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Episode 19: The Golden Age of Piracy · Missing Pages

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SPEAKER_00: Hey hey, welcome to Missing Pages.
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SPEAKER_00: This is episode 19, The Golden Age of Piracy.
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Now this is part two of this two-part series of the rise and
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fall of piracy in the
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SPEAKER_00: Caribbean and the North American English colonies.
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If you want to hear more about the origins of piracy as well as
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some of the more
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SPEAKER_00: broad strokes of the practice,
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SPEAKER_00: go back and listen to episode 18 where I cover all of that.
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This episode is much more focused on the peak and then fall of
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the most famous pirates in
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SPEAKER_00: As always,
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SPEAKER_00: if you have any comments,
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SPEAKER_00: good or bad,
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or if you want to read more of my various writings on different
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aspects of history
0:49
SPEAKER_00: I don't cover in the podcast,
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SPEAKER_00: as well as some connections to current events,
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SPEAKER_00: head on over to missingpages.substack.com.
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If you haven't already,
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don't forget to follow me on whatever podcasting platform you
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use.
1:08
without further ado this is episode 19 the golden age of piracy
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where are these
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missing pages this map we must have these pages back this one's
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got pages missing
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SPEAKER_01: why the pages missing like a book with missing pages
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A very interesting aspect of piracy that we'll be getting into
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this episode is how
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SPEAKER_00: rapid the rise and fall of the most notorious period of piracy,
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SPEAKER_00: the golden age of piracy,
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SPEAKER_00: actually lasted.
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It was only about five to ten years,
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depending on what metrics you're using.
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SPEAKER_00: The whole
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period of kind of the general rise and fall of piracy from very
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beginning to very
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SPEAKER_00: end is about 40.
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SPEAKER_00: Now there are events in history,
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SPEAKER_00: and we've talked about them in this podcast,
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SPEAKER_00: such as the Salem Witch Trials,
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SPEAKER_00: which only last about a year.
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And there are obviously wars that have a far greater impact in
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a far shorter period of time.
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But there are very few events,
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very few cultural events,
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that have this long of a tale.
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SPEAKER_00: Over 300 years after these events,
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SPEAKER_00: we're still talking about them,
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SPEAKER_00: still making movies and shows about them.
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SPEAKER_00: And they capture the imagination of children still to this day.
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SPEAKER_00: And on top of that,
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it's only about four or five different people that actually
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make a giant impact
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SPEAKER_00: that we know about and talk about today.
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SPEAKER_00: So this episode is going to be a little bit different.
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I'm not going to be going into the broad strokes of piracy that
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was the previous.
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And all of the trends and the various aspects of piracy that we
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talked about last
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SPEAKER_00: episode are still valid in this one.
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But this one is going to be more about these specific stories,
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the specific people.
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I'll be following a few characters as they facilitate the rise
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and then also
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SPEAKER_00: facilitate the fall of piracy.
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Now,
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since this is the second part of a two-parter,
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I won't be going into the AP notes.
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SPEAKER_00: Not that I had any to go through in the first place.
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SPEAKER_00: So grab your muskets,
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SPEAKER_00: grab your swords,
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SPEAKER_00: your eyepatches,
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SPEAKER_00: hoist the sails,
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SPEAKER_00: and fly that black flag high on the main mast,
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SPEAKER_00: and join me as we fill in those missing pages.
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SPEAKER_00: During the early wars,
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SPEAKER_00: that is King William's War and Queen Anne's War,
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privateering took the front seat as it became necessary to help
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defeat the French
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SPEAKER_00: and Spanish at sea in any way possible.
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SPEAKER_00: However,
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even these legal means of raiding and prize-taking did not stop
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ornery crews from
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SPEAKER_00: taking over ships in mutiny and turning to piracy.
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SPEAKER_00: These new pirates were still careful to keep up appearances,
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SPEAKER_00: but were not afraid of taking English Allied ships,
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SPEAKER_00: and had complex stories ready just in case they were questioned.
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SPEAKER_00: These tall tales did not often work,
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SPEAKER_00: though,
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SPEAKER_00: as the news of ship-taking would inevitably pass through the ports.
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SPEAKER_00: In the middle of the Second War,
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SPEAKER_00: Queen Anne's War,
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the English-British now government worried about piracy roaring
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back with a
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SPEAKER_00: vengeance once the war ended.
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The 1708 Prize Act was an attempt to slow the transition from
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privateering to
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SPEAKER_00: piracy and worked well at first,
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SPEAKER_00: but some felt that it was merely a bandage.
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SPEAKER_00: This act, also known as the Cruisers and Convoys Act,
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SPEAKER_00: abolished the crown's take of any prizes taken by any sailors.
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SPEAKER_00: Prior to this,
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much of the value that was gathered from taking a ship was sent
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directly to the
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SPEAKER_00: government.
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SPEAKER_00: That was no longer.
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SPEAKER_00: This was used to encourage privateers to protect English merchant ships.
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SPEAKER_00: We'll see that this did not do much to stop piracy.
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There were many complaints about ship captains abandoning trade
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to seek these
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SPEAKER_00: prizes,
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and there was a major concern about what would happen to the
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vast number of sailors
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SPEAKER_00: who would be out of work at war's end.
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These valid concerns were also coupled with the abandoning of
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falsely accused trade
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SPEAKER_00: captains stuck in Spanish jails after they were captured during the war.
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On top of this,
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wage suppression on merchant ships only made matters worse.
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These conditions led to a sudden rise in mutinies and hundreds
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of new pirates.
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SPEAKER_00: After the war, the pirate population rose until its peak in around 1720.
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In his book,
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Black Flags,
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Blue Waters,
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Eric J.
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Dolan lays out these statistics in more detail.
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SPEAKER_00: According to the historian Marcus Rediker,
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SPEAKER_00: Quote, this is now quoting Rediker, End quote.
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SPEAKER_00: Dolan continues,
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SPEAKER_00: Over this span,
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SPEAKER_00: Redeker estimates that roughly 4,000 pirates were active,
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SPEAKER_00: and by pursuing such an ignominious course,
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SPEAKER_00: they contributed to the most dramatic,
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SPEAKER_00: intense,
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SPEAKER_00: and deadly era in the history of American piracy.
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SPEAKER_00: End quote.
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This number of pirates impacted the English merchant ships more
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than the war.
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SPEAKER_00: Some 2,000 to 2,400 ships were sunk in that period between 1716 and 1726.
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This rapid increase in available sailors came from the massive
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demobilization at
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SPEAKER_00: the end of Queen Anne's War.
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SPEAKER_00: Over 36,000 sailors lost their jobs and were on the streets.
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One of the first and eventually the steward of this new form of
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life,
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a.k.a.
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SPEAKER_00: piracy, was Benjamin Hornigold.
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SPEAKER_00: He gathered a small crew of recently fired sailors,
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SPEAKER_00: and they found their way to Nassau,
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SPEAKER_00: a recently destroyed town in the Bahamas,
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SPEAKER_00: which had been sacked four times during the war.
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SPEAKER_00: From this new humble base of operations,
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SPEAKER_00: they engaged in small-scale piracy,
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SPEAKER_00: taking the odd trading sloop or raiding remote plantations.
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SPEAKER_00: As their stolen goods were brought to market,
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the Spanish quickly found it in their interest to take down
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this settlement.
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SPEAKER_00: The pirates split up their earnings and laid low for a while.
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SPEAKER_00: Among those in this group was a man named Edward Teach.
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SPEAKER_00: Now Edward Teach,
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SPEAKER_00: also known as Edward Thatch,
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SPEAKER_00: had a much more famous name,
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SPEAKER_00: one that would strike fear in anybody in his vicinity.
