John Stanmeyer's NatGeo photos of Indonesian pirate hangouts

John Stanmeyer took these haunting photos of real life pirate haunts in Southeast Asia's Malacca Strait for a National Geographic story. (Below: The clothespins on this Sunsang village card player's face means he's losing.)

Sailors chronicled the horrors they faced in the strait and nearby waters. One 19th-century episode involved the capture of British Captain James Ross. Believing his ship held a stash of silver coins, lanun forced him to watch as his young son was lashed to an anchor and drowned. Then they cut off Ross’s fingers joint by joint.

European colonizers and their navies brought the sultanates under control in the late 1800s, but the lanun were never eradicated. The 21st-century inheritors of their tradition continue to hunt these waters, mainly in three incarnations: gangs that board vessels to rob the crews; multinational syndicates that steal entire ships; and guerrilla groups that kidnap seamen for ransom.

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[#1 posted by Anonymous , September 19, 2007 12:57 PM]

Reminds me of Porampo - a documentary made recently abou the pirates of the Malacca straits:

http://porampo.com/

[#2 posted by Anonymous , September 19, 2007 3:07 PM]

Bah, some pirate photo gallery that is - not a peg leg in site, and no parrots either! Nat'l Geo sure has gone downhill.

[#3 posted by matt , September 19, 2007 10:40 PM]

Absolutely amazing read! I have to admit I know next to nothing about this area of the world but sounds fascinating...