The earliest record of pirates appears on a clay inscription in 1350 BC. Greek merchants were occasionally attacked by pirates while trading in Mediterranean ports like Phoenicia and Anatolia.
During the ancient Roman period, piracy activities in the Eastern Mediterranean were rampant. The Roman military commander Pompey once built a fleet specifically to fight against pirates. The once-lost Yuri Caesar was even captured by pirates. After that, he carried out brutal revenge and mobilized his fleet to completely destroy the pirates' lair in Farmakuz. The Roman Senate was unwilling to suppress the pirates, however, because their existence was in their interest: to provide thousands of slaves and disrupt the grain trade so that they could drive up prices and profit from it. In the ancient Roman period and before, piracy was limited to the Mediterranean, but after entering the Middle Ages, it became popular in Northern Europe.
The Middle Ages
The Middle Ages were the period of development of pirates and the period when the Vikings became famous. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records an attack in 787 BC: three Viking ships attacked the monastery of Lindisfarne on the coast of England, where they "plundered and ravaged everything inhumanely, dug up the altar and All the treasures of this holy church were looted.”
From 800 to 1100 AD, pirates became an important social role in Northern Europe. The ancestors of the Danes, like the ancestors of the Norwegians and Swedes, fought on the coasts of Europe and earned the so-called "Vikings" title. When archaeologists excavated a pirate tomb in Sweden, they discovered silver coins from Spain, Egypt, Syria, Baghdad, and the Central Asian city of Tashkent. At his side were axes, spears and daggers, several knives, a shield and a belt buckle.
Pirates have also begun to appear on the southeastern coast of Asia, the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf. With the decline of central power in the 13th century, pirates became rampant along the coast of China. They often drove ships that could carry 300 people to the shore at will and looted a village.
Discovering the New World
At the beginning of the 16th century, pirates began to gain a reputation, and their ships became larger and faster. With the discovery of the New World and the expansion of colonies, various ships loaded with gold and other cargo sailed around the world. The competing interests of various countries and their ambitions for colonies made sailors find it very easy to legalize cruel piracy. At that time, British privateers could attack and rob Spanish cargo ships with impunity.
Private license sounds a bit gangster logic. For example, a Dutch merchant whose goods were stolen in Germany and who could not obtain compensation for his loss through legal or diplomatic means could obtain a privateering license from the Dutch government, which allowed him to capture prisoners of war. German merchant ships came to make up for the losses. In fact, governments later used these licenses as national tools to strengthen their navies, allowing their countries to create an additional maritime force that could attack enemy merchant ships out of thin air without increasing their budgets. Captured ships had to be taken to the Admiralty to confirm that they were legal game and not the property of a neutral nation. The use of privateering licenses ended in 1856, when a number of countries signed a declaration in Paris. The United States and several other countries were late to sign the treaty. At that time, the United States mainly relied on privateering to expand their maritime power because they lacked a powerful navy. According to records, Turkish pirates hijacked 466 merchant ships in the Mediterranean from 1609 to 1616; and in 1625, 27 merchant ships were hijacked within ten days. After the discovery of the New World, maritime transportation in the Caribbean was extremely prosperous, and piracy in this area became unprecedentedly rampant, pointing at the "exclusive plunderers" Spanish cargo ships in this area.
The Golden Age
The golden age of piracy was from 1691 to 1723. During this period, a group of very famous pirate leaders emerged. The famous "Blackbeard" Edward Teach, Captain Kidd, and "Black Baronet" Roberts have all become legends in the history of pirates.
Roberts was born in Wales in 1682. When "Blackbeard" became famous along the American coast, he was the first mate of a Barbadian merchant ship.
After being an ordinary sailor for nearly 20 years, he finally realized: "Anyway, if you steal a shilling, you will be hanged, why not steal a larger fortune!" Therefore, he joined Captain Davis's pirate ship. Davis was killed in a battle with the Portuguese, and Roberts was elected captain. In September 1719, the "Royal Wanderer" under his command robbed a fleet of 42 Portuguese merchant ships. In June 1720, the "Royal Wanderer" hung the skull and crossbones flag high, swaggered into Trebasi Port, plundered more than 150 ships moored here, and selected the best clipper ship among them. His new flagship, Roberts named it Royal Bliss. Later, in three days in October, they captured 15 British and French ships in the Dominican area and sank a Dutch warship with 42 cannons...
On the morning of February 10, 1722, in Africa At Cape Lopez, the "Royal Bliss" encountered the Royal Navy cruiser "Royal Swallow". A piece of shrapnel exploded Roberts' throat, killing him on the spot. During his pirate career, Roberts robbed more than 400 ships. He had a very complex personality and was also a person who paid great attention to rules. There is a ship rule formulated by Roberts that stipulates: 1. Everyone has to deal with daily affairs. Have equal voting rights; 2. Stealing a friend's property will result in being abandoned on a desert island; 3. Gambling on the ship is strictly prohibited; 4. Turn off the lights at 8 o'clock in the evening; 5. Do not wear unclean weapons, and you must always clean your guns and knives; 6. Children are not allowed on board, and those who seduce women will die; 7. Those who escape from the battle will die; 8. Private fights are strictly prohibited, but duels are allowed in the presence of a notary. Those who kill their companions must be tied with the deceased and thrown into the sea. ; 9. Those who are disabled during the battle can stay on the ship and receive 800 Spanish silver coins from the "public savings"; 10. When dividing the spoils, the captain and helmsman will get two shares of the spoils, the gunner will get one and a half shares, and everyone else will. Got 1 and 1/4 servings.
The suspense of "Treasure Island"
The largest "deal" in the history of piracy, the so-called "Lima Treasure" case, occurred in 1821. At that time, the army led by Simon Bolivar, the famous leader against Spanish colonial rule in South America, approached Lima, the capital of Peru. Lima was considered the richest city in South America, with countless gold ingots, gold coins, Inca gold ornaments, religious Temple valuables, necklaces, rings, gem-encrusted weapons, gold statues, etc. These treasures were loaded onto a British two-masted sailing ship, the "Mary Keel", which came from Bristol, England and was commanded by Dutch captain Viljam Thomson, who was known for his loyalty and reliability at the time. One night after the "Mary Gere" set sail, Thomson led the sailors into the cabin and killed the Governor and Archbishop of Lima who were escorting the ship. The pirate flag was raised on the ship.
Since then, the whereabouts of this huge wealth has been cast a shadow of unknown. There is a local rumor that the treasure was buried on Kokosov Island, a small island in the Pacific. This island is not far from the southwest coast of Costa Rica. Interestingly, it is this island described in Stevenson's famous book "Treasure Island".
Resurgence
With the development of technology, especially the use of steam engines, and the strengthening of coastal patrols by various countries’ naval strength, pirates almost disappeared for a long time from the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century. disappeared, and people only know pirate stories and legends from novels, plays, and paintings.
In the summer of 1981, a Cuban ship discovered a "ghost ship" near the Bahamas. It was traveling with full sail and did not answer any signals. The sides were covered with bullet holes, and the deck was full of bloodstains... It was later found out that the sailing ship was called "Kalia-III". It had sent a distress telegram two days ago, saying that it was attacked by four unmarked speedboats. .
Previously, on the sea only 70 nautical miles away from Havana, several unmarked motorboats tracked and fired machine guns at a Spanish dry cargo ship "Sinara Aranzasu". The ship was bound for Cuba, carrying provisions, cloth and children's toys. Soon a fire broke out on the ship, and the crew had to abandon the ship and jump into the sea. However, the pirates had already arranged a "hunting activity". They searched for those who fell into the water and shot them one by one. This is where modern pirates come into play.
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