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SPEAKER_00: That name was Blackbeard.
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SPEAKER_00: and he was one of the most notorious pirates known to history.
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SPEAKER_00: It is said that he was frightful-looking,
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and according to the very famous Captain Johnson's General
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History of the Pirates,
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SPEAKER_00: quote,
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Captain Teach assumed the kongnomen of Blackbeard from that
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large quantity of hair
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SPEAKER_00: which,
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SPEAKER_00: like a frightful meteor,
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covered his whole face and frightened America more than any
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comet that has appeared
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SPEAKER_00: there a long time.
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This beard was black,
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which he suffered to grow of an extravagant length.
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SPEAKER_00: As to breadth, it came up to his eyes.
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SPEAKER_00: He was accustomed to twist it with ribbons,
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SPEAKER_00: and small tails,
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SPEAKER_00: after the manner of Arameli's wigs,
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SPEAKER_00: and turned them about his ears.
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SPEAKER_00: In time of action he wore a sling over his shoulders,
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SPEAKER_00: with three brace of pistols hanging in holsters like bandoliers,
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SPEAKER_00: and stuck lighted matches under his hat,
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SPEAKER_00: which appearing on each side of his face,
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SPEAKER_00: his eyes naturally looking fierce and wild,
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made him altogether such a figure that imagination cannot form
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an idea of a fury
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SPEAKER_00: from hell to look more frightful.
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SPEAKER_00: End quote.
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SPEAKER_00: Now despite Teach and Hornigold finding it necessary to lay low,
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SPEAKER_00: the Spanish attack never came through.
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So by the summer of 1714,
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Hornigold and his crew were ready to sail again.
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The capture of several Cuban vessels owned by the nobility put
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these men back under
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scrutiny of the only representative of the island colonies that
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actually lived
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SPEAKER_00: there,
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SPEAKER_00: a man named Thomas Walker.
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SPEAKER_00: Throughout 1715,
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SPEAKER_00: Hornigold and Teach continued to gather pirates,
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SPEAKER_00: despite the peace,
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SPEAKER_00: and even began to take English ships,
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SPEAKER_00: only furthering the accusations.
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SPEAKER_00: By the fall of 1715,
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this group of pirates outnumbered the rest of the citizens on
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this island of New
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SPEAKER_00: Providence in the Bahamas.
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SPEAKER_00: They also took on a new name, the Flying Gang.
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SPEAKER_00: Now Thomas Walker took it upon himself to undermine,
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SPEAKER_00: or at least try to undermine,
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SPEAKER_00: the Flying Gang.
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His initial assaults were unsuccessful,
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though,
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and piracy only worsened throughout all of 1715.
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SPEAKER_00: Due to his failures,
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Walker was forced to watch this newly minted Republic of
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Pirates grow and grow and
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SPEAKER_00: expand outside of British control.
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SPEAKER_00: Colin Woodard,
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SPEAKER_00: in his book The Republic of Pirates,
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SPEAKER_00: describes what this island town looked like.
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SPEAKER_00: Amid the palms,
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SPEAKER_00: palmettos,
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SPEAKER_00: and tropical scrub,
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SPEAKER_00: smoke rose from the cooking fires of a hundred huts,
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SPEAKER_00: tents,
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SPEAKER_00: and hovels.
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SPEAKER_00: Most of these were made from whatever was handy,
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SPEAKER_00: driftwood,
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SPEAKER_00: old spars,
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SPEAKER_00: decking,
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SPEAKER_00: and worm-eaten holes covered over with palmetto thatch,
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SPEAKER_00: and bits of old sailcloth.
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SPEAKER_00: He continues, End quote.
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SPEAKER_00: This rapid rise in piracy,
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left Hornigold afraid that the port and even his gang would
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soon start falling apart.
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The democratic nature of the pirate ships left him and his
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group of worthy captains
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SPEAKER_00: at risk,
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SPEAKER_00: constantly.
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SPEAKER_00: On top of this,
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there were rivalries between pirates and many debates over how
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they should conduct
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SPEAKER_00: themselves.
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SPEAKER_00: The most notable rival to Hornigold was Henry Jennings.
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The debate that they had was about whether they should be
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attacking Spanish ships
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SPEAKER_00: without a commission at all.
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Jennings was firmly in the no camp,
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and Hornigold was very much in the yes camp.
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Now,
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Jennings still figured that he was a privateer,
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despite the war being over.
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SPEAKER_00: So,
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when Samuel Bellamy and Paul's grave Williams took Jennings'
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prize from him in a
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SPEAKER_00: direct act of piracy against his rival,
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SPEAKER_00: Hornigold quickly took them under his wing.
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SPEAKER_00: Now, Samuel Bellamy is an interesting character.
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He was born in Devon,
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England to a family of farmers,
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and like most other pirates we will see,
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SPEAKER_00: During the War of Spanish Succession,
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SPEAKER_00: also known as Queen Anne's War,
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SPEAKER_00: he served in the Navy or was part of a merchant crew.
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SPEAKER_00: Between war end in 1713 and 1715, Bellamy made his way to Boston.
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SPEAKER_00: In Boston, he became quick friends with Paul's grave, Williams.
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SPEAKER_00: Now, Williams came from a very different stock.
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He was from a very wealthy family and was able to acquire the
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ship and supplies for
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SPEAKER_00: their various sea ventures that they wanted to take.
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SPEAKER_00: In 1715,
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SPEAKER_00: they set sail to loot a newly sunken Spanish ship,
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SPEAKER_00: a Spanish treasure ship,
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SPEAKER_00: off the coast of Florida.
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SPEAKER_00: These weren't just any Spanish ships.
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This was 10 Spanish galleons,
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large treasure ships that got caught in a hurricane.
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SPEAKER_00: Now,
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SPEAKER_00: unfortunately for the duo,
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SPEAKER_00: news of this crash spread far and fast,
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SPEAKER_00: and they were not the only nor even close to the first to arrive.
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Many a pirate and even average sailor tried to take some of
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this money that was
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SPEAKER_00: laying in the shallow waters off the coast of Florida.
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SPEAKER_00: Jamaica itself flew into a frenzy,
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SPEAKER_00: with even the governor involving himself in the treasure hunt.
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After failing to find any treasure,
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the partners decided to become pirates.
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SPEAKER_00: They took their first ship in the beginning of 1716,
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SPEAKER_00: and while witnessing Charles Vane and Henry Jennings take a ship,
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SPEAKER_00: learned the importance that fear was as powerful as a cannon.
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Now Jennings was not happy with these two lurking around his
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prize and took them prisoner.
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SPEAKER_00: However, once aboard the ship,
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Bellamy and Williams were able to create a small mutinous crew
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among the French captives.
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SPEAKER_00: And as soon as they broke into port,
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Bellamy and Williams gave the signal and took the ship from
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underneath Henry
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SPEAKER_00: Jennings' nose.
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This move greatly amused Benjamin Hornigold,
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who invited them to join his flying gang.
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SPEAKER_00: Now the other pirate that I mentioned besides Henry Jennings,
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SPEAKER_00: Charles Vane,
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SPEAKER_00: is another character in this story that we need to introduce.
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SPEAKER_00: Little is known of Vane's early life.
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Perhaps he was from London,
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where some 30% of pirates hailed from,
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but it is not known.
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SPEAKER_00: But if he was from there,
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he would have likely seen the hangings of the crew of Henry
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Avery or William Kidd
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SPEAKER_00: himself.
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or at the very least,
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he had seen the latter decomposing in an iron cage.
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SPEAKER_00: Once Vane turned to piracy,
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SPEAKER_00: though,
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he was seen as one of the most notorious pirates sailing in the
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Caribbean and was
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known to torture his victims to find any treasure they may have
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been hiding.
