"Trade" Pirates
Science brain teasers require understanding of the physical or biological world and the laws that govern it.
In 1753, Captain Barbarosa of the Pyrate Mc.Takey (his ship) was travelling to the new world, America, from England. He went there and pillaged dozens of towns before he was satisfied. When he tried to get back to England on the same route, he found it was quite impossible. How come?
HintThe title is a clue. Also "wind".
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Answer
There are definite wind circulations that would make this impossible. From 40 degrees north latitude to 60 degrees north, the wind generally blows east, while from the equator to 30 degrees north it blows westward. If he wanted to take the same route, it wouldn't be possible because of the wind.
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Comments
Sunrose   
May 10, 2006
| Wow- nice one, and informative as well. Good Job there  |
roscoep 
May 10, 2006
| WOW, this was informative. Until today I thought longitudes went from pole to pole and were referred to with east and west designations. But don't worry I'm still looking for that 40 degree north longitude.   |
tonjawithaj
May 10, 2006
| good job metallicman! |
bigSWAFF_69_
May 10, 2006
| It wouldn't be impossible, it would just be really really slow going. |
blagh
May 10, 2006
| And as a captain of a ship he would know nothing about "tacking" into the wind. If he was in the doldrums he may have a problem, but then he may not have been able to get there in the first place.
Of course another possible answer is that as a "trade" pirate he needed capital to trade with, and sold his ship in order to have the capital to "pillage" the market. Having no ship left he was unable to take the same route back as his inital route was over water, and he can't quite swim that far.
Okay, it's a stretch and not a very good answer, but no worse. |
zonarita
May 10, 2006
|  So glad to see you still putting the teasers out here, Tin. |
fem81uk
May 13, 2006
| good one |
spazzyjazzy93
May 13, 2006
| i didnt get it but i liked the ship's name!  |
watup90306 
May 18, 2006
| ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ wanna know how 2 do dis hearts code email me at drzangelfaceo5@yahoo.com wit a zero ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |
AwwwSweet
May 19, 2006
| Nice teaser, liked the info about the winds!
& LOL Blagh |
(user deleted)
May 19, 2006
| I don't supose the ship was capable of Tacking like all good sailing ships of the day. ie; cutting a course to 45 degrees of the wind the coming about and doing so from the other aspect. |
OldChinaHand
May 22, 2006
| Good one. By the mid-18th C. the available navigation charts had pretty much mapped out the ocean's trade routes and prevailing conditions. Tacking would add a month or more to a already long crossing, even if possible. |
buttsqueezer420
May 22, 2006
| Nice hint |
DaleGriffin
Nov 02, 2006
| cool hint
i got the teaser right after a bit of thought
cool teaser, though  |
natureluver
Dec 16, 2006
| ♥♥♥♥♥nice 1♥♥♥♥♥ |
reptile5000
Jun 01, 2007
| ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |
reptile5000
Jun 01, 2007
| Couldn't he invent a motor boat then? lol
good teaser, but easy |
rockstar1234567
Jan 31, 2008
| hint gave it all away ☻♥♣♠•○τ╚ü§♪
lol i had no idea how i got these |
rockstar1234567
Jan 31, 2008
| ☺ ☻ ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ • ◘ ○ ♀ ♪ ☺ ☼ ► ↑ → ← ↔ ↨ § ↑ ☻ |
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