May I just say, this:
Quote Originally Posted by Djurre
these pirates are charity workers maybe?
Cracked me up.

And I found as Carthage that its pretty important to keep your fleet together at first, let the debt run, and kill those danged pirates at the outset. Makes trade a lot nicer later on. Of course, if it takes 20 turns to find them, well, that would stink. But I found one in about 2-3, the another a turn or two after a mopped the first one up, and then smashed the one from the north sea a few turns later, before disbanding all of em (and slowing rising from the debt).

Anyone know if the hit you take from having a port or two sieged per turn is a big enough one to justify several thousand m(o)nai (heh) of upkeep per turn while killing the fleets? If you don't take em out early, they get all those crazy stars and bars (they must be Americans then, right?)