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 ...
... middle of paper ...
...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.
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 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.
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.
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
Routine activity theory satisfies the answer to why ransom, resources, and waste piracy occurs. The theory provides insight and an alternative approach to the notion that pirates terrorists, seeking money and power. Piracy will continue until the international community recognizes Somalia’s instability, the illegal dumping of waste and extraction of resources occurring in Somali waters. Resources and waste piracy would cease with the reformation of Somalia’s government. If authority figures were present, the illegal intruders could be held accountable for their actions. An improvement in Somalia’s economy would reduce, if not prevent, ransom piracy from occurring. If Somalis had valuable and paying occupations on land, they would not need to resort to other means of compensation (Bahadur 2011).
Throughout history pirates have terrorized the world’s seas. There are few men that have been feared as much as pirates were. Names such as pirate, buccaneer, and privateer were given to these men and women that terrorized the seas. Black Sam Bellamy, Bartholomew Roberts, Jean Lafitte, Stede Bonnet, and Ann Bonny are some of the most feared names know to man. These were the names of pirates that dominated the seas during the 1600’s and 1700’s, a time known as the “Golden Age of Piracy.” However, one of the greatest pirates of all time was the great Edward Teach, alias Blackbeard. He terrorized the seas for most of his gruesome life during this era. The “Golden Age of Piracy” marked a time when sea travel was unsafe for everyone, with Blackbeard being one of the lead factors.
Another very deadly and lethal weapon was called the cannon. These weapons were almost just as important as a bow and arrow or crossbow. These were important because they would almost do the same damage as a catapult, but these guys packed a bigger punch. These guys could nearly take down anything in their, like building, castles, towers, and many men. There was still one small problems with these things to,
Captain Phillips is a movie about the true story of the 2009 Maersk Alabama hijacking. Richard Phillips was the captain of the container ship and was ordered to to sail through the Gulf of Aden to Mombasa, Kenya. Aware of the pirate activity off the coast of the Horn of Africa, he and First Officer Shane Murphy order strict security precautions on the vessel and carry out practice drills. During one of their drills, they are chased by Somali pirates inside of two small boats. The pirates soon are able to board the boat and take control over it. In command of the pirates is a man named Abduwali Muse. While on the ship, Phillips tells his crew to hide in the engine room and allows himself to be captured. He offers Muse $30,000 that was stored in the ship's safe, but Muse's orders was strictly to ransom the ship and crew in exchange for millions of dollars of insurance money from the shipping company. The crew was soon able to take control back over the ship but the pirates
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.
Based off a true story, captain Phillips is an action packed, suspenseful look into the eyes of a captain facing his worst nightmare of being hijacked by African pirates off the coast of Somali. This movie takes you through stomach churning events that took place in the 2009 capture of the captain of MV Maesrk Alabama, and the adventure in getting Captain Phillips back in the hand of the United States. The realisticness and captivating details in the movie earn it a 9 out of 10 in my opinion. Captain Phillips, played by Tom Hanks is on a trip around the horn of Africa to deliver international goods. To his surprise, his mission is put to a halt when a group of 3 Somali pirates, played by Barkhad Abdi, Mahat Ali, and Faysal Ahmed race after his ship, climbing on board and talking over the crew.
“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.
The term "software piracy" covers different activities: illegal copying of programs, counterfeiting and distributing software - even sharing a program with a friend.
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.