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Now,
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Bellamy and Williams throughout 1716 took every Spanish ship
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they came across and
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SPEAKER_00: But due to Hornigold's rules against taking British ships,
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SPEAKER_00: he was still loyal to the crown after all,
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SPEAKER_00: they began to feel limited.
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SPEAKER_00: Many of the pirates on board,
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SPEAKER_00: not just Williams and Bellamy,
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had grown tired of this rule and voted Hornigold out replacing
16:49
him with Sam
16:50
SPEAKER_00: Bellamy.
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Bellamy was quick to act and began taking any ship he could
16:55
find throughout the
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SPEAKER_00: Caribbean,
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SPEAKER_00: including English ships.
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SPEAKER_00: He was still lacking some firepower,
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SPEAKER_00: though,
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SPEAKER_00: but eventually took the 26-gun British ship,
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SPEAKER_00: the Sultana,
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SPEAKER_00: allowing him to chase much larger prizes.
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SPEAKER_00: The raids increased from here,
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SPEAKER_00: and during their partnership,
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SPEAKER_00: which only lasted a couple years,
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SPEAKER_00: Williams and Bellamy captured more than 52 ships.
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SPEAKER_00: Slowly but surely, this crew that they gathered was
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SPEAKER_00: contained far more vagrants,
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SPEAKER_00: sailors,
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SPEAKER_00: slaves,
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SPEAKER_00: and servants,
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SPEAKER_00: and the crew eventually became three times larger than when they started.
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SPEAKER_00: To deal with this, they needed an even bigger ship.
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SPEAKER_00: And little did they know, the perfect ship was just leaving Port Royal.
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SPEAKER_00: Woodard lays out what this ship looked like.
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SPEAKER_00: Quote,
17:56
SPEAKER_00: with 18 six-pounders mounted in room for ten more in time of war.
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SPEAKER_00: She was fast,
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SPEAKER_00: a galley-built three-master capable of speeds of up to 13 knots,
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SPEAKER_00: perfect for transporting slaves across the Atlantic.
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Her 300-ton hull was capable of carrying between 500 and 700
18:15
slaves or a large
18:17
SPEAKER_00: cache of plundered treasure.
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SPEAKER_00: It represented one of the most advanced weapon systems of its time,
18:23
the sort of technology that could be extremely dangerous if it
18:26
fell into the wrong
18:27
SPEAKER_00: hands.
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SPEAKER_00: End quote.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: Now Bellamy's greatest prize, this ship, the WIDA, came in April 1717.
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Bellamy and Williams chased it for three days before finally
18:41
raising their flag and
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SPEAKER_00: taking a shot.
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Despite the ginormous size of this slave vessel,
18:52
the encounter was over quickly.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: Bellamy used what he had learned about the usage of fear to aid him,
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SPEAKER_00: and told his men to wave their muskets and grenades wildly on board.
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SPEAKER_00: This ruse, despite the unlikelihood, worked.
19:09
SPEAKER_00: The captain of the WIDA quickly surrendered,
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SPEAKER_00: and Bellamy,
19:12
SPEAKER_00: only firing two shots during this raid,
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SPEAKER_00: Scrambled on board to take it.
19:20
This ship had actually just left behind its shipment of slaves
19:24
and was filled to
19:25
SPEAKER_00: the brim with sugar,
19:26
SPEAKER_00: indigo,
19:27
SPEAKER_00: gold,
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SPEAKER_00: and silver.
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SPEAKER_00: Bellamy had risen in just two years.
19:33
From a poor man in Boston to the owner of one of the nicest
19:37
ships in the entire Caribbean.
19:41
Now there are more characters to introduce to fully flesh out
19:45
this peak of piracy,
19:46
SPEAKER_00: this golden age.
19:48
SPEAKER_00: And the next is Steed Bonnet.
19:51
SPEAKER_00: Now Steed Bonnet, unlike Sam Bellamy...
19:56
was born into a very wealthy family,
19:58
one of the most prosperous in all of Barbados,
20:02
in 1688.
20:02
SPEAKER_00: He was highly educated and lived a life of luxury.
20:08
But around 1715,
20:09
despite his lavish life,
20:12
he began to act a little bit strangely.
20:15
It's unknown if this was an illness like depression or some
20:18
other personal strife,
20:20
SPEAKER_00: but in 1717,
20:21
SPEAKER_00: he commissioned a ship and suddenly became a pirate.
20:26
He was able to keep this new venture a secret and recruited
20:29
from taverns and
20:30
SPEAKER_00: wharves,
20:31
SPEAKER_00: offering a salary,
20:32
SPEAKER_00: a unique method of pay for pirates,
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SPEAKER_00: where it was usually shares of plunder.
20:38
After getting started,
20:40
he had moderate success off the coast of Carolina and
20:44
But that got to his head and he eventually attacked a Spanish
20:47
man-of-war and nearly
20:49
SPEAKER_00: killed his whole crew,
20:50
SPEAKER_00: including himself.
20:53
They were able to limp to Nassau,
20:55
where Bonnet recovered and met one Edward Teach.
21:01
SPEAKER_00: Now Teach figured that Bonnet was worthless,
21:04
but understood that he was a great funder of his piracy and
21:09
began to work with him.
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SPEAKER_00: Not only did he work with them, he became the captain of Bonnet's ship.
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SPEAKER_00: After the repairs were completed, Blackbeard took over.
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SPEAKER_00: Bonnet was still on board,
21:23
SPEAKER_00: though acting as more of an administrator than a captain,
21:29
SPEAKER_00: and patrolled up and down the northern coast of the English colonies.
21:35
They captured several small boats off the coast,
21:38
but never really got anything significant.
21:41
SPEAKER_00: Regardless,
21:42
SPEAKER_00: their terror was nearly as bad for the colonies as the wars had been,
21:47
SPEAKER_00: and Teach started to act as if he had declared a war on Britain itself.
21:54
SPEAKER_00: The crew eventually returned to the Bahamas,
21:56
SPEAKER_00: where they encountered their greatest possible prize,
21:59
SPEAKER_00: a slave ship just like Bellamy.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: Lucky for the pirates,
22:03
the ship was in need of repair and the crew had suffered
22:06
heavily from scurvy and
22:08
SPEAKER_00: dysentery.
22:09
They surrendered quickly and Teach took the ship as his own,
22:13
leaving their revenge with Bonnet.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: Blackbeard would rename this new ship Queen Anne's Revenge.
22:20
Blackbeard slowly added firepower and men until this ship
22:24
hosted 40 guns and over 300 sailors.
22:29
SPEAKER_00: After fitting his own ship,
22:31
SPEAKER_00: Blackbeard decided to build a fleet,
22:34
SPEAKER_00: and by the middle of 1718,
22:36
SPEAKER_00: he had four ships and some 700 men.
22:42
SPEAKER_00: Whenever he would return to Nassau, he would double the population.
22:47
SPEAKER_00: Now 1717 to 1719,
22:49
SPEAKER_00: right,
22:50
SPEAKER_00: we're in the middle of this period we're talking about right now,
22:56
SPEAKER_00: was the most prolific period of piracy.
22:59
SPEAKER_00: when the most famous pirates,
23:01
SPEAKER_00: including who we've talked about so far,
23:03
SPEAKER_00: teach Samuel Bellamy,
23:05
SPEAKER_00: Stede Bonnet,
23:06
SPEAKER_00: Charles Vane,
23:07
SPEAKER_00: Hornigold,
23:08
prowled the coasts from Maine to Florida and throughout the
23:12
West Indies and the
23:13
SPEAKER_00: Bahamas.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: However, in just seven years, by 1726, piracy was basically no more.
