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The history of piracy dates back more than 3000 years, but its accurate account depends on the actual meaning of the word Education Of Pirates

The history of piracy dates back more than 3000 years, but its accurate account depends on the actual meaning of the word ‘pirate’. In English, the word piracy has many different meanings and its usage is still relatively new. Today, some uses of the word have no particular meaning at all. A meaning was first ascribed to the word piracy sometime before the XVII century. It appears that the word pirate (peirato) was first used in about 140 BC by the Roman historian Polybius. The Greek historian Plutarch, writing in about 100 A.D., gave the oldest clear definition of piracy. He described pirates as those who attack without legal authority not only ships, but also maritime cities. Piracy was described for the first time, among others, in Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey. For a great many years there remained no unambiguous definition of piracy. Norse riders of the 9th and 11th century AD were not considered pirates but rather, were called “Danes” or “Vikings”. Another popular meaning of the word in medieval England was “sea thieves”. The meaning of the word pirate most closely tied to the contemporary was established in the XVIII century AD. This definition dubbed pirates “outlaws” whom even persons who were not soldiers could kill. The first application of international law actually involved anti-pirate legislation. This is due to the fact that most pirate acts were committed outside the borders of any country.

Sometimes governments gave rights to the pirates to represent them in their wars. The most popular form was to give a license to a private sailor to attack enemy shipping on behalf of a specific king – Privateer. Very often a privateer when caught by the enemy was tried as an outlaw notwithstanding the license. Below we tried to outline a selective history of piracy, selective and arbitrary because there is so much that can be said about piracy and it is impossible to tell all. We hope that even this brief introduction will show the spirit and truth about the piracy the way we see it The system for them has actually got to be just like old times. The Social Indulance of the Priacy Market A.K.A Black Market hasn’t delpeted itself yet and never will. Just like old times the social indivually of the human exstince is that they will get something that they need at all cost. Take the Carribean for example, They fought to take and pilage ships and thy would do anything to protect their Creed to some point. Then in the New Age of america you had pirates that were formed by Natives that tried to reclaim their land for their people. The Social Impath of the these people were taking the influnce of Acohol and Guns that were given to them by the “WHITE MAN” or “WHITE EYE”. The Influnce of these productions were costing them their honor and pride to be taking away. The Jolly Roger, The Guilded Man, The Black Flag of Deth, these are all Flags flown by pirates. Which we fly today to be recongized by history and actually still follow the old priate creed.

A pirate code was a code of conduct invented for governing pirates. Generally each pirate crew had its own code or articles, which provided rules for discipline, division of stolen goods, and compensation for injured pirates.

Pirates Creed of Ethics

About the year 1640 the pirates formed a kind of democratic confraternity. Their vows formed the Custom of the Brothers of the Coast, often called the Pirates Creed of Ethics. It was in fact the social contract of the expedition. It was always signed by the whole ship’s company before any departure when the elected Captain and the officers prepared a charter-party. Every decision of importance was discussed, followed by a vote. Courage alone conferred distinction. a pirate ship was an extremely well-ordered floating community.

