When was the Golden Age of Piracy?
Golden Age of Piracy
Rediker, in 2004, described the most complex definition of the Golden Age to date. He proposes a "golden age of piracy, which spanned the period from roughly 1650 to 1730", which he subdivides into three distinct "generations": the buccaneers of 1650–1680, the Indian Ocean pirates of the 1690s, and the pirates of the years 1716–1726.
Piracy
While the term can include acts committed in the air, on land (especially across national borders or in connection with taking over and robbing a car or train), or in other major bodies of water or on a shore, this article focuses on maritime piracy. It does not normally include crimes committed against people traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator (e.g. one passenger stealing from others on the same vessel). 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 early 21st century, seaborne piracy against transport vessels remains a significant issue (with estimated worldwide losses of US$16 billion per year in 2004), particularly in the waters between the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, off the Somali coast, and also in the Strait of Malacca and Singapore.
Pirate Freedom
The majority of the book is set in the Caribbean and nearby regions during the "Golden Age of Piracy". It takes place mostly if not entirely after Henry Morgan burned Panama City (1671) and before the earthquake that destroyed Port Royal, Jamaica (1692).
Piracy
The growth of buccaneering on Tortuga was augmented by the English capture of Jamaica from Spain in 1655. The early English governors of Jamaica freely granted letters of marque to Tortuga buccaneers and to their own countrymen, while the growth of Port Royal provided these raiders with a far more profitable and enjoyable place to sell their booty. In the 1660s, the new French governor of Tortuga, Bertrand d'Ogeron, similarly provided privateering commissions both to his own colonists and to English cutthroats from Port Royal. These conditions brought Caribbean buccaneering to its zenith.
A new phase of piracy began in the 1690s as English pirates began to look beyond the Caribbean for treasure. The fall of Britain's Stuart kings had restored the traditional enmity between Britain and France, thus ending the profitable collaboration between English Jamaica and French Tortuga. The devastation of Port Royal by an earthquake in 1692 further reduced the Caribbean's attractions by destroying the pirates' chief market for fenced plunder. Caribbean colonial governors began to discard the traditional policy of "no peace beyond the Line," under which it was understood that war would continue (and thus letters of marque would be granted) in the Caribbean regardless of peace treaties signed in Europe; henceforth, commissions would be granted only in wartime, and their limitations would be strictly enforced. Furthermore, much of the Spanish Main had simply been exhausted; Maracaibo alone had been sacked three times between 1667 and 1678, while Río de la Hacha had been raided five times and Tolú eight.
Henry King (pirate)
Henry King was a minor pirate active during the Golden Age of Piracy. He is best known for attacking the slave ship "John Hopewell", whose captured crew turned the tables and took his ship from him.
Piracy in the Caribbean
Pirates were often former sailors experienced in naval warfare. Beginning in the 16th century, pirate captains recruited seamen to loot European merchant ships, especially the Spanish treasure fleets sailing from the Caribbean to Europe.
The following quote by an 18th-century Welsh captain shows the motivations for piracy:
Golden Age of Piracy
French buccaneers had established themselves on northern Hispaniola as early as 1625, but lived at first mostly as hunters rather than robbers; their transition to full-time piracy was gradual and motivated in part by Spanish efforts to wipe out both the buccaneers and the prey animals on which they depended. The buccaneers' migration from Hispaniola's mainland to the more defensible offshore island of Tortuga limited their resources and accelerated their piratical raids. According to Alexandre Exquemelin, a buccaneer and historian who remains a major source on this period, the Tortuga buccaneer Pierre Le Grand pioneered the settlers' attacks on galleons making the return voyage to Spain.
Piracy
The ushkuiniks were Novgorodian pirates who looted the cities on the Volga and Kama Rivers in the 14th century.
As early as Byzantine times, the Maniots (one of Greece's toughest populations) were known as pirates. The Maniots considered piracy as a legitimate response to the fact that their land was poor and it became their main source of income. The main victims of Maniot pirates were the Ottomans but the Maniots also targeted ships of European countries.
Ancient Mediterranean piracy
Many texts from bronze age and archaic Greece actually condone piracy as a viable profession. "In ancient Greece piracy seems to have been widespread and widely regarded as an entirely honourable way of making a living." Numerous references are made to its perfectly normal occurrence in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, thought to have been written sometime in the 7th or 6th century BC. Odysseus recounts an incident he himself took part in:
Jolly Roger
The Jolly Roger flag became a cliché of pirate fiction in the 19th century.
The "Golden Age of Piracy" was over by the mid-18th century, and piracy was widely suppressed by the 1800s, although the problem of Barbary pirates persisted until the French conquest of Algeria in 1830.
By the Victorian era, the pirate threat had receded enough for it to become a topos of boyish adventure fiction, notably influenced by Stevenson's 1883 "Treasure Island". Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance" introduced pirates as comedic characters, and since the later 20th century, pirates sporting the Jolly Roger flag were often depicted as cartoonish or silly characters. J.M. Barrie also used it as the name of Captain Hook's pirate ship in "Peter and Wendy"; it was thus used in most adaptations of the character, including ABC's "Once Upon A Time".
Golden Age of Piracy
Between the years 1719 and 1721 Edward England, John Taylor, Olivier LaBuse and Christopher Conduct operated from Madagascar. Taylor and LaBuse reaped the greatest prize in the history of the Golden Age of Piracy, the Plunder of the Portuguese East Indiman Nossa Senhora Do Cabo at Réunion in 1721, getting diamonds and other treasures worth a total of £800,000.
Republic of Pirates
In "", Edward Kenway helped seize control of Nassau and establish a pirate republic with other major pirates of the Golden Age of Piracy.
Piracy (comics)
Piracy is an EC Comics title published in the early 1950s. The bi-monthly comic book, published by Bill Gaines and edited by Al Feldstein, began with an issue cover-dated October–November, 1954. It ran for seven issues, ending with the October–November, 1955 issue.
Golden Age of Piracy
The Barbary pirates were pirates and privateers that operated from the North African (the "Barbary coast") ports of Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, Salé and ports in Morocco, preying on shipping in the western Mediterranean Sea from the time of the Crusades as well as on ships on their way to Asia around Africa until the early 19th century. The coastal villages and towns of Italy, Spain and Mediterranean islands were frequently attacked by them and long stretches of the Italian and Spanish coasts were almost completely abandoned by their inhabitants; since the 17th century, Barbary pirates occasionally entered the Atlantic and struck as far north as Iceland. According to Robert Davis, between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by Barbary pirates and sold as slaves in the Arab world between the 16th and 19th centuries.
