Bil-qala u l-moqdief 1 : program 18

Abstract

Chev Dr Charles Xuereb talks with Liam Gauci, the curator of the Maritime Museum, about the corsairs or privateers, especially those operating along the southern shore of the Mediterranean in the 16th–18th centuries. A privateer (sometimes called corsair or buccaneer) was a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign vessels during wartime, and take them as prizes. Captured ships were subject to condemnation and sale under prize law, with the proceeds divided between the privateer shipowners and crew. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors as naval auxiliaries.