Pirates are sea robbers who prey on other ships and rob them of their goods and sometimes capture the ship itself for their own purposes. Piracy began over 2000 years ago in Ancient Greece, when sea robbers threatened the trading routes of Ancient Greece. Since then, this threat has continued amongst seafaring nations ever since, until the birth of regular navies. Roman ships were attacked by pirates who seized their cargoes of grain, and olive oil. The Vikings (which means sea-raider) were renowned for attacking shipping and coastal settlements. However, piracy really flourished between 1620 and 1720, and this period is known as the golden age of piracy. Between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, there have been different types of pirates, these being, privateers, buccaneers, and corsairs.

 

Privateers were lawful pirates who were authorised by their government to attack and pillage ships of enemy nations. They shared their profits with the government. Between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries governments issued ‘letters of marque’ which were licenced these sailors to plunder alien ships. This was to prevent privateers from being charged with piracy, which was an offence punishable by death. Francis Drake was England’s most famous privateer. In the sixteenth century he attacked Spanish treasure ships returning from the new world, sharing his profits with Elizabeth I, who knighted him for his services. Buccaneers were pirates and privateers who operated from bases in the West Indies, and attacked Spanish shipping in the Caribbean. Corsairs were Muslim or Christian pirates who were active in the Mediterranean from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. The Barbary Corsairs were Muslim, and operated solely from the North African states of Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli and Morocco, and were authorised by their government to attack the ships of Christian countries. In contrast the Maltese Corsairs were Christian and were granted a licence by the Christian Knights of St John to attack the ‘barbarian’ Turks.

 

Many pirates had served in merchant or naval ships prior to turning to piracy. Life on a pirate ship appeared more attractive as they were independent of national laws, the crew were treated much better than normal sailors and prize money was shared out equally. Most seamen became pirates as they hoped to become rich on plunders of treasure and cargo ships. When pirate ships captured merchant ships, the pirate captain would ask for volunteers to serve under him. Many of the crew would volunteer as life on a merchant ship was harsh and conditions awful

 

There were not many women pirates, as seamen believed that  it was unlucky to have women onboard ships. Women therefore had to disguise themselves as men. However there were some extremely powerful women pirates, such as Ching Shih who commanded a pirate community of 80,000. The two most famous women pirates were Anne Bonney and Mary Reed, who were captured in 1720 and put on trial in Jamaica. They were both sentenced to death, but escaped execution as they were both pregnant. Mary Reed died of fever a few months after the trial, but Anne Bonney was released.

 

Becoming a pirate was called ‘going on the account’ and they had to agree to live by the rules of the ship. These rules were often strict and breaking them could mean flogging or even death. If a pirate was found stealing from their comrades or deserting during battle, they were marooned on a desert island with meagre supplies. Most would die a slow death from starvation if they could not hunt or fish.

 

Pirates used flags to frighten passing ships into surrendering without a fight. The original pirate flags were blood red, and this signalled that no mercy would be shown once the pirates boarded and battle ensued. As piracy developed, more flags were used, and pirates often had their own flags. The Jolly Roger, (a skull and crossbone) is the most famous pirate flag. The symbol had been appropriated from the symbol used in ships’ logs, where it represented death on board. It was first used as pirate flag around 1700 and quickly became popular with pirates, who designed their own version of the flag, e.g. a skull and crossed swords. 

 

Pirates required ships that were fast, powerful, and had as shallow a depth below the water as possible. This was because surprise was vital to a pirate attack, and they needed to be able to navigate in shallow coastal waters and hide in secluded coves and inlets. Schooners were used by pirates in North American waters. They were fast, easily manoeuvred, with a shallow draught but were large enough to carry many guns and a large crew. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Barbary Corsairs used galleys, which were long and narrow with a sail. During action, these vessels were rowed to allow travel at speed. Each oar was manned by up to six slaves who were chained to benches. The aim of the corsairs was to ram the enemy ship, board and defeat the crew in hand-to-hand battle. The galleys were only suited to the Mediterranean where conditions were calm. Junks which were flat bottomed boats, with three masts and sails held together with bamboo rods, were used in Chinese waters. The largest junks held twelve guns and carried rowing boats to raid coastal villages or board enemy ships. Pirates often took over captured merchant ships and altered them to suit their purpose, such as to increase speed, cut more gunports, and also to hide the true identity of the ship. They also utilised weapons, clothes, medicines, and food found on board.