23:25
SPEAKER_00: So now that we have the pirate characters put together,
23:29
let's start to see how this starts to unwind before their very
23:34
eyes in such quick
23:37
SPEAKER_00: succession,
23:39
SPEAKER_00: starting with the death of Samuel Bellamy.
23:45
SPEAKER_00: Now after taking the WIDA,
23:47
SPEAKER_00: Bellamy and Williams both took their own crews and ships,
23:50
SPEAKER_00: though continued to work together.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: They would take continuous prizes,
23:58
SPEAKER_00: driving the merchant traffic nearly to a halt in the Chesapeake.
24:03
It is during this time that Bellamy started to speak of his
24:10
desires as a pirate.
24:13
SPEAKER_00: It is said, this is recalled by one of the captains that he captured,
24:18
that Bellamy harbored resentment toward the rich and powerful
24:23
and used piracy as a
24:24
SPEAKER_00: way to attack their pocketbooks directly.
24:27
SPEAKER_00: He and the crew,
24:29
SPEAKER_00: again this is a very largely vagrant slave and servant-driven crew,
24:35
SPEAKER_00: acted as if they were a Robin Hood gang.
24:38
Now there's little to support this directly other than hearsay
24:43
from a captain.
24:45
SPEAKER_00: And most often, pirates did not have altruistic motives.
24:49
SPEAKER_00: They were just in it for the money.
24:52
SPEAKER_00: But it's possible,
24:53
SPEAKER_00: given the people that were part of the crew,
24:56
SPEAKER_00: that Bellamy started to have some sort of ideology.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: Regardless, he wasn't able to act on it for very long.
25:08
SPEAKER_00: On April 26th,
25:09
SPEAKER_00: just a few weeks after taking the WIDA,
25:13
the pirates took one last merchant ship before heading back to
25:16
port in Maine.
25:18
SPEAKER_00: Now,
25:19
SPEAKER_00: Maine was also destroyed,
25:20
SPEAKER_00: just like Nassau,
25:21
SPEAKER_00: during the two wars and was basically the pirate haven of the north.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: On the way, though, some trouble hit them when they hit some dense fog.
25:32
SPEAKER_00: a dangerous place to be in unknown waters off the coast of Cape Cod.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: To try to ensure safe passage,
25:41
Bellamy took prisoner a departing merchant and forced the
25:44
captain to lead him to
25:45
SPEAKER_00: the coast.
25:46
But a sudden storm rose overnight,
25:49
driving them straight for the sandbars.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: Soon their waves reached thirty feet high and crashed on the deck,
25:56
flashes of lightning showing the ever-approaching sharp cliffs
25:59
at the shore.
26:01
SPEAKER_00: One last attempt to steer the Wida to a more graceful destruction failed,
26:06
SPEAKER_00: and the ship was torn to shreds.
26:09
SPEAKER_00: Dolan describes this crash in more detail.
26:11
The crash sent the pirates flying and transformed cannons and
26:16
cargo into missiles
26:16
SPEAKER_00: that shot across the deck,
26:33
SPEAKER_00: crushing or maiming any who were in the way.
26:37
The impact and the subsequent pounding of the waves broke the
26:40
Waida into pieces
26:41
SPEAKER_00: that,
26:42
SPEAKER_00: along with the vessel's contents,
26:44
SPEAKER_00: were strewn over four miles of coastline.
26:48
Men who weren't pitched overboard by the initial collision or
26:51
the waves sweeping
26:52
over the decks were flung into the bone-chilling waters of the
26:56
Atlantic as the
26:57
SPEAKER_00: ship's skeleton was torn apart.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: End quote.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: John Julian was an Indian man,
27:30
SPEAKER_00: either from Cape Cod or Central America,
27:34
SPEAKER_00: and after making it to shore,
27:36
he was able to climb the steep sand cliffs where the ship had
27:39
sunk and found the
27:41
SPEAKER_00: house of Samuel Harding.
27:44
SPEAKER_00: Harding would turn around and help save the other survivor, Thomas Davis.
27:49
SPEAKER_00: Harding,
27:49
SPEAKER_00: Davis,
27:50
SPEAKER_00: and Julian went back to the wreck site,
27:52
SPEAKER_00: but as the sun rose that morning,
27:54
SPEAKER_00: dozens of bodies and debris washed on shore,
27:58
SPEAKER_00: and there seemed to be no other survivors.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: Soon after,
28:02
SPEAKER_00: scavengers picked through the bodies in search of any valuables,
28:05
SPEAKER_00: jewelry,
28:06
SPEAKER_00: coins,
28:06
SPEAKER_00: buckles.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: The survival of these two men did not bring much relief,
28:11
SPEAKER_00: as shortly thereafter,
28:13
SPEAKER_00: the local justice of the peace was alerted of their presence,
28:17
SPEAKER_00: and Julian and Davis were arrested.
28:19
SPEAKER_00: Seven more pirates,
28:20
SPEAKER_00: the survivors of the Mary Ann,
28:23
SPEAKER_00: another one of the ships in the crew which had sunk,
28:27
SPEAKER_00: for put on trial.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: The trial was not held until October 1717,
28:32
SPEAKER_00: six months later,
28:35
SPEAKER_00: and before that John Julian was sold into slavery.
28:40
Cotton Mather visited the prisoners many times and encouraged
28:43
them to repent.
28:45
Thomas Davis was a carpenter and was able to prove that he was
28:50
forced onto the ship
28:51
SPEAKER_00: against his will and was thus found not guilty.
28:56
SPEAKER_00: Another man,
28:57
SPEAKER_00: one of the other seven pirates,
28:58
SPEAKER_00: a man named Thomas South,
29:00
SPEAKER_00: also proved that he was forced on board.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: Thus, after the trial, six of the pirates were hanged.
29:09
SPEAKER_00: And after the hanging,
29:11
Cotton Mather published a pamphlet stating that this trial
29:15
proved that piracy was
29:17
SPEAKER_00: over.
29:18
SPEAKER_00: But, as I said before, the peak had not even been reached yet.
29:23
But this trial brought forth a new flurry of interest from the
29:29
Crown to start
29:32
SPEAKER_00: dealing with the piracy problem.
29:35
SPEAKER_00: There was a proclamation on September 5th,
29:38
SPEAKER_00: 1717,
29:38
SPEAKER_00: just before the hanging,
29:41
SPEAKER_00: granting pardons to any pirates on the run in order to get them to stop.
29:48
Heavy rewards were given to pirate catchers,
29:51
and any holdout pirates were hunted with impunity.
29:54
Many of these holdouts were actually supporters of the previous
29:58
king prior to King William.
30:01
They were more than willing to stick it to the German king in
30:06
England named George
30:08
SPEAKER_00: I,
30:09
SPEAKER_00: who they saw as a usurper.
30:12
SPEAKER_00: And the de facto leader of this movement was Charles Vane himself.
30:18
SPEAKER_00: Along with trying to get local help,
30:21
for the first time the British Navy created far more patrols
30:25
with far larger ships,
30:27
SPEAKER_00: several times larger than the largest pirate ships.
30:32
And the largest of these was a two-deck ship of the line with
30:37
50 guns called the HMS Swallow.
30:41
Now despite all of this,
30:42
the pirates still were conducting pirate business.
30:47
SPEAKER_00: Throughout 1718,
30:50
SPEAKER_00: Blackbeard continued to take ships,
30:52
SPEAKER_00: add to his crew,
30:53
SPEAKER_00: and eventually left the Caribbean again to attack the mainland colonies.
31:00
SPEAKER_00: Now,
31:00
we had seen before how much of an impact that piracy had on the
31:05
mainland colonies
31:06
SPEAKER_00: just by attacking the merchant ships themselves.