1. Ye Captain shall have full command during the time of engagement, and shall have authority at all other times to conduct the ship accordingly. He who disobeys him may be punished unless the majority vote against the punishment.
2. If ye Captain’s vessel is shipwrecked, the crew pledges to remain until he has possessed himself of a vessel. If the vessel is the common property of the crew, the first vessel captured shall belong to ye Captain with one share of the spoil.
3. Ye ship’s surgeon shall have two hundred crowns for the maintenance of his medicine chest and he shall receive one part of the spoil.
4. Ye other officers will receive each single part, and if ye distinguish yourself, the crew will determine how much reward to be given to ye.
5. Ye spoil taken from a captured ship is to be distributed in equal portion.
6. Ye who shall be the first to signal the appearance of the vessel that is captured, shall receive 100 hundred crowns.
7. If ye lose an eye, or a hand or leg in ye said service, ye shall receive up to six slaves or six hundred crowns.
8. Ye supplies and rations are to be shared equally.
9. If ye introduce on board a woman in disguise, ye shall be punished to death.
10. If one Brother steals from another, his nose or ears are to be cut off. If he sins again, he is to be given a musket, bullets, lead and a bottle of water and marooned on an island.
11. If there is any doubt in a dispute between ye Brothers, a court of honor is to decide the verdict. If a Brother is proved in the wrong, the first time he shall be pardoned, but should he offend again, he shall be tied to a gun, and there shall receive from each of the ship’s company one strike of the lash. The same punishment shall be given to ye among us, including officers, who shall get drunk, while on the ship, to the point of losing ye senses.
12. Whoever shall be placed on sentry, and upon his post shall go to sleep, shall in the first case be lashed by all the Brothers, and should he again offend, his head shall be split.
13. All ye who shall plot to desert, or having deserted shall be captured, shall have ye heads split open.
14. Quarrels between several Brothers whilst aboard ye ship shall be settled ashore with pistol and sword. He that draws first blood shall be the victor. No striking another whilst aboard ye ship.

Other Codes Follow :

Bartholomew Roberts’ articles

One of the best known sets of pirate articles was set down by the famous Wailish pirate in 1720.[6]

I. Every man has a vote in affairs of moment; has equal title to the fresh provisions, or strong liquors, at any time seized, and may use them at pleasure, unless a scarcity (not an uncommon thing among them) makes it necessary, for the good of all, to vote a retrenchment.

II. Every man to be called fairly in turn, by list, on board of prizes because, (over and above their proper share) they were on these occasions allowed a shift of clothes: but if they defrauded the company to the value of a dollar in plate, jewels, or money, marooning was their punishment. If the robbery was only betwixt one another, they contented themselves with slitting the ears and nose of him that was guilty, and set him on shore, not in an uninhabited place, but somewhere, where he was sure to encounter hardships.

III. No person to game at cards or dice for money.

IV. The lights and candles to be put out at eight o’clock at night: if any of the crew, after that hour still remained inclined for drinking, they were to do it on the open deck.

V. To keep their piece, pistols, and cutlass clean and fit for service.

VI. No boy or woman to be allowed amongst them. If any man were to be found seducing any of the latter sex, and carried her to sea, disguised, he was to suffer death; (so that when any fell into their hands, as it chanced in the Onslow, they put a sentinel immediately over her to prevent ill consequences from so dangerous an instrument of division and quarrel; but then here lies the roguery; they contend who shall be sentinel, which happens generally to one of the greatest bullies, who, to secure the lady’s virtue, will let none lie with her but himself.)

VII. To desert the ship or their quarters in battle, was punished with death or marooning.

VIII. No striking one another on board, but every man’s quarrels to be ended on shore, at sword and pistol. (The quarter-master of the ship, when the parties will not come to any reconciliation, accompanies them on shore with what assistance he thinks proper, and turns the disputant back to back, at so many paces distance; at the word of command, they turn and fire immediately, (or else the piece is knocked out of their hands). If both miss, they come to their cutlasses, and then he is declared the victor who draws the first blood.)

IX. No man to talk of breaking up their way of living, till each had shared one thousand pounds. If in order to this, any man should lose a limb, or become a cripple in their service, he was to have eight hundred dollars, out of the public stock, and for lesser hurts, proportionately.

X. The captain and quartermaster to receive two shares of a prize: the master, boatswain, and gunner, one share and a half, and other officers one and quarter.

XI. The musicians to have rest on the Sabbath Day, but the other six days and nights, none without special favour.
[edit] Captain John Phillips’s articles

Captain John Phillips, captain of the Revenge, also set a code for his men in 1724:

I. Every Man Shall obey civil Command; the Captain shall have one full Share and a half of all Prizes; the Master, Carpenter, Boatswain and Gunner shall have one Share and quarter.

II. If any Man shall offer to run away, or keep any Secret from the Company, he shall be marooned with one Bottle of Powder, one Bottle of Water, one small Arm, and Shot.

III. If any Man shall steal any Thing in the Company, or game, to the Value of a Piece of Eight, he shall be marooned or shot.

