Piracy
Piracy is a practice of organized looting or maritime banditry, by which a vessel is attacked for the purpose of stealing its cargo, demanding ransom for the passengers, or selling them as slaves, and sometimes seize the ship itself. Its definition according to International Law can be found in article 101 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
A special type of pirate, from a legal point of view, is the corsair; navigator hired by a state, through a letter of marque, to attack and loot the ships of an enemy country. Having the support of a state, he offered the guarantee of being treated as a soldier of another army by the enemy and, at the same time, entailed certain obligations; the main one being to hand over part of the prizes to the authorities issuing the patent. This distinction is relative, since privateers like Francis Drake or the French fleet in the Battle of Terceira Island were considered pirates by the Spanish authorities, since there was no declared war.
Etymology and usage
Pirate comes from the Latin pirāta, which is an adaptation of the Greek πειρατής (peiratḗs), "robber", from πεῖρα (peîra), «I try» and πειράω (peiraō), «to try with effort». Originally used to mean "adventurer", it eventually took on the meaning of "plunderer".
The Latin term appeared for the first time in texts by Cicero and became common during the last years of the Roman Republic, a time when pirate fleets were booming in the Mediterranean.
The terms filibuster and buccaneer, more specific, are related to piracy in the Caribbean Sea during the centuries XVII and XVIII.
In 1982, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea defined a pirate as a common criminal operating on the high seas from a vessel.
The term pirate, by extension, was applied to other contexts. In the 1960s, it was used to designate the hijacking of aircraft for ransom or transport to a certain country, although in these cases the objective was political rather than lucrative. It is also used to designate who robs a road, especially merchandise transport vehicles, in which case it is called: "asphalt pirate".
Since the middle of the XX century, illegal radio broadcasting has been called pirate radio. In computing, a hacker refers to a program that breaks into someone else's system, often to steal information or copy and distribute it. As an adjectival noun, pirate also designates a product or brand that illegally copies or deliberately imitates others.
History
Old Age
The areas with the greatest activity of pirates coincided with those with the greatest traffic of goods and people. The first historical references to piracy date from the V century BCE. C., on the so-called Coast of the pirates, in the Persian Gulf. Its activity was maintained throughout Antiquity. Other affected areas were the Mediterranean Sea and the South China Sea.
Egypt
The Egyptians considered the Sea Peoples to be pirates because their main invasive expedition was by sea and for the purpose of looting. However, many other authors do not share this classification because the Sea Peoples were only sailors in the last moment of their history.
Greece
Although the data is not very abundant, we know from myths that the ancient Greeks were good pirates.[citation needed] One of the most famous was Jason, who led the Argonauts to Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece, which, although it does not fit the Spanish definition of piracy, for some is, without any doubt, an act of piracy (people who come by sea to steal).
Ulysses or Odysseus, according to the Greek or Latin translations, also carried out various acts of piracy on his return to Ithaca, as Homer narrates in the Odyssey.
With these two examples we can see a constant that will be repeated throughout the centuries. Pirates are, on many occasions, considered national heroes in their countries,[citation needed] despite practicing what on land would be called robbery and kidnapping. Especially in a society like the Greek, where the profession of arms was recognized and esteemed, a reason that led to glorify, instead of reviling, acts like Jason's aforementioned. It must be taken into account that the mercenary trade, although it is true that it is carried out on land, did not have negative connotations as it currently does.
One of the most famous Greek pirates to whom references are made was Polycrates of Samos, who in the VI a. C. looted all of Asia Minor in different expeditions and came to gather more than 100 ships.
Rome
In the final days of the Republic, pirates in the Mediterranean became a danger, from their bases first in southern Asia Minor on the mountainous coasts of Cilicia and later throughout the Mediterranean, since they prevented the trade and disrupted supply lines to Rome.
Unlike in later centuries, pirates in ancient times were not so much after jewels and precious metals as people. The societies of that time used to be mostly slave-owning, and the capture of people to be sold as slaves was a highly lucrative practice. But precious stones, precious metals, essences, fabrics, salt, dyes, wine and others were also sought. types of merchandise that used to be transported on merchant ships, as was the case with the Phoenicians.
One of the best-known cases of piracy against shipping lines was carried out by Julius Caesar, who became a prisoner of Cilician pirates (75 BC). Plutarch in Parallel Lives recounts that the Cilician chief estimated the ransom at 20 talents of gold, to which the young Caesar blurted out: «Twenty? If you knew your business, you'd know I'm worth at least 50." The captivity lasted thirty-eight days, during which the hostage threatened his captors with crucifying them. Finally the ransom was paid and the future consul of Rome was released. But Caesar carried out his threat, and when he regained his freedom he organized an expedition, paid for with his own money, during which he seized his captors and crucified them all.
Piracy, especially that perpetrated by Cilician pirates, reached worrying levels for Rome towards the end of the Republic. In 67 B.C. C., the Roman Senate named Pompey proconsul of the seas, which meant that he was given supreme command of the Mare Nostrum (the Mediterranean Sea) and its coasts up to 75 km offshore. He was granted all the armies found on the Mediterranean coast, thus having some 150,000 troops, as well as the right to take from the treasury the amount he needed. Finally, he was provided with a well-stocked fleet. In various operations he eliminated all the pirates of Sicily and Italy in forty days and, after the siege and capture of Coracesion, the pirates of Cilicia, thus ending, in forty-nine days, the pirates of the eastern Mediterranean.. It should also be noted that these pirates only presented the necessary resistance to be able to request an honorable surrender.
Middle Ages
Following the classical historiographical division, we can divide the Middle Ages into High and Low. In the first, the main pirates were the Vikings and the Arabs; in the second, the focus shifts more to the Eastern Mediterranean and the growing spread of Islam.
The Adriatic Sea
Pagania was a territory populated by the Slavic tribe known as the Narentines (neretljani) in an area of southern Dalmatia (in present-day Croatia), west of the Neretva (Narenta) river. They were known for their maritime prowess and dedication to piracy.
The name Pagania responds to the fact that its inhabitants were considered pagans by the towns that resided in the neighboring regions, due to the fact that these populations were Christian.
Serbs were described by Porphyrogenitus as the landowners and inhabitants of the region between the city of Ras and the Pliva and Cetina rivers. In these regions lived the Neretljani, Zahumljani, Travunjani and Konavljani who considered themselves Serbs, but also lived the Serbs in the strict sense who called their land "Baptized Serbia".
In the middle of the X century, the border between Serbs and Croats followed the course of the Cetina and Pliva rivers. From the Cetina river extended the lands of the Neretljani, the famous pirates who, as Porphyrogenitus mentions, were descendants of the "unbaptized Serbs", inhabitants of Pagania and consequently not Christianized.
The Vikings
Although these people remained mired in internal strife for several centuries, in 793 they made their first attack on the north coast of England and two years later in Ireland.
From that date until shortly after the year 1000, the northern peoples made all kinds of incursions into the North Sea, the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean (both eastern and western). The radius of their excursions increased progressively, as their knowledge of the coast and navigable rivers grew. Thus, among other actions, we can review:
- 793 first attack in the British Islands.
- 795 First Attack on Ireland.
- 820 attack on the current Netherlands.
- 834 attack by the Seine and Loire rivers.
- 840 attack on the Iberian peninsula.
There is no unanimous position among many of the historians of reason that led some, but not all, Northmen to go on a plunder (viking comes to mean 'he who will plunder', or also 'he who prowls the coasts'). The Vikings did not usually link their actions to other ideals than obtaining wealth, slaves or land to settle, nor they requested some kind of permission from a higher authority to justify their actions, as would later be the case with the French and English with their letters of marque. However, the formation of large parties to carry out coastal attacks coincides at least with the time in which the population in Scandinavia began to organize itself into more or less extensive and consolidated kingdoms.
Viking expeditions often consisted of tens or hundreds of ships sailing and attacking together; in contrast to previous ones and especially to later ones in the Caribbean Sea, where attacks by a few ships or even just one were frequent. It should be noted that a Viking longship could carry between 32 and 35 men, as attested by the Oseberg Ship found at the Oseberg farm in Vestfold, Norway in 1903.
An example of these expeditions can be found in the chronicles of the first Viking incursion into the Iberian Peninsula in 840. An indeterminate number of ships skirted the Asturian coast until they reached the current Tower of Hercules (its large size must have seemed to them important) and looted the small village located at its feet. Ordoño I received news of the expedition and led his army against the Vikings, whom he defeated, recovering a good part of the booty and capturing or sinking between sixty and seventy of their ships, which perhaps did not constitute even half of the force displaced by the expedition. expedition, as evidenced by the fact that they continued their looting campaign. In Lisbon the chroniclers speak of a squadron made up of 53 vessels.
The Vikings knew how to combine their great seafaring skills with surprise and not a little ferocity in the use of the sword. However, this town enjoys a certain pink legend as far as its military skills are concerned. There is an idea that they were the most terrible European or world warriors of the time, always ready to fight to the death in the hope of sitting at the table at Odin's banquet, having had the privilege of dying with the sword in hand. Faced with this legend, history shows facts where it is seen that, like any pirate, they attacked what they believed they could conquer and on many occasions they fled or surrendered. An example is provided by their first incursion into Al-Andalus, where they took Cádiz and went up the Guadalquivir again, they meticulously looted Seville from which they launched outposts on foot. However, when Abd Rahman II left with his men and, after some battles, the Vikings saw that they could not beat the Andalusian force, they fled, leaving Seville and many stragglers, who surrendered to the forces of the emir and ended up, or else raising horses and making cheese, or with the old punishment for piracy: hanging, in this case from the palm trees of Tablada. The gallows for sea vultures would later be almost institutionalized by pirate captors and also by artists in their works, such as the Spanish poet José de Espronceda would immortalize him in works such as the Canción del pirata with its verses
And the same one who condemns me
I'll hang myself from a midget
Maybe in his own ship.
