Evening star., 1921-07-04
|P|RACY EPIDEMIC
| FOLLOWER OF WAR
Geographic Society Points
Out Restless Souls Unable
to Settle Down.

to Settle Down. =
The theory that pirates are again
infesting Atlantic waters has been
put forward in connection with the
grounding of the Carroll Deering and
the mysterious disappearance of three
ether American steamships.
An epidemic Of piracy has fol.
lowed in the wake of nearly all OF
the great wars Even as recently as
the blood of battle and felt the intoXi-
cation Of danger became loath to set
tie down into the peaceful ways OF
men and commerce, and chose the
refus ID to live under the law" says a
bulletin of the National Geographic
Society from its Washington head
quarters.
Some Famous Pirate Bases.
Besides the broad oceans which Of
frred infinite chance for escape. there
have always been the island dotted
al cas- which furnish excellent lurking
places from which these eXponents
OF absolute freedom might direct their
tfoTts and to which they might take
their quarry for eXamina ton and long
division among them. The Greek
archipelago, the Barbary coast the
East Indies, the China shores and the
Spanish main, within the shadow of
cur own doors. have been pirate bases
wealth Of stories of hreathless in
t.r.st.
In ancient times these sea robbers
on the coast of Greece. Italy and
Asia Minor. with their thousands Of
light, swift vessels, or sea mice as
Il they were called, taxed merchant
shipping so heavily that they lightly
at;anl ana rIeh,ly MI termed their base of oper-
ca their black flag in the face of
mighty Rome. which remained impo-
tent against them until Pompey. with
Almost unlimited resources at his
command. curbed their operations
Ferdinand and Isabella, unwittinely
IN their decision to drive the Moors
from Span nish soil. let loose upon the
Morlo ana particularly upon Spanish
shipping' then at the height of it's
pride. fearful horde of daring and
interruptions avengers.
In the early days of Moslem
power one of the kalifs wrote to his
general and asked him what the sea
was like. The general answered. The
sea sea is "a a huge beast. which silly folk
rae IKE worms on logs Conse-
quently the kalif gave orders that
no Moslem should voyage upon il.
but they soon learned that they must
conquer it 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.
James BrOthers Of the Sen,
Two of the most daring and in
Senlous OF these We're the Barbarossa
Drothers. Red Beard terrorized the
Meniterranean world from CONSTANT
nople to the Pillars of Hercules Th.
excellent harbors and the island hid
ing places made il possible for him
70 defy the fleets of England. Italy
Spain and Holland, to levy tribui,
on az the vessels that passed over
ine hlghway. to capture the richly
laden papal galleys bound for Rome.
in Moslem defiance of Christiandom,
and chain the Christians to their
oars. In 1910, at that time notorious
ana Immensely wealthy. he changed
me 9ase OF his operations to the
Tunis. where the fates ceased to smile
so kindly upon him. After MANY
hard-fought battles and vicissitudes 3
OF fortune he fell before the forces
OF Charles V. of Spain. near Tremizan
on African soil, He had actually
iaithtul followers were close pressed
he returned to die with them. The
career OF his brother Kheyr-ed-din
Is scarcely less romantic.
among the French and Spa nish navi-
gators began before the days of the
English colonists. Queen Elizabeth
is said to have covertly counte-
nanced. as well as helped, expeditions
by buccaneers. and in the West Indies
the trade restrictions placed by the
various mother countries led to ac
ceptance by many island governors of
wares brought by navigators whom
they knew to he freebooters and
to question.
Piracy Road to High Office.
Perhaps the most unscrupulous
and willy of the snaryartad CO,
was Henry Morgan of the Caribbees.
He was a magnate. an indomita ble
ruler a crafty strategist and a com
mander of genius as well as a pirate
with one danger after the other. al
ways to come out on top. He marched
into Puerto Principe, in the heart
of Cuba, and took it. despite every
resistance. He outwitted with un-
canny cunning the officers at Porto
Beilo. in Panama. one Of the strongest
cities near the Caribbean shores and
the sterehouse for the riches which
had been brought by Spanish gal
Icons and mule packs from the in
terror. He escaped with an ines
timable amount of gold and Jewels,
ingeniously employing a fire ship
against the Spanish to accomplish his
escape when he was bottled up in
Maracaibo lake. Finally he took and
leaving his companions in the lurch.
he slipped away at night with ali
the booty to Jamaica. ingratiated
himself with the governor, and was
clever enough to get himself into
the graces of the English king, who
knighted him and made him lieuten-
ant governor of Jamaica for his long
experience Of that colony
an our boyhood stories of Capt
Kidd were frequent. The subject of
the narratives was really a respecta-
bie sailor in the merchant service,
with a wife and family in New York,
when he was commissioned by the
English king. in 1890. with power
to seize and destroy off the American
coast all pirate ships. Having been
given ships and crews to accomplish
the purpose. he gayly set sail across
the Atlantic. around the Cape of
Good Hope to Madagascar and the
Red sea to ravage East India waters
and convert to his own uses his cap
lures. Then he hied himself, so the
story goes, to West Indian waters
and buried his superfiuous treasures
before he finally went to Boston,
where he was captured. sent to Eng
frio ad nd ia