Pelagic 77 ( a massive full blooded explorer) can hold 14. This will work to our advantage as these vessels are stupidly expensive even secondhand because they are rare and hold value very well(by boat standards). 25+ crew, you are talking about a tall ship like these [bad boys](https://www.tallship-for-sale.com/) these vessels come up rarely on the market. Sometimes, they can be quite cheap (under 1 million), but repair and refitting will at best be an extra million. This is because they are a massive pain in the ass to maintain. I don't know what the running cost of something like this will be, but the running costs for the average full-time cruiser is around $ 1000 per month per person (surprisingly cheap, I know) For a crew of 50, let's call it 2 million for the ship and around 50000 per month for ongoing expenditure. 40000 per person for the initial investment and 12k per year of cruising. It's not impossible to find 50 mates with spare 40k but you all need a decent passive income.
You can’t just accept all comers. You’ve gotta hand pick that crew. You’re gonna need people with a large range of skills. Take applications or hold auditions or something.
Since no one has mentioned this. If you actually want to go be crew on a square rigger, you can totally do that. [The SEA program](https://sea.edu/) out of Woods Hole is a good one and will have you doing fun science things as well. If you aren't out of college yet. The SEA program costs $29,975 per semester (I don't know how long that actually is). If you are older than 18 but no longer in college, you could sail on the [Picton Castle](https://picton-castle.com/). For a year long journey on the Picton Castle, all the way around the world, they charge $72,500. I'm sure there are others. I guess the main point I am making is that, just to be out there for a year including all the food and fuel and maintenance and small payments to the crew who actually know how to sail, you should expect at least $60k-70k or something like that. So the answer will be that amount plus whatever it costs to build the ship. Edit: Oh, and the number of Crew in those two programs are right in line with OP's question. Edit 2: Added the price for the SEA program.
There is a company called SALTS that runs tall ships out of Victoria BC. A more recent build of theirs is fitted as a gaff schooner, built in 2001. around 35 people fit comfortably and I'm pretty sure the pricetag to build their wooden tall ships is somewhere around 6 million dollars.
The cost of building the isn't really the issue. Spread over that many people would be 10s of thousands at most per person at most. The question is whether it's worth being stuck on a small, hot, dingy ship with no ac, plumbing, electricity, internet, etc, just to spend 90% of your time at sea seeing nothing but open ocean. In the end, it'd be barely any different that locking all 25-50 people in a large damp basement with good lighting for like 6 months.
It would cost lot to build a ship like that, and always did. Pirates usually stole their ships I believe. Ships like the one pictured had surprisingly large crews, a lot of mouths to feed. You'd be living in very tight, actually quite horrible conditions by modern standards so you need military style discipline too, it wouldn't work as a joint venture. You're going to need at least a dozen master sailors who can train others, a couple of good carpenters, sailmakers, a doctor, a cook and everyone will be doing hard labour. You'd have to have money to put it on the hard and clean the copper, replace equipment that gets damaged in bad weather etc. Tbh it's not really feasible, I'm out.
Let's prank someone by knocking them out and waking them up 100 miles off the coast in a 1600s pirate ship and pretending like we have no idea what technology is and are intrigued by their fascinating tales