Barbados: the real pirates of the Caribbean
As thrilling as anything Hollywood has to offer
THE REAL PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
A RECENT DISNEY MOVIE FEATURING PIRATES AND THEIR SWASHBUCKLING ADVENTURES ON THE HIGH SEAS MIGHT HAVE MADE BOX-OFFICE HISTORY, BUT THE FACTS BEHIND THE FICTION ARE EVERY BIT AS COMPELLING
words: joanne page
THE SWASHBUCKLING DISNEY fi lm, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, starring Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom, broke box-offi ce records this summer. However, the lives of the real buccaneers were as bizarre and dramatic as anything Hollywood may have to offer.
The story of one little-known character stands out in particular; one Stede Bonnet from Bridgetown, Barbados. By all accounts Bonnet was the wealthy and successful middle-aged owner of a sugar plantation when, in the early 1700s, he gave it all up to become a pirate. No reason was given at the time but the rumour doing the rounds – mentioned in Charles Johnson’s The Hystory of Pyrates, published in 1725 – was that Bonnet had taken to the high seas to escape his nagging wife.
Little is known about Bonnet’s early life but he was probably born in England in about 1680. He joined the army, becoming a major, and was posted to the Caribbean, where he remained until he retired from the King’s Guard. At the time, the Caribbean was considered an unlucky posting because disease, particularly yellow fever, wiped out whole units. It was from his refi ned and educated demeanour that Bonnet gained the nickname ‘The Gentleman Pirate’.
Having left his former life in 1717, he then went against all pirate ethics and bought his own ten-gun sloop, renaming the ship Revenge. Pirate captains usually sailed ships that they had captured and buying one was unheard of. Bonnet then hired a crew of about 70 men and paid their wages out of his own pocket. Although his way of settling financial matters with his men was unique, his theory was that by using this method he would not be outvoted and removed from the captaincy by the crew.
Heading north towards the coast of Virginia and the Carolinas, Bonnet was initially successful in his new profession and plundered two ships, which he then set on fi re. But the crew were getting restless, having come to realise the truth about their new captain’s lack of expertise. Before anything mutinous could happen, however, they spotted the Queen Anne’s Revenge, another pirate ship. This was to prove a disaster for Bonnet because the captain of the Queen Anne was the notorious Edward Teach, or Blackbeard, as he was more widely known.
At fi rst the two captains appeared to get on and agreed to work together, but it didn’t take long for Teach to discover Bonnet’s inexperience. Seizing his chance, the ruthless Blackbeard took control of the Revenge and held Bonnet captive as an ‘involuntary guest’. Bonnet was on-board during Blackbeard’s infamous siege of Charleston, during which Blackbeard held up and plundered every ship leaving the harbour, taking their crews prisoner. It was only resolved when a ransom of medical supplies was paid.
In 1718 the governor of Charleston decreed that any pirate could gain a pardon if they went personally to Bath in North Carolina. Blackbeard and Bonnet prepared to leave immediately. Such was Bonnet’s naivety that he agreed to travel to Bath in a dinghy. When he returned he discovered that Blackbeard had abandoned his own rotting ship and stolen the Revenge.
The bitter lesson learned from Blackbeard left Bonnet furious and despite his pardon and Letter of Marque (government authorisation to seize enemy ships), he returned to piracy. This time he was far more successful and captured 10 ships. During this period he sailed the Royal James and used several different aliases to cover his tracks. But things were about to go terribly wrong. It would appear that Bonnet was sailing in a fl eet of three ships and had put up for repairs in the Cape Fear River in North Carolina. William Rhett had been given the job of capturing another pirate, Charles Vane, but when he heard that Bonnet was in the vicinity, he changed tack and found him. Both Rhett’s and Bonnet’s ships ran aground and true to pirate tradition there was a massive gun fi ght, which lasted for some fi ve hours. Eventually Bonnet surrendered and was brought to trial on 28 October, 1718, together with 33 other pirates. The trial lasted two weeks.
