Portal:Piracy

The Piracy Portal

Introduction

Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, and vessels used for piracy are called pirate ships. The earliest documented instances of piracy were in the 14th century BC, when the Sea Peoples, a group of ocean raiders, attacked the ships of the Aegean and Mediterranean civilisations. Narrow channels which funnel shipping into predictable routes have long created opportunities for piracy, as well as for privateering and commerce raiding.

Historic examples of such areas include the waters of Gibraltar, the Strait of Malacca, Madagascar, the Gulf of Aden, and the English Channel, whose geographic structures facilitated pirate attacks. The term piracy generally refers to maritime piracy, although the term has been generalized to refer to acts committed on land, in the air, on computer networks, and (in science fiction) outer space. Piracy usually excludes crimes committed by the perpetrator on their own vessel (e.g. theft), as well as privateering, which implies authorization by a state government.

Piracy or pirating is the name of a specific crime under customary international law and also the name of a number of crimes under the municipal law of a number of states. In the 21st century, seaborne piracy against transport vessels remains a significant issue, with estimated worldwide losses of US$25 billion in 2023, increased from US$16 billion in 2004. (Full article...)

Selected biography -

Portrait by James Thornhill

William Kidd (c. 1645 – 23 May 1701), also known as Captain William Kidd or simply Captain Kidd, was a Scottish privateer. Conflicting accounts exist regarding his early life, but he was likely born in Dundee and later settled in New York City. By 1690, Kidd had become a highly successful privateer, commissioned to protect English interests in the Thirteen Colonies in North America and the West Indies.

In 1695, Kidd received a royal commission from the Earl of Bellomont, the governor of New York, Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire, to hunt down pirates and enemy French ships in the Indian Ocean. He received a letter of marque and set sail on a new ship, Adventure Galley, the following year. On his voyage he failed to find many targets, lost much of his crew and faced threats of mutiny. In 1698, Kidd captured his greatest prize, the 400-ton Quedagh Merchant, a ship hired by Armenian merchants and captained by an Englishman. The political climate in England had turned against him, however, and he was denounced as a pirate. Bellomont engineered Kidd's arrest upon his return to Boston and sent him to stand trial in London. He was found guilty and hanged in 1701. (Full article...)

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Selected article -

1920 painting of Blackbeard's final battle against Robert Maynard in 1718

The Golden Age of Piracy was the period between the 1650s and the 1730s, when maritime piracy was a significant factor in the histories of the North Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

Histories of piracy often subdivide the Golden Age of Piracy into three periods: (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Did you know?

... that a 1526 pirate raid might have inspired a Maltese ballad about a bride being abducted from her wedding?
... that Stephen Foster's best-selling song "Old Uncle Ned" made little money for him due to the many pirated publications circulating in the marketplace?
... that Pixel Piracy's developers released a free torrent of their game?
... that North Korea thanked the United States for helping its sailors defeat a group of pirates?
... that since 1904 the Gasparilla Pirate Festival in Tampa, Florida, has featured a pirate-themed parade?
... that Queen Eschiva and her children were kidnapped by the pirate Kanakes after her husband put a bounty on him?

... that there is only one account of walking the plank?
... that, while it is unknown if pirates actually kept parrots as pets, it is thought that at least some captains kept cats aboard to keep populations of rats and other vermin down?
... that red Jolly Roger flags were the most feared of all; all prayed they never encountered the "Bloody Red," which boldly declared that no mercy would be shown and all victims would be killed?

Selected quotations

“

Dedit haec insignia virtus

”

— (Trans: Bravery gave him nobility) René Duguay-Trouin's motto given to him by Louis XIV of France

