Re: Pirate Havens in FT

>
>True but that doesn't explain why Spain never dropped a battalion or
two
>off to deal with the problem.
>
>I'd say fear of yet another Armada debacle had something to do with
their 
>caution.

Also, it depends which era of piracy you're talking about, but all the
European powers in the area used pirates as an extension of their
foreign
policy when it was convenient at one time or another.  Hand out a letter
of
marque and a pirate is now a privateer and on your side.  Well, he's
theoretically on your side.

How about - maybe the Spanish left them alone because it was less
expensive
than doing something about it...?  To be really effective, they would
have
to send a large fleet to stop the pirates scattering and sailing off
over
the horizon in all directions.	And they'd have to do it secretly, and
not
put themselves in a position to be taken advantage of by the other
European
powers.

Putting this back into an FT context, one might suggest an arrangement
whereby a pirate hunted ONLY ships of X and Y nations, and hid in an
area
nominally controlled by Z who turns a blind eye to them because it is,
at
the moment, convenient.  The pirates would have to watch out, because
expediency rules and if it became a big issue, Z would step on them, but
for the time being the unofficial arrangement satisfies both parties.  Z
gets to give X and Y a hard time, without actually doing anything overt.
And the pirates get to do what they do and have a safe place to go back
to.


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Adrian Johnson
adrian@stargrunt.ca
http://www.stargrunt.ca

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