Late 1590s parliament’s Vagrancy Act sought to eliminate homelessness through coercive punishment; also empowered press-gangs to dragoon young men into Royal Navy
Future pirate Henry Every of Devon joined navy in 1670
West Country of Devonshire shaped by seafaring/piracy life: Walter Raleigh, Francis Drake, “Black Sam” Bellamy, Blackbeard all from there, and pirate-speak inspired by West Country vernacular
Sea Peoples of 1170s BCE the first pirates, memorialized in Egyptian hieroglyphics but otherwise undocumented
Lawless, rootlessness on Mediterranean; “mark the point of origin for piracy as a form of self-identity”
13th and 12th centuries BCE experienced Late Bronze Age Collapse triggered by Sea Peoples’ extreme carnage to “great palace societies of Greece and the Levant”
“Terrorism” dates to 1795 letter from Monroe to Jefferson about French Revolution
Pirate mantra “dead men tell no tales” dual meaning of killing enemies but also sparing a few to tell “tales of terror on the seas”
Pirates made a point of publicizing their barbarity and madness so their reputation could strengthen and spread
Golden Age of piracy coincides almost exactly with the emergence of print culture
Jeanne de Clisson the “Lioness of Brittany” pirate along English Channel in 1300s
India’s immense natural resources and technical ingenuity not matched by an appetite for global seafaring trade; Islam much more economically “extroverted” and dominated
Afghani sultan Mahmud of Ghazna began crusade of India in 1001; Islamic control continued for five centuries
1658 last Muslim ruler of India without contest was Aurangzeb
Legal classification “Hostis humani generis” (enemies of all mankind) usually reserved for pirates for atrocious crimes against humanity committed in international waters
Chief difference between pirate and privateer was state’s sanction to attack vessels of official state enemies, and got cut of profit
Privateering emerged in 1500s as England-Spain grew hostile and legitimate trade commingled with aggressive mercantilism and piracy
Drake’s privateering while circumnavigating made him a hero and prototype
Barbary pirates routinely pillaged English coast and kidnapped into slavery
East India Trading Company first-ever joint-stock corporation, chartered by Elizabeth I in 1600 first as voyage-specific but then permanent stocks
Spice was its initial goal but cloth (calico, chintz) eventually overtook
“Hitting the head” originated from toilet hole suspended over bowsprit of ship
Dysentery known as “bloody flux”
Labor “strike” from sailors striking/lowering sails from anchored ship as a sign of their refusal to work
Most pirate voyages began by establishing “articles of agreement” for profit-sharing; “floating democracy”
Quartermaster the judicial branch and Congress to Captain’s president or CEO
Extra compensation for pirates suffering serious injuries a la insurance policy
Pirate ship of late 1600s early 1700s outside the law of European nation-states and ahead of them; workers collective to the East India Trading’s multinational corporation
Popular pirates like Every not just charismatic rogues but advancing unprecedented populist values
Every led mutiny of Charles I ship after voyage to West Indies stalled in Spain; first documented record from a 1694 sung ballad “Every Verses”
As printing technology expanded, sung ballads accompanied by text with woodcuts (broadsides); musical accounts of current events with headlines as popular song refrains hawked by balladmongers
Unusually, Every Verses framed Every as hero rather than criminal; also developed his mythical identity
Wives of remaining expedition crew petitioned court for contractual pay that sponsor Houblon refused; Houblon submitted Every Verses as official evidence
East India Trading controlled news from India so manipulated to buy low sell high; bribed King James II court to maintain exclusive charter but 1688 Glorious Revolution upended that
Every’s plan for dangerous trip to Madagascar then Red Sea to plunder treasure ships bound for Mecca and the wealthy Mughal empire
Probably half of all pirates present in spring 1695 at Bab-el-Mandeb strait leading to Red Sea and Mecca where Aurangzeb’s treasure ships converged for hajj; six pirate ships agreed to alliance and Every commander instead of more experienced Thomas Tew
Pirate armada waited at strait but merchant ships slipped by at night and most made it to Surat; Every and the Fancy pursued and commandeered Aurangzeb’s far larger Gunsway
“Ancient history is always colliding with the present in the most literal sense: our genes, our language, our culture all stamp the present moment with the imprint of the distant past.”
Khafi Khan’s account of Gunsway raid from Surat based on survivor testimony provided counternarrative to heroic English ballads
Plunder in addition to gang rape of women returning from hajj, including relatives of Aurangzeb, made attack beyond the pale and Every a wanted man
Assumption was East India Trading was behind attack to double-dip, and Indian uproar and lost goodwill made Aurangzeb look to expel them
Three distinct categories of pirates, corporations, and nations exploring their boundary conditions and defining new roles
By 1696 pro-wool protectionist movement in England against calico/cotton importers and wearers lobbied Parliament and slashed East India Trading stock value
Fate of multinational corporation most vulnerable in this period of bribery scandal, Every attack, siege of Bombay, and calico backlash
East India Trading put out bounty on Every, endorsed by England, which encouraged other pirates to capture or kill him
Loot distributed then Every sailed to Bahamas
East India Trading reps negotiated with Aurangzeb to become his fleet’s bodyguard at sea and pirate hunters; in alternate history it could have been expelled from India and collapsed but instead on the path to global superpower
Every’s men scattered, including to American colonies, which had reputation for nurturing and tolerating piracy; Every and 20 men returned to Ireland and UK and several arrested
Hunt for Every united England and East India Trading, with trial and executions as opportunity to counter England’s image as nation of pirates
Two Every pirates flipped, giving prosecutors two witnesses and evidence
Long list of potential charges, but focused on piracy-specific ones against Aurangzeb
Jury returned not guilty; most likely due to popular Every myth and lack of empathy for foreign emperor
Acquitted of piracy, but prosecutors reframed and retried for mutiny and stealing Houblon’s ship but still reused evidence; guilty and executed
August 1686 last historical trace of Every
Ocean in the Age of Exploration forced constant experimentation, both technological (better maps) and political (distributing wealth)
After Aurangzeb died, a string of failed successors before East India Trading assumed official control in 1757