.: Caribbean Sea

Captain Lewis

Posted by Under The Black Flag Captain Lewis, Caribbean Sea, pirates 3:50 π.μ.

Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin The Pirates Writter

Posted by Under The Black Flag Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin, Buccaneer, Caribbean Sea 1:32 π.μ.

Port Royal a Pirate Heaven

Posted by Under The Black Flag Caribbean Sea, island, Port Royal 3:42 μ.μ.

Port Royal was a city located at the end of the Palisadoes at the mouth of the Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. It was the centre of shipping commerce in the Caribbean Sea during the latter half of the 17th century. It was one home port of the privateers employed to nip at superpower Habsburg Spain's empire when smaller European powers dared not directly make war on Spain. As a port city, it was notorious for its gaudy displays of wealth and loose morals, and was a popular place and base (homeport) for the English and Dutch sponsored privateers to bring and spend their treasure during the 17th century. When those governments abandoned the practice of issuing letters of marque against the Spanish treasure fleets and possessions in the later 16th century, many privateers turned pirate and used the city as their main base during the heyday of the Caribbean pirates in the 17th century. During the 16th century, the English and French actively encouraged and even paid buccaneers based at Port Royal to attack Spanish and French shipping. Pirates from around the world congregated at Port Royal coming from waters as far away as Madagascar on the far side of Africa.

In archaeology, Port Royal is the site of the only earthquake which can be dated closely by not only date, but time—which is documented by recovery from the sea floor in the 1960s of a pocket watch stopped at 11:43 a.m. recording the time of the devastating earthquake shortly before^[1][2] on June 7, 1692, largely destroying Port Royal, causing two thirds of the city to sink into the Caribbean Sea such that today it is covered by a minimum of 25 ft (8 m) of water. Known today to 16th–18th-century focused archaeologists as the "City that Sank"^[3], it is considered the most important underwater archaeological site in the western hemisphere, yielding 16th–17th-century artifacts and many important treasures from indigenous peoples predating the 1588 founding, some from as far away as Guatemala. Several 17th and early 18th century pirate ships sank within Kingston Harbour and are being carefully harvested under controlled conditions by different teams of archaeologists. Other "digs" are staked out along various quarters and streets by different teams.

After this disaster, its commercial role was taken over by the city of Kingston. Current development in progress will redevelop the small fishing town into a tourist destination, serviced by cruise ships, with the archaeological findings at the heart of the attractions. These include a combination underwater museum-aquarium and restaurant with underwater dioramas and viewing of the native tropical sealife^]

Colonization of Port Royal

Situated at the western end of the Palisadoes sand spit that protects Kingston, Port Royal was well-positioned as a harbour. Its first visitors were the Arawak Indians, the native peoples of what is today called Haiti. The Arawak Indians used the land during their fishing expeditions, although it is not known whether they ever settled at the spit. They did, however, inhabit other parts of the Jamaican island.^[4]

The Spanish first landed in Jamaica under the leadership of Christopher Columbus in 1494. Permanent settlement occurred when Juan de Esquevil brought a group of settlers in 1509. The Spanish came to Jamaica in search of gold and silver, but found none. Instead they began what they saw as a viable alternative: enslaving Arawaks to farm the sugar cane that Esquevil had transported from England with him. Much like the Arawak peoples before them, the Spanish did not appear to have much use for Port Royal area. The area could not provide them with the precious metals they sought. Still, Spain kept control of the territory, mostly so that it could prevent other countries from accessing the island so strategically placed within the trade routes of the Caribbean. Spain maintained control over the island for 146 years, until the English invasion of 1655.^[5]

England acquired it in 1655. England never intended to take the island of Jamaica, but they did intend to take land from Spain. Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Realm, had sent an English fleet to capture Hispaniola. His goal was to give England a trading base in the middle of the Spanish New World. The fleet, however, failed miserably at its attempt and was disgracefully beaten in Santo Domingo. Facing defeat, and fearing the rage of Lord Cromwell, Commanders General William Penn and Admiral Robert Venables chose to capture Jamaica as a consolation prize.^[6] The fleet arrived in Jamaica on May 10, 1655, greatly outnumbering their Spanish opposition. They found it relatively easy to gain control of the island, but immediately realized that a larger Spanish force could easily take it back just as quickly.^[7] By 1659, two hundred houses, shops, and warehouses surrounded the fort, and by 1692 five forts defended the port.^[8]

For much of the period between the English conquest of Jamaica and the earthquake, Port Royal served as the capital of Jamaica; after the 1692 earthquake, Spanish Town overtook this role, later followed by Kingston, whose development was spurred through resettlement of quake-survivors^[8].