31:10
SPEAKER_00: But Blackbeard, in this moment, on May 22, 1718,
31:17
SPEAKER_00: did something a little bit more.
31:21
SPEAKER_00: Now we have seen how much of an impact the taking of ships,
31:27
SPEAKER_00: of merchant ships,
31:28
SPEAKER_00: has on the trade of the colonies,
31:32
SPEAKER_00: having almost as much of an impact as war itself.
31:36
SPEAKER_00: But on May 22, 1718, Blackbeard did something a little bit deeper.
31:43
SPEAKER_00: He weighed anchor outside of Charleston, South Carolina,
31:48
SPEAKER_00: and set up a complete blockade of the city.
31:53
SPEAKER_00: After capturing several merchant ships,
31:55
SPEAKER_00: Teach sent the captains back to Charleston to relate his demands.
32:01
SPEAKER_00: This blockade was not done out of pure malice or power.
32:04
SPEAKER_00: Rather,
32:04
SPEAKER_00: he was hoping to actually shore up a large supply of medicine,
32:09
SPEAKER_00: and he used the prisoners that he had as ransom.
32:14
SPEAKER_00: Now,
32:14
SPEAKER_00: South Carolina at this point was still recovering from the Yamasee War,
32:19
SPEAKER_00: where over 5% of the population had died,
32:24
SPEAKER_00: and they were in no place to negotiate easily.
32:28
SPEAKER_00: So the medicine was sent.
32:31
SPEAKER_00: Blackbeard made a scene of this trade.
32:33
He went ashore and watched all of the fearful eyes of the
32:37
colonists follow him down the streets.
32:42
He wanted to ensure that this fear of what he could do stayed
32:46
far after he had left.
32:49
SPEAKER_00: And in this, he was successful.
32:51
SPEAKER_00: The fear remained, but Blackbeard never returned.
32:56
SPEAKER_00: After leaving South Carolina behind,
32:58
SPEAKER_00: Teach accidentally or purposefully,
33:02
SPEAKER_00: in order to split up his crew,
33:03
SPEAKER_00: this fact is disputed,
33:06
SPEAKER_00: grounded the Queen Anne's Revenge on a shoal off the coast.
33:12
SPEAKER_00: Regardless of whether this was intentional or not,
33:14
Blackbeard moved about a hundred men to one of the consular
33:18
ships and took all the
33:19
SPEAKER_00: treasure with him,
33:20
SPEAKER_00: likely paying off the remaining crew.
33:24
SPEAKER_00: Teach would then use North Carolina,
33:26
SPEAKER_00: now South Carolina,
33:27
SPEAKER_00: as a base of operations,
33:29
SPEAKER_00: at the behest of Governor Eden,
33:32
SPEAKER_00: but his seemingly unstoppable reign would soon come to an end.
33:38
SPEAKER_00: That was a quick sidebar.
33:39
North Carolina by this point was a major port between the
33:45
northern port of Maine
33:46
SPEAKER_00: and the southern ports in the West Indies.
33:50
where some thousand or so pirates had used the colony as a
33:55
staging ground at some point.
33:57
SPEAKER_00: And even by the 1720s,
34:00
it was a sparsely populated swamp that was more of an extension
34:05
of Virginia than
34:07
SPEAKER_00: its own colony.
34:08
And any time any major pirate came to the colony,
34:15
they would put a stranglehold on it.
34:19
SPEAKER_00: And the governor at this point,
34:20
SPEAKER_00: we said Governor Eden,
34:22
SPEAKER_00: didn't have much of a choice but to let Blackbeard remain.
34:27
Now at the same time,
34:28
Charles Vane was roaming the waters and carousing in Nassau.
34:34
The 1717 pardon proclamation that King George I delivered drove
34:39
a serious wedge,
34:40
SPEAKER_00: as I said,
34:41
between him and the rest of the pirates due to his sympathies
34:45
of the previous
34:46
SPEAKER_00: pirates.
34:46
line of kings vane was unwilling to give up his war against
34:50
king george and even
34:52
attempted to take nassau himself arguing that they should not
34:56
simply roll over and
34:57
accept the pardon the arrival of the phoenix a british warship
35:02
in april 1718 only
35:04
drove this rift deeper the captain of the ship vincent pierce
35:09
was sent to grant
35:10
SPEAKER_00: pardons directly to as many pirates as possible
35:13
SPEAKER_00: And in the end, 209 took the deal.
35:17
SPEAKER_00: However,
35:17
SPEAKER_00: Pierce overstayed his welcome,
35:19
and Vane quickly gathered a group of pirates to plunder Nassau
35:23
right under his
35:23
SPEAKER_00: nose.
35:24
SPEAKER_00: This made Pierce and the British Empire look like a fool,
35:29
and his unceremonious exit in which he started his ship on fire
35:32
then ran aground
35:33
SPEAKER_00: before finally leaving Nassau to the pirates only made the image worse.
35:40
After this success,
35:41
Vane went on a tour of violence throughout the Bahamas.
35:45
Unlike Blackbeard and Bellamy,
35:48
Vane used far more than fear to get his way.
35:51
He was quick to strike,
35:52
and once on board enacted untold cruelty to any reticent
35:56
sailor.
35:57
SPEAKER_00: During the taking of one of these prizes...
36:01
SPEAKER_00: Woodard describes Vane's actions.
36:05
SPEAKER_00: Quote,
36:22
SPEAKER_00: If he didn't confess what money was hidden on board,
36:24
SPEAKER_00: they would let the matches burn down to his eyeballs and blind him,
36:28
SPEAKER_00: after which he would be shot.
36:30
SPEAKER_00: After this,
36:31
SPEAKER_00: Vane felt confident that they had gotten everything of value,
36:34
SPEAKER_00: save for North's black crewmen,
36:36
SPEAKER_00: whom they seized as plunder."
36:39
SPEAKER_00: Navane wasn't actually a lone actor in these pursuits,
36:43
SPEAKER_00: and was accompanied by various loyal captains,
36:47
SPEAKER_00: like Jack Rackham,
36:49
SPEAKER_00: Mary Reed,
36:49
SPEAKER_00: and Anne Bonny.
36:52
SPEAKER_00: Now,
36:53
SPEAKER_00: let me go on a quick little sidebar with these three,
36:55
SPEAKER_00: because they kind of have a small part to play,
36:58
SPEAKER_00: but are interesting in their own right.
37:00
SPEAKER_00: John or Jack Rackham, nicknamed Calico Jack,
37:04
for his famously flamboyantly colored clothing made from very
37:08
fine fabrics from
37:10
SPEAKER_00: India,
37:12
was even more famous for his association with the two most
37:17
famous female pirates,
37:19
SPEAKER_00: Reed and Bonnie.
37:21
SPEAKER_00: Calico Jack had brought...
37:23
SPEAKER_00: Anne Bonney along after they had an affair in 1719 in the Bahamas.
37:28
SPEAKER_00: And he even accepted a royal pardon from the governor,
37:31
SPEAKER_00: but with Anne by his side,
37:33
SPEAKER_00: he began his career again.
37:34
Anne Bonney was the illegitimate daughter of a lawyer and was
37:39
brought up as a boy.
37:41
SPEAKER_00: and pretended to be this lawyer's clerk in order to avoid scandal.
37:45
Now Mary Read was also brought up as a boy after being born in
37:49
England in the 1670s
37:51
and worked as a soldier during an English campaign in Flanders
37:56
in northern France.
37:58
Now how all of these three came together is a little bit hard
38:02
to determine other
38:03
SPEAKER_00: than the affair that Jack Rackham and Anne Bonny had.
38:07
SPEAKER_00: But regardless, these were the two
38:11
SPEAKER_00: and only female pirates that we know about.
