Moro Pirates
Encyclopedia
The Moro Pirates, also known as the Sulu Pirates, were Muslim
outlaw
s of the southern Philippines
who engaged in frequent acts of piracy
, primarily against the Spanish
, beginning in the late 16th century
. Because of the continual wars between Spain and the Moro people, the areas in and around the Sulu Sea
became a haven for piracy which was not suppressed until the beginning of the 20th century. The pirates should not be confused with the naval forces or privateer
s of the various Moro tribes. However, many of the pirates operated under government saction during time of war.
, or garays, and they varied in design. The majority were wooden sailing galleys about ninety feet long with a beam of ten feet. They carried around fifty to 100 crewmen. Moros usually armed their vessels with three swivel gun
s, called lelahs or lantakas, and occasionally a heavy cannon
, proas were very fast and the pirates would prey on merchant ships becalmed in shallow water as they passed through the Sulu Sea. Slave trading and raiding
was also very common, the pirates would assemble large fleets of proas and attack coastal towns. Hundreds of Christian
s were captured and imprisoned over the centuries, many were used a galley slaves aboard the pirate ships.
s and rifle
s, the Moro pirates, as well as the navy sailors and the privateers, used a sword
called the kris with a wavy blade incised with blood channels. The wooden or ivory handle was often heavily ornamented with silver or gold. The type of wound inflicted by its blade makes it difficult to heal. The kris was used often used in boarding
a vessel. Moros also used a kampeli, another sword, a knife, or barong
and a spear
, made of bamboo
and an iron spearhead
. The Moro's swivel guns were not like more modern guns used by the world powers but were of a much older technology, making them largely inaccurate, especially at sea. Lantakas dated back to the 1500s and were up to six feet long, requiring several men to lift one. They fired up to a half-pound cannon ball
or grape shot. A lantaka was bored by hand and were sunk into a pit and packed with dirt to hold them in a vertical position. The barrel was then bored by a company of men walking around in a circle to turn drill bits by hand.
to Balanguingui in 1848 was carried out by Brigadier
José Ruiz
and a fleet of nineteen small warships and hundreds of Spanish Army
troops. They were opposed by at least 1,000 Moros held up in four forts with 124 cannons and plenty of small arms
. There were also dozens of proas at Balanguingui but the pirates abandoned their ships for the better defended fortifications. The Spanish stormed three of the positions by force and captured a remaining one after the pirates had retreated. Over 500 prisoners were freed in the operation and over 500 Moros were killed or wounded, they also lost about 150 of their proas. The Spanish lost twenty-two men killed and around 210 wounded. The pirates later reoccupied the island in 1849 and another expedition was sent but they encountered only light resistance
Also in the 1840s, James Brooke
became the White Rajah of Sarawak
and he led a small navy in a series of campaigns against the Moro pirates. In 1843 Brooke attacked the pirates of Malludu and in June of 1847 the rajah participated in a major battle with pirates at Balanini where dozens of proas were captured or sunk. Brooke fought in several more anti-piracy actions in 1849 as well. During one engagement
with Illanun
Sulus in 1862, Captain
John Brooke, the Raja Mudah
of Sarawak, sank four proas, out of six engaged, by ramming them with his small four gun steamer
Rainbow. Each pirate ship had over 100 crewmen and galley slaves aboard and all were armed with three brass swivel guns. Brooke lost only a few men killed or wounded while at least 100 pirates were killed or wounded. Several prisoners were also released.
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
outlaw
Outlaw
In historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...
s of the southern Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
who engaged in frequent acts of piracy
Piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator...
, primarily against the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, beginning in the late 16th century
16th century
As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century lasted from 1501 to 1600. It is regarded by historians as the century in which the rise of the West occurred....
. Because of the continual wars between Spain and the Moro people, the areas in and around the Sulu Sea
Sulu Sea
The Sulu Sea is a body of water in the southwestern area of the Philippines, separated from the South China Sea in the northwest by Palawan and from the Celebes Sea in the southeast by the Sulu Archipelago. Borneo is found to the southwest and Visayas to the northeast.Sulu Sea contains a number of...
became a haven for piracy which was not suppressed until the beginning of the 20th century. The pirates should not be confused with the naval forces or privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
s of the various Moro tribes. However, many of the pirates operated under government saction during time of war.