Defence of the Port

In 1657, as a solution to his defence issue, Governor Edward D’Oley invited the Brethren of the Coast to come to Port Royal and make it their homeport. The Brethren was made up of a group of pirates who were descendents of cattle-hunting buccaneers who had turned to piracy themselves after being robbed by the Spanish (and subsequently thrown out of Hispaniola).^[9] These pirates were a seemingly perfect solution; their attacks were concentrated against Spain, the main threat to the town. These pirates later became legal English privateers who were given letters of marque by Jamaica’s governor. Around the same time that pirates were invited to Port Royal, England launched a series of attacks against Spanish shipping vessels and coastal towns. By sending the newly appointed privateers after Spanish ships and settlements, England had successfully set up a system of defense for Port Royal. Spain was forced to continually defend their property, and did not have the means with which to retake its land.^[10]

Economy

In addition to being unable to retake their land, Spain was no longer able to provide their colonies in the New World with manufactured goods on a regular basis. The progressive irregularity of annual Spanish fleets, combined with an increasing desperation by colonies for manufactured goods, allowed Port Royal to flourish. Merchants and privateers worked together in what is now referred to as forced trade. Merchants would sponsor trading endeavors with the Spanish while also sponsoring privateers to attack Spanish ships and rob Spanish coastal towns.^[11] While the merchants most certainly had the upper hand, it was the privateers who were an integral part of the operation. Nuala Zahedieh, a lecturer at The University of Edinburgh, wrote “Both opponents and advocates of so-called ‘forced trade’ declared the town’s fortune had the dubious distinction of being founded entirely on the servicing of the privateers’ needs and highly lucrative trade in prize commodities.”^[12] She wrote further “A report that the 300 men who accompanied Henry Morgan to Portobello in 1668 returned to the town with a prize to spend of at least £60 each (two or three times the usual annual plantation wage) leaves little doubt that they were right.”^[13]

The forced trade became almost a way of life in Port Royal. Michael Pawson and David Busseret wrote “…one way or the other nearly all the propertied inhabitants of Port Royal seem to have an interest in privateering.”^[14] Forced trade was rapidly making Port Royal one of the wealthiest communities in the English territories of North America, far surpassing any profit made from the production of sugar cane. Zahedieh wrote “The Portobello raid [in 1668] alone produced plunder worth £75,000, more than seven times the annual value of the island’s sugar exports, which at Port Royal prices did not exceed £10,000 at this time.”^[15]

Piracy in Port Royal

Port Royal provided a safe harbour initially for privateers and subsequently for pirates plying the shipping lanes to and from Spain and Panama. Buccaneers found Port Royal appealing for several reasons. Its proximity to trade routes allowed them easy access to prey, but the most important advantage was the port's proximity to several of the only safe passages or straights giving access to the Spanish main from the Atlantic.^[8] The harbour was large enough to accommodate their ships and provided a place to careen and repair these vessels. It was also ideally situated for launching raids on Spanish settlements. From Port Royal, Henry Morgan attacked Panama, Portobello, and Maracaibo. Roche Brasiliano, John Davis (buccaneer), and Edward Mansveldt (Mansfield) also came to Port Royal.

Since the English lacked sufficient troops to prevent either the Spanish or French from seizing it, the Jamaican governors eventually turned to the pirates to defend the city.

By the 1660s, the city had gained a reputation as the Sodom of the New World where most residents were pirates, cutthroats, or prostitutes. When Charles Leslie wrote his history of Jamaica, he included a description of the pirates of Port Royal:

Wine and women drained their wealth to such a degree that… some of them became reduced to beggary. They have been known to spend 2 or 3,000 pieces of eight in one night; and one gave a strumpet 500 to see her naked. They used to buy a pipe of wine, place it in the street, and oblige everyone that passed to drink.