38:14
SPEAKER_00: And as I stated last episode,
38:16
it was difficult for female pirates to exist in such a world
38:19
where not only were
38:21
SPEAKER_00: tensions endlessly high,
38:23
SPEAKER_00: sexual tensions endlessly high,
38:26
but also they weren't able to hide among the men as easily as
38:30
they might in other
38:31
SPEAKER_00: professions.
38:33
SPEAKER_00: The toilet situation.
38:35
SPEAKER_00: So it wasn't often that women found themselves on the ships,
38:38
but Anne Bonny and Mary Reed were able to make quite the names
38:41
for themselves and
38:43
SPEAKER_00: had the eventual pirate hunters,
38:45
SPEAKER_00: who I will be getting to next,
38:48
SPEAKER_00: coming for their heads.
38:49
SPEAKER_00: Now,
38:50
SPEAKER_00: By this point,
38:51
it was clear that piracy was having a massive impact on the
38:56
economy throughout the
38:58
SPEAKER_00: West Indies all the way up through Maine.
39:01
And the Board of Trade appointed Woods Rogers as the new
39:07
governor of the Bahamas.
39:09
and he was tasked with carrying out a war against the pirates
39:13
in order to stop this
39:15
attack on the prophets now this was joined alongside with the
39:19
pardon proclamation
39:22
with the hopes that piracy would end but with the ultimate
39:28
failure to put an end to
39:30
piracy with pardons and also the and the number of people who
39:35
reneged on the pardon
39:37
SPEAKER_00: and became pirates once again
39:39
SPEAKER_00: They needed something bigger,
39:41
SPEAKER_00: and this crackdown that originated with Rogers was swift and brutal.
39:47
Now,
39:47
Rogers was born in Bristol in 1679,
39:50
born of a sea captain at the edge of the sea.
39:55
It's entirely possible that he rubbed shoulders with many
39:58
pirates that he would
39:59
SPEAKER_00: eventually hunt,
40:01
SPEAKER_00: including Blackbeard himself.
40:04
SPEAKER_00: He trained as a seaman and by 30 was privateering all over the world.
40:09
SPEAKER_00: He was a proven leader and a worthy captain,
40:11
SPEAKER_00: though injuries sustained at sea eventually brought him home in 1712.
40:16
SPEAKER_00: After recovery,
40:17
SPEAKER_00: though,
40:18
SPEAKER_00: Rogers took on the challenge of destroying the pirate haven in the east,
40:23
SPEAKER_00: namely Madagascar.
40:25
SPEAKER_00: Rogers went on this mission, disguised as a slave trader, in 1714.
40:32
SPEAKER_00: And for the first few months of the year,
40:34
he was on a reconnaissance mission trying to determine how
40:39
successful this new
40:40
SPEAKER_00: haven,
40:40
SPEAKER_00: this haven in the East was in general.
40:45
And he found that it was actually in a very rough state and
40:49
morale was incredibly low.
40:52
SPEAKER_00: And through several conversations,
40:53
he was able to convince some of the pirates to give up the life
40:57
and even help them
40:58
SPEAKER_00: draft petitions for clemency.
41:01
SPEAKER_00: After his success in Madagascar,
41:04
SPEAKER_00: Rogers was brought into contact with several high-ranking officials and
41:08
SPEAKER_00: and began to develop a plan to take the Bahamas back from the pirates,
41:13
SPEAKER_00: using a partnership between the Crown and private investors.
41:17
SPEAKER_00: On September 3rd,
41:18
SPEAKER_00: 1717,
41:19
SPEAKER_00: he was chosen as governor,
41:21
SPEAKER_00: and on January 6th,
41:23
SPEAKER_00: 1718,
41:23
SPEAKER_00: the voyage was officially commissioned before sailing in April of 1718.
41:30
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile,
41:31
SPEAKER_00: the governor of Virginia,
41:32
SPEAKER_00: Alexander Spotswood,
41:34
SPEAKER_00: took it upon himself to take down Blackbeard.
41:38
SPEAKER_00: He had been alerted of the pirates' activity in North Carolina,
41:41
SPEAKER_00: a colony,
41:41
SPEAKER_00: as I said,
41:42
SPEAKER_00: with very little ability to provide for itself,
41:46
SPEAKER_00: so he decided to use his own resources to do so.
41:51
He banned pirates from entering Virginia armed and meeting with
41:55
any other pirates
41:56
in any group larger than three and jailed many of those who did
42:00
not comply.
42:03
SPEAKER_00: He also started paying anyone who captured pirates on their own.
42:08
SPEAKER_00: And one of these men that he hired was Robert Maynard.
42:11
And Maynard was chosen specifically to find and capture,
42:16
or kill if he needed to,
42:19
Blackbeard.
42:21
Now this whole plan was done in secret to avoid any word of it
42:25
to reach any pirates
42:27
SPEAKER_00: through allies like the governor of North Carolina himself,
42:31
SPEAKER_00: Charles Eden.
42:32
SPEAKER_00: This plan was also technically illegal,
42:36
as Teach was considered a privateer since Governor Eden had
42:40
granted him a pardon
42:41
SPEAKER_00: and a commission.
42:43
SPEAKER_00: And around the same time that Maynard began to patrol around Virginia,
42:49
SPEAKER_00: Woods Rogers arrived in the Bahamas.
42:52
SPEAKER_00: Upon seeing his sails, Vane welcomed Rogers with cannon fire.
42:59
He then offered to surrender his fleet if he was granted a
43:02
pardon,
43:04
which Rogers denied.
43:06
SPEAKER_00: likely due to his support of the Hanover's and his hatred of the Stuarts,
43:13
SPEAKER_00: the exact opposite of Vane.
43:16
SPEAKER_00: And Vane,
43:16
SPEAKER_00: on his part,
43:17
SPEAKER_00: was likely doing this just as a ploy to escape,
43:21
SPEAKER_00: which he was able to do just narrowly.
43:25
SPEAKER_00: The same could not be said about the others.
43:28
SPEAKER_00: This crackdown was swift and brutal.
43:31
SPEAKER_00: Rogers took the island of New Providence quickly and
43:34
and tried to put the colonial port back on a normal path by
43:37
putting people to work,
43:39
SPEAKER_00: which is far from easy.
43:40
SPEAKER_00: with a population that had grown used to idleness.
43:44
SPEAKER_00: He further attempted to rebuild the crumbling fort,
43:47
SPEAKER_00: but progress was slow,
43:49
SPEAKER_00: and illness quickly affected many of the new arrivals.
43:53
SPEAKER_00: He also granted pardons to any willing to surrender.
43:56
SPEAKER_00: This included Benjamin Hornigold,
43:58
who was also hired to hunt down pirates that returned to their
44:01
plundering ways.
44:04
SPEAKER_00: In October 1718,
44:04
SPEAKER_00: they captured several who had returned to piracy,
44:08
SPEAKER_00: including ten who joined Vane.
44:11
SPEAKER_00: By November, Rogers was facing a dilemma.
44:14
SPEAKER_00: He barely had enough men to guard these ten prisoners,
44:17
SPEAKER_00: let alone defend against any attacks,
44:20
SPEAKER_00: and executions risked open rebellion.
44:23
SPEAKER_00: However,
44:23
SPEAKER_00: he took this risk,
44:24
SPEAKER_00: and on December 9th started a trial,
44:28
SPEAKER_00: which ended on December 12th,
44:30
when all ten men were hung at the top of the ramparts facing
44:33
the sea as a stark
44:35
SPEAKER_00: reminder to any sympathizers.
44:37
In October 1718,
44:39
both Blackbeard and Charles Vane were now wandering as they
44:43
were hunted down.