Nor is it true that those skilled sailors won most of the time. It is known that they devastated Paris and York or that they went inland and captured the King of Navarre, García Íñiguez, in the siege of Pamplona in 858, for example. But, as already indicated, Abdel Ramán II inflicted a serious defeat on them, as months before Ramiro I of Asturias during the same incursion and also his son, Ordoño I, who marched against the second expedition through Hispanic lands. More forceful was Count Gonzalo Sánchez, who finished off the entire Norwegian Gunrod fleet (Gunderedo, in Spanish); Count Sánchez captured and put the entire crew and their king to the sword. But perhaps the most resounding defeat was inflicted on him by Harold Godwinson, heir to the English throne after the death without issue of Edward the Confessor; he defended his rights against the Norwegian claimant Harald Hardrade and his fleet of 300 ships (more than 10,000 men) at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066, where the pirate monarch himself fell.
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The Vikings show another constant in piracy. Despite always being considered a profession for men (with an express prohibition in some cases of embarking women), women have always participated in and led expeditions, ships and fleets. Thus, numerous Norman ships were commanded and manned entirely by women. This is the case of Rusla the red maiden, daughter of King Rieg and sister of Tesandus, who was dispossessed of his throne by King Omund of Denmark. The girl first built a ship and in time gained an entire fleet, with which she attacked as many Danish ships as she could, to avenge the affront inflicted on her brother. Contrary to what one might think, it was Tesandus who captured her, after the wreck of his longship, and held her by her braids while his men slaughtered her with their oars (King Omund had managed to win the prince over to his cause after to adopt it).
The cause or causes that ended the Viking raids are not known for certain. Some authors believe that the acceptance of the Christian faith around the year 1000 by most of them attenuated their desire to attack their co-religionists. It is also pointed out that the incursions only constituted a fashion and that they ceased when they were no longer a novelty. In any case, the Nordic kingdoms increasingly wanted to open up to the rest of the countries of Europe and trade with them instead of invading them. An example is the case of the Castilian king Alfonso X El Sabio, who married his brother Fernando with Princess Cristina of Norway on March 31, 1252 because said marriage was convenient for both Alfonso X and Haakon IV.
The Indian Ocean
Based on the distance of their routes, the Arabs were the best navigators of their time. As early as the IX century they were able to open up the longest known trade route between the Arabian peninsula and China, well above the Viking voyages through Europe.
The Arab expeditions were looking for three things: raw materials that they could later work or sell, products from the East to trade and slaves to sell. Although others or those same Arabs also attacked ships to seize their merchandise. The most dangerous area was and continued to be the Strait of Malacca, where sea vultures roamed freely. We must not think that pirate attacks were perpetrated only by Arabs, people from the Indian islands and peninsulas also participated in them.
Baring some similarities with those of the Greeks, without being the same case, the Arab voyages have reached universal culture through tales of a certain mythological nature, especially through the adventures of Sinbad the sailor. For the writer Jordi Esteva, all the regions visited by the Arabs on their journeys are embodied in these tales and stories, it is true that they are mythologized with stories of gigantic monsters. Thus, in the IX century, ships from Yemen and present-day Saudi Arabia had opened routes through Persia, India and China in Asia and the entire East African coast, including the coasts of Madagascar. In this last continent they created one of the most important sultanates, but not the only one, in Zanzibar, from which a good part of the gold, valuable wood, exotic furs and ivory exported by Great Zimbabwe were channeled since Phoenician times.
Since Africans did not have many processed products, the main piracy actions consisted of the capture of slaves to be taken to the Arabian peninsula. Other products were also looted, but buying from the natives was more common. It must be taken into account that Africa, due to diseases such as malaria, was a continent almost closed to non-Africans. But this piratical act of taking slaves by force was progressively replaced by buying from African slavers. This conduct was a very common and very bloody practice for the kingdoms of black Africa, beginning the weakening of their structures that the Europeans would later take advantage of. It was these actions by Arab pirates/slave traders that contributed to the spread of Islam in Africa. Because Islamic law does not allow slavery among Muslims, many Africans converted to that religion to safeguard their freedom.
The Mediterranean Sea
The situation experienced by the Western European peoples after the fall of the Roman Empire means that maritime navigation is reduced before the formation of the Carolingian Empire and after its fall in the entire Western Mediterranean, but without completely disappearing. In the eastern part of this sea, communication continues and with it piratical activity.
Authors such as Wolfram Zu Mondfeld include Roger de Flor, a gentleman and adventurer from Brindisi, among the not many documented pirates of the time in that part of the world. The inclusion of Roger de Flor is due to his naval career before commanding the Almogavars and entering the service of the King of Sicily.
In 1291 Roger de Flor went on the last crusade and soon revealed himself as a great sailor. One of his famous actions was the evacuation of him with his fleet of all the nobility of San Juan de Acre; either for having asked for a ransom, having auctioned off the positions or because the Frankish aristocracy used his influence to obtain a position. With his ships full of wealthy nobles he managed to get them safely to Marseilles.
For the next 20 years he fought in the service of King Frederick II of Sicily until he was recruited by Byzantine Emperor Andronicus II and commanded the Almogavars in their victorious battles against the Turks. He sacked Chios and settled in Gallipoli until he was summoned and killed by the Emperor with 300 of his men during a banquet in his honor. This made the famous Catalan revenge explode in his men to the terrifying cry of " Wake up ferro! ".
Despite everything, the great privateering power of this sea was still forming and emerging in Asia Minor. The progressive expansion of Islam, first by the Arabs throughout North Africa and later with the Turks on the Asian coasts, would give rise to a whole series of lordships and sultanates that would quickly acquire strength and size, until they became a danger. unparalleled for the Christian kingdoms of Italy, Spain and to a lesser extent the military orders that ruled islands such as Cyprus, Rhodes and Malta. It should be noted that the Arabs and also the Berbers considered piracy against the infidels a form of Holy War (see below in Barbary Corsairs).
The Vitalians
European piracy at the end of the Middle Ages was carried out by the already exposed Berbers in the Mediterranean, who were beginning to grow in importance, and by the Brothers of the victuals in the North Sea.
Cities in the Baltic Sea and some in the eastern part of the North Sea began to unite commercially around the year 1200 to first regulate and then control trade through that area. Over time, a brotherhood of port cities was formed, called the Hanseatic League and commonly known as Hansa, to which many Baltic cities, mainly German, ended up belonging. The cities cooperated to defend their independence from neighboring territorial princes, secure important trading privileges, and protect themselves against pirates and privateers.
In the 14th century, Denmark and Mecklenburg vied for control of Sweden. Queen Margrethe I of Denmark and Norway, invited by Swedish nobles, won a battle against the unpopular King of Sweden Albert III of Mecklenburg and imprisoned him in 1389. Sweden, with the exception of Stockholm, fell into Danish hands. Then Mecklenburg incited the privateers to harm Denmark. The Hanseatic Mecklenburger cities of Rostock and Wismar opened to trade with privateers in 1391. However, the largest Hanseatic city of Lübeck supported Denmark. In general, the Hansa did not dare to take sides in this conflict. On the one hand, piracy began to cause great damage, on the other, a Danish victory would have ended in Danish control of important sea routes.
The Mecklenburg privateers managed several times to supply the besieged city of Stockholm with food and other necessities to continue their resistance, so the privateers became vitullians or brothers of the victuals (from the Latin victualia). Over time the courageous privateers, who risked their ships and their lives to keep the population of Stockholm alive, progressively degenerated, when their activities returned to simple piracy. As it would later be in the Caribbean, the Vitalians used to divide the loot obtained equally and form something similar to a classless society. Hence, they are also called Likendeeler ('egalitarians').
Its influence was great at the end of the XIV century and in the first decades of the XV and achieved several prominent acts in present-day Netherlands, Germany and even France. At the head of this group was a sort of triumvirate made up of Gödehe Michelsen (also known as Gödeke Michels or Gö Michael), Wigbad (also called Wigbold or Wikbald) and Claus Störtebeker (Störtebecker for the Germans). The community had conquered Visby and Gotland and prospered there between 1394 and 1398, when they were driven out by the Teutonic Order. Konrad von Jungingen led 4,000 armed Teutonics in 84 ships against the Vitalians, destroying that "Baltic paradise". Some managed to escape, among them the three leaders, who sought refuge in the lordship of Kennon ten Brooke, on the Frisian coast. This aristocrat was at odds with most of his neighbors and willingly accepted the entry of those pirates, who could harass his enemies.
The second expedition against the Vitalian brotherhood was carried out in 1400 by the Hamburg captains Albrecht Schreye and Johannes Nanne, who attacked the Vitalians at the mouth of the Ems, killing 80 and beheading 36 others. The following year, Nilolaus Shoche attacked the mouth of the Weser ending 73 of those pirates.
