Picaroon is a very old fashioned term for pirate. I have something of an obsession for them. I've been wanting to make a zine called Picaroon for about five years now, but I'm too lazy to organise my stuff and I don't like my illustrations enough to put pen to paper. Plus I have about sixteen thousand, four hundred and seventy two other things to do. So yes, I've got a strange collection of things I've written down, excitedly, on the back of fag packets and scraps of paper, in order to *ONE DAY* put them all into this quirky little zine of piratey delight. I've even done proper research. My ex-boyfriends brother, Nick (absurdly intelligent creature), wrote a thesis or something or other on the shipping habits of Liverpool in the 1700s (or something like that, I can't remember, it was like, a million years ago; or four.) and when he wasn't working, I'd steal his books from Wellington University Library and pour over all the piratey bits. Here's a random section I found:
Born on the isle of Lesbos, in 1475, was a man of wicked nature, the much feared, red-bearded pirate Barbarossa, also known as Khair ad Din. One of four brothers...
In 1505 he seized the Isle of Djerba [Tunisia] and made it the base for his 3 ship fleet.
Reknowned for his fartherly care of Moriscos
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The Barbary pirates were pirates who operated out of Tunis, Tripali, Algiers, Sale and ports in Morocco, preying on shipping in the Western Mediterrainian Sea from the time of the crusades and ships on the way to Asia from North Africa until the early 19th Century. Their stronghold was in Northern Africa, along the Barbary Coast, though they were famed it have power reaching as far as North Iceland and south along West Africa's Atlantic seabord.
Not only did they pluder ships, but also raided European coastal towns.
They captured large numbers of Christian slaves from Western Eurpoe, due to be sold in slave markets in Morrocco. Sultan Moulay Ismail built his fortified palace using the Christian slaves provided by the Barbary Pirates.
The most notorious pirate was Barbarossa, Khairad Din, who was invited to defend Algiers from Spain, killed the rules and seized it in 1510, converting it into a major pirate base and regent for the Ottoman Empire's Sultan.
The usual ship of Barbary Pirates was a galley with slaves at oars.
In 1816, a Royal Navy raid, assisted by six Dutch ships destroyed Algiers and its fleet of Barbary Pirates
If you would like to read some fiction which involves the Barbary Pirates, here are some books:
Robinson Crusoe : Daniel Defoe
The Count of Monte Cristo : Alexandre Dumas
The Sea Hawk : Rafael Sabantini
The Algerine Captive: Royall Tyler
Master and Commander: Patrick Brian
The Baroque Cycle : Neal Stephenson
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