Pirates Not of the Caribbean

[sknox]

There were many kinds of pirates throughout history. In some ways, the Caribbean ones were not even the most interesting. My candidate is Stepan Razin, the Cossack pirate of the Volga.

Once, Razin was surrounded by a Persian fleet in the Black Sea. The Persian commander put his ships in a circle, chained together, to keep Razin from escaping. The pirate ships were smaller and lower, completely vulnerable to the Persian cannon fire. But Razin attacked anyway. A lucky shot set off the powder magazine in the Persian flagship, sinking it almost instantly. When it sank, it dragged the other ships down with it and only three Persian ships survived. Razin sailed away unscathed.

Good stories abound for this guy.
Stepan (Stenka) Razin – Russiapedia History and mythology Prominent Russians
Pirates & Privateers: The History of Maritime Piracy - Stepan Razin

What is your candidate for memorable pirates?

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Grace O'Malley is pretty well known in these parts. @Kerrybuchanan read a great genre take on her recently at Titancon.

 

[HoopyFrood]

Jeanne de Clission, born 1300.

The French King Philip VI had the audacity to behead her third husband, Olivier, after Charles de Blois said Olivier was a traitor. After taking her two young sons to see their dad's severed head on display, Jeanne sold the de Clission estates, raised a band of loyal men and started attacking French forts in Brittany. Then she moved out into the Channel, and with backing from the English King, she apparently raised a fleet of ships painted black with red flags and spent thirteen years generally being a complete and utter annoyance to the French King, sinking French ships and and helping to supply English forces. She was given the name The Lioness of Brittany.

Eventually her flagship was sunk and her and her two sons (which she'd taken out to be pirates with her) were set adrift for five days before being rescued.

Then she married for a forth time, settled down, and died in 1359.

 

[Danny McG]

Some fictional ones were way cooler than the Jack Sparrow mob also.
How about this from 1952 featuring
...Nitroglycerin grenades, multiple cannon tanks, flamethrowers, rapid-fire rifles on revolving drums, and a large inflatable balloon with gondola?

The Crimson Pirate - Wikipedia

 

[Mouse]

The West Country's heaving with pirates. How about Edward Teach? Blackbeard. Isn't he why all pirates in films sound like the Wurzels. He stuck lit fuses in his beard like a nutter.

 

[Dave]

I wrote a history assignment last year about pirates on the river Thames and the formation of the first police force in the world by Patrick Colquhoun and John Harriott, the Thames River Police. Sorry, but they were neither exciting nor romantic and so are largely forgotten. They were much less romantic than highwaymen. Mostly, they were just poor young men supplementing their very poor wages from labouring on ships, in docks and in warehouses, where prejudicial employment practises had made theft a prerequisite to very survival, and where security was so lax, and guards so crooked, that petty crime was endemic.

There are still pirates operating today in the Arabian Gulf and East coast of Africa (2010 book A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea by Richard Phillips) Once again though, less memorable, and only more extremely desperate men. I expect that just like one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist, then one man's romantic pirate is another man's brutal, bloodthirsty hijacker?

 

[Montero]

@Mouse - is that fuses? Or slowmatch? If he was using matchlock muskets, having spare lit match has merit. Storing it somewhere other than right next to your powder bottle likewise merit. But beard....... I guess if battles were short then be over before beard catches fire.

@Dave - yes, I was thinking that a bit. The Lioness of Brittany is in one way awesome. In another way is picking on a bunch of underlings because very high ups shat on her from a great height. Not sure that people thought that way much back then. (Or sometimes even now.)

 

[Brian G Turner]

I wrote a history assignment last year about pirates on the river Thames

I'd be interested to find out more - any decent references on that?

 

[Dave]

I'd be interested to find out more - any decent references on that?

I haven't put it anywhere. I could send it to you. This is worth a visit but by appointment only: Thames Police - The Museum Page
Patrick Colquhoun's book: The Police of the Metropolis is in every police library in the world and has a chapter on pirates - as well as a chapter on prostitutes, etc. (A good reference for authors dealing with that time period.)

 

[Brian G Turner]

I could send it to you. This is worth a visit but by appointment only

Sounds a bit far for me to visit - feel free to attach it in a PM, if you feel like it.

 

[sknox]

Thanks, guys. Good stuff. There are river pirates all over the place. The U.S. once put gunboats on the Yangtze in part to deal with river pirates there (the excellent book, The Sand Pebbles, was about that). There were once pirates in New York harbor.

