Piracy is a basic and fundamental concern for all navies. From
almost the beginning of state-sponsored navies, piracy suppression
has been one of their major responsibilities-when Julius Caesar was
captured by pirates in 76 BCE, the first thing he did after paying
the pirates' ransom and being released was to fit "out a squadron
of ships to take his revenge." Despite piracy's importance and the
continued frequency of piratical attacks, however, relatively few
scholarly works have been written analyzing cases of modern piracy
and piracy suppression in terms of varying strategic, policy, and
operational decisions. This edited collection of case studies
attempts to fill this gap. There have been a number of important
historical studies that have dealt with the subjects of piracy and
piracy suppression. Books written from the point of view of those
wishing to end piracy have tended to focus on legal issues,
including the rights of victims, the procedures and decisions of
Admiralty courts in punishing pirates, and the capture of piracy
ships as prizes. Others have looked at the existence of piracy in
terms of one particular place or time period, with the Barbary
Coast and the Caribbean Sea claiming disproportionate shares of
attention. At the turn of the eighteenth century, the Royal Navy
was primarily responsible for using force to suppress piracy.
British privateers continued to roam the seas, preying on Spanish
gold. However, several changes in British maritime legal practice
made a renewed fight against piracy possible. On 13 October 1696,
Sir Charles Hedges, judge of the High Court, revised Admiralty law
so that pirates could be punished anywhere: "Now piracy is only a
sea term for robbery, piracy being a robbery committed within the
jurisdiction of the Admiralty. If any man be assaulted within that
jurisdiction, and his ship or goods violently taken away without
legal authority, this is robbery and piracy." Antipiracy reforms
were not enacted rapidly, but by the 1720s the Royal Navy had made
it easier for its officers to prosecute pirates anywhere in the
world. During this period, Newport, R.I. (pictured on the front
cover), was used by Thomas Tew to trade in pirate cargo, with one
cargo alone valued at 100,000. The Royal Navy attacked pirates in
the Caribbean, along the coast of North America, and as far away as
the Indian Ocean.With the creation of new bases, such as at Antigua
in the West Indies, the Royal Navy gradually extended its range as
far as the northwest Pacific and Australia: "Naval stations and
cruising areas gradually covered the shipping zones of the world
and made possible the Pax Britannica." For many people, it appeared
that piracy had been destroyed for good. Even fairly recent books
focusing on the nineteenth century have included chapters entitled
"An End to Piracy." However, piracy never entirely disappeared
during the twentieth century, and during the last quarter of that
century events turned out far differently than even the most
pessimistic observer could have predicted. This monograph is
intended as a contribution to both scholarship and professional
naval thinking; it is an academic and comparative examination of
twelve selected case studies from maritime history used to
illuminate a range of concepts and uses of piracy suppression. The
twelve case studies provide the basis for the conclusions, an
approach that provides a more thorough understanding of the uses
and limitations of naval antipiracy operations in the context of
new maritime technologies and within a wider range of modern
national policy goals than might otherwise be achievable. Above
all, this collection provides a sound basis for comparative
analysis of varying historical experiences that can stimulate new
and original thinking about a basic but often overlooked naval
duty.
General
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