This unit ran July 6 – August 6, 2026 at Collins Middle School, Salem MA. Archived as taught. Not maintained. All 20 days
Day 8 · Week 3 · Life as a Pirate

The Vote

Summer 1716. A captain refuses to attack English ships. His crew fires him. Today you hear the case and cast your own vote.
0

Rig your sheet

3 minutes · solo · paper + pencil

One sheet, folded like a book. Cover: your name, "Day 8," the date. Then rig it:

Cover, lower half: THE VOTE three short lines. You fill them right after the vote.
Inside spread: THE T-CHART your sailor's name across the top. The fold is the middle line. PUSH on the left page, PULL on the right. Number 1, 2, 3 down each side.
Bottom right corner: SURPRISED ME save two lines for the end of class
Back cover: CAPTAIN'S LOG on top, MY COURSE below the two beats that end every day

The fold has a job today. It is the line a sailor stood on: the old life on one side, the black flag on the other.

1

Debrief the Vote

~5 minutes · solo · right after the class vote

You heard five arguments. You crossed the room. You were counted. The real crew was counted in the summer of 1716. They put Benjamin Hornigold out. They elected Sam Bellamy.

Now think about what kind of ship lets that happen. Could a farmhand fire a lord in 1716? Could a Royal Navy sailor fire an admiral? No. A pirate crew could fire its captain.

Some historians read pirate crews as little floating democracies. Others say the equality was thinner than the legend. Both sides hold real evidence. Today you gather your own.

LOG IT: Fill the three lines under THE VOTE on your cover. MY VOTE: stay or out, and your reason. THE CREW'S VOTE: out, summer 1716. WHAT IT TELLS ME: one line about who held the power on that ship.
The vote, in the record → Hornigold's card →
2

Pick Your Sailor

~8 minutes · with your first mate · one Chromebook per pair, but EACH of you picks your own sailor

Bellamy's crew grew the way most pirate crews grew. They recruited from the ships they captured. Some men jumped at the offer. Some were forced, and said so later in court. Both are true.

One more count that matters. About a quarter of this crew were Black men. That is the best count we have. Many had freed themselves from the same trade our ship was built for. The records we have say they drew an equal share.

Eight of the crew, below. Some records run thick. Some are one line. Read, then pick ONE. You build their T-chart next.

Sam Bellamy the elected captain. Poor sailor from Devon. A year later, the highest-earning pirate anyone has counted.
Paulsgrave Williams the silversmith. Already rich when he chose the black flag. Why would a rich man do that?
John Julian the pilot. Sixteen years old, Miskito, from Central America. He steered Bellamy's flagship.
John King the youngest. Somewhere between eight and eleven. Demanded to join, and meant it.
Hendrick Quintor Black sailor of Dutch and African descent, born in the Netherlands. The court wrote down nations, not faces.
Peter Cornelius Hoof Swedish sailor. His sworn words survive: the loot was split even, fifty pounds to every man.
John Brown from Jamaica. At the gallows he cursed, then prayed, then warned the crowd. Loud to the last.
Lambert second pilot, named once beside Julian. The record kept one word about him: his name.

Straight truth about Quintor, Hoof, and Brown: the storm caught them aboard the Mary Anne, a prize ship the fleet had taken that same morning. They lived through that night, stood trial in Boston, and were hanged in November 1717. Only two men survived the Whydah herself.

Check your MY COURSE list before you pick. If one of these names is already on it, that pick pays double. Today's chart becomes pitch fuel.

Meet the crew: People tab → The six, in the record →
3

Build the T-Chart

~20 minutes · solo chart · paper + the dashboard evidence

Put your sailor at the rail in 1716. Behind them, the life they came from. In front of them, the black flag. Your chart maps that choice.

  1. Write your sailor's name across the top of the spread.
  2. LEFT page, PUSH: what shoved them out of the life they had? The war ended and the work vanished. Wages frozen. Brutal ships. For some, slavery itself. Find at least 3.
  3. RIGHT page, PULL: what did the pirate ship offer? A vote. An even share. Injury pay. A skilled job no matter where you were born. Find at least 3.
  4. Every line points at evidence: your sailor's card, a factor box on the Why Piracy tab, or a line from the trial record.
  5. Thin record, like Lambert or the six? Use facts true of the whole crew, then star the lines that are your best guess. An honest chart marks its guesses.
LOG IT: The exit check is 3 and 3, grounded. Before the walk-up, touch each line and say where it comes from. If a line points at nothing, replace it.
BOARD WALK-UP: when your chart hits 3 and 3, pair up. Pick your single sharpest line. One of you walks it to the board and posts it under PUSH or PULL. One line per pair. Sharpest evidence on the board takes league points.

Fast finishers: hunt a fourth line nobody else will find. Or earn game time: Whydah’s Voyage awaits.

The push and pull evidence → Your sailor's card →
✦
✦

Surprised Me

2 minutes · solo · bottom right corner of your spread

Which crew member's story surprised you the most, and why?

Two lines. Name the person. Name the surprise.

★

Captain's Log

5 minutes · solo · in your captain's voice

Your adopted ship is on the water right now, and it has a crew aboard. Real people. Something pushed every one of them to sea. Something pulls them to stay.

LOG IT: Two or three sentences in the captain's voice, about your crew. Who is aboard tonight? What pushed them here, and what pulls them on? Date it like a sailor: "20 July 2026." Back cover, top half.
★

Chart Your Course

3 minutes · solo · back cover, MY COURSE

Thursday you cut your ways of telling to two. Tonight the people take their cut.

  1. Cut your people list to TWO names.
  2. Circle ONE. The name you would pitch if Pitch Day were tomorrow morning.
  3. If today's sailor earned a place, make room. Charts change. That is what they are for.
Your Project HQ →

Pitch Day is Thursday, July 30. Two people, two ways, ten days out. That is a crew on course.

push factorpull factorrecruitvote

push factor = a hard truth that shoves you out of the life you have · pull factor = a promise that draws you toward a different life · recruit = a new hand signed onto a crew · vote = a counted choice. Bellamy's crew used one to fire a captain.