Bartholomew Roberts
Bartholomew Roberts (17 May 1682 – 10 February 1722), born John Roberts, was a Welsh pirate who raided ships off the Americas and West Africa between 1719 and 1722. He was the most successful pirate of the Golden Age of Piracy as measured by vessels captured, taking over 400 prizes in his career. He is also known as Black Bart (), but this name was never used in his lifetime.
Golden Age of Piracy
More recently, even less accurate depictions of historical-era pirates ("e.g.", Talk Like a Pirate Day) have advanced to the forefront. However, these phenomena have only served to advance the romantic image of piracy and its treasure-burying swashbucklers in popular culture.
Pirate Round
English piracy in the Indian Ocean goes back at least to King James I, but for most of the 17th century the Spanish Empire was the principal target of English pirates. The Pirate Round proper as the main route of English pirates begins in 1693 with Thomas Tew. Tew's enormously successful cruise and low casualties attracted the attention of others and led to a flood of pirates following his route.
Piracy Act 1698
The Piracy Act 1698 (11 Will 3 c 7) was an Act of the Parliament of England passed in the eleventh year of William III. The long title of the Act is "An Act for the more effectual suppression of Piracy".
Richard Worley
He is first recorded leaving New York with a small boat and a crew of eight men hoping to make their fortune in the so-called Golden Age of Piracy. However, their first prize resulted in the capture of household goods from a shallop in the Delaware River near New Castle in September 1718. This attack was technically burglary rather than piracy, as according to British maritime law at the time the attack did not take place in international waters. Local authorities mistakenly attributed the attack to Worley's better-known counterpart Blackbeard, who had raided the same waterways earlier in the year. Vessels were armed and sent to intercept the robbers but, after cruising for several days without setting sight on Worley, returned empty-handed.
Piracy in the Atlantic World
Bradley Nutting makes the argument that it was the early Golden Age pirates raping and pillaging of several Muslim pilgrims in 1695 that was initially responsible for the flood of legislation in the early eighteenth century. Following Henry Avery's capture of the mogul ship quote, the East India Company petitioned the Privy Council in 1696 to issue a proclamation of arrest. A reward of fifty pounds was offered for Avery's crew, while five-hundred pounds was offered for Avery himself. Those incidences lead to two major acts of Parliament which reshaped British policy towards piracy both in Britain itself and in the colonies.
Golden Age of Piracy
Perhaps the ultimate step in restricting the Golden Age was in Konstam's 2005 "The History of Pirates," in which he retreated from his own earlier definition, called a 1690–1730 definition of the Golden Age "generous," and concluded that "The worst of these pirate excesses was limited to an eight-year period, from 1714 until 1722, so the true Golden Age cannot even be called a 'golden decade.'"
True Caribbean Pirates
"True Caribbean Pirates" captures the events and tales of piracy that were said to take place in the Caribbean during the time when Christopher Columbus made his landing in the West Indies during 1492. Within this time, the land of the Caribbean had attracted the attention of many but was dominated by Spain; as they mined plenty of riches and gold out of the region. This drew attention to the land and disruptions arose- creating chaos in the new world. Regions such as Holland, England and France all began to send privateers into the land so they could to- establish a presence.
Piracy in the British Virgin Islands
Probably the most famous historical account of piracy involved Owen Lloyd, who was part of the crew on a Spanish treasure galleon named "Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe." In 1750, the ship was forced to seek shelter from a storm on the North Carolina coast, when, at the instigation of the first mate, the crew mutinied and escaped with the galleon's valuable cargo. Part of the cargo was loaded into two bilanders, one of which was commanded by Owen Lloyd. Lloyd and his associates then proceeded to St. Croix where they off loaded part of their plunder.
Thomas Anstis
Thomas Anstis (died April 1723) was an early 18th-century pirate, who served under Captain Howell Davis and Captain Bartholomew Roberts, before setting up on his own account, raiding shipping on the eastern coast of the American colonies and in the Caribbean during what is often referred to as the "Golden Age of Piracy".
Piracy in the Caribbean
The Caribbean had become a center of European trade and colonization after Columbus' discovery of the New World for Spain in 1492. In the 1493 Treaty of Tordesillas the non-European world had been divided between the Spanish and the Portuguese along a north-south line 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands. This gave Spain control of the Americas, a position the Spaniards later reiterated with an equally unenforceable papal bull (The Inter caetera). On the Spanish Main, the key early settlements were Cartagena in present-day Colombia, Porto Bello and Panama City on the Isthmus of Panama, Santiago on the southeastern coast of Cuba, and Santo Domingo on the island of Hispaniola. In the 16th century, the Spanish were mining extremely large quantities of silver from the mines of Zacatecas in New Spain (Mexico) and Potosí in Bolivia (formerly known as "Alto Peru"). The huge Spanish silver shipments from the New World to the Old attracted pirates and French privateers like François Leclerc or Jean Fleury, both in the Caribbean and across the Atlantic, all along the route from the Caribbean to Seville.
Pirates (1986 film)
The Atlantic Ocean, the year 1659. The infamous English pirate Thomas Bartholomew Red (Walter Matthau), known as Captain Red, and his ship's teenage cabin boy Jean-Baptiste (Cris Campion), nicknamed "Frog", are lost on a raft without supplies in the ocean. Luckily, Captain Red and Frog are picked up by "Neptune", a Spanish galleon en route to Spain. Thrown into the brig, Red and Frog meet the ship's cook Boomako (Olu Jacobs), imprisoned after being accused of poisoning the "Neptune's" captain Linares (Ferdy Mayne) in a supposed attempt at stealing the golden throne, loot from the Aztec King Catapec Anahuac, that is being secretly transported in the galleon's hold. Captain Red becomes obsessed with capturing the throne for himself. Meanwhile, Frog falls in love with Maria-Dolores (Charlotte Lewis), the niece of Maracaibo's governor, who is travelling on the "Neptune" as a passenger.
Piracy
The Slavic piracy in the Baltic Sea ended with the Danish conquest of the Rani stronghold of Arkona in 1168. In the 12th century the coasts of western Scandinavia were plundered by Curonians and Oeselians from the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. In the 13th and 14th century, pirates threatened the Hanseatic routes and nearly brought sea trade to the brink of extinction. The Victual Brothers of Gotland were a companionship of privateers who later turned to piracy as the Likedeelers. They were especially noted for their leaders Klaus Störtebeker and Gödeke Michels. Until about 1440, maritime trade in both the North Sea and the Baltic Sea was seriously in danger of attack by the pirates.
Piracy in the 21st century
Piracy in the Indian Ocean has been a threat to international shipping since the second phase of the civil war in Somalia in the early 21st century. Since 2005, many international organizations have expressed concern over the rise in acts of piracy. Piracy impeded the delivery of shipments and increased shipping expenses, costing an estimated $6.6 to $6.9 billion a year in global trade according to Oceans Beyond Piracy (OBP). According to the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), a veritable industry of profiteers also arose around the piracy. Insurance companies significantly increased their profits from the pirate attacks as insurance companies hiked rate premiums in response.
