BLIGHTED HOPES 104 BOMBARDMENT OF ALGIERS 220 ATTACKING A PIRATE STRONGHOLD 232 NOTE The contents of this book have been taken from Lieutenant Keble Chatterton’s larger and more expensive volume entitled The Romance of Piracy. THE ROMANCE OF PIRACY CHAPTER I THE EARLIEST PIRATES I suppose there are few words in use which at once suggest so much romantic adventure as the words pirate and piracy. You instantly conjure up in your mind a wealth of excitement, a clashing of lawless wills, and there pass before your eyes a number of desperate dare-devils whose life and occupation are inseparably connected with the sea. The very meaning of the word, as you will find on referring to a Greek dictionary, indicates one who _attempts_ to rob. In classical times there was a species of Mediterranean craft which was a light, swift vessel called a _myoparo_ because it was chiefly used by pirates. Since the Greek verb _peirao_ means literally “to attempt,” so it had the secondary meaning of “to try one’s fortune in thieving on sea.” Hence a _peirates_ (in Greek) and _pirata_ (in Latin) signified afloat the counterpart of a brigand or highwayman on land. To many minds piracy conjures up visions that go back no further than the seventeenth century: but though it is true that during that period piracy attained unheard-of heights in certain seas, yet the avocation of sea-robbery dates back very much further.