piracy
Piracy was not something limited to the warm waters of the Caribbean, South West England was also subjected to its terrors for centuries. These raiders from the sea would not only challenge boats and take their cargos, but land near coastal villages and take all they could get their hands on! The havoc and fear these raids created make it easy to understand why there were very few coastal settlements between the 16th and 18th centuries, instead people chose to live a mile or two inland. The pirates who created the greatest terror were the Barbary Coast pirates from North Africa.
From the early 17th century there were rumours of attacks on ships near English waters, in the Mediterranean, and off the North African coast. But these were denied, particularly by merchant ship owners whose crews were refusing to journey into these areas. Ships that set out for the New World of the Americas with cargos and settlers were not arriving, and boats which had set off on long fishing trips were not coming home. When attacks on settlements started and whole communities were kidnapped the rumours could no longer be denied! Trade almost came to a standstill, fishermen were afraid for their lives and didn't want to leave their families to the mercy of raids.
The Navy were slow to respond to pleas for help claiming insufficient manpower, and then that the threat was being exaggerated. Eventually it was realised that these were no ordinary opportunistic pirates but Barbary Pirates set on kidnapping people to sell into slavery, all with their government's blessing! They had fast boats and attacked as they pleased, in one year they captured 27 ships in the seas around Plymouth! When they attacked communities they would run their ships up onto beaches in the dark and take whoever and whatever they could find.
There are no records of the numbers taken in these raids, few ever returned and there were stories of men wandering around towns with their tongues cut out which created even more terror of torture by pirates. Victims were often taken to Algiers market to be sold, those with skills fared better than those without. Skilled sailors could end up working for the very fleet that had captured them, being paid a wage that compared well with a navy or merchant shipping salary. The alternative was hard labour as a slave where the death rate was high, not much of a choice! Women would sometimes be sold to harems where they had better food and accommodation, but that's about all it had going for it!
Merchant ships and even smugglers armed themselves and their ships against attack. The Barbary Pirates were not ones for all out fighting and the raids and attacks reduced until by the middle of the 18th century they were virtually unknown, but it took a long time for coastal inhabitants to feel safe in their beds! The wreck of a Barbary Pirate ship was discovered in 1994 off Salcombe it contained 550 gold coins from Morocco (the largest ever find of Moroccan gold in Europe), along with piles of gold jewellery, many pieces cut in half to allow the spoils to be shared, and small gold ingots. Other items included German pottery, a merchant's seal, lead, unusual Elizabethan pewter spoons, and a doctor's jar complete with pills or seeds. This is now a Protected Wreck and can only be dived with a special licence.
