Portal:Piracy
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Introduction
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, and vessels used for piracy are called pirate ships. The earliest documented instances of piracy were in the 14th century BC, when the Sea Peoples, a group of ocean raiders, attacked the ships of the Aegean and Mediterranean civilisations. Narrow channels which funnel shipping into predictable routes have long created opportunities for piracy, as well as for privateering and commerce raiding.
Historic examples of such areas include the waters of Gibraltar, the Strait of Malacca, Madagascar, the Gulf of Aden, and the English Channel, whose geographic structures facilitated pirate attacks. The term piracy generally refers to maritime piracy, although the term has been generalized to refer to acts committed on land, in the air, on computer networks, and (in science fiction) outer space. Piracy usually excludes crimes committed by the perpetrator on their own vessel (e.g. theft), as well as privateering, which implies authorization by a state government.
Piracy or pirating is the name of a specific crime under customary international law and also the name of a number of crimes under the municipal law of a number of states. In the 21st century, seaborne piracy against transport vessels remains a significant issue, with estimated worldwide losses of US$25 billion in 2023, increased from US$16 billion per year in 2004. (Full article...)
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Maritime security is an umbrella term informed to classify issues in the maritime domain that are often related to national security, marine environment, economic development, and human security. This includes the world's oceans but also regional seas, territorial waters, rivers and ports, where seas act as a “stage for geopolitical power projection, interstate warfare or militarized disputes, as a source of specific threats such as piracy, or as a connector between states that enables various phenomena from colonialism to globalization”. The theoretical concept of maritime security has evolved from a narrow perspective of national naval power projection towards a buzzword that incorporates many interconnected sub-fields. The definition of the term maritime security varies and while no internationally agreed definition exists, the term has often been used to describe both existing, and new regional and international challenges to the maritime domain. The buzzword character enables international actors to discuss these new challenges without the need to define every potentially contested aspect of it. Maritime security is of increasing concern to the global shipping industry, where there are a wide range of security threats and challenges. Some of the practical issues clustered under the term of maritime security include crimes such as piracy, armed robbery at sea, trafficking of people and illicit goods, illegal fishing or marine pollution. War, warlike activity, maritime terrorism and interstate rivalry (such as the Territorial disputes in the South China Sea or conflict in the Strait of Hormuz) are also maritime security concerns.
While a concern throughout history for nation states, maritime security has evolved significantly since the early 2000s, when in particular concerns over terrorist attacks on port facilities sparked interest in security in the maritime domain and led to the creation of the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code. The ISPS Code is enforced through Chapter XI-2 of the SOLAS Convention. Most littoral states and international organisations have also outlined maritime security strategies. It is in particular piracy in Southeast Asia, off the coast of Somalia and in West Africa which has triggered recognition for the detrimental effects of maritime insecurities for economic development, human security as well as the environment. Maritime security is often transnational and goes beyond the maritime domain itself (see liminality). It is characterized as being cross-jurisdictional and/or highly jurisdictional complex. (Full article...)Did you know?
- ... that Saudi Arabian broadcaster beoutQ pirated and resold beIN Sports programmes during the Qatar diplomatic crisis?
- ... that HMS Redpole, one of the aptly-named coffin brigs, sank in an action with a pirate vessel in August 1828?
- ... that the developers of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number suggested that Australian customers pirate their game?
- ... that indigenous Australian artist Daniel Boyd has depicted colonial figures including Captain James Cook and Governor Arthur Phillip as pirates?
- ... that since 1904 the Gasparilla Pirate Festival in Tampa, Florida, has featured a pirate-themed parade?
- ... that, while it is unknown if pirates actually kept parrots as pets, it is thought that at least some captains kept cats aboard to keep populations of rats and other vermin down?
- ... that, unlike traditional Western societies of the time, many pirate clans operated as limited democracies, demanding the right to elect and replace their leaders?
- ... that there is only one account of walking the plank?
