A pirate ship is any kind of boat possessed by pirates, that is to say by robbers who attack the crew or passengers of private ships by using any kind of violence. In the general idea, pirate ships are recognizable thanks to their skull and crossbones flag. This meant that they made no prisoners.

Pirates used to be represented by men who had no mercy, and who were most of the time disabled because they had lost a hand or a leg during their numerous battles. In comics, their limbs are usually replaced with a peg leg or a hook.

Nowadays, a pirate ship doesn't really refer to a boat lead by pirates anymore, but it mostly refers to amusement rides that can be found in carnivals or amusement parks. Pirate ships are rides swinging back and forth on the same axis. This kind of ride was created for the first time between 1893 and 1897, by an American, Charles Albert Marshall, and was set up and used for the first time in 1897 in Marshall Bros Circus.

The purpose of these amusement rides is to recreate the effect produced by the waves on a boat. They are called pirate ships simply because they have most of the time the style of a pirate ship.