Portal:Piracy

The Piracy Portal

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

Introduction

Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and 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...)

Show new selections below (purge)

Selected biography - show another

Captain Miguel Enríquez

D. Miguel Enríquez (c. 1674–1743), was a privateer from San Juan, Puerto Rico who operated during the early 18th century. A mulato born out of wedlock, he was a shoemaker by occupation during his youth. After working for the governor as a salesman Enríquez was recruited to defend Puerto Rico, then a colony of the Spanish Empire. He commanded a couple of guarda costas, receiving a letter of marque and reprisal from the Spanish Crown for his performance. Operating during the height of the Golden Age of Piracy, Enríquez's fleet was also credited with controlling the proliferation of buccaneers in the region. However, he was considered a pirate himself by the merchants of other nations, since it was common practice of the government to ignore when foreign ships were attacked. Employing a systematic approach, Enríquez was able to become the most successful and influential Puerto Rican of his time and one of the most powerful men in the New World, converting San Juan into one of the best supplied and important ports in the Caribbean.

During his years as a privateer, Enríquez established close links with the Spanish Monarchy. In the Caribbean he rallied the support of the Catholic Church, the Spanish bureaucrats and the foreign governors of St. Thomas and Curaçao. Among other tactics, he used his ships for the distribution of urgent messages that arrived at San Juan or La Aguada to the rest of the Antilles. When there was a shortage of royal vessels, Enríquez's fleet was responsible for transporting items on behalf of Spain without charge. For this, the Crown granted him a Royal Auxiliary Identification Document (Spanish: Real Cédula Auxiliar), which allowed him to directly seek help from the Council of the Indies regardless of how insignificant a conflict was. His ships also provided transportation for the authorities that arrived at Puerto Rico en route to other locations and for Catholic missionaries. Throughout the War of the Spanish Succession, Enríquez's fleet was responsible for guarding the Spanish West Indies from incursions by the British and Dutch. In 1717, Enríquez led an operation that expelled foreign settlers from Vieques, for which he was commended. His fleet also participated in other military expeditions in 1728 and 1729. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies

See List of pirates for more biographies

Selected article - show another

United States Coast Guardsmen patrolling Falcon Lake, October 2010.

Piracy on Falcon Lake refers to an increase in crime at the border between the United States and Mexico on Falcon Lake. The lake is a 60-mile (97 km) long reservoir of the Rio Grande that was constructed in 1954 and is a known drug smuggling route.

A turf war between rival drug cartels for control of the lake began in March 2010 and has led to a series of armed robberies and shooting incidents. All of the attacks were credited to the Los Zetas cartel and occurred primarily on the Mexican side of the reservoir but within sight of the Texas coast. The so-called pirates operate "fleets" of small boats designed to seize fishermen and smuggle drugs. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

edit

Did you know?

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

... that in 2011, pirates were reported as raiding along the Danube River in the center of Europe?
... that, unlike traditional Western societies of the time, many pirate clans operated as limited democracies, demanding the right to elect and replace their leaders?
... that red Jolly Roger flags were the most feared of all; all prayed they never encountered the "Bloody Red," which boldly declared that no mercy would be shown and all victims would be killed?

Archive

edit

Selected quotations

“

Coming up to them, there has passed some common shot between some of our fleet and some of them; and as far as we perceive, they are determined to sell their lives with blows.

”

— Francis Drake to Admiral Henry Seymour, after coming upon part of the Spanish Armada.

More quotations...

