Piracy was a large issue back in the 1500’s and it still is a huge issue today. Every day there are ships and vessels getting hijacked on the coast of Somalia and other African countries. The movie Captain Phillips directed by Paul Greengrass gave an in-depth look of what is going on in those areas and shows how much pirates have evolved over the years. While there are many popular myths and legends in the world of piracy, there is a real factual history of this naval culture. Looking at their history, tactics, famous figures, and the development into the modern age, we can have a better understanding of the real world of pirates.
Captain Phillips is a movie based on the 2009 hijacking of Captain Phillip’s ship, the Maersk Alabama, off the coast of Somalia. The movie starts out showing the pirates first failed attempt of trying to get aboard the ship, but it was to no avail. The second attempt was successful though, reaching the ship and taking Phillips and three other crew members hostage. With the four armed pirates on board and the rest of the crew hidden below deck, Phillips leads the pirates in a game of cat and mouse around the ship. With one of the pirates getting captured by a small group of crew members, the crew agrees not the hurt him as long as they leave the ship. The deal does not go as planned though, and Captain Phillips ends up on a lifeboat with all four pirates by himself forcing him to leave his fate in the Navy’s hands. Contrary to popular belief, pirates are not the rum drinking hooligans they are portrayed to be. They are a murderous and wealth seeking organization who will stop at nothing to get their ransom.
One may ask themselves, “What drives pirates today to do what they do?”, and there is a simple ...
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...s of battle drastically at that time. Instead of the conventional hand to hand combat, this weapon allowed fighting enemies at far ranges from the safety of your ship. Cannons also help pirates deal damage to one another’s vessels. These cannonballs could sink ships in just one hit if it was hit in the right spot of the hull. Cannonballs were capable of tearing apart ships whole masts and completely rendering the ship unable to move or escape. These weapons of destruction weren’t just made for destroying ships though. These cannonballs also were used to assault forts and bases from the sea where they could only be reached by returning cannonball fire. This attack method prevented having sailors from having to lose their lives fighting on the ground where they could be on the ship staying alive.
Weapons have drastically changed over the hundreds of years of piracy.
Elements such as mermaids, the “Fountain of Youth”, and everlasting life are not realistic and are clearly added to the film for entertainment value. However, this film could be helpful in sparking an interest in the general public on the subject of pirates. The film includes actual pirates, like Edward Teach, that may spark an interest in a viewer enough to look into the character. This interest may not have been sparked through a historical documentary because it does not have the same entertainment value as Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. The use of Hollywood films in understanding the history of pirates can be important in the visual representation of pirates. While reading about the history of pirates is the clear and scholarly way to gain information, it may be difficult for some students to create a visual of the people that were involved in piracy. Films allow for an instant visual to the people involved in the history that inspired the story. Reading can also be a useful way to teach the public factual history, empathy and emotion are much easier to obtain through film because the viewer is able to connect to the characters and find similarities between the content and their own lives. Through this ability for viewers to connect to the characters and themes in the film, it makes this film useful in understanding the history of
...rates to succeed in the open waters alone. Pirates also lost their justification when the Spanish accepted the independence of their former colonies in South and Central America so piracy all but vanished when the governors in Cuba and Puerto Rico stopped providing support. The Navy’s relentless fighting contributed to a great decrease in piracy within ten years which not only led to greater United States prosperity but that of all nations with commerce paths through that region.
The career of Bartholomew Roberts was not a long career but a short four years. In the Golden Age of Privacy, “Black Bart was the most successful pirate in his generation. Comparing to Edward Teach, a.k.a Black Beard, who was one of the most famous of pirates, but “Black Bart” was the most successful. It is said that in a competition in between all pirates in plundering ships, Roberts would be victorious by far.
Little is known about the infamous Blackbeard's early life; in fact, the first documentations of him are not recorded until the early 1700s, long after his childhood. Yet with so little knowledge of him, he is arguably regarded as the most notorious pirate in history due to his fearsome personality, distinguished look, daring acts of piracy, and stalwart death.
