Piracy is a robbery committed at sea, or sometimes on the shore, by an agent without a commission from a sovereign nation. Seaborne piracy against transport vessels remains a significant issue (with estimated worldwide losses of US $13 to $16 billion per year, particularly in the waters between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, off the Somali coast, and also in the Strait of Malacca and Singapore, which are used by over 50,000 commercial ships a year. A recent surge in piracy off the Somali coast spurred a multi-national effort led by the United States to patrol the waters near the Horn of Africa to combat piracy. While boats off the coasts of North Africa and the Mediterranean Sea are still assailed by pirates, the Royal Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard have nearly eradicated piracy in U.S. waters and in the Caribbean Sea.

Maritime piracy, according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) of 1982, consists of any criminal acts of violence, detention, or depredation committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or aircraft that is directed on the high seas against another ship, aircraft, or against persons or property on board a ship or aircraft. Piracy can also be committed against a ship, aircraft, persons, or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any state.

The Jolly Roger is the traditional name for the flags of European and American pirates and a symbol for piracy that has been adopted by film-makers and toy manufacturers.
The Jolly Roger is the name now given to any of various flags flown to identify how it and the user as a pirate. The most famous Jolly Roger today is the Skull and Crossbones, a skull over two long bones set in an X arrangement on a black field. Historically, the flag was flown to induce pirates' victims to surrender readily.
Since the decline of piracy, various military units have used the Jolly Roger, usually in skull-and-crossbones design, as a unit identification insignia or a victory flag to ascribe to themselves the proverbial ferocity and toughness of pirates.





Born John Roberts (May 17, 1682 - February 10, 1722), Bartholomew Roberts, also known as Bart Roberts, was a Welsh pirate who raided shipping off the Americas and West Africa between 1719 and 1722. He was the most successful pirate of the Golden Age of Piracy, capturing far more ships than some of the best-known pirates of this era such as Blackbeard or Captain Kidd. He is estimated to have captured over 470 vessels. He is also known as Black Bart (Welsh: Barti Ddu), but this name was never used in his lifetime.




Stede Bonnet (c. 1688 – December 10, 1718) was an early 18th century Barbadian pirate, sometimes called the "the gentleman pirate" because he was a moderately wealthy landowner before turning to a life of crime. Bonnet was born into a wealthy English family on the island of Barbados, and inherited the family estate after his father's death in 1694. In 1709, he married Mary Allamby, and engaged in some level of militia service. Because of marital problems, and despite his lack of sailing experience, Bonnet decided to turn to piracy in the summer of 1717. He bought a sailing vessel, named it Revenge, and traveled with his paid crew along the American eastern seaboard, capturing other vessels and burning down Barbadian ships.




Captain Howell Davis (or Davies) (ca. 1690 – June 1719) was a Welsh pirate. His piratical career lasted just 11 months, from July 1718 to June 1719, when he was ambushed and killed. His ships were the Cadogan, Buck, Saint James, and Rover. Captain William Snelgrave, the master of the Bird, a vessel captured by the pirates in 1719, later wrote an account of his experience. His ship was taken by Thomas Cocklyn's men, who abused him. However, when informed of this, Davis protected Snelgrave and obviously made a favourable impression on him. Snelgrave concluded that Davis was a man "who (allowing for the Course of Life he had been unhappily engaged in) was a most generous humane Person".




Edward England, born Edward Seegar in Ireland, was a famous African coast and Indian Ocean pirate from 1717 to 1720. The ships he sailed on included the Pearl and later the Fancy, for which England exchanged the Pearl in 1720. His flag was the classic Jolly Roger with a skull above two crossed thigh bones on a black background.
He differed from many other pirates of his day in that he did not kill captives unless it was absolutely necessary. However, this ultimately led to his downfall, for his crew mutinied against him when he refused to kill sailors from the Cassandra, an English trading ship, captained by James Macrae. He was subsequently marooned on Mauritius with two other crew members, where they fashioned a small raft and made it to St. Augustine's Bay in Madagascar. England survived for a short while by begging for food and died around the end of 1720.




Henry Every or Avery (born c. 1653 in Plymouth, disappeared from record 1696) was a pirate whose aliases included John Avary, Long Ben, and Benjamin Bridgeman. He is most famous for being apparently one of the few major pirate captains to retire with his loot without being arrested or killed in battle.




Bartolomeo Português (16??-16??) was a Portuguese buccaneer who attacked Spanish shipping in the late 1660s; he also established one of the earliest sets of rules popularly known in pirate lore as "the pirates' code", later used by the pirates of the seventeenth century such as John Philips, Edward Low, and Bartholomew Roberts.
Alexander Exquemelin wrote in Buccaneers of America, he “made many violent attacks on the Spaniards without gaining much profit from marauding, for I saw him dying in the greatest wretchedness in the world.”




Jean-David Nau (c. 1635 - c. 1668, Panama), better known as François l'Olonais, was a French pirate active in the Caribbean during the 1660s. In his 1684 account The History of the Buccaneers of America, Alexander Exquemelin notes l'Olonais' place of birth as being Les Sables-d'Olonne.




Sir Admiral Henry Morgan (Hari Morgan in Welsh), (ca. 1635 – August 25, 1688) was a Welsh privateer, who made a name in the Caribbean as a leader of buccaneers. He was among Wales's most notorious and successful privateers.