44:44
SPEAKER_00: Now by some stroke of luck,
44:46
they both found each other off of Ocracoke Island near North
44:50
Carolina and had one
44:52
SPEAKER_00: last night of revelry before departing once more.
44:56
This would be the last time that these two men would meet and a
44:59
last gasp of the
45:01
SPEAKER_00: golden age of piracy.
45:04
After leaving Blackbeard behind and not being able to convince
45:07
him to join his
45:08
SPEAKER_00: assault on Nassau,
45:09
SPEAKER_00: Vane was forced to build up his fleet once again.
45:13
SPEAKER_00: However,
45:13
SPEAKER_00: this did not prove to be an easy task,
45:16
SPEAKER_00: not just because of the pirate hunters that were chasing them down,
45:20
SPEAKER_00: but the pirates themselves,
45:21
SPEAKER_00: who were growing weary of the Enterprise.
45:24
SPEAKER_00: No longer were they making money to carouse around Atlantic ports,
45:29
Now they were acting as a naval force,
45:32
the very thing that they left behind.
45:34
SPEAKER_00: And despite his usual demeanor,
45:38
Vane shied away from an opportunity to take a large French
45:41
frigate to help bolster
45:43
SPEAKER_00: his numbers,
45:44
SPEAKER_00: despite his crew raring for a battle.
45:47
SPEAKER_00: This decision left the crew no choice.
45:50
SPEAKER_00: They deposed Charles Vane and replaced him with Jack Rackham.
45:56
SPEAKER_00: Vane and sixteen loyalists were sent off on a small sloop.
45:59
SPEAKER_00: Just a few days later,
46:01
SPEAKER_00: after sailing into a hurricane,
46:03
SPEAKER_00: the ship crashed into a small,
46:04
SPEAKER_00: uninhabited island,
46:06
SPEAKER_00: visited every so often by turtle hunters.
46:10
SPEAKER_00: After a couple months of survival,
46:12
SPEAKER_00: in early 1719,
46:12
SPEAKER_00: Vane was found by an old colleague of his named Halford,
46:18
SPEAKER_00: who had turned to pirate hunting.
46:22
SPEAKER_00: Halford took him prisoner.
46:24
SPEAKER_00: Vane was brought to the prison in Port Royal,
46:28
SPEAKER_00: and while there,
46:29
SPEAKER_00: he was likely imprisoned alongside his old protege,
46:33
SPEAKER_00: Calico Jack.
46:34
SPEAKER_00: Now Jack
46:35
SPEAKER_00: Anne Bonny and Mary Reed were put on trial in November of 1720.
46:41
SPEAKER_00: All three were found guilty.
46:44
SPEAKER_00: Jack was hanged and placed in a gibbet in the harbor,
46:48
though Anne Bonny and Mary Reed were sent back to jail due to
46:53
their claims of
46:53
SPEAKER_00: pregnancy.
46:56
SPEAKER_00: Now Mary Reed died just a few days later of a fever,
47:00
and not much is known about what happened to Anne Bonny as she
47:03
disappeared from the
47:04
SPEAKER_00: record.
47:05
SPEAKER_00: Now Vane languished in that jail for nearly two years.
47:10
This was a truly pathetic end for one of the most notorious
47:13
pirates to sail the seas.
47:17
SPEAKER_00: On March 29, 1721, Charles Vane was hanged.
47:22
SPEAKER_00: He was placed in a gibbet at the mouth of the harbor,
47:25
SPEAKER_00: a harbor that was once owned by pirates but was now a warning.
47:31
His rotting corpse reminded passersby of the inevitable fate of
47:35
all pirates,
47:36
SPEAKER_00: no matter how powerful.
47:39
SPEAKER_00: Thus begun the beginning of the end of the golden age of piracy.
47:44
SPEAKER_00: and soon Oblivion would be calling the most notorious of pirates,
47:50
specifically the one that was still sailing off the coast of
47:53
North Carolina.
47:55
SPEAKER_00: Blackbeard would travel between Ocracoke Island,
47:58
SPEAKER_00: where he met with Vane,
48:00
SPEAKER_00: and North Carolina itself,
48:02
SPEAKER_00: and on one of these occasions he was found by Robert Maynard.
48:06
Maynard attempted to negotiate with the pirate,
48:08
but Blackbeard was in no state to do so,
48:12
SPEAKER_00: and hit him with a broadside.
48:14
SPEAKER_00: There was no wind, so this attack was clumsy.
48:17
SPEAKER_00: At one point,
48:18
the crews could be heard shouting at each other as one of the
48:21
two sloops Maynard
48:22
SPEAKER_00: commanded ran aground.
48:25
SPEAKER_00: After breaking this ship free,
48:27
SPEAKER_00: Maynard again tried to further pursuit,
48:29
SPEAKER_00: but another broadside took out one of the ship's captains,
48:33
SPEAKER_00: leaving him alone to pursue Blackbeard.
48:36
SPEAKER_00: His own cannon fire, filled with grape and partridge shot,
48:39
SPEAKER_00: struck true against Blackbeard's ship, allowing him to pull up a side.
48:43
Before getting too close,
48:45
Maynard had most of his remaining crew hide below decks.
48:48
Blackbeard believed that his own shots had killed much of the
48:51
crew and came aboard
48:53
SPEAKER_00: Maynard's sloop to negotiate.
48:55
SPEAKER_00: At this moment, the sailors below emerged to fight.
49:00
SPEAKER_00: David Cordingly,
49:01
SPEAKER_00: in his book Under the Black Flag,
49:03
relays an account that was written in the Boston newsletter
49:06
just after this event.
49:09
SPEAKER_00: Quote, Maynard and Teach themselves begun the fight with their swords.
49:13
SPEAKER_00: Maynard,
49:14
SPEAKER_00: making a thrust,
49:15
the point of his sword went against Teach's cartridge box and
49:18
bended it to the
49:18
SPEAKER_00: hilt.
49:19
Teach broke the guard of it and wounded Maynard's fingers but
49:23
did not disable him.
49:24
whereupon he jumped back and threw away his sword and fired his
49:28
pistol,
49:28
which wounded Teach.
49:30
The mount struck in between them with his sword and cut Teach's
49:33
face pretty much.
49:35
SPEAKER_00: In the interim, both companies engaged in Maynard's sloop.
49:39
One of Maynard's men being a highlander engaged Teach with his
49:42
broadsword,
49:43
SPEAKER_00: who gave Teach a cut on the neck.
49:45
SPEAKER_00: Teach sang, Well done, lad.
49:47
SPEAKER_00: End quote.
49:48
SPEAKER_00: By the end of this fight,
49:49
Teach had been shot five times and stabbed 20 before facing his
49:52
final demise.
49:53
SPEAKER_00: The pirate's body was thrown overboard and
50:10
SPEAKER_00: and according to legend, circled three times before sinking.
50:14
SPEAKER_00: His head was tied to the bowsprit, the mast in the front of the ship.
50:19
SPEAKER_00: After the death of Teach and Vane,
50:21
SPEAKER_00: the age of piracy in the Caribbean was all but over,
50:24
SPEAKER_00: and so was King George's interest in the Bahamas.
50:28
SPEAKER_00: In February 1722,
50:31
Rogers was forced to return to London to ask for further funds
50:34
to rebuild the
50:35
SPEAKER_00: island.
50:37
SPEAKER_00: When he arrived,
50:37
SPEAKER_00: he had found that he had been replaced,
50:39
SPEAKER_00: and the new governor was already en route.
50:43
SPEAKER_00: Rogers,
50:44
SPEAKER_00: depressed and dejected,
50:46
was given the opportunity to share his experience among and
50:49
against the pirates.
50:51
The information he provided ended up in Captain Johnson's A
50:54
General History of the
50:55
SPEAKER_00: Pirates,
50:56
SPEAKER_00: which quickly became a roaring success.
