The privateers of Grand Master Pinto (1764)

Abstract

Privateering was rampant in the Maltese Islands since antiquity; and well before the coming of the Order of St. John to Malta, the Island was already known as a nest of the worst free-booters that had ever roamed the Mediterranean.' With the coming of the Knights in 1530, corsairing was brought under the control of the Order and subsequently legalised.' The Grand Master as Primus inter pares amongst the corsairing community of these Islands, had the right to receive a 10% cut on the sale of captured Muslim Slaves, shipping and merchandize as well as Jewish cargo even that carried on Christian ships unless covered by a salva condotto meaning a "Letters Patent" certificate. The Grand Masters like practically everybody else were also involved in this lucrative "trade" even fitting out their own private corsair ships. [excerpt]