Pirates

When we think of 'pirates', our minds are flooded by images of Captain Jack Sparrow; flamboyantly dressed men stealing away women to woo them; exciting fights and gorgeous boats, sailing on the beautiful, never-ending ocean. We view pirates in a different way to how they were viewed a couple of hundred years ago. In today's popular culture, they are a romantic and exciting notion. In reality, pirates were, and still are incredibly blood-thirsty people who raped, murdered and stole from people. Popular mediums such as films and books depict pirates to be adventurous swashbucklers who sail the seven seas living their lives to the fullest, for example Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean or Dread Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride, who sails the seas, searching for his true love.

Captain Jack Sparrow - Pirates of the Caribbean

Dread Pirate Roberts - The Princess Bride

Many places around the world have history linked to piracy. Cornwall in general is notorious for it's smuggler tales and pirate legends. Reaching to hotter climates, 17th Century pirates roamed the warmer seas of the Caribbean looking for merchant ships to pillage.

In today's society, there are more that one type of pirate. There are the dangerous but romantic ones from stories long ago; online 'pirates' who download illegally and share files that aren't theirs to share; and there are the 'real life pirates' in Somalia and other countries who roam their local seas, taking people hostage and stealing from cargo boats. These pirates are not the part of the stereotype, they don't dress in baggy breeches or lacy shirts, they dress in normal clothes and are armed with all types of dangerous weapons. They use speedboats and machine guns. The pirates that are around today are incredibly dangerous to society and the economy. 

Somali pirates

I personally don't like to believe that these criminals are pirates. To me, pirates will always be those bearded men who raise skull and cross bones, swaggering across their decks drinking rum; they will be the sneaky smugglers that are Cornish legend colourful barbarians in fictional literature.