John Rackham (b. December 21, 1682 in London - died November 17, 1720 in Jamaica), also known as Calico Jack Rackham or Calico Jack, was an English pirate captain during the early 18th century. His nickname was derived from the colorful calico clothes he wore. John Rackham is remembered for employing two of the most notorious female pirates of his time – Anne Bonny and Mary Read – in his crew. John Rackham and his crew were executed in Jamaica. Only the two women of the crew (Bonny and Reed), who were disguised as men, fought the captures of his crew. Anne Bonny and Mary Read were not executed, because they both said they were pregnant; however, at that time there was no proof as to whether they really were. The law clearly stated that innocent people shall not be punished for the crimes committed by criminals (baby=innocent ). Captured and hanged, his body was hung in a cage on display on a very small island at a main entrance to Port Royal, Jamaica as a warning to other pirates.




Roche Braziliano (sometimes spelled Rock, Roc, Roque, Brazilliano, or Brasiliano) (c. 1630 – disappeared c. 1671), was a Dutch pirate born in Groningen. His pirate career lasted from 1654 until his disappearance in 1671. Though his real name has been lost to history, he is known as "Roche Braziliano", which in English becomes "Rock the Brazilian".
Roche Braziliano was a notoriously cruel buccaneer who operated out of Port Royal, Jamaica. He was a privateer in Bahia, Brazil, before moving to Port Royal in 1654. He led a mutiny and adopted the life of a buccaneer, seizing richly-laden Spanish treasure ships. The Spanish eventually caught him and sent him to Spain, but he escaped and resumed his thieving career, buying a new ship off his fellow-pirate François l'Ollonais and later sailing in company with Sir Henry Morgan among others.




Edward Teach (c. 1680 – November 22, 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was a notorious English pirate in the Caribbean Sea and western Atlantic during the early 18th century, a period referred to as the Golden Age of Piracy. His best known vessel was the Queen Anne's Revenge, which is believed to have run aground near Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina in 1718.
Blackbeard often fought, or simply showed himself, wearing a big feathered tricorn, and having multiple swords, knives, and pistols at his disposal. It was reported in the General History of the Pirates that he had hemp and lighted matches woven into his enormous black beard during battle. Accounts of people who saw him fighting[citation needed] say that they thought he "looked like the devil" with his fearsome face and the smoke cloud around his head. This image, which he cultivated, has made him the premier image of the seafaring pirate.




Charles Vane (born c.1680 - died March 29, 1720) an English pirate who preyed upon English and French shipping. His pirate career lasted from 1716 - 20. His flagship was a brigantine named the Ranger. His death was by hanging at Gallows Point, Port Royal, Jamaica.
Charles was among the pirate captains who established a notorious base at New Providence in the Bahamas after the British abandoned the colony in 1713. When threatened there in August 1718 by Governor Woodes Rogers and two Royal Navy ships, Vane alone resisted them, driving the men-of-war back with a captured French fireship. Vane then escaped in his fast six-gun sloop, the Ranger, defiantly firing on the governor as he passed and threatening to return.




Anne Bonny (c. 1698-April 25, 1782) was an Irish pirate who plied her trade in the Caribbean.
In October 1720, Rackham and his crew were attacked by a sloop captained by Jonathan Barnet, who was working for the governor of Jamaica. Most of Rackham's pirates did not put up much resistance as many of them were too drunk to fight. However, Read and Bonny, who were sober, fought fiercely and managed to hold off Barnet's troops for a short time. After their capture, Rackham and his crew were sentenced by the Governor of Jamaica to be hanged. Jack hid while the pregnant (and recently proved) ladies dealt with a great number of captors. Bonny is reported to have chastised the imprisoned Rackham (who wanted to see her one last time) by saying, "I am sorry to see you here Jack, but if you had fought like a man, you need not be hanged like a dog."
After their arrest and trial, Read and Bonny both pleaded their bellies, announcing during the sentencing phase that they were both pregnant. In accordance with English common law, both women received a temporary stay of execution until they gave birth. Mary Read died in prison most likely from a fever; it has been alleged that she died during childbirth.



Mary Read (c.1690 – 1721) was an English pirate.
In October 1720, the troops of pirate hunter Captain Barnet took them by surprise, and captured Rackham and his crew on behalf of the governor of Jamaica. Rackham and the majority of his crew were extremely drunk, and didn't put up much resistance, many being passed out in the ship's hold. Read and Bonny, however, did resist. But outgunned, their resistance did not last long.
Rackham and his crew were sentenced to hang for acts of piracy, but Read and Bonny both "pled their bellies" (claimed to be pregnant) and received a stay of execution. It is unknown whether they were really pregnant or if they invented the story to delay their executions, but according to the latest History Channel documentary, airing July 9, 2006, it is now believed that both women were in fact pregnant. Read was believed to have been pregnant by either Captain Jack Rackham or an unknown pirate who was a love interest and member of Rackham's crew. Bonny was believed to have been pregnant by either her long time lover Captain Jack Rackham, or by Doctor Michael Radcliff, a former victim of one of their raids who was saved from death by Bonny.
Read died in early 1721 while in prison, either by fever or during child birth. Bonny disappeared from the historical record, possibly having been bought out of prison by her wealthy and prominent father.




Rickard "Rick" Falkvinge (pronounced fal-k-ving-e), born on January 21, 1972 in Gothenburg, is a Swedish IT entrepreneur, known as the leader and founder of the Swedish Pirate Party.
Falkvinge graduated from Göteborgs Högre Samskola, where he studied natural science, in 1991. During his studies he was active in the Moderate Youth League (Swedish: Moderata Ungdomsförbundet), the youth wing of the Swedish Moderate Party.
He started his first company in 1988, at the age of 16.
In 1993 he started studies to become an engineer at the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. He dropped out from the university in 1995 to work as an entrepreneur.
Falkvinge has previously worked as a project leader at Microsoft. He was manager of development at a smaller software company but resigned to work with the Pirate Party on a full time basis.
He currently resides in Sollentuna north of Stockholm.



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