Ships
The pirate ships used by the Moros were known as proaProa
A proa, also seen as prau, perahu, and prahu, is a type of multihull sailing vessel.While the word perahu and proa are generic terms meaning boat their native language, proa in Western languages has come to describe a vessel consisting of two unequal length parallel hulls...
, or garays, and they varied in design. The majority were wooden sailing galleys about ninety feet long with a beam of ten feet. They carried around fifty to 100 crewmen. Moros usually armed their vessels with three swivel gun
Swivel gun
The term swivel gun usually refers to a small cannon, mounted on a swiveling stand or fork which allows a very wide arc of movement. Another type of firearm referred to as a swivel gun was an early flintlock combination gun with two barrels that rotated along their axes to allow the shooter to...
s, called lelahs or lantakas, and occasionally a heavy cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
, proas were very fast and the pirates would prey on merchant ships becalmed in shallow water as they passed through the Sulu Sea. Slave trading and raiding
Raider (piracy)
A raider is a person who commits robbery at sea. With use of raid tactics, the raiders uses the naval strategy of attacking an opponent's commercial shipping rather than contending for command of the sea with its naval forces. The raiders destroy supplies of the enemy instead of engaging the...
was also very common, the pirates would assemble large fleets of proas and attack coastal towns. Hundreds of Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
s were captured and imprisoned over the centuries, many were used a galley slaves aboard the pirate ships.
Weapons
Other than musketMusket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....
s and rifle
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
s, the Moro pirates, as well as the navy sailors and the privateers, used a sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
called the kris with a wavy blade incised with blood channels. The wooden or ivory handle was often heavily ornamented with silver or gold. The type of wound inflicted by its blade makes it difficult to heal. The kris was used often used in boarding
Boarding (attack)
Boarding, in its simplest sense, refers to the insertion on to a ship's deck of individuals. However, when it is classified as an attack, in most contexts, it refers to the forcible insertion of personnel that are not members of the crew by another party without the consent of the captain or crew...
a vessel. Moros also used a kampeli, another sword, a knife, or barong
Barong (knife)
The barong is a thick, leaf-shaped, single-edged blade sword. It is a weapon used by Islamic tribes in the Southern Philippines.- Description :-Blade:...
and a spear
Spear
A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head.The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to the shaft, such as flint, obsidian, iron, steel or...
, made of bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
and an iron spearhead
Spearhead
A spearhead is the sharpened tip of a spear.Spearhead may also refer to:-Armed conflict:* Armoured spearhead, a tactical formation* Spearhead, nickname of the U.S. 3rd Armored Division in the U.S...
. The Moro's swivel guns were not like more modern guns used by the world powers but were of a much older technology, making them largely inaccurate, especially at sea. Lantakas dated back to the 1500s and were up to six feet long, requiring several men to lift one. They fired up to a half-pound cannon ball
Round shot
Round shot is a solid projectile without explosive charge, fired from a cannon. As the name implies, round shot is spherical; its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the gun it is fired from.Round shot was made in early times from dressed stone, but by the 17th century, from iron...
or grape shot. A lantaka was bored by hand and were sunk into a pit and packed with dirt to hold them in a vertical position. The barrel was then bored by a company of men walking around in a circle to turn drill bits by hand.
History
The Spanish engaged the Moro pirates frequently in the 1840s. The expeditionSpanish expedition to Balanguingui
The Balanguingui Expedition of 1848 was an amphibious campaign organized by Narciso Clavería y Zaldúa, the governor-general of the Spanish Philippines, to capture the Balanguingui island, in the Sulu Archipelago, from the Moro Pirates, who were using it as a base for their piratical activities...
to Balanguingui in 1848 was carried out by Brigadier
Brigadier
Brigadier is a senior military rank, the meaning of which is somewhat different in different military services. The brigadier rank is generally superior to the rank of colonel, and subordinate to major general....
