Hyborian Trade Routes
The trade on the Western Ocean supported no fewer than three groups of plunderers, all of whom Conan sailed with-the pirates of the Baracha Isles, the buccaneers of Zingara, and the Black Corsairs of the Southern Islands. The Barachan pirates were mostly Argosseans, who plied their trade mainly with Zingara. The freebooters sailed under the marquee from the King of Zingara and targeted mostly upon Argossean ships, but would raid the shores of their own homeland as well when the pickings were slim. They consist of sailors that are exiles from their own land, who sometimes are subsidized by the governments of Argos and Zingara. Argos used piracy as a countermeasure against Zingaran privateering. The Corsairs were Negroes of the southern islands, who like the Barachans lived entirely by piracy. Kushites and other mainland Negroes also sailed among them, with the likes of Belit and Conan rising to take command of the Corsair ships.

Captains Beware! Pirates roam these waters!
A Pirate is one who robs or plunders at sea without a commission from a recognized sovereign nation. In Conan's day, he usually targeted other ships, slavers, merchant vessels and more. He was also known to attack targets on shore along the western coast of Hyboria. Plundering and burning as he went, His name echoed on the trade winds as a curse among staunch sea captains and fat merchants. His acts were known as piracy, under the cursed name of Amra the Lion.

A Freebooter is much the same as a pirate, pillaging and plundering at his own free will.

The Privateers are pirates that sail and plunder under the commission of a nation. Conan's life on the sea was as dangerous as it was splendid!

On occasion, Conan's life as a pirate caught up to him, many years after he gave up his employment as a pirate.

"Long have I wished to meet you, Amra," the black gave Conan the name ­ Amra, the Lion - by which the Cimmerian had been known to the Kushites in his piratical days. The slave's woolly skull split in an animal-like grin, showing white tusks, but his eyes glinted redly in the torchlight. "I have dared much for this meeting! Look! The keys to your chains! I stole them from Shukeli. What will you give me for them?"

In this instance, a Kushite finds King Conan in chains. Recognizing Conan as Amra, he waits until the palace is empty, and attempts to exact his revenge on the barbarian king.

"Tsotha will never know!" laughed the black fiendishly, too engrossed in his gloating triumph to take heed of anything else, too drunk with hate to know that Death swayed behind his shoulder. "He will not come into the vaults until the demons have torn your bones from their chains. I will have your head, Amra!"

"Life is dangerous," rumbled the king. "I won't go as king of Aquilonia, or even as a knight of Poitain, but as a wandering mercenary, as I rode in Zingara in the old days. Oh, I have enemies enough south of the Alimane, in the lands and the waters of the south. Many who won't know me as king of Aquilonia will remember me as Conan of the Barachan pirates, or Amra of the black corsairs. But I have friends, too, and men who'll aid me for their own private reasons." A faint reminiscent grin touched his lips."

The black man is not named in the story, but we learn that in Conan's days as a pirate he led an attack on Abombi. At the palace of King Ajaga Conan slew a chief, and a chief ran from Conan's hurricane fury. It was this man's brother that was the chief, the one who fled is now Conan's tormentor. These instances are quoted from The Scarlet Citadel and The Hour of the Dragon by Robert E. Howard. Robert E. Howard's "Queen of the Black Coast" first published in Weird Tales for May, in 1934.

The Lion's Roar
Aboard the ship Argus, Conan sets sail from the ports in Argos and engages in conversation with Master Tito, Captain of the Argus. During the conversation Tito tells Conan of a dreaded pirate crew, captained by Belit, described by Tito as "the wildest she-devil unhanged". Belit and her Black Corsairs, according to Master Tito, were a group feared and hated by all sea captains and merchants. With Belit's Tigress in sight, the men of the Argus prepare for the oncoming battle. It is mentioned here about Conan's skills at archery, while he attempts to kill a few of the Corsairs from afar:

"Give me a bow," requested Conan. "It's not my idea of a manly weapon, but I learned archery among the Hyrkanians, and it will go hard if I can't feather a man or so on yonder deck."

Conan fought the dreaded Corsairs, and held them at bay. Understanding that the entire crew would be slaughtered and Conan killed from spear casts, the woman captain Belit, ordered the Corsairs to stand down.

"Invulnerable in his armor, his back against the mast, he heaped mangled corpses at his feet until his enemies gave back panting in rage and fear. Then as they lifted their spears to cast them, and he tensed himself to leap and die in the midst of them, a shrill cry froze the lifted arms. They stood like statues, the black giants poised for the spear casts, the mailed swordsman with his dripping blade"

Taking Conan the Cimmerian on as her First Mate of the ship Tigress, Belit sets sail with Conan, preying upon ships following the Trade Routes as far north as Argos and as far south as Kush. Conan and Belit pirated along the Western Hyborian coast without fear and shame, even go so far as burning the Stygian fleet in the harbor of Khemi. During this time, Conan acquires the nickname "Amra", by the people of the Black Coast.

Conan learns of Belit's history and heritage of being the daughter of King Atrahasis of Asgalun, a city of Shem. Conan also believes that to her crew, Belit is a goddess who ruled with absolute authority, her word and will are followed without question. This could be attributed to her appearance as well as her "keen intelligence". She captained the ship, developed the plans and directed the pirating. Her success in planning and victory kept solidified her position as captain. Eventually, Conan and Belit sailed up the Zarkheba River to an ancient ruined city. Belit and her corsairs are killed by a nightmarish winged ape. Conan takes his revenge on the ape-thing with life saving assistance from Belit's ghost. And so ends the reign of "The Queen of the Black Coast". Robert E. Howard never quite explained how Belit became the Queen of the Black Coast, nor how she became the pirating captain of the Black Corsairs.

The name "Amra the Lion" lived on in gory legends and brought fear to those who sailed in the Western Ocean. Conan vanished from the seas as Amra the Lion, only to return many years later.