General images

The following are images from various piracy-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Mural representing the attack of Charles Windon to San Sebastián de La Gomera (1743) (from Piracy)
Image 2A merchant seaman aboard a fleet oil tanker practices target shooting with a Remington 870 12 gauge shotgun as part of training to repel pirates in the Strait of Malacca, 1984 (from Piracy)
Image 3Suspected Somali pirates keep their hands in the air (from Piracy)
Image 4An LRAD sound cannon mounted on RMS Queen Mary 2 (from Piracy)
Image 5Incidents of pipeline vandalism by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea, 2002–2011 (from Piracy)
Image 6Double-barrelled lantaka cannons, kalasag shields, armor, and various swords (including kalis, panabas, and kampilan) used by Moro pirates in the Philippines (c. 1900) (from Piracy)
Image 7The Monument of the Four Moors by Pietro Tacca; Livorno, Italy (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 8Castle of Ulcinj in the 1890s (from Albanian piracy)
Image 9Puerto del Príncipe being sacked in 1668 by Henry Morgan (from Piracy)
Image 10A fight between Filipino pirates, Bugis trading ship, and Dutch mariners. (from Piracy)
Image 11Barbary pirates were involved in the Barbary slave trade in North Africa (from Piracy)
Image 12MARCOS commando units of the Indian Navy intervening on a pirate-flagged vessel as a part of Operation Sankalp (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
Image 13An action between an English ship and vessels of the Barbary Corsairs (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 14A person costumed in the character of captain Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp's lead role in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series (from Piracy)
Image 15Currimao Watchtower, Ilocos Norte. 'Currimao' comes from the Iloco term cumaws (pirates) and the Spanish word correr (to run), reflecting the warnings given by watchmen during pirate attacks. (from Piracy)
Image 161724 engraving of Bonny from A General History of the Pyrates (from Piracy)
Image 17Map of Tripoli in 1561 (from Albanian piracy)
Image 18Kent battling Confiance, a privateer vessel commanded by French corsair Robert Surcouf in October 1800, as depicted in a painting by Garneray (from Piracy)
Image 19Pirate treasure looted by Samuel Bellamy and recovered from the wreck of the Whydah; exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, 2010 (from Piracy)
Image 20A fleet of Vikings, painted mid-12th century (from Piracy)
Image 21Blackbeard's severed head hanging from Maynard's bowsprit; illustration from The Pirates Own Book (1837) (from Piracy)
Image 22Aerial photograph of the Niger Delta, a center of piracy (from Piracy)
Image 23Dan Seavey was a pirate on the Great Lakes in the early 20th century. (from Piracy)
Image 24Baluarte Watchtower, La Union. A 400-year-old Spanish-era structure built to guard against pirates, later used in World War II as a communication tower for the USAFIP-NL airfield. (from Piracy)
Image 25Cossacks of Azov fighting a Turk ship by Grigory Gagarin (from Piracy)
Image 26U.S. naval officer Stephen Decatur boarding a Tripolitan gunboat during the First Barbary War, 1804 (from Piracy)
Image 27Hanging of Captain Kidd; illustration from The Pirates Own Book (1837) (from Piracy)
Image 28French bombardment of Algiers by Admiral Dupperé, 13 June 1830 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 29The Vitalienbrüder. Piracy became endemic in the Baltic Sea in the Middle Ages because of the Victual Brothers. (from Piracy)
Image 30Iban war prahu in Skerang river (from Piracy)
Image 31Battle of Preveza, 1538 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 32Map of Durrës in 1573 by Simon Pinargenti (from Albanian piracy)
Image 33Painting from 1772 depicting British and French sailors at battle with Dulcignottes (Ulcinj pirates). These pirates were defeated on 5 September 1772. (from Albanian piracy)
Image 34British Royal Navy Commodore gives a presentation on piracy at the MAST 2008 conference (from Piracy)
Image 35Slave market in Algiers, Ottoman Algeria, 1684 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 36A Sea Fight with Barbary Corsairs by Laureys a Castro, c. 1681 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 37Bartholomew Roberts was the pirate with most captures during the Golden Age of Piracy. He is now known for hanging the governor of Martinique from the yardarm of his ship. (from Piracy)
Image 38An Algerine pirate ship (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 39British captain witnessing the miseries of Christian slaves in Algiers, 1815 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 40International Maritime Organization (IMO) conference on capacity-building to counter piracy in the Indian Ocean (from Piracy)
Image 41Bombardment of Algiers by Lord Exmouth in August 1816, Thomas Luny (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 42A 19th-century illustration of an Iranun pirate (from Piracy)
Image 43A Barbary pirate, Pier Francesco Mola, 1650 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 44Sixteenth century Japanese pirate raids (from Piracy)
Image 45A collage of Somali pirates armed with AKM assault rifles, RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenade launchers and semi-automatic pistols in 2008 (from Piracy)
Image 46Modern reconstruction of skull alleged to have belonged to 14th century pirate Klaus Störtebeker. He was the leader of the privateer guild Victual Brothers, who later turned to piracy and roamed European seas. (from Piracy)
Image 47Map of Vlorë in 1573 by Simon Pinargenti (from Albanian piracy)
Image 48Coat of arms of the town of Almuñécar, granted by King Charles V in 1526, showing the turbaned heads of three Barbary pirates floating in the sea (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 49Time series of maritime traffic crossing the Indian Ocean showing the effect of piracy and its progressive decline in re-routing ships. Each sub-plot shows 6-month colour-coded trips, red southbound and green northbound, using Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) historical data. Operational authorities requested an increase of LRIT reporting frequency from ships in 2009 and 2010 in order to better track them remotely in the High Risk Area. The increase of tracking points can be erroneously perceived as an apparently higher volume of traffic with respect to other periods. (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
