pirates

During the Golden Age of Piracy, many pirates set up social safety net programs such as disability payments for injuries sustained while at sea, as well as life insurance to be paid to a pirate’s family if they died.

The only real world example of sky pirates happened in 1917 when a Norwegian ship was captured by a German raiding party who boarded and seized the ship from a Zeppelin.

In the late 17th century, the pirate Henry Avery became the richest pirate in the world after raiding a treasure laden ship belonging to the Grand Ruler of India. He stole £600,000 in precious metals and jewels, equivalent to £89.6M today. The world’s first worldwide manhunt was called on him. Although a number of his crew were subsequently arrested, Every himself eluded capture, vanishing from all records in 1696; his whereabouts and activities after this period are unknown. Unconfirmed accounts state he may have changed his name and retired, quietly living out the rest of his life in either Britain or an unidentified tropical island, while alternative accounts consider Every may have squandered his riches. Henry Avery is considered to have died anywhere between 1699 and 1714; his treasure has never been recovered.