Trevor's Pirate Obsession | Smosh Mouth 153

In this extended episode of Smosh Mouth, Trevor Evers celebrates his birthday by diving deep into pirate history with hosts Shane and Amanda. The discussion begins with an overview of the golden age of piracy, divided into three eras: the buccaneering era (1650-early 1700s), the pirate round period, and the post-Spanish succession period (1710s). Trevor explains how European nations, particularly England, used privateeers with letters of mark to disrupt Spain's dominance in the New World without directly engaging in expensive naval warfare. When peace broke out, these privateeers defaulted back to being pirates, leading to the most famous and romanticized period of piracy. The conversation covers the pirate round period, when pirates operated in the Indian Ocean targeting British East India Company ships and Mughal Empire treasure vessels, with Henry Every famously plundering the emperor's personal treasure ship worth an estimated 150-200 million pounds in modern currency. Trevor discusses famous pirates including Bartholomew Roberts (who captured over 400 ships), Blackbeard (who operated for only two years), and the female pirates Ann Bonny and Mary Reed, who discovered each other's true gender aboard ship and became legendary for their fierceness in battle. A significant portion covers the pirate code, which established surprisingly democratic systems: captains received two shares of plunder alongside quartermasters and bosuns, regular crew members voted on captains and could remove them through democratic process, and injured crew members received workers compensation (800 pieces of eight for lost limbs). The discussion addresses how much of modern pirate lore comes from fictional sources, particularly Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island," which invented tropes like the pirate accent, X marks the spot treasure maps, and buried treasure itself (historically only William Kidd buried treasure as a bargaining chip). The hosts note that Ching Xi, a Chinese pirate operating 1801-1810, commanded the largest pirate fleet in history with approximately 400 junks and 40,000-70,000 pirates. They discuss the brutal realities of pirate life including disease, storms, shipwrecks, and the surprisingly good conditions compared to naval service. The episode includes discussions of the show Black Sails as an accurate modern portrayal of pirate life, medieval diving techniques using diving bells, and how pirate attacks involved broadside cannon fire followed by boarding with hooks and gangplanks. The conversation concludes with the hosts imagining which historical eras they'd like to observe with protective bubbles, with discussions of ancient Egypt, Greece, and Mesopotamia alongside the pirate era.