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Home , Alexander Selkirk, Anne Bonny, Bartholomew Roberts, Benjamin Hornigold, Blackbeard, Black Caesar (pirate)

Golden Age of

Buccaneering Age: - 1714 were early up to the end of the of Spanish Succession Bases: and – Morgan, Kidd, Dampier

THE GOLDEN AGE: 1715 to 1725 Leftovers from the war with no employment The age of history’s most famous pirates What makes it a Golden Age?

1. A time when democratic rebels thieves assumed sea power (through denial of the sea) over the four largest naval powers in the world - Britain, , , 2. A true

• The only pure democracy in the Western World at the time • Captains are elected at a council of war • All had equal representation • Some went through 13 capts in 2 yrs • Capt had authority only in time of • Crews voted on where the went and what it did • Crews shared profit equally • Real social & political revolutionaries Pirate or ?

•Privateers were licensed by a government in times of war to attack and enemy’s commercial shipping – the license was called a •The crew/owner kept a portion of what they captured, the government also got a share •Best way to make war at sea with a limited naval force •With a Letter of Marque you couldn’t be hanged as a pirate Letter of Marque for in the St. George October 13, 1702 The National Archives of the UK http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhisto ry/journeys/voyage_html/docs/marque_stgeorge.htm

(Transcript in Slide 57) The end of the War of Spanish Succession = the end of Privateering

• Since 1701 it’s been WAR! • /Holland Vs France/Spain • 13 years of conflict turn privateers into experts at and hand to hand combat • But 1714 the war is over! • Now 30,000 trained privateers are unemployed The real Golden Age begins with a Storm!

• July 24, 1715 – a Fleet of 11 leaves for Spain • $100s millions in , , jewels • July 30 a hurricane sinks them all • Spanish ships are sent to recover the losses • Pirates mobilize too 8 Escudos dated 1710 8 Reales Mexican Silver cob dated 1715 Spanish ships go down

•Ships go down along the coast from Stuart to Melbourne can’t take it all

• The Spanish recover most of the treasure • But they can’t take it all at once • Leave about 350,000 silver & gold in a shack on a beach on Orchid Is, FL guarded by 60 men • 1716 in Henry Jennings mobilizes 300 men - ex-privateers now turned pirate • In one night they take the equivalent of 10 years pay per man • Treasure recovered in 2015 valued at more than $4.5 million in coins and chains. Not welcome in Jamaica

• Jennings and his men tried to return to Port Royal • They offered money to the governor • Now they’re turned away under pain of death • Pirates were now enemies of the world • They look for another base • They find it in • & the town of Nassau • Jennings retired to enjoy his riches The

•Nassau becomes the new pirate capital •Governed by pirates, populated by pirates The Great Pirate Rush begins

• Jennings’ success kicks off a fury of pirate enterprise • The TRIANGULAR makes pirating sustainable • Sugar & drive the profit machine • is a haven • Choke points are everywhere • Pirates exert real sea power Q. Who were these pirates and what motivated them?

A. A diverse group – generally driven by profit. Who were the pirates and what motivated them?

1. Deserters from the Royal – desperate, pressed men 2. Merchant looking for better pay & conditions 3. Bored adventurers 4. The enslaved seeking freedom Pirates & Slavery – a complicated matter

• Many pirates treated enslaved people as “cargo” and sold them • Some enslaved men were offered their freedom as part of a pirate crew • “” – freelance pirate who came to work for • Caesar’s Rock off is named for him • Caught and hanged at Williamsburg, VA Godfathers of The Flying Gang

• mentored: Sam Bellamy, Blackbeard, • Henry Jennings mentored: , Jack Rackham, • Collectively they were known as “The Flying Gang” • But they all approached pirating a little differently Hornigold (top) and Jennings (right) were bitter rivals & developed their own factions in Nassau https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eyKPDsOyR8 Nicholls and Basire portrait Edward Thatch (Teach), aka “Blackbeard”

• Born c.1680 in • Career seaman who went to Jamaica • Joined Ben Hornigold’s crew • First independent command 1710-the Revenge • Attacked shipping of VA, DE, then headed south • His most effective weapon – fear and – as soon as the black flag was seen • 6’4” tall with slow-match under his hat looked like “the devil” “ a large ship and sloop with Black FlagsUnder and theDeaths Black Heads Flag: in them . . .”,NOT from aBlackbeard’s report printed in Flag the News-Letter, Issue 739, June 16, 1718. Queen Anne’s Revenge

