A river pirate is a
pirate
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
who operates along a river. The term has been used to describe many different kinds of pirate groups who carry out riverine attacks in Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, and South America. They are usually prosecuted under national, not
international law
International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...
.
Asia
China
In Asia, river piracy is a major threat even today. The "
Yangtze Patrol", from 1854 to 1949, was a prolonged naval operation, protecting American
treaty ports and U.S. citizens along the
Yangtze River
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...
from river pirates and
Chinese insurgents. During the 1860s and 1870s, American merchant ships were prominent on the lower Yangtze, operating inland up to the deepwater port of
Hankou . In 1874, the U.S.
gunboat reached as far as
Ichang, at the foot of the Yangtze gorges, from the sea. In this period, most US personnel found a tour in the Yangtze to be uneventful, as a major American shipping company had sold its interests to a Chinese firm, leaving the patrol with little to protect. The added mission of anti-
piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
patrols required U.S. naval and
marine
Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean.
Marine or marines may refer to:
Ocean
* Maritime (disambiguation)
* Marine art
* Marine biology
* Marine debris
* Marine habitats
* Marine life
* Marine pollution
Military ...
landing parties to be put ashore several times to protect American interests.
Southeast Asia along Mekong River
Currently, in a region known as the
"Golden Triangle", river piracy, combined with illegal trafficking of heroin, poses a major international law enforcement problem. One of the worst criminal cases involving Asian river pirates occurred on 5 October 2011, called the "
Mekong River massacre". A Chinese cargo ship hauling nine hundred thousand amphetamine pills, worth more than three million dollars, was attacked and
hijacked, and thirteen crewmen were killed. The hijackers were caught and executed by the
Chinese government in 2012.
Europe
Balkans
In the
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
region, of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, the
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
Narentines, of the ninth and tenth centuries, were known for their piracy on the River
Neretva.
Russia
The
Ushkuiniks were medieval Russian
Novgorodian river pirates from the tenth to fourteenth centuries, a
Slavic version of the
Vikings, through fighting, killing, and robbery. In the sixteenth-century reign of
Tsar Ivan the Terrible
''Tsar Ivan the Terrible'' (russian: Царь Иван Грозный, Tsar Ivan Groznyy) is a 1991 Soviet drama film directed by Gennady Vasilyev.
Plot
The film tells about Ivan the Terrible and his brutal rule of Russia.
Cast
* Kakhi Kavs ...
, the legendary explorer and soldier
Yermak Timofeyevich, was a Russian
Cossack river pirate along the Volga or possibly Don River. Yermak was later pardoned for his crimes and became the "Conqueror of Siberia".
Along Danube River
Modern piracy exists on the
Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
River in
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...
and
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
. Allegations were made from 2006 that Romanian river pirates had attacked vessels from Bulgaria on the
Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
. The Romanian government responded by accusing captains of fabricating stories while illegally selling their own cargo and evading customs. There were further allegations of Danubian piracy on Ukrainian vessels in 2012 but in only one case were there allegations of actual attacks on crews: more properly the incidents amounted simply to theft from cargo vessels.
North America
United States
Ohio and Mississippi Rivers
American river piracy in late eighteenth and mid-nineteenth century was primarily concentrated along the
Ohio River and
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...
valleys. River pirates usually operated in isolated frontier
settlements, which were sparsely populated areas lacking the protection of civil authority and institutions. They resorted to a variety of tactics depending on the number of pirates and size of the boat crews involved, including
deception
Deception or falsehood is an act or statement that misleads, hides the truth, or promotes a belief, concept, or idea that is not true. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda and sleight o ...
,
concealment,
ambush
An ambush is a long-established military tactic in which a combatant uses an advantage of concealment or the element of surprise to attack unsuspecting enemy combatants from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind moun ...
, and assaults in open
combat near natural obstacles and curiosities, such as shelter
caves,
islands, river
narrows
A narrows or narrow (used interchangeably but usually in the plural form), is a restricted land or water passage. Most commonly a narrows is a strait, though it can also be a water gap.
A narrows may form where a stream passes through a tilted ...
,
rapids,
swamps, and
marshes. River travelers were
robbed
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the per ...
, captured, and
murdered, and their livestock,
slaves, cargo, and
flatboats
A flatboat (or broadhorn) was a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with square ends used to transport freight and passengers on inland waterways in the United States. The flatboat could be any size, but essentially it was a large, sturdy tub with a ...
,
keelboats, and
rafts were sunk or sold down river.