Luck continued against the Vitalians, Jungingen began to change its hostile attitude towards its neighbors[citation needed] and met various dignitaries in Hamburg, where He expressed his desire to distance himself from those individuals. So many of these pirates withdrew to Norway, but Störtebeker decided to stay and continue attacking ships between the islands of Helgoland and Neuwerk, but his days were numbered. The head of the Hanseatic squadron, Simon of Utrecht, had one of the best ships that had sailed those waters up to then, the Bunte Kuh, and along with other Peace Caravels, as the ships against the Baltic pirates were called, undertook several actions against Störtebeker and his men.
In the most successful, he camouflaged his ships as merchant vessels and managed to deceive the pirate, always very cautious. This in turn attacked the squad from the vanguard and rear; but when they realized that they were facing the powerful Caravels of Peace it was already too late. 70 pirates fell, including Störtebeker. The other two companions of the German managed to escape, but were captured in the next sortie of the ship Bunte Kuh. But, as in so many other cases, the image of the pirate Störtebeker has remained in German popular culture as a kind of regional hero, preserving in museums the glass he used to drink, a cannon from his ship, or being named a posthumous member of some German associations and clubs.
The other Vitalian pirates were captured in 1433, in the waters of the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. On that occasion it was the Frisian aristocrat Edzart Zirksena who definitively signed peace with Hamburg, allowing Simon of Utrecht to go out again with his ships and put an end to the last redoubts of Baltic piracy. Captain Sibeth Papinga and his men were captured and beheaded, thus ending the pirate problem.
Modern Age
Three related events mark piracy from the Fall of Constantinople to the French Revolution:
- The discovery of America by Spain.
- The exclusion of England, France and later the Netherlands after the distribution of all those lands between Spain and Portugal by the Tordesillas Treaty (blessed by Papal Bull).
- The immense wealth found in the New World.
A fourth circumstance, not so linked to the previous ones, was the growing Muslim power, especially the Turks, throughout the Mediterranean.
Barber Corsairs
Since ancient times —as evidenced by the campaign carried out by Julius Caesar against pirates— and in an organized manner since the XIV century, the Mediterranean Sea experienced numerous incursions by Turkish and Barbary pirates and corsairs who attacked European ships and coasts in the midst of the conflict between Christianity and Islam, which culminated in the Christian conquest of Granada and the Turkish conquest of Constantinople, Cyprus and Crete.
The Berbers had the important ports of Tangier, Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, Sargel, Mazalquivir and the well-defended ones in Tunisia and Algeria, including Tripoli, from which they could attack any point in southern Europe and take refuge quickly carrying the hostages for which ransom was demanded, while on the Atlantic coast a pirate state, the Republic of Two Shores, was founded in the Moroccan port of Salé, which plundered the south of England and Ireland, among other objectives.
It must be taken into account that piracy against Christian ships was considered by the Berbers a form of Holy War and, therefore, noble and exemplary.
From these fortresses, the Berbers attacked the southern ports of the Iberian Peninsula, the Balearic Islands, Sicily and the southern Italian peninsula. So much so that the chronicler Sandoval wrote: "Things ran differently in the water: because so many corsairs left Africa that it was not possible to navigate or live on the coasts of Spain".
It may be surprising that such a great danger lasted for so many centuries, especially considering that those ports were not part of a centralized state (the power of the sultans was nominal) and tribalism predominated in the region, dividing forces in the face of an attack of Europe. Authors such as Ramiro Feijoo point out that that region had little or no economic value for the monarchies of Zaragoza or Valladolid. However, the situation changed with the signing of the Peace of Lyon in 1504 and the Berber attacks on Elche, Málaga and Alicante in 1505.
Specialists consider it a mistake to think that the Iberian Peninsula suffered many more attacks than Italica. However, the first had knowledge of the language, the coasts and the customs of the Andalusians who had abandoned the peninsula with the Reconquest. Many of them became guides, lenguas (that is, translators or trujimanes), leaders, leventes or even captains and, once on land, they had the connivance of the other Andalusians who claimed, and Even several current Muslims continue to claim that invaded land as theirs. In this way, the old medieval raids, such as the cavalcade or the riot, are once again carried out from the sea.
In the early years of the century, a character appeared who, supported by the Ottoman and Berber rulers, dedicated himself to attacking numerous European ships, mainly Spanish and Italian: it was Aruj Barbarossa. This corsair even received the government of the island of Djerba from the hands of the King of Tunisia in 1510, from where he continued to organize looting and attacks, such as the conquest of the city of Mahón in 1535. After his death, his brother Jeireddín, who had inherited the nickname of Barbarossa from him, came to dwarf the legend of Aruj. So much so that Abbot Pierre de Brantôme, in his book on the Order of Malta, wrote of him: « He did not even have an equal among the Greek and Roman conquerors. Any country would be proud to count him among his sons. »
Most of the Barbary ships were short galleys, propelled by oars, or xebecs. The oars were rowed by a multitude of non-Muslim slaves, some kidnapped from European countries and others bought in sub-Saharan Africa. The galley usually had a single mast with a quadrangular sail. The Berber actions were increasing in number and daring, coming to take possessions in Ibiza, Mallorca and in mainland Spain itself with attacks in Almuñécar or Valencia. It is true that many of these actions culminated successfully thanks to the cooperation that the Algerians and Tunisians obtained from the Moors, until they were expelled by Felipe III.
Despite the Atlantic being the main focus of attention for the Habsburgs, actions in the Mediterranean were never neglected. Currently, the entire Spanish Mediterranean coast is still dotted with watchtowers (from where one can always see two others) and guard towers to defend the coasts (an example is Oropesa del Mar, in Castellón). These pirates gave rise to a phrase that has endured ever since: “There are no moors on the coast”. The same as the actions of what today we would call civil society, to alleviate the suffering of the captives and their families with the founding of the order of the Mercedarians dedicated solely to collecting ransoms.
But one must not fall for the idea that the Spanish kings were limited to deploying a defensive strategy. The operations that culminated in the capture of Tunis and Algiers by Carlos V and Juan de Austria, including the Battle of Lepanto carried out by the latter strategist, were the main and greatest attempts to combat this piracy that represented a true martyrdom for Spain and other European nations.
The heyday of Barbary piracy came in the 17th century. Thanks in part to innovations in naval design introduced by the Dutch-born Christian renegade Zymen Danseker and the English-born pirate John Ward, North African privateers extended their attacks along virtually the entire North Atlantic coastline. Attacks as far north as Galicia, the Faroe Islands and even Iceland date from this time. It is possible that even some of these ships had reached the coast of Greenland in a timely manner.
The new corsair ships that sailed through the Mediterranean Sea and in the North Atlantic were of the so-called Berton in France and Bertone in England, Italy and in some regions of France; these ships historically displaced the traditional galleys used in the fleet of the Ottoman Empire and by Maritime Republics such as Venice and Genoa. The Bertone ships belonged to the English and Barbary pirate fleets that formed alliances based in North African ports, in Tunisia, Algeria and Tripoli. These innovations in naval design on the Bertones corresponded to the use of three masts and the new high-board rounded hull profile design, which increased travel speed and extended navigation from sea to ocean; It also allowed them to navigate from the warm months to the winter season inclusive, which was not possible in the days of the galleys, which were only used effectively in the summer season; on the other hand, the type of sails and rigging allowed them to face the variety of winds present in those latitudes. All this set of improvements promoted a notable advance in navigation techniques in the Mediterranean, North Atlantic and the Caribbean.
In the 18th century the practice, far from decreasing, remained and even increased at times thanks to the decrease of Spanish maritime control over the western Mediterranean with the loss of Orán and Mazalquivir during the War of the Spanish Succession in 1708. Although these two cities were recovered in 1732.
The actions of the Barbary pirates did not subside until the beginning of the XIX century, when countries such as Great Britain, France and the The United States stopped paying tribute to the Barbary kings and began to carry out punitive campaigns against the pirate base of Algiers. It saw much of its fleet destroyed in 1816, and in 1830 it fell to French forces, who would use it as a starting point to create the colony of Algeria over the next century. International pressure and the decision of the Ottoman Empire to end this practice led to the end of piracy in Morocco, Tunisia and Tripolitania in the following years.
The fall of Algiers dealt a death blow to privateering activity in the Mediterranean, which dwindled as it lost its footing, though it did not cease completely until the XX.
Christian corsairs
Christian corsairs also attacked Muslim ships under the orders of Christian kings. From the Spanish possessions in Italy they used to recruit soldiers to act as privateers in the Aegean Sea and North Africa. The Spanish ships, under the command of veterans of the imperial wars of the Habsburgs, sometimes operated on their own, hunting down Muslim vessels, and other times they grouped together to assault and loot cities and islands. The best known of these corsairs is Alonso de Contreras, who also left in his autobiography ( Life of Captain Contreras ) a detailed account of the struggles he experienced between 1597 and 1630.
On October 7, 1571, the Christian and Ottoman fleets engaged in the Battle of Lepanto, which resulted in a crushing victory for the Christian fleet, while the Ottoman fleet was largely destroyed. In popular perception, the battle itself became known as one of the decisive turning points in the long Ottoman-Christian struggle, as it ended Ottoman naval hegemony in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and which had spread to the west.
French corsairs
As previously indicated, all European nations, except Spain and Portugal, were left out of the distribution of land and trade with the American colonies; This could only be carried out by the Seville-based Contracting House.
Despite the fact that for many years the monarchs of Spain and Portugal tried to keep what was discovered in America a secret, in 1521 French pirates under the command of Juan Florin managed to capture part of the famous Moctezuma Treasure, opening up a whole new avenue for raids and raids in search of fabulous loot. So much so that after Cape San Vicente the Spanish began to call it Cape of Surprises.
