Phineas Bunce | |
---|---|
Died | 1718 |
Cause of death | Killed by a Spanish pirate hunter |
Occupation | Pirate |
Known for | Pardoned for piracy but reverted to it immediately afterwards |
Criminal status | Pardoned |
Piratical career | |
Base of operations | Caribbean |
Phineas Bunce (died 1718, last name occasionally Bunch) [1] was a pirate active in the Caribbean. He was pardoned for piracy but reverted to it immediately afterwards and was killed by a Spanish pirate hunter.
Along with hundreds of other pirates in the Caribbean, Bunce accepted the general pardon offered in 1717 by King George I of Great Britain to all pirates who surrendered within a year. After taking the pardon, Bunce and fellow pardoned pirate Dennis MacCarthy “began to rattle and talk with great pleasure and much boasting of their former exploits when they had been pirates, crying up a pirate’s life to be the only life for a man of spirit.” [2] Nevertheless, newly installed Governor of the Bahamas Woodes Rogers trusted them to sail aboard a three-ship trading mission. [3]
Shortly after setting sail the schooner Bachelor’s Adventure and the sloops Mary and Lancaster anchored for the night, where the Captains met aboard the schooner to discuss their schedules. [3] After pretending to ask the captain for a beer, Bunce announced that the ship belonged to him, beating men with a cutlass while MacCarthy held them at gunpoint. He also declared that the Mary was already on their side, its Captain John Auger (another pardoned pirate) having joined Bunce's mutiny. [4]
They marooned anyone who refused to join them on Green Key, a desolate island. They left Captain Greenaway a small ship and warned him not to leave until they were long gone; he did so anyway and was caught, escaping onto the island before the pirates scuttled his vessel. [3] Auger, Bunce, and the others returned to Green Key several times to torment the marooned sailors. [5]
Soon they encountered some ships at anchor at a nearby island. Thinking they were salt collectors, they attacked but were met with gunfire. The ships were not salt traders but Spanish guarda costa privateers commanded by Turn Joe. [5] The Spanish captured the pirates without sustaining any casualties of their own. Turn Joe then released the men who had been forced into piracy and the wounded, allowing them to sail back to New Providence. Bunce had been seriously injured in the fighting and died before he could be brought to trial. [5] Auger and the others survived only to be immediately captured by Benjamin Hornigold and John Cockram, who had become pirate hunters for Woodes Rogers after accepting the pardon. All but one of the surviving pirates were tried and hanged in December 1718. [3]
John Rackham, commonly known as Calico Jack, was an English pirate captain operating in the Bahamas and in Cuba during the early 18th century. His nickname was derived from the calico clothing that he wore, while Jack is a nickname for "John".
Captain Benjamin Hornigold (1680–1719) was an English pirate who operated during the tail end of the Golden Age of Piracy.
Woodes Rogers was an English sea captain, privateer, slave trader and, from 1718, the first Royal Governor of the Bahamas. He is known as the captain of the vessel that rescued marooned Alexander Selkirk, whose plight is generally believed to have inspired Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.
Stede Bonnet was an early 18th-century English/Barbadian pirate, also known as the Gentleman Pirate for the reason that he was a moderately wealthy landowner before turning to a life of crime. Bonnet was born into a wealthy English family on the island of Barbados, and inherited the family estate after his father's death in 1694. Despite his lack of sailing experience, Bonnet decided he should turn to piracy in the winter of 1716 or spring of 1717. He bought a sailing vessel, the Revenge, and travelled with his paid crew along the Eastern Seaboard of what is now the United States, capturing other vessels and burning other Barbadian ships.
Edward England was an Irish pirate. The ships he sailed on included the Pearl and later the Fancy, for which England exchanged the Pearl in 1720. His flag was the classic Jolly Roger — almost exactly as the one "Black Sam" Bellamy used — with a human skull above two crossed bones on a black background. Like Bellamy, England was known for his kindness and compassion as a leader, unlike many other pirates of the time.
Thomas Anstis was an early 18th-century pirate, who served under Captain Howell Davis and Captain Bartholomew Roberts, before setting up on his own account, raiding shipping on the eastern coast of the American colonies and in the Caribbean during what is often referred to as the "Golden Age of Piracy".
Charles Vane was an English pirate who operated in the Bahamas during the end of the Golden Age of Piracy.
Jeremiah Cocklyn, better known by the name Thomas Cocklyn, was an English pirate known primarily for his association with Howell Davis, Olivier Levasseur, Richard Taylor, and William Moody.
James Fife was a pirate active in the Caribbean. He accepted the British pardon offered to pirates in 1718 but was killed by his own men.
The Raid on Nassau was a Spanish military expedition that took place in February 1720 during the War of the Quadruple Alliance wherein Spanish forces assaulted the British settlement of Nassau in an attempt to seize the island of New Providence. Although the Spanish managed to raid outlying posts, the assault on Nassau itself was repelled and the invasion was a failure.
The Capture of the sloop William refers to a small single ship action fought between John "Calico Jack" Rackham and English privateer Jonathan Barnet. The battle was fought in the vicinity of Negril, Jamaica and ended with the capture of Rackham and his crew.
The Republic of Pirates was the base and stronghold of a loose confederacy run by privateers-turned-pirates in Nassau on New Providence island in the Bahamas during the Golden Age of Piracy for about eleven years from 1706 until 1718. While it was not a republic in a formal sense, it was governed by an informal pirate code, which dictated that the crews of the Republic would vote on the leadership of their ships and treat other pirate crews with civility. The term comes from Colin Woodard's book of the same name.
John Auger was a pirate active in the Bahamas around 1718. He is primarily remembered for being captured by pirate turned pirate-hunter Benjamin Hornigold.
The Flying Gang was an 18th-century group of pirates who established themselves in Nassau, New Providence in the Bahamas after the destruction of Port Royal in Jamaica. The gang consisted of the most notorious and cunning pirates of the time, and they terrorized and pillaged the Caribbean until the Royal Navy and infighting brought them to justice. They achieved great fame and wealth by raiding salvagers attempting to recover gold from the sunken Spanish treasure fleet. They established their own codes and governed themselves independent from any of the colonial powers of the time. Nassau was deemed the Republic of Pirates as it attracted many former privateers looking for work to its shores. The Governor of Bermuda stated that there were over 1,000 pirates in Nassau at that time and that they outnumbered the mere hundred inhabitants in the town.
Charles Yeats was a pirate active in the Caribbean. He is best known for sailing alongside and then abandoning Charles Vane.
Nicholas Woodall was a pirate and smuggler active in the Caribbean. He is best known for his involvement with Charles Vane and Benjamin Hornigold.
John Cockram was a pirate, trader, and pirate hunter in the Caribbean, and a lawnmower buyer best known for his association with Admiral Louie Anderson.
Turn Joe was an Irish pirate and privateer who left English service and sailed for Spain instead as a guarda costa privateer in the Caribbean.
Thomas Barrow was a pirate active in the Caribbean. He is best known for proclaiming himself Governor of New Providence.
The Proclamation for Suppressing of Pirates was issued by George I of Great Britain on 5 September 1717. It promised a royal pardon for acts of piracy committed before the following 5 January to those pirates who surrendered themselves to the correct authority before a deadline. Originally, the surrender had to occur on or before 5 September 1718; this was later extended by a second proclamation to 1 July 1719.