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Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's North American colonies. Little is known about his early life, but he may have been a sailor on privateer ships during Queen Anne's War before settling on the Bahamian island of New Providence, a base for Captain Benjamin Hornigold, whose crew Teach joined around 1716. Hornigold placed him in command of a sloop that he had captured, and the two engaged in numerous acts of piracy. Their numbers were boosted by the addition to their fleet of two more ships, one of which was commanded by Stede Bonnet; but Hornigold retired from piracy towards the end of 1717, taking two vessels with him.
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable items or properties. Those who engage in acts of piracy are called pirates. The earliest documented instances of piracy were in the 14th century BC, when the Sea Peoples, a group of ocean raiders, attacked the ships of the Aegean and Mediterranean civilizations. Narrow channels which funnel shipping into predictable routes have long created opportunities for piracy, as well as for privateering and commerce raiding. Historic examples include the waters of Gibraltar, the Strait of Malacca, Madagascar, the Gulf of Aden, and the English Channel, whose geographic structures facilitated pirate attacks. A land-based parallel is the ambushing of travelers by bandits and brigands in highways and mountain passes. Privateering uses similar methods to piracy, but the captain acts under orders of the state authorizing the capture of merchant ships belonging to an enemy nation, making it a legitimate form of war-like activity by non-state actors.
Buccaneers were a kind of privateers or free sailors peculiar to the Caribbean Sea during the 17th and 18th centuries.
A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or delegated authority issued commissions, also referred to as a letter of marque, during wartime. The commission empowered the holder to carry on all forms of hostility permissible at sea by the usages of war. This included attacking foreign vessels and taking them as prizes, and taking prize crews as prisoners for exchange. Captured ships were subject to condemnation and sale under prize law, with the proceeds divided by percentage between the privateer's sponsors, shipowners, captains and crew. A percentage share usually went to the issuer of the commission.
Robert Culliford was an English pirate from Cornwall who is best remembered for repeatedly checking the designs of Captain William Kidd.
The Golden Age of Piracy is a common designation for the period between the 1650s and the 1730s, when maritime piracy was a significant factor in the histories of the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, Indian Ocean states, North America, and West Africa.
Edward "Ned" Low was a notorious English pirate during the latter days of the Golden Age of Piracy, in the early 18th century. Low was born into poverty in Westminster, London, and was a thief from an early age. He moved to Boston, Massachusetts, as a young man. His wife died in childbirth in late 1719. Two years later, he became a pirate, operating off the coasts of New England and the Azores, and in the Caribbean.
Bartholomew Sharp was an English buccaneer and privateer. His career of piracy lasted seven years (1675–1682). In the Caribbean he took several ships, and raided the Gulf of Honduras and Portobelo. He took command of an expedition into the Pacific and spent months raiding settlements on the Pacific Coast of South America. His flagship, taken at Panama, was the Trinity.
Thomas Pound was an English Royal Navy officer who turned pirate and was briefly active in the coastal waters of New England during 1689. Caught and convicted of piracy, his crimes were forgiven and he later rejoined the Royal Navy.
The Pirate Round was a sailing route followed by certain, mainly English, pirates, during the late 17th century and early 18th century. The course led from the western Atlantic, parallel to the Cape Route around the southern tip of Africa, stopping at Madagascar, then on to targets such as the coast of Yemen and India. The Pirate Round was briefly used again during the early 1720s. Pirates who followed the route are sometimes referred to as Roundsmen. The Pirate Round was largely co-extensive with the routes of the East India Company ships, of Britain and other nations.
See also: 1706 in piracy, other events of 1707, 1708 in piracy and the list of 'years of Piracy'.
The Friendship of Salem is a 171-foot replica of the Friendship a 1797 East Indiaman. It was built in 2000 in the Scarano Brothers Shipyard in Albany, New York. The ship usually operates as a stationary museum ship during most of the year. But it is a fully functioning United States Coast Guard-certified vessel capable of passenger and crew voyages; it makes special sailings during various times of the year. The Friendship of Salem is docked at the Salem Maritime National Historic Site, established in 1938 as the first such site in the United States. The site, which includes several structures, artifacts and records, is operated by the National Park Service.
Philip Lyne was a pirate known for his cruelty and his association with Francis Spriggs.
John James was a Welsh pirate active near Madagascar, Nassau, and the American east coast.
Mary Critchett was an English pirate and convict. She is best known for being one of only four confirmed female pirates from the Golden Age of Piracy.
Thomas Hawkins was a pirate briefly active off New England. He was known for sailing with Thomas Pound.
Thomas Henley was a pirate and privateer active in the Red Sea and the Caribbean.
Jean Charpin was a French pirate and buccaneer active in the Caribbean and off the coast of Africa. He is best known for sailing alongside Jean-Baptiste du Casse as well as for his Articles, or “Pirate Code.”
Thomas Day was a pirate and privateer active off the American east coast. He is known for being one cause of increasing tensions between the Governors of Maryland and Pennsylvania.
William Coward was a minor pirate active off the coast of Massachusetts. He is known for a single incident involving the seizure of one small vessel, largely thanks to events surrounding his trial.
References
- Earle, Peter. The Pirate Wars. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2005. ISBN 0-312-33579-2
- Peabody & Essex Museum. The American Neptune . Salem, Massachusetts: Peabody Museum of Salem, 1941.
- ↑ Harold Tom Wilkins (1937). Captain Kidd and His Skeleton Island: The Discovery of a Strange Secret Hidden for 266 Years. Liveright Publishing Corporation. p. 233.
- ↑ "Pirates in Virginia". www.virginiaplaces.org. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
- ↑ Donnelly, Mark P.; Diehl, Daniel (2012). Pirates of Virginia: Plunder and High Adventure on the Old Dominion Coastline. Mechanicsburg PA: Stackpole Books. pp. 57–67. ISBN 9780811745833 . Retrieved 23 June 2017.
- ↑ "The bloodiest pirate battle to hit these waters". Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
- ↑ Erickson, Mark St. John. "A daring governor shows his mettle in a bloody April 29, 1700 pirate battle". dailypress.com. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
