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Notorious Pirate Havens - Part 2: Around the World

© Cindy Vallar

Pirate havens have existed throughout the world and throughout history. The Barbary corsairs favored Algiers, Morocco, Tripoli, and Tunis for their havens. Technically privateers, these corsairs attacked ships and settlements in the Mediterranean. They also enslaved captives unable to pay their ransoms. One reason for the corsairs' existence was originally to defend North Africa from the Europeans. The height of their power came during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but corsairs still attacked ships into the early nineteenth century.

One well-known Barbary corsair was Khair ad-Din (also known as Barbarossa). During the sixteenth century, he used Kucukada Kalesi, a fortress in Turkey, as his base of operations. Another port-of-call for corsairs was Bizerte in Tunis. The lake behind the port allowed many ships to anchor there, giving them protection from those who pursued them. In addition, Bizerte controlled access between the eastern and western halves of the Mediterranean, providing corsairs with a treasure trove of ships to plunder. Long known as a center of trade and refuge for the persecuted, the Republic of Salé (present-day Rabat) also attracted corsairs. Various factions vied for control until Sultan Moulay Raschid reunited Morocco in 1668. He offered his protection to the corsairs for a ten percent share of the profits. Eventually, that percentage increased to fifty percent and the corsairs turned to more reputable pursuits or left Salé.

In 1717, Kanhoji Angria repulsed an attempt by the British to destroy his enclave near Bombay. He continued to prey on East Indiamen in the Indian Ocean until his death in 1729. At that time his island base was considered unassailable, making it the perfect pirate haven. The same could not be said about the pirate base of Ra 's al Khayma in the Persian Gulf, which the British destroyed in November 1809.

During the American Revolution, French corsairs found safe harbor in Dunkirk, a port in France that had been used as a privateering base for hundreds of years. The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars brought Saint Malo to the fore as a base for corsairs like Robert Surcouf and Réné Duguay.

The Malay and Dayak pirates preyed on maritime shipping in the waters between Singapore and Hong Kong from their haven in Borneo. The Balanini, based in Jolo, raided for slaves and preyed on Spanish vessels in the Philippines until the 1860's when the British and Spanish navies eradicated the pirates. Another popular haven was Sumatra, from which the Atjeh and Riau pirates attacked ships in the Sundra and Malaccan Straits. Chui Apoo, a Chinese pirate of the nineteenth century, made his headquarters at Bias Bay, an area that continued to harbor pirates until the 1930's. Today, the largest concentration of pirates is found in Southeast Asia. Many hide in the remote islands of Indonesia.

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