Piracy in the Strait of Malacca
The 18th and 19th centuries saw an increase of piracy in the strait, spurred in part by the economic imperative to control the lucrative spice trade with European colonisers. According to Charles Corn, author of "The Scents of Eden: A Narrative of the Spice Trade", "Spices drove the world economies in those days the way oil does today." The rapid increase in piracy gave James Brooke the opportunity to control piracy along a segment of coast in a way the British Empire and East India Company viewed as cost-effective, enabling himself and his descendants to reign as the White Rajahs of Sarawak.
Piracy in the Persian Gulf
Hermann Burchardt, a 19th-century German explorer and photographer, surmised that the Pirate Coast deserved its designation, and goes on to claim that piracy was the main occupation of the inhabitants who were infamous for their fanatacism and bloodthirstiness. A British customs official named John Malcolm who served in the Persian Gulf area from the 18th century to the 19th century wrote that when he questioned an Arab servant named Khudádád about the Jawasmi (the main pirate tribe in the Persian Gulf), Khudádád professed that "their occupation is piracy, and their delight murder; and to make it worse, they give you the most pious reasons for every villainy they commit".
1703 in piracy
"See also" 1702 in piracy, other events in 1703, 1704 in piracy, and Timeline of piracy.see "Quelch's Gold" by Clifford Beal (Praeger Publishing, Westport CT, USA 2007)
Piracy in the Caribbean
About the time of the Mexican–American War in 1846, the United States Navy had grown strong and numerous enough to eliminate the pirate threat in the West Indies. By the 1830s, ships had begun to convert to steam propulsion, so the Age of Sail and the classical idea of pirates in the Caribbean ended. Privateering, similar to piracy, continued as an asset in war for a few more decades and proved to be of some importance during the naval campaigns of the American Civil War.
Act to Protect the Commerce of the United States and Punish the Crime of Piracy
An Act to protect the commerce of the United States and punish the crime of piracy is an 1819 United States federal statute against piracy, amended in 1820 to declare participating in the slave trade or robbing a ship to be piracy as well. The last execution for piracy in the United States was of slave trader Nathaniel Gordon in 1862 in New York, under the amended act.
Golden Age of Piracy
Although some of the details are often misremembered, the effect upon popular culture of the Golden Age of Piracy can hardly be overstated. "A General History of the Pirates" (1724) by Captain Charles Johnson is the prime source for the biographies of many well known pirates of the Golden Age, providing an extensive account of the period. In giving an almost mythical status to the more colourful characters such as the notorious English pirates Blackbeard and Calico Jack, it is likely that the author used considerable licence in his accounts of pirate conversations. In 2002, English naval historian David Cordingly wrote an introduction to Johnson's 1724 book, stating: "it has been said, and there seems no reason to question this, that Captain Johnson created the modern conception of pirates." Johnson's book would influence the pirate literature of Robert Louis Stevenson and J. M. Barrie. Such literary works as Stevenson's "Treasure Island" and Barrie's "Peter Pan", while romanticized, drew heavily on pirates and piracy for their plots.
Maritime history
The English and Dutch had created extensive trade empires during the 17th and 18th century and saw pirates as a barrier to their continued growth. English began building a codification for piracy, which started a war against pirates that lasted from the 1670s ending in the 1720s. During this time the English would develop a ship called the Jamaica Sloops which were better at fending off piracy. In the late 1600s, the British began building up their navy and were able to put an end to most piracy by the 1720s violently, only isolated individual instances persisted.
Piracy in the Atlantic World
The evolution of the history of piracy mirrors that of many other subjects. As historians began to stray from the strict retelling of these stories, piracy became more significant. In the latter part of the twentieth century, historians began to see the Atlantic World in early modern times as an important frame in telling stories of colonialism, capitalism, slavery, and modernity.
Piracy
In the early 19th century, piracy along the East and Gulf Coasts of North America as well as in the Caribbean increased again. Jean Lafitte was just one of hundreds of pirates operating in American and Caribbean waters between the years of 1820 and 1835. The United States Navy repeatedly engaged pirates in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and in the Mediterranean. Cofresí's "El Mosquito" was disabled in a collaboration between Spain and the United States. After fleeing for hours, he was ambushed and captured inland. The United States landed shore parties on several islands in the Caribbean in pursuit of pirates; Cuba was a major haven. By the 1830s piracy had died out again, and the navies of the region focused on the slave trade.
Golden Age of Piracy
As part of the settlement of the War of Spanish Succession, Britain obtained the "asiento", a Spanish government contract to supply slaves to Spain's new world colonies, which provided British traders and smugglers more access to formerly closed Spanish markets in America. This arrangement also contributed heavily to the spread of piracy across the western Atlantic. Shipping to the colonies boomed along with the flood of skilled mariners after the war. Merchant shippers used the surplus of labor to drive wages down, cut corners to maximize profits, and create unsavory conditions aboard their vessels. Merchant sailors suffered from mortality rates as high or higher than the slaves being transported. Living conditions were so poor that many sailors began to prefer a freer existence as a pirate. The increased volume of shipping traffic also could sustain a large body of brigands preying upon it.
William Fly
Captain William Fly (died 12 July 1726) was an English pirate who raided New England shipping fleets for three months in 1726 until he was captured by the crew of a seized ship. He was hanged in Boston, Massachusetts and his body publicly exhibited as a warning to other pirates. His death is considered by many to mark the end of the Golden Age of Piracy.
The Golden Rendezvous
An older historical reference, from which the book's name derives, is to the fabulous Spanish treasure fleets of the 17th and 18th Centuries, which attracted the attention of English pirates during the Golden Age of Piracy. In the book is depicted a reversal of the historical linguistic roles, with 20th Century Spanish-speaking pirates seeking to loot a large consignment of gold ingots being secretly transported between the United States and Britain.
True Caribbean Pirates
"Black Bart" Roberts- played by Scott Silbor- was a Welsh pirate who raided ships off the Americas and West Africa between 1719 and 1722. He was the most successful pirate of the Golden Age of Piracy (as measured by vessels captured), taking over 400 prizes in his career. He was originally the third mate on the slave ship "Princess" when it was captured by pirates off West Africa in 1719, and Roberts and several other of the crew of the Princess were forced to join the pirate crew. After the captain was killed in an ambush on the island of Principe, Roberts was elected as the new captain. After avenging the previous captain by ransacking Principe, he sailed for Brazil in 1719 and later to the Caribbean. After sailing beck to the African coast, he was finally killed in action off Cape Lopez in 1722.