Toward the end of the
Revolutionary War, after their escape from
New Madrid,
Spanish Upper Louisiana Territory, John Turner and the
counterfeiter Philip Alston joined
Chickasaw Indian leader, James Logan Colbert and a mixed, roving band of
Natchez refugees, Cumberland settlers, and Chickasaw, numbering around 600, made piratical attacks against Spanish shipping on the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...
in 1781 and 1782.
[Misc. Newspapers. The Colonial Records Project. North Carolina Department of Archives and History. http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/sections/hp/colonial/newspapers/Subjects/Misc.htm.]
After the Revolutionary War, American river piracy began to take root in the mid-1780s along the upper Mississippi River, between
Spanish Upper Louisiana, around
St. Louis and the
confluence with the Ohio River at
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...
. In 1803, at
Tower Rock, the U.S. Army
dragoons, possibly from the frontier army post up river at
Fort Kaskaskia
Fort Kaskaskia State Historic Site is a 200-acre (0.8 km²) park near Chester, Illinois, on a blufftop overlooking the Mississippi River. It commemorates the vanished frontier town of '' Old Kaskaskia'' and the support it gave to George ...
, opposite
St. Louis, raided and drove out the river pirates.
Starting in the late 1790s,
Stack Island became associated with river pirates and
counterfeiters. In 1809, the last major river pirate activity on the upper Mississippi came to an abrupt end, when a group of
flatboatmen, meeting at the head of the "Nine Mile Reach," decided to make a raid on Stack Island and wipe out the river pirates. They attacked at night, a battle ensued, and two of the boatmen and several outlaws were killed. The attackers captured nineteen other men, a fifteen-year-old boy and two women. The women and teenager were allowed to leave. The remaining outlaws are presumed to have been executed.
From 1790 to 1834,
Cave-In-Rock was the principal
outlaw lair and headquarters of river pirate activity in the
Ohio River region. The notorious cave is today within the peaceful confines of
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...
's
Cave-in-Rock State Park. In 1797, it was anything but peaceful, as
Samuel Mason, who was initially a
Revolutionary War Patriot captain in the
Ohio County, Virginia militia
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
and an associate judge and
squire
In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight.
Use of the term evolved over time. Initially, a squire served as a knight's apprentice. Later, a village leader or a lord of the manor might come to be known as ...
in Kentucky, led a gang of
highway robbers and river pirates on the Ohio. Mason started his criminal organization in
Red Banks and was driven out by
regulators sweeping through western
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
, so set up his new operation at
Diamond Island, followed by Cave-In-Rock and later,
along the Mississippi River, from Stack Island to
Natchez, Mississippi.
During Samuel Mason's 1797–1799 occupation of Cave-In-Rock and after his departure, the name of
Bully Wilson became associated with cave; a large sign was erected near the natural landmark's entrance, "Liquor Vault and House for Entertainment." Wilson may have been an alias for Mason, a front man for his criminal operation, or another outlaw leader who ran a gang of pirates in the region. The
Harpe Brothers, who were allegedly America's first
serial killers, were
highwaymen on the run from the law in
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 36th-largest by ...
and Kentucky, and briefly joined Samuel Mason's gang at Cave-In-Rock.
Peter Alston
Peter Alston (after 1765 - February 8, 1804) was an American coin counterfeiting, counterfeiter, horse thief, highwayman, and river pirate of the late 18th and early 19th Centuries. He is believed to have been an associate of serial-killer, seria ...
, the son of counterfeiter
Philip Alston, became a river pirate and
highwayman at Cave-In-Rock and made the acquaintance of Samuel Mason and
Wiley Harpe, following them to Stack Island and Natchez.
From the late 1700s to early 1800s, on the Illinois side of the Ohio River north of Cave-In-Rock, Jonathan Brown led a small gang of river pirates at
Battery Rock. The lower Ohio River country was routinely patrolled by the
U.S. Army, with troops
garrisoned at
Fort Massac as
constabulary against Native Americans,
colonial raiders from
Spanish Louisiana, and river outlaws in the region.
Between 1790 and 1820, the legendary
Colonel Plug
Colonel Plug (1700s? – 1820?), also known as Colonel Fluger and "The Last of the Boat-Wreckers", who existed sometime between the 1790s and 1820, was the legendary river pirate who ran a criminal gang on the Ohio River in a cypre ...