Selected quotations
“ | Now for our affair's are on the razor's edge, men of Ionia, wither we are to be free or slaves ... so if you will bear hardships now, you will suffer temporarily but be able to overcome your enemies | ” |
— Dionysius the Phocaean |
General images
- Image 1Capture of the Pirate Blackbeard, 1718 depicting the battle between Blackbeard and Robert Maynard in Ocracoke Bay; romanticized depiction by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris from 1920 (from Piracy)
- Image 2An action between an English ship and vessels of the Barbary Corsairs (from Barbary pirates)
- Image 6Bartholomew Roberts' crew carousing at the Calabar River; illustration from The Pirates Own Book (1837). Roberts is estimated to have captured over 470 vessels. (from Piracy)
- Image 8Battle of a French ship of the line and two galleys of the Barbary corsairs (from Barbary pirates)
- Image 9Armed pirates in the Indian Ocean near Somalia. After the picture was taken, the vessel's crew members opened fire on U.S. Navy ships and the ship's crew members returned fire. One suspected pirate was killed and 12 were taken into custody (see engaged pirate vessels). (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
- Image 10Spanish warships bombarding the Moro Pirates of the southern Philippines in 1848 (from Piracy)
- Image 12British captain witnessing the miseries of Christian slaves in Algiers, 1815 (from Barbary pirates)
- Image 13The Barbary pirates frequently attacked Corsica, resulting in many Genoese towers being erected. (from Barbary pirates)
- Image 15International Maritime Organization (IMO) conference on capacity-building to counter piracy in the Indian Ocean (from Piracy)
- Image 16Modern reconstruction of skull alleged to have belonged to 14th century pirate Klaus Störtebeker. He was the leader of the privateer guild Victual Brothers, who later turned to piracy and roamed European seas. (from Piracy)
- Image 17A French ship under attack by Barbary pirates, ca. 1615 (from Piracy)
- Image 19A contemporary flyer depicting the public execution of 16th-century pirate Klein Henszlein and his crew in 1573 (from Piracy)
- Image 20Painting from 1772 depicting British and French sailors at battle with Dulcignottes (Ulcinj pirates). These pirates were defeated on 5 September 1772. (from Albanian piracy)
- Image 21Lieve Pietersz Verschuier, Dutch ships bomb Tripoli in a punitive expedition against the Barbary pirates, c. 1670 (from Barbary pirates)
- Image 22A private guard escort on a merchant ship providing security services against piracy in the Indian Ocean (from Piracy)
- Image 24Captain William Bainbridge paying tribute to the Dey of Algiers, c. 1800 (from Barbary pirates)
- Image 25A merchant seaman aboard a fleet oil tanker practices target shooting with a Remington 870 12 gauge shotgun as part of training to repel pirates in the Strait of Malacca, 1984 (from Piracy)
- Image 26Henry Every is shown selling his loot in this engraving by Howard Pyle. Every's capture of the Grand Mughal ship Ganj-i-Sawai in 1695 stands as one of the most profitable pirate raids ever perpetrated. (from Piracy)
- Image 27The crew of the merchant vessel Faina stand on the deck after a U.S. Navy request to check on their health and welfare. The Belize-flagged cargo ship owned and operated by Kaalbye Shipping, Ukraine, was seized by pirates 25 September 2008 and forced to proceed to anchorage off the Somali Coast. The ship is carrying a cargo of Ukrainian T-72 tanks and related military equipment. (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
- Image 29Anti piracy operations by Indian Navy's INS Tabar, in the Gulf of Aden on 18 November 2008 (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
- Image 30Born to a noble family in Puerto Rico, Roberto Cofresí was the last notably successful pirate in the Caribbean. (from Piracy)
- Image 31Pirates attacking a French ship (from Albanian piracy)
- Image 34Four Chinese pirates who were hanged in Hong Kong in 1863 (from Piracy)
- Image 35British Royal Navy Commodore gives a presentation on piracy at the MAST 2008 conference (from Piracy)
