There is obviously a resurgence of interest in piracy due to the recent capture of a USA-flagged ship and the hostage situation with the ship’s captain that happily ended in his rescue just this morning.
Many of us, of course, still think of pirates in terms of 1700s brigands in tall ships with parrots, bandanas, striped shirts and eye patches, hoisting the Jolly Roger and keelhauling their victims. I remember watching the movie The Phantom and rolling my eyes a bit at the mention of his ancestor’s oath to fight piracy. It’s an okay film, saved by the dedicated performance of Billy Zane and the thigh-high boots on an unknown Catherine Zeta Jones. I liked the movie. But pirates? It’s a bit hard to make that relevant, isn’t it?
However, some years later, I heard the author of “Dangerous Waters” on the radio, and the interview was so intriguing that I picked up the book as a gift for my dad. The book explains how piracy has never fully gone away. The author was surprised to learn this in person, when his craft was raided by a species of criminal that he thought was extinct: pirates.
Modern laws make it a very profitable enterprise for many third world ruffians. Many companies would rather pay exorbitant ransoms rather than having to mess about with training their crews to fight pirates (or equipping them with security personnel), and some ports have strict laws that don’t allow arriving boats to carry weapons.
Maybe a modern-day Phantom dedicated to fighting pirates could take on their modern counterparts. I know I’d buy that book!
Interesting note: When I went out to Amazon to find Dangerous Waters, I discovered that this six-year-old book is now in the top 1000 books. What’s more, it’s currently #2 in the category “International Security”, #5 in “Current Events – Terrorism”, and #9 in “Politics – International Relations”! That must be a nice little windfall for author John S. Burnett.