1706 in piracy
"See also:" 
1705 in piracy, 
1707 in piracy and the 
list of 'years of Piracy'.
Piracy in the Atlantic World
Four examples of Pirate Trials range from 1676 to 1861.It was not until the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht was signed in 1713 settling the war with France that Britain could make a serious attempt to deploy its navy against piracy. By 1718 the royal naval was refit for action against the pirates and with third, fourth, and fifth rate war ships armed with some seventy plus guns, it was more firepower than any pirate ship of the time could have withstood. As David Cordingly argues, the pirates were "no match for naval squadrons of this strength," and that the only reason piracy had been so successful was because the British government had not put this level of effort into hunting pirates before.
Piracy
History
Pomerania during the Early Middle Ages
Trade, robbery, and piracy did not exclude each other, but were then two sides of the same coin. Whether one traded or stole depended on one's own military strength or protection compared to the abilities of the encountered party. Slavic piracy, especially from Rügen and Wollin, climaxed in the 11th century. Denmark, being the major target, launched several expeditions to stop this piracy, such as an expedition directed at Wollin and the Oder estituary led by king Magnus in 1043, and several expeditions initiated by Eric Ejegod, father of Canute Lavard, in the late 11th century.
1707 in piracy
"See also:" 
1706 in piracy, 
other events of 1707, 
1708 in piracy and the 
list of 'years of Piracy'.
Republic of Pirates
The era of piracy in the Bahamas began in 1696, when the privateer Henry Every brought his ship the "Fancy" loaded with loot from plundering Indian trade ships into Nassau harbour. Every bribed the governor Nicholas Trott with gold and silver, and with the "Fancy" itself, still loaded with 50 tons of elephant tusks and 100 barrels of gunpowder. This established Nassau as a base where pirates could operate safely, although various governors regularly made a show of suppressing piracy. Although the governors were still legally in charge, the pirates became increasingly powerful.
Piracy
Jurisdiction
Piracy
In 1715, pirates launched a major raid on Spanish divers trying to recover gold from a sunken treasure galleon near Florida. The nucleus of the pirate force was a group of English ex-privateers, all of whom would soon be enshrined in infamy: Henry Jennings, Charles Vane, Samuel Bellamy, and Edward England. The attack was successful, but contrary to their expectations, the governor of Jamaica refused to allow Jennings and their cohorts to spend their loot on his island. With Kingston and the declining Port Royal closed to them, Jennings and his comrades founded a new pirate base at Nassau, on the island of New Providence in the Bahamas, which had been abandoned during the war. Until the arrival of governor Woodes Rogers three years later, Nassau would be home for these pirates and their many recruits.
Culture of the United Kingdom
Published in 1724, "A General History of the Pyrates" by Captain Charles Johnson provided the standard account of the lives of many pirates in the Golden Age. It influenced pirate literature of Scottish novelists Robert Louis Stevenson ("Treasure Island") and J. M. Barrie. Many famous English pirates from the Golden Age hailed from the West Country in south west England—the stereotypical West Country "pirate accent" was popularised by West Country native Robert Newton's portrayal of Stevenson's Long John Silver in film. The concept of "walking the plank" was popularised by Barrie's "Peter Pan", where Captain Hook's pirates helped define the archetype. Davy Jones' Locker, where sailors or ships' remains are consigned to the bottom of the sea, is first recorded by Daniel Defoe in 1726. Johnson's 1724 book gave a mythical status to famous English pirates such as Blackbeard and Calico Jack—Jack's Jolly Roger flag design features a skull with crossed swords.
Golden Age
The term "Golden Age" is at present frequently used in the context of various fields, such as the "Spanish Golden Age", "Dutch Golden Age", "Golden age of alpinism", "Golden Age of American animation", "Golden Age of Comics", "Golden Age of Science Fiction", "Golden Age of Television", "Golden Age of Hollywood", "Golden age of arcade video games", "Golden Age of Radio", "Golden Age of Hip Hop" and even "Golden Age of Piracy" or "Golden Age of Porn". Usually, the term "Golden Age" is bestowed retroactively, when the period in question has ended and is compared with what followed in the specific field discussed.
Piracy
Piracy in the Caribbean declined for the next several decades after 1730, but by the 1810s many pirates roamed the waters though they were not as bold or successful as their predecessors. The most successful pirates of the era were Jean Lafitte and Roberto Cofresi. Lafitte is considered by many to be the last buccaneer due to his army of pirates and fleet of pirate ships which held bases in and around the Gulf of Mexico. Lafitte and his men participated in the War of 1812 battle of New Orleans. Cofresi's base was in Mona Island, Puerto Rico, from where he disrupted the commerce throughout the region. He became the last major target of the international anti-piracy operations.
The elimination of piracy from European waters expanded to the Caribbean in the 18th century, West Africa and North America by the 1710s and by the 1720s even the Indian Ocean was a difficult location for pirates to operate.
Ancient Mediterranean piracy
The rulers of Minoan Crete were the first to raise a navy specifically for the purpose of battling piracy. Greek sources describe this navy as the product of the legendary king Minos, and suggest "it is likely he cleared the sea of piracy as far as he was able, to improve his revenues." He is said to have effectively curbed piracy in his area until his fleet was destroyed by a tsunami around 1400 BC, and piratical activities resumed.
Slavery in ancient Rome
Piracy has a long history of adding to the slave trade, and the period of the Roman Republic was no different. Piracy was particularly affluent in Cilicia where pirates operated with impunity from a number of strongholds. Pompey was credited with effectively eradicating piracy from the Mediterranean in 67 BC. Although large scale piracy was curbed under Pompey and controlled under the Roman Empire, it remained a steady institution and kidnapping through piracy continued to contribute to the Roman slave supply. Augustine lamented the wide scale practice of kidnapping in North Africa in the early 5th century AD.
Hydrarchy
Around approximately the fourteenth century BC, the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas exhibited the development of perhaps one of the first populations of seamen suffering from the effects of poverty and terrain unsuitable for agriculture cultivation. The "notorious Sea Peoples" were a population of individuals of humble means who resorted to piracy when fishing could not sustain the population.
By the end of the War of Spanish succession, "as working conditions in the merchant industry rapidly deteriorated, seamen turned to the black flag by the thousands." John Jessup detailed the "jovial life among the pirates" that was perceived and experienced as "better than working at the big slave-trading fort of Cape Coast castle." Many pirates made it a point to distinguish the functionality of their ships in stark contrast to the capital merchant counterparts as well as the Crown and Royal Navy. Two of the main facets being: one, their acquired loot from their acts of piracy were divided equally among the crew and two, the limited power of the ship captain. For the most part, pirate vessels were much more conscious about rigid class levels. Nevertheless, pirate vessels made it a common practice to place captured merchant captain at the mercy or justice of his crew; the crew of captured merchant ships were often offered a place within the pirate hydrarchy. Linebaugh and Rediker describe this established self-government uniquely:“the pirate ship was democratic in an undemocratic age…egalitarian in a hierarchical age." The changed and or flipped nature of the maritime society's power dynamics defined it as "the maritime world turned upside down."
