Steel Clashing. Muskets firing. Cannons booming. Specters appearing through thick smoke with death in their eyes. You're not dreaming; you're under attack from the scourge of the open seas: Pirates.

When most people think of Pirates today they picture the ever memorable Captain Jack Sparrow from the motion picture Pirates of the Caribbean. You know what I mean-- the pirate  bandana, the tricorn hat, loose shirt and pants with and an outer vest or pirate jacket with strapping boots. As weapons this imaginative pirate most likely has a cutlass in one hand and a flintlock pistol in the other. This idea of pirates, however, does not represent the majority of pirates throughout the ages.

Perhaps as long as people have been sailing the seas there have been people preying upon them. Some of the earliest known records of piracy are from Phoenicians well beyond 1000 BCE. The Roman Republic frequently had issues with pirates in the Mediterranean Sea. In fact, even the famed Julius Caesar spent time as a pirate prisoner. Eventually Rome had had enough and devoted entire armies to removing the problem.

During the Medieval Ages, the most common pirates were the  Vikings in northern Europe. Although they preyed mostly on land settlements, the basic premise of piracy was kept alive - plunder, the driving force of all pirates throughout all ages. Far southeast of the Vikings, the various Muslim empires and Indian governments had their own piracy problems as well. The precious cargo coming from the Far East was too tantalizing a prize to resist and merchant ships were often the victims of pirate attacks. Although most of the precious spices and silk that Europe and the Middle East craved so much came from China, China itself had many problems with pirates. During the Qing dynasty, 17th - 20th century, pirate fleets grew powerful enough to rival the Qing navy!