- Image 36U.S. naval officer Stephen Decatur boarding a Tripolitan gunboat during the First Barbary War, 1804 (from Piracy)
- Image 41The cemetery of past pirates at Île Ste-Marie (St. Mary's Island) (from Piracy)
- Image 43A man from the Barbary states (from Barbary pirates)
- Image 44Bartholomew Roberts was the pirate with most captures during the Golden Age of Piracy. He is now known for hanging the governor of Martinique from the yardarm of his ship. (from Piracy)
- Image 47Kent battling Confiance, a privateer vessel commanded by French corsair Robert Surcouf in October 1800, as depicted in a painting by Garneray (from Piracy)
- Image 49A collage of Somali pirates armed with AKM assault rifles, RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenade launchers and semi-automatic pistols in 2008 (from Piracy)
- Image 52Views of Ulcinj in 1718 bz H. C. Bröckell (from Albanian piracy)
- Image 55Henry Morgan who sacked and burned the city of Panama in 1671 – the second most important city in the Spanish New World at the time; engraving from 1681 Spanish edition of Alexandre Exquemelin's The Buccaneers of America (from Piracy)
- Image 57Somalia's coral reefs, ecological parks and protected areas (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
- Image 58Map of Shkodër with the Buna river in 1571 by Giovanni Francesco Camocio (from Albanian piracy)
- Image 63The work of the Mercedarians was in ransoming Christian slaves held in Muslim hands, Histoire de Barbarie et de ses Corsaires, 1637 (from Barbary pirates)
- Image 64The Vitalienbrüder. Piracy became endemic in the Baltic sea in the Middle Ages because of the Victual Brothers. (from Piracy)
- Image 65Map showing the extent of Somali pirate attacks on shipping vessels between 2005 and 2010 (from Piracy)
- Image 66The Bombardment of Algiers by the Anglo-Dutch fleet in 1816 to support the ultimatum to release European slaves (from Piracy)
- Image 67Pirate Anne Bonny (1697–1720). Engraving from Captain Charles Johnson's General History of the Pyrates (1st Dutch Edition, 1725) (from Piracy)
- Image 69Mural representing the attack of Charles Windon to San Sebastián de La Gomera (1743) (from Piracy)
- Image 70Castle of Ulcinj in the 1890s (from Albanian piracy)
- Image 71Barbaria by Jan Janssonius, shows the coast of North Africa, an area known in the 17th century as Barbaria, c. 1650 (from Barbary pirates)
- Image 72Conquest of Tunis by Charles V and liberation of Christian galley slaves in 1535 (from Barbary pirates)
- Image 73"Mic the Scallywag" of the Pirates of Emerson Haunted Adventure Fremont, California (from Piracy)
- Image 74A person costumed in the character of captain Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp's lead role in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series (from Piracy)
- Image 76Coat of arms of the town of Almuñécar, granted by King Charles V in 1526, showing the turbaned heads of three Barbary pirates floating in the sea (from Barbary pirates)
- Image 78Blackbeard's severed head hanging from Maynard's bowsprit; illustration from The Pirates Own Book (1837) (from Piracy)
- Image 79A fight between Filipino pirates, Bugis trading ship, and Dutch mariners. (from Piracy)
- Image 81An Algerine pirate ship (from Barbary pirates)
- Image 83A pirate skiff in Baltiysk, Russia — captured by the Russian Navy (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)
- Image 84Pirate treasure looted by Samuel Bellamy and recovered from the wreck of the Whydah; exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, 2010 (from Piracy)
- Image 86Time series of maritime traffic crossing the Indian Ocean showing the effect of piracy and its progressive decline in re-routing ships. Each sub-plot shows 6-month colour-coded trips, red southbound and green northbound, using Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) historical data. Operational authorities requested an increase of LRIT reporting frequency from ships in 2009 and 2010 in order to better track them remotely in the High Risk Area. The increase of tracking points can be erroneously perceived as an apparently higher volume of traffic with respect to other periods. (from Piracy off the coast of Somalia)