Abstract
Piracy in the Caribbean was extensive, and such cases as reported in this study have been given estimated numbers in the aggregate. Costs of eradication were extensive and high, and the burden to carry out suppression of piracy carried human costs. Techniques for hunting pirates changed over time. Prize money and other incentives inducing sailors in the Royal Navy to act against pirates did not last, because of unverifiable figures of claim, or the inability of civil authorities to provide oversight and accountability. Reforming legislation brought an end to the old prize money system, and concepts of honour and duty were advertised as suitable replacements. The era also witnessed the triumph of free trade policies and practices. The concept of freedom of the seas had become a reality. Protection and expansion of legitimate trade was the achieved goal. All the same, piracy exists in insecure locales. This study reveals the necessity of official seaborne forces, naval or constabulary, to maintain the safe and secure passage of commercial shipping in zones and locations where piracy exists or might be revived.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Allen, Our Navy and the West Indian Pirates, 46.
- 2.
Francis B.C. Bradlee, Piracy in the West Indies and Its Suppression, 22–23.
- 3.
Ibid., 11.
- 4.
Sailing Orders, 18 December 1840, MLN/102/6, NMM. For similar, 1838, see Beeler, ed., Milne Papers, 1: 75, 80.
- 5.
Among various sources on anti-piracy by the Royal Navy in other seas, see Grace Fox, British Admirals and Chinese Pirates, 1832–1869 (London: Kegan Paul, 1940), Gerald S. Graham, Great Britain in the Indian Ocean, 1810–1850 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1967), Arnold T. Wilson, The Persian Gulf (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968) and D.F. Rennie, British Arms in North China and Japan: Peking, Kagoshima (London, 1864). The forging of the great maritime peace, begun by Captain Fairfax Moresby, designed to eradicate piracy and end slavery, is a theme pursued in Gough, Pax Britannica, 189–213, and always depended on native agreement.
- 6.
Allen, Our Navy and the West Indian Pirates, 89.
- 7.
Corbett, Some Principles of Maritime Strategy (1988 ed.), 96.
- 8.
Goodrich, “Our Navy and the West Indian Pirates,” US Naval Institute Proceedings, xlii: 1175.
- 9.
Allen, Our Navy and the West Indian Pirates, xii.
- 10.
Edward Belcher, Narrative of the Voyage of HMS Samarang (London, 1848). For discussion of this case, see William Senior, Naval History in the Law Courts: A Selection of Old Maritime Cases (London: Longmans, Green, 1927), 99–102. This may also be followed in William Senior, “An Early-Victorian Windfall,” Mariner’s Mirror, 1 (1911): 80–83.
- 11.
Senior, Naval History in the Law Courts, 100.
- 12.
Hansard, House of Commons, Debates, 11 February 1850, vol. 108, cc 661–66.
- 13.
Ibid. The discussion was taken up in the House of Lords: see Hansard, House of Lords, Debates, 18 April 1850, vol. 110, cc 482–95.
- 14.
For a recent discussion, see Adrian G. Marshall, Nemesis: The First Iron Warship and Her World (Singapore: National University of Singapore Press, 2016), 212–25.
- 15.
Roberto Fernández Valledor, El mito de Cofresí en la narrativa antillana, xx.
- 16.
Fernando Henrique Cadoso and Enzo Faletto, Dependency and development in Latin America.
- 17.
Alan M. Taylor, “Foreign Capital in Latin America in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries,” NBER Working Paper No. 9580, 6.
- 18.
“Foreign Investment in the United States,” Foreign Investment in the United States, 3.
- 19.
Walter Cardona Bonet, El Marinero, 276–77.
- 20.
Walter Cardona Bonet, El Marinero, 156.
- 21.
Walter Cardona Bonet, El Marinero, 279–82.
- 22.
Walter Cardona Bonet, El Marinero, Bandolero, Pirata y Contrabandista Roberto Cofresí (1819–1825), preface.
- 23.
Walter Cardona Bonet, El Marinero, 279–82.
- 24.
D. Pedro Tomás de Córdova, Memorias geográficas, históricas, económicas y estadísticas de la Isla de Puerto Rico, 46–48.
- 25.
Héctor Andrés Negroni, Historia Militar de Puerto Rico, 76.
- 26.
Héctor Andrés Negroni, Historia Militar de Puerto Rico, 77.
- 27.
Héctor Andrés Negroni, Historia Militar de Puerto Rico, 81.
- 28.
Ricardo R. Camuñas Madera, Hacendados y comerciantes en Puerto Rico en torno a la década revolucionaria de 1860 (Mayagüez: R. R. Camuñas Madera, 1994).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gough, B., Borras, C. (2018). Conclusion: The Emergent Alliance. In: The War Against the Pirates. Britain and the World. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-31414-7_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-31414-7_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-230-35481-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-31414-7
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)