Captain Hiram Breakes

Posted by Under The Black Flag Captain Hiram Breakes 9:24 π.μ.

Hiram Breakes was a Dutch pirate, second son to the Councillor of the Island of Saba. As pirates go, Breakes was notoriously violent, believing in the adage that "dead men tell no tales". In 1764, Breakes was nineteen years old, tall and handsome. He was appointed to a Dutch trading vessel that sailed between Sabo and Amsterdam.
He performed well in his services and eventually took command of a trading ship which operated between Schiedham, Holland and Lisbon, Portugal It was around this time he fell in love with a married woman named Mrs. Snyde. A little later, Mr. Snyde was poisoned. Breakes and the now Widow Snyde were acquitted of the murder and it was shortly after this that Breakes would tire of the life of a trading ship captain.
Wasting little time, he stole the ship and cargo of his employers and renamed it the vessel "The Adventurer" Almost immediately he came upon the Chilean vessel "Acapulco" which was carrying 200,000 small gold bars, about (about 1cm x 10cm). The hapless crew were all murdered in a most despicable manner, and being the Acapulco was better ship than the The Adventurer Breakes stole the ship and refitted it for piracy.
From there, Breakes bought a letter of marque from the governor of Gibraltar, no doubt with a portion of the stolen gold bars. Upon receiving his letter he turned to pillaging throughout the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean.
As with many pirates, Breakes held some strange religious convictions. He would pillage and plunder six days of the week and then on the Sabbath hold a service on board the ship asking for forgiveness. The service was mandatory for the whole crew.
One of his more ruthless acts was the plundering of a Convent in the Balearic Islands. Upon invading the convent he decided it was inappropriate for his men not to be married and order them all to take wives. Each man selected a nun, who was then promptly kidnapped and returned to the ship to perform the necessities that were expected of a wife.
This act apparently made Breakes somewhat homesick and he decided to return to Holland and marry his mistress, the former Mrs. Snyde. Upon returning home, he was greeted with the sad news that Mrs Snyde was hanged for attempting to poison her new born son (fathered by none other than Breakes).
According to most accounts the news of Mrs. Snyde's death drove Breakes "melancholy mad" and in a fit of depression he threw himself off a dyke and drowned to death.