PIRATE KILLERS: The Royal Navy and the African Pirates

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Examines the Royal Navy anti-piracy campaign against African pirates, from the Mediterranean to the shores of West Africa and around to Madagascar. On the Barbary Coast of North Africa, pirates preyed on shipping in the Mediterranean. In the Atlantic, they also terrorized the populations of the coastal towns. Then, about 150 years ago, the RN killed 'The King of the Pirates' Bartholomew Roberts and captured his fleet. Scores of his men were executed by the Admiralty Court. But perhaps the most telling sections concern critical engagements, including the daring rescue of the British merchant ship The Three Sisters by HMS Polyphemus in 1848 and the actions of the HMS Prometheus against the Rif pirates a few years later.