“Essentially, Pirates were people who rejected society and created their own little world on their ships. Their community was multicultural and everyone got an equal share of the prize. They answered to nobody but themselves. Their deeds were reported in newspapers and other publications, which flew off the shelves, for the common people to consume.
In Britain and Colonial America, when people gathered around in taverns to hear someone read the news, pirates were always a subject that came up. They read about pirates who brutally murdered their hostages, stole large ships with huge caches of supplies, were captured and put on trial, and were sentenced to harsh public deaths at the gallows.
Reading between the lines, they learned about how pirates brought desired forbidden items into the colonies. These stories were gulped down like the tastiest of rums. What really made pirates seem so cool was that they were able to cast off all of their social obligations and roles.
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, your status was pretty much fixed from birth. If you were born poor, you would stay poor. If you were fortunate enough to be born wealthy, you would stay rich. If you were born into a skilled middle-class family, you would follow in your father’s footsteps. Sailors often came from either poor or middle-class families. If they were less fortunate, they were put onto ships at a very young age and, over time, could work their way up a bit. If they were middle-class and educated, they could become a First Mate or Quartermaster before long. Pay was based on position and was often withheld for various reasons. Pirates, on the other hand, only needed to know how to sail (or to be able to learn quickly) and to be brave in a fight. They were assigned duties based on their skills, and money or prizes were doled out equally so that everyone had a fair share. A destitute man could become extremely wealthy after just a year or two on a pirate ship. One way to avoid the risk of capture and hanging while still enjoying the benefits of piracy was to become employed as a privateer. During wartime, sailors were called upon to fight against specific enemy ships, depending on the country that hired them. These sailors were given letters of marque, which, again, were official documents that gave them permission to attack and rob enemy ships. They would be paid in whatever loot they could steal. A letter of marque, however, was like a contract. It had an expiration date that was usually at the end of whatever conflict was taking place. At that point, the sailors were required to stop their privateering and return to a legitimate line of work. Many privateers enjoyed being able to rob ships and steal anything they could carry because it guaranteed a much higher income than they would have earned as a merchant or naval seaman. Plus, it was a lot more fun and adventurous to travel the world as one wished in search of new things to steal. Be honest—what would you choose to do? Captain William Kidd was one of the most well-known pirates during the Golden Age of Piracy, the years from 1650 to 1730, in which pirates were most active and organized throughout the Caribbean and North American colonies. Pirates may have existed since the day people figured out how to make a boat float, but this time period was different because it was the first time history saw a pattern of large, organized societies made up of hefty pirate fleets. During this era, ownership of the colonies and Caribbean islands was constantly fought over by various European powers. Britain managed to secure Jamaica from Spain around 1670 with the Treaty of Madrid, but one of the requirements of this treaty was to rid the seas of pirates. With the uptick in persecution, pirates who already lived in the Caribbean began to scatter, but then formed their own squadrons. This persisted for the next fifty-odd years. Piracy also flourished during the early eighteenth century because peacetime had returned, and many people who worked as privateers in wartime (as in the War for Spanish Succession, a fourteen-year conflict about who would succeed to the Spanish throne after King Charles II’s death) were suddenly unemployed. The number of pirates shot up to the point where Britain had to begin an extermination campaign to get rid of them all. Pirate…or Criminal? Captain Kidd became the prime scapegoat. His exploits created the first concurrently-documented manhunt in history, rendering him one of the most famous pirates that ever lived. Newspapers were constantly publishing articles with the latest news of his exploits until he was finally captured in Boston. His life and death captured the public’s attention, forever changing our perception of pirates. But were pirates criminals? And who was in charge of capturing them?
The definition of Piracy has always been debated. Official definitions of piracy were written into English law in 1536 when King Henry VIII signed the Offences at Sea Act 1536 (28 Hen 8, c.15), which was later modified in 1700 to create the Act for the Effectual Suppression of Piracy. (This would be reissued twice, in 1717 and 1721, in continued efforts to curb piracy.)
However, both laws essentially used the same definition. Pirates were legally defined as “hostis humanis generis” : Enemies of all Mankind. In essence, A Pirate was anyone who robbed, plundered, and murdered on any type of body of water.
As for their pursuers, England had a special court — the High Court of Admiralty — for all things related to the sea and exploration.
The Admiralty was created in 1260 to ward off potential Viking invaders, but their authority did not grow until Henry VIII passed the above-mentioned act. This law officially declared England An Empire and made Piracy punishable by England no matter where in the world the pirates were. The High Court of Admiralty was ordered to put its complete focus on Pirates.
Admiralty Officials then had the power to arrest pirates just for being accused of Piracy.
If Britain was attacked for any reason, or even just harassed, the deliberately vague wording of this definition became very convenient. If The Government wanted a certain group of sailors punished or killed, it could easily twist the definition of Piracy to serve its purpose.
