Everyone knows that piracy is the capture of a ship at sea with its subsequent robbery and the capture of the team or its liquidation. Piracy has a centuries-old and very interesting history that has attracted writers and filmmakers. About how it appeared, about its history, the fight against it and interesting facts will be discussed in this article.
Appearance story
The history of piracy dates back to ancient times, when shipping only appeared. Ships transported a variety of goods, and coastal tribes, which possessed the basics of navigation, were engaged in their robbery.
As civilization emerged as such, the line between pirates and merchants was rather thin. Many sailors traded in places where they were not strong enough, and where they were confident in their superiority, were engaged in the robbery of other ships.
The Phoenicians were especially “famous” in this respect; they were skilled mariners, impudent invaders and robbers of other ships. In Homer's poem Odyssey, they are mentioned as one of the first pirates of antiquity. However, the Phoenicians differed from their later followers, for them piracy was a way of capturing people for further sale into slavery, and ship cargo was secondary prey.
Piracy development
As legal and commercial ties between empires and nations developed, the activity of pirates was recognized as a serious crime. Countries began to unite to jointly combat piracy. The sea robbers in those days felt so confident that they even attacked the port of Rome.
In 67 BC e. the consul and commander-in-chief Pompey the Great possessed great powers and a fleet of 500 ships to combat the sea robbers. Dividing the Mediterranean Sea into 13 sections, he sent a squadron to each. Pompey cut off the pirates from the open sea and drove them to the fortress of Cilicia, and subsequently captured them. He did away with the pirates in just three months, although initially it was supposed to be done in three years.
However, sea robberies resumed when regular civil wars began. An interesting fact is that the pirates were led by the son of Pompey the Great - Sextus Pompey Magn.
Piracy in the Middle Ages
The Golden Age of piracy began in 1650 and lasted until 1730. Its heyday in this period was associated with several factors, namely:
- The increase in the volume of valuable cargo that went to Europe through numerous sea lanes.
- Reduced fleet numbers in certain areas of European territorial waters.
- The high level of training of pirates obtained during their service in the fleets of Europe.
- Poor leadership in European colonies and, as a consequence, their weakness.
- The disorganization of various countries in the simultaneous confrontation between each other and pirates.
For piracy, these factors played a dominant role and allowed to rob all vessels with impunity. This has become a real disaster for the economies of many countries.
Types of pirates of the Middle Ages
Pirates of the Middle Ages robbed ships in almost all the oceans, seas and rivers of the planet. In this regard, in different regions they had their own names.
- Ushkuyniki are pirates who hunted the entire length of the Volga River until Astrakhan itself from the 14th century. They are known for looting Kostroma, which is why the city was moved to a new place.
- Berber pirates plundered ships in the Mediterranean, moving on their high-speed ships. They also met in other seas, did not disdain raids on the coast. Based in the ports of Morocco and Algeria, more often being their real rulers.
- Liquedealers - pirates of the northern seas of Europe, were descendants of the Vikings. They were particularly cruel, capturing all the values that were on the ship, they killed the whole team.
- Filibusters are pirates who plundered mainly Spanish ships, and also attacked colonies in North America. For filibusters, piracy was a “semi-legal” way of making money. The fact is that the filibusters almost always had with them a special diploma that allowed them to rob ships and colonies of certain states. As a rule, such letters were issued by the governors of the French and English colonies during the wars. For a certain amount, it was issued to absolutely any captain.
Other types of pirates
There were other types of pirates, which included the following:
- Corsairs - just like filibusters, they robbed ships and colonies, holding a permit in their hands, which they called a corsair patent. He was issued by the authorities of his or another country for a substantial amount of money. This patent not only gave the corsairs the right to rob vessels and colonies during the war, but also in peacetime they used it to cover the damage they allegedly received from the war with another state.
- Flexelings, or pechelings, are the name of pirates from the Netherlands who, since the 1570s, have become widely known for their impudent attacks on foreign ships. They were also called "sea rogues" for their well-thought-out tactics during the attack and cunning during the seizure of ships.
- Clefts (Haiduts) are sea robbers originally from Greece, who terrified merchant ships in the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas during the Ottoman Empire.
- Wokou (literal translation - "dwarf robbers") - these are pirates originally from Japan, who from the XIII to the second half of the XVI century hosted off their shores, as well as in the waters of Korea and China.
Modern piracy
Currently, international piracy is very active off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden. The attack and robbery of ships in this region began in 2000 due to the instability in the region caused by interference (including military) by the United States in the internal affairs of African countries. Since that time, pirates periodically attack ships, taking hostages and demanding a ransom for them from shipowners or from the state.
If at the very beginning of the year about 15 attacks on merchant and other vessels were recorded, then eight years later there were already about 140. The number of attacks and hijacks increases each year, and the amount of ransom increases. Somali pirates have a strict specialization - it is reconnaissance, armed capture group, coast guard and negotiators.
It is worth noting that modern pirates invest in their "business". They pay a lot of money for information about ships that will be held in the region controlled by them. There is a known case when, having spent 300 thousand dollars, pirates received a ransom of 4 million.
However, this is not the biggest jackpot, as in April 2011, the organization of the owners of the tankers “Intertanko” paid the pirates 13.5 million US dollars for their tanker, which had about 2 million barrels of oil, and a team of 25 people. At a conference on piracy held this year in Dubai, the total amount of damage caused by pirates was estimated at about $ 12 billion per year.
Just like in the Middle Ages, today piracy is a big problem for ship owners, crews and states. The struggle continues, so far with varying success.