Port Royal grew to be one of the two largest towns and the most economically important port in the English colonies. At the height of its popularity, the city had one drinking house for every ten residents. In July 1661 alone, forty new licenses were granted to taverns. During a twenty-year period that ended in 1692, nearly 6,500 people lived in Port Royal. In addition to prostitutes and buccaneers, there were four goldsmiths, forty-four tavern keepers, and a variety of artisans and merchants who lived in 200 buildings crammed into 51 acres (206,000 m²) of real estate. 213 ships visited the seaport in 1688. The city’s wealth was so great that coins were preferred for payment rather than the more common system of bartering goods for services.

Following Henry Morgan’s appointment as lieutenant governor, Port Royal began to change. Pirates were no longer needed to defend the city. The selling of slaves took on greater importance. Upstanding citizens disliked the reputation the city had acquired. In 1687, Jamaica passed anti-piracy laws. Instead of being a safe haven for pirates, Port Royal became noted as their place of execution. Gallows Point welcomed many to their death, including Charles Vane and Calico Jack, who were hanged in 1720. Two years later, forty-one pirates met their death in one month.^[16]

Earthquake of 1692 and its aftermath

On June 7, 1692, a devastating earthquake hit the city causing most of its northern section to fall into the sea (and with it many of the town’s houses and other buildings). In addition, the island lost many of its forts. Fort Charles survived, but Forts James and Carlisle sank into the sea. Fort Rupert became a large region of water, and great damage was done to an area known as Morgan’s Line.^[17] Although the earthquake hit the entire island of Jamaica, the citizens of Port Royal were at a greater risk of death due to the perilous sand, falling buildings, and the tidal wave that followed. Though the local authorities tried to remove or sink all of the corpses from the water, they were not successful. Some simply got away from them, while others were trapped in places that were inaccessible. The decomposing bodies combined with improper housing, a lack of medicine or clean water, and the fact that most of the survivors were homeless, led to many people dying of malignant fevers.^[18] The earthquake and tsunami killed between 1,000 and 3,000 people combined, over half the city's population. Disease ran rampant in the next several months, claiming an estimated 2,000 additional lives.

Many viewed this horrific event as God’s punishment for unlawful proceedings by group of sinful people. Major events, such as earthquakes and other natural disasters, were seen as heavenly punishments for sins, or signs of much greater retributions to come. The people of Port Royal had erected several places for worship, and it was reported that within the population were Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Jews, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Quakers. Nevertheless, a historian has written, “Organised religion […] had little impact on the population. Material concerns occupied the attention of most, particularly the rich.” It became a general consensus that worldly desires had become far too important to the citizens of Port Royal, be they wealthy or not. Some went so far as to say it was home to some of the vilest individuals on earth. The quake was to be seen as a message to all Christians, not just those living in Jamaica. Reverend Cotton Mather wrote that the earthquake was an event speaking to all of English America.^[19]

The earthquake caused the sand on which Port Royal was built to liquefy and flow out into Kingston Harbour. The water table was generally only two feet down before the impact. “Modern scientists have determined that much of the ground on which the town stands comprises little more than water-saturated sand for about sixty-five feet, at which point sand and gravel mix with coral reef.”^[20] This type of area did not provide a solid foundation on which to build an entire town. Unlike the Spanish before them, the English decided to settle and develop the small area of land, even while acknowledging that the area was nothing but “hot loose sand”. The town grew rapidly, reaching a population of around 6,500 people with approximately 2,000 dwellings by 1692. As they began to run out of land on which to build, it became common practice to either fill in areas of water and build new infrastructure on top of it, or simply build buildings taller. In addition, buildings gradually became heavier as the residents adopted the brick style homes of their native England. Some urged the population to adopt the low, wooden building style of the previous Spanish inhabitants, but many refused. In the end all of these separate entities combined were a disaster waiting to happen. According to Mulcahy, “[Modern] scientists and underwater archaeologists now believe that the earthquake was a powerful one and that much of the damage at Port Royal resulted from a process known as liquefaction.”^[21]. Liquefaction occurs when earthquakes strike ground that is loose, sandy, and water-saturated, increasing the water pressure and causing the particles to separate from one another and form a sludge resembling quicksand. Eyewitness accounts attested to buildings sliding into the water, but it is more likely that they simply sank straight down into the now unstable layer.^[22]

Some attempts were made to rebuild the city, starting with the one third of the city that was not submerged, but these met with mixed success and numerous disasters.^[^{citation needed}^] An initial attempt at rebuilding was again destroyed in 1703 by fire. Subsequent rebuilding was hampered by several hurricanes in the first half of the 18th century, including flooding from the sea in 1722, a further fire in 1750 and a major hurricane in 1774, and soon Kingston eclipsed Port Royal in importance. In 1815 what repairs were being undertaken were destroyed in another major fire, while the whole island was severely affected by an epidemic of cholera in 1850.^[ Although a work of historical fiction James Michener's The Caribbean details the history, atmosphere and geography of Port Royal accurately.

