Beware of the Jolly Roger

The Jolly Roger is the name given to any of the various flags flown to identify the vessel as a pirate ship.

The most famous Jolly Roger today is the skull and crossbones, a skull over two long bones set in an X arrangement on a black background. Historically the flag was flown to induce terror in pirates’ victims and for them to surrender readily.

Information is scanty about Blackbeard, the King of Pirates who was famed as the most despised and notorious pirate in history.
Blackbeard’s real name differs between official records and personal records but he was born around 1680 most likely in Bristol, England. Some say he was from Philadelphia or even Jamaica. Like most young men of his time he probably served aboard a British privateer in the West Indies during the war of the Spanish Succession and chose piracy over unemployment after the war ended.
Eyewitness account states that he was a large, imposing man with a long black beard that he braided and tied with ribbons.
He built his reputation as a devilish fiend and once had himself and his crew members locked in the hold with burning pots of brimstone to see who could withstand the fumes the longest and he won.
He had a short reign of terror and looting in the Caribbean Sea, from1716 to 1718, which was referred to as the Golden Age of Piracy.
He captured 40 ships during his exploits and slaughtered hundreds of people. He was killed in November 1718 in Virginia by Lieutenant Maynard. As a show of victory, Maynard put Blackbeard’s severed head on the bowsprit of his ship and sailed with his captured crew who were later hung in Willamsburg.

PIRATES have existed since time immemorial and continue to do so to this day. Men sailed the seas as pirates when countries began to cross the oceans and seas to trade goods with each other.
The earliest documented history of piracy is the exploits of sea-faring raiders who threatened the Aegean in the 13th Century.
The Latin term ‘pirata’ from which the English word pirate is derived ultimately comes from Greek ‘peira’ meaning ‘attempt or experience’ or more specifically ‘to find luck on sea’.
Piracy is not just a big screen drama but continues to terrorise ships to this day. Modern day pirates do not carry cutlasses or wear an eye patch, rather carry sophisticated weapons and plough the waters in their high-powered boats and plunder gas tankers, aid ships and cruise liners.
Pirates these days wield rocket propelled grenades, AK-47s and machine guns. Piracy is rampant in the Horn of Africa where the United Nations World Food Programme vessels laden with aid and supplies are regularly attacked off the coast of Somalia.
Piracy has been rife off Somalia’s coast since the country slid into chaos in 1991. Many pirates claim to be coast guards protecting their waters against illegal fishing and dumping of toxic waste. The recent attack on Saturday, May 19, was the eighth this year of Somalia’s 1,880-mile coast which is a crucial shipping route connecting the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean.
According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) the number of sea hijackings reported off the coast of Somalia was 35 in the year 2005 compared to just two in 2004.
Indonesian waters pose the greatest danger with 61 incidents in the first nine months of 2005, and a total of 93 attacks reported in 2004, according to IMB. Other hot spots for piracy around the world include the Malacca straits, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Iraq and the northeastern coast of South America.
Modern day pirates with ‘terminator’ style tactics go after different targets. Some will hijack ships simply for cargo while others will attack a boat to kidnap a crew in the hopes for a hefty ransom, yet others will simply plunder a cruise liner.
“This is especially true off the coast of lawless countries like Somalia or in places where maritime security is weak,” said Jayant Abhyankar, deputy director of IMB, explaining that since the early 90s crime on the high seas has resurfaced. Abducting a crew can yield a $200,000 ransom for a pirate gang in Somalia.
Recently the South Korean naval officer Lieutenant Commander Byoung Hyeol Kim arrived in Bahrain from Kuwait to secure the release of the 24 member crew of two South Korean-owned fishing boats who were taken hostage off the coast of Somalia on May 15, 2007, while en route to Yemen from Mombassa, Kenya.    

By Asma salman
asma.salman@gulfweekly.com