However, the Spanish soon learned to defend themselves against the French and later English pirates, and began the construction of the impressive galleons, much more heavily armed than the pirate ships and prepared to frustrate the boarding with a volley of their enormous and numerous artillery pieces.
Faced with these, the French corsairs and some few Spaniards enrolled with them tried to cross the Ocean and settle in the Caribbean islands where they could attack small ships and defenseless populations. This is the case of Jacques de Sores and Diego Ingenios, who besieged Nueva Cádiz and managed to capture its governor, Francisco Velázquez. The French privateer Jacques de Sores was the one who on July 10, 1555 sacked and burned Havana. This is also the case of the Honduran city of Trujillo, which was looted and razed by pirates on several occasions despite the reinforcements sent (it is surprising that with so many attacks, said city still exists today).
From the XVII century with the appearance of a new ship design, the so-called Bertone, initially at sea Mediterranean, then in the North Atlantic and finally in the Caribbean Sea, the confrontations changed in terms of naval combat tactics. Over time the maneuverability and agility of the bertons improved even more and around the year 1650 confrontations even began to take place with ships of the size of galleons. Advances were also achieved in artillery, since the new ships were equipped with iron cannons, very cheap to manufacture compared to the bronze cannons used until the end of the century XVI and early XVII century, and therefore an envelope was common of 30 or more guns per ship, which greatly increased their firepower, as they were installed surrounding the deck of the ship in its entirety, being operated by a crew of about 50 to 60 troops, out of a total crew of 90 to 100 corsairs or pirates.
In the XVII century the tropics of Hispanic America became the stage where corsairs and pirates acted to the brim, often supported by the great countries of the West, mainly France, England and the Netherlands. The possessions of Spain in that region that was called the Spanish Main, constituted all the coastal areas that overlooked the Caribbean Sea, Central America and its extension to the north and south of the continent.
The book by Lucena Salmoral "Pirates, corsairs, buccaneers and filibusters", indicates that: «Piracy decreased with the signing of peace treaties, which made the vultures of the sea less necessary. Thus they went from being honorable corsairs to being freebooters and finally to vile pirates, whom they mercilessly persecuted and punished in the 17th centuries and XVIII, when they were no longer needed».
English privateers
Later, the figure of the English corsair emerged as a new pirate, a social class sui generis, specialized in maritime robbery, in the looting of cities, ports and merchandise. Privateers enjoyed what is called a letter of marque, that is, a "license to rob and loot" with the explicit authorization of the king or other ruler. This patent was the privilege of England and France, who had their corsairs institutionalized and whose activity becomes lawful in times of war. In this way, the classic pirates become privateers, which is a more comfortable position, since they always act within a legitimate order and under the protection of the law.[citation required]
The perception of privateers obviously depends on the observer: for those attacked they are simply pirates, or mercenaries without scruples, while for their compatriots they are patriots and even heroes.[citation needed] In England, hacking became a legitimate business. Henry VIII was the first monarch to issue letters of marque. Later, Queen Elizabeth I would become, by this means, a "maritime entrepreneur", granting patents in exchange for part of the loot obtained.
It should also be taken into account that these corsairs were often merchants who sold very necessary products for the colonists and bought at a good price the items that they had to sell exclusively to the Casa de Contratación. Therefore, on many occasions, the permanent presence of pirates in the almost unpopulated insular Caribbean was well regarded, and even necessary, both for the inhabitants and for the Spanish elites residing in America. This is the case of John Hawkins who sold slaves brought from Africa and bought spices, mainly sugar and tobacco, at a much better price than the one paid in Seville.
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In some cases, after the license has expired or the war is over, privateers return to private activities as rich bourgeois who are even decorated. In England there are monuments raised to some corsairs, considered as heroes. The most famous privateer of the XVI century is undoubtedly Francis Drake, distinguished admiral, honored by his queen in gratitude to services rendered and elevated to the rank of sir. Nephew of another pirate, also ennobled by the queen, John Hawkins, together they assaulted Veracruz in 1568, when it still lacked fortifications. Drake has to his credit the largest booty recorded in history: two Spanish ships that transported American gold and silver from Nombre de Dios, which led to the knighting of Elizabeth I.[citation required]
Walter Raleigh began an expedition in 1617 to Guiana (present-day Venezuela), where he hoped to discover gold mines, and took possession of part of that country on behalf of England. After destroying some Spanish establishments on the Orinoco River, he was arrested at the request of Philip III of Spain and later beheaded in the Tower of London.
Not all privateers earn a knighthood, however. Some of them, once the conflict that led to the issuance of their patent has ended, continue their activity converted into simple pirates. Once again it is repeated: from privateers to filibusters and finally pirates, citing the words of Lucena Salmoral.
The 16th century will be a century of promotion among corsairs and pirates, of the assault and capture of Spanish galleons and the capture of his men. In Dover, up to £100 is paid at public auction for a captured hidalgo.[citation required]
A new activity also arises: pirates or corsairs become slave traders and seize human beings in Africa to sell and enslave. The most outstanding figure of the British slaveholder of this moment is the aforementioned John Hawkins, who populated the entire Caribbean area with black Africans.
In 1709, 110 privateers under the command of Woodes Rogers and Stephen Courtney (the famous William Dampierre, "the literary pirate", who had already been in Guayaquil was also part of the group) entered Guayaquil and presented themselves as "slave traders", and seeing the fear drawn on the face of the corregidor, Jerónimo de Boza y Solís, not only demanded 40,000 pesos in ransom for two hostages that they took, but they also indulged in looting for five days, accumulating 60,000 pesos in jewelry and money to more than a huge amount of food and objects.
Pirates of the Caribbean
The Route of the Indies followed by Spanish ships crossed the Atlantic Ocean towards Cuba or Hispaniola. Routes to the mainland departed from these islands: to Veracruz, Portobelo, Maracaibo, La Guaira, and Cartagena de Indias.
During the first centuries of Spanish rule in the Americas, pirates who tried, and in many cases succeeded, in stealing valuable shipments of gold and other merchandise from the New World abounded in the Caribbean Sea, which presented an ideal place for activity for its abundance of islands where pirates could take refuge. It must be taken into account that in 1495 the Catholic Monarchs allowed all their subjects to crew ships to the recently discovered Indies, which caused many vessels to launch into the Atlantic without proper preparation, being easy prey for sea wolves.
Philip II ordered that no ship make the Route to the Indies without protection to prevent pirate attacks on Spanish ships. For this he opted for the formation of convoys in which the caravels and ships were escorted by the powerful galleons and carracks, called the System of fleets and galleons.
This system was a great success if we look at the ratio of chartered fleets (more than four hundred) to that of trapped fleets (two), which gives a percentage of catches of 0.5%, and neither of these two It was due to the action of pirates or corsairs, but rather to that of appropriately armed navies.
In any case, in the XVII century the tropics of Hispanic America became the stage where they performed piecemeal the wolves of the sea, often protected by the great countries of the West (mainly England, France and Holland).
As indicated, corsairs were those who acted on behalf of their kings, keeping part of the booty. For their part, the simple adventurers and thieves were known by the generic name of buccaneers, since their crews were nourished by inhabitants of the islands who prepared and sold meat al bucan, that is, smoked. They sowed terror and desolation in the populations located in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. Veracruz, San Francisco de Campeche, Cuba, Santo Domingo, Cartagena de Indias, Honduras, Venezuela, Panama and Nicaragua were the hardest hit places, victims of looting, assaults and murders.
Notable are the figures of the Welshman Henry Morgan, the French El Olonés (named Jean David Nau) and Michel de Grammont, the Dutchman Laurens de Graaf, Lorencillo (so called because of his short stature; others refer to him as Lorent Jácome), all of them unscrupulous pirates. The worst assaults in memory were: Maracaibo by El Olonés, Veracruz by Grammont, and Lorencillo and Portobelo by Morgan.
But this situation changed as the colonies increased in population, and the metropolis invested in the fleet, defenses and garrisons. Thus, by the end of the XVI century, the main pirates and corsairs had died or were imprisoned:
- Richard Grenville was defeated and killed in 1591 in the Azores.
- Thomas Cavendish fails on an expedition and dies in 1592 possibly waters off Ascension Island, Africa.
- David Middelton also fails in the Azores.
- George Clifford lost 14 of his 28 Plymouth departures at Operation Raleigh in 1595, including John Hawkins and Francis Drake.
- Walter Raleigh, whom Captain Alonso de Contreras called "Guatarral", was sentenced to death, suffered supplication and was later decapitated in 1618.
The British historian J.B. Black put it in a nostalgic phrase: "The formidable squadrons of corsairs, which once ravaged the Caribbean, had disappeared."
Decline of Caribbean piracy
The disaster of the Invincible Armada produced in Spain, and especially in Castile, a feeling of uneasiness in the face of defenselessness against a possible counterattack from England and the United Provinces, which led the attorneys to meet the demands of Felipe II who requested and obtained 8 million ducats for new ships and fortifications. This new tax was known as Los millions and it was terrible for Spaniards in general and Castilians in particular, especially for the lower classes, but the amount was more than paid.
The year after the Invincible Armada, the English attacked Galicia with the Invincible English, reaping an absolute defeat, to the point of determining the final result of the Anglo-Spanish War (1585-1604),[citation needed] result materialized in the London Treaty of 1604 in which Spain definitively won the war. On the other hand, the fortifications in America, such as the impregnable Cartagena de Indias, were reinforced by the best architects of the Empire (such as Bautista Antonelli), making the task much more difficult for pirates.