 

Pirates boarded ships by jamming the rudder with wooden wedges so that the ship could not be steered. They would then use grappling hooks to board the ship, heavily armed with pistols, daggers and cutlasses, which were suited to hand-to-hand fighting. Pirates also used homemade weapons, such as hand grenades made by filling wine bottles with gunpowder and created smoke screens by setting fire to yellow sulphur. Merchant seamen under attack tried to prevent pirates boarding by greasing decks or scattering dried peas or broken glass on the decks. However, they knew if they put up a strong resistance and lost, the pirates would show no mercy and they would be seriously maimed or murdered. The pirates would take all the treasure or cargo that the ship carried. These might include silks, jewels, spices, wine, brandy, linen, money or slaves. Sometimes the pirates added the captured ship to their fleet or sank it to get rid of any evidence that would convict them. The seamen would be killed, ransomed, taken as slaves or joined the pirate crew.

 

Pirates also became involved in the lucrative slave trade. The Barbary Corsairs found that by selling ships’ crews slaves or demanding a ransom for them was more profitable than the ship’s cargo. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when the slave trade was a lucrative business, the profits from slavery attracted many pirates. Some became slavers, whilst others sold cargoes of slaves captured from the merchant ships bound for the American colonies, or from raids on the West African slave ports. Thus many pirates became a combination of slaver, privateer and pirate, and by the 1830’s the term picaroon had come to mean both pirate and slaver. John Hawkins (1532-95) was the first English privateer to realise that the slave trade was a profitable trade. In 1562 he made the first of three voyages as a slaver, sailing from England to West Africa to load up 3000 slaves and took them to the Caribbean to be sold on the island of Hispaniola. Pirate captains in the Caribbean welcomed runaway slaves, who made up as much as one-third of some pirate crews. For slaves joining a pirate ship was more appealing than living the harsh life on the plantations as a slave.

 

The punishment for piracy was death by public hanging. The bodies of executed pirates were often tarred to preserve them to be hung from a gibbet. The corpse would be  chained into an iron cage to prevent relatives from burying the body. The notable pirate, William Kidd, received this fate and his body hung for three years at Tilbury Point in the Thames estuary as a warning to seamen and pirates. A condemned man was measured for his iron cage before his execution, and many pirates feared this more than the hanging. After Blackbeard was killed in battle, his head was cut off and tied as a trophy to the yardarm of HMS Pearl.

 

Organised piracy and privateering was finally ended in the nineteenth century. In 1816, the bombardment of Algiers marked the end of the Barbary pirates power in the Mediterranean. Dutch warships patrolled Southeast Asia, and the British navy attacked pirates in the South China seas. However, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, lawful privateers were still flourishing until 1856 when the majority of maritime nations signed the Declaration of Paris. This banned letters of marque, and therefore outlawed privateering. Navies of each country were used to enforce this law.  The age of steam also helped to end piracy as anti-slavery operations were now undertaken by steam ships. These could sail without wind and at great speed, while pirates still relied upon more cumbersome sailing ships. By 1850 there were only a small number of pirates remaining.

 

Although piracy has never returned to the level it was in previous centuries, it has not completely disappeared and the world’s navies continue to try to prevent piracy. Attacks occur worldwide, mainly in developing countries. In the 1990s, political groups hijacked ships, threatening crews and passengers with death if their demands were not met. Pirates in South East Asia have attacked merchant shipping and in the Caribbean, ships have been attacked and robbed. Modern day pirates still rely on speed and surprise in their attacks. They use fast dinghies and arm themselves with assault rifles to overpower ships. Many ships today have smaller crews, relying on technology and so can be easily overpowered.

 

In the 1700s songs, plays, operas and novels were written about buccaneers, and during the nineteenth century storybook pirates were more famous than the real ones. Almost as soon as the world’s navies had made the oceans safe, people quickly began to forget the reality of piracy. Many writers turned pirates into heroes. Byron (1788-1824) did much to create the myth of the romantic pirate hero in his poem ‘The Corsair’. However such books as Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘Treasure Island’ portrayed a more realistic view of pirates as villains. （www.royalnavalmuseum.org）

Life as a pirate

In the popular modern imagination, pirates of the classical period were rebellious, clever teams who operated outside the restricting bureaucracy of modern life. Pirates were also depicted as always raising their Jolly Roger-flag when preparing to hijack a vessel. The Jolly roger is the traditional name for the flags of European and American pirates and a symbol for piracy that has been adopted by film-makers and toy manufacturers.

In reality, many pirates ate poorly, and lived off of bananas and limes; most did not become fabulously wealthy, and died young. Unlike traditional Western societies of the time, many pirate crews operated as limited democracies. Both the captain and the quartermaster were elected by the crew; they, in turn, appointed the other ship's officers. The captain of a pirate ship was often a fierce fighter in whom the men could place their trust, rather than a more traditional authority figure sanctioned by an elite. However, when not in battle, the quartermaster usually had the real authority. Many groups of pirates shared in whatever they seized; pirates injured in battle might be afforded special compensation similar to medical insurance.Often all of these terms were agreed upon and written down by the pirates, but these articles could also be used as incriminating proof that they were outlaws. Pirates readily accepted outcasts from traditional societies, perhaps easily recognizing kindred spirits, and they were known to welcome them into the pirate fold. For example as many as 40% of the pirate vessels crews were slaves "liberated" from captured slavers. Such practices within a pirate crew were tenuous, however, and did little to mitigate the brutality of the pirate's way of life.

