Pirates: A History

by Travers, Tim

  Lilius was onboard Lai Choi San’s junk when she decided to deal with some competitors. As their junk neared an island close to Bias Bay, where three other junks were anchored, Lilius was ordered below decks by Lai Choi San, and battle commenced:

  …the whole junk shook from a salvo from our guns. The noise was deafening. Boom! There went another! And a third, a fourth, a fifth and a sixth! A regular bombardment – but there were no reply shots … The nauseous smell of black powder reached us down below. Then I heard more shouting and many rifle shots…

  When Lilius was allowed on deck again, the first thing he saw were two men bound hand and foot, lying on the deck, no doubt destined for ransom. Some distance away, a junk was sinking with only part of the hull showing. Lai Choi San had dealt with her competitors. Soon after, Lilius left her junk and returned to Macao, and never sailed with Lai Choi San again. Lilius does not relate what happened in the end to this tough Chinese female pirate.16

  Somalia and the Malacca Straits

  Chinese piracy was still happening in the 1960s, and probably still operates today in a minor way. Now, in the modern twenty-first century world, piracy continues in particular areas where there is a lack of maritime control. Two areas consistently turn up in the weekly statistics issued by the International Maritime Bureau: Somalia, and the Malacca Straits between Indonesia and Malaysia.

  Piracy off Somalia seems to be conducted by a variety of organisations, some of which are composed of former members of the now defunct Somali navy; some are run by warlords, such as Abdi Mohamed Afweyne, on behalf of the nationalist ‘Defenders of Somali Territorial Waters’; some are independent pirates who are too wealthy and strong to be touched by warlords; and some are composed of other nationalist groups such as the National Volunteer Coast Guard, and the Somali Marines, who profess to be protecting Somali waters. The method normally employed by Somali pirates is to capture merchant ships with a view to ransom. Cargo and ships cannot easily be sold in Somalia, so the ship and its crew are held as prisoners until a suitable ransom is paid. Two ships captured in this way in 2005 were the MV Semlow and the MV Torgelow, which were involved in delivering United Nations aid to Somalia. These ships were held for a month before satisfactory arrangements were made. Owners appear to be paying around $100,000 to $200,000 for each captured ship and crew. Attacks can also be made quite far off the coast of Somalia, using a mother ship to launch smaller boats. A recent assault on the cruise ship Seaborne Spirit in November 2005 allowed passengers to see the typical small, fast pirate boat, with a few pirates firing the easily obtained RPG – 7 hand-held anti-tank weapon. The Spirit took evasive measures, but such large cruise ships are actually difficult to board or subdue, so the smiling pirates were probably using this occasion as an enjoyable exercise more than anything serious. If they had been serious about taking over the Spirit, the pirates would have first disabled the steering mechanism before attempting to board.17

  Efforts to halt Somali pirate attacks have come primarily from American naval vessels, which caught and destroyed one pirate group. In this context, in January 2006, the USS Winston Churchill recaptured the Al Bisarat, an Italian freighter being used by Somali pirates. Another entity that did a great deal to stop Somali piracy was the Council of Islamic Courts, whose forces captured Mogadishu in June 2006. Most recently, this Islamic Council has been overthrown by Ethiopian forces, and a war is raging between the two groups. During its short reign, the Council of Islamic Courts saw piracy as illegal, and attacked ports run by pirates, as well as releasing ships under ransom. Thus, in November 2006, Council of Islamic Courts troops recaptured the MV Veesham, a United Arab Emirates ship being held off Mogadishu for ransom. The ransom demanded for this ship and its 14 crew, and Ethiopian captain, was $1 million USD. The Council of Islamic Courts threatened the pirates with the sharia punishment of the loss of the left leg and right arm by amputation. Hence, the ship and its crew were readily returned to the United Arab Emirates. In similar fashion, in May 2006, Council of Islamic Courts troops took over the port of Haradhere, a significant pirate haunt, and destroyed a pirate crew onboard a captured oil tanker. But with the recent demise of the Council of Islamic Courts it can be expected that piracy will resume, although the future of Somalia is obviously hard to predict, and it is possible that the Council of Islamic Courts will return in some shape or form.18

