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(Page last updated 5 December 2008)

Piracy

Piracy against ships was a rare occurrence at the beginning of the twentieth century however in the 1990s the practice was revived and has since increased dramatically. Recent high profile attacks off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden have put the topic in the news again.

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB), a specialised division of the International Chamber Of Commerce, defines piracy as: "An act of boarding or attempting to board any ship with the intent to commit theft or any other crime and with the intent or capability to use force in the furtherance of that act."

One of the IMB's principal areas of expertise is in the suppression of piracy. Concerned at the alarming growth in the phenomenon, this led to the creation of the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre in 1992. The Centre is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It maintains a round-the-clock watch on the world's shipping lanes, reporting pirate attacks to local law enforcement and issuing warnings about piracy hotspots to shipping. They also release a weekly Piracy Report and maintain a Live Piracy Map (Google maps required). And of course if you need to report a "piratical incident" you can contact the 24-hour Piracy Reporting Centre.

For the latest news reports of piracy try this Google News search, or browse or search within a range of the very latest New Zealand and overseas sources at PressDisplay, our database of current newspapers from around the world. (You'll need to login with your library card number and surname.)

In the library:

Some interesting recent books added to our collections.

  • The outlaw sea : a world of freedom, chaos, and crime, by William Langewiesche.
    "Forty-three thousand gargantuan ships ply the open ocean, carrying nearly all the raw materials and products on which our lives are built. Many are owned or managed by one-ship companies so ghostly that they exist only on paper. They are the embodiment of modern global capital, and the most independent objects on earth - many of them without allegiances of any kind, changing identity and nationality at will. Here is free enterprise at its freest, opportunity taken to extremes. But its efficiencies are accompanied by global problems - shipwrecks and pollutions, the hard lives and deaths of the crews, and the growth of two perfectly adapted pathogens: a modern and sophisticated strain of piracy and its close cousin, the maritime form of the new stateless terrorism". -- Book Jacket
  • Pirates aboard! : forty cases of piracy today and what bluewater cruisers can do about it, by Klaus Hympendahl.
    "In December 2001, an attack on Sir Peter Blake's yacht in Brazil resulted in his death. Pirates Aboard! deals with recent cases of piracy studied by author Klaus Hympendahl, who interviewed the victims of about 40 cases. He [] gives an appraisal of which areas in the world are the most dangerous, including Somalia, the Gulf of Aden, Venezuela, Guatemala, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and parts of Brazil. This invaluable document suggests what preventive measures sailors can take and advises how they should deal with stress, aggression, and fear when faced with a confrontation." (Amazon.co.uk)
  • Hooked : pirates, poaching and the perfect fish, by G. Bruce Knecht.
    "Welcome to the new world of high-seas piracy. G. Bruce Knecht transports you to the bottom of the earth where a crew of rogue fishermen and their pursuers match wits and tempt disaster as they race through building-size waves, densely packed ice, and an obstacle course of icebergs in what became one of the longest pursuits in nautical history. And as the chase threatens to turn violent, Knecht relates the pirates' side of the story, explaining why they do not believe they have done anything wrong." -- Book Jacket
  • Blackbeard : America's most notorious pirate by Angus Konstam
    "Drawing on vivid descriptions of Blackbeard's attacks from his rare surviving victims, Konstam presents dramatic accounts of the pirate's very effective tactics as well as his reputation for cruelty. Angus also examines the life and business of piracy, explains the lure of the trade, and reveals how contraband played an important part in the establishment of colonial America's fragile community." -- Book Jacket
  • Murder or mutiny : mystery, piracy and adventure in the Spice Islands, by Pamela Stephenson ; foreword by Billy Connolly.
    "'Salty Sam' Stephenson, Pamela's great, great grandfather, family legend has it was the owner and captain of the sailing ship ROSALIE who was abandoned by his crew in the 1820s and never heard of again. A chance encounter with the descendant of another crew member who had a different story to tell prompted Pamela to discover the fate of her ancestor. Delving in maritime archives she begins to piece together his background. From Rotherhithe she retraces his journeys along the old spice route and hires a sailing boat with a heavily armed crew to continue her search in pirate-infested waters." (Amazon.co.uk)

From our online databases:

  • Blackbeard Still Lives, by Jonathon Gatehouse. Maclean's, 20/10/2008
    This article focuses on the growth of international piracy. Pirates are a major threat to commercial shipping in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia. A record 200 pirate attacks have been reported in 2008. The U.S. and European Union have sent naval forces to patrol the area, but this may have little effect, given the pirates' safe ports in essentially lawless Somalia.
  • Marine Insurance Buyers, Sellers Join To Thwart Modern-Day Pirate Threats, by Richard Desimone. National Underwriter / Property & Casualty Risk & Benefits Management, 27/10/2008
    This article provides information on how the insurance industry can help their ocean marine customers address piracy. It says that modern-day pirates are endangering crews and driving up claims for cargo loss and ship damage. Meanwhile, insurance companies are encouraging them to take proactive measures, including the careful selection of routes, adoption of the latest security measures and training and the purchase of appropriate coverage.
  • Piracy: an old menace re-emerges, by Stuart McMillan. New Zealand International Review, March-April 2002
    A New Zealand overview of a maritime problem that has grown steadily worse in the last decade.

From the Internet:

  • The Maritime Dimension of International Security: Terrorism, Piracy, and Challenges for the United States (PDF)
    This 53-page report published by the RAND Corporation in June 2008 takes a close look at the maritime dimensions of international security, with a special emphasis on the challenges it presents for the United States.

    Authored by RAND researcher Peter Chalk, the report looks at the current state of affairs in maritime security, and also makes a broad set of recommendations designed to improve maritime security across the globe. Not surprisingly, the report also takes a close look at the potential links between terrorism and piracy. The report is rounded out by a set of policy recommendations and an appendix which lists high-profile maritime terrorist incidents from 1961 to 2004. (From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 2008.)

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