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If you haven’t seen the excellent series ‘Our Flag Means Death’, I highly recommend it! It’s a comedic, yet surprisingly touching, look at the lives of some of the most famous characters from the Golden Age of Piracy. Although a lot of the truth has been lost to history, here is a little of what we know of the infamous shipmates.
Blackbeard
Edward Teach was better known as Blackbeard, one of the most notorious pirates to have ever sailed The seas. It is believed he was born in 1680 in Bristol, England, but little is known about his early life.
In his life as a pirate, he captured a French slave ship, the La Concorde and renamed her Queen Anne’s Revenge. He sailed with a crew of over 300 men. Blackbeard was known by reputation as a large, terrifying man who carried three pistols, wore a tall fur hat and had ‘fierce and wild’ eyes. At times, he would use slow burning matches under his beard so that the smoke would ride from it ‘like a frightful meteor’.
On 22 November 1718, Blackbeard and his crew were ambushed by a British navy expedition funded by Alexander Spotswood, the governor of Virginia. A battle commenced, and once the smoke had cleared, it was clear that Blackbeard was dead at the hands of British naval Lieutenant Robert Maynard. Some of the pirates tried to jump overboard to escape but were shot dead in the water; none of the crew survived.
Maynard later recounted his meeting with Blackbeard: ‘At our first salutation Blackbeard drank damnation to me and my men, whom he styled snivelling puppies, saying he would neither give nor take quarter’.
There are varying accounts of Blackbeard's actual death. One person wrote a second-hand account:
‘Maynard and Teach themselves two began the fight with their swords, Maynard making a thrust, the point of his sword against Teach’s cartridge box, and bended it to the hilt. Teach broke the guard of it, and wounded Maynards fingers but did not disable him, whereupon he jumped back and threw away his sword and fired his pistol, which wounded Teach. Demelt struck in between them with his sword and cut Teachs face pretty much;...one of Maynards men being a [Scottish] highlander engaged Teach with his broad sword, who gave Teach a cut on the neck, Teach saying well done lad. The highlander replied if it be not well done, I’ll do it better, [and] with that he gave him a second stroke, which cut off his head, laying it flat on his shoulder’.
However, Maynard's account wasn’t so dramatic, saying: ‘He fell with five shots in him and twenty dismal cuts in several parts of his body. I have cut Blackbeard's head off, which I have put on my bowspint in order to carry it to Virginia’.
Legend has it that Blackbeard’s body was thrown into the waters of Pamlico Sound, where it circled the ship many times before finally descending into the depths.
Later accounts said that when Blackbeard's head was taken down from the piling it had been displayed on, the top half of his skull was plated with silver and used as a punch bowl in a tavern in Williamsburg. If this happened, then the skull has since been lost.
Stede Bonnet
Stede Bonnet was born in 1688 in Bridgetown, the Colony of Barbados, British West Indies. He was a retired British army major who owned a large sugar plantation in Barbados and had plenty of money. Despite this wealth and a complete lack of sailing experience, Stede seemed to have some sort of mid-life crisis; in 1717, he bought a ship called The Revenge, left his wife and kids and decided to become a pirate.
Stede flew under the Jolly Roger and soon gained the nickname The Gentleman Pirate. He and his crew sailed The Revenge to Virginia, raiding commercial vessels on the way, before arriving in Honduras. Here, Stede met the pirate known as Blackbeard.
Blackbeard and Stede established a somewhat unlikely friendship and soon started to sail together. However, it didn’t take long for Blackbeard to realise that Stede was an amateur without the skill to captain a crew. Blackbeard kept Stede on his ship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge while sending his first mate to captain The Revenge.
They docked in North Carolina, and Stede went ashore. Blackbeard took this opportunity to abandon the ship after pillaging it and marooning some of the crew on a tiny island. Stede took back command of The Revenge once more, rescued his crew from the island and sought Revenge on Blackbeard. By this point, Stede's piracy skills had improved drastically, and he had gained a reputation as a fearsome pirate.
The governor of South Carolina sent Colonel William Rhett to capture Stede, and in August 1718, Rhett corned him and his crew at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. After a bloody, violent fight, the pirates were placed under arrest, but Stede declared he would blow himself and The Revenge up before surrendering. His crew overruled him and gave themselves up as prisoners.
Once captured, Stede tried to use his higher-class connections to gain mercy and blamed Blackbeard for the crimes committed. The crew of The Revenge were hanged, and Stede went to trial. On 10th December 1718, just a month after Blackbeard was killed, Stede was hanged for Piracy.
