GEH1013

Pirates, Oceans and the Maritime World

AY2020-21

Department of History
National University of Singapore

Lecturer: Dr Donna Brunero

dbrunero@nus.edu.sg
AS1/05-42

Module Overview:

What is piracy and how can we define it? Why is the pirate such a romanticised
figure? Why does piracy still persist in modern times?
This module will address these questions and many more relating to violence at sea
and the evolving history of pirates.

This module explores piracy - acts of maritime violence - in world history, travelling
across time and different regions of the world. We will explore the shifting dynamics
between politics, social pressures, and economics that sometimes caused piracy to
flourish and at other times led to its repression. From the Atlantic and Mediterranean,
to the Indian Ocean and the China Coast we'll explore life at sea and the violence that
sometimes accompanied it, from the 1400s to the present day. From pirates to
privateers, corsairs to raiders, maritime predators take various names and forms. By
placing pirates into the context of oceanic history and maritime studies, this module
encourages you to consider the often-ambiguous definitions of maritime violence and
in doing so aims to demystify the popular images often associated with pirates.

Learning Outcomes:
 Students will have a good understanding of what constitutes piracy in different eras
and the reasons why definitions are shifting and ambiguous.
 Students will have a good knowledge of the economic, social and geo-political
environments in which pirates operated.
 Students will have an introduction to oceanic studies, through the lens of piracy and
the port city.
 Students will develop analytical skills and familiarity with a range of documents and
sources enabling them to ‘think historically’ about past and present cases of piracy.

Textbook: This module uses C.R. Pennell’s Bandits at Sea: A Pirates Reader (NYU
Press, 2001) as a key text. This book is available as an E book and is in the Central
Library’s RBR.

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SCHEDULE:
Lectures will be in two forms: either live (via Zoom) with Q& A with some
special topics and case studies pre-recorded. Follow the Lesson Flow to ensure
you keep up with the module. (Zoom lectures will be recorded BUT the Q&A or other elements may not be
recorded. You are encouraged to join these sessions to get the most out of the module!)

WEEK LECTURE READINGS

TITLE
1. Piracy: An Textbook: Chapter 1 “Introduction” by C.R Pennell.
Week Introduction
starting 10th
Aug.

2. Piracy and Textbook: Chapter 2, Anne Perotin-Dumon,“The Pirate

(17th Aug) World history and the Emperor”
(& an
introduction to OR
the early
Chapter 5. John L. Anderson, “Piracy and World
modern era) History”.

3. The Golden Textbook: Chapter 6 David J. Starkey, “Pirates and

(24th Aug) Age of Piracy Markets”.

Miles Ogborn’s Global Lives, Chapter 7, “Maritime

Violence: buccaneers, pirates and privateers”(section on
William Dampier in particular).

Visit: the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich for

information on pirates.
https://www.rmg.co.uk/discover/explore/blackbeard-
edward-teach

Primary source: By the King, a Proclamation for the more

effectual reducing and suppressing of pirates and privateers in
America” (King James II) Document dated to 16 81-2.
https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2006kislak199321900000
2/?st=gallery

Literary inspiration: José d Esperoceda Y Delgado, “La

Cancion del Pirata” (the Song of the Pirate) c. 1830s. One of
Spain’s most famous romantic poets.

4. Popular Film Screening: TBA

(Tutorial 1) Culture 1
(31st Aug)
5. Life at Sea & Textbook: Chapter 9 by J.S. Bromley “Outlaws at Sea,
(7th. Sept) Life at Port 1660-1720”
CA1 due: OR Chapter 8, Marcus Rediker, “The Seaman as Pirate.”
Fri 11th Cordingly, “Pirate Ports” (e-reserves)
Source: Browse the UNESCO site on Port Royal.
Sept.
https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5430/

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6. Women and Read at least two of the following case studies:
(14th Sept) the Sea From the textbook read either:
Chapter 15 Marcus Rediker, “Liberty Beneath the
Jolly Roger.” OR Chapter 13 by Dian Murray,
“Cheng I Sao in Fact and Fiction.”

AND read the two short TimeLife magazine articles

on Grace O’Malley and Mdm Ching (available via
LumiNUS)

Optional: Browse the blog by Jo Stanley on Gender

and the Sea. http://genderedseas.blogspot.com

19th Sept- RECESS WEEK

27th Sept.
7. Popular Film Screening
(28th Sept) Culture #2

And short
For the recorded lecture: Textbook: Chapter 4 by David
recorded
Starkey, “The origins and regulation of Privateering”
lecture on
Privateering. Source: John Franklin James,
Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial
Period: Illustrative Documents (1923).
This volume is available online and all
documents are hyper-linked to the main
text. [E-book] (One document is available
in the additional readings/materials folder
on LumiNUS)

8. Piracy in Asia Robert J. Antony, Elusive Pirates, Pervasive Smugglers:

(5th Oct) (I) Violence and Clandestine Trade in the Greater China
Seas. Introduction, pp.3-10. Overviews piracy in the Asian
context. And chapter by Paola Calanca, “Piracy and
Coastal Security in Southeastern China” [E-book]

Robert J. Antony (2013) “Turbulent Waters: Sea Raiding

in Early Modern South East Asia,” The Mariner's Mirror,
99:1, 23- 38, (JSTOR)
Readings: TBA.
9. (12th Guest Lecture To be confirmed.
Oct)

10. Piracy in Asia Watch: “The Ships that Shaped us: The Diana”
(CA2 (II) Channel NewsAsia (2019)
ESSAY
DUE 23rd Eric Tagliacozzo, Secret Trades, Porous Borders:
Oct.) Smuggling and States Along a Southeast Asian Frontier,
1865-1915. (Singapore: NUS Press, 2007), Chapter 5 “The
Spectre of Violence”.

