Piracy’s revival – a historical retrospect – and current status

Definition
Until recently piracy was generally something of the past, surrounded by an almost romantic glow and only seen in Hollywood movies. There has been robbery of ships also in modern times, not least in some African and Asian ports, but it is a matter of opinion whether that can be termed “piracy”. Although the robbers have gained access from canoes or small motorboats, the acts resemble burglary ashore. There has been neither intention nor ability to remove considerable amounts of valuables from the ships, let alone take ship and crew hostage.

What then is piracy? One definition is: A war-like act committed by private parties (not affiliated with any government) that engage in boarding, robbery, rape, hostage taking, extortion and other criminal violence at sea. In other words, it can be described as crime with a certain degree of organisation and violence for the purpose of personal economical gain. The word is occasionally misused for any confrontation at sea - by the one party to express its disagreement with the act of the other party.

Members of the former Eastern bloc, for instance, would use it when their “trawlers”, lavishly equipped with radars and listening devices, were seized in other nations’ territorial waters. Others claim that environmental groups, such as Sea Shepherd, are guilty of “piracy”. One may disagree with their methods, including their violations of navigational rules, but future generations may thank them for having ensured a continued existence of big sea mammals. - Few people will thank the hardcore pirate although he may posthumously be inspirational for both films and musicals. - So piracy it is not.

History
It is reasonable to assume that piracy has existed for as long as the oceans were plied for commerce. The earliest documented instances of piracy are the exploits of the Sea Peoples who threatened the Aegean and Mediterranean in the 13th century BC. The island of Lemnos long resisted Greek influence and remained a haven for Thracian pirates. In the 3rd century BC, pirate attacks on Olympos (city in Anatolia) brought impoverishment. Constantly raiding the Adriatic Sea, the Illyrians caused many conflicts with the Roman Republic. It was not until 168 BC when the Romans finally conquered Illyria, making it a province that ended their threat.

The most widely known and far reaching pirates in medieval Europe were the Vikings, who raided all over Western Europe as far as Seville. They also plundered all the coasts of the Baltic Sea, ascending the rivers of Eastern Europe as far as the Black Sea and Persia. The lack of centralized powers all over Europe during the Middle Ages favoured pirates all over the continent. Thus, Muslim pirates were common in the Mediterranean Sea. Toward the end of the 9th century, Muslim pirate havens were established along the coast of southern France and northern Italy.

Until about 1440, maritime trade in both the North Sea and the Baltic Sea was seriously in danger of attack by the pirates. H. Thomas Milhorn mentions a certain Englishman named William Maurice, convicted of piracy in 1241, as the first person known to have been hanged, drawn and quartered, which would indicate that the then-ruling King Henry III took an especially severe view of this crime.

In East Asia the most powerful pirate fleets were those of Chinese pirates during the mid-Qing dynasty. Pirate fleets grew increasingly powerful throughout the early 19th century. However, in the 1840s and 1850s, United States Navy and Royal Navy forces campaigned together against Chinese pirates. Several notable battles were fought though pirate junks continued operating off China for years more. During the Second Opium War and the Taiping Rebellion, pirate junks were again destroyed in large numbers by British naval forces, but ultimately it wasn't until the 1860s and 1870s that fleets of pirate junks ceased to exist.

The “romantic” image that many people associate with pirates has a great deal to do with piracy in the Caribbean – never mind the recent trilogy of films “Pirates of the Caribbean”. The great or classic era of piracy in the Caribbean extends from around 1560 up until the mid 1720s. The period during which pirates were most successful was from 1700 until the 1730s. Many pirates came to the Caribbean after the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, they stayed in the Caribbean and became pirates shortly after that. Among the most famous Caribbean pirates are Edward Teach or ”Blackbeard”, Calico Jack Rackham, Henry Morgan and the most successful Bartholomew Roberts. Most were hunted down by the Royal Navy and killed or captured. Several battles were fought between the brigands and the colonial powers on both land and sea.

A privateer or corsair used similar methods to a pirate, but acted while in possession of a commission or letter of marque from a government or monarch authorizing the capture of merchant ships belonging to an enemy nation. For example, the United States Constitution of 1787 specifically authorized Congress to issue letters of marque and reprisal. The letter of marque was recognized by international convention and meant that a privateer could not technically be charged with piracy while attacking the targets named in his commission. One famous privateer was Sir Francis Drake. His patron was Queen Elizabeth I, and their relationship ultimately proved to be quite profitable for England.

Modern Times: A BurgeoningThreat to World Trade
As said in the initiation, there have been attacks and robberies against merchant vessels on a limited scale also in the 20th century. Nigeria’s Niger Delta ports and roads as well as the Malacca Strait and Indonesian Archipelago have been high risk areas. However, the issue that has brought piracy back on everybody’s lips – almost overnight – is the development, first in the Gulf of Aden and later in most of the Indian Ocean. The background is the degeneration of the state of Somalia, which actually started many years ago when the country’s dictator from 1969 to 1991,  Said Barre, was overthrown. This marked the beginning of an ongoing civil or clan war, which, today, leaves the country divided into three regions, only one of which has some resemblance of law and order. From this confusion emerged the Somali pirates – claiming to be or represent former fishermen, who have had their fishing-banks emptied by other nations’ fishing fleets – or polluted by the Western World in general.

Armed with these doubtful arguments – as well as weaponry that has gone from rifles over machine guns to rocket launchers – groups of Somalis started attacking merchant ships on a large scale back in 2007. They started with small “skiffs”, often concentrating on smaller ships with a low freeboard. The first Danish vessel to be captured and held hostage for several months was the M/V “Danica White”. Subsequently, the pirates started using mother ships, for example larger vessels they had captured and whose crews they forced to help chase more “prey”. In the nearly four years where this untenable situation has existed, the pirates have managed to capture vessels of all shapes and sizes, including super-tankers. They have expanded their field of operation from the Gulf of Aden to most of the Indian Ocean. This is a latent threat to world trade, 10 pct. of which transits the area, and if, hypothetically, others got the same idea and other major sea lanes were similarly affected, it could virtually bring vital trade to a halt.

The human consequences, not to forget, are dire. Between July 2008 and March 2011 nearly 150 ships have been captured and held hostage – some up to 6 months or more – and numerous others have been attacked. As of March 2011 some 35 ships with about 800 crew on board are held hostage. That is the equivalent of two jumbo jets full of people, and numerous others suffer from the traumatic experience of a touch-and-go escape.

Still, the international community has responded very slowly, being – it would seem – paralysed as far as effective and durable elimination of this outrageous situation is concerned. Several nations, including Denmark, have deployed war ships in the area, some under NATO command, and that has indeed proven very helpful on several occasions. No doubt, there would have been many more successful captures if they had not been there. But it is a problem that cannot be solved by military means alone. It will require and all-encompassing effort of the international society.