In the XVII century, a series of adventurers appear who fill the American coasts and go in search of their fortune. They are merchants and slavers, bandits and smugglers. They navigate on their own initiative but with public dispensation from their respective governments. They are dedicated almost exclusively to looting the wealth obtained by the Spaniards, for their own benefit. These new pirates, in Spain, are called Lutheran heretics for their activities, which are considered not only illegal, but also in violation of the Catholic faith. They had their headquarters in the English colonies of Jamaica and Barbados. The island of Jamaica became the richest and most lawless island in the world; It was governed by Henry Morgan since 1674, after being knighted by King Charles II, who granted him the position of Governor of Jamaica, his main function was to administer the assets of the English Crown and combat the increase in piracy in the area, by French corsairs and pirates. English pirates took over these coasts for 200 years.
Some authors, films and literary works consider that piracy was a decisive factor in the decline of the Spanish Empire. Thus Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, in his novel Chronicle of the Stunned King, puts into the mouth of a character that the only concern for the Fleet of the Indies to reach Cádiz in its entirety was that the English corsairs did not arrive first. However, this opinion is not unanimous and many authors believe that "piracy had very little influence on the progress of the Empire."
- Wolfram Zu Mondfeld is of the opinion that the cause of impoverishment had the economic oppression created by the monopoly of trade with the metropolis, a monopoly held by the House of Recruitment. To this, Zu Mondfeld unites Spain's limited productive capacity, which could not meet all the demands of utensils, tools, goods and other goods demanded by colonies that overwhelmed it in large numbers and population.
- Germán Vázquez Chamorro emphasizes that many of the most famous pirates (such as Anne Bonny or Mary Read) really attacked fishing boats or jackets of little or no value for the Spanish crown.
- This same author, commenting on the book of Lucena Salmoral Pirates, Corsaries and Filibustersindicates that piracy descended with the signatures of peace treaties, which made it less necessary for the vultures of the sea. Thus they passed from the honorable corsaries to filibusters and finally to viles pirates, to those who persecuted and punished without mercy in the centuries XVII and XVIIIwhen they were no longer necessary.
- Mariano González-Arnao sees that the possibility that a pirate ship with 20 or 30 men could capture a gallon with 168 archers/monkeys (more gunners and sailors) can only be given in fictional works.
- J. B. Black adds to these views as follows:
In the wars between Spain and England, only the attack on the loose ships was successful. The Treasure Fleet they triumphed for their perfect organization and because the Spanish had a perfect service of information. We admit that, apart from the smaller dams, English seafarers could only on one occasion intercept or apprehend one of those coveted fleets.
In the opinion of these historians, the impoverishment caused by the bandits of the sea, despite having points of truth, is more a distortion resulting from literature and filmography.
On Turtle Island (off the coast of Haiti, surrounded by islets, which is why it is sometimes referred to in the plural as Las Tortugas), the buccaneers had a base international during the 17th and centuries XVIII. They formed an association called Cofradía de los Hermanos de la Costa. The precise origin of this brotherhood is not known, but it is known that it came to draw up a constitution that would govern their lives. It is presumed that it was transmitted by oral tradition, since no written records have been found about it. Such precepts are:
— «Neither prejudices of nationality nor religion». At this point, the coincidence is general. Catholics coexisted perfectly with Protestants and English with French. Individuality is privileged as a matter of criticism. The European wars and their hatreds do not reach the Isla de la Tortuga. There are no countries, there are brothers, but it should be noted that there were linguistic differences that separated some groups.
— "There is no such thing as individual ownership." Understanding by this the ownership of a certain piece of land. He means that the island belongs to everyone and for everyone; It should be noted that the ships of the brotherhood did not have a fixed owner either.
— «The Brotherhood has no interference in the freedom of each one». He means that there would be no taxes, no forced labor, no penal code. Any problem between brothers should be solved only between them. Participation in Voyages is completely voluntary and there will be no obligation when it comes time to assemble crews or assemble an army.
— "If a brother leaves society, he will never be persecuted." This law allowed absolute freedom to leave the brotherhood as soon as its member decided or re-enter if he wanted.
— "No women allowed." This law only applied to the restriction of white women on the island, since they represented a type of individual property. This law prevented the formation of stable forms of life that endangered the acquired freedom. Only black women and slaves were admitted, since slaves were not considered people who could "capture" a man in tasks unworthy of a brother.
The libertarian spirit of this brotherhood was necessarily modeled on the very characteristics of the lives that its components had led: outlaws, outlaws and the cruelest types that came along, people generally persecuted, tormented and uprooted, they formulated laws that they promoted the freedom of their own society. The best-known names from this era are those of Michel de Grammont, Pierre Legrand, Henry Morgan, El Olonés, Roche Brasiliano, Bartholomew Roberts and Edward Low. Many settlers, dissatisfied with the profit they were getting from their lands and eager to get rich quickly, joined them in their exploits.
The most curious thing about this constitution is the total absence of duties. The Brotherhood only fears omnipotence, dictatorship, tyranny. The new members were welcome, since this society became stronger the more numerous.
There was a pirate with a vocation as a writer, named Alexander Olivier Exquemelin, who has left behind a true historical treasure in his work The Pirates of America or Buccaneers of America. He describes the pirates, the geography where they moved, the history of many of them, society, customs and rewards.
Another type of sea bandits were the "filibusters", specialists both in the robbery and looting of Spanish ships and in smuggling goods, especially in Cuba and nearby islands. There is no unanimity regarding the origin of the word. Some derive it from the English free booter, marauders of the sea. Others affirm that it may come from the name of the light ships manufactured in the Las Tortugas area, very fast due to their sharp prow, which is why they were called fly-boats and which the Spanish called filibotes. There is a third, more improbable version, which maintains that it could have arisen from a pirate brotherhood founded in Las Tortugas, the brotherhood of the children of the boats or filiboat. In any case, they were unscrupulous types like their previous colleagues, but they had different customs, since this new species quickly liquidated the loot obtained to start the pillaging adventure all over again.
They had a motto: «We count on the day we live in and never with the one we will have to live with». Belize was a major filibuster haven during the 17th century century. Although it belonged to the Captaincy General of Guatemala, the filibusters found an easy place there as its coast was protected by reefs and difficult to access from the continent.
From the year 1697, part of the piracy moved to North America, with exponents such as Edward Teach, Stede Bonnet and Samuel Bellamy, and part to the Asian continent, the Red Sea and the Malabar coast, with its base of operations on the island of Madagascar. In Asia, the new scenario is the Indian Sea. British privateering took over again and figures such as Henry Every or Avery and William Kidd emerged. In the Far East, the activity of Portuguese, Dutch and British pirates persists and their adventures visit the seas of India, China, Japan, Malaysia and Borneo.
In that same year of 1697, by the Treaty of Rijswijk, Spain ceded the western half of Santo Domingo to the French, territory that would constitute the future nation of Haiti. Turtle Island was definitively abandoned and the filibusters dispersed. The English decided to try their luck in other waters, such as the Pacific; the rest stayed in the Antilles, acting with much less intensity, waiting for better times. But neither kept the old organization; the Brotherhood of the Brothers of the Coast had come to an end.
In all this jungle of piracy there is an unusual character who represents the true pirate romanticism. Captain Misson, a French national, was an idealist, concerned with justice, with building a utopian state on some island in the Indian Ocean. It has been said of him that he is an equivalent to Quixote in the world of piracy. His biographers say that he always distributed the loot equally among his people and that he released the captain of the captured ship. Misson appears only in the work of Charles Johnson, whose account of Misson does not agree with the available data; thus, most piracy historians consider Misson a myth.
Pirates of the Canaries
Due to the strategic situation of this Spanish archipelago as a crossroads of maritime routes and a commercial bridge between Europe, Africa and America, this was one of the places on the planet with the greatest pirate presence. In the Canary Islands, on the one hand, the continuous attacks and looting of Barbary, English, French and Dutch corsairs stand out; and on the other hand, the presence of pirates and corsairs from this archipelago, who made their incursions into the Caribbean. Pirates and privateers such as Francois Le Clerc, Jacques de Sores, Francis Drake, Pieter van der Does, Morato Arráez and Horacio Nelson attacked the islands. Among those born in the archipelago, Amaro Pargo from Tenerife stands out, whom King Felipe V of Spain frequently benefited from in his commercial and privateering raids.
Amaro Pargo participated in the race to the Indies, achieving a great fortune due to the investment of his profits in the lands he owned in Tenerife, dedicated mainly to growing vines. The intense trade that took place between the Atlantic and the Caribbean encouraged piratical and corsair activities. Amaro Pargo came to participate in corsair interventions to the fleets of other European countries, seizing ships and allocating some for sale.
Pirates of the Indian Ocean
Piracy in general, from a historical perspective, developed in four hotspots of great activity, where sea vultures attacked as true predators: the Mediterranean Sea, the North Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the Indian Ocean. Of these geographical locations, the Indian Ocean was one of the main theaters of operations in the golden age of piracy, which stands out for the immense wealth stolen from large ships and valued at millions of dollars. Its enclave was the large island of Madagascar and the center was located on the island of Sainte Marie, a small island off Madagascar; This was visited by renowned pirates and some of them being the most wanted by the national armies of countries like England and France.