Piracy in the Persian Gulf
Piratical activities were common in the Persian Gulf from the late 18th century to the mid 19th century, particularly in the area known as the "Pirate Coast" which spanned from modern-day Qatar to Oman. Piracy was alleviated from 1820 with the signing of the General Maritime Treaty, cemented in 1853 by the Treaty of Maritime Peace in Perpetuity, after which the Pirate Coast began to be known by the British as the "Trucial Coast" (present-day United Arab Emirates).
Piracy
The most widely known and far-reaching pirates in medieval Europe were the Vikings, seaborne warriors from Scandinavia who raided and looted mainly between the 8th and 12th centuries, during the Viking Age in the Early Middle Ages. They raided the coasts, rivers and inland cities of all Western Europe as far as Seville, which was attacked by the Norse in 844. Vikings also attacked the coasts of North Africa and Italy and plundered all the coasts of the Baltic Sea. Some Vikings ascending the rivers of Eastern Europe as far as the Black Sea and Persia. The lack of centralized powers all over Europe during the Middle Ages enabled pirates to attack ships and coastal areas all over the continent.
Golden Age of Piracy
Shipping traffic between Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe began to soar in the 18th century, a model that was known as Triangular Transatlantic Slave Trade, and was a rich target for piracy. Trade ships sailed from Europe to the African coast, trading manufactured goods and weapons for slaves. The traders would then sail to the Caribbean to sell the slaves, and return to Europe with goods such as sugar, tobacco and cocoa. In another triangular trade route, ships would carry raw materials, preserved cod, and rum to Europe, where a portion of the cargo would be sold for manufactured goods, which (along with the remainder of the original load) were transported to the Caribbean, where they were exchanged for sugar and molasses, which (with some manufactured articles) were borne to New England. Ships in the triangular trade made money at each stop.
Pompey
Appian attributed the escalation of piracy to Mithridates plundering the Roman province of Asia extensively in 88 BC and the rest of the First Mithridatic War (89-85 BC). The destitute people who lost their livelihood became pirates. At first, they scoured the sea with a few small boats. As the war dragged on they became more numerous and used larger ships. When the war ended piracy continued. They sailed in squadrons. They besieged towns or took them by storm and plundered them. They kidnapped rich people for a ransom. The ragged part of the Cilician coast became their main area for anchorage and encampment and the Crags of Cilicia (the promontory of Coracesium) became their main base. It also attracted men from Pamphylia, Pontus, Cyprus, Syria and elsewhere in the east. There were quickly tens of thousands of pirates and they dominated the whole Mediterranean. They defeated some Roman naval commanders, even off the coast of Sicily. The sea became unsafe. This disrupted trade and some lands remained untilled, leading to food shortages and hunger in Rome. Eliminating such a scattered and large force from no particular country and of an intangible and lawless nature seemed a difficult task. In Appian's opinion Lucius Licinius Murena and his successor Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus (78-74 BC) did not accomplish anything against them.
Piracy in the Atlantic World
Pirate ships would often impress those who had skills that were deemed to be beneficial for the running of a successful ship. Although this was not standard policy early on in the Golden Age of Piracy, by the early 1720s pirate ships began to take on more impressed hands because of lack of seamen willing to join of their own volition. When Blackbeard captured the French frigate "La Concorde" and renamed her the "Queen Anne's Revenge" he forced the three surgeons on board, carpenters and a cook to remain with his pirate crew.
Piracy in the Atlantic World
In 1721 the infamous pirate Captain Roberts was cornered off the coast of Africa by a Captain Ogle in the HMS Swallow, a powerful fifty gun warship. Roberts was converting a group of French ships that he had captured for his own use when the Swallow sailed up to engage. Roberts would fight Ogle despite being outmanned and outgunned; he fell during the battle. With arguably the most famous pirates of the time gone, and the American coast and Caribbean swarming with the royal navy and privateers hired by governors of the American colonies, piracy was systematically hunted to near extinction.
Piracy in the Caribbean
Economically, the late 17th century and the early 18th century was a time of growing wealth and trade for all the nations who controlled territory in the Caribbean. Although some piracy would always remain until the mid-18th century, the path to wealth in the Caribbean in the future lay through peaceful trade, the growing of tobacco, rice and sugar and smuggling to avoid the British Navigation Acts and Spanish mercantilist laws. By the 18th century the Bahamas had become the new colonial frontier for the British. The port of Nassau became one of the last pirate havens. A small British colony had even sprung up in former Spanish territory at Belize in Honduras that had been founded by an English pirate in 1638. The French colonial empire in the Caribbean had not grown substantially by the start of the 18th century. The sugar islands of Guadaloupe and Martinique remained the twin economic capitals of the French Lesser Antilles, and were now equal in population and prosperity to the largest of the English's Caribbean colonies. Tortuga had begun to decline in importance, but France's Hispaniolan settlements were becoming major importers of African slaves as French sugar plantations spread across the western coast of that island, forming the nucleus of the modern nation of Haiti.
Golden Age of Piracy
Whilst the Golden Age of European and American pirates is generally considered to have ended between 1710 and 1730, the prosperity of the Barbary pirates continued until the early 19th century. Unlike the European powers, the young United States refused to pay tribute to the Barbary states and responded with the First Barbary War and the Second Barbary War against North Africa when the Barbary pirates captured and enslaved American sailors. Although the U.S. had only limited success in these wars, France and Great Britain with their more powerful navies soon followed suit and stamped out the Barbary raiders.
Piracy
Zaporizhian Sich was a pirate republic in Europe from the 16th through to the 18th century. Situated in Cossack territory in the remote steppe of Eastern Europe, it was populated with Ukrainian peasants that had run away from their feudal masters, outlaws, destitute gentry, run-away slaves from Turkish galleys, etc. The remoteness of the place and the rapids at the Dnepr river effectively guarded the place from invasions of vengeful powers. The main target of the inhabitants of Zaporizhian Sich who called themselves "Cossacks" were rich settlements at the Black Sea shores of Ottoman Empire and Crimean Khanate. By 1615 and 1625, Zaporozhian Cossacks had even managed to raze townships on the outskirts of Istanbul, forcing the Ottoman Sultan to flee his palace. Don Cossacks under Stenka Razin even ravaged the Persian coasts.
Mary Critchett
Mary Critchett (died 1729, first name also Maria, last name also Crichett or Crickett) was an English pirate and convict. She is best known for being one of only four confirmed female pirates from the Golden Age of Piracy.
