Silent Bob
04-11-2008, 12:32 PM
A partial listing of famous pirates from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy_in_the_Caribbean)
Famous Caribbean pirates
Blackbeard
Main article: Blackbeard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbeard)
Perhaps the most famed pirate from this period was known as “Blackbeard.” He was born about 1680 in England as Edward Thatch, Teach, or Drummond, and operated off the east coast of North America in the period of 1714-1718. Noted as much for his outlandish appearance as for his piratical success, in combat Blackbeard placed burning slow-match (a type of slow-burning fuse used to set off cannon) under his hat; with his face wreathed in fire and smoke, his victims claimed he resembled a fiendish apparition from Hell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell). Blackbeard's ship was the two hundred ton, forty gun frigate he named the Queen Anne's Revenge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Anne%27s_Revenge).
Blackbeard met his end at the hands of a British fleet specifically sent out to capture him. After an extremely bloody boarding action, the British commanding officer of the fleet, Lieutenant Robert Maynard, killed him with the help of his crew. According to legend, Blackbeard suffered a total of five bullet wounds and twenty slashes with a cutlass before he finally died.
Henry Morgan
Main article: Henry Morgan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Morgan)
Henry Morgan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Morgan), a Welshman, was one of the most destructive pirate captains of the seventeenth century. Although Morgan always considered himself a privateer rather than a pirate, several of his attacks had no real legal justification and are considered piracy. A bold, ruthless and daring man, Morgan fought England's enemies for thirty years, and became a very wealthy man in the course of his adventures. Morgan’s most famous exploit came in late 1670 when he led 1700 buccaneers up the pestilential Chagres River (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chagres_River) and then through the Central American jungle to attack and capture the “impregnable” city of Panama (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_City). Morgan's men burnt the city to the ground, and the inhabitants were either killed or forced to flee. Although the burning of Panama City did not mean any great financial gain for Morgan, it was a deep blow to Spanish power and pride in the Caribbean and Morgan became the hero of the hour in England (and also lent his name to a popular brand of present-day rum). At the height of his career, Morgan had been made a titled nobleman by the English Crown and lived on an enormous sugar plantation in Jamaica (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaica). Morgan died in his bed, rich and respected—something rarely achieved by pirates in his day or any other.
Bartholomew Roberts
Main article: Bartholomew Roberts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholomew_Roberts)
Less famous than Blackbeard, Bartholomew Roberts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholomew_Roberts) was far more successful, capturing and pillaging more than 400 ships. He started his freebooting career in the Gulf of Guinea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Guinea) in 1719 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1719) when Howell Davis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howell_Davis)'s pirates captured his ship and he proceeded to join them. Rising to captain, he quickly came to the Caribbean and plagued the area until 1721 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1721). He commanded a number of large, powerfully armed ships, all of which he named Fortune, Good Fortune, or Royal Fortune. Efforts by the governors of Barbados (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbados) and Martinique (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martinique) to capture him only provoked his anger; when he found the governor of Martinique aboard a newly captured vessel, Roberts hanged the man from a yardarm. Roberts returned to Africa in 1721 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1721), where he met his death in a naval battle and his crew were captured.
Stede Bonnet
Main article: Stede Bonnet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stede_Bonnet)
Probably the least qualified pirate captain ever to sail the Caribbean, Bonnet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stede_Bonnet) was a sugar planter who knew nothing about sailing. He started his piracies in 1717 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1717) by buying an armed sloop on Barbados (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbados) and recruiting a pirate crew for wages, possibly to escape from his wife. He lost his command to Blackbeard and sailed with him for some time as a guest or prisoner. Although Bonnet briefly regained his captaincy, he was captured and hanged before he could return to the West Indies.
Charles Vane
Main article: Charles Vane (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Vane)
Charles Vane, like many early 18th century pirates, operated out of Nassau (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nassau%2C_Bahamas) in the Bahamas. He was the only pirate captain to resist Woodes Rogers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodes_Rogers) when Rogers asserted his governorship over Nassau in 1718 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1718), attacking Rogers' squadron with a fire ship and shooting his way out of the harbor rather than accept the new governor's royal pardon. Vane's quartermaster was Calico Jack Rackham (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calico_Jack_Rackham), who deposed Vane from the captaincy. Vane started a new pirate crew, but he was captured and hanged in Jamaica in 1720 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1720).
Edward Low
Main article: Edward Low (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Low)
Edward - or Ned - Low was notorious as one of the most brutal and vicious pirates. Originally from London, he started as a lieutenant to George Lowther (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lowther), before striking out on his own. His career as a pirate lasted just three years, during which he captured over 100 ships, and he and his crew murdered, tortured and maimed hundreds of people. After his own crew mutinied in 1724 when Low murdered a sleeping subordinate, he was rescued by a French vessel who hanged him on Martinique (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martinique) island.
Anne Bonny and Mary Read
Main article: Anne Bonny (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Bonny)
Main article: Mary Read (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Read)
Anne Bonny and Mary Read were undoubtedly the most famous pirates never to hold the position of captain; both spent their brief sea-roving careers under the command of Calico Jack Rackham (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calico_Jack_Rackham). They are noted chiefly for their gender, highly unusual for pirates, which helped to sensationalize their 1720 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1720) trial in Jamaica. They gained further notoriety for their ruthlessness — they are known to have spoken in favor of murdering witnesses in the crew's counsels — and for having resisted far more fiercely than their male crewmates when Rackham's ship was taken. The capstone to their legend is that they alone of all Rackham's crew escaped execution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution), as both were newly pregnant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pregnant) at their trial and their sentences were commuted to avoid harm to their unborn children.