IV. If any time we shall meet another Marooner that Man shall sign his Articles without the Consent of our Company, shall suffer such Punishment as the Captain and Company shall think fit.

V. That Man that shall strike another whilst these Articles are in force, shall receive Moses’s Law (that is, 40 Stripes lacking one) on the bare Back.

VI. That Man that shall snap his Arms, or smoke Tobacco in the Hold, without a Cap to his Pipe, or carry a Candle lighted without a Lanthorn, shall suffer the same Punishment as in the former Article.

VII. That Man shall not keep his Arms clean, fit for an Engagement, or neglect his Business, shall be cut off from his Share, and suffer such other Punishment as the Captain and the Company shall think fit.

VIII. If any Man shall lose a Joint in time of an Engagement, shall have 400 Pieces of Eight ; if a Limb, 800.

IX. If at any time you meet with a prudent Woman, that Man that offers to meddle with her, without her Consent, shall suffer present Death.

The articles listed below are attributed by the Boston News-Letter to Captain Edward Low. The first eight of these articles are essentially identical to those attributed to pirate captain George Lowther by Charles Johnson. Since Lowther and Low are known to have sailed together from about New Year’s to May 28, 1722, it is probable that both reports are correct and that Low and Lowther shared the same articles, with Low’s two extra articles being an ordinance, or amendment, adopted after the two crews separated.

I. The Captain is to have two full Shares; the Quartermaster is to have one Share and one Half; The Doctor, Mate, Gunner and Boatswain, one Share and one Quarter.

II. He that shall be found guilty of taking up any Unlawful Weapon on Board the Privateer or any other prize by us taken, so as to Strike or Abuse one another in any regard, shall suffer what Punishment the Captain and the Majority of the Company shall see fit.

III. He that shall be found Guilty of Cowardice in the time of engagements, shall suffer what Punishment the Captain and the Majority of the Company shall think fit.

IV. If any Gold, Jewels, Silver, &c. be found on Board of any Prize or Prizes to the value of a Piece of Eight, & the finder do not deliver it to the Quarter Master in the space of 24 hours he shall suffer what Punishment the Captain and the Majority of the Company shall think fit.

V. He that is found Guilty of Gaming, or Defrauding one another to the value of a Royal of Plate, shall suffer what Punishment the Captain and the Majority of the Company shall think fit.

VI. He that shall have the Misfortune to lose a Limb in time of Engagement, shall have the Sum of Six hundred pieces of Eight, and remain aboard as long as he shall think fit.

VII. Good Quarters to be given when Craved.

VIII. He that sees a Sail first, shall have the best Pistol or Small Arm aboard of her.

IX. He that shall be guilty of Drunkenness in time of Engagement shall suffer what Punishment the Captain and Majority of the Company shall think fit.

X. No snapping of Guns in the Hold.
Articles of John Gow

A set of articles written in John Gow’s own hand was found aboard his ship, the Revenge (ex-George), in 1729.[7] Article IV’s reference to no going ashore “till the ship is off the ground” suggests that the Revenge was already grounded when the articles were written, only days before Gow and his men were captured. The code states as follows.

I. That every man shall obey his commander in all respects, as if the ship was his own, and as if he received monthly wages.

II. That no man shall give, or dispose of, the ship’s provisions; but every one shall have an equal share.

III. That no man shall open, or declare to any person or persons, who they are, or what designs they are upon; and any persons so offending shall be punished with immediate death.

IV. That no man shall go on shore till the ship is off the ground, and in readiness to put to sea.

V. That every man shall keep his watch night and day; and at the hour of eight in the evening every one shall retire from gaming and drinking, in order to attend his respective station.

VI. Every person who shall offend against any of these articles shall be punished with death, or in such other manner as the ship’s company shall think proper.

Exquemelin writes in general terms about the articles of late 17th century Caribbean buccaneers. Although he does not attribute these articles to any specific buccaneer captain, Exquemelin almost certainly sailed with Henry Morgan as a physician, and thus his account likely reflects Morgan’s articles more accurately than any other privateer or buccaneer of the time.