Piracy in the Caribbean
Due to a high degree of tension among the colonial powers, most of the ships stationed in the Caribbean were more concerned with engaging each other than they were with engaging the pirates of the time. However, this same time period saw a resurgence of piracy in the Caribbean due to the growth of the slave trade. Pirates saw the slave trade as a new lucrative source of income. They could easily capture a crew and ransom the valuable slaves that were their cargo. As the piracy increasingly interfered with the lucrative slave trade come from the Caribbean, colonial powers had a changing attitude towards piracy. Military presence had been growing in Caribbean waters for some time, but now the Royal Navy especially was more concerned with the growing issue of slavery, increasing the number of ships dedicated to policing slavery from two in 1670 to twenty-four by 1700. Despite increasing military power, Piracy saw a brief resurgence between the end of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1713 and around 1720, as many unemployed seafarers took to piracy as a way to make ends meet when a surplus of sailors after the war led to a decline in wages and working conditions. At the same time, one of the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht that ended the war gave to Great Britain's Royal African Company and other British slavers a thirty-year asiento, or contract, to furnish African slaves to the Spanish colonies, providing British merchants and smugglers potential inroads into the traditionally closed Spanish markets in America and leading to an economic revival for the whole region. This revived Caribbean trade provided rich new pickings for a wave of piracy. Also contributing to the increase of Caribbean piracy at this time was Spain's breakup of the English logwood settlement at Campeche and the attractions of a freshly sunken silver fleet off the southern Bahamas in 1715. This last large resurgence of piracy saw a change in attitude of the colonial powers towards piracy. It had once been seen as a somewhat minor offense only punishable if suspects and evidence were taken back to Europe for formal proceedings. Now, the English Parliament set the system of courts of Vice-Admiralty, appointing seven commissioners in the colonies to carry out the legal proceedings. These commissioners were chosen from naval and colonial officers who already contained a certain amount of bias towards the local pirates, instead of civilian judges. Pirates were given no representation in the new courts and were, therefore, often sentenced to hang. Between 1716 and 1726 approximately 400 to 600 pirates were executed. Another major attitude change was the policy that if one's ship was attacked by pirates, then one must fight back and attempt to resist to the capture of their ship lest they receive six months imprisonment.
Benerson Little
In the first decades of the new millennium, Little has been doing research and writing, in particular non-fiction, with a focus on naval history relating to piracy, in particularly on "sea rovers"—from early sea raiders, to privateers, letter-of-marque men, and cruisers, to commerce raiders, and pirates and pirate hunters—including during the Golden Age of Piracy in the Caribbean. Little has established himself as an expert on the history of piracy and related subjects, and has authored several books. As of January 2017, he is reported to be devoting time to writing contemporary and historical novels.
Piracy
The last is the "Golden Fleece", the ship of the notorious English pirate Joseph Bannister, which was found in early 2009 by American shipwreck hunters John Chatterton and John Mattera in the Dominican Republic, at Samaná Bay. The discovery is recounted in Robert Kurson's book Pirate Hunters (2015)
Piracy in the Caribbean
In the early 19th century, piracy along the East and Gulf Coasts of North America as well as in the Caribbean increased again. Jean Lafitte was a pirate/privateer operating in the Caribbean and in American waters from his havens in Texas and Louisiana during the 1810s. But the records of the US Navy indicate that hundreds of pirate attacks occurred in American and Caribbean waters between the years of 1820 and 1835. The Latin American Wars of Independence led to widespread use of privateers both by Spain and by the revolutionary governments of Mexico, Colombia, and other newly independent Latin American countries. These privateers were rarely scrupulous about adhering to the terms of their letters of marque even during the Wars of Independence, and continued to plague the Caribbean as outright pirates long after those conflicts ended.
Governance in 18th-century piracy
The English ruling class recognized the influence of Libertalia and its alternative social order, and they soon put their efforts into quashing it. There were worries of a pirate “Commonwealth” (such as the one Barrow and Hornigold set up), especially one in areas where no nation would be able to fight them. English rulers responded by hanging sea robbers by the hundreds, and the English Parliament passed new legislation persecuting pirates. Finally, with the hanging of Captain Bartholomew Roberts’ men at Cape Coast Castle on the African coast in 1722, the Golden Age of Piracy was brought to an end.
Piracy
From the 13th century, Wokou based in Japan made their debut in East Asia, initiating invasions that would persist for 300 years. The wokou raids peaked in the 1550s, but by then the wokou were mostly Chinese smugglers who reacted strongly against the Ming dynasty's strict prohibition on private sea trade.
In South East Asia, piracy began with the retreating Mongol Yuan fleet after the betrayal by their Javanese allies (who, incidentally, would found the empire of Majapahit after the Mongols left). They preferred the junk, a ship using a more robust sail layout. Marooned navy officers, consisting mostly of Cantonese and Hokkien tribesmen, set up their small gangs near river estuaries, mainly to protect themselves. They recruited locals as common foot-soldiers known as "lang" (, meaning 'pirate') to set up their fortresses. They survived by utilizing their well trained pugilists, as well as marine and navigation skills, mostly along Sumatran and Javanese estuaries. Their strength and ferocity coincided with the impending trade growth of the maritime silk and spice routes.
Piracy in the Caribbean
This early 18th century resurgence of piracy lasted only until the Royal Navy and the Spanish "Guardacosta"s presence in the Caribbean were enlarged to deal with the threat. Also crucial to the end of this era of piracy was the loss of the pirates' last Caribbean safe haven at Nassau.
Early modern period
The Golden Age of Piracy is a designation given to one or more outbursts of piracy in the early modern period, spanning from the mid-17th century to the mid-18th century. The buccaneering period covers approximately the late 17th century. The period is characterized by Anglo-French seamen based on Jamaica and Tortuga attacking Spanish colonies and shipping in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. A sailing route known as the Pirate Round was followed by certain Anglo-American pirates at the turn of the 18th century, associated with long-distance voyages from Bermuda and the Americas to rob Muslim and East India Company targets in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea. The post-Spanish Succession period extending into the early 18th century, when Anglo-American sailors and privateers left unemployed by the end of the War of the Spanish Succession turned en masse to piracy in the Caribbean, the American eastern seaboard, the West African coast, and the Indian Ocean.
Piracy in the Atlantic World
According to Gilje and data collected at the time of the American Revolution, the ages of pirates ranged from fourteen to fifty years old. More than half of the population were in their twenties. The average age was 25, with less than 20 percent of seamen under twenty years old. Most of the men within that percentage were eighteen or nineteen. At the time, a ship may contain a boy of ten or twelve, but it was very uncommon. On these occasions, it was the parent or guardian that made the arrangements and would sign the boy away to a ship. Approximately 20 percent of the populations were men in their thirties, forties, and fifties. This small percentage was a commonality because by the time a man reached his thirties, he likely moved on to a "new occupation ashore, turned to fishing, labored on the docks, or had been lost at sea."
