HISTORY OF PIRATES David Cordingly (Yoshirou Masuda) ‘Kaizokutaizen’ Touyousyorin, 2000 presented by Kakeru Fujiwara
I study history of pirates. I read ‘Kaizokutaizen’ which was written by David Cordingly and Yoshirou Masuda translated it into Japanese. I’m especially interested in chapter5 – the Golden Age of pirates, chapter6 – Libertaria – country of liberty and chapter11 – modern pirates. The reason I’m interested in the Golden Age of pirates is that I can learn fundamental character of pirates by studying the Golden Age of pirates. The reason I’m interested in Libertaria is that the idea of liberty, equality, and social security are the forerunner to the next era. And I studied modern pirates simply because I don’t know modern pirates at all. So, I introduce three of them today.
１．the Golden Age of pirates
1 war produces the member of privateer and peace produce pirates.
During the war, seamen were brought concessions and could commit piracy legally. But when the Peace of Utrecht was concluded in 1713 and War of the Spanish Succession ended, the member of privateer joined the ranks of the unemployed and became pirates. The difference between the member of privateer and pirates is having concessions or not.
2 doom of seamen around 1700 and the privilege of pirates.
The crews of warships or merchant ships were the people who were captured against their will or who were levied forcibly. For them, encounter with pirates is a chance of escape. And pirates often invited prisoner to become pirates. To become pirates is happiness because privileges of pirates are liberty and equality. For example pirates divided supplies which they robbed and enjoyed freedom as a partner that share danger.
3 rules of pirates.
The captain was selected by all crews and he worked along the crews. If he didn’t work so, he was dismissed from the captain. All crews participated in the meetings of pirates. The meeting is the top authority and they decided where they would go, what they would do and the disposal of various problems. And in the clauses of pirates, they professed democracy, equality and regulations.
4 prisoners.
Pirates retaliated against prisoners who are high position, especially quarterdeck. Quarterdeck is the officer of a ship or the navy. But to the quarterdeck who was liked by his followers, pirates sometimes didn’t kill them.
5 Bartholomew = Roberts’ life.
Bartholomew = Roberts is the greatest and last captain of pirates in the Golden Age of pirates.
( So I introduce his life.) Roberts was a navigator of slave ship. But his ship was prized by captain Howell=Davis in1719 and Roberts decided to become pirates. He reared his head soon and after captain Davis was killed, he was selected captain. He robbed of a lot of supplies and there was almost nothing to rob in 1721. But he was attacked by the Swallow and killed in his ship in 1722.
２．Libertaria – country of liberty
1 what’s Libertaria ?
The utopian fictional country which captain Mithon and his followers constructed in Madagascar. The characteristic of Libertaria is equality, liberty and denying capitalism. The country is the symbol of the dreams of pirates. The writer of the chapter 6 denies that Libertatia is fictional country because he thinks that in a historical and political deep sense, Mithon and Libertaria aren’t simple fiction.
2 the background which Libertaria was produced.
Most of pirates were from the working class, and they were persecuted when they were the crews of warships or merchant ships. For example, they were constrained in the confined spaces and given poor and even decayed foods. Therefore many of they got sick, met with an accident, got lost in the sea and came to an untimely death. So they intended to restrain authorities democratically and help people who were persecuted
.
3 the view of race in Libertaria.
They denied slavery and thought that as long as they lived comfortably, where people lived is not important. So, there are people of various countries in the ships of pirates. Usually, there are many black pirates in their ships. For example, captain William = Lewis was proud of his having the forty capable black mariners.
4 fight against Libertaria.
Merchants and officers fear to spread separatism. If Libertaria is the dream of the working class, it is the nightmare of the Establishment similarly. This is because many seamen who were caught by pirates want to become pirates due to enough foods and alcohol, solidarity, democracy, equality, justice, promises to guarantee people who were injured. And the Establishment hope to accumulate capital without being attacked by pirates. So they promoted to attack pirates and hung them.
３．Modern Pirates
1 present condition and the issue.
Now many pirates plunder around the world. For example, at Strait of Malacca, because of the excessive concentration of the merchant ships, many ships are caught in the traffic jam and are obliged to crawl. So these ships are targets of the coastal residents who want to rob the ships of supplies. The issues are following two points. The first is that the comprehensive definition of pirates don’t exist. The second is that we can’t get information about what pirates do.
2 international efforts
Movement to find the way to solution has being thought by the international groups such as United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and International Maritime Organization. But difference among countries, cultures and so on is the obstacle to solution. International Maritime Bureau is the institution which makes the best effort to solve the problem of pirates. IMB established pirate regions center in Kuala Lumpur. The center chases the state of pirates and warns about them not only to Southeast Asia but also around the world.
3 vista to the future.
How can we extirpate pirates? Trends of modern pirates are various in terms of the method of attack and geographical range. And the power of the state sometimes behaves as if they didn’t look the piracy even if they looked it. So we can’t and will be able to solve the problems of pirates by simple methods. The companies of the merchant service which are utmost victims hold the key to success. They can find the solutions by having help from mounting the international consensus.
Questions and Answers
Summarized by Yasuhiro Fujimura
Question: Who prepared ships for pirates?
Answer: Ships of privateers were owned by local gentleman class in Britain. During 15-16th century, in the local areas where people suffered from economic hardship, gentleman class tried to help exhausted people.
Question: Is “Libertaria” a fiction?
Answer: Libertaria was fiction, but for working class people, they didn’t think Libertaria is only a fiction.
Question: When was the movement toward Libertaria popular?
Answer: The author doesn’t say about it. But maybe, I think it was popular in 17th century.
Question: How do you define “Pirates”?
Answer: The definition of pirates differs from ages to ages. I want to study pirates in 17th century, so I want to comment about it. “They were the pioneers who wanted to look for freedom.”
Question: What is pirates’ original position?
Answer: Pirates people came from various positions. For example, crews of slave ship were captured by pirates, and they also became the members of pirates.
Question: Where were the pirates created?
Answer: The answer is “everywhere”. And there were pirates everywhere, like Mediterranean, North Sea, and Indian Sea. And their types were different from each other.
In 17th century, pirates were authorized commission by governments and also, they were the economic enterprise at that time. The government encouraged pirates to win other countries, like the battle between Spain and Britain.
And it was tradition or custom for people in the coast areas to take the possession of cargo from the ship. But sometime, people extended their rights.
But since 19th century, some international laws about sea were created and the condition became bad for pirates. And the concepts of pirates became the “criminal groups”. Now piracy is conducted by criminal groups against international law without sanction.