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Captain Van Tyle sailed in partnership with Captain James and made several prizes in the Indian Ocean. Van Tyle owned a plantation in Madagascar, where his prisoners and slaves worked. This pirate was killed by a slave. The pirate Thomas Tew also had his headquarters in Madagascar. His place of operations were the waters of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. Tew was killed when his ship blew up during a battle on the high seas. The most famous pirate in this region was Thomas Collins, appointed governor of the pirate colony and who built a fort to defend it. But when French forces attacked the island, Collins was hanged.
Pirates such as Captain Dirk Chivers arrived on the island, whose crew seized some 50 million worth of treasure in gold and silver coins from a ship carrying pilgrims returning from Mecca; Captain Olivier Levasseur, known by the pseudonym "The Vulture", who stole a treasure made up of some 400 million in diamonds and Captain William Condon called "Billy One Hand" for at the beginning of his career as a pirate he had lost an arm in combat, who made off with a loot of some 375 million in a single boarding. They all took the treasures and the captured ships to the island of Sainte Marie, this offered a natural harbor with easy access and a small bay with a tiny island, the Dux Forbane island, on which they had built a well-armed fortification that made it virtually impregnable.
Towards the end of the busiest time in the Indian Ocean and on the island of Sainte Marie, a small fleet of four Royal Navy ships was chartered from England to capture the pirates who controlled that island and the surrounding sea, since the tactics of these sea vultures consisted of sailing close to the coasts of Madagascar, attacking and boarding the ships that came down south from Mecca, transporting important treasures, and capturing both goods, people and even the own boat that modified by the same pirates became part of their predatory ships.
At the beginning of the 1720s, Libertalia, such the name of the presumed pirate colony established on the north coast of Madagascar by Captain Misson and the Dominican Caracciolo in the previous century, was coming to an end. Of disputed existence, it is framed in the context of piracy of the XVII and XVIII, a time of great boom for corsairs and pirates and in which a large number of uncontrolled settlements flourished; with which, the history of piracy, both real and utopian, in Madagascar finally culminated.
Pirates of Africa
Pirates of African origin are closely related to slavery, this is because there was a chronological coincidence between the golden age of piracy, especially in the Caribbean, and the heyday of slavery; Another factor of geographical importance is that of the maritime routes of the North Atlantic, these were transited by both military and merchant ships and both by pirate ships and slavers. Therefore, the infamous slave trade that came out of Africa was often intercepted by corsairs and pirates, who seized the slaves when capturing said ships; These then faced two situations: privateers at the service of a sovereign continued with the slave trade, while pirates could give them the option of joining them and forming part of their crews.
It is estimated that the slave trade mobilized hundreds of thousands of Africans,[citation needed] some of them managed to escape and went into hiding, while others they were welcomed when pirate captains recruited new sailors.
The black pirates were, at times, more cruel and ferocious than their comrades, and this due to two main reasons: resentment against the society that had deprived them of their lives and their land, leading them to unjust slavery, and the fate, already known, that awaited them if they were captured again; consequently, they defended their new freedom with an action without scruples or mercy. For these reasons, despite the fact that history wanted to keep these pirates hidden and forgotten, they emerge as exponents of a hypocritical society where slavery and piracy cruelly merged.
A small number of pirates of African origin have transcended and passed down to posterity with their names, they were: Black Cesar, Diego Grillo, Hendrik Quintor, Juan Andrés, Peter Cloise, Domingo Eucalla, Francisco Fernando and Viejo Sur, among so many other pirates of African descent, who passed from the infamous and unjust slavery to the freedom of piracy.
This is a meager account of their experiences, where the historical is fused with the legendary, in any case and common to them is the ever-present condemnation to slavery to which they were subjected and, at the same time, the repudiation of their vile acts of piracy.
The pirate Black Cesar was deceived along with his tribe by a slave captain who dazzled them with silk, jewels and music; insisting that he wanted to trade with them and make negotiations aboard his ship. When Cesar and his men were distracted by those riches, the ship sailed and all of them were taken prisoner, the voyage continued and unfortunately and fortunately a hurricane hit them at the same time and led them to capsize in Elliot Key.
Free from his oppressors, and as a shipwrecked man he looted the boat that had rescued them; that was the beginning of his pirate career in the Florida Keys, because his modus operandi was to simulate a shipwreck with his small ship, attack his rescuers and rob them; With the accumulation of loot he managed to gather an important treasure.
Another notorious pirate, of African descent, his mother a slave, and born in Cuba in the mid-16th century, It was Diego Grillo. On the coast of Camagüey, Cuba, it was the year 1610, when in a daring operation he captured a convoy made up of a dozen ships carrying such a fabulous treasure that it allowed him to retire, remain anonymous and establish himself as a landowner in his native Cuba.
Notable ships, lauded in their day, were actually infamous slave transports, which became legendary pirate ships like Captain Edward Teach's Queen Anne's Revenge, known as Blackbeard, and Captain Whydah Gally Samuel Bellamy, known as Black Sam. Many ships like these were the ones that traded slaves from West Africa, from Gambia and Senegal to Nigeria and Benin; and after being captured by pirate captains, they were transformed, erasing their past, into gallant ships.
Trade through maritime routes, such as the so-called "triangular trade", was the scene of two scourges: piracy, unanimously condemned by all of society, and slavery, an immensely major promoted by that same society.
Pirates of the Pacific
The most famous sailors and pirates who explored the Pacific Ocean and the continental coasts were characterized by their actions as impetuous pioneers, but totally eclipsed by their innate cruelty.
Olivier van Noort was a 17th century lowercase Dutch navigator and pirate, the first Dutchman to circumnavigate the world. He looks more like Thomas Cavendish than Francis Drake. The cruelty of the acts presents analogies with that of the English pirate who, ruined, left the court to dedicate himself to privateering. Joris van Spilbergen was a 17th century lowercase Dutch privateer and naval officer who pillaged the coasts of Chile, Peru and the Philippines.
Jacques de Clerck, also known as Jacques l'Hermite, was a merchant, admiral, and pirate. He blockaded and attacked Callao in 1624 and on that same trip he died. He explorer in the Dutch service known for commanding a voyage around the world with the Nassau fleet (1623-26). He served the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or VOC; literally, United East India Company) as a trade chief in the city of Bantam and on Ambon Island in the Dutch East Indies. The Hermite Islands, located off the Chilean coast of Cape Horn and charted by his fleet in February 1624, were named in his honor.
Hendrik Brouwer (sometimes in Spanish as Enrique Brouwer) was a Dutch navigator, explorer, pirate, and colonial administrator, best remembered for having discovered the area of the Roaring Forties in the Indian Ocean in 1610. Brouwer turned it into a fast lane for travel between South Africa and Indonesia. The shortcut is also sometimes known as the Brouwer route. This route, due to its strong prevailing winds, is usually considered risky by sailors. Its presence was important on the so-called clipper route that connected Europe with Australia, New Zealand and the Far East. This pirate participated in a frustrated conquest expedition in 1643 off the Chilean coast in which he died of illness.
British historian and poet Robert Southey described him as follows: "He was a man of marked courage, upright conduct, and remarkable integrity, but hateful to his subordinates, because his discipline was harsh by dint of being severe, which perhaps came more from genius than from lack of discernment, since, like most of his compatriots of that century, Brouwer did not know compassion or clemency.
The weakness of the Spanish defensive system in key points of the South Pacific favored the successes of the predators. Other factors also contributed. The vast extension of Felipe II's domains, which prevented prompt remediation of all defensive deficiencies and the sometimes unwise appointments of the authorities in charge of the government of the attacked cities, lacking the minimum military experience, facilitated the attacks. and looting, without neglecting the audacity and military qualities of the corsairs and pirates.
Pirates of China
Since the end of the XVIII century, with the increase of the population, the distribution of land has been worsening day by day. Many peasants lost their land and became bandits or pirates. Giang Bình town was known as a hotbed for pirates at the time.
In the early days, most Chinese pirates were fishermen. They came to Giang Bình by boat to conduct business, although the Chinese government restricted private maritime trade. Giang Bình located near the China-Vietnam border; It belonged to Vietnam since the Ly Dynasty, later, it was ceded to China after the end of the Sino-French War, currently it is known as Jiangping Town, in China.
Giang Bình was a melting pot of Vietnamese and Chinese, it was strategically located; however, this area was neglected by the Vietnamese government. The Tay Son Rebellion broke out in southern Vietnam in 1771.
The rebellion soon drove Lords Nguyen and Lord Trinh out of power. Many Chinese pirates were hired and joined the civil war.
Nguyen Hue, one of the Tay Son leaders, crowned Emperor Quang Trung and defeated the invading Chinese army in 1789. After the battle, Hue reconciled with China, however, he waited for an opportunity to exact revenge on China. He provided money to the Chinese pirates. Three prominent pirates, Chen Tianbao, Mo Guanfu, and Zheng Qi, were ordered to hire more pirates. Since 1790, the number of Chinese pirates has grown rapidly. Most of them pledged allegiance to the Tay Son Dynasty and were fully trained. Many pirates were granted official posts. They were able to block the shipping lanes and harassed the coasts of southern China (Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu) frequently. Later, they also participated in all major naval battles against Nguyen Anh.
In 1801, Nguyen's navy arrived at Phu Xuan, a naval battle broke out in the Non estuary (present-day Thuan An estuary). Many Chinese pirates were hired by Tay Son to fight Mr. Nguyen. Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau described it as the fiercest battle in the history of Cochinchina. The battle ended with a near annihilation of both the Tay Son navy and the Chinese pirates.
