The Pirate History Podcast

Life in Maritime Southeast Asia is dominated by the Monsoon. Powerful, prevailing winds that bring storms and facilitate trade. The sailors of Cygnet, facing monsoon season, had big decisions to make and short time to make them.

We're back with the crew of Cygnet, as they take their ease on Mindanao in the Philippines. However, under the tranquil surface, tensions are mounting.

Today things get really dark. We're talking about the VOC, The Dutch East India Company, and their foundation in the Spice Islands. It's not a happy story - but it is a story that we need to know to understand the institutions that rule the world of the pirates.

It's a dark episode today. Not as dark as it's going to get, but we're looking at the foundation of one of the most oppressive and unfeeling organizations in human history. Don't worry though, we will get to see some revenge in the near future.

What makes a pirate? I would argue, more than the riches or drink, it was a sense of dispossession. A sense of disenfranchisement. Of having been, either literally or metaphorically, left behind. Today we explore just what they were left behind from, as we finish our look at the English East India Company.

We're nearing the end of our look at the East India Companies and the beginning of the English Colonial Era. These institutions had rough and tumble beginnings, before evolving into the famed monoliths they would become. And I love rough and tumble beginnings.

The Gentleman Adventurers set a trap for one of the greatest prizes ever captured. Madre de Deus will test their bravery, ruthlessness, and skill. It will also change England, and the world, forever.

No organization, not the Armada de Barlovento nor the Royal Navy, terrified pirates as much as the East India Company. The Company was brutal, efficient, and merciless. Strangely, the company's roots were similar to those of the pirates themselves. Today we look at those roots.

William Dampier and Charles Swan go ashore on Mindanao to meet with the Sultan. However, things on the island are not exactly how they appear. Did I steal this title from a story about Indonesia I heard on the radio? Maybe.

'The Fleshpots of Asia' was a stereotype held for many years. The roots of that phrase and that stereotype come largely from the experiences of those who visited the East Indies during the Colonial Era, and had experiences similar to those that we will be exploring today.

We get to meet the crew of a pirate ship. Not just the Captain and Quartermaster, but the real pirates. We talk about their jobs on board, their character, and the relationships on board.

We're taking our first steps into Southeast Asia through the eyes of Ferdinand Magellan. And the Dread Pirate Roberts. And one deadly rabbit.

This is sort of a time hopping adventure. We're looking at William Dampier in the East Indies alongside the story of Ferdinand Magellan. It kind of weird, but as an introduction to the Pacific we couldn't ask for better guides.

When William Dampier arrived in the East Indies he found a world that had been forever altered by contact with Europeans. Today we talk about the voyages that initiated that contact. Those voyages would shape the political and economic face of the globe for centuries. I attempt to lighten the mood with really bad jokes.

We're returning to the sea, and our overall narrative. This is the tale of William Dampier, Charles Swan, and The crew of Cygnet as they leave the Americas behind and sail west into the largest body of water in the world.