The Golden Age of Piracy by David Head

Author:David Head
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Published: 2018-11-14T16:00:00+00:00

SECTION 3

Modeling Piracy

A Model of Piracy

THE BUCCANEERS OF THE SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY CARIBBEAN

Virginia W. Lunsford

The spate of attacks by pirates in recent years has taken the world by surprise.1 In the early years of the twenty-first century, piracy erupted in the Strait of Malacca, a key channel bordered by Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia through which 40 percent of maritime trade must transit. Simultaneously, pirates from the East African nation Somalia began to capture vessels in the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean, and over time, their activities and range steadily increased, coming to a head in 2011. That piracy exists today—and exists in powerful enough form to result in hundreds of attacks and captures—surprises many. Indeed, this is not the mythical and romanticized piracy of Hollywood, with rugged tall ships flying the Jolly Roger while swashbuckling captains search for buried treasure. No, modern piracy—like all true piracy—is frightening, disturbing, and costly.

It has also been challenging to eradicate. For instance, in East African waters, in the Gulf of Aden and off Somalia’s coast, various naval assets, including a multinational naval task force with U.S. Navy participation (called Combined Task Force 151), have been conducting counterpiracy operations since 2009, and while there has been a striking decrease in piratical activity, the problem remains.2 “While the effectiveness of naval disruption operations has increased and more pirates have been arrested and prosecuted, this has not stopped piracy,” cautioned United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2011. “The trend of the increased levels of violence employed by the pirates as well as their expanding reach is disconcerting.”3 Despite the recent decline in Somali piracy, for example, experts warn that it could again intensify, as the causes for piracy remain intact and have even spread geo-graphically.4 In other words, piracy has been stifled but not eliminated. It is worrisome that in November 2016, for the first time in two and a half years, Somali pirates attacked a merchant ship, a Korean tanker. Only time will tell if this is an isolated incident or the resumption of the earlier trend.5 Meanwhile, piracy has erupted off the coast of West Africa, especially around Nigeria, and presents a growing problem.6 Moreover, piracy is again on the rise in Southeast Asia, this time in the waters near the Philippines and Indonesia and perpetrated by the Philippine insurgent group Abu Sayyaf.7

Ban Ki-moon’s frustrations have long been felt by those charged with suppressing piracy, for as history reveals, the problem of entrenched and flourishing piracy has never been solved by high seas naval action alone. The so-called golden age of piracy, from approximately 1530 to around 1730, was the time when seagoing robbery was most extensive, prevalent, threatening, and profitable. Throughout the era and around the globe, a variety of piratical groups practiced their trade. Their depredations challenged the authority of the expanding European empires and the nascent world economy. “Pirates created an imperial crisis with their relentless and successful attacks upon merchants’ property and international commerce,” writes Marcus Rediker about piracy vis-à-vis the eighteenth-century British.

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