The Tay Son dynasty was overthrown by the Nguyen dynasty. Unlike the Tay Son emperors, the newly crowned Gia Long began to suppress pirates. In September 1802, the Nguyen army destroyed the pirates' lair at Giang Bình, captured Zheng Qi, and executed him.
After this incident, Chinese pirates had to flee to Guangdong. To compete for territory, they attacked each other. Ultimately, they discovered that they would simply destroy themselves. In 1805, seven pirate leaders made an agreement, a pirate alliance was founded.
The seven leaders were: Zheng Yi (red flag fleet), Guo Podai (black flag fleet), Liang Bao (white flag fleet), Jin Guyang (green flag fleet), Wu Shier (white flag fleet) blue), Wu Zhiqing (yellow flag fleet) and Zheng Laotong. Not long after Zheng Laotong surrendered to the Chinese government, there were actually six gangs that joined the alliance. The Red Banner Fleet led by Zheng Yi was the strongest gang in the alliance, of course, he was selected as the leader of the alliance.
The Ladrones Islands (present-day Wanshan Archipelago), Hong Kong, and the Leizhou Peninsula became hotbeds for pirates, who ravaged those seas in the decades that followed.
Contemporary Age
The phenomenon of piracy was already greatly diminished as States were able to charter national armies without resorting to privateers. At the same time, the progressive organization and fortification of the colonies and the colonization of new lands such as Africa closes the possibilities for the vultures of the sea to attack positions on land.
However, piracy continues to exist.
19th century: piracy in North America
From 1850 pirates are even more harassed with the help of technical and military advances. The robbers of the sea are powerless, especially in the face of the advance of the means of communication and the increase in the caliber and precision of the defensive organizations.
In Hispanic America, idealists, smugglers, mercenaries and slavers mix and fight alongside the independentistas who want to free themselves from the Spanish Crown. They operate from Florida, where American filibusters harass Spanish ships. Historians see in this proceeding a precedent for the war in Cuba.
Piracy researchers and analysts point out that this is not a resolved issue yet and that it continues to act in various ways.
In the middle of the XIX century, a new ideology joins the previous ones shared to a greater or lesser extent by pirates. It is the Doctrine of Manifest Destiny invoked by the US government. Following this doctrine, and taking into account that practically the entire continental surface was dominated and annexed, Central America was the next objective of the North Americans and the model was the State of Texas.
The Texan case consisted of immigrating to Mexican territory, proclaiming it independent in violation of the oath of allegiance to the Mexican government, defeating the Mexican army (including the chapter of the Battle of the Alamo profusely mythologized by the Americans) and, once obtained full sovereignty, annex it to the United States. According to Juan A. Sánchez Giménez, he summarizes: "it seems like a rather premeditated Machiavellian plan and in a way it was".
Following previous success, the United States intended to create a tropical empire, especially in the Southern States, which would form the short-lived Confederate States of America. To this end, seamen like John Quitman or Narciso López, of Venezuelan origin, who planned to invade Cuba, proclaim it independent from Spain and join the emerging world power, lent themselves.
People like those mentioned put the old term of filibuster back into use without any pejorative connotation at that time.
Perhaps the most famous of all those filibusters, despite his short life, is William Walker, who made three expeditions to take over different parts of Central America.
In the first of those incursions and at the age of 28 he conquered La Paz, capital of the California peninsula, in 1853 with 45 men and proclaimed the Republic of Baja California. Shortly after, he would join the newly created República de Sonora, proclaiming himself president. The Mexican army defeated him and crossed into the United States over the border. He was tried and the jury can appreciate the influence of the Manifest Destiny Doctrine , since it only took them a minute to decide that he was innocent of having provoked an illegal war.
In 1855 he embarked on the conquest of Nicaragua with his 58 Immortals, 170 Nicaraguans and 100 North Americans. He defeats the Nicaraguan army on September 1; but on this occasion he is more prudent and appoints Patricio Rivas as president. But the result is not far from the previous one: Nicaragua is invaded by 2,500 men from Costa Rica and Walker is defeated in Santa Rosa (Costa Rican territory) and Rivas. Later elections are held, but the elections are rigged by Walker and he is elected.
However, this series of actions are seen as dangerous by Central American countries as they perceive them as a threat to their sovereignty, and the armies of Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras defeat him and he flees in 1857. In November he returns to to be tried in the United States and the American belief of being in their right to want to annex those lands is appreciated again, because Walker is acquitted.
On his third expedition to Honduras in 1860 he is not so lucky and is captured by Nowel Salman of the British Royal Navy. He was tried in Honduras and shot that same year.
Despite being welcomed as a hero in the Southern States, Walker is currently forgotten in the United States, but not in Central America, where wars against him can be, as Juan A. Sánchez Giménez points out, the equivalent of Wars of Independence from the rest of the former Spanish colonies that the peoples of Central America did not experience (see Nicaraguan National War and National Campaign of 1856-1857).
19th century: piracy in South America
While the War of Independence was taking place, the new independent governments tried to damage the maritime trade of the Spanish Crown and spread the war in the territories still dominated by the Spanish. To do this, they used privateering, which allowed private ships to be armed under their flag and attack royalist ships without committing too many state resources to the undertaking.
Through this modality, privateering under the Argentine flag obtained some 150 ships as prizes between 1814 and 1823. Privateering was then considered a legitimate form of warfare and many American privateers based in Baltimore who participated in the war between their country and the United Kingdom between 1812 and 1814, they later obtained a letter of marque in Buenos Aires. The contract between the privateers and the State was called a letter of marque, receiving the first rights to attack, seize, plunder or destroy enemy-flagged ships, keeping a part of the loot obtained.
The privateering cruiser of the frigate La Argentina was a privateering naval expedition commanded by the French sailor at the service of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, Marine Sergeant Major Hipólito Bouchard. The expedition against Spanish ships and ports in America and the Philippines took place between July 1817 and July 1819, as part of the Spanish-American War of Independence.
Bouchard circumnavigated the planet commanding privateering operations, combats and other incidents on the coasts of Madagascar, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hawaii, California, Mexico and Central America, to later end up being arrested in Chile on piracy charges. During the privateer cruise in La Argentina, 26 dams were obtained and 10 military actions were carried out.
In Santa Barbara, California, the Argentine flag flies on one of the coastal piers visible from the 101 Highway, along with those of Spain, Russia, Mexico and the United States, countries that once dominated California. On the second floor of the city's County Court House a mural by Theodore Van Cina depicting the privateering attack of 1818. The annual Pirate Party is held in Dana Point, California, in memory of Bouchard's attack on San Juan de Capistrano.
When the Chilean war of independence broke out, the inhabitants of the Chiloé archipelago sided with the royalist side and faced the independentistas on the mainland. Furthermore, starting in 1817, the governor of the islands, Antonio Quintanilla, gave a letter of marque to Mateo Mainery and his brigantine General Quintanilla so that they would harass the Chilean merchantmen. At the beginning of 1818 the independence of Chile was consolidated, but Chiloé could not be defeated then and the privateering adventures against the Chileans and the piracy against ships of other flags lasted until 1824.
Piracy in the 20th and 21st centuries
During the XX century, piracy, carried out systematically, was concentrated in strongholds of the Third World. The countries estimated to host the most pirates are Somalia, Indonesia and Malaysia. Especially around Asia and particularly in the Strait of Malacca, a narrow channel between Singapore, Malaysia to the northeast, and Indonesia to the southwest. In 2004, the governments of these three countries agreed to increase the protection of the ships that crossed it.
In the 21st century, pirate attacks are carried out with the support of GPS and are dedicated to stealing digital cameras and other valuables to tourists. Its area of operation remains the same as in the XX century (Southeast Asia, the Horn of Africa mainly), where states have no real jurisdiction and sometimes not even the power to control their forces, be they security or armed.
The so-called acts of piracy against large ships are very rare in the Atlantic, a good part of the Pacific and with a high incidence on the eastern coast of Africa. Piracy also affects the waters of Somalia and Nigeria and, in smaller scale, on some coasts of South America.
You can cite:
- Between 1994 and 1995, Canada and Spain held a dispute, called War of the Fleetwhen the first-country warship caught and towed one of its ports to a Spanish-high fisherman when it was in international waters. The Canadian government accused the Spanish fishermen of exaggerating the black phletán cove. Spain considered this apprehension as an act of piracy, to which it responded with the sending of a patroller of height of the Navy. For its part, Canada threatened to consider it an act of war and some English fishermen captured another Spanish fisherman and set the Canadian flag on it.
- In 1995, several Spanish ships seized a French fishing vessel for fishing with illegal networks of a mileage greater than allowed. As in the previous case, France described it as an act of piracy.
- In 2008, Somali pirates captured, in the Indian Ocean, the largest oil vessel ever hijacked: Sirius Starwhich transported two million barrels of oil to the United States.
As a result of the continuous acts of piracy in the area, the United States Fifth Fleet deployed in the area announced the creation of a multinational maritime force called CTF-151 for January 2009 to deal with this situation. Twenty countries will participate in it and the area of operations will include the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea, since only in 2008 around a hundred ships were attacked near the coast of Somalia. One of the means used by the international community to deal with this situation were naval military patrols organized in the European Union's Operation Atalanta, NATO's Operation Ocean Shield and Task Force 150 of a US-led coalition, which operate in the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
For their part, the Somali pirates, initially calling themselves the "Somali Volunteer Coast Guard", most of them fishermen, denounce that the real bandits of the sea are the clandestine fishermen who plunder our fish, in a clear allusion to the fishing boats of developed countries, and recall, in turn, the serious pollution problem they suffer due to the dumping of polluting substances (including radioactive ones) that these countries carry out on their coasts.
