But all such outrages and losses were small in comparison with those to which traders were exposed at the hands of pirates.
It is difficult to realize, in these days, what a terrible scourge piracy was to the Indian trade, two hundred years ago.

From the moment of losing sight of the Lizard till the day of casting anchor in the port of destination an East India ship was never safe from attack, with the chance of slavery or a cruel death to crew and passengers, in case of capture.

From Finisterre to Cape Verd the Moorish pirates made the seas unsafe, sometimes venturing into the mouth of the Channel to make a capture.

Farther south, every watering-place on the African coast was infested by the English and French pirates who had their headquarters in the West Indies.

From the Cape of Good Hope to the head of the Persian Gulf, from Cape Comorin to Sumatra, every coast was beset by English, French, Dutch, Danish, Portuguese, Arab, Malay or other local pirates.