Portal:Piracy

The Piracy Portal

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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 other valuable goods. 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...)

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Portrait by Marcus Gheeraerts, 1591

Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540 – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer and privateer best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition between 1577 and 1580. This was the first English circumnavigation, and second circumnavigation overall. He is also known for participating in the early English slaving voyages of his cousin, Sir John Hawkins, and John Lovell. Having started as a simple seaman, in 1588 he was part of the fight against the Spanish Armada as a vice-admiral.

At an early age, Drake was placed into the household of a relative, William Hawkins, a prominent sea captain in Plymouth. In 1572, he set sail on his first independent mission, privateering along the Spanish Main. Drake's circumnavigation began on 15 December 1577. He crossed the Pacific Ocean, until then an area of exclusive Spanish interest, and laid claim to New Albion, plundering coastal towns and ships for treasure and supplies as he went. He arrived back in England on 26 September 1580. Elizabeth I awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581 which he received aboard his galleon the Golden Hind. (Full article...)

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One of the few contemporary representations of the Victual Brothers from a wall painting in Bunge church, Gotland, Sweden, c. 1405

The Victual Brothers (German: Vitalienbrüder) were a loosely organized guild of privateers who later turned to piracy. They affected maritime trade during the 14th century in both the North and Baltic Seas.

They were initially hired in 1392 by the Dukes of Mecklenburg to support their fight against Queen Margaret I of Denmark, who was besieging Stockholm. Named after the Latin word victualia ('provisions'), their mission was to supply the city with goods. They initially had the support of most of the Hanseatic league apart from Lübeck. Over time, they became notorious pirates, attacking coastal towns around the Baltic region, so that the maritime trade in the Baltic Sea virtually collapsed. At the peak of their power in 1394, they took over the island of Gotland. Their influence in the Baltic region declined after the Teutonic Order drove them out of Gotland in 1398. (Full article...)

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Did you know?

... that the developers of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number suggested that Australian customers pirate their game?
... that Black Sheep Radio dedicated its first day of programming to a fallen pirate?
... that since 1904 the Gasparilla Pirate Festival in Tampa, Florida, has featured a pirate-themed parade?
... that Saudi Arabian broadcaster beoutQ pirated and resold beIN Sports programmes during the Qatar diplomatic crisis?
... that HMS Redpole, one of the aptly-named coffin brigs, sank in an action with a pirate vessel in August 1828?
... that indigenous Australian artist Daniel Boyd has depicted colonial figures including Captain James Cook and Governor Arthur Phillip as pirates?

... 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 in 2011, pirates were reported as raiding along the Danube River in the center of Europe?
... that, unlike traditional Western societies of the time, many pirate clans operated as limited democracies, demanding the right to elect and replace their leaders?

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Selected quotations

“

I am sorry to see you here Jack, but if you had fought like a man, you need not be hanged like a dog.

”

