Stephan Eklof’s ‘Pirates in Paradise’

Stephan Eklof’s ‘Pirates in Paradise’ is a description and analysis of modern piracy today in South East Asia. Eklof paints a picture of today’s maritime criminals quite unlike that portrayed by Johnny Depp in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ or the characters in J.M.Barrie’s Peter Pan and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. It is clear from Eklof’s book, that modern day pirates are much more ruthless, violent and murderous than those portrayed for our entertainment.

Eklof shows that piracy started to become a problem in the west in the 18th century. In fact it is a much older problem, and even the Romans had repeated problems with this form of maritime crime. In 75 BC Julius Caesar was kidnapped and held for ransom by pirates, and in 49 AD Pliny was sent by Emperor Claudius to investigate piracy in the bay of Naples.

So by the time of the ‘golden age of piracy’ these maritime gangsters were following a very ancient, if ignoble tradition for Eklof makes clear that most fiction writers and Hollywood films tended to glamorise this period between 1716 and 1726.It is estimated during this period some 218 vessels a year were attacked. Eklof notes that crews of target ships, once they had caught sight of the ‘Jolly Roger’ would rather surrender than die at the hands of the pirates.To read more about this book http://www.oxfordprospect.co.uk/Piratesinparadise.htm
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