José Ruiz
José Ruiz
José "Cheíto" Ruíz Matos was a Puerto Rican boxer. Born and raised in the municipality of Trujillo Alto, he was signed as a professional when he was 17 years old. Ruíz made his debut July 13, 1984, competing in the super flyweight division...
and a fleet of nineteen small warships and hundreds of Spanish Army
Spanish Army
The Spanish Army is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest active armies - dating back to the 15th century.-Introduction:...
troops. They were opposed by at least 1,000 Moros held up in four forts with 124 cannons and plenty of small arms
Small arms
Small arms is a term of art used by armed forces to denote infantry weapons an individual soldier may carry. The description is usually limited to revolvers, pistols, submachine guns, carbines, assault rifles, battle rifles, multiple barrel firearms, sniper rifles, squad automatic weapons, light...
. There were also dozens of proas at Balanguingui but the pirates abandoned their ships for the better defended fortifications. The Spanish stormed three of the positions by force and captured a remaining one after the pirates had retreated. Over 500 prisoners were freed in the operation and over 500 Moros were killed or wounded, they also lost about 150 of their proas. The Spanish lost twenty-two men killed and around 210 wounded. The pirates later reoccupied the island in 1849 and another expedition was sent but they encountered only light resistance
Also in the 1840s, James Brooke
James Brooke
James, Rajah of Sarawak, KCB was the first White Rajah of Sarawak. His father, Thomas Brooke, was an English Judge Court of Appeal at Bareilly, British India; his mother, Anna Maria, born in Hertfordshire, was the illegitimate daughter of Scottish peer Colonel William Stuart, 9th Lord Blantyre,...
became the White Rajah of Sarawak
Kingdom of Sarawak
The Kingdom of Sarawak was a state in Borneo established by Sir James Brooke in 1842 by receiving independent kingdom status from the Sultanate of Brunei as a reward for helping fight piracy and insurgency...
and he led a small navy in a series of campaigns against the Moro pirates. In 1843 Brooke attacked the pirates of Malludu and in June of 1847 the rajah participated in a major battle with pirates at Balanini where dozens of proas were captured or sunk. Brooke fought in several more anti-piracy actions in 1849 as well. During one engagement
Battle off Mukah
The Battle off Mukah was a naval engagement fought in 1862 between the navy of Sarawak and pirates. After the kidnapping of Sarawakian citizens some time before, their navy dispatched two small warships which encountered the pirates off Mukah on the northern coast of Borneo...
with Illanun
Illanun
The Iranun are an ethnic group of Mindanao, Philippines and the west coast of Sabah, Malaysia, in 25 villages around the Kota Belud and Lahad Datu districts; also in Kudat and Likas, Kota Kinabalu. Their current population is estimated to be around 1,000,000-1,500,000 .For centuries, the Illanun...
Sulus in 1862, Captain
Captain (naval)
Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....
John Brooke, the Raja Mudah
Crown Prince
A crown prince or crown princess is the heir or heiress apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a crown prince is also titled crown princess....
of Sarawak, sank four proas, out of six engaged, by ramming them with his small four gun steamer
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
Rainbow. Each pirate ship had over 100 crewmen and galley slaves aboard and all were armed with three brass swivel guns. Brooke lost only a few men killed or wounded while at least 100 pirates were killed or wounded. Several prisoners were also released.
See also
- Barbary Pirates
- Caribbean PiratesPiracy in the Caribbean] The era of piracy in the Caribbean began in the 16th century and died out in the 1830s after the navies of the nations of Western Europe and North America with colonies in the Caribbean began combating pirates. The period during which pirates were most successful was from the 1690s until the 1720s...
- Philippine-American WarPhilippine-American WarThe Philippine–American War, also known as the Philippine War of Independence or the Philippine Insurrection , was an armed conflict between a group of Filipino revolutionaries and the United States which arose from the struggle of the First Philippine Republic to gain independence following...