Two to six percent of piracy victims are foreigners; local residents are more often the target of piracy kidnappings. Piracy incidents are often violent and include other crimes, such as drug, human or arms trafficking and illegal oil bunkering and theft (the latter sometimes called petrol piracy).
Crew members captured or kidnapped by maritime pirates 2011-2021. In 2021, 57 crew members were kidnapped or ransomed by maritime pirates, down from 135 a year earlier. In the same year, eight crew members were held hostage by pirates at sea. The area most under threat was Africa.
piracy, any robbery or other violent action, for private ends and without authorization by public authority, committed on the seas or in the air outside the normal jurisdiction of any state.
In 2011, Jessica was kidnapped by pirates in Somalia and held hostage for 93 days, before being rescued by SEAL Team 6. Today we sit down with Jessica and discuss what all transpired, how she persevered through living in the desert for 93 days, and how she used her time as a hostage to heal her own personal trauma.
Piracy is punished quite severely under U.S.C. 81. Most overt acts of piracy come with a mandatory minimum of life imprisonment, while most others carry a maximum of 10 years in prison—not to mention hefty fines in many cases.
Pirates will often harm or kill hostages if a ransom is not paid; from an economic perspective, hostages have no value if they cannot be used to gain financial rewards.
What happened to the Captives? If any prisoners were left alive, the captives would be put to work on the pirate ship. In particular, pirates would keep carpenters, map readers or surgeons captive because they could use these type of prisoners on their ship. Any extra crew would be sold as slaves.
The U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy both support the actions of the Combined Task Force 151 in their anti-piracy missions in the area.
In January 2023, the Indian Ocean High Risk Area (HRA) was lifted by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) due to a significant absence of Somali pirate attacks in previous years. Though Somali pirates still reportedly possess the ability and resources to conduct attacks in the Gulf of Aden region.
The African Union Mission in Somalia allowed the troops from Kenya to capture Kismayo port in 2012 and capture some al-Shabaab terrorists. It was a vital victory which reduced the piracy incidents, pirate activities, number of attacks and armed robbery on the high seas.
1 – Blackbeard
Easily the most famous buccaneer on the list and possibly the most terrifying pirate of all time, Blackbeard had a reputation of horrific magnitude in his day. In fact, it wasn't just the size of his reputation that was scary, but the content too!
Like the Caribbean of old, the waters near Somalia used to be the most heavily pirated in the world.
Marooning. For pirates that committed a serious breach of pirate code, such as desertion or stealing doubloons from a fellow buccaneer, the punishment was marooning. It was effectively a death sentence.
1. Blackbeard. Blackbeard is possibly the most famous pirate in history, but his life is shrouded in mystery.
The highest-earning pirate ever was Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy, an Englishman who made his bones patrolling the New England coast in the 18th century. By our calculations, “Black Sam” plundered an estimated $120 million over the course of his career.
Despite the shifting regions of impact, global piracy is declining overall based on trends from the past decade. However, band-aid solutions stipulated by foreign involvement are ineffective at reducing piracy in the long-term and instead require sustained infrastructure.
Nowadays, most pirate attacks are committed in the Singapore Straits and off the coast of Peru.
Somalia - Level 4: Do Not Travel. Reissued with updates to security information. Do not travel to Somalia due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, health issues, kidnapping, and piracy.
Contemporary maritime piracy reached its peak level in 2010, with around 445 reported incidents.
“In the past, pirates stole gold, silver, gemstones, and rum barrels. Nowadays, they are taking over merchant ships and looting onboard containers. Oil tankers are seized by pirates mid-sea and are being held for ransom.
(1) Normally the pirates don't kill anyone; they just steal the cargo or ransom it and the crew. If the ships were armed, some or all of the crew might be killed.
The United Nations has adopted a resolution for continuous vigilance against threats of maritime piracy and armed robbery on the coast of Somalia. Piracy networks remain active despite long-running suppression efforts.
Article I, Section 8, clause 10 gives Congress the power to “define and punish piracy and felonies on the high seas and offenses against the law of nations.” With that power, in 1790, Congress enacted the first anti-piracy law.
Tortures, sometimes euphemistically called 'pirate persuasions', included being beaten, whipped, cut, and having lit matches put between your fingers. A favourite technique borrowed from the earlier buccaneers was to tie a cord around a captive's head and tighten it until the eyes popped out.
Play Board Games
While pirates didn't have our modern board game options, they had dice, coins, cards, chips, and a lot of imagination. As a result, pirates made up and modified a wide array of various board games to amuse themselves, playing with all kinds of complex rules and interesting ideas.