  A second area that is very much a pirate world is the Malacca Straits. This area was always a pirate threat in earlier centuries due to its strategic and maritime importance. With the resignation of General Suharto in 1998, there has been a rise in piracy off Indonesia, partly due to the loss of Suharto’s firm but corrupt control of Indonesia, and partly due to an economic recession in the 1990s that turned some individuals and groups to piracy. Much of the piracy in the Malacca Straits involves fishermen and opportunists, who look for easy targets in their spare time. This type of piracy simply seeks to rob ships of articles that can be easily removed. Hence, the head of the Malaysian marine police stated, ‘When they rob a ship in the Straits, they steal the safe, watches, cameras, anything they can carry away. The money they get from the safe pays for fuel and another attack.’19

  Then there are criminal syndicates looking for ships and their cargos. The Malacca Straits are the domain of a criminal syndicate operating out of Singapore, who favour cargos that are easily resold, like refined fuels, oils, rubber, steel, and metals. Once this is done, the syndicate often passes the ship on to other criminals to become a ‘ghost ship’, carrying either drugs or illegal immigrants. Allegedly, one Chew Ching Kiat, known as David Wong in Singapore, was the local leader of the Singapore crime syndicate, who arranged the hijacking of twenty-two ships in the Malacca Straits and South China Sea. His system was to place an informer on a ship he intended to seize, and then wait for a call on a mobile phone from his informer with details of the ship, crew, cargo, route etc. Then standard pirate procedure called for a fast speed boat to come up on the stern of the ship, board with ropes and grappling hooks, immobilise the crew, and sail to a safe location for further action. For example, this syndicate captured the M/T Petro Ranger off Singapore in 1998, which was carrying over 10,000 tons of diesel and jet fuel. The crew were bound with ropes and herded into the officers’ mess. The pirates then transformed the ship by painting the blue funnel orange, painting in a new name – Wilby – hoisting the Honduran flag, and bringing onboard previously prepared new documents. The ship was taken to Haikou on Hainan Island, where two tankers siphoned off the diesel fuel. Later, the Wilby was scheduled to be transformed by the crime syndicate into a ghost ship. However, all this came to light when the Wilby was stopped by Chinese authorities and the crime syndicate dismantled.20

  Sometimes, the pirate hijack becomes deadly, as in the case of the MV Cheung Son, a Panama registered bulk carrier heading from Shanghai to Malaysia. This ship was hijacked in November 1998, and the pirate chief apparently required each of his pirate gang to kill a member of the twenty-three strong ship’s crew. The ship’s sailors were hooded with plastic garbage bags, and were killed in different ways. Then their bodies were tossed overboard, weighed down with machine parts. Six of the dead sailors were later recovered by fishing boats, snagged in nets. Strangely, the ship’s cargo of furnace slag was of little value, but it is surmised the ship may have been carrying illegal weapons. The ship was also eventually recaptured by the Chinese authorities.21

  Another pirate group besides fishermen and criminal syndicates, which may be responsible for some piracy in the Malacca Straits, is the Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, or GAM. This is the Free Aceh movement, based in north Sumatra. Reportedly, the GAM was responsible for the capture of the Ocean Silver in August 2001, when the ship and crew were held for ransom. Similarly, the Pelangi Frontier, taken in July 2002, was thought to be a GAM operation. The GAM denied these allegations, and it may be that the Indonesian government wished to undermine the GAM with these accusations. However, it is curious that the tragedy of the tsunami of 200
4 brought piracy to an end near the Banda Aceh area of Sumatra for six months, and then piracy slowly started again, albeit at a lower level of activity. Thus the GAM might have been responsible for piracy in this area, but other groups are candidates too. Finally, a fourth group allegedly involved in piracy in the Malacca Straits, are rogue elements from the Indonesian armed forces and police. For example, the MT Selayang was pirated in the Malacca Straits in 2001. Although the International Maritime Bureau alerted the Indonesian authorities to the location of this ship after it was captured, nothing was done, indeed it is alleged that elements in the Indonesian military informed the pirate syndicate that they were being tracked. Ultimately, the International Maritime Bureau compelled the Indonesian authorities to resolve this situation.22