Recent history

A final devastating earthquake on January 14, 1907 again liquefied the sand spit, destroying nearly all of the rebuilt city and submerging additional portions.

Today the area is a shadow of its former self with a population of less than 2,000 and has little to no commercial or political importance. This is in part a result of abandonment of plans begun in the early 1960s to develop the town as a cruise ship port and destination; the plans for which stimulated the archaeological explorations on the site, which in turn led to suspension of the development.^[8]

In 1981 the Nautical Archaeology Program at Texas A&M University began a ten-year underwater archaeological investigation of the portion of Port Royal that sank underwater during the 17th century. The area the team focused on had sunk directly into the sea, and suffered very little damage. Due to very low oxygen levels, a large amount of organic material could be recovered. The efforts made by the program have allowed everyday life in the English colonial port city to be reconstructed with great detail.^[23]

In 1998, the Port Royal Development Company commissioned architectural firm The Jerde Partnership to create a master plan for the redevelopment of Port Royal, which was completed in 2000.^[24] The focus of the plan is a 17th century-themed attraction that reflects the city's heritage. It has two anchor areas: Old Port Royal and the King’s Royal Naval Dockyard. Old Port Royal features a cruise ship pier extending from a reconstructed Chocolata Hole harbour and Fisher's Row, a group of cafes and shops on the waterfront. The King’s Royal Naval Dockyard has a shipbuilding museum and the headquarters for the Admiral of the Royal Navy. The plan also includes a five-star hotel.^[25]

Port Royal has been featured as a location within Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean film series, though much of the location work for Port Royal was actually done on the island of Saint Vincent, not in Jamaica.^[26]

Captain Stede Bonnet The Gentleman Pirate

Posted by Under The Black Flag Captain Stede Bonnet, Caribbean Sea, pirates 8:07 π.μ.

Stede Bonnet (c. 1688 – December 10, 1718) was an early 18th-century Barbadian pirate, sometimes called "the gentleman pirate"^[4] because 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. In 1709, he married Mary Allamby, and engaged in some level of militia service. Because of marital problems, and despite his lack of sailing experience, Bonnet decided to turn to piracy in the summer of 1717. He bought a sailing vessel, named it Revenge, and traveled with his paid crew along the Eastern Seaboard of what is now the United States, capturing other vessels and burning other Barbadian ships.

Bonnet set sail for Nassau, Bahamas, but he was seriously wounded en route during an encounter with a Spanish warship. After arriving in Nassau, Bonnet met Edward Teach, the infamous pirate Blackbeard. Incapable of leading his crew, Bonnet temporarily ceded his ship's command to Blackbeard. Before separating in December 1717, Blackbeard and Bonnet plundered and captured merchant ships along the East Coast. After Bonnet failed to capture the Protestant Caesar, his crew abandoned him to join Blackbeard aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge. Bonnet stayed on Blackbeard's ship as a guest, and did not command a crew again until summer 1718, when he was pardoned by North Carolina governor Charles Eden and received clearance to go privateering against Spanish shipping. Bonnet was tempted to resume his piracy, but did not want to lose his pardon, so he adopted the alias "Captain Thomas" and changed his ship's name to Royal James. He had returned to piracy by July 1718.

In August 1718, Bonnet anchored the Royal James on an estuary of the Cape Fear River to repair and careen the ship. In late August and September, Colonel William Rhett, with the authorization of South Carolina governor Robert Johnson, led a naval expedition against pirates on the river. Rhett and Bonnet's men fought each other for hours, but the outnumbered pirates ultimately surrendered. Rhett arrested the pirates and brought them to Charleston in early October. Bonnet escaped on October 24, but was recaptured on Sullivan's Island. On November 10, Bonnet was brought to trial and charged with two acts of piracy. Judge Nicholas Trott sentenced Bonnet to death. Bonnet wrote to Governor Johnson to ask for clemency, but Johnson endorsed the judge's decision, and Bonnet was hanged in Charleston on December 10, 1718.

