How many pieces of eight?

What is the cost of modern piracy? This two year old article "Captain counts the cost of piracy" on the BBC web site it suggested it was in the order of 13 - 15 billion dollars / year.

Thats a lot of dollars - and as modern dollars derive from old Spanish ones, also known as pieces of eight, thats the sort of haul Long John Silver would be very proud of.

However this more recent article "No vessel is safe from modern pirates" suggests its in the order of tens of millions of dollars per year.

That seems more likely, with the previous one a typo, as it would be a hugely significant degree of losses.

Bit of a disappointment to ol' Long John - though maybe to make up for it his name is also associated with a garment of underwear.