Exquemelin writes that the buccaneers “agree on certain articles, which are put in writing, by way of bond or obligation, which every one is bound to observe, and all of them, or the chief, set their hands to it.” Although Exquemelin does not number the articles, the following approximately reflects his description of the buccaneers’ laws.

1. The fund of all payments under the articles is the stock of what is gotten by the expedition, following the same law as other pirates, that is, No prey, no pay.

2. Compensation is provided the Captain for the use of his ship, and the salary of the carpenter, or shipwright, who mended, careened, and rigged the vessel (the latter usually about 150 pieces of eight). A sum for provisions and victuals is specified, usually 200 pieces of eight. A salary and compensation is specified for the surgeon and his medicine chest, usually 250 pieces of eight.

3. A standard compensation is provided for maimed and mutilated buccaneers. “Thus they order for the loss of a right arm six hundred pieces of eight, or six slaves ; for the loss of a left arm five hundred pieces of eight, or five slaves ; for a right leg five hundred pieces of eight, or five slaves ; for the left leg four hundred pieces of eight, or four slaves ; for an eye one hundred pieces of eight, or one slave ; for a finger of the hand the same reward as for the eye.

4. Shares of booty are provided as follows: “the Captain, or chief Commander, is allotted five or six portions to what the ordinary seamen have ; the Master’s Mate only two ; and Officers proportionate to their employment. After whom they draw equal parts from the highest even to the lowest mariner, the boys not being omitted. For even these draw half a share, by reason that, when they happen to take a better vessel than their own, it is the duty of the boys to set fire to the ship or boat wherein they are, and then retire to the prize which they have taken.”

5. “In the prizes they take, it is severely prohibited to every one to usurp anything, in particular to themselves. . . . Yea, they make a solemn oath to each other not to abscond, or conceal the least thing they find amongst the prey. If afterwards any one is found unfaithful, who has contravened the said oath, immediately he is separated and turned out of the society.”

History Lesson 101

One of the oldest documents (inscription on a clay tablet) describing pirates dates back to Pharo Echnaton (1350 BC). The report mentions notorious free lance Mediterranean shipping attacks in North Africa.

Greek merchants who were trading with ports in Phoenicia and Anatolia occasionally allude casually to piracy, a classic by-product of such trading activity. There is epigraphic evidence for piracy as well: in the 340s Athens honored Cleomis, tyrant of Methymna on Lesbos, for ransoming a number of Athenians captured by pirates.

The Aethiopica one of the ancient Greek novels by Heliodorus of Emesa (3rd century AD) tells the story of an Ethiopian princess and a Thessalian prince who undergo a series of perils (battles, voyages, piracy, abductions, robbery, and torture) before their eventual happy marriage in the heroine’s homeland.

Polycrates (Greek tyrant) seized control of the city of Samos during a celebration of a festival of Hera outside the city walls. After eliminating his two brothers, who had at first shared his power, he established despotism, and ships from his 100-vessel fleet committed acts of piracy that made him notorious throughout Greece.

Middle Age Piracy

The most notorious of the Medieval pirates were Vikings . Vikings was the name of the Nordic people-Danes, Swedes, Norwegians-who explored abroad during a period of dynamic Scandinavian expansion from about AD 800 to 1100.

The first recorded Viking raid was a seaborne assault in 793 by Vikings on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, off the northeast coast of England. Growing evidence indicates that considerable overseas Viking migration occurred long before then. Vikings went deep into the Russian hinterland, founding city-states and opening the way to Constantinople (Istanbul). Vikings also fought the Carolingian Empire until in 911 they accepted by treaty the area of Normandy in northern France and settled there.

In the 11th century Vikings briefly established a Scandinavian empire of the North Sea, composed of England, Denmark, and Norway. On the other hand piracy was also the problem in the Far East.

