Piracy

act of robbery or criminality at sea

13 dated entries naming Piracy, drawn from 13 separate years between 220 BCE and 1721 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

Also written as Pirate in the source articles; Wikipedia redirects those to the same subject, so their entries are on this page.

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3rd century BC

220 BCETogether with fellow Illyrian, Scerdilaidas, Demetrius of Pharos attacks Illyrian cities under Roman protection and leads a piratical squadron into Greek waters. They unsuccessfully attack Pylos, an Achaean town on the Messenian coast, in the Peloponnesus of Greece.source

1st century BC

78 BCEThe Senate sends Publius Servilius Vatia to Cilicia as governor, where he fights a successful campaign against the Piracy in southern Anatolia (Lycia, Pamphylia and Isauria), he is thereafter known by the agnomen Isauricus.source
74 BCEMarcus Antonius (father of Mark Antony), a praetor, receives wide-ranging powers and considerable resources to fight the pirates in the Mediterranean Sea.source
71 BCEMarcus Antonius is defeated by the Cretans, who have made an alliance with the pirates. He is compelled to concede a humiliating peace. Antonius dies in office the same year and is awarded, posthumously, with the cognomen Creticus.source
68 BCEOstia, the harbour city of Ancient Rome, is sacked by pirates. The port is set on fire and the consular war fleet is destroyed.source

5th century

467Summer – Vandal War (461-468): King Genseric extends his pirate raids in the Mediterranean Sea; the Vandals sack and enslave the people living in Illyricum, the Peloponnese and other parts of Greece. Leo I joins forces with the Western Empire.source

8th century

711After pirates plunder an Arab ship near the mouth of the Indus River (Pakistan), Umayyad Arabs under Muhammad ibn Qasim invade India with 10,000 men and 6,000 horses, establishing a sultanate in Sindh. Qasim sends expeditions to Surashtra, where he makes peaceful treaty settlements with the Rashtrakuta.source

9th century

849Summer – Battle of Ostia: A Saracen Arab fleet from Sardinia sets sail towards Rome. In response, Pope Leo IV forms a coalition of maritime Italian cities, including Naples, Amalfi and Gaeta, led by Admiral Caesar — which is assembled off the re-fortified port of Ostia — and repels the Saracen marauders. Their navy is scattered, resulting in many sunken vessels. Rome is saved from plunder and the expansion of the Aghlabids.source
889A ship carrying about twenty Arab freebooters, from Pechina in Al-Andalus (modern Spain), sets anchor in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez in Provence. They establish a fortified base at Fraxinet (modern-day La Garde-Freinet). After raiding the surrounding area, the Muslim colony is bolstered by contingents of Saracen adventurers.source
896A Viking pirate army under Hastein (a son of Ragnar Lodbrok) ravages the Welsh kingdoms of Brycheiniog and Gwent (approximate date).source

13th century

1217August 24 – Eustace the Monk, French mercenary and pirate (c. 1170)source

17th century

1616Captain John Smith publishes his book A description of New England in London. Smith relates one voyage to the coast of Massachusetts and Maine, in 1614, and an attempted voyage in 1615, when he was captured by French pirates and detained for several months before escaping.source

18th century

1721April 26 – Pirates John Taylor and Olivier Levasseur capture the 700-ton Portuguese galleon Nossa Senhora do Cabo at Réunion. The total value of treasure on board (from Goa) is estimated as between £100,000 and £875,000, one of the largest pirate hauls ever.source