Surfing the Net with Kids: Pirates » Newsletters

Surfing the Net with Kids

July 4, 1999

Dear Readers,

Welcome back. Happy Fourth of July! I hope you and yours enjoy the
holiday.

A new feature at my site is the
Reader Pick of the Week. Submit a review
of your favorite Web site, and your site might be chosen next week!

This week’s newsletter is sponsored by:

ANSWER THIS
TRIVIA QUESTION TODAY & YOU COULD WIN $1,000!

Which Beatle was the first to cross Abbey Road?
A) John B) Paul C) George D) Ringo

Submit your answer at:

UPROAR: Your Online
Game Show Network

FREE Tarzan CD Soundtrack Now at BrainPlay.com!
For a limited time, receive the NEW Tarzan motion picture
soundtrack FREE with any purchase of $40 or more at
BrainPlay.com! Hear songs by Grammy-Award winner Phil
Collins, plus a bonus track by ‘N Sync! This limited-edition
CD wonâ€™t last long, so visit BrainPlay.com
today.

Pirates

A pirate is a robber who attack ships. Although piracy has occurred
since ancient times, the golden era of piracy was the sixteenth through
eighteenth centuries on the Mediterranean and Caribbean seas. When the
early American colonists established successful trade routes to Europe,
many pirates turned their attention to the Atlantic. Pirates have been
the subject of much literature, and thousands of Web sites are devoted to
their study. Welcome aboard swabbie!

Discovery
Online: Pirate Ghosts

Discover with Discovery Online why "some of the
most feared pirates of all time are coming back to life. Blackbeard is
back, and Black Sam Bellamy, who raided ships throughout the Caribbean, is
probably more famous now than he was in his heyday. Both have been revived
through sunken ships." Two real pirate ships have been found along
the eastern shoreline. Bellamy’s ship, the Whydah, was discovered off
Cape Cod in 1984 and Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge was found in 1997 in
just twenty feet of water off the coast of North Carolina. Now that’s a
buried treasure!

National Geographic Pirates!

"Ahoy! Have ye heard the secret of this ramshackle inn where ye’r
lodgin’? They say it’s full of booty but nobody’s been able to find
it." Join this interactive adventure, and while looking for the loot,
you’ll unearth tales of real pirates woven into the story line. When your
adventure is finished, click on Books for Buccaneers (from the main menu)
for elementary and young adult reading lists.

Pirates
Homepage

This pirate potpourri, from the second and fifth grade students of
Rochedale State School in Queensland Australia, includes reports on famous
pirates such as Bartholomew Roberts and Anne Bonny, pirate limericks,
pirate stories, pirate book reports, and pirate treasure maps. Do not miss
the fun Pirate Treasure Hunt, complete with a certificate to print when you
find the booty.

Pirates, Privateers,
Buccaneers

Although the word "pirate" is the one most commonly used today,
in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, many additional and more
specific terms were used. For example, a privateer also plundered ships,
but carried with him a letter of marque signed by a king or other head of
state, granting him the right to attack enemy ships. And a buccaneer was a
non-Spanish European sailor who settled in the West Indies and raided
Spanish ships. For an interesting view into the pirate’s life, read the
Pirate Rules of Conduct — which include formalized workers’ compensation
(see rule VIII.)

Pirates!
ThinkQuest

This student-created site is cleverly divided into Fact
(where you’ll find history, a time line, vocabulary and even a section on
modern software piracy) and Legend (with lists of books, movies and pirate
poetry.) Layout and navigation are awkward at times — with a generic
welcome message repeated at the top of every page. If you find yourself
staring at a page without content, be sure to check the green sidebar menu
— you probably need to dig further down the menu tree to find what
you’re looking for. For fun, visit Test Your Knowledge for word searches
and pirate quizzes.