50:59
As I said at the very beginning of this episode,
51:01
the end of piracy was precipitous.
51:03
From 1716 to 1725,
51:05
the pirate population worldwide dropped from around 2,000 to
51:09
less than 200.
51:11
SPEAKER_00: Now it wasn't even just the Caribbean that saw this precipitous end.
51:15
SPEAKER_00: Bartholomew Roberts,
51:17
a highly capable leader who commanded a squadron of four ships
51:21
and over 500
51:22
SPEAKER_00: sailors,
51:23
SPEAKER_00: was caught in 1722 by the Swallow,
51:27
SPEAKER_00: the largest of the naval ships sent to patrol the African coasts.
51:32
One of the first broadsides that struck Roberts' ship was
51:36
filled with grapeshot,
51:38
SPEAKER_00: tearing his neck to shreds.
51:41
SPEAKER_00: The rest of the pirates soon surrendered thereafter.
51:45
One of the final pirates to sail in the West Indies to reach
51:50
any sort of acclaim
51:52
SPEAKER_00: was also one of the most brutal,
51:55
SPEAKER_00: Edward Lowe.
51:57
He was born in London and,
51:58
like most other pirates,
52:00
found himself at sea early on in his life.
52:03
SPEAKER_00: By 1710, he was in Massachusetts.
52:07
SPEAKER_00: After getting a job equipping vessels and marrying,
52:10
SPEAKER_00: Lowe seemed to be on his way to live a very normal life.
52:14
SPEAKER_00: However,
52:15
it flipped on its head in 1719 when his son died in infancy and
52:20
his wife died
52:20
SPEAKER_00: shortly after childbirth.
52:23
Lowe abandoned this life and his daughter in 1721 and returned
52:28
to sea on a merchant ship.
52:30
SPEAKER_00: During a voyage, Lowe led a mutiny and joined the ranks of the pirates.
52:35
SPEAKER_00: He joined forces with another newly minted pirate,
52:38
SPEAKER_00: George Louther,
52:39
SPEAKER_00: and by May 1722,
52:42
SPEAKER_00: they were capturing ships off the coast of Virginia.
52:44
SPEAKER_00: Before long,
52:46
SPEAKER_00: these captures drew the ire of both Rhode Island and Massachusetts,
52:49
SPEAKER_00: and a volunteer force rose to take down the pirates.
52:53
SPEAKER_00: and one of the naval ships, the Greyhound, was on the scent.
52:58
SPEAKER_00: Lowe was found on June 10,
53:01
SPEAKER_00: 1723,
53:01
SPEAKER_00: but only a second ship was captured,
53:03
SPEAKER_00: which led to 36 men being sent to trial,
53:05
SPEAKER_00: 28 of which were found guilty and hanged.
53:10
SPEAKER_00: This capture enraged the pirate,
53:12
who went on a spree of capture and torture along the entire
53:16
eastern coast all the
53:17
SPEAKER_00: way up to Acadia.
53:20
SPEAKER_00: And Lowe was exceptionally brutal in his treatment of captured ships.
53:25
Eric J.
53:26
Dolan in Black Flag's Blue Waters describes one of these
53:31
captures.
53:32
SPEAKER_00: Quote,
53:50
SPEAKER_00: quote,
53:51
SPEAKER_00: slashing and mauling him,
53:52
SPEAKER_00: end quote,
53:53
and then cut off his ears and roasted them before making him
53:55
consume his own flesh.
53:58
SPEAKER_00: So horrific were these injuries that the man soon died, end quote.
54:04
SPEAKER_00: After this rampage, suddenly, Lowe disappeared.
54:09
SPEAKER_00: Some stories involve him being forced to leave the ship after killing his
54:13
SPEAKER_00: quartermaster,
54:14
SPEAKER_00: others involve him being marooned,
54:17
SPEAKER_00: Either way, he falls off the historical record.
54:22
SPEAKER_00: After Lowe, there are a few more pirates that would be captured.
54:26
SPEAKER_00: There was John Phillips,
54:27
SPEAKER_00: who started just after the mass hanging of Edward Lowe's crew,
54:31
who garnered a small crew but lasted less than a year before
54:36
his crew killed him.
54:38
SPEAKER_00: By July 1726,
54:40
SPEAKER_00: when William Fly,
54:42
SPEAKER_00: one last pirate captain,
54:43
SPEAKER_00: was hanged,
54:45
SPEAKER_00: there were nearly no more pirates in America.
54:48
The end of piracy was not just the end of this very small
54:54
cultural moment in American history.
54:57
SPEAKER_00: It was also the beginning of a new period in American history in which,
55:05
SPEAKER_00: because trade was no longer affected by these outside forces,
55:11
King George was no longer forced to keep a close eye on them,
55:16
on the colonies.
55:18
SPEAKER_00: And in the 1720s began a period of salutary neglect in which
55:25
SPEAKER_00: the English crown,
55:26
SPEAKER_00: the British crown,
55:28
SPEAKER_00: allowed the colonies to act a little bit more independently.
55:33
SPEAKER_00: And over the next 50 or so years,
55:36
SPEAKER_00: trade boomed,
55:37
SPEAKER_00: products moved back and forth between England and America,
55:40
SPEAKER_00: and as I've talked about in previous episodes in this season,
55:45
SPEAKER_00: a new culture began to surface.
55:49
And the independent spirit and the democracy that we saw in
55:52
these pirate ships may
55:54
SPEAKER_00: not have transferred to the colonies directly,
55:59
SPEAKER_00: to the colonists directly.
56:00
But we will see by the end of this era that they grab hold of
56:05
many more parts of society.
56:07
And this war against England that many of the pirates felt that
56:11
they were fighting
56:13
SPEAKER_00: would begin to transfer to many more people.
56:18
And by the end of this era,
56:21
it seemed like something would need to be done.
56:24
SPEAKER_00: But for the pirates, their time was over.
56:27
SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't done with a grand stand to fight back against the English.
56:34
SPEAKER_00: No, rather, it was done with a whimper.
56:38
SPEAKER_00: And now,
56:39
SPEAKER_00: despite their brutal ways,
56:41
SPEAKER_00: all we're left with to remember them by our tottering fools...
56:48
SPEAKER_00: and sea shanties.
56:56
Farewell and adieu to you Spanish ladies Farewell and adieu to
57:05
you ladies of Spain
57:07
For we've received orders to sail for old England But we hope
57:14
in a short time to
57:16
SPEAKER_02: see you again
57:21
We'll rant and we'll roar like two British sailors We'll rant
57:29
and we'll roar along
57:31
the salt seas Until it's dried soundings in the channel of Old
57:38
England From ocean
57:40
SPEAKER_01: to city to steady five leagues
57:49
SPEAKER_02: We have our ship too,
57:51
SPEAKER_02: with the wind from south-west buoys We have our ship too,
57:56
deep soundings to take Twas forty-five fathoms with a wide
58:03
sandy bottom So we
58:05
SPEAKER_02: squirt our main yard and up-channel did make
58:20
drink of his full bumper and let every man drink of his full
58:26
glass we'll drink and
58:29
be jolly and drown melancholy and here's to the health of each
58:36
true-hearted lad
58:40
SPEAKER_01: We'll rant and we'll roar like true British sailors.
58:45
We'll rant and we'll roar along the salt seas until we strike
58:52
sounding in the
58:54
SPEAKER_01: channel of Old England.
58:55
SPEAKER_01: And you'd share into city these thirty-five years.
59:04
The jeweled British sailors with her ant and the roar All on
59:10
the South Seas until
59:13
its drag sounding In the channel of Old England From Ushan to
59:19
City is 35 feet