Anyone who committed any sort of crime could be considered A Pirate. Even if the person did not Murder anyone, it could be suggested that their Robbery was an intent to harm their own nation. Bam. Pirate. This legal ambiguity meant that it was sometimes hard to decide who really was a pirate, which presented a major problem.
What if a man killed someone or stole something on his own ship? What if someone killed another person at sea without taking anything?
Many “pirates” did not consider themselves pirates.
For instance, Captain William Kidd had specific orders from the British government to rob French ships while sailing the Indian Ocean.
His fatal mistake was robbing a big and powerful Armenian ship. In his defense, he thought it was a French ship, or so he claimed. Throughout his trial, he maintained that he was absolutely most definitely not a pirate. He had legal orders to rob enemy ships in the East Indies. “Then produce proof,” Admiralty officials told him. “Bring us your letter of marque.”
Kidd, unfortunately, could not produce the letter of marque, because it had conveniently disappeared.
Another example is Richard Coyle, a sailor accused of murdering his captain.
Was this Piracy?
Or—just as bad, if not worse—was this Mutiny?
Naturally, at his trial, Coyle claimed that he was innocent. “I had no choice but to murder him!” he declared. “That man was not really our captain. The ship’s carpenter killed our captain and then forced me to sail under him. I had no choice but to avenge my real captain!” The judge was no doubt exasperated by this claim. There was always a reason.
“Very well,” the judge said, calling his bluff. “Produce some witnesses, or someone who can vouch for your character, and we will look more closely at these charges.”
Coyle was never able to produce any witnesses, and so he was sentenced to hang.
Coyle was not unique. There were other cases like his. The Admiralty never actually called him a pirate, but others were, just for the sake of semantics. This was the case for Captain James Lowrey, who was found guilty of the murder of Kenneth Hossack, a prisoner on his ship. Lowrey’s chief mate, James Godderar, was the star witness of this case. He claimed to have watched Lowrey beat Hossack to death. The circumstances of how Hossack came to be a prisoner, however, were murky, and it seemed no one could provide any specific details about this.
“Did the captain accuse any of the crew of acts of piracy?” the prosecutor asked.
“No, he did not,” Godderar responded.
The context of the murder was also tricky. Did Lowrey intend to beat the prisoner to death, or just give him a routine beating? Did the prisoner do something to antagonize him? The details were too unclear.
Finally, out of sheer frustration, The British argued that, by taking Hossack a prisoner, Lowrey had stolen a man. Since Lowrey beat him to death, he had killed a man.
Therefore, Lowrey must be a pirate.
So they declared him one and hanged him for it.
This is why many pirates did not believe they were pirates. The rules were so fluid and constantly changing that they often did not know they had committed a serious crime. Murder on the high seas? Meh. It happened. Sometimes ships had to battle, and in battles there were deaths.
Robbery? This also happened. During battles, people took advantage of the takings if they had the opportunity.
Sometimes these actions were also a necessity. What if there was a crew member who began threatening the lives of everyone on board? The crew member could be marooned.
But what if they were not anywhere close to a spit of land? It is very unlikely that a dangerous crew member would be killed in cold blood. Instead, they would be locked up or chained belowdecks.
However, if a fight broke out, death was always a possibility due to the available weapons and the harsh realities of living on a ship.
There could also be an accident. What if someone caused someone’s death unintentionally? Perhaps there was a fall due to human error or an emergency situation that would cause panic, such as a ship threatening to capsize during a storm. Not every case could be defined as Murder in the way that the Admiralty wanted to consider it.
It is a similar case for robbery, although, yes, it would be harder to justify. Sometimes robbery happened out of necessity rather than for the sake of stealing goods for monetary gain. Medicine and foodstuffs would be the items most needed on ships, especially if an illness broke out or extenuating circumstances caused a food or water shortage. These times would be desperate and, unfortunately, one side would have to suffer as a result.
But could desperate needs be taken into consideration? This is a question that no doubt would come up.
It is also important to consider that many people were forced into piracy. These people were usually hostages taken on after a battle to replace members of the crew who were killed. The hostages were either kept in custody or forced to swear their fealty and join the crew. In the eventuality that the pirates were captured, the hostage would plead innocence. This was a complicated situation because it was difficult to prove that the person was forced into piracy against their will. There would have to be witnesses to speak for him, but pirates generally did not betray each other. The law boiled down to what was written on paper. If murder and robbery were committed on the high seas, it was piracy, punishable by death. After the turn of the eighteenth century, the law became even more strict. In efforts to stop piracy, colonists and governors were explicitly forbidden to deal with pirates. If they did, they would be considered pirates as well, and therefore subject to the law. After all, in the end, how is helping a pirate different from actually being one?
WILLARD (v.o.) "I was going to the worst place in the world, and I didn't even know it yet. Weeks away and hundreds of miles up a river that snaked through the war like a main circuit cable and plugged straight into Kurtz. It was no accident that I got to be the caretaker of Colonel Walter E. Kurtz's memory, any more than being back in Saigon was an accident. There is no way to tell his story without telling my own. And if his story is really a confession, then so is mine."
