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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 valuable goods, or takinghostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are calledpirates, and vessels used for piracy are calledpirate ships. The earliest documented instances of piracy were in the 14th century BC, when theSea Peoples, a group of ocean raiders, attacked the ships of theAegean andMediterranean civilisations. Narrow channels which funnel shipping into predictable routes have long created opportunities for piracy, as well as forprivateering andcommerce raiding.
Historic examples of such areas include the waters ofGibraltar, theStrait of Malacca,Madagascar, theGulf of Aden, and theEnglish Channel, whose geographic structures facilitated pirate attacks. The termpiracy generally refers to maritime piracy, although the term has been generalized to refer to acts committed on land, in the air, oncomputer networks, and (in science fiction) outer space. Piracy usually excludes crimes committed by the perpetrator on their own vessel (e.g. theft), as well asprivateering, which impliesauthorization by a state government.
Piracy or pirating is the name of a specific crime undercustomary 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 in 2004. (Full article...)
Joost van Dyk (sometimes spelledJoost van Dyke) was a Dutchprivateer (and, reportedly, sometimepirate) who was one of the earliest European settlers in theBritish Virgin Islands in the seventeenth century, and established the first permanent settlements within the Territory. The islands ofJost Van Dyke and its smaller neighborLittle Jost Van Dyke ("Little Jost"), as well asLittle Dix Bay onVirgin Gorda island, are named after him. (Full article...)
TheSulu andCelebes Seas, a semi-enclosed sea area and porous region that covers an area of space around 1 million square kilometres, have been subject to illegal maritime activities since the pre-colonial era and continue to pose amaritime security threat to bordering nations up to this day. Whilepiracy has long been identified as an ubiquitous challenge, being historically interwoven with the region, recent incidents also include other types of maritime crimes such as kidnapping and the trafficking of humans, arms and drugs. Attacks mostly classify as 'armed robbery against ships' according to theUnited Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea as they occur inmaritime zones that lie under the sovereignty of acoastal state. Incidents in the Sulu and Celebes Seas specifically involve the abduction of crew members. Since March 2016, the Information Sharing Centre (ISC) of theRegional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) reports a total of 86 abductions, leading to the issue of a warning for ships transpassing the area. (Full article...)
| “ | Come all you brave Boys, whose Courage is bold, Will you venture with me, I'll glut you withGold? Make haste untoCorona, a Ship you will find, That's called theFancy, will pleasure your mind. CaptainEvery is in her, and calls her his own; | ” |
| — A Copy of Verses, Composed by CaptainHenry Every (1696) | ||
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