# Space Pirates ! Who, what, where, when & why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 8, 2017, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-pirates-who-what-where-when-why/776593 "2017-01-08T00:20:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-pirates-who-what-where-when-why/776593/1 "2017-01-08T00:20:05Z")
OK, Space Pirates. Which Science Fiction author introduced the idea of Space Pirates? When? (I suspect the 1930s.) Which magazine? What was the title of the first story with Space Pirates? Do not ARRR! this one off. You’ll use up all the Oxy in your suit bottle, matey! ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-pirates-who-what-where-when-why/776593/2 "2017-01-08T01:04:09Z")
Don’t know the answer…but really, really love the genre! ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-pirates-who-what-where-when-why/776593/3 "2017-01-08T01:23:19Z")
Wikipedia has a [List of space pirates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_space_pirates). There, the earliest one is [Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Starr_and_the_Pirates_of_the_Asteroids) from 1953. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-pirates-who-what-where-when-why/776593/4 "2017-01-08T01:40:46Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Wikipedia has a [List of space pirates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_space_pirates). There, the earliest one is [Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Starr_and_the_Pirates_of_the_Asteroids) from 1953. 🆒 A start, but I suspect not the ultimate answer. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-pirates-who-what-where-when-why/776593/5 "2017-01-08T01:42:43Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Wikipedia has a [List of space pirates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_space_pirates). There, the earliest one is [Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Starr_and_the_Pirates_of_the_Asteroids) from 1953. > [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > 🆒 > > A start, but I suspect not the ultimate answer. Nope. [The Red Peri](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Peri) was found in 1935. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-pirates-who-what-where-when-why/776593/6 "2017-01-08T01:52:25Z")
The earliest story I can find with space pirate in the title is “The Space Pirate” by Eando Binder in the June 1938 _Amazing Stories._ ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-pirates-who-what-where-when-why/776593/7 "2017-01-08T01:56:51Z")
The Red Peri has now been added to the Wiki page that I cited. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-pirates-who-what-where-when-why/776593/8 "2017-01-08T02:08:22Z")
I’ll check tomorrow, but I’d be surprised if space pirates don’t show up the E.E. Smith’s _Skylark_ series, and that’s from 1927-1930. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-pirates-who-what-where-when-why/776593/9 "2017-01-08T02:19:08Z")
I missed the edit window, but _Triplanetary_ from 1933 was crawling with space pirates. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-pirates-who-what-where-when-why/776593/10 "2017-01-08T02:24:49Z")
I was also thinking Triplanetary, but wondering if Killer Kane of Buck Rogers could be considered a pirate. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-pirates-who-what-where-when-why/776593/11 "2017-01-08T02:33:21Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > I’ll check tomorrow, but I’d be surprised if space pirates don’t show up the E.E. Smith’s _Skylark_ series, and that’s from 1927-1930. He started writing _Skylark_ back in 1915. It’s considered the first space opera, and the first example of fictional interstellar travel. I don’t recall space pirates in it, but I shall have to re-read it to be sure. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-pirates-who-what-where-when-why/776593/12 "2017-01-08T03:12:49Z")
In **Skylark of Space** , Chapter 7, “The Trial Voyage” Richard Seaton does refer to Duquesne and his minions as “that gang of pirates” and beefs up the armor and weaponry on the good spaceship Skylark in anticipation of conflict. I think that constitutes space pirates. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-pirates-who-what-where-when-why/776593/13 "2017-01-08T10:10:44Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > I’ll check tomorrow, but I’d be surprised if space pirates don’t show up the E.E. Smith’s _Skylark_ series, and that’s from 1927-1930. I was wrong. E.E. Smith’s _Skylark_ series has three mentions of the word pirate, but in every case the context is that of a Terrestrial one. Not a Caribbean pirate, more of an industrial one, pirating inventions and processes. Smith’s _Lensman_ series has the first space pirates I was able to find and that was in 1933. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-pirates-who-what-where-when-why/776593/14 "2017-01-08T16:00:32Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > I was wrong. E.E. Smith’s _Skylark_ series has three mentions of the word pirate, but in every case the context is that of a Terrestrial one. Not a Caribbean pirate, more of an industrial one, pirating inventions and processes. Smith’s _Lensman_ series has the first space pirates I was able to find and that was in 1933. IMHO, it had to be more than industrial piracy to make Dick Seaton want to add more armor and weaponry to his spaceship. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-pirates-who-what-where-when-why/776593/15 "2017-01-08T16:30:44Z")
I hate to break up a good brawl, but if Blackie Duquesne is a threat merely to Smith and not generally to every ship in the spaceways, then he’s an enemy - not a pirate. And there weren’t any other ships in space. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-pirates-who-what-where-when-why/776593/16 "2017-01-08T17:47:30Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I hate to break up a good brawl, but if Blackie Duquesne is a threat merely to Smith and not generally to every ship in the spaceways, then he’s an enemy - not a pirate. And there weren’t any other ships in space. Then he was a threat to every other ship in space, no? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-pirates-who-what-where-when-why/776593/17 "2017-01-08T18:14:21Z")
Now we’re cookin with gas. Earlier examples? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-pirates-who-what-where-when-why/776593/18 "2017-01-08T18:36:23Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Then he was a threat to every other ship in space, no? 😛 Every other ship? You mean just the even ones or the odd ones? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-pirates-who-what-where-when-why/776593/19 "2017-01-08T18:42:24Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Every other ship? You mean just the even ones or the odd ones? Even the even ones were odd back then. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-pirates-who-what-where-when-why/776593/20 "2017-01-08T18:58:46Z")
If Skylark isn’t officially the first “pirates in space” story, it should be the first unofficial one. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-pirates-who-what-where-when-why/776593.md?page=2)