Pirate metal
Although Kasparek was more interested in the true histories of the Golden Age of Piracy, pirate metal would eventually be inspired, to a greater extent, by the inaccuracies as invented or portrayed in novels and Hollywood films.
Golden Age of Piracy
Factors contributing to piracy during the Golden Age included the rise in quantities of valuable cargoes being shipped to Europe over vast ocean areas, reduced European navies in certain regions, the training and experience that many sailors had gained in European navies (particularly the Royal Navy), and ineffective government in European overseas colonies. The colonial powers at the time constantly fought with pirates and engaged in several notable battles and other related events.
Golden Age of Piracy
Barbary pirates flourished in the early 17th century as new sailing rigs by Simon de Danser enabled North African raiders, for the first time, to brave the Atlantic as well as Mediterranean waters. More than 20,000 captives were said to be imprisoned in Algiers alone. The rich were allowed to redeem themselves, but the poor were condemned to slavery. Their masters would on occasion allow them to secure freedom by professing Islam. Many people of good social position – Italians, Spaniards, German and English travelers in the south – were captives for a time.
Golden Age of Piracy
Many of the most well known pirates in historical lore originate from this Golden Age of Piracy.
Piracy in the British Virgin Islands
Piracy in the British Virgin Islands was prevalent during the so-called "Golden Age of Piracy", mainly during the age of 1690-1730. Privateering was also widely practised in the jurisdiction throughout frequent colonial wars, not least by emancipated slaves who, with in preference to back-breaking labour in the fields for pitiful wages, took enormous risks to capture fortunes on the seas with the sanction of the Crown. In 1808, Patrick Colquhoun, a prize agent for the Territory spoke of "the most daring outrages which are frequently committed by people of colour."
Spanish Golden Age
The "Spanish Golden Age" ( , "Golden Century") is a period of flourishing in arts and literature in Spain, coinciding with the rise of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty. Politically, "El Siglo de Oro" lasted from the accession to the throne of Philip II of Spain in 1556 to the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659. When no precise dating is used, the period begins no earlier than 1492 (with the end of the "Reconquista", the sea voyages of Christopher Columbus to the New World, and the publication of Antonio de Nebrija's "Grammar of the Castilian Language") and ends no later than 1681 with the death of the Pedro Calderón de la Barca, the last great writer of the age.
Golden Age of Piracy
The growth of buccaneering on Tortuga was augmented by the English capture of Jamaica from Spain in 1655. The early English governors of Jamaica freely granted letters of marque to Tortuga buccaneers and to their own countrymen, while the growth of Port Royal provided these raiders with a far more profitable and enjoyable place to sell their booty. In the 1660s, the new French governor of Tortuga, Bertrand d'Ogeron, similarly provided privateering commissions both to his own colonists and to English cutthroats from Port Royal. These conditions brought Caribbean buccaneering to its zenith.
Piracy in the 21st century
Combined Task Force 150, a multinational coalition task force, took on the role of fighting the piracy by establishing a Maritime Security Patrol Area (MSPA) within the Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel. By September 2012, the heyday of piracy in the Indian Ocean was reportedly over. According to the International Maritime Bureau, pirate attacks had by October 2012 dropped to a six-year low, with only one ship attacked in the third quarter compared to thirty-six during the same period in 2011. By December 2013, the US Office of Naval Intelligence reported that only 9 vessels had been attacked during the year by the pirates, with zero successful hijackings. Control Risks attributed this 90% decline in pirate activity from the corresponding period in 2012 to the adoption of best management practices by vessel owners and crews, armed private security onboard ships, a significant naval presence, and the development of onshore security forces.
Piracy in the Caribbean
With royal attitudes growing so harsh towards the pirates in the Caribbean, many fled to areas of the world where piracy may still be a profitable trade. Black Bart, Bartholomew Roberts, perhaps the most successful pirate that had sailed in the Caribbean, eventually returned to Africa in 1722. Other, less successful pirates from the golden age in the Caribbean attempted to flee North to the Americas. Stede Bonnet, an accomplice of Blackbeard, supposedly began to plunder ships along the Atlantic Coast, but was captured along the South Carolina coast in 1718.
Piracy in the Persian Gulf
Piracy flourished in the Persian Gulf during the commercial decline of the Dilmun Civilization (centered in present-day Bahrain) around 1800 BC.
John Macferson
That October in Philadelphia Macferson and his four co-conspirators were put on trial, convicted, and sentenced to hang. Some sources report that they were indeed hanged, some of the last executions of the Golden Age of Piracy. In fact their sentence was never carried out: as they had only committed thievery and not murder, Pennsylvania Lt. Governor Gordon wrote to the Duke of Newcastle asking whether they should be pardoned. In April of 1732 the Duke wrote back confirming that the five had been granted clemency by the King: "His Majesty approved your having respited the execution of the said criminals, and has been graciously pleased, upon some favourable circumstances that have been represented in their behalf, to extend His mercy to them."
Piracy on Lake Nicaragua
Lake Nicaragua, then called the Sweet Sea, is the largest freshwater lake in Central America and is connected to the Caribbean Sea by the San Juan River. Due to the burning of León in 1610, by a volcano, the port of Granada became a main centre of commercial activity and was considered the ""jewel"" of Spanish colonies in the New World. By 1650 the Golden Age of Piracy had begun in which buccaneers from several races and nations infested the West Indies. The lake is known to have been controlled by pirates as early as 1665 when Henry Morgan led six shallow draft canoes up the San Juan for an attack on Granada. The canoes were twelve metres long and acquired during an attack on Villahermosa, Mexico, after which Morgan's sailing ships were captured by the Spanish. In June Morgan led his band up the river by night while hiding in the day and when they reached the lake the pirates stealthily crossed it and landed outside town. A general assault was then made on Granada and the Spanish were found completely off guard. After the hostilities had ceased Morgan went after the city's treasury of silver and his men set fire to the buildings and sank all of the Spanish boats found in port.
List of pirate films
This is a list of pirate films and series, primarily in the pirate film genre, about the Golden Age of Piracy from the 17th through 18th centuries. The list includes films about other periods of piracy, TV series, and films somewhat tangentially related, such as pirate-themed pornographic films. Films about other types of piracy, such as music piracy, are not included.
Golden Age of Piracy
The events of the latter half of 1718 represent a turning point in the history of piracy in the New World. Without a safe base and in the growing pressure from naval forces, the rovers lost their momentum. The lure of the Spanish treasures had faded, and the hunters gradually became the hunted. By early 1719, the remaining pirates were on the run. Most of them headed for West Africa, seizing poorly defended slavers.
