Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-07-09
SPEAKING OE PIRATES

LNAECUIlON DUCK has been powerless
IL against the pirate of romance. His
sway has triumphed over disclosures of the
most sordid details of the careers of Captain
William Kidd, of Edward Teach, called
Blackboard; of Bartholomew Roberts or
Captain Avery.
1T Is, 1t is a glorious thing to be a pirate
king" carols the lusty desperate Of the
Gilbertian "Penzance.' Were only of
playing pirates" writes Tom Sawyer in one
Of the proudest moments of his spectacular
career. The satisfaction which r. l.. Ste
venson derived from his creation Of Long
John Silver, that genial and resourceful
nautical rascal, never stalled.
''The pirate" declares David Hannay,
one of the comparatively few dispassionate
commentators on this theme, "when he is
seen in authentic evidence Is found for the
most part to have been pitiful rogue
No matter. The public will not have him
as such. 1t is useless. for example, to deny
that thousands of pulses through the land
have throbbed a bit more quickly with each
enrichment Of the current extraordinary
mystery of the sea.
The adventure Of the sMunson liner Mu-
nalbro off Cape May on the morning Of
June 80 gives point to the conjecture, at
first deemed preposterously wild, that the
former customs Of the Spanish Main have
been revived In more northerly latitudes.
"A peculiar weird whistle" (precise tone not
specified) was heard. "a peculiar looking
craft" abnormal features unexplained)
emerged suddenly from the fog, ''turned tail''
and vanished.
Another Munson vessel, the errant Cal
lao, has been sighted, but storms, fog, Ice
bergs, sea- perils of the conventional type
fail to explain the mystery of more than a
score Of missing ships, whose fate has defed
investigation for several months. Boil
shevism has been blamed. But Red navy
operating broadcast somehow lacks imagina-
tive conviction.
Equally alien to the probabilities is a
revival of German sea dcpredations The
Nation is at peace. Congress has spoken to
that effect.
"But ships are but boards, sailors but
men; there be land rats and water rats,
water thieves and land thieves, mean
pirates
Thus Shylock whose fictitious life began
before the supreme heyday of freebooting in
the Caribbean. Nevertheless, he ranked
piracy among the sea plaques. That reckless
practice long antedated Venice.
Privateering has been convenient verbal
cloak for it in not few instances. Note
| Drake and Morgan. The English themselves
| prior to their present mood of cooling doves
would have included John Paul Jones.
1t is of record that Puritan company
| organized in the reign of Charles exploited
! the coast of Honduras. The colonists took
to unadulterated piracy and were suppressed
| by the Spaniards, who paid to their former
| oppressors the sincere compliment of imita-
| tion on a major scale.
Kidd himself opened operations rs
scourge of piracy. He held Kings COM
mission authorizing him to chastise the
| French His subsequent backsliding brought
| him treasure, eventually death and stirred
| up q speculative stock scandal on the Royal
Exchange Obviously there are land thieves.
The sea enjoys no monopoly.
For a full century, however, save in Malay
| waters, the sea- morals in peace times have
been relatively good. Sentiment and ro-
nance gild the old deeds of brutal derring do.
Strikingly enough, the last formidable
outbreak of piracy occurred Immediately fol-
lowing the world war of the Napoleonic err.
| Anarchic conditions due to the revolt Of
the Latin American colonies produced the
Inst authentic display of piracy in the New
World. The vaedictory was appropriately
staged off the north coast OF South America,
more POLITICALLY the Spanish Main.
| Historic parallels are scductive-and dam
| gerous recrudescence of piracy succeed
ing second world shambles is, however.
barely conceivable. Where the ,lugsers
would land, how the loot would be dis
tributed, whence the crews would be re-
cruited-these are all problems. The ro-
mancers from Homer down have made light
of these In the absence Of other informa :
ton, reference to the yarn -spinners Is per-
missihle. They have helped to disguise the
ugliness of piracy in the past. That their
spell is still exerted is manifested by the
eagerness with which each new contribution
to the present enigma is received.
Let us hope adjured the candid audi
tor, on learning that his dearest foe was Ill,
that it's nothing trivial" That somewhat
mythic entity-the public-would doubtless
disclaim such heartlessness. Yet love OF
romance, on the whole an admirable trait
from its birth in Mr. Wells geologic ages
has paralyzed the Judgment.
Readers of the contemporary pirate tale
dramatically verified senSauonally con-
frmed could be numbered by millions.