Portal:Piracy

The Piracy Portal

Introduction

Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically intending to steal cargo and valuable goods, or take hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, and vessels used for piracy are called pirate ships. The earliest documented instances of piracy date to the 14th century BC, when the Sea Peoples, a group of ocean raiders, attacked the ships of the Aegean and Mediterranean civilizations. 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 of many crimes under the municipal law of many 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 of Ogle

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Chaloner Ogle KB (1681 – 11 April 1750) was a Royal Navy officer and politician. After serving as a junior officer during the Nine Years' War, a ship he was commanding was captured by three French ships off Ostend in July 1706 in an action during the War of the Spanish Succession. Ogle was given command of the fourth-rate HMS Swallow and saw action against the pirate fleet of Bartholomew Roberts in the Battle of Cape Lopez in February 1722. The action was to prove a turning point in the war against the pirates and many consider the death of Roberts to mark the end of the Golden Age of Piracy.

In December 1741, Ogle was despatched with a fleet of some 30 ships to support Admiral Edward Vernon in his engagement with Spanish naval forces under Admiral Blas de Lezo off the coast of Colombia during the War of Jenkins' Ear. The attack on Fort San Lazaro was a disaster for the British forces and the Battle of Cartagena de Indias ultimately proved a decisive Spanish victory: 50 ships were lost, badly damaged or abandoned, and 18,000 soldiers and sailors died. Ogle went on to be Commander-in-Chief, The Nore. (Full article...)

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Operation Dawn 8: Gulf of Aden (Malay: Operasi Fajar 8) was a naval operation carried out by the Royal Malaysian Navy against pirates in the Indian Ocean on 20 January 2011. In response to the hijacking of MV Bunga Laurel, the Malaysian Shipborne Protection Team deployed an attack helicopter and 14 members of the naval counter-terrorism group PASKAL in two rigid-hulled inflatable boats to retake the vessel and rescue the crew. After one night of trailing the tanker, the Malaysian forces successfully retook the ship by force on 20 January 2011, resulting in the wounding of three and the capture of four out of 18 pirates, and all 23 vessel crewmembers rescued. (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 North Korea thanked the United States for helping its sailors defeat a group of pirates?
... that Queen Eschiva and her children were kidnapped by the pirate Kanakes after her husband put a bounty on him?
... that a search engine for pirated books has been used to train large language models?
... that Pixel Piracy's developers released a free torrent of their game?
... that Stephen Foster's best-selling song "Old Uncle Ned" made little money for him due to the many pirated publications circulating in the marketplace?

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

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Selected quotations

“

This man was a real-life Goliath; sadly, there was no David who could stand up against him!

”

— unknown)

