Essay On River Pirates

The term river pirate is essentially self- explanatory. River pirates are pirates who operate on rivers and streams. Nowadays when the topic of piracy is floated, the immediate thought that comes to most minds is that it obviously refers to piracy in seas and oceans. Somalia of course is one good example. Another is the piracy that continues to be a threat to ocean freighters in the area of Indonesia. The image of the Caribbean is also thought of as it has been popularized by the movie franchise, “Pirates of The Caribbean.” And in the midst of all the tales of high seas, river piracy is almost forgotten. While there is little archaeological evidence of piracy on the river, travel logs and diaries are filled with tales of pirates that was gruesome and inhumane. River piracy was a

These pirates usually operated in isolated settlements, sometimes in the presence of caves or had frontier settlements on river banks. A very small percentage of these areas were populated. Most of the regions that were victim to river piracy had one striking similarity, that is, the lack of any law enforcement or peace keeping agency. As a result of this, the only force that could even attempt to stop river pirates and keep a check on their activities was vigilante groups or individuals.

This kind of piracy can be viewed as tricking people as they moved along the river. River pirates had developed ingenious methods of capturing floating boats over the year. These methods varied from offering help to innocent crew members over some apparently dangerous rapids or a suggestion to manoeuvre towards a cave with clean water and a calming view. Once the unknowing were deep into the cave, the pirate gang would attack the boat mercilessly, often leaving no survivors. The passengers would be slain, their goods and possessions looted, possibly to be sold elsewhere by the