piratesofnassauarchive

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Stede Bonnet - 'The Gentleman Pirate

Stede Bonnet was raised in privilege and wealth but left to join piracy in 1717, despite having no seafaring knowledge.

So why did he join piracy?

There is much speculation about why Bonnet became a pirate, in a general history of pyrates by Charles Johnston he describes ‘Some discomforts he found in a married state’ (a quote referenced in the title of episode 4 of our flag means death).

This discomfort could have stemmed from the loss of his young son Allamby in 1715 which could have led to emotional upsets between him and his wife Mary.

Although others believe he was likely influenced by the romanticisation of the pirates at the time as he was known to read and really did bring a library of books onto his pirate ship ‘the Revenge’.

Sources and Secondary Reading:

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Maritime Piracy: Resources

Ahoy! I’ve compiled a list of websites and YouTube channels that provide information about maritime piracy in the age of sail. There are both primary and secondary sources, so I hope this helps in your research!

Websites:

The Pirate Empire

A collection of blog articles about anything pirate.

The Pirate Surgeon’s Journal Main Page

Primary sources for piracy, highlighting surgeons at sea.

Pirates Library Reference

By a maritime historian, it’s full of primary sources from the government and pirates themselves.

British History Online (Colonial Series)

Provides government records about the Americas and piracy in the West Indies.

Pirates & Privateers

Articles about everything you want to know about piracy.

Rob Ossian’s Pirate’s Cove

A collection of over 1200 pages of pirate and nautical information

YouTube channels:

The Pirates Port

Gold and Gunpowder

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Anne Bonny and Mary Read, Notorious Pirate Women

Anne Bonny (left) and Mary Read (right) from  A General History of the Pyrates by Captain Charles Johnson 1724

We know very little about either of them before they entered piracy in 1720 but we do know that they sailed together with Anne Bonny’s spouse John Rackham, otherwise known as ‘Calico Jack’ who was captain of the ship.

The pair earned the respect of their crew mates and were often in charge of leading raids on other ships, showing how much trust the crew had in them as well as their skill in fighting.

Two victims who testified against them, Dorothy Thomas and Thomas Spenlow, described them as wielding pistols and cutlasses as they fought, using foul language and fighting with their blouses open exposing their breasts to prove they were women and scare their enemies.

Their capture happened while the crew were drunk, celebrating a recent raid so they couldn't defend themselves well, leaving Bonny and Read to fight off pirate hunter Jonathan Barnet and his crew. Both were overpowered and captured, put on trial and sentenced to death in Jamaica, set to be hanged but both declared they were pregnant and as English law declared you couldn't hang pregnant women they were given a stay of execution.

Bonny and Read were never executed, Read died in jail likely of typhoid fever or complications due to the pregnancy and was buried on April 28th 1721 but Anne disappeared from the records. Theories for Anne range from her being released to her family, freed by a governor who took pity on her or died in jail.

They were both first written about in the book ‘A General History of the Pyrates’ by Captain Charles Johnson who in the book wrote some of the first biographies of many of the pirates from the Golden Age. Although their time as notorious pirates was short and what he wrote was largely fictionalised it inspired many others writing about pirates and cemented much of how we view their stories today.

Sources and Secondary Reading:

Book: Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas by  Laura Sook Duncombe

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Sam Bellamy - The Wealthiest Pirate

One of the more successful members of the Flying Gang, an impressive feat considering his company, Samuel Bellamy otherwise known as 'Black Sam' or 'Black Bellamy' was often seen as akin to a Robin Hood figure.

His introduction to sailing was through the Royal Navy, although he was quickly swayed to piracy through the promise of riches. Sailing under Benjamin Hornigold and Edward Teach, Bellamy eventually took over the Marianne and later still his own fully fledged galley the Whydah. This ship is especially notable because its wreck was found in 1984, making it the first authentic ship from the Golden Age of Piracy.

The Whydah's wreck contained a multitude of treasure, money and jewels, and along with the records of the era helped to cement the idea of Bellamy being the wealthiest pirate in recorded history. Despite this title, Bellamy was far from the most successful or long-lived, as he was only a Captain for approximately a year and his short stint was ended by the Whydah's shipwreck off the coast of Massachusetts. The few survivors were rounded up and taken to Boston, where they were convicted on October 22 1717 and hanged for piracy on November 15 of the same year. Sadly, the King's pardon allegedly arrived in Boston three weeks late meaning that the 9 survivors should have been offered freedom.