With the decline of central authority in China toward the end of the 13th century, piracy began to increase along the China coast. Using ships large enough to carry 300 men, the pirates would land and sometimes plunder whole villages. For instance during the 1550s corsair fleets looted the Shanghai-Ning-po region almost annually, sometimes sending raiding parties far inland to terrorize cities and villages throughout the whole Yangtze Delta. Although coastal raiding was not totally suppressed, it was brought under control in the 1560s As we already said in the Far East operated wako pirates, in Japan’s civil wars during the early part of this period. any of the groups of marauders who raided the Korean and Chinese coasts between the 13th and 16th centuries. When denied trading privileges, the Japanese were quick to resort to violence to ensure their profits. By the 14th century, piracy had reached serious proportions in Korean waters. It gradually declined after 1443, when the Koreans made a treaty with various Japanese feudal leaders, permitting the entry of 50 Japanese trade ships a year, a number that was gradually increased.

Originally mainly Japanese, in later times the pirates were of mixed origin; by the early 16th century, the majority of them were probably Chinese. Basing themselves on islands off the Chinese coast, the pirates eventually made their main headquarters on the island of Taiwan, where they remained for over a century.

Piracy and America

The mere mention of the words “pirate” or “privateer” conjures up images of daring swashbucklers, bloodthirsty scoundrels and wicked rogues of the sea. As a nation, we have been reared on the media’s portrayal of pirates as either improbably romantic and dashing heroes or incorrigible villains. There has been no in-between. Those that explore the history of piracy in deeper detail find themselves exposed to a much more complex world than had previously been suspected. Often, many of these would-be scholars stop when they learn the truth of the gruesome and horrible deeds of some pirates. Unfortunately, they stop too soon. While it is true that there were several pirates and privateers that more than lived up to this reputation for evil, it is also true that as a nation we owe a great deal of our history to those very same pirates. In fact, the vast majority of historical pirates were nowhere close to the levels of villainy that have been attributed to them. During the so-called “Golden Age” of piracy, in the mid to late 18th century and early 19th century, the deeds of many pirates and privateers would prove to be invaluable to the development of the United States as an emerging world power. To understand the ramifications of this statement, one must first understand exactly what it is to be a pirate. Webster’s dictionary defines piracy simply as “an act of robbery on the high seas; also: an act resembling such robbery.” A pirate is someone who conducts such acts. There is another term that is often confused in its relation to that definition. Whereas a pirate commits such acts for personal gain, a privateer commits them ostensibly for the good of a patron nation. As Admiral Ernest Eller points out, “Privateering, on the other hand, was a distinguished practice whereby a sovereign power granted its commission and recognition to private armed vessels to prey on enemy shipping, i.e., ‘to grieve the enemy by sea’” (262).

Other terms that are often confused and misused as they regard to piracy are common in the English language. Pirates, corsairs and buccaneers are commonly lumped together as one and the same, although they mean different things. Corsairs were pirates who operated exclusively in the waters of the eastern Mediterranean Sea, while buccaneers, or “boucaniers” were actually runaway sailors and deserters who made their way to the waters of the Caribbean Sea, where they kept themselves alive by roasting stolen cattle on makeshift grills called “boucans” by the French (Rankin 151). Considering how much confusion we experience merely in using the proper names for pirates, it is easy to see that most people actually know very little about the truth of pirates and privateers.

Lest anyone think that all our conceptions are wrong, it must be pointed out that many pirates were indeed very wicked men. In fact, the city of Port Royal, Jamaica was pronounced to be “the wickedest city on Earth” (Rankin 118). It had become known across the world as a den and haven for pirates. They off-loaded their ill-gotten gains there, and spent many nights in a state of drunken debauchery over the years, until the sea swallowed the entire city in the aftermath of an underwater earthquake. The modern United States Marines were given a ceremonial sword to thank them for their defeat of the Barbary pirates. It is a symbol they still wear today, representing their triumph over those particularly evil men. The reputation of piracy is not undeserved. But it must be tempered with the knowledge that, as is so in many other cases, the reputation of some does not represent the facts of all.