In the briefing room :
COLONEL LUCAS "Come on in.. At ease. Want a cigarette ?"
WILLARD "No, thank you sir."
LUCAS "Captain, have you ever seen this gentleman before ? Met the general or myself ?"
WILLARD "No, sir. Not personally."
LUCAS "You have worked a lot on your own, haven't you ?"
WILLARD "Yes, sir. I have."
LUCAS "Your report specify intelligence, counter-intelligence, with ComSec I Corps."
WILLARD "I'm not presently disposed to discuss these operations, sir."
LUCAS "Did you not work for the CIA in I Corps ?"
WILLARD "No, sir."
LUCAS "Did you not assasinate a government tax collector in Quang Tri province, June 19th, 1968 ? Captain ?"
WILLARD "Sir, I am unaware of any such activity or operation - nor would I be disposed to discuss such an operation if it did in fact exist, sir."
GENERAL CORMAN "I thought we'd have a bite of lunch while we talk. I hope you brought a good appetite with you. You have a bad hand there, are you wounded ?"
WILLARD "A little fishing accident on R&R, sir."
CORMAN "Fishing on R&R... But you're feeling fit, ready for duty ?"
WILLARD "Yes, general. Very much so sir."
CORMAN "Let's see what we have here... roast beef and..., usually is not bad. Try some Jerry, pass it around. Save a little time when we'll pass both ways. Captain, I don't know how you feel about this shrimp, but if you'll eat it, you never have to prove your courage in any other way... I'll take a piece here ..."
LUCAS "Captain, you heard of Colonel Walter E. Kurtz ?"
WILLARD "Yes, sir, I've heard the name."
LUCAS "Operations officer, 5th Special forces."
CORMAN "Luke, would you play that tape for captain, please. Listen carefully."
ON TAPE "October 9th, 0430 hours, sector PBK."
LUCAS "This was monitored out of Cambodia. This has been verified as colonel Kurtz's voice."
COLONEL KURTZ (on tape) " I watched a snail crawl along the edge of a straight razor. That's my dream. That's my nightmare. Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a straight razor, and surviving. "
ON TAPE "11th transmission, December 30th, 0500 hours, sector KZK."
KURTZ (on tape) " We must kill them. We must incinerate them. Pig after pig, cow after cow, village after village, army after army. And they call me an assasin. What do you call it when the assasins accuse the assasin ? They lie.. they lie and we have to be merciful for those who lie. Those nabobs. I hate them. How I hate them..."
CORMAN "Walt Kurtz was one of the most outstanding officers this country has ever produced. He was a brilliant and outstanding in every way and he was a good man too. Humanitarian man, man of wit, of humor. He joined the Special forces. After that his ideas, methods have become unsound... Unsound."
LUCAS "Now he's crossed to Cambodia with his Montagnard army, who worship the man, like a god, and follow every order however ridiculous."
CORMAN "Well, I have some other shocking news to tell you. Colonel Kurtz was about to be arrested for murder."
WILLARD "I don't follow sir. Murdered who ?"
LUCAS "Kurtz had ordered executions of some Vietnamese intelligence agents. Men he believed were double agents. So he took matters into his own hands."
CORMAN "Well, you see Willard... In this war, things get confused out there, power, ideals, the old morality, and practical military necessity. Out there with these natives it must be a temptation to be god. Because there's a conflict in every human heart between the rational and the irrational, between good and evil. The good does not always triumph. Sometimes the dark side overcomes what Lincoln called the better angels of our nature. Every man has got a breaking point. You and I have. Walter Kurtz has reached his. And very obviously, he has gone insane."
WILLARD "Yes sir, very much so sir. Obviously insane."
LUCAS "Your mission is to proceed up to Nung river in a Navy patrol boat. Pick up colonel Kurtz' path at Nu Mung Ba, follow it, learn what you can along the way. When you find colonel infiltrate his team by whatever means available and terminate the colonel's command."
WILLARD "Terminate ? The colonel ?"
CORMAN "He's out there operating without any decent restraint. Totally beyond the pale of any acceptable human conduct. And he is still in the field commanding his troops."
CIVILIAN "Terminate with extreme prejudice."
LUCAS "You understand captain... , that this operation does not exist, nor will it ever exist."
In helicopter :
How many people
had I already killed?
There was those six
that I know about for sure.
Close enough to blow
their last breath
in my face.
But this time it was
An American and
An Officer.
That wasn't supposed to make any difference to me, but it did.
Shit...charging a man with Murder
in this place was like handing out
speeding tickets in the Indy 500.
I took The Mission —
What the hell else was I gonna do?
But I really didn't know what I'd do
when I found him.
I was being ferried down the coast in a Navy PBR, a type of plastic patrol boat, pretty common sight on the rivers. They said it was a good way to pick up information without drawing lot of attention.
That was OK, I needed
the air and the time.
Only problem was,
I wouldn't be alone.