  Most recently, piracy is on a modest decline off Somalia and in the Malacca Straits, due partly to political events in Somalia, and partly to greater efforts by the Malaysian and Indonesian governments in the area. On the other hand, attacks on ships at anchor in various ports around the world are on the sharp increase, according to the International Maritime Bureau, mainly because it is obviously easier to attack ships in harbour than try to stop them on the high seas. Ports that are especially vulnerable to this kind of attack at the present time are especially Chittagong, Bangladesh, where forty-seven attacks have been recorded since the end of January 2006, also Lagos, Nigeria; Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania; and some Indonesian ports. The Niger River delta has meanwhile become the centre of a number of attacks and kidnappings due to the ongoing dispute between the self-styled Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), and the Nigerian government, over corruption and distribution of profits from the oil industry. This Nigerian form of piracy (or quest for social justice) will likely continue for a considerable period of time.

  There is also a slight decline in pirate attacks world wide. The International Maritime Bureau registered 329 attacks in 2004, 276 in 2005, and 168 from the beginning of January 2006 to 30 September 2006. More difficult to assess is the number of pirate attacks on private yachts. The International Maritime Bureau only tracks pirate attacks against commercial vessels, but one or two new internet web sites have recently been created to assist owners of yachts. Often the information is anecdotal, but most stories are credible. John Burnett, the author and reporter, writes of his own ordeal in 1992 off Singapore when his yacht was taken over at night by an older Indonesian man and his two sons, who roughed him up, stole whatever small items were available, and then left. Burnett was lucky the outcome was not worse, and he probably saved himself by not fighting back, and by being able to speak some of the local language. Part of his account of this incident relates that these Indonesians appeared to be fishermen, but the older son seemed particularly angry:

  As I turned, the surly youth slammed the butt of his rifle against the back of my head. I lurched forward … then slipped to my knees. He yanked me up by my hair and kicked me ahead of him toward the cabin stairs.

  The three men stood awkwardly in the narrow cabin below, their assault rifles too large to point. Through tears of pain I watched the old man’s eyes scan my seagoing home. The Unicorn had none of the toys found on most blue-water yachts … There wasn’t much to steal.

  Still dazed, I nodded to them to sit. I reached for the thermos of old coffee that I had made hours earlier and with shaky hands splashed it into some mugs and slid them across the table.23

  This act of hospitality by Burnett seems to have defused the tension, and the pirates left with only a pair of binoculars and a carton of cigarettes.

  Other pirate attacks against private yachts include the incident when the well known New Zealand skipper, Sir Peter Blake, was killed in the mouth of the Amazon River in December 2001. The posthumous lesson from this particularly violent event shows that one should normally not try to fight back. Very recent pirate assaults have been recorded by individuals sending in information to internet web sites, such as the attack on 21 October 2006 off the island of Malaita, in the Solomon Islands. In this case, two adults and two children were on their catamaran when they were boarded at midnight by a small group of men with knives, guns and clubs. Apparently, $10,000 USD was taken. It is difficult to quantify such attacks, but they are happening, and some places which are now mentioned as dangerous by one particular yacht web site include the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, Somalia, the coasts of Yemen and Venezuela, and Chaguaramas Bay, Trinidad.24

  Piracy seems likely to continue and to adapt to changing situations. The world is now a safer place at sea, but piracy can never be totally eliminated because of the vast areas of coast and sea that offer possibilities to impoverished and desperate people, and to criminals of various kinds.

