Tuesday, the 3rd installment of Disney's grossly successful Pirates of the Caribbean franchise became available in stores. In these stories, the pirates are generally portrayed as good guys that are just after treasure and are being hunted by the evil British navy. This story line, while fun, has nothing to do with how pirates are today.



In the movies of past and present, pirates are generally not bad people. They're portrayed in such a way that everyone loves pirates, except for maybe Captain Hook. In real life, particularly today, pirates are causing huge problems. Currently, they are most troublesome around Indonesia and off of the coast of Somalia. In Somalia, the presence and actions of pirates are preventing food and other necessities from reaching the starving victims of famine and domestic fighting. In Indonesia, they're upsetting international trade.

Modern pirates aren't nearly as willing not to kill people as the Disney version would imply. Spitting out the word "Parlay" is probably not going to prevent the pirates from shooting you or a fellow crew member. Just last week in Nigeria, one man was killed and another was injured when the oil tanker they were on was attacked by pirates. Also, today's pirates aren't wielding little guns and swords. They are equipped with much more damaging weaponry and boats that are much faster than the oil tankers and yachts they generally attack. A power boat is also much more maneuverable than a massive ship.

When the pirates do get on board, they are after cash, laptops, and other such valuable things. They're generally not after a single medallion or the heart of Davey Jones. They're after things that can be re-sold or straight cash. They do not care about the cargo of a ship. While the pirates of Disney are concerned with their hats, the pirates of today wear ski masks or disguise their identity in some other way.

In addition to all of the other differences, today's pirates do not operate a single ship. They have huge networks of power boat gangs that team up on the larger ships. Often, a boat or two will maneuver into the path of the larger ship. This causes the ship to slow down which allows another boat to sneak up from behind the ship and board from the rear.

Another common misconception concerning pirates on the high seas is that they are on the way out. From 1993 to 2003, the number of pirate attacks actually tripled. All of these factors should cause concern for ships in the Indian Ocean, particularly near Indonesia and Somalia.