• Nov 28, 1717 captured the La Concorde – 250 tons, 16 guns • Took her as his flagship • Upped her firepower to 40 guns – the most powerful pirate ship in the area • Kept 60-75 Africans on board and forced 10 crew to join + 4 volunteered inc 15 yo Louis Arot or Nantes • Left the rest with the remaining crew on the island of Renamed her Queen Anne’s Revenge

Wave of Terror 1717-1718

• Burned and ships at St. Kitts • British officials terrified • But no one ever reported Blackbeard killing a captive • Literate and intelligent – used it to keep control of his men • 400 men and 4 ship squadron • Headed to the Carolinas in May 1718 • Blockaded Charleston, SC 1718 Map of Blackbeard’s Blockade of Charleston, SC • April 11, 1718 the Kings was offered to Blackbeard • Sick of his crew, he intentionally wrecked the QAR in Beaufort Inlet, NC • He ditched the bad crew – leaving them stranded • Took a chosen few in a sloop to Bath, NC • Took the pardon from NC Governor Eden and married a local girl The King’s Pardon – a way out

• On September 5, 1717, King George I issued the “Proclamation for Suppressing of Pirates” aka. The King’s Pardon • was willing to grant clemency to any pirate who surrendered themselves to a governor of the by September 5, 1718. • Hundreds took the offer including Hornigold and Blackbeard The Bell Tolls

• But VA Governor Spottiswood was not so happy to forgive • Blackbeard (known as Drummond in NC) had been up to his old tricks • Spottiswood sent the to round him up off Ocracoke Is (the , NC) Lt Maynard RN fought Blackbeard on Nov 22, 1718 Blackbeard was shot and stabbed multiple times – a death that made him a legend. Maynard brought Blackbeard’s head back to Spottiswood as proof of his demise. The wreck of QAR found 2011 Rogers from a 1722 portrait Changes in New Providence

•January 6, 1718 Capt. The first Royal Governor of New Providence & Bahama •Ending the Republic of Pirates Hunter, Woodes Rogers (1679-1732)

• Merchantman and privateer from • His father built a fish trading empire that became a slave trading empire • Worked throughout the as a privateer and merchant • Was of the vessel that rescued marooned , (inspired 's ) • Always pictured in profile to hide the disfigurement from a Spanish musket ball to the face A strategy against pirates

• Met many disgruntled pirates who talked of their experiences • Used this knowledge to formulate a way to defeat them • A CARROT: a King’s Pardon to divide the pirates • A BIG STICK: overwhelming naval force Charles Vane – a tad cray-cray

• Most ruthless of the Flying Gang • Helped Henry Jennings to salvage the Spanish treasure wreck in 1715 • 1718 formed his own band of pirates • Operated in open boats • Became the head of the die-hard Nassau crew who would not take Rogers’ offer of a King’s Pardon Messing with Rogers

• Vane went on the attack • July 26, 1718 - Vane nearly destroyed two of the naval escorting Rogers into Nassau • Hassled Rogers’ tenuous rule of New Providence by raiding shipping • Also tried to organize an invasion of the island • Aug he headed north – Sept/Oct visited Blackbeard and tried to convince him to come back (Thatch said “no”) Swingin’ in the Wind

•Vane was ultimately captured, incarcerated for about a year, then hanged at Gallows Point, Port Royal on March 29, 1721 Pirate

• Vane was known for his cruelty & creative means of torturing captives • Woolding – a rope was wrapped around a man’s head and twisted until his eyes popped out • Bring “triced up” by the beard • Burning match inside a victim’s eyelids • Sliced off lips, then forced the victim to watch as they were broiled Pirate Punishment: Keelhauling? Not really.

