Piracy

Piracy can mean different things; it can be a crime that is committed. A human on a ship at sea is called a pirate and usually has small, fast boats. Pirates use such boats to attack other ships, which are usually large cargo ships.^[1]

The Jolly Roger flag is a well known symbol of pirates

For as long as ships have sailed the sea, there have been pirates. Piracy still happens often in the Gulf of Aden, mostly by Somali pirates.^[1] Ancient Egypt and the Romans, Medieval kings, and the British Empire dealt with pirates. Fighting pirates has sometimes been one of the most important roles of a navy.

Modern

Modern pirates usually climb onto ships to get money. In the process, they may kill the crew or hold it for ransom. In a very few cases, they may also take over the ship and sell its cargo.

The cargo ships that travel the oceans are huge, but they usually have very few crew members working on them. Their size often makes the ships carry a lot of money in the safe. The money is used to pay the crew, to pay for the taxes to stay at a port, or to pass through a channel.

Famous pirates

Piracy Media

The traditional "Jolly Roger" flag of piracy
A mosaic of a Roman trireme in Tunisia
A fleet of Vikings, painted mid-12th century
The Vitalienbrüder. Piracy became endemic in the Baltic sea in the Middle Ages because of the Victual Brothers.
"Cossacks of Azov fighting a Turk ship" by Grigory Gagarin
A French ship under attack by Barbary pirates, ca. 1615
The Bombardment of Algiers by the Anglo-Dutch fleet in 1816 to support the ultimatum to release European slaves
Amaro Pargo was one of the most famous corsairs of the Golden Age of Piracy
U.S. naval officer Stephen Decatur boarding a Tripolitan gunboat during the First Barbary War, 1804