Even though pirates raided many ships, few, if any, buried their treasure. Often, the "treasure" that was stolen was food, water, alcohol, weapons, or clothing. Other things they stole were household items like bits of soap and gear like rope and anchors. For this reason, there was no need for the pirates to bury these goods.

Pirates almost certainly had a system of hierarchy on board their ships, determining how captured money was distributed. Although this would vary from ship to ship, it is thought that a common distribution would be two shares to the captain, one and a half to the first mate, one and a third to the ship masters (navigator, carpenter, boatswain, gunner), one and a quarter to "plank owners" (crew who owned a share of the ship, often they were members of the original pirate crew that stole the ship, but a plank owner may have acquired a share of ownership for some other reason) and a single share to buccaneers and sailors.（wiki）

I, no, postgraduates everywhere have been embracing a graduation season marked by several-lingual resumes, offers, labor contracts, grad travels, photographs, parties, commencement, etc., risk and reward. This is now my final student moment, primary school, junior middle-school, senior middle school, university and postgraduate program. Looking backward to the campus life which my predecessors of only a few years ago faced on leaving their Alma Mater, the changes that have taken place are bewildering and anyone’s record is as marvelous as any fairy tale ever invented by a master of romance. Nevertheless, it is unavoidable to shed some tears on all the memories that I shared and all the bad times that I faced with all of you about to fade away. I will take my place in the ranks of the world’s workers, however, beyond any so-called color collar, living on campus conjure up a particular image or memory as soon as it’s mentioned, whether it’s couched in the vaguest reluctant terms, acclaimed as girls’ perfect result, or construed as noble territory. Staying safe means balancing freedom with responsibility and communicating honestly with the world which brings marvelous inventions, wonderful discoveries, and new exploration into the physical, mental, and spiritual realms. Those aren't easy assignments. I venturing closer to true independence yearn for the freedom that simpleness extends. Privileges, as well as responsibilities. A successful transformation of the I-past and I-future relationship from caretaker to caregiver requires confidence in the decisions I, me, myself will make and indispensable gurus around me. The one? I thought so, but only somebody. Rather simple and common, but believe me, it’s hurting—false trust is perpetuated by ignorance and complacency on one side and, often, dishonesty on the other. I am accustomed to make each moment count, tremble at missing out any richness and vibrancy, cliché, but my real life. What’s more, I have to reinforce my expectations. Throughout my school years, I've set rules and established the consequences for breaking them.  Perhaps I've loosened up on a few rules, like curfew, but this time—working out to lose weight—againJ Freedom, happiness, intelligence, pride and a smile on everyone’s face! A life that seems to never end has just begun. At least we survived. The liberating milestone of graduation, hold on and let go. Tears and cheers…

The Shawshank Redemption is ever safe in my disc E, and Godfather is amazing and respectable. However, it is duo to Crash, a well-made but not very likable picture, that I suddenly realize the destructive racism bluntly, honestly but without reservation, which I was rarely taught the surface definition and blurry description. Several stories interweave during two days in Los Angeles involving a collection of inter-related characters, a police detective with a drugged out mother and a thieving younger brother, two car thieves who are constantly theorizing on society and race, the white district attorney and his irritated and pampered wife, a racist white veteran cop (caring for a sick father at home) who disgusts his more idealistic younger partner, a successful Hollywood director and his wife who must deal with the racist cop, a Persian-immigrant father who buys a gun to protect his shop, a Hispanic locksmith and his young daughter who is afraid of bullets, and more. (www.I-forget-the-site-and-omit-this part-to-see-the-movie-please.com) Deservedly, the smashup of a semiliterate Iranian shopkeeper and his Hispanic locksmith is perhaps the most excruciatingly plausible of the film's collisions. The whole voyage is on knife’s edge, tense, entertaining and poignant, first, a somewhat depressing contemplative amalgamation of moments, and then throbbing choices and volatile redemption, no villains but everyone at fault. Someone says that the movie’s naturalistic photography and honest racial invective are at odds with the theatricality of its speechifying and the contrivances of its chain of coincidences. Whereas I regard it more than a piece of filmmaking, but an impressive textbook about racial disintegration, America's rainbow coalition of self-sabotaging hatred, and an infusion of unrealistic hope, at least I feel this way, although I am not negative. Are you xenophobia? Drive safely~~