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Treasure!
Gold! Silver! Jewels! But did you know that the single most valuable piece of plunder was, in fact, the vessel itself? Captured ships quickly became part of the pirate fleet or could be sold for a handsome sum. Only rarely did jewels, gold, or special cargo such as black pepper or other spices surpass the value of the ship. Cargo commonly carried eastbound on the Manila Galleons included silks, porcelain, gold, ivory, gemstones, jade, and mercury. Westbound cargo was most often silver along with manufactured goods from Europe, items for which there was a high demand in China.
So, piracy in the Pacific Ocean, or anywhere in the world for that matter, was always about "precious" cargoes, right? Well, you might be surprised at history's take on some other valuable pirate booty, right here off the coast of California. In the latter part of the nineteenth century, San Franciscans had insatiable appetites for eggs from the small seabird known as the murre (Uria aalge). A group of industrious entrepreneurs decided to meet this need and formed the Pacific Egg Company, sending vessels and workers 28 miles westward to the Farallon Islands to harvest murre eggs. These were then sold to bakeries and restaurants that lauded the nutritional treats as "rich, delicate, and altogether desirable... fried... boiled... in any of the hundred ways known." As with any commercially valuable cargo, pirates intercepted and absconded with the goods... in this case, eggs! |