, also known as Colonel Fluger, ran a gang of river pirates on the
Ohio River, in a
cypress swamp
A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...
near the mouth of the
Cache River, below Cave-In-Rock and
Fort Massac and just above the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Plug's tactics were to sneak aboard personally, or have one of his pirates secretly go into the
hull
Hull may refer to:
Structures
* Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle
* Fuselage, of an aircraft
* Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds
* Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship
* Submarine hull
Mathematics
* Affine hull, in affi ...
of a boat, and dig out the
caulking between the floor
planks or drill holes with an
auger
Auger may refer to:
Engineering
* Wood auger, a drill for making holes in wood (or in the ground)
** Auger bit, a drill bit
* Auger conveyor, a device for moving material by means of a rotating helical flighting
* Auger (platform), the world's f ...
, causing the boat to sink and be easily attacked. The boat and the cargo would later be sold down river.
James Ford, a
civic
Civic is something related to a city or municipality. It also can refer to multiple other things:
General
*Civics, the science of comparative government
*Civic engagement, the connection one feels with their larger community
*Civic center, a comm ...
leader and businessman, secretly led a gang of river pirates and highwaymen from the 1820s to the mid-1830s on the Ohio River, in Illinois and Kentucky.
River piracy continued on the lower Mississippi River from the early 1800s to the 1840s. These river pirates were mainly organized into large gangs similar to Samuel Mason's around Cave-In-Rock, or smaller gangs under the operation of
John A. Murrell, which also existed from the 1820s to the mid-1830s between Stack Island and Natchez,
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
.
The decline of American river piracy occurred over time, starting as early as 1804 and ending by the 1840s, as a result of direct military action taken and the combined strength of local
law enforcement
Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term ...
and
regulator-vigilante groups that uprooted and swept out pockets of
outlaw resistance.
New York City
From 1866 to 1877, the
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
waterfront was infested with gangs of river pirates along the
Hudson and
East River
The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...
s. River piracy consisted mainly of pirates stealing goods and cargo from ships in open water and docked along the waterfront piers. Many of the river pirates that formed to these gangs were well organized and consisted mainly of working class Irish Americans and Irish immigrants. The most notorious New York river pirate gangs were the
Charlton Street Gang,
Hook Gang, and
Patsey Conroy Gang.
In the mid-1860s the
Charlton Street Gang was led by the female pirate
Sadie "the Goat" Farrell. Sadie the Goat modeled herself and her gang after the "pirates of the Golden Age" by flying the "
Jolly Roger
Jolly Roger is the traditional English name for the naval ensign, flags flown to identify a piracy, pirate ship preceding or during an attack, during the early 18th century (the later part of the Golden Age of Piracy).
The flag most commonly i ...
" flag aboard their ship and making victims walk the plank.
The Charlton Street Gang raided small cargo and merchant ships and operated within the territory of New York City,
North River, of
New York Harbor,
Hudson River
The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between Ne ...
, from the
Harlem River, as far as
Poughkeepsie and
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York Cit ...
.
After the Charlton Street Gang murdered people in pirate raids in the
Hudson River Valley, the Charlton Street Gang was attacked and dispersed by local
vigilantes
Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority.
A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a person who ...
in the region. Following this setback the Charlton Street Gang decided to return to New York City and commit only
street crimes never to return to river piracy again. By 1869, the gang disappeared from the scene.
The eventual decline of river piracy in New York City began in 1876 when the
New York City Police
The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the New York City, City of New York, the largest and one of ...
Department under the command of Police Sergeant
George W. Gastlin organized the
"
Steamboat Squad" in which armed police patrols in boats confronted and arrested the river pirates in New York harbor.
[ Asbury, Herbert. ''The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the New York Underworld''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928. (pg. 77) ]
United States – Mexico border
Rio Grande
An increase in crime at the border between the United States and Mexico on
Falcon Lake. The lake is a long reservoir of the
Rio Grande that was constructed in 1954 and is known for
river piracy and as a drug smuggling route of the Mexican cartels in the ongoing conflict known as the
Mexican Drug War.
South America
In recent years, river pirate activity on the
Amazon River has been on the rise in various countries around that river.
In northern Brazil, due to the lack of investments in security, river pirate activity skyrocketed. Attacks against
oil tanker
An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined ...
s, cargo boats and fishermen became very frequent in this region.
In Colombia, paramilitary groups and drug cartels committed numerous hijackings, and looting of boats and kidnapping are also frequent.
See also
*
List of pirates
References
External links
The Mekong (River) Pirates
{{Pirates
Pirates
Piracy in the United States
American frontier
19th-century pirates