Everyone has heard about pirates from the Caribbean, pirates from the Danube are a kind of unknown.However, this was not the case in the 18th century, when this form of plunder was frequently used on the stretch of the Danube from Apatin to Petrovardin.
Hajducija on land roads through Slavonia and Srijem has been described and mentioned many times. It was easy then, through all the time of insecurity and turmoil, to "go to the hajduks", since our whole area was densely overgrown with forests and bushes, surrounded by swamps and hidden tributaries of rivers. In the midst of the wars against the Ottomans in Slavonia, the Hajduks were often associated as paramilitaries with the main forces of the empire. For example, a description from 1687 for Vukovar states that the bandits, in agreement with the imperial army and General d'Aspremont, attacked the Turkish Ilok and were repulsed.
During the War for the Austrian Heritage, between 1741 and 1746, hajduk pirate groups roamed around the confluence of the Drava and the Danube and across the Danube, with fast paddles in endless overgrown depressions.
Since the right bank of the Danube is quite steep, and fortified by numerous fortifications and positions of barracks (Osijek, Vukovar, Ilok ...) the left low bank, with nice labyrinths of backwaters and endless marshes, was the kingdom of river piracy. In one such place, Bokčinović near today's Apatin, was a refuge for river piracy in the 18th century. The village was displaced a long time ago precisely because of this problem when Empress Maria Theresa sent an army to them.
Harambasha Stepanovic was arrested by the imperial army in 1746. years. It was then proven that he had robbed Baranja, Bačka and Srijem, and that he had intercepted and looted ships, and that 18 people had died at his hands. After he was captured, he was convicted and, for example to others, killed. Harambaša Stojšić from Sombor founded his band of robbers in the middle of 1743, from people from Bokčinovići and Bobota in the Slavonian Danube region, and their main shelter was on a Danube island. They looted from Apatin to Petrovaradin, but also in the surrounding settlements.
One description of the robbery has been preserved - Since the boats were towed upstream by people or horses, the robbers would appear on the shore, cut the "pajvan" or the big rope with which the boat was towed. vessels and looted, and let her sail downstream.
River piracy was not uncommon, it existed even in the Middle Ages, Cossack pirates operated all over the Volga or the Don, during the American Revolutionary War, there was river piracy on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
Unfortunately, piracy on the Danube still exists in the neighboring Republic of Serbia as well as in Romania.