Those poor guys on the Thames are romantic enough--they just haven't yet found their novelist.

More examples welcome!

 

[Mouse]

@Mouse - is that fuses? Or slowmatch? If he was using matchlock muskets, having spare lit match has merit. Storing it somewhere other than right next to your powder bottle likewise merit. But beard....... I guess if battles were short then be over before beard catches fire.

Can't remember so just Googled it and found this:
Before battle, he would dress all in black, strap several pistols to his chest and put on a large black captain’s hat. Then, he would put slow burning fuses in his hair and beard. The fuses constantly sputtered and gave off smoke, which wreathed him in a perpetual greasy fog. He looked like a devil who had stepped right out of hell and onto a pirate ship and most of his victims simply surrendered their cargo rather than fight him.

 

[Montero]

Ah, stage effects. Thanks. No that is burning faster than slow match - it smoulders gradually like a cigarette in an ash tray and nowhere near enough smoke for the effect described.

 

[Venusian Broon]

Surely the most successful pirate of all time. And a lady

Ching Shih

Ching Shih - Wikipedia

Apparently had a fleet of 300 ships at one point (admittedly probably gathered as part of a pirate coalition beforehand...but she became the leader of them and led them successfully) and went to war against all the biggest Empires at the time.

And retired with wealth. How many other pirates could say that?

 

[sknox]

Well this is interesting. I was naturally intrigued by Ching Shih and read the article, then went on to the listing of South China Sea pirates. All of them date to roughly the same period. Which leads me to wonder if piracy there was not akin to piracy in the Caribbean, lasting only for a couple of generations. Something similar was true for the Barbary pirates, and for the pirates that were cleaned up by Pompey in the late Republic.

I don't know Chinese history worth crackers. Was the late 18thc-early 19thc a time of weak central government? I was thinking so simply because it was a period of heavy intrusion by foreign devils.

Another candidate I'll put forward is not an individual but a group: the Victual Brothers, notorious in the late Middle Ages.
Victual Brothers - Wikipedia

 

[Abernovo]

And a lady

There were a few female pirates over the years. Obviously, most people know of Anne Bonny, and Mary Read, as well as Grace O'Malley, mentioned by Jo. Lady Mary Killigrew was another.

Sayyida al Hurra was a Mediterranean pirate, allied with (but independent of) Baba Oruç (a notable figure himself). She was also a provincial governor, commander of a pirate fleet, and became Queen of Morocco. Okay, came to a possible sticky end, but...pirate, you know.

 

[Danny McG]

Was there a real life lady pirate named Peggy Babcocks or was that just the tongue twister on Razzmatazz?

 

[Venusian Broon]

Well this is interesting. Which leads me to wonder if piracy there was not akin to piracy in the Caribbean, lasting only for a couple of generations....I don't know Chinese history worth crackers. Was the late 18thc-early 19thc a time of weak central government? I was thinking so simply because it was a period of heavy intrusion by foreign devils.

I think we are all talking about 'highly publicised' moments in history - the Cilician pirates are notable because of their mention in ancient texts (one wonders that these pirates were identified and wrapped up so quickly that Pompey stretched the truth a bit to claim a triumph?), Caribbean and China sea pirates because they became folk legends in their own times.

However I think piracy at sea has been ever present, probably from the moment the person that made the second ever boat...and went after the man in the world's first boat. Just some era's are not as sexy . I mean, was there a time when the Barbary coast did not hold pirates?

For a good example, what about right now - Modern piracy | Maritime-Connector.com

Here's other info: Interactive Image: Piracy Attacks Over Time

Tis a bit dull, but many areas of the world have been fairly constant in pirate attacks since 1996. East Africa stands out with the massive increase at the turn of the century.

I suppose given the right conditions there have and will always be someone willing to attack and loot a ship.

 

[svalbard]

Thanks, guys. Good stuff. There are river pirates all over the place. The U.S. once put gunboats on the Yangtze in part to deal with river pirates there (the excellent book, The Sand Pebbles, was about that). There were once pirates in New York harbor.

Those poor guys on the Thames are romantic enough--they just haven't yet found their novelist.

More examples welcome!

The Sand Pepples was one of Steve McQueen's best movies. He was a standout in an excellent cast. Beautifully shot too.

 

[sknox]

The Sand Pepples was one of Steve McQueen's best movies. He was a standout in an excellent cast. Beautifully shot too.

The book is really good; recommended to anyone. It's not at all fantasy, but it's a good example of how to evoke another culture. A couple of cultures, really, as the culture on board the boat is its own world.