General images

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

Image 1"Cossacks of Azov fighting a Turk ship" by Grigory Gagarin (from Piracy)
Image 2An LRAD sound cannon mounted on RMS Queen Mary 2 (from Piracy)
Image 3Barbaria by Jan Janssonius, shows the coast of North Africa, an area known in the 17th century as Barbaria, c. 1650 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 4A 19th-century illustration of an Iranun pirate (from Piracy)
Image 5Anti 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 6A Barbary pirate, Pier Francesco Mola, 1650 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 7Double-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 8The Quattro Mori ("Four Moors") by Pietro Tacca; Livorno, Italy (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 9The Barbary corsairs frequently attacked Corsica, resulting in many Genoese towers being erected. (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 10Time 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 11Bartholomew 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 12A mosaic of a Roman trireme in Tunisia (from Piracy)
Image 13Bartholomew 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 14Coat 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 15Captain William Bainbridge paying tribute to the Dey of Algiers, c. 1800 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 16Painting 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 17Aerial photograph of the Niger Delta, a center of piracy (from Piracy)
Image 18A fight between Filipino pirates, Bugis trading ship, and Dutch mariners. (from Piracy)
Image 19A private guard escort on a merchant ship providing security services against piracy in the Indian Ocean (from Piracy)
Image 20Kent battling Confiance, a privateer vessel commanded by French corsair Robert Surcouf in October 1800, as depicted in a painting by Garneray (from Piracy)
Image 21Map of Dalmatia in 1715 by Guillaume Delisle (from Albanian piracy)
Image 22Map showing the extent of Somali pirate attacks on shipping vessels between 2005 and 2010 (from Piracy)
Image 23U.S. naval officer Stephen Decatur boarding a Tripolitan gunboat during the First Barbary War, 1804 (from Piracy)
Image 24Spanish warships bombarding the Moro Pirates of the southern Philippines in 1848 (from Piracy)
Image 25International Maritime Organization (IMO) conference on capacity-building to counter piracy in the Indian Ocean (from Piracy)
Image 26A contemporary flyer depicting the public execution of 16th-century pirate Klein Henszlein and his crew in 1573 (from Piracy)
Image 27The Bombardment of Algiers by the Anglo-Dutch fleet in 1816 to support the ultimatum to release European slaves (from Piracy)
Image 28Henry 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 29Bombardment of Algiers by Lord Exmouth in August 1816, Thomas Luny (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 30Battle of Preveza, 1538 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 31A 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 32The 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 33An Algerine pirate ship (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 34"Mic the Scallywag" of the Pirates of Emerson Haunted Adventure Fremont, California (from Piracy)
Image 35Dan Seavey was a pirate on the Great Lakes in the early 20th century. (from Piracy)
Image 36Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 37A French Ship and Barbary Pirates by Aert Anthonisz, c. 1615 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 38Castle of Ulcinj in the 1890s (from Albanian piracy)
Image 39Capture 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 40Pirate 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 41Lieve Pietersz Verschuier, Dutch ships bomb Tripoli in a punitive expedition against the Barbary pirates, c. 1670 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 42Pirate 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 43Conquest of Tunis by Charles V and liberation of Christian galley slaves in 1535 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 44French bombardment of Algiers by Admiral Dupperé, 13 June 1830 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 45Somalia's coral reefs, ecological parks and protected areas (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
Image 46Map of Tripoli in 1561 (from Albanian piracy)
Image 47Henry 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 48Armed 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 49British captain witnessing the miseries of Christian slaves in Algiers, 1815 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 50Slave market in Algiers, Ottoman Algeria, 1684 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 51Modern 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 52The cemetery of past pirates at Île Ste-Marie (St. Mary's Island) (from Piracy)
Image 53Blackbeard's severed head hanging from Maynard's bowsprit; illustration from The Pirates Own Book (1837) (from Piracy)
Image 54Mural representing the attack of Charles Windon to San Sebastián de La Gomera (1743) (from Piracy)
Image 55Iban war prahu in Skerang river (from Piracy)
Image 56An action between an English ship and vessels of the Barbary Corsairs (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 57The traditional "Jolly Roger" flag of piracy (from Piracy)
Image 58A pirate skiff in Baltiysk, Russia — captured by the Russian Navy (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
Image 59Views of Ulcinj in 1718 bz H. C. Bröckell (from Albanian piracy)
Image 60Born to a noble family in Puerto Rico, Roberto Cofresí was the last notably successful pirate in the Caribbean. (from Piracy)
Image 61Sixteenth century Japanese pirate raids (from Piracy)
Image 62Map of Ulcinj in 1573 by Simon Pinargenti (from Albanian piracy)
Image 63The Vitalienbrüder. Piracy became endemic in the Baltic Sea in the Middle Ages because of the Victual Brothers. (from Piracy)
Image 64Pirates attacking a French ship (from Albanian piracy)
Image 65The Prisoner by Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ after Jean-Léon Gérôme, c.1871 (from Albanian piracy)
Image 66A man from the Barbary states (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 67Battle of a French ship of the line and two galleys of the Barbary corsairs (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 68A French ship under attack by Barbary pirates, ca. 1615 (from Piracy)
Image 69Map of Shkodër with the Buna river in 1571 by Giovanni Francesco Camocio (from Albanian piracy)
Image 70Hanging of Captain Kidd; illustration from The Pirates Own Book (1837) (from Piracy)
Image 71Incidents of pipeline vandalism by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea, 2002–2011 (from Piracy)
Image 72Map of Durrës in 1573 by Simon Pinargenti (from Albanian piracy)
Image 73A collage of Somali pirates armed with AKM assault rifles, RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenade launchers and semi-automatic pistols in 2008 (from Piracy)
Image 74A 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 75Photomontage of Somali pirates on the MV Faina (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
Image 76Four Chinese pirates who were hanged in Hong Kong in 1863 (from Piracy)
Image 77Amaro Pargo was one of the most famous corsairs of the Golden Age of Piracy (from Piracy)
Image 78A fleet of Vikings, painted mid-12th century (from Piracy)
Image 79Map of Vlorë in 1573 by Simon Pinargenti (from Albanian piracy)
Image 80The 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 81A Sea Fight with Barbary Corsairs by Laureys a Castro, c. 1681 (from Barbary corsairs)
Image 82Suspected Somali pirates keep their hands in the air (from Piracy)
Image 83British Royal Navy Commodore gives a presentation on piracy at the MAST 2008 conference (from Piracy)
Image 84Puerto del Príncipe being sacked in 1668 by Henry Morgan (from Piracy)
Image 851890 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 86Jacques de Sores looting and burning Havana in 1555 (from Piracy)