The vast majority of pirates, although they could not be described as kind, were more than fair in their treatment of their crew and their captives. In fact, most pirate crews operated under a code of rules and laws referred to as “articles” that were remarkably democratic. Since most pirates came from mutinous crews of naval warships and merchant vessels, they had no desire to return to the often-tyrannical rule of a ship’s captain. Instead, most pirate captains achieved their command by vote. Even though punishments were gruesome and nearly always fatal, they were meted out with a very strict eye for fairness and discipline. Torture was rarely used by any but the most vicious of pirates, because it was simply pointless. Nobody ever really walked the plank.

The economic benefit of pirates to the colonial outposts of the European world was substantial as well. In fact, the colonial government of North Carolina enjoyed a string of beneficial arrangements with pirates. “It is true that as long as the pirates preyed on Spanish ships, and were free in spending Spanish gold and silver in Charleston, they were welcomed here, at least by those who were beneficiaries”(anon. qtd. in Maclay 30). One of the earliest pirates to enjoy such an arrangement was perhaps the most famous of them all. Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard, was known to have special considerations with the governor of North Carolina allowing him safe passage into Carolinian harbors provided he left English shipping alone. Despite this, he was eventually hunted down and killed by a British Navy lieutenant named Robert Maynard (Lane 207).

As the American Revolutionary War raged, the role of privateers could not be underestimated. In fact, strictly speaking, one of the first acts of American defiance was an act of piracy. The Boston Tea Party could technically be defined as piracy. During the whole of the Revolutionary War from the years 1776 to 1782, the total number of privateering ships outnumbered the ships of the Continental Navy by a factor of eleven to one (Maclay VIII). The Continental Congress even issued a proclamation authorizing large-scale privateering against English ships.

You may, by Force of arms, attack, subdue, and take all Ships and other Vessels belonging to Subjects of the King of Great-Britain, on the High Seas, or between High-water and Low-water Marks, except… Friends to the American Cause, which you shall suffer to pass unmolested, the Commanders thereof permitting a peaceable Search, and giving satisfactory information of the Contents of Ladings, and Definitions of the Voyages.

One of the most famous privateers of the Revolutionary War was a former sailor in the Continental Navy named Joshua Barney. While in command of his slooop Pomona, he sunk or captured many English raiders and ships of war, attaining a fair amount of personal wealth while doing so (Maclay 117). It is this personal wealth that often made the deciding factor between joining the Navy and becoming a privateer. Privateers “combined patriotism with the hope of profit” (Eller 262).

The influence of privateers and pirates on the developing United States did not stop at the War of Independence. Twenty-eight years later, during the War of 1812, one of the most significant battles of that conflict was decided by the deeds of well-known pirate and his band. Jean Lafitte had been extremely active and successful in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, near New Orleans. He had been conducting raids against Spanish and French shipping in the Caribbean for years, and had become quite wealthy doing it. He had over 100 pirates under his command, headquartered in the self-styled Kingdom of Barataria, hidden away on some forgotten islands off the coast of Louisiana. After he had stolen goods from the Spanish and French, he sold them to the Americans in makeshift black markets. He was actually considered a local hero by the populace, as Remini points out. “Through this efficient operation the people of the city had a steady and relatively inexpensive supply of dry goods, wine, all sorts of manufactured items, and iron” (29). He was also a fervent patriot.

When the British became intent on capturing the city of New Orleans in 1812, they first approached Lafitte and tried to bribe him to aid their cause. Instead, Lafitte went straight to the governor of Louisiana to inform him of the British plan. Indeed, he offered his assistance to the American cause by saying “I am the stray sheep, wishing to return to the sheepfold” (qtd. in Remini 34). Governor Claiborne did not believe him and had him jailed, along with over eighty of his Baratarian pirates. When Andrew Jackson came to lead the defense of the city, he released Lafitte and accepted his offer of assistance.

Lafitte delivered, providing enough ammunition and supplies that the American artillery was able to maintain a constant bombardment of English forces and prevent them from building any type of fortification or barricade. Lafitte even fought personally, leading groups of scouts and raiding parties through the swamps and bayous against the British. Without Lafitte’s aid, it is plain that the United States would have lost control of the city of New Orleans (Ward 250).