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 James Warren “A Tale of Two Centuries:
TheGlobalisation of Maritime Raiding and Piracy in
Southeast Asia at the end of the Eighteenth and Twentieth
Centuries” (ARI working paper series, available online)

Source: Owen Rutter The Pirate Wind: Tales of the Sea

Robbers of Malaya

11. Popular
Culture 3: Film Screening
TBA
12. Piracy in the Ikuya Tokoro,”Piracy in Contemporary Sulu: An
present day: Ethnographical Case Study” in Kleinen and Osseweijer
Southeast Asia (eds) Pirates, Ports, and Coasts in Asia: Historical and
and beyond Contemporary Perspectives. (Singapore: ISEAS, 2010)

Visit the International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting

site: https://www.icc-ccs.org/index.php/piracy-reporting-
centre

Somalia: (read at least two)

A peek into the world of Somali pirates: 
https://www.npr.org/2011/07/19/138514116/a-peek-
into-the-secret-world-of-somalian-pirates
My 977 Days held hostage by Somali Pirates (2015):  
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/02/my-
977-days-held-hostage-by-somali-pirates
James. E. Wadsworth, Global Piracy: A documentary history,
Ch.15 “Saviours of the Sea” Pirates of the Somalia Coast.”
(scanned copy)

Trevor Noah interviews Michael Scott Moore. (recording)

13. Revision
Session

TUTORIALS:

Tutorials are conducted on an EVEN week basis. Classes will be conducted via Zoom. Tutorial.
Outlines and materials will be available via the Lesson Flow function in LumiNUS.

Tutorial 1 (Week 4) The Golden Age of Piracy

Tutorial 2 (Week 6) Popular culture

Tutorial 3 (Week 8) Workshop on CA2

Tutorial 4 (Week 10) ‘Piracy’ in Asia

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Tutorial 5 (Week 12) Piracy in the present day

ASSESSSMENT:

This module is 100% CA

CA1: Short response paper. Respond to a document-based prompt or a ‘what if’

scenario. Submitted through Turnitin. (800 words) 20%

Due Fri 11 Sept by 11:59pm (week 5)

CA2: essay: this is a film proposal or film festival proposal assignment. Propose
either a feature film OR a film festival related to the module. Then write a report
explaining your choice and how it links to, or challenges existing popular culture
impressions of piracy.(1500 words maximum) There will be a workshop tutorial on
this assignment. 35%.

Due. Week 10, 23 Oct. By 11:59pm.

Tutorials: Tutorials involve some preparation before (zoom) discussions. There will
also be poll everywhere, zoom whiteboard activities and small group activities and
contributions to these activities will form an important part of the tutorial
participation mark. 20%

Journal: Students will be given a list of topics and readings to choose from
(following the lecture and tutorial themes) and will write a series of three entries, in
the form of a reflection piece or a mini-essay. Students should also prepare a poster.
500 words per written entry (3 entries) & one A4 sized poster. All components are
of equal value.  25%   

The journal can be worked on throughout the semester, and we will talk about it in
tutorials. This can be handed in on the same day as the exam would normally be
held, Friday 27th November by 11:59pm. (week 15)

Late submissions of written work, without a good explanation (and paperwork to

support this) will be subjected to a penalty of a grade per day the paper is late.
Further information regarding the CA requirements will be released in class.

There are many readings relating to piracy in global history and to maritime history.
The following is a list of suggested readings.

Additional Readings:

 Peter Borschberg, Singapore and the Melaka Straits: Violence, Security and
Diplomacy in the 17th Century (Singapore: NUS Press, 2010)

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 David Cordingly, Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of life
among the pirates (New York: Random House, 2006)
 J.Kleinen and M. Ossenweijer (eds) Pirates, Ports, and Coasts in Asia:
Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. (Singapore: ISEAS, 2010).

 Angus Konstam, The History of Pirates, (Guildford, Conn: The Lyons Press,
2002)
 Craig A. Lockard, “The Sea Common to All”: Maritime Frontiers, Port Cities,
and Chinese Traders in the Southeast Asian Age of Commerce, ca.1400-
1750.” Journal of World History, 21,2 (June 2010). Via ExpandedAcademic
ASAP
 Miles Ogborn, Global Lives: Britain and the World 1550-1800, (Chapters on
life at sea, the East India Company and on Pirates, Buccaneers and Privateers).
 Kenneth Pomeranz and Steven Topik, The World that Trade Created: Society
Culture and the World Economy 1400 to the present.(Chapter on the
“Economics of Violence”)
 M. Rediker, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Mechant Seamen,
Pirates, and the Anglo-American Maritime World (New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1987)
 Carl A. Trocki, Prince of Pirates: The Temenggongs and the Development of
Johor and Singapore 1784-1885 (Singapore: NUS Press, 2007)

 Timothy Barnard, “Siak, Piracy and Early Modern Malay Warfare” in Y.H.
Teddy Sim, Piracy and Surreptitious activities in the Malay Archipelago and
adjacent seas, 1600-1840. E-book