PIRATES
Dead Men Tell No Tales!
By Kimberley Warrick Bozeman High School Bozeman, MT
The Golden Age of Piracy
Mid 18th century to early 19th century Many of the historical pirates we know of were not as villainous as they have been portrayed. In fact, many were invaluable to the United States as an emerging world power. (Walser) There were, however, several who were cutthroat, vile, greedy, horrible creatures! These included: Blackbeard, Bart Roberts, Captain Blood, and Captain Kidd.
The Infamous Pirate Hangouts ~ Port Royal and Tortuga
The buccaneers helped England secure Jamaica as it’s own, about 1662. The first governor was empowered to issue privateering commissions, and the English buccaneers were welcomed into the port. Later, this place became known as the “wickedest city in the world.” Port Royal was home base for many pirates and privateers.
Port Royal and Tortuga
Tortuga was uninhabited in the 1600’s, but Spain claimed ownership since it was near Hispaniola (Haiti). In 1630, some English buccaneers, who had escaped Barbados along with various other Europeans, fled to Hispaniola and then to Tortuga. This little island became the scene of the most drunken and depraved behavior known at the time. And the pirates loved it!
Tortuga
Morgan never sailed without his privateer commission (unlike Sir Francis Drake)
Sir Henry Morgan
He only plundered Spanish ships as directed by the King until… With many victories against the Spanish in the Caribbean and Central America, Morgan was given virtually free reign to do as he wished by the governor of Port Royal. Captured Panama
He is known to have participated in many atrocities in order to gain knowledge of treasure, earning him the title “the greatest and cruelest of the “Brethren of the Coast”.
Calico Jack Rackham
So named for his fondness for calico fabric shirts Compared to Bartholomew Roberts and Blackbeard who commanded 40-gun warships, Calico Jack was a small-time pirate. (Cordingly) Chief claim to fame lay in that he had 2 active female pirates as part of his crew: Anne Bonny and Mary Read. (Cordingly) Attacked merchant vessels, small fishing boats; did not torture his victims.
Calico Jack Rackham
Upon their capture, Calico Jack and his crew were tried and hanged (except the 2 women). Jack’s body was put in an iron cage and hung from a gibbet off Deadman’s Cay, Port Royal. Today the tiny peninsula is called Rackham’s Cay.
Blackbeard (Edward Teach)
Blackbeard, or Edward Teach, was the most notorious of the pirates of the Caribbean. Captain of Queen Anne’s Revenge, also followed by several small sloops, depending on what he needed for attack. In 1718, Blackbeard and his crews sailed into the harbor at Charleston, SC. They blockaded the harbor, plundered any ships which came his way, and held the town to ransom.
Blackbeard
Lit fuses hidden in his beard before battle so as to make himself appear more frightful, “as if from Hell itself”. (Cordingly) One of the few pirates who did torture his victims at will, the level of which depended on his whim. In 1718, Governor Spotswood of Virginia issued a proclamation before the Council at Williamsburg to “take all pirates” with the biggest reward going for the capture of Blackbeard.
Blackbeard
Lieutenant Robert Maynard, Royal Navy, set about to capture Blackbeard and his crew, and bring them in for hanging. After a harrowing chase in and out of many inlets around North Carolina, Blackbeard’s sloop ran aground. Maynard gave orders to attack, but his sloop ran aground also. The pirates then managed to board Maynard’s vessel. The pirates and the navy men fought for many hours, at the end of which Blackbeard was killed. It took 20 stab wounds and 5 pistol shots to bring him down. Maynard personally killed the pirate captain, and sailed back to Bath with his head, complete with beard, hung up at the bowsprit’s end. (Pringle)
Many women entered a life at sea for many reasons. Some were young girls bored with their prospects, some were widows, some were orphans or homeless. The life of a pirate or merchantman offered a steady income, adventure, and freedom from social expectations. Anne Bonny and Mary Read are the most infamous female pirates. They sailed with Calico Jack Rackham. As they were found to be expectant mothers at the time of their trials, execution was postponed but Mary died of fever in prison, and Anne was reprieved after the birth of a child. (Hoppe)
Female Pirates
Female Pirates ~ Grace O’Malley
Grace O’Malley, Ireland’s Pirate Queen (1530-1603)
She ruthlessly avenged the murders of her husband and of her lover, divorced her second husband, gave birth to her youngest son on board her ship as it was being attacked by North African pirates. She kidnapped the grandson of an Earl when he refused her the hospitality of his castle. Her ransom was that he and his descendants would forever lay an extra place at his dinner table for the unexpected arrival, a demand that is still fulfilled to this day. (Chambers)
The Jamestown Connection
Captain Christopher Newport, commanded the ship the Susan Constant to Jamestown. He was an English privateer contracted by James I to conduct raids on Spanish ships returning from Central and South America. The Lost Colony (Roanoke) was supposed to be a privateering base for England. Newport was the most notorious privateer of the time!
The Jamestown Connection
Friend to Christopher Newport and John Smith, Bartholomew Gosnold was also a privateer raiding Spanish ships for England. Gosnold formed the Virginia Company and sailed with the others to Jamestown. Recently archaeologists have discovered the remains of what appears to be a person of high stature buried at Jamestown. They believe the skeletal remains are that of Gosnold.
Jefferson & the Barbary Pirates
The Barbary Coast (Northern African nations, especially Tripoli and Algiers) was home to several companies of pirates. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the British and French paid tribute to these pirates for safe passage through the Mediterranean Sea. After the Revolution, America had to be responsible for the safety of her naval enterprises. In 1784, Congress decided to allocate money to pay tribute to these pirates.
The Barbary Wars
Jefferson argued that conceding the ransom would only encourage more attacks. The U.S. paid Algiers the ransom, and continued to pay up to $1 million per year over the next 15 years for the safe passage of American ships or the return of American hostages. Payments in ransom and tribute to the privateering states amounted to 20 percent of United States government annual revenues in 1800. (Wikipedia)
The Barbary Wars
In 1801, Jefferson became President. The Barbary States issued a demand for tribute from the new administration. Jefferson refused; the States declared war on America. Several frigates were sent to the North African coast on the Mediterranean Sea where they were victorious over Algiers and Tunis, seizing all the “vessels and goods” of the leaders of the States. Tripoli continued its fight against America, and subsequently, the American navy set up and maintained a blockade of the Barbary ports and executed a campaign of raids and attacks against the city’s fleets. In 1803, the Tripoli fleet captured the USS Philadelphia and took the captain and the crew hostage. In February 1804, the US Marines with help from several Greek, Arab, and Berber mercenaries launched an attack on Tripoli freeing the hostages, and ending the First Barbary War. (Wikipedia)