Pre-criminal life

Bonnet is believed to have been born in 1688, as he was christened at Christ Church parish on July 29, 1688.^[5] His parents, Edward and Sarah Bonnet, owned an estate of over 400 acres (1.6 km²) southeast of Bridgetown,^[6] which was bequeathed to Bonnet upon his father's death in 1694. It is not known where Bonnet received his education, but many who knew him described him as bookish, and Judge Nicholas Trott alluded to Bonnet's liberal education when sentencing him.^[7]^[8] Bonnet married Mary Allamby in Bridgetown on November 21, 1709.^[9] They had three sons—Allamby, Edward, and Stede—and a daughter, Mary. Allamby died before 1715, while the other children survived to see their father abandon them for piracy.^[10] Edward's granddaughter, Anne Thomasine Clarke, was the wife of General Robert Haynes, for 36 years Speaker of the Assembly of Barbados.^[11]

In A General History of the Pyrates, Charles Johnson wrote that Bonnet was driven to piracy by Mary's nagging and "[d]iscomforts he found in a married State."^[12]^[13] Details of Bonnet's military service are unclear, but he held the rank of major in the Barbados militia. The rank was probably due to his land holdings, since deterring slave revolts was an important function of the militia. Bonnet's militia service coincided with the War of the Spanish Succession, but there is no record that he took part in the fighting.^[1]

Early career as a pirate

During the spring of 1717, Stede Bonnet decided to become a pirate, despite having no knowledge of shipboard life. He bought a sixty-ton sloop, which he equipped with six guns ^[14] and named the Revenge. This was unusual, as most pirates seized their ships by mutiny or boarding, or else converted a privateer vessel to a pirate ship. Bonnet enlisted a crew of more than seventy men. He relied on his quartermaster and officer for their knowledge of sailing, and as a result, he was not highly respected by his crew.^[1] In another break from tradition, Bonnet paid his crew wages, not shares of plunder as most pirates did.^[1]^[15] Royal Navy intelligence reported that he departed Carlisle Bay, Barbados under cover of darkness.^[14]

Bonnet's initial cruise took him to the coast of Virginia near the entrance of the Chesapeake Bay, where he captured and plundered four vessels, and burned the Barbadian ship Turbet to keep news of his crimes from his home island.^[16] He then sailed north to New York, taking two more ships, and picking up naval supplies and releasing captives at Gardiners Island. By August 1717, Bonnet had returned to the Carolinas, where he attacked two more ships, a brigantine from Boston and a Barbadian sloop.^[17] He stripped the brigantine, but brought the cargo-filled Barbadian sloop to an inlet off North Carolina to use for careening and repairing the Revenge.^[16] After the Barbadian sloop's tackle was used to careen the Revenge, the ship was dismantled for timber, and the remains were then burned. In September 1717, Bonnet set course for Nassau, which was then an infamous pirate den on the island of New Providence in the Bahamas. En route, he encountered, fought, and escaped from a Spanish man of war. The Revenge was badly damaged, Bonnet was seriously wounded, and half the crew of the sloop was lost in the encounter. Putting in at Nassau, Bonnet replaced his casualties and refitted the Revenge, increasing the sloop's armament to twelve guns.^[18]

Collaboration with Blackbeard

While at Nassau, Bonnet met Captain Benjamin Hornigold and Edward Teach for the first time; Teach, better known as Blackbeard, played a large role in the remainder of Bonnet's life. Disabled by his wounds, Bonnet temporarily ceded command of the Revenge to Blackbeard, but remained aboard as a guest of the more experienced pirate captain.^[19] Blackbeard and Bonnet weighed anchor and sailed northward to Delaware Bay, where they plundered eleven ships. On September 29, 1717, the Revenge, captained by Blackbeard, plundered the sloop Betty, which had a cargo full of Madeira wine.^[20] Captain Codd, whose merchant ship was taken on October 12, described Bonnet as walking the deck in his nightshirt, lacking any command and still unwell from his wounds. The Revenge later captured and looted the Spofford and Sea Nymph, which were leaving Philadelphia. On October 22, the Revenge stopped and robbed the Robert and Good Intent of their supplies.^[21]

