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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Kristoffer Throndsen (c. 1500–1565), posthumously also with the family name Rustung, was a squire, admiral, feudal overlord in Norway and Denmark, privateer captain and pirate. Kristoffer served Archbishop Olav Engelbrektsson, the interregnum leader of Norway, in the last years of the Kalmar Union.

Kristoffer is famous for playing a role in the last years before the Reformation in Norway, first as the head of the national fleet, defending Norway from attacking Danish ships; and also as the murderer of Vincent Lunge, a Danish nobleman sent to Bergen in 1536 to enforce the choice the King of Denmark Christian III as king of Norway. This dramatic moment in Norwegian history is memorialized today in an annual "midnight opera" sponsored by the Norwegian Ministry of Culture. Titled Olav Engelbrektsson, it takes place on the premises of the castle, outside Trondheim. (Full article...)

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Regarded as the last successful pirate of the Caribbean during the 19th century's suppression era, the life of Roberto Cofresí has been romanticized in his native Puerto Rico and neighboring nations. Already possessing a reputation as hard to capture in life, the freebooter became a symbol for an archipelago immersed in the political unrest caused by its status as a colony within the struggling Spanish Empire. Under these circumstances, Cofresí was soon characterized as a benign and generous thief. In a similar trend, he was also associated with the Puerto Rican independence movement of the era. During the late 19th and early 20th century, the abundant oral tradition led to a subgenre of folk hero literature which depicted Cofresí as a benevolent force and contradicted the other pirate-related works of the time, including the well known Treasure Island and Peter Pan. A century later, this contrast became the subject of sociological study. Research to uncover the historical figure behind these myths has also been published by authors linked to the Puerto Rican Genealogical Society, which creates a parallel to this narrative.

While in prison, Cofresí claimed to possess at least 4,000 pieces of eight still accessible after the authorities confiscated his ship, mentioning them in an unsuccessful attempt to bribe an officer in exchange for his freedom. This made him one of the few pirates that are implied to have kept a hidden cache, a rare occurrence despite its prominence in popular culture due to their tendency to divide and misspend the earnings, and fueled legends of buried treasures waiting to be found. All sort of objects serve as the subjects of these tales, from magic guitars made of solid gold to chests that are bound to chains that emerge from the sea. This tendency had extended to Hispaniola by the end of the 19th century, with a novel claiming that the island served as the locale of such treasures. During the 20th century, the destination marketing organizations in the region took notice of them and began exploiting the association of certain places and the pirate to attract tourism. Raising his profile during this time period also led to several non-profit homages. Cofresí has since served as the namesake of several sport teams and events, vehicles, companies, alcoholic brands and hotels. Figures such as Alejandro Tapia y Rivera, Luis Lloréns Torres, Rafael Hernández Marín and Juan Emilio Viguié worked to adapt the legends to other mediums, including plays, popular music and films. Cofresí is also the only pirate of the pre-flight era to have a copycat crime in his stead recorded during the 20th century. This happened when his name was employed as an alias during the first act of sky piracy involving an American airline. (Full article...)

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Did you know?

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

... that in 2011, pirates were reported as raiding along the Danube River in the center of Europe?
... that English pirate Henry Every, who was sometimes known as Long Ben, was one of the few major pirate captains to retire with his loot without being arrested or killed in battle?
... 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?

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Selected quotations

“

Come all you brave Boys, whose Courage is bold,
Will you venture with me, I'll glut you with Gold?
Make haste unto Corona, a Ship you will find,
That's called the Fancy, will pleasure your mind.

Captain Every is in her, and calls her his own;
He will box her about, Boys, before he has done:
French, Spaniard and Portuguese, the Heathen likewise,
He has made a War with them until that he dies.

”

— A Copy of Verses, Composed by Captain Henry Every (1696)