Bellamy's reputation amongst his crew was positive, he ran his fleet democratically and was clearly well liked. While his pirate exploits are well known, his personal life is less clear. It is widely believed he had a mistress, although there is no definitive identity, and it is facts such as her name, age and marital status are often disputed. Despite this the legend prevails that Bellamy loved a woman from Cape Cod and that he committed acts of piracy to gain favour from her parents or to perhaps run away with her. Historically accurate or not, this love story is well known and often sensationalised such as in the Netflix documentary The Lost Pirate Kingdom.

Sources:

Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Maritime Underwater Surveys, Inc., 403 Mass. 501 (Mass. Supreme Court 1988).

Clifford, Barry; Perry, Paul (3 May 2000) [1999]. Expedition Whydah: The Story of the World's First Excavation of a Pirate Treasure Ship and the Man Who Found Her. HarperCollins. p. 261

The Lost Pirate Kingdom (2021). Stan Griffin. Netflix

Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents, ed. by John Franklin Jameson (Macmillan, 1923) p.303

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Push Back To Pirates

The pirates caused a crisis for trading nations, particularly those dealing in Atlantic trade that travelled through the Caribbean as they risked losing their ships and goods to pirates. For example the Whydah, an expensive heavily armed slave ship, was captured by pirate Black Sam Bellamy on the return trip of its maiden voyage in early 1717 and this marked a turning point in Britain’s response to the pirates. The ship was owned by Humprey Morris, an MP and Governor of the Bank of England who wielded his influence to start a campaign against the pirates.

Parliament and the Navy were also threatened by how the pirates and their republic lived, a system where voting was common and anybody injured during piracy was compensated for their injuries depending on their severity. This demonstration that ships could be run democratically threatened the authorities of naval and merchant captains. Parliament had to make being a pirate more dangerous and less appealing to keep people looking for an alternative in line.

So the suppression of piracy started in earnest in 1717 with the English Parliament making Woodes Rogers the governor of the Bahamas who used his position to drive piracy out of Nassau.

This was followed in September 1717, the London Gazette published a royal proclamation from George I which demanded that the pirates surrender themselves under a “Gracious Pardon” and have the actions that they committed as pirates forgiven by the crown. The proclamation said that this pardon was to be extended for a year before any pirates who had not surrendered themselves would be caught and convicted for piracy.

Sources and Secondary Reading:

The Lost Pirate Kingdom (Netflix)

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Nassau: Overview

Nassau was originally a small port town, in 1706 the pirvateer Henry Avery bribed Nassau's Govenor (Nicholas Trott) to allow him to stay. This made Nassau known as a place pirates could operate safely.

When Benjamin Hornigold started piracy in 1713, he was quick to declare Nassau as a Pirate Republic due to the islands population of roughly 1,000 pirates compared to only about 100 locals as well as the ports reputation.

From here many pirates gravitated to Nassau, eventually leading to the Flying Gang being created from the most notorious pirates based around Nassau. Like the individual crews, Nassau ran democratically with officials and even allegedly elected Edward Teach (Thatch) otherwise known as Blackbeard as Magistrate.

The republic lasted just over 11 years, from 1706 to 1718, when the British took over the island and offered the pirates situated there a choice between a full pardon and employment under the British Navy or a death sentence by hanging.

Sources and Secondary Reading:

Woodard, Colin (2008-05-12). The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Kazerooni, Bijan (26 April 2018). ""All this Shim-Sham Story of Pyrates is an Impudent Libel upon Great Men": The Suppression of Pirates and the Suppression of Dissent in Walpolean Britain". Voces Novae. 8 (1).

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Masterlist (Posts and Sources):

Blog:

Profile Icon - 19th century Barbary Corsairs Jolly Roger flag, one of two known authentic Jolly Rogers in the world, currently residing at the Åland Maritime Museum.

Header Image - "Haunts of the 'Brethren of the Coast'", a map of the time reproduced in "Buccaneers and Pirates of Our Coasts" (1897)

Topics:

Nassau:

Overview

Economy:

Push Back To Pirates

Sam Bellamy:

The Wealthiest Pirate

Ann Bonney & Mary Read:

Anne Bonny and Mary Read, Notorious Pirate Women

Stede Bonnet:

The Gentleman Pirate