Blackbeard and Bonnet left Delaware Bay and returned to the Caribbean in November, where they successfully continued their piracy. On November 17, a 200-ton ship named the Concorde was attacked by two pirate craft nearly 100 miles (160 km) away from the island of Martinique.^[21] The lieutenant on board described the pirate vessels as one having 12 guns and 120 men and the other having eight guns and 30 men. The crew of the Concorde put up a fight, but surrendered after the pirates bombarded them with "two volleys of cannons and musketry."^[22] Blackbeard took the Concorde and sailed south into the Grenadines, where he renamed the ship Queen Anne's Revenge, possibly as an insult to King George I of Great Britain.^[23] Some time after December 19, Bonnet and Blackbeard separated.^[24] Bonnet now sailed into the western Caribbean. In March 1718, he encountered the 400-ton merchant vessel Protestant Caesar off Honduras. The ship escaped him, and his frustrated crew became restive.^[25] When Bonnet encountered Blackbeard again shortly afterward, Bonnet's crew deserted him to join Blackbeard. Blackbeard put a henchman named Richards in command of the Revenge. Bonnet, surprised that his colleague had betrayed him, found himself as a guest aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge. Bonnet confided in a few loyal crew members that he was ready to give up his criminal life if he could exile himself in Spain or Portugal. Bonnet would not exercise command again until the summer of 1718.^[26]

Under Captain Richards, the Revenge captured a Jamaican sloop, the Adventure, captained by David Herriot. Herriot joined the pirates, and Blackbeard now possessed three ships. Bonnet accompanied Blackbeard to South Carolina, where Blackbeard's four vessels blockaded the port of Charleston in the late spring of 1718.^[27] Needing a place to rest and refit their vessels, Blackbeard and Bonnet headed north to Topsail Inlet, where the Queen Anne's Revenge ran aground and was lost.^[28] Leaving the remaining three vessels at Topsail Inlet, Blackbeard and Bonnet went ashore and journeyed to Bath, which was then capital of North Carolina. Once there, both men accepted pardons from Governor Charles Eden under King George's Act of Grace, putatively on condition of their renouncing piracy forever.^[27]^[29] While Blackbeard quietly returned to Topsail Inlet, Bonnet stayed in Bath to get a "clearance" to take the Revenge to Denmark's Caribbean colony of St. Thomas, where he planned to buy a letter of marque and go privateering against Spanish shipping. Eden granted Bonnet this clearance.^[30]

Resumption of pirate command

Bonnet returned to Topsail Inlet to find that Blackbeard had beached the majority of their former crew, robbed the Revenge and two other vessels of the squadron of most of their supplies, and sailed away for parts unknown aboard the sloop Adventure, carrying all the loot with him. Bonnet now (probably late June or early July of 1718) resumed command of the Revenge. Few, if any, of his original crew from Barbados were still aboard. Bonnet reinforced the Revenge by rescuing a number of men whom Blackbeard had marooned on a sandbar in Topsail Inlet.^[31]^[32]^[33]

Shortly after Bonnet resumed command, a bumboat's crew told him that Blackbeard was moored in Ocracoke Inlet. Bonnet set sail at once to hunt down his treacherous ex-confederate, but could not find him, and Bonnet never met Blackbeard again.^[34] Although Bonnet apparently never discarded his hopes of reaching St. Thomas and getting his letter of marque, two pressing problems now tempted him back into piracy. First, Blackbeard had stolen the food and supplies he and his men needed to subsist (one pirate testified at his trial that no more than ten or eleven barrels remained aboard the Revenge).^[35] Second, St. Thomas was now in the midst of the Atlantic hurricane season, which would last until autumn. However, returning to freebooting meant nullifying Bonnet's pardon.^[36]

Hoping to preserve his pardon, Bonnet adopted the alias "Captain Thomas" and changed the Revenge's name to the Royal James.^[37] The name Royal James that Bonnet conferred on his sloop was presumably a reference to the younger Prince James Stuart, and may suggest that Bonnet or his men had Jacobite sympathies. One of Bonnet's prisoners further reported witnessing Bonnet's men drinking to the health of the Old Pretender^[38] and wishing to see him king of the English nation.^[39]

