The situation in Novgorod, which included English, Finnish, Irish, Scottish and Novgorod governments and citizens has many sides to the points of view. Some believe they were serving justice, some think they were tricked and some think it was retribution which was motivated by revenge.

On the 6th of June, 1469, the Duke of Galloway, Al Lan, annouced in a decree the naval action against piracy in Novgorod. In another decree, by the Queen of Scotland Masiemay Mackay Gordon said "this was ... a punitive response to pirates and those who aid them."

To begin Scotland's side of the story, I asked Fleet Commander, Katniss Locksley some questions on the attack in Novgorod.

Katniss, can you tell me from your point of view what went on that caused a huge problem there?

There were some pirates coming to Russia to build more pirate ships. These pirates have sunk me in the past. They also sunk a Finnish BC to my understanding. We were invited by the Finnish king to trap the pirates and sink them. When we got to Russia the pirate ships were dry docked… I asked for days for them to be released so we could put an end to these bad ships. Russia refused and decided to harbor pirates they wanted to keep the ships. So we decided to shoot ships that helped the pirates we shot down one BC, one geno, and started to shoot down a Russian Battle cog before they released one pirate ship. We then destroyed that Pirate BC.

After we left we were going to go to Finland to celebrate our success. We did not have good winds and we were only a day or two away when we realized a Russian BC was following us. We decided to group up and survive together and sail to Finland. I was the fleet commander. When the Russian ship got to us. I warned them to leave.

They did not. At that time. All Finn ships left our formation. It was so sad and a shame we were betrayed. By the people that invited us to come here to fight with them. The Finn King betray us. After one round of firing one of the Finn ships rejoined our fleet. We then fired on the Finnish king that betray us and we sink him. At this time, we focus our efforts on the Russian Battle Carrack. After two rounds we sink her and the Russian queen that was on that ship. The last Finn ship stay neutral and did not help either side. One of the 3 Finish ships regained their honor. But we can never trust the Finland king ever again. That makes me sad.

Has anyone in Novgorod or other nations reached out to you to resolve this?

There is nothing to resolve. The pirate ship was sank. The message to all - do not harbor, protect, or help pirates.

No one has reached out to me.

Reports are this was a retaliation act. Can you tell me why this happened?

I would say reports are wrong. This was an act to kill criminals at the sea that tried to escape and punish those that try to protect them. I wish the story could of be they would not allow the pirates to dock and we would of just sank them but they decided to protect the pirates. All is right now and the balance is fixed.

I wrote the Duke of Galloway, Al Lan Douglas, to ask his side of the story.

Duke Douglas, what was the purpose of this mission to Novgorod?

The Initial purpose was not to go to Novgorod but to fight a Naval battle off the coast of Denmark. We were chasing a pirate fleet from Ireland that had sunk a ship in Scottish waters and another in Finnish waters. These pirates, predominantly TCO under Tess, had promised to sink everything in Scotland's ports and had promised to do the same to Holland (after stealing 120,000 from the Holy Roman Emperor who had tried to hire them).

A coalition of North Atlantic and Baltic states had prepared in ambush for the pirates return trip from Novgorod, but before they could act the pirates turned on one of their own and sunk two of their own ships (impressive given Tess had a 3-1 advantage but still lost one of her own ships). This resulted in the fleet having to give chase, some nations returned to home ports in order to resupply as it was expected Tess would retreat to Novgorod which was her last port of call, and a significant distance away. The Scottish ships continued with other allied states as we wanted to see the mission through.

The core mission was to retaliate against the pirates and ensure they would not be a future threat to Scotland or other nations in the northern seas. Unfortunately,

Russia decided to shield the pirates and aid them in their escape so in order to ensure Tess could not return to her vessels they were destroyed. Much to the chagrin of the Russians.

It was written in friendly letters by Katniss Locksley asking Peter, the citizen from England, what his current plans were and then twelve hours later his ship was attacked. Was there any sort of formal communication in the name of Scotland on the accusation that he was helping pirates or to anyone else that were involved?

Katniss Locksley was merely one of the four Scottish captains, any communication she undertook was of her own volition.

There was no formal communication in the name of Scotland with the Markov family prior to the attack. We have strong evidence of their assistance to Tess and the

Russian authorities, and given the need for a surprise attack due to the uneven naval forces present (5 allied war cogs arrayed against 4 war carracks and 1 war cog).

Efforts were made before the attack to contact allied nations to see if they had any information that would exonerate the Markovs or even provide some defence of their actions and suggest their neutrality. But none was found.

As such due to the risk of tipping off the Russians to the extent of our information and our plans, we had to assume that the Markovs would continue to work with the

Russians and they were still enemy combatants. After all the Markov's had already been paid a significant amount of money by the Russians for what they had already done and Katarina Sofia boasted to me that she was the third richest person in the known world. If I were in the Markov's shoes I would have taken the money and manned the guns.

Was there a decree of piracy issued on any of the people or the ships that were attacked in Novgorod? If so, when was it issued and where?

A decree of piracy was issued for the 4 ships that pirates in Scotland and Ireland. One of those sunk in Novgorod, the other remained hidden in dry-dock, two more were sunk by the pirates themselves. This decree was issued on the 16 April 1469 and can be found in Galloway under the County announcements. A further vote was made in the Galloway Council on the 2 May to engage in military action against TCO after they attacked Finnish ships, although this decree was not made public both to ensure no one took advantage of Galloway's military being sent away and to not give warning to the pirates.

Due to being unable to sink the second battle carrack, the Markov carrack was chosen as it was the only other carrack that could be seen out of drydock. This ship had

only been handed over to the Markov clan the day before, it was unmanned and given their complicity and the expectations that the Russians would be on the hook for it the decision was taken to destroy it instead. Finally, another ship was sunk in the docks of Novgorod which was a merchant Genovese gifted to Katarina Sofia by Tess herself when she had retreated to Novgorod.A further two ships were sunk, after Novgorod but both of those were in self defence after a chase.

Now that the sinking of multiple ships happened, does this mean that any further retaliation is done? Or will there be more debt to collect?

From my perspective no, the goal of eliminating the pirate threat and denying them the ability to prosecute the war has been achieved. Galloway has destroyed over a hundred thousand of pounds worth of enemy assets and crippled their naval capabilities, adequate retaliation for an act of piracy against ourselves and allies. If any of the parties which we fought wish to continue fighting Galloway or her allies will not shy from the battle. But we have our own lives to live and this was not a fight we ever wanted.

Thank you to both Katniss and Al Lan for their point of view on this ongoing story.

Editor's note - I have tried to search for any laws of piracy in Scotland national areas as well as in the Galloway areas to see if any laws exist. I could not locate any at this time.

I have one more part of the series to round this out for those following along.

Part One
Part Two



Kallist0
England KAP
Editor in Chief
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