In light of all the influence and benefit provided to the fledgling United States during the 18th and 19th centuries on the part of pirates and privateers, it is hard to understand why we condemn them so thoroughly. Again, it should not be overlooked that many pirates were vicious killers and torturers, like the infamous Francois L’Ollonais who forced one of his prisoners to eat the heart he had just cut out of another prisoner. Men like that should be heroes to no one. Men like Jean Lafitte, Joshua Barney and even to an extent the notorious Blackbeard deserve little of history’s condemnation. They were not saints. They were not necessarily role models in their choice of life, either. But they were invaluable to our country, and should be remembered fairly for the roles they played. Without men such as these, our nation might very well not exist.

Was Robinson Crusoe a Pirate

An article published recently ( December 2008) in the Journal of Post-Medieval Archaeology renewed an interest in the famous character from the 18th century novel: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.

The authors of the article undertook an archeological expedition to research theory that Alexander Selkirk a privateer, who very likely was a prototype of Robinson Crusoe character, actually lived on the Robinson Crusoe Island (formerly Aguas Buenas) off the coast of Chile. The authors provide archeological evidence that at the beginning of the 18th century (around the time Selkirk was marooned there) a European actually lived there.

Selkirk, was a lowborn son of a shoemaker from Scotland who escaped to sea to become a privateer under the patronage of the British Crown. England was at that time engaged in so called Queen Anne’s War with the French and all sort of privateers, including infamous Edward Teach (Blackbeard) were helping with the war effort as privateers. Selkirk decided, as a result of a quarrel with his captain, during a privateering voyage on the Cinque Ports, to leave the ship and stay on an uninhabited tropical island (Aguas Buenas). Cinque Ports was visiting the island for resupply and some maintenance (worm infestation) and Selkirk was already a ship’s navigator – a highly skilled and experienced sailor. From the ship he took all he thought would aid him in survival on the island. This included gun and powder as well as his navigational instruments. A part of a contemporary to Selkirk navigational instrument was unearthed by the latest expedition.

During his almost five years of solitude on the island Selkirk would kill goats (introduced there by the Spaniards) and catch fish and crabs to stay alive. He would also build himself a habitation which, as confirmed by the aforementioned dig, was surrounded by a palisade. When he was discovered by the British privateer Duke, he was covered in a goat’s skin and mumbling unrecognizable words. The captain of the Duke, Woodes Rogers, gave a detailed account of the encounter including description of Selkirk’s possessions. Selkirk was accepted by Rogers as a worthy sailor and served on the Duke’s crew as a privateer navigator before returning to England where his story became very popular. It was during his stay in England (he later enlisted as a lieutenant in the English navy) when he probably met the author of Robinson Crusoe and relayed to him his unusual story. Anyway, Defoe must have heard the story which was very popular at the time. Defoe, obviously, left out Selkirk’s past as a privateer, but apparently used many other details, from his story, to create his immortal character.

Selkirk died, aged 45, from a yellow fever which he contracted during his last sea voyage. He was buried at sea.

Contemporary Piracy

British couple was attacked, in Summer 1996, while sailing around Corfu Island (Greece) with assault rifles and grenades, months earlier armed men attacked tanker Succi when she was only few hours from Singapore. The pirates tied up the crew and put it in a life boat and sailed off. The crew was rescued but the tanker disappeared.

According to London based International Maritime Bureau, there were 224 incidents of piracy and armed robbery of ships.

According to Time Magazine article: A Plague of Pirates (Time Magazine, August 18, 1997) modern pirates operate differently depending on geographic location. Arabian Sea pirates use the most modern weapons while West Africans use knives and dugout canoes.

Brazilian pirates take advantage of the fact that Brazil does not have the Coast Guard. In the Far East piracy is controlled by organized crime and pirates kidnap the whole ships and cargo.

South China Sea is almost as dangerous place, as it was in the ancient times. Chinese pirates are perhaps the most blatant often operating under the protection of the Chinese government.

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