Pirates for Hangman 🏴‍☠️

Clues for every answer

A one-line clue for every answer, easy to hard. They're the same clues the game's 💡 Hint shows, so you can read them out when you run your own game.

Ship

Large vessel built to travel across water carrying cargo or passengers; usually bigger than a boat.

Sword

Bladed weapon with a hilt and a blade longer than a knife's; the cutlass and sabre are kinds.

Parrot

Clever bird with a strong curved beak; some can copy human speech, like Long John Silver's pet.

Sail

Sheet of fabric, such as canvas, that uses the wind to push a boat or ship along.

Crew

The group of people who work together to run a ship, plane or spacecraft.

Rum

Strong drink made from sugarcane juice or molasses; one of its nicknames is 'pirate's drink'.

Chest

Large, strong box with a secure lid; one old account tells of pirates burying money in great ones.

Flag

Piece of fabric with a design, flown from a pole; pirates flew black ones showing a skull.

Hook

A curved iron one replaced the lost hand of Peter Pan's pirate enemy and gave him his name.

Deck

Flat surface that forms the 'roof' of a ship's hull and is the main place where sailors work.

Mast

Tall upright pole, or set of poles, standing on a ship or boat to carry its sails.

Plank

Long, thick piece of timber; pirate stories have captives 'walk' one, but few real cases are recorded.

Map

Drawing of a place; in pirate stories it is often hand-drawn, with an X marking where the loot lies.

Gold

Bright yellow, soft precious metal; in pirate stories the loot is usually this or silver.

Island

Piece of land, not a continent, that is completely surrounded by water.

Bay

Stretch of sea set into a curve of the coast; a large one may be called a gulf.

Cove

Small, sheltered inlet on a coast, often round or oval with a narrow entrance.

Ahoy

Sailors' call used to hail a ship or boat, or to get someone's attention.

Rope

Strong cord of fibres twisted or braided together; sailing ships needed very long ones.

Oar

Long pole with a flat blade at one end, fixed to a boat at a pivot and used for rowing.

Treasure

Hoard of valuable things such as money and jewels; story pirates bury it, but real ones rarely did.

Captain

Person in overall command of a ship; pirate crews usually elected theirs.

Cutlass

Short, broad sword with a straight or slightly curved blade, a common naval weapon in the Age of Sail.

Plunder

To raid and take goods by force, as in war; the stolen goods are called this too.

Anchor

Metal device lowered to the bed of the sea or a lake to stop a ship drifting in wind or current.

Cannon

Big gun on old sailing warships, mounted on several decks so a whole side could fire together.

Galleon

Large sailing ship with several decks, developed in Portugal and Spain, used in the Spanish treasure fleet.

Mutiny

A revolt by a crew or soldiers against their leaders; at sea, open rebellion against the captain.

Compass

Navigation device, typically with a magnetised needle that turns to line up with magnetic north.

Marooned

Left alone on purpose somewhere empty, such as a desert island; Ben Gunn in Treasure Island was.

Spyglass

Small portable telescope; in Treasure Island an old sailor watches for ships with one.

Scallywag

Cheeky name for a badly behaved person, especially a child: a rascal or mischief-maker.

Eyepatch

Small cover worn over a lost or injured peeper; despite the stories, real pirates rarely wore one.

Lookout

Person on watch for other ships, land and dangers, traditionally placed high on the masts.

Crow's Nest

Lookout point high up on a ship's main mast, giving the widest view to spot land or other vessels.

Parley

A meeting to talk, especially between enemies; one side may ask for one by waving a white flag.

Bounty

Reward offered for catching a wanted person; also a Royal Navy ship whose crew famously rebelled in 1789.

Rigging

The whole system of ropes, cables and chains that holds up and controls a sailing ship's masts and sails.

Stowaway

Person who secretly boards a ship, plane or train, sometimes to travel without paying.

Pieces Of Eight

Old Spanish silver dollars; Long John Silver's parrot squawks their name in Treasure Island.

Buccaneer

Caribbean pirate or privateer of the 1600s-1700s, named after the wooden frames hunters used to smoke meat.

Privateer

Ship or sailor given a government commission in wartime to raid and capture enemy trading ships.

Doubloon

Spanish gold coin worth two escudos; in pirate stories, gold coins like it are prime booty.

Crossbones

Two femurs drawn in an X, usually under a skull: a warning sign for poison and on some pirate flags.

Quartermaster

On pirate ships, the officer elected by the crew who shared out the loot and settled arguments.

Keelhaul

Harsh old punishment at sea, dragging a sailor under the ship; there is little proof pirates used it.

Shipwreck

Remains of a vessel lying on a beach or sunk on the bottom; divers love to explore them.

Contraband

Goods it is illegal to own or trade, such as smuggled goods; the word comes from an old word for smuggling.

Blunderbuss

Old short gun with a wide, flared muzzle, popular with pirates; its Dutch name comes from the words for 'thunder' and 'box'.

Corsair

A privateer or pirate, especially one sailing from North Africa or on behalf of the French crown.

Cutthroat

A ruthless, unscrupulous rogue; as a describing word it means fiercely competitive, dog-eat-dog.

Brigantine

Two-masted sailing ship with square sails on its front mast; quicker and easier to steer than a sloop, it was used by pirates.

Jolly Roger

Traditional name for the pirate flag, often a white skull and crossbones on black.

Davy Jones

Sailors' name for the spirit of the sea; his locker is the seabed, where things lost overboard end up.

Figurehead

Carved wooden decoration at the bow of an old ship, often designed to match the ship's name.

Blackbeard

Nickname of Edward Teach, one of history's best-known pirates; his flagship was Queen Anne's Revenge.

Barbary Coast

Old name for the seaside lands of North Africa, from Morocco to Tripoli, once home to pirate fleets.

Treasure Island

Robert Louis Stevenson's adventure novel, a story of 'buccaneers and buried gold' set in the 1700s.

Letter Of Marque

Government licence in the Age of Sail allowing a privateer to attack and capture enemy ships.

Long John Silver

Cunning one-legged ship's cook and pirate in Treasure Island, with a parrot called Captain Flint.