Pirates of the Indian Ocean Despite the rise and domination of the Raj in post mutiny India and all it came to mean to the British Empire, it should be remembered that the rush to India by all the European powers was originally for the wealth of its trade. That trade had been carried on for centuries and by the 17th and early 18th centuries was still active, vital and industrious. However, Britannia had not quite established her sovereignty of the waves and to sail into the vastness of the southern and eastern oceans was to launch a ship and its crew into the virtual unknown-not because of uncharted currents and coasts, but because of other dangers they might encounter on their outward or homeward passages. The seas were the prowling place of pirates of all descriptions, creeds, colours and nationalities. Some belonged to the races of the sub continent itself while other captains and crews bore names little different from those of their victims. This interesting book describes the activities of this lawless seafaring breed, those who fell foul of them and those who sought to rid the sea lanes of their pestilential presence. This Leonaur edition also contains a first hand account of an English woman who had her own very close encounter with pirates which contributes an invaluable immediacy to the principal narrative.