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General images

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

Image 1Painting 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 2Battle of Preveza, 1538 (from Barbary pirates)
Image 3An action between an English ship and vessels of the Barbary Corsairs (from Barbary pirates)
Image 4Armed 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 5Barbaria by Jan Janssonius, shows the coast of North Africa, an area known in the 17th century as Barbaria, c. 1650 (from Barbary pirates)
Image 6A Sea Fight with Barbary Corsairs by Laureys a Castro, c. 1681 (from Barbary pirates)
Image 71890 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 8A pirate skiff in Baltiysk, Russia — captured by the Russian Navy (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
Image 9Kent battling Confiance, a privateer vessel commanded by French corsair Robert Surcouf in October 1800, as depicted in a painting by Garneray (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 11Lieve Pietersz Verschuier, Dutch ships bomb Tripoli in a punitive expedition against the Barbary pirates, c. 1670 (from Barbary pirates)
Image 12A French Ship and Barbary Pirates by Aert Anthonisz, c. 1615 (from Barbary pirates)
Image 13French bombardment of Algiers by Admiral Dupperé, 13 June 1830 (from Barbary pirates)
Image 14Aerial photograph of the Niger Delta, a center of piracy (from Piracy)
Image 15Slave market in Algiers, Ottoman Algeria, 1684 (from Barbary pirates)
Image 16A collage of Somali pirates armed with AKM assault rifles, RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenade launchers and semi-automatic pistols in 2008 (from Piracy)
Image 17Henry 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 18Incidents of pipeline vandalism by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea, 2002–2011 (from Piracy)
Image 19Map of Ulcinj in 1573 by Simon Pinargenti (from Albanian piracy)
Image 20An Algerine pirate ship (from Barbary pirates)
Image 21Capture 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 22Henry 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 23The traditional "Jolly Roger" flag of piracy (from Piracy)
Image 24The Barbary pirates frequently attacked Corsica, resulting in many Genoese towers being erected. (from Barbary pirates)
Image 25Bartholomew 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 26Sixteenth century Japanese pirate raids (from Piracy)
Image 27Pirates attacking a French ship (from Albanian piracy)
Image 28Hanging of Captain Kidd; illustration from The Pirates Own Book (1837) (from Piracy)
Image 29Map of Tripoli in 1561 (from Albanian piracy)
Image 30"Cossacks of Azov fighting a Turk ship" by Grigory Gagarin (from Piracy)
Image 31The 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 32Map of Shkodër with the Buna river in 1571 by Giovanni Francesco Camocio (from Albanian 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 34Jacques de Sores looting and burning Havana in 1555 (from Piracy)
Image 35A 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 36Battle of a French ship of the line and two galleys of the Barbary corsairs (from Barbary pirates)
Image 37A fight between Filipino pirates, Bugis trading ship, and Dutch mariners. (from Piracy)
Image 38Map of Vlorë in 1573 by Simon Pinargenti (from Albanian piracy)
Image 39Bartholomew 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 40Time 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 41A 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 42The Vitalienbrüder. Piracy became endemic in the Baltic sea in the Middle Ages because of the Victual Brothers. (from Piracy)
Image 43Map of Dalmatia in 1715 by Guillaume Delisle (from Albanian piracy)
Image 44Dan Seavey was a pirate on the Great Lakes in the early 20th century. (from Piracy)
Image 45British captain witnessing the miseries of Christian slaves in Algiers, 1815 (from Barbary pirates)
Image 46Map showing the extent of Somali pirate attacks on shipping vessels between 2005 and 2010 (from Piracy)
Image 47A man from the Barbary states (from Barbary pirates)
Image 48Iban war prahu in Skerang river (from Piracy)
Image 49Four Chinese pirates who were hanged in Hong Kong in 1863 (from Piracy)
Image 50The Prisoner by Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ after Jean-Léon Gérôme, c.1871 (from Albanian piracy)
Image 51Pirate 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 52U.S. naval officer Stephen Decatur boarding a Tripolitan gunboat during the First Barbary War, 1804 (from Piracy)
Image 53Modern 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 54A 19th-century illustration of an Iranun pirate (from Piracy)
Image 55International Maritime Organization (IMO) conference on capacity-building to counter piracy in the Indian Ocean (from Piracy)
Image 56Blackbeard's severed head hanging from Maynard's bowsprit; illustration from The Pirates Own Book (1837) (from Piracy)
Image 57Photomontage of Somali pirates on the MV Faina (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
Image 58Map of Durrës in 1573 by Simon Pinargenti (from Albanian piracy)
Image 59Puerto del Príncipe being sacked in 1668 by Henry Morgan (from Piracy)
Image 60Amaro Pargo was one of the most famous corsairs of the Golden Age of Piracy (from Piracy)
Image 61A private guard escort on a merchant ship providing security services against piracy in the Indian Ocean (from Piracy)
Image 62Somalia's coral reefs, ecological parks and protected areas (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
Image 63An LRAD sound cannon mounted on RMS Queen Mary 2 (from Piracy)
Image 64The 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 is carrying a cargo of Ukrainian T-72 tanks and related military equipment. (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
Image 65Anti 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 66A mosaic of a Roman trireme in Tunisia (from Piracy)
Image 67Born to a noble family in Puerto Rico, Roberto Cofresí was the last notably successful pirate in the Caribbean. (from Piracy)
Image 68A contemporary flyer depicting the public execution of 16th-century pirate Klein Henszlein and his crew in 1573 (from Piracy)
Image 69Conquest of Tunis by Charles V and liberation of Christian galley slaves in 1535 (from Barbary pirates)
Image 70Views of Ulcinj in 1718 bz H. C. Bröckell (from Albanian piracy)
Image 71Pirate 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 72British Royal Navy Commodore gives a presentation on piracy at the MAST 2008 conference (from Piracy)
Image 73Spanish warships bombarding the Moro Pirates of the southern Philippines in 1848 (from Piracy)
Image 74Castle of Ulcinj in the 1890s (from Albanian piracy)
Image 75Coat 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 76A Barbary pirate, Pier Francesco Mola, 1650 (from Barbary pirates)
Image 77Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa (from Barbary pirates)
Image 78A fleet of Vikings, painted mid-12th century (from Piracy)
Image 79The cemetery of past pirates at Île Ste-Marie (St. Mary's Island) (from Piracy)
Image 80A French ship under attack by Barbary pirates, ca. 1615 (from Piracy)
Image 81Captain William Bainbridge paying tribute to the Dey of Algiers, c. 1800 (from Barbary pirates)
Image 82Suspected Somali pirates keep their hands in the air (from Piracy)
Image 83The Quattro Mori ("Four Moors") by Pietro Tacca; Livorno, Italy (from Barbary pirates)
Image 84Bombardment of Algiers by Lord Exmouth in August 1816, Thomas Luny (from Barbary pirates)
Image 85Mural representing the attack of Charles Windon to San Sebastián de La Gomera (1743) (from Piracy)
Image 86"Mic the Scallywag" of the Pirates of Emerson Haunted Adventure Fremont, California (from Piracy)