On 12 November, in an effort to clamp down on the scourge of the buccaneers, Judge Nicholas Trot gave a long and severe speech about the wrongs of piracy before condemning 30 men, including Bonnet, to death.
Bonnet was imprisoned in a private house in Charleston, where he was held with two of his crew, Ignatius Pell and David Herriot. Pell was treated leniently after he gave testimony against his shipmates. Herriot was about to do the same when he and Bonnet saw a chance to escape by bribing the guards. The story goes that they were dressed as women. They reached a small island off the coast but Rhett quickly recaptured them. Herriot was killed in the process. Despite a desperate written fi nal appeal, Stede Bonnet’s brief adventure on the high seas came to an end when he was hanged on 10 December, 1718, his body left hanging for four days to deter other would-be pirates.
PIRATE FLAGS
THE MACABRE IMAGE of the skull and crossbones was used as a form of psychological warfare. The pirate captain’s aim was to get his victim to heave-to without any resistance. Not only did this keep the pirate ship and crew safe, it also preserved the booty on the captured ship. Privateers often used foreign fl ags to lure enemy ships within range. Every crew wanted their own version of the skull and crossbones, which was used to identify a vessel
BARBADOS
The famous pirate Bartholomew Roberts bore a grudge against both Barbados and Martinique. He advertised this fact on his fl ag, which showed a man standing on two skulls which were marked ‘ABH’ and ‘AMH’. The letters stood for ‘A Barbadian’s Head’ and ‘A Martiniquan’s Head’ and were a clear threat to any ship or person from either island.
An example of the wealth of some of the more successful pirates can be seen in the form of the beautiful Georgian mansion, Sam Lord’s Castle. Situated in the parish of St Philip, it was built by the notorious Sam Hall Lord in 1820. Lord lured unfortunate ships onto the reefs by hanging lanterns in the coconut trees and fooling the crew into thinking they were approaching Bridgetown.
ANTIQUA
With its many secluded coves, Antigua was an ideal haven in which the buccaneers could hide, and their shallow drafted sloops were able to navigate the treacherous reefs surrounding the island. The Governor was not authorised to issue Letters of Marque so the ships from Antigua were never subsidised. However, the sale of plundered goods was never questioned.
PIRATES, BUCCANEERS & PRIVATEERS
THE THREE TERMS are often confused but they have different meanings. The word ‘pirate’ is a generic term used for all of the people involved in the plundering and theft from (and of) other ships. ‘Buccaneer’ was a term used for pirates within the region of the Caribbean. It comes from the French boucaner, meaning to smoke meat. Folklore has it that the buccaneers democratically elected their captain and shared out their spoils fairly. They were not paid wages as such and their income was derived from the stolen booty.
The piracy era in the Caribbean lasted from the 1560s to the 1720s and was at its worst during the mid-17th century. The cost of maintaining a fl eet to defend the colonies was too expensive for most of the overstretched governments of the time. Thus pirates and their vessels were commissioned into the various navies of the countries governing the islands in the Caribbean.
The captains of these government-authorised ships, or ‘privateers’, as they were called, were paid a substantial part of whatever they captured, the remainder going to the Crown. Businessmen were only too happy to fi nance this legalised piracy for a share of the profits.
FUTHER READINGS
Pirates of The Caribbean: Buccaneers, Privateers & Freebooters 1493-1720
by Aspestegui Cruz
Pattern of Pillage
by Peter R Galvin
Pillaging the Empire: Piracy in the Americas 1500-1750
by Hugh O’ Shaunessy and Kris Lane
Maps of the Caribbean at the time of ‘The Golden Age of Piracy’ are kept at The British Library in London; www.bl.uk
VISIT IN UK
The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London; +44 (0)20 8858 4422; www.nmm.ac.uk
VISIT IN BARBADOS
Jolly Roger Pirate Cruises, Bridgetown; +246 430 0900; www.funbarbados.com Barbados Museum & Historical Society, St Ann’s Garrison; +246 427 0201; www.barbmuse.org.bb