• Being dragged beneath the hull of a ship • Barnacles and marine growth would cut you to pieces • Multiple runs usually resulted in drowning • A Dutch practice of the 16th & 17th centuries • 700-800 CE Greeks used it to punish pirates • Hull of an replica mid- Royal Navy encrusted with barnacles and other marine growth Anne Bonny

• Father a self- made Irish lawyer living in SC • Always rebellious • Anne arrived at Nassau in 1716, the 16 y.o. wife of pirate, James Bonny • She had many extra-marital affairs – in a free pirate Republic she did as she wished! • After the arrival of Woodes Rogers in 1718, James became an informant - and Anne hated him for it Catching Jack Rackham

• She took up with dashing “Calico” Jack Rackham and the two began pirating • On one of their captures, a young man, fought bravely & refused to surrender • They asked him to join their crew • Anne and the young man really hit it off A new “man” in Anne’s life

• Rackham became violently jealous of their friendship • Until the young “man” revealed herself as • The three teamed up, stole a ship in Nassau, and headed to sea in 1720

Mary Read runs a pirate through. Sketch from Johnson’s, A General History of the and of the most notorious Pyrates, 1724 Fight like a man . . .

• Late in 1720 it was all over for Rackham, Bonny, and Read • After a night of partying their ship was taken by a Royal Navy sloop • Rackham & the crew were too drunk to fight – they surrendered immediately • Only Bonny & Read fought till the end • Rackham would be tried & hanged • Anne: “If you’d fought like a man they wouldn’t hang you like a dog.” A stay of execution

• Read and Bonny “plead their bellies” • It was illegal for the Crown to hang a pregnant woman • Read died of a fever in prison in Jamaica in April 28, 1721 – maybe after complications with childbirth • Bonny’s fate is unknown – there is no record of her execution in Jamaica Bartholomew . . . truly didn’t give a rats

• The most successful pirate in history • Started as a pirate captive, forced to join, voted to lead after the capt’s death • Took 400 prizes in his career • Teetotaler and deadly focused • Hanged the governor of – took him from a 32 gun French man of war (a first) • Element of surprise – and a little nuts • Everyone wanted him dead – headed to • Feb 10, 1722 HMS Swallow (32) attacked Beginning of the end of the • Sat atop a gun daring them – hit by grape “Golden Age” Under the Black Flag

Christopher Moody JackStede Rackham Bonnet Sam Bellamy

Bartholomew Roberts Buried Pirate Treasure – Fact or fiction?

• No pirate logic here! • What crew would allow their captain to bury what they’d just won? • There has never been a single documented Online Resources for Students & Teachers

Royal Museums Greenwich – The Golden Age of Piracy – including podcasts https://www.rmg.co.uk/discover/explore/golden-age-piracy

Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/pirates/index.html

Other Websites https://www.goldenageofpiracy.org http://www.thewayofthepirates.com http://www.republicofpirates.net

The Queen Anne’s Revenge Online – wreck recovery and other good history! https://www.qaronline.org/ Online Video Resources

Video: It’s History – The Golden Age of Piracy (07:30) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiFptwV_E2U

Video: Epic History TV – (06:13) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eyKPDsOyR8

Video: It’s History – (06:54) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A45uGDIYRhs

Other It’s History Pirate Videos https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2NN2rktA4yOhRGo2TTrsExu2Nn6rfALk Best Books for Teachers

• Colin Woodard, The Republic of Pirates Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down, 2008.

• , Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates, 2006. Remember . . .

International Talk Like a Pirate Day is Sept 19

For the little ones: Disney’s Jake & The Never Land Pirates https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjWo9RMGdSU

For the older ones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxd4Hjun--s Thank-ee lubbers Letter of Marque Transcript (from Slide 6)

13 October 1702 Appeared personally Capt[ain] William Dampier and produced a Warr[ant] from the R[ight] hon[ourable] the Comm[issioner] deputed by his Royall Highnes Prince George of Denmarke etc Lord High A[d]m[ira]ll of England Ireland etc and of all Her Ma[jest]ties Plantations etc for the granting of a Com[missi]on or L[ett]ers of Marque to him the s[ai]d W[illia]m Dampier, and in pursuance of her Ma[jes]ties Instructions to Privateers made the following Declaration viz. that his ship is called the St George, and is of the burthen of ab[ou]t Two hundred & sixty Tonns, mounted with Twenty Two Gunns, that he the Declarant goes Cap[tain] of her, that she carryes one hundred men, one hundred small Armes, thirty Cutlaces, thirty Barrells of powder, thirty Rounds of great Shott and ab[ou]t one thousand w[eigh]t of small shott, that the s[ai]d ship is victualled for Eight months, . . . The same day This Declaration was made before William Dampier Geo[rge] Bramston Jur[or?] 1650 Map of Cuba, , Jamaica and the Bahamas Additional slides on the Birth of the