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General images

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

Image 1Henry 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 2Amaro Pargo was one of the most famous corsairs of the Golden Age of Piracy (from Piracy)
Image 3A contemporary flyer depicting the public execution of 16th-century pirate Klein Henszlein and his crew in 1573 (from Piracy)
Image 4A fight between Filipino pirates, Bugis trading ship, and Dutch mariners. (from Piracy)
Image 5The Bombardment of Algiers by the Anglo-Dutch fleet in 1816 to support the ultimatum to release enslaved Europeans (from Piracy)
Image 6Castle of Ulcinj in the 1890s (from Albanian piracy)
Image 7Battle of a French ship of the line and two galleys of the Barbary corsairs (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 8A private guard escort on a merchant ship providing security services against piracy in the Indian Ocean (from Piracy)
Image 9A mosaic of a Roman trireme in Tunisia (from Piracy)
Image 10The Vitalienbrüder. Piracy became endemic in the Baltic Sea in the Middle Ages because of the Victual Brothers. (from Piracy)
Image 11A 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 12Barbaria by Jan Janssonius, shows the coast of North Africa, an area known in the 17th century as Barbaria, c. 1650 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 13Chinese pirate flag with the bagua and taijitu, captured by George Henry Preble. Circa 1871 (from Piracy)
Image 14An LRAD sound cannon mounted on RMS Queen Mary 2 (from Piracy)
Image 15Map of Durrës in 1573 by Simon Pinargenti (from Albanian piracy)
Image 16U.S. naval officer Stephen Decatur boarding a Tripolitan gunboat during the First Barbary War, 1804 (from Piracy)
Image 17The work of the Mercedarians was in ransoming Christian slaves held in Muslim hands, Histoire de Barbarie et de ses Corsaires, 1637 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 18Map of Ulcinj in 1573 by Simon Pinargenti (from Albanian piracy)
Image 19Map of Vlorë in 1573 by Simon Pinargenti (from Albanian piracy)
Image 20Bartholomew Roberts was the pirate with the 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 21A man from the Barbary states (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 22Anti 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 23Suspected Somali pirates keep their hands in the air (from Piracy)
Image 24The traditional "Jolly Roger" flag of piracy (from Piracy)
Image 25Pirate 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 26Map showing the extent of Somali pirate attacks on shipping vessels between 2005 and 2010 (from Piracy)
Image 27Armed 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 28Time 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 29Blackbeard's severed head hanging from Maynard's bowsprit; illustration from The Pirates Own Book (1837) (from Piracy)
Image 30A collage of Somali pirates armed with AKM assault rifles, RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenade launchers and semi-automatic pistols in 2008 (from Piracy)
Image 31The Monument of the Four Moors by Pietro Tacca; Livorno, Italy (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 32French bombardment of Algiers by Admiral Dupperé, 13 June 1830 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 33Extent of pirate attacks on shipping vessels in the Indian Ocean between 2005 and 2010. (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
Image 34Iban war prahu in Skerang river (from Piracy)
Image 35A Barbary pirate, Pier Francesco Mola, 1650 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 36Currimao Watchtower, Ilocos Norte. 'Currimao' comes from the Iloco term cumaws (pirates) and the Spanish word correr (to run), reflecting the warnings given by watchmen during pirate attacks. (from Piracy)
Image 37The cemetery of past pirates at Île Ste-Marie (St. Mary's Island) (from Piracy)
Image 38Barbary pirates were involved in the Barbary slave trade in North Africa (from Piracy)
Image 39Four Chinese pirates who were hanged in Hong Kong in 1863 (from Piracy)
Image 40An Algerine pirate ship (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 411890 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 42A French ship under attack by Barbary pirates, ca. 1615 (from Piracy)
Image 43Capture 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 44Captain William Bainbridge paying tribute to the Dey of Algiers, c. 1800 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 45MARCOS commando units of the Indian Navy intervening on a pirate-flagged vessel as a part of Operation Sankalp (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
Image 46Somalia's coral reefs, ecological parks and protected areas (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
Image 47Incidents of pipeline vandalism by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea, 2002–2011 (from Piracy)
Image 48Slave market in Algiers, Ottoman Algeria, 1684 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 49An action between an English ship and vessels of the Barbary Corsairs (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 50Hanging of Captain Kidd; illustration from The Pirates Own Book (1837) (from Piracy)
Image 51Baluarte Watchtower, La Union. A 400-year-old Spanish-era structure built to guard against pirates, later used in World War II as a communication tower for the USAFIP-NL airfield. (from Piracy)
Image 52Spanish warships bombarding the Moro Pirates of the southern Philippines in 1848 (from Piracy)
Image 53Bombardment of Algiers by Lord Exmouth in August 1816, Thomas Luny (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 54Coat of arms of the town of Almuñécar, granted by King Charles V in 1526, showing the turbaned heads of three Barbary pirates floating in the sea (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 55Kent battling Confiance, a privateer vessel commanded by French corsair Robert Surcouf in October 1800, as depicted in a painting by Garneray (from Piracy)
Image 56Painting 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 57A 19th-century illustration of an Iranun pirate (from Piracy)
Image 58International Maritime Organization (IMO) conference on capacity-building to counter piracy in the Indian Ocean (from Piracy)
Image 59"Mic the Scallywag" of the Pirates of Emerson Haunted Adventure, Fremont, California (from Piracy)
Image 60Pirates attacking a French ship (from Albanian piracy)
Image 61The Barbary corsairs frequently attacked Corsica, resulting in many Genoese towers being erected. (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 62The Prisoner by Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ after Jean-Léon Gérôme, c.1871 (from Albanian piracy)
Image 63British captain witnessing the miseries of Christian slaves in Algiers, 1815 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 64A pirate skiff in Baltiysk, Russia — captured by the Russian Navy (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
Image 65Aerial photograph of the Niger Delta, a center of piracy (from Piracy)
Image 66The 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 67Double-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 681724 engraving of Bonny from A General History of the Pyrates (from Piracy)
Image 69Modern 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 70Sixteenth century Japanese pirate raids (from Piracy)
Image 71Dan Seavey was a pirate on the Great Lakes in the early 20th century. (from Piracy)
Image 72Bartholomew 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 73Cossacks of Azov fighting a Turk ship by Grigory Gagarin (from Piracy)
Image 74Born to a noble family in Puerto Rico, Roberto Cofresí was the last notably successful pirate in the Caribbean. (from Piracy)
Image 75Battle of Preveza, 1538 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 76A Sea Fight with Barbary Corsairs by Laureys a Castro, c. 1681 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 77A French Ship and Barbary Pirates by Aert Anthonisz, c. 1615 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 78British Royal Navy Commodore gives a presentation on piracy at the MAST 2008 conference (from Piracy)
Image 79Views of Ulcinj in 1718 bz H. C. Bröckell (from Albanian piracy)
Image 80Map of Shkodër with the Buna river in 1571 by Giovanni Francesco Camocio (from Albanian piracy)
Image 81Conquest of Tunis by Charles V and liberation of Christian galley slaves in 1535 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 82Lieve Pietersz Verschuier, Dutch ships bomb Tripoli in a punitive expedition against the Barbary pirates, c. 1670 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 83Mural representing the attack of Charles Windon to San Sebastián de La Gomera (1743) (from Piracy)
Image 84Puerto del Príncipe being sacked in 1668 by Henry Morgan (from Piracy)
Image 85A fleet of Vikings, painted mid-12th century (from Piracy)
Image 86Henry 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 87A 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 88Map of Tripoli in 1561 (from Albanian piracy)
Image 89Map of Dalmatia in 1715 by Guillaume Delisle (from Albanian piracy)
Image 90Jacques de Sores looting and burning Havana in 1555 (from Piracy)