  Epilogue

  Some important aspects of piracy relate to all centuries and all seas. For example, piracy flourished where control of the seas by declining or growing powers was weak or non-existent. Thus, Muslim pirates operated in the western Mediterranean after the conquest of North Africa in 698, but declined when Byzantine and then Western powers took over. Again, in the sixteenth, seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, piracy flourished in the Caribbean and the Atlantic until great power rivalries declined, and royal navies established control from the 1720s onward. A similar situation took place with the temporary decline of Chinese piracy after the early nineteenth century outburst.

  The next obvious point is that piracy only existed where there were victims to be caught. There was therefore a symbiotic relationship between healthy commerce and piracy – piracy could not exist where there were few ships to capture. In fact, piracy was a sign of economic vitality, so that piracy was actually a by-product of economic progress. A connected point is that pirates also redistributed wealth to eager traders. It is well known that Drake and Hawkins were welcomed by Spanish traders in the Americas, happy to obtain slaves at cheap prices, while at the island of St Mary’s, Madagascar, trade was brisk with pirates, sometimes orchestrated from New York, at other times by local residents, and welcomed by the local inhabitants who valued the pirates ‘most as they sell them the best Bargains’.1 This connection between trade and the redistribution of wealth by pirates is the theme of historian David Starkey’s chapter ‘Pirates and Markets’ in which he emphasises three kinds of demandfor pirate goods. These are: firstly, for obvious self sufficiency, secondly, for trading through established trade centres, and thirdly, via state demand.2 In regard to the last point, the slave trade by the state oriented Barbary corsairs, the Sallee Rovers, and the Knights of Malta (and their licensees), was an example of a high demand state situation.

  A further and somewhat obvious point is that the line between piracy and privateering was very often a fine one. In the Ancient and Classical periods, it was usually quite difficult to distinguish between pirates and those who were politically and socially supported. Then, individuals often switched from pirate to privateer according to circumstances. This was the case with Francis Drake, and similarly with privateers in the Caribbean, who switched to piracy when wars were over and their services were no longer needed. In China, pirates became pirate chasers as the great pirate junk fleets disintegrated in the early nineteenth century. The Barbary corsairs and the Knights of Malta can also be seen as privateers rather than pirates.

  This leads to the familiar question: who really was a genuine pirate? Even careful definitions do not easily solve this problem. When the Vikings first raided Western Europe in the 780s they can be seen as pirates. But when larger armies of Vikings appeared in succeeding centuries the Vikings really became a political entity rather than pirate raiders. It is also the case that in ancient Rome, the word ‘pirate’ was often used as an epithet and as a means of discrediting opponents. In the nineteenth century, in South-East Asia and the Pacific, imperial powers like Britain labeled local native leaders and tribes as pirates, with the purpose of suppressing them and gaining economic advantage. Even more problematic, in the Ancient and Classical periods, the question of who was a p
irate defies easy analysis. For example, when Antigonus and Demetrius used pirates in their siege of Rhodes in 305–304BC were they still pirates, or had they become something more? Even earlier, was Polycrates a pirate, orwas he simply a local tyrant? Was Drake a pirate when he sailed without a written commission, but with the Queen’s blessing? And was Henry Morgan a pirate when he sacked the city of Panama in 1671, with a commission from Jamaica, but after peace had been declared between England and Spain? Clearly, in some cases, there is always going to be confusion as to who actually was a pirate.

  Another common feature of piracy around the world was the similar targets of pirates. The pirate aim of course was the seizure of wealth, whether through kidnapping and ransom; plunder of valuable commodities, gold, silver, jewelry and coins; sale of captured ship and cargo; or the pillage of vulnerable villages and ports. All this was a constant feature of piracy, although one aspect has tended to change, which is the capture and sale of slaves. This was a major aspect of piracy from the Ancient and Classical periods through the eighteenth century, and only declined with the abolition of slavery and the end of the Barbary corsair/Knights of Malta dominion.