In contrast, piracy is a near-endemic problem in Southeast Asian waters. To fight against it, Japan and other nations in the area carry out exercises to train their forces in the fight against piracy and the rescue of ships, such as the one carried out in early February 2007.
Furthermore, air piracy has taken center stage in the XX and XXI.
Pirate Democracy
The society in democracy and the code of conduct were the basic pillars of the pirate organizations, whose fundamental principles were the equality of its members without distinction of race, religion and customs. Groups of corsairs acted in another way, which responded to the authority of a sovereign, their structure being vertical as was the case with the regular armies of the different nations.
Unlike traditional Western societies of the time, many Caribbean pirate crews of European descent operated as limited democracies. The Pirate communities were the first to install a system of checks and balances (checks and balances) similar to that used today by the United States and many other countries. The first record of such a form of government by a pirate organization dates from the 17th century.
Both the captain and quartermaster were elected by the crew; they, in turns, chose the other officers of the boat. The pirate ship captain was often a fierce fighter in whom men could place their trust, rather than a traditional authority figure. However, when not in battle, the weight of authority usually rested with the quartermaster. Many groups of pirates fully shared the booty; even pirates wounded in battle received monetary compensation as if it were medical or disability insurance.
Contemporary records indicate that many pirates placed a portion of their wealth in a common fund that was used to compensate for injuries suffered by the crew. The lists show standardized payments of up to 600 pieces of eight (156,000 current pesos) for the loss of a leg, to 100 pieces (26,800 pesos) for losing an eye; specifically covering all types of injuries.
The most famous code was that of Henry Morgan of 1671, which was made up of sixteen articles where the compensation that would correspond to pirates in case of receiving wounds in battle was listed and with specific details. Furthermore, Bartholomew Roberts's articles were listed in the work of author Charles Johnson, along with standards by John Phillips and Edward Low. In total there were eleven articles and they were intended to mark the rules of conduct for the crew on board. They were written in 1721 due to a mass defection led by Walter Kennedy. Often all of these terms were agreed upon and written by the pirates themselves, but these articles of the pirate code of conduct, such as the Brothers of the Coast pirate code, could also be used as incriminating evidence that they were acting outside the law.
Homosexuality in piracy
In a maritime environment devoid of women or a single-sex social group, homosexuality and homosexual practices were widely accepted and part of daily life in the world of buccaneers and pirates. Some pirates rejected heterosexuality even when the possibility of having sexual contacts with women, generally prostitutes, existed in the ports. However, this is a concept that is based on particular cases, but in general the reality was different. For example: Port Royal, Jamaica, in the year 1680 had 6,000 residents and a large number of visitors; Both residents and visitors were mostly pirates, and the permanent population included an immense number of prostitutes. This fact is confirmed by the statistic that one in every five buildings functioned as a brothel or brothel. In this sense, two cases of famous pirates demonstrate this diversity of sexual preferences: Captain Edward Teach, known by the pseudonym Blackbeard, had in his life fourteen wives; and Captain Bartholomew Roberts, known as Black Bart, in his lifetime maintained the marital status of equal union.Some pirates preferred young boys, because of this they used to kidnap them and force them to learn seamanship while being trained by a tutelary pirate. The pirate and his "apprentice" created strong bonds, even sleeping and eating together, sometimes sharing the booty. These pirates formed the first "marriages" or same-sex unions in modern history in the institution known as matelotage. It was a contractual union between two men, which included the inheritance of property in case of marriage. death of one of them. The "matelot" was generally the youngest or most economically disadvantaged pirate, sexual partner or companion. There are also known cases of female pirates with homosexual tendencies or traits, such is the case of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, who were a couple and also, these two famous pirates formed a love triangle with Captain Jack Rackham, better known by his pseudonym of Calico Jack, when they lived on the island of New Providence, one of the most populous in the Bahamas archipelago.
Popular reference in film and television
In the modern imagination, pirates were rogue, intelligent groups operating outside the law and bureaucracy of modern life. The image of pirates is frequently associated with the hoisting of the Jolly Roger, the name of the traditional flag of European and American pirates, and a symbol that has been adopted by major film productions and in the creation of toys and stuffed animals. For example, "Pirates of the Caribbean" (in English, "Pirates of the Caribbean") is the title of a fantastic adventure film franchise and pirates. The Pirates of the Caribbean saga has five films released and a sixth in production. The first film in the "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" saga was released in 2003, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and based on the Walt Disney Studios Park theme park attraction of the same name.
International cinematography, especially Hollywood studios, has produced films on the subject of Piracy in different decades, making this theme a classic of cinema. The most outstanding films have been: The Black Pirate (1926), Treasure Island (1934), Captain Blood (1935), Florida Corsairs (1938), The Sea Hawk (1940), Pirates of the Caribbean Sea (1942), The Black Swan (1942), The Princess and the Pirate (1944), Captain Kidd (1945), The Pirate (1948), The Fortune of Captain Blood (1950), The Pirate Woman (1951), The Blackbeard Pirate (1952), The Island of the Corsairs (1952), The Pirate's Secret (1952), Pirates of Tripoli (1955), Sinbad and the Princess (1958), The Buccaneers (1958), Morgan the Pirate (1961), Pirates de Tortuga (1961), Gordon, the Black Pirate (1961), The Lion of San Marcos (1963) and Wind in the Sails (1965).
On the other hand, documentary television channels such as National Geographic, Discovery Channel and History Channel, have produced documentaries in recent decades such as the following: Blackbeard, the Most Infamous Pirate That Ever Lived (1997); Port Royal, the Lost City of Pirates (1997); The Pirate Ships (1997); History of the Pirates of the Caribbean (1998); Royal Pirates (1998); Sin City Jamaica, the Pirate Paradise (1998); Blackbeard's Mysterious Ship (2005); Pirates of the Caribbean (2007); Blackbeard's Lost Ship (2009); Pirate Island (2011) and The Pirate City of Port Royal (2017); among other productions of highly documented content.
The popular view of piracy has been largely influenced by film and television, over many decades, but in reality: "Piracy was like a "gold doubloon", always had two faces: one face where idealism, the picturesque and romanticism reigned; and another face where violence, crime and perversity prevailed.
Literature and piracy
The subject of adventure books and poetry, piracy has played an important part in literature. Serve as an example:
- The Treasure IslandRobert Louis Stevenson.
- Captain BloodRafael Sabatini.
- SandokánEmilio Salgari.
- The Black CornerEmilio Salgari.
- The Queen of the CaribbeanEmilio Salgari.
- On strange shores, by Tim Powers (Caribbean Squares and Monkey Island are based on this book).
- Song of the pirateJosé de Espronceda.
- The Book of PiratesHoward Pyle.
- Vampiretas, a wave of terrorJustin Somper.
- The golden cupJohn Steinbeck.
- The masked Pirateby Juan Carlos Riofrío Martínez-Villalba.
- Circular piratesRafael Estrada.
- Long John SilverBjörn Larsson.
- PirateLuis Britto Garcia.
- Stories of piratesArthur Conan Doyle.
- Pirate LatitudesMichael Crichton.
- Pirate comeupsClausete González.
- Dinosaurs and pirates, a new stageKawa Cate Johnson.
- The Song of the PirateFernando Quiñones.
- Bandidos Del Marof Franco Alvarez
- One PieceEiichiro Oda
Celebrity Pirates
- Principal category: Pirates and Corsars.
- Barbanegra
- Anne Bonny
- Mary Read
- Jack Rackham
- Grace O'Malley
- Henry Jennings
- Jeireddín Barbarroja
- Roger de Flor
- Francis Drake
- Agnes Annie Drake
- Hipólito Bouchard
- Thomas Espora
- Pier Gerlofs Donia
- John Oxenham
- Thomas Cavendish
- John Hawkins
- Richard Hawkins
- Olivier van Noort
- José Gaspar
- Michel de Grammont
- Laurens de Graaf
- Henry Morgan
- Amaro Pargo
- Jean David Nau
- John Clipperton
- Bartholomew Roberts
- Aguirre Lope
- William Kidd
- Walter Raleigh
- Benito Soto Aboal
- Roberto Cofresi
- Hendrick Brouwer
- Samuel Bellamy
- Edward England
- Louis Michel Aury
- Bartholomew Sharpe
- Thomas Tew
- Woodes Rogers
- Mateo Mainery
- Jacques de Sores
- Walter Kennedy
- Amyas Preston
- George Somers
- Klaus Störtebeker
- Kristoffer Trondsen Rustung
- Charles Vane
- Benjamin Hornigold
- William Walker
- Henry Every
- William Dampier
- Roche Brasiliano
- Dog head
- Masked pirate
Fictional
- Guybrush Threepwood
- LeChuck
- Monkey D. Luffy
- Edward Kenway
- Gol D. Roger
- Trafalgar Law
- Jack Sparrow
- Captain Barbossa
- Sandokán
- Simbad the Marine
- Captain Garfio
- Captain Blood
- John Silver The Largo
- Rackham the Red
- Davy Jones
- Charles Vane
- Black Caesar
- Foxy the Pirate
- Jack Hunter
- Will Turner
- Elizabeth Swann
- Saïd (Mar i cel)
- Gangplank
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