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pirate quiz

Yarr me hearties! Step aboard the good ship Planet Science and avail yeself of some vittals! There be ten questions ahead of ye. Be sure to have a good long stare at 'em afore ye go. By the leg of Long John Silver we'd be sore amazed if ye failed to get 'em right and take yer place in the draw for a Pirateology book 'n' puppet combo.

'Tis a poor lookout if ye fail. Davy Jones Locker for you with a chumbucket in yer tremblin' hand.

What are ye waiting for? Fast to the questions and may there be a fair wind behind ye! Ha! Harrrr!

Click here for the answers...

01
 The Piece of Eight was worth? (you guessed it!) eight pieces of Spain's small common denomination, the Reale. It was stamped with a number eight and could be cut up into smaller pieces. What metal was it made from?
Gold
Silver
Lead

02
 Parrots are famous for their affinity to pirates - think Long John Silver for a start off! They are also well known for their abilitiy to mimic human vocal speech. Why is this so surprising? Because they...
Don't have vocal cords
Don't have a tongue
Don't have a GCSE in English

03
 During keelhauling - the sailor was tied to a rope that looped beneath the vessel, thrown overboard on one side of the ship, and dragged under the ship's keel to the other side. Nice. What is the name of the hermaphroditic shelled creatures which habitually attach to the bottom of ships (and with their little rough pyramid shapes would make keel hauling an especially grating experience)?
Barnabies
Mussels
Barnacles

04
 The 'Jolly Roger' is used to refer to the archetypical white-on-black skull-and-crossbones flag. They only bone in your skull that forms freely movable joints is your jawbone. Which is the correct scientific word for this bone?
Mandible
Clavicle
Sociable

05
 Many a pirate will boast of an escape by strapping themselves to a sea turtle. What is interesting about these turtles?
The males look after the babies
The females travel back to where they were born to lay eggs.
They are equipped with a sophisticated jet propulsion system.

06
 Land ahoy Cap'n! How do we know? We saw it through our telescope of course ye silly ol' landlubber. Which space telescope was launched in April 1990.
Hubble
Galileo
Toilandtrubble

07
 Swab the decks ye scurvy dog! What causes scurvy anyhow?
Lack of vitamin Z
Lack of vitamin C
Lack of vitamin E

08
 X marks the spot. But these days we can be more accurate about finding buried treasure thanks to the trusty metal detector. How does it work?
Electromagnetism
Nuclear fusion
Smoke and mirrors

09
 No self respecting pirate would dare set to sea without his compass. You can make one by repeatedly stroking a needle with a magnet in one direction then floating it in a saucer of water. But the needle should be made of?
Plastic
Ice
Steel

10
 'Splice the mainbrace' was an old naval order meaning make a difficult repair on a large sail. After the tricky job was done the crew would be rewarded with a tot of rum. The phrase is still used, post sails, but now means only 'issue the crew with a drink'. Rum, cheers! But what is rum distilled from?
Bananas
Molasses
Grapes

Answers

1= Silver • 2= No vocal cords • 3= Barnacles • 4= Mandible • 5= The females travel back • 6= Hubble • 7= Lack of Vitamin C • 8= Electromagnetism • 9= Steel • 10= Molasses

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