The Concordia sentinel. (Vidalia, Concordia Parish, La.) 1882-current, 1921-08-06
Theory Put Forward as Explana-
ton of Disappearance OF
American Vessels.
PIRACY FOLLOWS GREAT WARS
Island Dotted Areas Of the Oceans o.
fer Lurking Places for Sea RoVers-
Piracy Has FIourishsd Since
Early Days Of History.

Washington, D. C.-The theory that
pirates are again infesting Atlantic
waters has been put forward In con-
nection with the grounding of the Car
roll Deering and the mysterious ois-
appearance Of three other American
steamships.
"An epidemic Of piracy has followed
in the wake Of nearly all OF the great
wars. Even as recently as 1913 rest
less souls who had smelled the blood
of battle and felt the intoxication OF
danger became loath to settle down In
to the peaceful ways OF men ana
commerce, and chose the wide seas
as an asylum because they refused
to live under the law" says bulletin
of the National Geographic society
from its Washington, d. c., headquar-
tiers.
Some Famous Pirate Bases.
"Reside the broad oceans which Of
fered infinite chance for escape there
have always been the island-dotted
areas which furnish excellent lurking
places from which these opponents or
absolute freedom might take their
quarry for examination and long d.
vision among them. The Greek Archl-
pelago, the Barbary coast, the East
Indies, the China shores and the Span
ish Main, within the shadow OF our
own doors, have been pirate bases
for centuries and given to the world
a wealth of stories of GREATNESS In
terest.
"In ancient times these sea robbers
off the coast Of Greece. Italy,. ana
Asia Minor with their thousands OF
light, swift vessels, or sea mice as
they were called, taxed merchant
shipping so heavily that they lightly
and rightly termed their base OF OPP
erations the Golden Gulf They
Haunted their black flag In the face
of mighty Rome, which remained In
potept against them until Pornpey with
almost unlimited resources at his COM
mand curbed their operations.
Pandora's Box Of Piracy.
"Ferdinand and Isabella unwilling
". in their decision to drive the Moors
from Spanish soil, let loose upon the
world and particularly upon Spanish
shipping, then at the height of Its
pride, a fearful horde Of daring and
INSCRIPTIONS avengers.
"In the early days Of Moslem pow
er one of the caliphs wrote to his gem
eral and asked him what the sea was
like. The general answered, The sen
Is a huge beast which silly folk ride
like worms on logs Consequently the
caliph gave orders that no MOslem
should voyage upon it, but they soon
learned that they must conquer 1t If
they were to hold their own among
other peoples, and they subsequently
| furnished some of the most audacious
and picturesque Of the pirate figures.
The James Brothers of the Seas.
1.-TWO of the most daring and in
genious, of these were the Barbarossa
brothers. Red Beard terrorized the
Mediterranean world from CONSTANT
nople to the Pillars of Hercules. The
| excellent harbors and the island hid
ing places made 1t possible for him to
defy the fleets of England, Italy,
Spain and Holland, to levy tribute on
all the vessels that passed over the
highway, to capture the richly laden
Papal gaIleys bound for Rome in Mos
lem defiance Of Christendom and
chain the Christians to their oars. In
1910, at that time notorious and i'm
mensely wealthy, he changed the base
of his operations to the island of
Jerba, off the coast of Tunis. where
the Fates ceased to smile so kindly
upon him. After many hard-fought
battles and vicissitudes of fortune he
fell before the forces of Charles V
Of Spain near Tremizan on African
soil. He had actually escaped, but
upon learning that his faithful fol.
lowers were close pressed he returned
to die with them. The career of his
brother Kheyr-er-din is scarcely less
romantic.
PIRACY on the American coast
among the French and Spanish naviga.
tors began before the days of the Eng.
lish colonists. Queen Elizabeth is said