Israel Hands
Israel Hands, sometimes known as Basilica, was born in 1701 and was second in command to Blackbeard. Israel was shot in the knee by Blackbeard, with some accounts saying it was an accident and others saying it was Blackbeard asserting his authority in front of the crew. Captain Charles Johnson wrote in his book that Israel asked Blackbeard why he shot him, with the reply being that ‘if he did not now and then kill one of them, they would forget who he was’.
Israel had to leave the ship while he was recovering from his disabling wound, and, as a result, he was captured by pirate hunters. In exchange for a pardon, he testified against the corrupt officials secretly working with pirates. No one is entirely certain what happened to Israel after this, but Charles Johnson's book claimed that he died a beggar in London.
Israel’s name appears in the classic book Treasure Island as one of Long John’s pirates who ends up shot by Jim Hawkins.
Calico Jack
John Rackham, known as Calico Jack, was born on 18th November 1720 in Port Royal, Colony of Jamaica. Jack wasn’t known for being a great fighter, but he had a reputation for his clever, cunning mind.
Jack served as a quartermaster under Captain Charles Vane on the ship The Ranger. Vane was branded a coward by his crew and removed from his captaincy and the ship. Jack was elected as the new captain.
Notably, Jack was responsible for the design of the Jolly Roger as we know it now. Most pirates of the time used a design of a complete skeleton holding a weapon. Jack’s flag was black with a white skull and two swords crossed underneath. Jack also had two women on his crew, Anne Bonny and Mary Read.
Jack and his crew managed to escape a Spanish pirate hunting ship and then agreed to an offer by Woodes Rogers, the Governor of the Bahamas. The amnesty deal declared that pirates could live as free men if they gave up their life of Piracy. Their plea was accepted, but the draw of a pirate's life was too strong for Jack.
Jack attacked not only merchant vessels but smaller pirate ships in the hope that the crew on them would join him but, in October 1720, pirate hunter Jonathan Barnet found Jack’s ship, capturing the crew while they were drinking and partying.
Jack was executed on 18th November 1720 in Port Royal by hanging. He was then gibbeted and displayed on a small islet now known as Rackhams Cay.
In Captain Charles Johnsons book, A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates, Anne Bonny is quoted as saying about Jack ‘If he had fought like a Man, he need not have been hang’d like a Dog’.
Anne Bonny
Anne Bonny was born in the late 17th century near Cork, Ireland. Sometimes known as Ann Fulford, she is one of the few female pirates in recorded history. Around 1718, she married James Bonny and moved with him to Nassau, a pirate sanctuary in the Bahamas. There, she met Calico Jack, and they soon became lovers; Jack even offered James money to divorce Anne, but he refused. The two decided to run away from James, and Anne joined Jack’s crew disguised as a man. Only Jack and another female pirate, Mary Read, knew Anne was a woman. Until she fell pregnant, that is. The boat was moored in Cuba, where Anne gave birth to a son. She divorced James and married Jack when they were back at sea.
The crew sailed through Jamaica and surrounding areas, with both women fighting alongside the men. Anne was even named in a Wanted Pirates section in The Boston News-Letter. One victim of the pirate, Dorothy Thomas, described Anne and Mary: ‘They wear men’s jackets, and long trousers and handkerchiefs tied about their heads, and each of them had a machete and pistol in their hands, and they cursed and swore at the men to murder’.
Mary Read
Mary was born anytime between 1680 and 1685. She started dressing in traditional male clothing from a young age, firstly at her mother's orders to receive an inheritance, then by choice.
Calico Jack was jealous of the friendship between Mary and Anne, believing at times that a romantic affair was taking place.
When Calico Jack and the crew were captured, Anne and Mary ‘pleaded with their bellies’ as both were pregnant, and they were granted a stay of execution. There were never any records of Ann being released from prison or of an execution. Not much is known about Mary, but it's recorded that she died of a fever in prison on 28th April 1721. There is no record of her baby, so she may have been pregnant when she passed.
Pirates were feared by many, but a lot of colonial citizens romanticised them. Historian Colin Woodard said: ‘They were folk heroes. Though the authorities characterises pirates as devils and demons, enemies of all mankind, many colonial citizens supported them. People saw pirates as Robin Hood figured, socking it to the man on their behalf.’
The Golden Age of Piracy was a complex era of adventure and violence, often glorified on screen for our entertainment. While pirates were often seen as rebels fighting against oppressive systems, they also engaged in brutal acts that cannot always be ignored or romanticised. Regardless, this period continues to captivate our imaginations as we explore the allure and dark underbelly of piracy on the high seas.
Thanks for reading. Please take care of yourselves, and I will see you next time.
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