Famous Caribbean pirates
Blackbeard
Main article: Blackbeard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbeard)
Perhaps the most famed pirate from this period was known as “Blackbeard.” He was born about 1680 in England as Edward Thatch, Teach, or Drummond, and operated off the east coast of North America in the period of 1714-1718. Noted as much for his outlandish appearance as for his piratical success, in combat Blackbeard placed burning slow-match (a type of slow-burning fuse used to set off cannon) under his hat; with his face wreathed in fire and smoke, his victims claimed he resembled a fiendish apparition from Hell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell). Blackbeard's ship was the two hundred ton, forty gun frigate he named the Queen Anne's Revenge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Anne%27s_Revenge).
Blackbeard met his end at the hands of a British fleet specifically sent out to capture him. After an extremely bloody boarding action, the British commanding officer of the fleet, Lieutenant Robert Maynard, killed him with the help of his crew. According to legend, Blackbeard suffered a total of five bullet wounds and twenty slashes with a cutlass before he finally died.
Henry Morgan
Main article: Henry Morgan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Morgan)
Henry Morgan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Morgan), a Welshman, was one of the most destructive pirate captains of the seventeenth century. Although Morgan always considered himself a privateer rather than a pirate, several of his attacks had no real legal justification and are considered piracy. A bold, ruthless and daring man, Morgan fought England's enemies for thirty years, and became a very wealthy man in the course of his adventures. Morgan’s most famous exploit came in late 1670 when he led 1700 buccaneers up the pestilential Chagres River (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chagres_River) and then through the Central American jungle to attack and capture the “impregnable” city of Panama (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_City). Morgan's men burnt the city to the ground, and the inhabitants were either killed or forced to flee. Although the burning of Panama City did not mean any great financial gain for Morgan, it was a deep blow to Spanish power and pride in the Caribbean and Morgan became the hero of the hour in England (and also lent his name to a popular brand of present-day rum). At the height of his career, Morgan had been made a titled nobleman by the English Crown and lived on an enormous sugar plantation in Jamaica (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaica). Morgan died in his bed, rich and respected—something rarely achieved by pirates in his day or any other.
Bartholomew Roberts
Main article: Bartholomew Roberts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholomew_Roberts)
Less famous than Blackbeard, Bartholomew Roberts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholomew_Roberts) was far more successful, capturing and pillaging more than 400 ships. He started his freebooting career in the Gulf of Guinea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Guinea) in 1719 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1719) when Howell Davis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howell_Davis)'s pirates captured his ship and he proceeded to join them. Rising to captain, he quickly came to the Caribbean and plagued the area until 1721 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1721). He commanded a number of large, powerfully armed ships, all of which he named Fortune, Good Fortune, or Royal Fortune. Efforts by the governors of Barbados (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbados) and Martinique (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martinique) to capture him only provoked his anger; when he found the governor of Martinique aboard a newly captured vessel, Roberts hanged the man from a yardarm. Roberts returned to Africa in 1721 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1721), where he met his death in a naval battle and his crew were captured.
Stede Bonnet
Main article: Stede Bonnet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stede_Bonnet)
Probably the least qualified pirate captain ever to sail the Caribbean, Bonnet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stede_Bonnet) was a sugar planter who knew nothing about sailing. He started his piracies in 1717 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1717) by buying an armed sloop on Barbados (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbados) and recruiting a pirate crew for wages, possibly to escape from his wife. He lost his command to Blackbeard and sailed with him for some time as a guest or prisoner. Although Bonnet briefly regained his captaincy, he was captured and hanged before he could return to the West Indies.
Charles Vane
Main article: Charles Vane (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Vane)
Charles Vane, like many early 18th century pirates, operated out of Nassau (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nassau%2C_Bahamas) in the Bahamas. He was the only pirate captain to resist Woodes Rogers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodes_Rogers) when Rogers asserted his governorship over Nassau in 1718 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1718), attacking Rogers' squadron with a fire ship and shooting his way out of the harbor rather than accept the new governor's royal pardon. Vane's quartermaster was Calico Jack Rackham (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calico_Jack_Rackham), who deposed Vane from the captaincy. Vane started a new pirate crew, but he was captured and hanged in Jamaica in 1720 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1720).
Edward Low
Main article: Edward Low (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Low)
Edward - or Ned - Low was notorious as one of the most brutal and vicious pirates. Originally from London, he started as a lieutenant to George Lowther (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lowther), before striking out on his own. His career as a pirate lasted just three years, during which he captured over 100 ships, and he and his crew murdered, tortured and maimed hundreds of people. After his own crew mutinied in 1724 when Low murdered a sleeping subordinate, he was rescued by a French vessel who hanged him on Martinique (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martinique) island.
Anne Bonny and Mary Read
Main article: Anne Bonny (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Bonny)
Main article: Mary Read (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Read)
Anne Bonny and Mary Read were undoubtedly the most famous pirates never to hold the position of captain; both spent their brief sea-roving careers under the command of Calico Jack Rackham (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calico_Jack_Rackham). They are noted chiefly for their gender, highly unusual for pirates, which helped to sensationalize their 1720 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1720) trial in Jamaica. They gained further notoriety for their ruthlessness — they are known to have spoken in favor of murdering witnesses in the crew's counsels — and for having resisted far more fiercely than their male crewmates when Rackham's ship was taken. The capstone to their legend is that they alone of all Rackham's crew escaped execution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution), as both were newly pregnant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pregnant) at their trial and their sentences were commuted to avoid harm to their unborn children.