Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 British Interests in Spanish America
- 2 Privateering and Piracy
- 3 Traders' Ghastly Wounds
- 4 Response to Insurgent Privateering
- 5 Reponse to Spanish Privateering
- 6 The Anglo-Spanish Claims Commission
- 7 Response to Cuban-based Piracy
- Conclusion: Maritime Predation, Legal Posturing and Power
- Bibliography
- Index
Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 British Interests in Spanish America
- 2 Privateering and Piracy
- 3 Traders' Ghastly Wounds
- 4 Response to Insurgent Privateering
- 5 Reponse to Spanish Privateering
- 6 The Anglo-Spanish Claims Commission
- 7 Response to Cuban-based Piracy
- Conclusion: Maritime Predation, Legal Posturing and Power
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
What! Shall vile robbers say, that Britain now
No longer rules o'er Western India's wave?
Shall she, who govern'd ocean, e'er allow
Her sons to perish in a blood-stain'd grave?
Nay, worse, without demerit feel,
And unrevenged, the pirate steel?
Oh, Albion! Where is now that spirit fled,
That spurn'd, of yore, presumptuous foes disdain?
Which once thy sons with noble ardour led,
To sweep the bloody pirates from the Main?
And caus'd thy dreaded flag to flow,
A sure defence against the foe?
Extract from ‘The Pirates of 1822’, Kingston, Jamaica, 28 June 1822.It is unremarkable that piracy inspired an anonymous composer to pen the above lyrics. Piracy has the quality to capture the human imagination and continues to influence poetry, books, music and movies to this day. Likewise, it is unremarkable that piracy inspired artistic endeavour as early as 1822. Less than a decade previously, Lord Byron – the British poet and a leading figure in the Romantic Movement — had published The Corsair, in which the pirate captain Conrad fought for noble causes and won ladies' hearts. What is remarkable about ‘The Pirates of 1822’, however, is that it refers not to fictional and fantastical pirates as Byron's poem did and as the novels of Ballantyne, Stevenson and Barrie would do over the course of the next century, rather, ‘The Pirates of 1822’ referred to a very real threat.
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- Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2013