Image 50A pirate skiff in Baltiysk, Russia — captured by the Russian Navy (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
Image 51Anti piracy operations by Indian Navy's INS Tabar, in the Gulf of Aden on 18 November 2008 (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
Image 52Henry Morgan who sacked and burned the city of Panama in 1671 – the second most important city in the Spanish New World at the time; engraving from 1681 Spanish edition of Alexandre Exquemelin's The Buccaneers of America (from Piracy)
Image 53Views of Ulcinj in 1718 bz H. C. Bröckell (from Albanian piracy)
Image 54Armed pirates in the Indian Ocean near Somalia. After the picture was taken, the vessel's crew members opened fire on U.S. Navy ships and the ship's crew members returned fire. One suspected pirate was killed and 12 were taken into custody (see engaged pirate vessels). (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
Image 55A man from the Barbary states (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 56The work of the Mercedarians was in ransoming Christian slaves held in Muslim hands, Histoire de Barbarie et de ses Corsaires, 1637 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 57Map of Dalmatia in 1715 by Guillaume Delisle (from Albanian piracy)
Image 58A French ship under attack by Barbary pirates, ca. 1615 (from Piracy)
Image 59Extent of pirate attacks on shipping vessels in the Indian Ocean between 2005 and 2010. (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
Image 60The Barbary corsairs frequently attacked Corsica, resulting in many Genoese towers being erected. (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 61Map of Shkodër with the Buna river in 1571 by Giovanni Francesco Camocio (from Albanian piracy)
Image 62Barbaria by Jan Janssonius, shows the coast of North Africa, an area known in the 17th century as Barbaria, c. 1650 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 63A private guard escort on a merchant ship providing security services against piracy in the Indian Ocean (from Piracy)
Image 64Pirates attacking a French ship (from Albanian piracy)
Image 65Lieve Pietersz Verschuier, Dutch ships bomb Tripoli in a punitive expedition against the Barbary pirates, c. 1670 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 66Spanish warships bombarding the Moro Pirates of the southern Philippines in 1848 (from Piracy)
Image 67Jacques de Sores looting and burning Havana in 1555 (from Piracy)
Image 68Photomontage of Somali pirates on the MV Faina (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
Image 69Map showing the extent of Somali pirate attacks on shipping vessels between 2005 and 2010 (from Piracy)
Image 70The Prisoner by Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ after Jean-Léon Gérôme, c.1871 (from Albanian piracy)
Image 71Bartholomew Roberts' crew carousing at the Calabar River; illustration from The Pirates Own Book (1837). Roberts is estimated to have captured over 470 vessels. (from Piracy)
Image 721890 illustration by Rafael Monleón of a late 18th-century Iranun lanong warship. The Malay word for "pirate", lanun, originates from an exonym of the Iranun people (from Piracy)
Image 73Capture of the Pirate Blackbeard, 1718 depicting the battle between Blackbeard and Robert Maynard in Ocracoke Bay; romanticized depiction by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris from 1920 (from Piracy)
Image 74Battle of a French ship of the line and two galleys of the Barbary corsairs (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 75Henry Every is shown selling his loot in this engraving by Howard Pyle. Every's capture of the Grand Mughal ship Ganj-i-Sawai in 1695 stands as one of the most profitable pirate raids ever perpetrated. (from Piracy)
Image 76"Mic the Scallywag" of the Pirates of Emerson Haunted Adventure Fremont, California (from Piracy)
Image 77A mosaic of a Roman trireme in Tunisia (from Piracy)
Image 78Map of Ulcinj in 1573 by Simon Pinargenti (from Albanian piracy)
Image 79A contemporary flyer depicting the public execution of 16th-century pirate Klein Henszlein and his crew in 1573 (from Piracy)
Image 80Amaro Pargo was one of the most famous corsairs of the Golden Age of Piracy (from Piracy)
Image 81Conquest of Tunis by Charles V and liberation of Christian galley slaves in 1535 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 82The traditional "Jolly Roger" flag of piracy (from Piracy)
Image 83The crew of the merchant vessel Faina stand on the deck after a U.S. Navy request to check on their health and welfare. The Belize-flagged cargo ship owned and operated by Kaalbye Shipping, Ukraine, was seized by pirates 25 September 2008 and forced to proceed to anchorage off the Somali coast. The ship was carrying a cargo of Ukrainian T-72 tanks and related military equipment. (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
Image 84Four Chinese pirates who were hanged in Hong Kong in 1863 (from Piracy)
Image 85Captain William Bainbridge paying tribute to the Dey of Algiers, c. 1800 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 86Born to a noble family in Puerto Rico, Roberto Cofresí was the last notably successful pirate in the Caribbean. (from Piracy)
Image 87Somalia's coral reefs, ecological parks and protected areas (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
Image 88The Bombardment of Algiers by the Anglo-Dutch fleet in 1816 to support the ultimatum to release European slaves (from Piracy)
Image 89A French Ship and Barbary Pirates by Aert Anthonisz, c. 1615 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 90The cemetery of past pirates at Île Ste-Marie (St. Mary's Island) (from Piracy)

Selected Jolly Roger

Flag of Blackbeard

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