The Golden Age of Piracy Slideshow
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Golden Age of Piracy Golden Age of Piracy Buccaneering Age: 1650s - 1714 Buccaneers were early Privateers up to the end of the War of Spanish Succession Bases: Jamaica and Tortuga – 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, France, Spain, Netherlands 2. A true democracy • The only pure democracy in the Western World at the time • Captains are elected at a council of war • All had equal representation • Some ships went through 13 capts in 2 yrs • Capt had authority only in time of battle • Crews voted on where the ship went and what it did • Crews shared profit equally • Real social & political revolutionaries Pirate or Privateer? •Privateers were licensed by a government in times of war to attack and enemy’s commercial shipping – the license was called a Letter of Marque •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 William Dampier 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! • England/Holland Vs France/Spain • 13 years of conflict turn privateers into experts at naval warfare 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 Treasure Fleet of 11 galleons leaves Cuba for Spain • $100s millions in gold, silver, jewels • July 30 a hurricane sinks them all • Spanish ships are sent to recover the losses • Pirates mobilize too 8 Escudos Lima dated 1710 8 Reales Mexican Silver cob dated 1715 Spanish ships go down •Ships go down along the Florida coast from Stuart to Melbourne Spaniards 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 coins in a shack on a beach on Orchid Is, FL guarded by 60 men • 1716 in Port Royal 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 Bahamas • New Providence & the town of Nassau • Jennings retired to enjoy his riches The Republic of Pirates •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 TRADE makes pirating sustainable • Sugar & slavery drive the profit machine • Caribbean 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 Navy – desperate, pressed men 2. Merchant sailors 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 • “Black Caesar” – freelance pirate who came to work for Blackbeard • Caesar’s Rock off Key Largo is named for him • Caught and hanged at Williamsburg, VA Godfathers of The Flying Gang • Benjamin Hornigold mentored: Sam Bellamy, Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet • Henry Jennings mentored: Charles Vane, Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny • 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 Bristol • Career seaman who went to Jamaica • Joined Ben Hornigold’s crew • First independent command 1710-the Revenge • Attacked shipping of VA, DE, Carolinas then headed south • His most effective weapon – fear and terror – 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 Boston News-Letter, Issue 739, June 16, 1718. Queen Anne’s Revenge • Nov 28, 1717 captured the slave ship 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 Bequia Renamed her Queen Anne’s Revenge Wave of Terror 1717-1718 • Burned Guadeloupe 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 Pardon 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 • The Crown was willing to grant clemency to any pirate who surrendered themselves to a governor of the colonies 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 Royal Navy to round him up off Ocracoke Is (the Outer Banks, NC) Lt Robert 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. Woodes Rogers The first Royal Governor of New Providence & Bahama •Ending the Republic of Pirates The Pirate Hunter, Woodes Rogers (1679-1732) • Merchantman and privateer from Dorset • His father built a fish trading empire that became a slave trading empire • Worked throughout the East Indies as a privateer and merchant • Was captain of the vessel that rescued marooned Alexander Selkirk, (inspired Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe) • 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 frigates 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 Torture • 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-18th century Royal Navy Warship 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 Mary Read • The three teamed up, stole a ship in Nassau, and headed to sea in 1720 Mary Read runs a pirate through.