— Anne Bonny

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General images

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

Image 11890 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 2Jacques de Sores looting and burning Havana in 1555 (from Piracy)
Image 3British captain witnessing the miseries of Christian slaves in Algiers, 1815 (from Barbary pirates)
Image 4A 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 5Kent battling Confiance, a privateer vessel commanded by French corsair Robert Surcouf in October 1800, as depicted in a painting by Garneray (from Piracy)
Image 6The Vitalienbrüder. Piracy became endemic in the Baltic Sea in the Middle Ages because of the Victual Brothers. (from Piracy)
Image 7Coat 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 pirates)
Image 8A pirate skiff in Baltiysk, Russia — captured by the Russian Navy (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
Image 9A contemporary flyer depicting the public execution of 16th-century pirate Klein Henszlein and his crew in 1573 (from Piracy)
Image 10The Bombardment of Algiers by the Anglo-Dutch fleet in 1816 to support the ultimatum to release European slaves (from Piracy)
Image 11A Sea Fight with Barbary Corsairs by Laureys a Castro, c. 1681 (from Barbary pirates)
Image 12Lieve Pietersz Verschuier, Dutch ships bomb Tripoli in a punitive expedition against the Barbary pirates, c. 1670 (from Barbary pirates)
Image 13A private guard escort on a merchant ship providing security services against piracy in the Indian Ocean (from Piracy)
Image 14Views of Ulcinj in 1718 bz H. C. Bröckell (from Albanian piracy)
Image 15Bartholomew 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 16Map of Shkodër with the Buna river in 1571 by Giovanni Francesco Camocio (from Albanian piracy)
Image 17Time 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 18Henry 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 19Sixteenth century Japanese pirate raids (from Piracy)
Image 20Mural representing the attack of Charles Windon to San Sebastián de La Gomera (1743) (from Piracy)
Image 21Hanging of Captain Kidd; illustration from The Pirates Own Book (1837) (from Piracy)
Image 22An Algerine pirate ship (from Barbary pirates)
Image 23Incidents of pipeline vandalism by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea, 2002–2011 (from Piracy)
Image 24Pirate Anne Bonny (disappeared after 28 November 1720). Engraving from Captain Charles Johnson's General History of the Pyrates (1st Dutch Edition, 1725) (from Piracy)
Image 25"Mic the Scallywag" of the Pirates of Emerson Haunted Adventure Fremont, California (from Piracy)
Image 26Bombardment of Algiers by Lord Exmouth in August 1816, Thomas Luny (from Barbary pirates)
Image 27An action between an English ship and vessels of the Barbary Corsairs (from Barbary pirates)
Image 28Slave market in Algiers, Ottoman Algeria, 1684 (from Barbary pirates)
Image 29A French ship under attack by Barbary pirates, ca. 1615 (from Piracy)
Image 30The 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 31Photomontage of Somali pirates on the MV Faina (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
Image 32Four Chinese pirates who were hanged in Hong Kong in 1863 (from Piracy)
Image 33Double-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 34The work of the Mercedarians was in ransoming Christian slaves held in Muslim hands, Histoire de Barbarie et de ses Corsaires, 1637 (from Barbary pirates)
Image 35A French Ship and Barbary Pirates by Aert Anthonisz, c. 1615 (from Barbary pirates)
Image 36Aerial photograph of the Niger Delta, a center of piracy (from Piracy)
Image 37French bombardment of Algiers by Admiral Dupperé, 13 June 1830 (from Barbary pirates)
Image 38Map showing the extent of Somali pirate attacks on shipping vessels between 2005 and 2010 (from Piracy)
Image 39A 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 40Amaro Pargo was one of the most famous corsairs of the Golden Age of Piracy (from Piracy)
Image 41Somalia's coral reefs, ecological parks and protected areas (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
Image 42Barbaria by Jan Janssonius, shows the coast of North Africa, an area known in the 17th century as Barbaria, c. 1650 (from Barbary pirates)
Image 43Armed 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 44Spanish warships bombarding the Moro Pirates of the southern Philippines in 1848 (from Piracy)
Image 45Map of Durrës in 1573 by Simon Pinargenti (from Albanian piracy)
Image 46A fight between Filipino pirates, Bugis trading ship, and Dutch mariners. (from Piracy)
Image 47An LRAD sound cannon mounted on RMS Queen Mary 2 (from Piracy)
Image 48Blackbeard's severed head hanging from Maynard's bowsprit; illustration from The Pirates Own Book (1837) (from Piracy)
Image 49Battle of a French ship of the line and two galleys of the Barbary corsairs (from Barbary pirates)
Image 50Map of Vlorë in 1573 by Simon Pinargenti (from Albanian piracy)
Image 51Battle of Preveza, 1538 (from Barbary pirates)
Image 52Map of Dalmatia in 1715 by Guillaume Delisle (from Albanian piracy)
Image 53The Barbary pirates frequently attacked Corsica, resulting in many Genoese towers being erected. (from Barbary pirates)
Image 54British Royal Navy Commodore gives a presentation on piracy at the MAST 2008 conference (from Piracy)
Image 55Modern 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 56Puerto del Príncipe being sacked in 1668 by Henry Morgan (from Piracy)
Image 57A fleet of Vikings, painted mid-12th century (from Piracy)
Image 58Henry 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 59Born to a noble family in Puerto Rico, Roberto Cofresí was the last notably successful pirate in the Caribbean. (from Piracy)
Image 60"Cossacks of Azov fighting a Turk ship" by Grigory Gagarin (from Piracy)
Image 61The cemetery of past pirates at Île Ste-Marie (St. Mary's Island) (from Piracy)
Image 62The traditional "Jolly Roger" flag of piracy (from Piracy)
Image 63The Quattro Mori ("Four Moors") by Pietro Tacca; Livorno, Italy (from Barbary pirates)
Image 64Map of Ulcinj in 1573 by Simon Pinargenti (from Albanian piracy)
Image 65A man from the Barbary states (from Barbary pirates)
Image 66Anti 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 67Bartholomew 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 68Capture 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 69A collage of Somali pirates armed with AKM assault rifles, RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenade launchers and semi-automatic pistols in 2008 (from Piracy)
Image 70Conquest of Tunis by Charles V and liberation of Christian galley slaves in 1535 (from Barbary pirates)
Image 71A mosaic of a Roman trireme in Tunisia (from Piracy)
Image 72The Prisoner by Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ after Jean-Léon Gérôme, c.1871 (from Albanian piracy)
Image 73A 19th-century illustration of an Iranun pirate (from Piracy)
Image 74A Barbary pirate, Pier Francesco Mola, 1650 (from Barbary pirates)
Image 75Painting 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 76Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa (from Barbary pirates)
Image 77U.S. naval officer Stephen Decatur boarding a Tripolitan gunboat during the First Barbary War, 1804 (from Piracy)
Image 78Pirates attacking a French ship (from Albanian piracy)
Image 79International Maritime Organization (IMO) conference on capacity-building to counter piracy in the Indian Ocean (from Piracy)
Image 80Suspected Somali pirates keep their hands in the air (from Piracy)
Image 81Pirate 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 82Dan Seavey was a pirate on the Great Lakes in the early 20th century. (from Piracy)
Image 83Map of Tripoli in 1561 (from Albanian piracy)
Image 84Captain William Bainbridge paying tribute to the Dey of Algiers, c. 1800 (from Barbary pirates)
Image 85Iban war prahu in Skerang river (from Piracy)
Image 86Castle of Ulcinj in the 1890s (from Albanian piracy)