Pirates: Merchantmen Surrender

Issued 1971
Merchantmen Surrendering to Pirate Schooner

By the 1730s, the growing presence of British and French naval fleets in the New World and increased opportunities for legitimate economic success marked a significant decrease in piracy. It was simply no longer worth one’s life to try to make a fortune by stealing another’s ship. While pirates will continue to exist as long as desperate individuals take to the sea in the belief that theft will improve their lot, the Golden Age of Piracy in the New World had come to an end.