To begin with, naval warships were specifically designed to sustain heavier artillery; thus, the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries witnessed the introduction of the artillery heavy galleon and frigate. Moreover, technological innovations, such as the gun port and truck carriage, permitted the usage of muzzle-loading cannon below deck. Historian Geoffrey Parker surmises that technological and tactical developments in naval artillery revolutionized naval war strategy from the sixteenth century onwards. Consequently, antiquated methods for destroying enemy vessels, such as ramming and boarding, were replaced by more sophisticated military tactics, which included firing long-range gunpowder weapons from a ship’s
The intensification of pirate attacks supports the need for crucial investigations of the incident and the participants involved. This paper will attempt to establish the link between piracy and its victims by examining piracy as demonstrated through the lens of routine activity theory. I will utilize piracy as it occurs on the waters off of the coast of Somalia and analyze three components that must be present for piracy to transpire.
Cordingly’s book Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates tells the story of many different pirates of different time periods by the facts. The book uses evidence from first hand sources to combat the image of pirates produced by fictional books, plays, and films. Cordingly explains where the fictional ideas may have come from using the evidence from the past. The stories are retold while still keeping the interest of the audience without having to stray from the factual
Phillips, Richard, and Stephan Talty. A captain's duty: Somali pirates, Navy Seals, and dangerous days at sea. New York: Hyperion, 2010.
The history of piracy dates back more than 3000 years. “It appears that the word pirate (peirato) was first used in about 140 BC by the Roman historian Polybius. The Greek historian Plutarch, writing in about 100 A.D., gave the oldest clear definition of piracy. He described pirates as those who attack without legal authority not only ships, but also maritime cities (http://www.piratesinfo.com/history/history.php).” The most common meaning of the word pirate recognizes them as an outlaw and a thief. Anyone who was caught and tried with the act of piracy would be sentenced to death.
The Golden Age of Piracy began around 1650, and ended around 1730. Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea, but can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the criminal. The term has been used throughout history to refer to raids across land borders by non-state agents. A pirate is one who commits robberies at sea, usually without being allotted to do so by any particular nation. The usual crime for piracy can include being hung, or publically executed. Some of the most famous pirates who were killed either because of piracy, or because of natural causes, are Barbarossa, Stede Bonnet, Anne Bonney, Sir Francis Drake, Captain Greaves, William Kidd, Jean Laffite, Sir Henry Morgan, Mary Read, and Giovanni da Verrazano.
Although Britain cannot be blamed though for lack of trying, piracy still exists today. Yet, because the act continues at sea often far from land, it gains little media attention, and therefore less action from governments. China, despite being a number one producer of pirates, continues to deny that there is a problem while at the same time often pardoning those who are caught. Countries such as Indonesia and Philippines, which have been hardest hit in the past few years by pirates, are looking for international assistance. The West is, of course, looked to for solutions yet choose seemingly chooses to turn a blind eye, perhaps in the name of diplomacy. When the world is ready to combat the perpetual problem of piracy, it may discover that by intertwining tougher policies aimed at dealing with piracy with current or future trade negotiations, productive steps can be taken to initiate plans to curtail modern day sea wolves who prey on the helpless. The suggestion of ‘Piracy Charters’ will be discussed further as the means of which to add the topic of to multilateral agreements.
“Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships,” The International Maritime Organization, Accessed March 26th, 2014. http://www.imo.org/OurWork/Security/PiracyArmedRobbery/Pages/Default.aspx
Internet piracy is not a victimless crime. Piracy is a term used to describe the illegal downloading of music, movies, games, and even software online. Although many people don’t feel that piracy is a crime that affects anybody, it really does. People pirate stuff online because it is free and does not require one to run to a store to get their product. People that pirate these things don’t think of the repercussions that go along with it. You can have to serve up to 10 years in prison, and pay a fine of $250,000.
Copyright infringement is a major issue with media ethics. Many people confuse copyright infringement with trademark infringement (Miller, 2012). However, copyright infringement is when someone unlawfully uses a particular work that is protected by copyright law. These works can include: movies, pictures, songs, albums, artwork, pieces of literature, and newspapers. There is no reason for any of the previous to be copyright infringed, because there are ways to correctly cite all of them as sources, without illegally copyright infringing them. Most people simply do not use their resources to help them with their citing.
The term "software piracy" covers different activities: illegal copying of programs, counterfeiting and distributing software - even sharing a program with a friend.