Raid

Smilin' Jack's pirates raid the port of Marito.

"Well, then, I confess. It is my intention to commandeer one of these ships, pick up a crew in Tortuga, raid, pillage, plunder, and otherwise pilfer my weaselly black guts out."

―Jack Sparrow

Raiding, also known as depredation or simply a raid, is a military tactic or operational warfare mission which has a specific purpose. Raiders do not capture and hold a location, but quickly retreat to a previously defended position before enemy forces can respond in a coordinated manner or formulate a counter-attack. The purposes of a raid may include:

• to demoralize, confuse, or exhaust the enemy;
• to ransack, pillage, or plunder
• to destroy specific goods or installations of military or economic value;
• to free prisoners of war
• to capture enemy soldiers for interrogation;
• to kill or capture specific key persons;
• to gather intelligence.

History

"How is it that a notorious pirate has been raiding and pillaging almost every ship that's entered the port of Bombay for the last fifteen years, leaching off the profits of the East India Trading Company, filling his chests with our gold and jewels and species... and yet no one—you're telling me no one in all of India—has any idea where his stronghold is?"

―Benedict Huntington to his crew

The infamous pirate Smilin' Jack and his crew once attempted to raid the island of Zaragona. The powerful broadsides from the pirate ship managed to silence the guns at the fortress of Marito, and the pirates invaded the town. However, the raid failed thanks to the conscripted sailor Josiah Smith who inadvertently sent the pirate crew into walking into an ambush set up by the viceroy's soldiers.

One of the Spanish landowners in the New World, Don Rafael, was good to the native population. He didn't enslave them, alowed them to work his fields for fair wages, and even let his son marry a native girl when they fell in love. That angered some of the neighboring dons, who diguised themselves as natives and one night attacked and burned the plantation, killing almost everyone. Don Rafael's five-year-old granddaughter, Esmeralda, was saved from the raiders by her nurse. When the raid was over, Rafel was left with almost nothing, save a ship, a few loyal servants, and his granddaughter.

The Indian Pirate Lord Sri Sumbhajee spent at least fifteen years raiding and pillaging almost every ship that entered the port of Bombay, filling his chests with the EITC gold, jewels, and spices. During the quest for the Shadow Gold, there was a battle at Hong Kong, described as a "brilliant raid on a pirate gathering." The treasure on Isla de Muerta included huge quantities of gold and silver bars and coins, which came from raids on Spanish ships heading back to Seville from the country's colonies in Mexico and Peru. But some of the most valuable pieces are jewelry stolen from wealthy passengers on ships that Captain Hector Barbossa's cursed crew of the Black Pearl attacked. While attempting to "commandeer" the Interceptor at Port Royal, the infamous pirate Captain Jack Sparrow told two royal marines, Mullroy and Murtogg, that his intentions were to commandeer one of the ships at Port Royal, pick up a crew at Tortuga, then raid, pillage and plunder. That night, the villagers panicked, running for cover and dodging flying debris, while some form up to meet the attack on Port Royal, a fateful raid by the cursed crew of the Black Pearl. Longboats emerge out of the fog, carrying armed pirates who began raiding and ransacking the town until Captain Barbossa kidnapped Elizabeth Swann, a "maid" who had the Aztec gold medallion they were searching for.

After the quest to rescue Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones' Locker, Will Turner led a mutiny during a brief alliance with Captain Sao Feng, who raided the Black Pearl, that is until he made a deal with Captain Barbossa. The young missionary Philip Swift was captured by Blackbeard during a raid on a remote island; while the rest on the ship got killed, Philip was spared by the first mate Angelica, who wouldn't let it happen because of his "premier standing with the Lord." When Jack Sparrow was told of this by Scrum aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, Jack gave Scrum a curious look, as it didn't sound like Blackbeard to spare someone during a raid.

Behind the scenes

Although raids first appeared in Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, the term "raid" was first used in the 1996 book Climb Aboard If You Dare!: Stories From The Pirates of the Caribbean. The term "depredation" is first uttered in the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's screenplay for The Curse of the Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow's line to Murtogg and Mullroy after his intention to pick up a crew in Tortuga was, "and go on the account, do a little honest pirating." While the word "raid" was added to the line featured in the film, the original line from the script was retained in the 2003 junior novelization by Irene Trimble, and later the 2006 junior novelization by Elizabeth Rudnick.

Appearances

• Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean (First appearance)
• Climb Aboard If You Dare!: Stories From The Pirates of the Caribbean (First identified as raid)
• The Price of Freedom
• Legends of the Brethren Court: Rising in the East
• Legends of the Brethren Court: The Turning Tide (Mentioned only)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (First identified as depredation)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003 junior novelization)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2006 junior novelization)
  • Fluch der Karibik
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Mentioned only)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (junior novelization) (Mentioned only)

Non-canon appearances

• Kingdom Hearts II
• LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game
• Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life (Picture only)

Sources

• Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Sound Track of the Fabulous Adventure
• Disneyland: From the Pirates of the Caribbean to the World of Tomorrow
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides: The Visual Guide

External links

• Raid on Wikipedia