The Order of Saint John of Malta was formally known in the Middle Ages as the Knights Hospitaller of Saint John of Jerusalem, Rhodes, and Malta. It was one of the three great knightly orders of the Crusades, alongside the Knights Templar and the Teutonic Order.
This order had existed as an independent sovereign political entity for nearly a thousand years. At first, it merely provided medical services for pilgrims, but after Raymond du Puy became its second Grand Master, the order's character changed drastically. Rather than wait until pilgrims were injured and then rescue them, it was better to arm themselves and escort them from the outset. Thus, healers who saved lives took up swords and shields, donned armor, mounted warhorses, and transformed into warriors.
Rhodes had changed hands many times throughout history and had once been ruled by the ancient Romans, Byzantium, and the Saracens.
By the time of the Crusades, the inner city of Rhodes had become the headquarters of the Knights Hospitaller. Yet with the opening of new sea routes and the Age of Discovery, the Mediterranean's trade center began shifting westward, and Rhodes gradually lost much of its former strategic importance.
In 1523, the Ottoman Empire occupied the island. By then, the colossal bronze statue of Apollo, which had fallen into the sea in an earthquake a thousand years earlier, had long since vanished, and Rhodes's glory was gone as well.
The British were proud by nature, especially their navy. They would never tolerate their warships sailing beneath Napoleon's crotch.
Merchants were somewhat better in that regard, but merchants loved money. Privateers were also known as gentleman pirates. Pirates who were captured were certainly sent to the gallows, but if they possessed a "letter of marque," their privateer ships could claim they had acted under