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Pirates)
- This article is about sea pirates. For other uses see Pirate (disambiguation)
A pirate is one who robs or plunders at sea without a commission from a recognized sovereign nation. Pirates usually target other ships, but have also attacked targets on shore. These acts are known as piracy.
The concept of taking someone else's possessions and using them for your own pleasure or profit has been extended so that the term piracy also commonly refers to trademark and copyright infringement or unauthorized copying of software.
Other terms for pirates
Pirates who operated in the West Indies were known as buccaneers. The word comes from from boucan, a wooden frame used for cooking meat (called a barbacoa elsewhere). These were used by French hunters called boucaniers. These hunters became pirates and took their name with them.
Dutch pirates were known as vrijbuiters ("plunderers"), combined from the word vrij meaning free, buit meaning loot, and the ending -er meaning agent. The word vrijbuiter was corrupted into the English freebooters and French flibustiers. It came back into English as filibusters, who were not pirates, but adventurers involving themselves in Latin American revolutions and coups and then finally came to mean the disruptive parlimentary maneuver of talking without stopping.
See also piracy in the Caribbean. Pirates with commissions from a government are called privateers or corsairs, which in modern Arabic is قرصان from the Turkish Korsan, which seems to have been derived from the European word.
Privateering
A privateer or corsair was similar in method but had a commission or a letter of marque from a government or king to capture merchant ships belonging to an enemy nation. The famous Barbary Corsairs of the Mediterranean were privateers, as were the Maltese Corsairs, who were authorized by the Knights of St. John. The letter of marque was recognized by convention and meant that a privateer could not be charged with piracy although this was often not enough to save them. Seven nations agreed to suspend the use of the letter of marque under the Declaration of Paris of 1854 while the United States and Spain represent two nations who have explicitly reserved the right of commissioning letters of marque and reprisal. The most famous corsair was Sir Francis Drake and England was the main nation in promoting them.
Commerce raiders
In wartime, disguised warships called commerce raiders or merchant raiders attack enemy shipping commerce. They aproach by stealth and then open fire. The Germans in World War 2 made use of these piratical tactics, both in the Atlantic and Indian oceans, but since they used navy vessels, these commerce raiders were not even privateers, much less pirates.
Piracy in international law
International law
Piracy is of note in international law as it is commonly held to represent the earliest invocation of the concept of universal jurisdiction. Committing thefts on the high seas, inhibiting trade, and endangering maritime communication were considered by sovereign states to be hosti humanis generis (crimes against humanity). Since piracy, by definition, takes place outside the jurisdiction of any state, the prosecution of pirates by sovereign states represents a unique legal situation.
Pirate organization
Pirates are a popular modern representation of rebellious, clever teams who operate outside the restricting bureaucracy of modern life. In reality, many pirates ate poorly, did not become fabulously wealthy, and died young.
Yet there are some surprising facts about pirate organization. Unlike traditional Western societies of the time, many pirate clans operated as limited democracies, demanding the right to elect and replace their leaders. The captain of a pirate ship was often a fierce fighter in whom the men could place their trust, rather than a more traditional authority figure sanctioned by an elite. However, when not in battlestations, the ship's quartermaster usually had the real authority.
Many groups of pirates shared in whatever booty they seized, according to a complicated scheme where each man received his alloted share of the prize. Pirates injured in battle might be afforded special compensation.
Pirates readily accepted outcasts from traditional societies, perhaps easily recognizing kindred spirits, and they were known to free slaves from slave ships and welcome them into the pirate fold.
It would seem, however, that such egalitarian practices within a pirate clan were tenuous, and did little to limit the brutality of the pirate's way of life.
Modern piracy
Piracy in recent times has increased in areas such as South and Southeast Asia (the South China Sea), parts of South America, and the south of the Red Sea, with pirates now favouring small boats and taking advantage of the small crew numbers on modern cargo vessels. Modern pirates prey on cargo ships who must slow their speed to navigate narrow straits, making them vulnerable to be overtaken and boarded by small motorboats.
In most cases, modern pirates are not interested in the cargo and are mainly interested in taking the personal belongings of the crew and the contents of the ship's safe, which might contain large amounts of cash needed to pay payroll and port fees. In some cases, the pirates force the crew off the ship and sail the ship to a port, where it is repainted and given a new identity through false papers.
Pirate attacks have tripled between 1993 and 2003. The first half of 2003 was the worst 6-month period on record, with 234 pirate attacks, 16 deaths, and 52 people injured worldwide. There were also 193 crew members held hostage during this period. Environmentalist and yachtsman Peter Blake was killed by pirates in 2001.
In modern times ships, as well as aeroplanes, are also hi-jacked for political reasons. The perpetrators of these acts could be described as pirates (e.g. the French for plane hijacker is pirate de l'air), but in English are usually termed hi-jackers or terrorists. An example is the hi-jacking of the Italian civilian passenger ship, the Achille Lauro.
Notable pirates
Notable privateers
Fictional Pirates
- The Black Pirate, the title character of the 1926 silent film who was played with acrobatic panache by Douglas Fairbanks.
- Black Vulmea, the nickname of Terrence Vulmea, a swashbuckling hero of the Spanish Main created by Robert E. Howard. Vulmea's adventures are collected in Black Vulmea's Vengeance.
- Captain Blood, the title character of novel by Rafael Sabatini who is an English doctor turned slave, then pirate. It was also adapted into a film starring Errol Flynn by Casablanca director Michael Curtiz.
- Captain Clegg, was the alias assumed by clergyman Doctor Syn when he turned to piracy in the novel Doctor Syn on the High Seas by Russell Thorndike.
- Captain Hook from the novel Peter Pan, by J. M. Barrie, leads a band of pirates.
- Captain Pugwash from the series of children's comic strips, books and animated films created by John Ryan.
- The Crimson Pirate the titular hero of the 1952 movie played by Burt Lancaster. The Crimson Pirate was actually Captain Vallo, an acrobatic rogue who becomes a hero. Lancaster's former circus partner Nick Cravat also appears as Vallo's mute sidekick Ojo.
- The notorious Dread Pirate Roberts in The Princess Bride, by William Goldman, was in fact a long series of different pirates operating under the same name, each inheriting the title from the last and capitalizing on its reputation.
- Long John Silver, one of several pirates in Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson, which weaves together many pirate myths and motifs, map of hidden treasure, villany among pirates, marooning, parrots, missing limbs, eye patches.
- Monkey D. Luffy, the protagonist in a world of pirates in One Piece, an anime and manga.
- The Pirates of Penzance, an operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan.
- Terry and the Pirates, by Milton Caniff, an adventure comic strip frequently set among pirates of China and South Asia, led by the notorious Dragon Lady.
- Guybrush Threepwood, hero and main character of the Monkey Island adventure games by LucasArts. He is also the antagonist of the evil zombie pirate LeChuck.
- Pirates of the Caribbean, the Disneyland ride, also spawned the 2003 movie vaguely based on the ride, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which introduced the pirate Captain Jack Sparrow.
Aaar, you scurvy dog!
Pirates are associated with a stereotypical manner of speaking. September 19 is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.
External Links
See also
de:Pirat
es:Pirata
fr:Pirate
ja:海賊
nl:Piraat
pl:Pirat
sv:Pirat
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