(insert after Slide 6 for a full presentation) Pirate Genesis

• The of Tordesillas, 1494 • The pope gave Spain a complete monopoly on the Caribbean, and most of • Spain seized the wealth of the Incas and Aztecs • The Caribbean islands became a necessary stopping point on the way back to Spain • They released livestock on the islands to help provision the journeys The Boucaniers set the stage

• French & Englishmen went to the islands to set up as victuallers (provisioners) for these Spanish fleets • They hunted pigs, cattle and fowl on on the islands • Not enough salt available to preserve it • So they smoke-dried the meat over a slow fire with an open grill – a boucane • Produced Viande boucanée – or jerky

Boucaniers become “Buccaneers” Buccaneers get creative

• Buccaneers didn’t just sell jerky to the Spanish • Sometimes they took their ships • The Spanish retaliated by killing off the cattle and pigs • Now they sought new “professions” • The Spanish created the pirate scourge • The British were inspired by them – the Buccaneers were hired as privateers Hispaniola (present day

& ) Hispaniola 1653 (France won’t take the Western half of the Island until 1697)

Port City of Jamaica

• British attacked Santo Domingo • The Spanish repelled them • To avoid a complete failure the Brits invaded Jamaica which fell easily • Port Royal, Jamaica now a base for English Buccaneers • Port Royal became a hub for the likes of & Henry Morgan (1635-1688)

• 1667 diplomatic relations between Spain and England broke down (again) • Welsh privateer Henry Morgan was licensed to raid the – & share the profits with the King and Governor of Jamaica • Although not technically at war with Spain – it didn’t stop Morgan Jamaica

Next stop: https://www.loc.gov/item/gm7100 4474/ Map c. 1715 Attack on Panama

• 1668 Morgan appointed of Buccaneers • Given 15 ships and 500 men • Attacked Portobello – treasure port, heavily defended – a huge success • 1671 Attacked , Portobello Panama with 2000 men • An overland raid that did not Panama City end as well as he’d hoped The Birth of the Myth

• The loot of Panama was substantial, but divided 2000 ways, it didn’t amount to much per man • Rumors started that Morgan had buried the bulk of the spoils Knighted, then dissipation

• 1672 England & Spain made peace

• Spain wanted Morgan’s head

• Morgan returned to for trial • But King Charles II and the public welcomed him as a hero • Knighted and made Lt. Governor of Jamaica instead

• 7 years of lawful life did not suit him

• Died wealthy, of “drink and late nights” William Kidd (1654-1701)

• Scots privateer out of • 1695 set out in Adventure in search of pirates and enemy traders with a Letter of Marque from the Governors of NY, MA, and NH • Not enough targets – so he started on piracy • Brutal commander and pirate • Governor of Jamaica put out a warrant for him • Imprisoned in NY in 1699 – a year in solitary • Sent to England, held in • Found guilty of and 5 counts of piracy London –

• 1701 Kidd was hanged – twice!

• The first time the rope broke

• The second time worked • His body was then tarred, gibbeted and hung on display as a warning to would-be pirates Another pirate with a story to tell and a recovered ship to explore . . . Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy (1689-1717)

• Born to poor farming family in • 1712 in and fell in love • To win the hand of Maria Hallet, he and a mate took off to Florida in search of sunken treasure • Most of it had been recovered by the Spanish and other treasure hunters like Henry Jennings • Then they took to pirating • By March 1716 they were operating 2 war canoes in the Bay of Black Sam gets bold

• Made it to Cuba and joined Hornigold’s squadron • Would not attack English ships • Captured the slave ship Whydah in the Bahamas • Outfitted it with 12 guns as his flagship • She was caught in a storm off Cape Cod and went down with Bellamy with Whydah’s and most of the crew in 1717 and bell Artifacts from the Whydah wreck The Wyhdah Museum – History Curriculum https://www.discoverpirates.com/curriculum/history/ Rogers & the Ungrateful Crown

• Woodes Rogers’ strategy was successful • He’s dispersed the pirates so they could be picked off in detail • But his first term as governor ruined him financially – spent much of his own money trying to defend the & catch pirates • Relieved of governorship in 1722 and returned to England • Was imprisoned for debt for personal loans he took out to protect the colony • Crown eventually made restitution • 1728 returned him as governor of the Bahamas • Died in Nassau in 1732 at the age of about 53