Pirate Round
The Pirate Round was most active from about 1693 to 1700 and then again from about 1719 to 1721. It is described as follows by David Cordingly: "Some pirates made the additional journey around the Cape of Good Hope to the Indian Ocean and attacked ships loaded with the exotic products of India. . . . which came to be known as the Pirate Round.". Jenifer G. Marx writes that "Ambitious sea outlaws began to leave for the East on what became known as the Pirate Round: a route that, for some thirty years beginning in 1690, linked ports in the Caribbean and the North American colonies with Madagascar."
Mary Read
Mary Read (1685 – 28 April 1721), also known as Mark Read, was an English pirate. She and Anne Bonny are two of the most famed female pirates of all time, and among the few women known to have been convicted of piracy during the early 18th century, at the height of the Golden Age of Piracy.
Maritime history
During the Age of Discovery, key trade routes to the new world formed in the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean. With this concentrated area of trade, piracy was a significant maritime hazard in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Some nations would use pirates to sabotage their rivals, going as far as supplying and recognizing them as legitimate. Eventually, powers like the English and Dutch implemented strong anti-piracy tactics to strengthen their trade empires in the 18th century.
Golden Age of Piracy
While most pirates were men, there were at least fifty cases of women entering the career of piracy (usually disguised as men). The best known female pirates were Anne Bonny (also sometimes spelled Bonney) and Mary Read.
Golden Age of Piracy
In 1897, a more systematic use of the phrase "Golden Age of Piracy" was introduced by historian John Fiske, who wrote: "At no other time in the world's history has the business of piracy thriven so greatly as in the seventeenth century and the first part of the eighteenth. Its golden age may be said to have extended from about 1650 to about 1720." Fiske included the activities of the Barbary corsairs and East Asian pirates in this "Golden Age," noting that "as these Mussulman pirates and those of Eastern Asia were as busily at work in the seventeenth century as at any other time, their case does not impair my statement that the age of the buccaneers was the Golden Age of piracy."
Piracy in the Caribbean
The famous pirates of the early 18th century were a completely illegal remnant of a golden buccaneering age, and their choices were limited to quick retirement or eventual capture. Contrast this with the earlier example of Henry Morgan, who for his privateering efforts was knighted by the English Crown and appointed the lieutenant governor of Jamaica.
Piracy in the Persian Gulf
The designation "Pirate Coast" was first used by the British around the 17th century and acquired its name from the raiding activities that the local Arab inhabitants pursued. Edward Balfour proclaims that the Pirate Coast was comprehended to have encompassed the area between Khasab and Bahrain, an area circumscribing 350 miles. It is also claimed that the principal stronghold was in Ras Al Khaimah.
Golden Age of Piracy
In 1627 Iceland was subject to raids known as the Turkish Abductions. Murat Reis is said to have taken 400 prisoners; 242 of the captives were later sold into slavery on the Barbary Coast. The pirates took only young people and those in good physical condition. All those offering resistance were killed, and the old people were gathered into a church, which was set on fire. Among those captured was Ólafur Egilsson, who was ransomed the next year and, upon returning to Iceland, wrote a slave narrative about his experience. Another famous captive from that raid was Guðríður Símonardóttir. The sack of Vestmannaeyjar is known in the history of Iceland as "Tyrkjaránið".
Edward Jordan (pirate)
Edward Jordan (1771–1809) was an Irish rebel, fisherman and pirate in Nova Scotia. He was typical of the violent but short-lived pirates in the 19th century following the end of "Golden Age of Piracy" in the 18th century. Born in County Carlow, Ireland, he took part in the Irish rebellions of 1797-98 but was pardoned and attempted to start a new life as a fisherman in Nova Scotia. On 13 September 1809, desperate to avoid debts, he slaughtered the crew of a merchant who came to seize the schooner he owned named "Three Sisters". However the captain, John Stairs, managed to escape overboard to be rescued by a passing fishing schooner and survived to spread the alarm. A few weeks later the Royal Navy schooner HMS "Cuttle" captured Jordan.
Piracy in the Atlantic World
The early 17th century saw a more coherent legal view of piracy begin to take shape, with the work "Mare Liberum" (Free Sea) by Dutch jurist and polymath Hugo Grotius attempting to draw a legal distinction between “privateers” with letters of marque from “pirates.” Grotius also attempted to brand Spain and Portugal’s dominance of the sea as a form of piracy in itself, as it attempted to “blockade the seas.”
Golden Age of Piracy
A number of factors caused Anglo-American pirates, some of whom had cut their teeth during the buccaneering period, to look beyond the Caribbean for treasure as the 1690s began. The fall of Britain's Stuart period had restored the traditional enmity between Britain and France, thus ending the profitable collaboration between English Jamaica and French Tortuga. The devastation of Port Royal by an earthquake in 1692 further reduced the Caribbean's attractions by destroying the pirates' chief market for fenced plunder. Caribbean colonial governors began to discard the traditional policy of "no peace beyond the Line", under which it was understood that war would continue (and thus letters of marque would be granted) in the Caribbean regardless of peace treaties signed in Europe; henceforth, commissions would be granted only in wartime, and their limitations would be strictly enforced. Furthermore, much of the Spanish Main had simply been exhausted; Maracaibo alone had been sacked three times between 1667 and 1678, while Río de la Hacha had been raided five times and Tolú eight.
Piracy
During the Qing period, Chinese pirate fleets grew increasingly large. The effects large-scale piracy had on the Chinese economy were immense. They preyed voraciously on China's junk trade, which flourished in Fujian and Guangdong and was a vital artery of Chinese commerce. Pirate fleets exercised hegemony over villages on the coast, collecting revenue by exacting tribute and running extortion rackets. In 1802, the menacing Zheng Yi inherited the fleet of his cousin, captain Zheng Qi, whose death provided Zheng Yi with considerably more influence in the world of piracy. Zheng Yi and his wife, Zheng Yi Sao (who would eventually inherit the leadership of his pirate confederacy) then formed a pirate coalition that, by 1804, consisted of over ten thousand men. Their military might alone was sufficient to combat the Qing navy. However, a combination of famine, Qing naval opposition, and internal rifts crippled piracy in China around the 1820s, and it has never again reached the same status.
Joseph Faro
Joseph Faro (fl 1694-1696, last name occasionally Farrell, Firra, or Faroe) was a pirate from Newport active during the Golden Age of Piracy, primarily in the Indian Ocean. He is best known for sailing alongside Thomas Tew to join Henry Every’s pirate fleet which captured and looted the fabulously rich Mughal ship "Gunsway".