Yarrrrr
Ok, so I saw pirates yesterday and while the ending left much to the imagination, it inspired me to learn more about pirates. Oh pirates... how we are so uneducated about your ways. We often look at the glory and fun of the pirate life, but there is a dark side to pirates. Actually, most of the pirate life is quite horrible. I wonder why we like pirates so much...
Here are some quick tidbits about pirates:
There are reports of the beginnings of piracy being around the 1st century BC in the Mediterranean region threatening the comerce of the Roman Empire.
Modern definitions of piracy include the following acts:
Kidnapping of people for ransom
Robbery
Murder
Seizure of items or the ship
Sabotage, resulting in the ship subsequently sinking
Does this sound like piracy or terrorism? Well, piracy is defined as robbery comitted at sea (or sometimes on shore) by an agent without a commission from a sovereign nation. In other words, they do what they do for their own profit.
Did you know that in the first half of 2003 there were 234 pirate attacks, 16 deaths, and 52 people injured worldwide. There were also 193 crew members held hostage during this period.
Modern pirates use modern technology and are today most prevalent in Indonesian waters.
Other names for pirates include:
buccaneers
kapers
zeerovers
vrijbuiters (also freebooters, filbustiers, filibusters)
Lanun
Bajak
picaroons
But, despite their tainted past and most criminal present I think pirates are wicked cool.
Maybe this is why:
Here are some quick tidbits about pirates:
There are reports of the beginnings of piracy being around the 1st century BC in the Mediterranean region threatening the comerce of the Roman Empire.
Modern definitions of piracy include the following acts:
Kidnapping of people for ransom
Robbery
Murder
Seizure of items or the ship
Sabotage, resulting in the ship subsequently sinking
Does this sound like piracy or terrorism? Well, piracy is defined as robbery comitted at sea (or sometimes on shore) by an agent without a commission from a sovereign nation. In other words, they do what they do for their own profit.
Did you know that in the first half of 2003 there were 234 pirate attacks, 16 deaths, and 52 people injured worldwide. There were also 193 crew members held hostage during this period.
Modern pirates use modern technology and are today most prevalent in Indonesian waters.
Other names for pirates include:
buccaneers
kapers
zeerovers
vrijbuiters (also freebooters, filbustiers, filibusters)
Lanun
Bajak
picaroons
But, despite their tainted past and most criminal present I think pirates are wicked cool.
Maybe this is why:
posted by Robyn Bishop @ 10:24 AM
3 Comments:
At 6:55 PM,
Michael LaRoy said…
Wow, I think a void was just filled somewhere inside of me...I feel more complete now that I know all of that wonderful, practical, useful pirate trivia. Kudos.
At 8:39 PM,
raych said…
i think those people have given up the real heart of piratism, and should return to their roots of doubloons and shivverin timbers...i feel that, on the whole, this would result in fewer pirate attacks, and would foster a greater sense of benevolence towards pirates worldwide.
At 5:41 PM,
Damien said…
I have heard of research that suggests the marked decrease in pirates over the last few centuries might be correlated with an increase in air pollution. They might take other peoples' stuff, but at least it seems they're good for the environment!
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