How Did Pirates Repair Their Ships Without a Shipyard?

How could a pirate crew repair the part of its ship hidden beneath the sea? Follow William Dampier's buccaneering companions from a maintenance stop near Panama to the Cygnet's repairs at Mindanao. Their experience reveals the skilled labor, tools, trade, tides, and difficult choices behind careening a wooden sailing ship—and the limits of what an improvised repair could save. Sources: William Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World, 1697. William Falconer, An Universal Dictionary of the Marine, 1769. Nic Butler, Charleston County Public Library, Careening across the Lowcountry in the Age of Sail, 2022. Harvard Museum of Natural History, Shipworm, What's in a Name?