Bonnet further tried to disguise his return to piracy by engaging in a pretense of trade with the next two vessels he robbed. Soon afterward, Bonnet quit the charade of trading and reverted to naked piracy. In July 1718, he cruised north to Delaware Bay, pillaging another eleven vessels. He took several prisoners, some of whom joined his pirate crew.^[40] While Bonnet set loose most of his prizes after looting them, he retained control of the last two ships he captured: the sloops Francis and Fortune.^[41] On August 1, 1718, the Royal James and the two captured sloops sailed southward from Delaware Bay.^[36] The captured sloops lagged behind, and Bonnet threatened to sink them if they did not stay closer. During the passage, Bonnet and his crew divided their loot into shares of about £10 or £11 and distributed them amongst themselves.^[42] This is the only time Bonnet is known to have practiced this important pirate custom, and it suggests he had by then abandoned his unorthodox practice of paying regular wages to his crew.

Twelve days out of Delaware Bay, Bonnet entered the estuary of the Cape Fear River and anchored near the mouth of a small waterway now known as Bonnet's Creek. The Royal James had begun to leak badly and was in need of careening. Shortly afterward, a small shallop entered the river and was captured. Bonnet had the shallop broken up to help repair the Royal James.^[43]^[44]^[45] The work of careening was done, in whole or in part, by the prisoners Bonnet had captured. Bonnet threatened at least one man with marooning if he did not work the Royal James' pumps.^[46] Bonnet remained in the Cape Fear River for the next 45 days. According to Bonnet's boatswain, Ignatius Pell, the pirates intended to wait out the hurricane season there.^[36]

Battle of Cape Fear River

By the end of August, news had reached Charleston that Bonnet's vessels were moored in the Cape Fear River. Robert Johnson, governor of South Carolina, authorized Colonel William Rhett to lead a naval expedition against the pirates, even though the Cape Fear River was in North Carolina's jurisdiction.^[46] After a false start due to the appearance of another pirate ship near Charleston, Rhett arrived at the mouth of the Cape Fear River on September 26 with two eight-gun sloops and a force of 130 men.^[47] Bonnet initially mistook Rhett's squadron for merchantmen and sent three canoes to capture them.^[48] Unfortunately for Rhett, his flagship Henry had run aground in the river mouth, enabling Bonnet's canoe crews to approach, recognize the heavily armed and manned sloops as hostile and return uninjured to warn Bonnet. The sun had set by the time the rising tide lifted the Henry off the river bottom.^[49]

The 46 pirates were scattered among the three sloops. During the night, Bonnet brought all of them aboard the Royal James and planned to fight his way out to sea in the morning rather than risk the Cape Fear River's narrow channels in the dark. Bonnet also wrote a letter to Governor Johnson, threatening to burn all the ships in Charleston harbor. At daybreak, on September 27, 1718, Bonnet set sail toward Rhett's force, and all three sloops opened fire, initiating the Battle of Cape Fear River.^[47] The two South Carolinian sloops split up in an effort to bracket the Royal James. Bonnet tried to avoid the trap by steering the Royal James close to the river's western shore, but ran aground in the process. Rhett's closing sloops also ran aground, leaving only the Henry in range of the Royal James.^[50]

The battle was at a stalemate for the next five or six hours, with all the participants immobilized. Bonnet's men had the advantage that their deck was heeled away from their opponents, giving them cover, while the Henry's deck was tilted toward the pirates, thus exposing Rhett's men to punishing musket volleys. Bonnet's force suffered twelve casualties while killing ten and wounding fourteen of Rhett's 70-man crew.^[49] Most of Bonnet's men fought enthusiastically, challenging their enemies to board and fight hand to hand, and tying a knot in their flag as a mock signal to come aboard and render aid. Bonnet himself patrolled the deck with a pistol drawn, threatening to kill any pirate who faltered in the fight. Nevertheless, some of the prisoners who had been forced to join the pirate crew refused to fire on Rhett's men, and one narrowly escaped death at Bonnet's hands in the confusion of the engagement.^[51]^[52]^[53]

The battle was ultimately decided when the rising tide lifted Rhett's sloops free while temporarily leaving the Royal James stranded.^[53] Bonnet was left helpless, watching while the enemy vessels repaired their rigging and closed to board his paralyzed vessel. Outnumbered almost three to one, Bonnet's men would have had little hope of winning a boarding action. Bonnet ordered his gunner, George Ross, to blow up the Royal James's powder magazine. Ross apparently attempted this, but was overruled by the remainder of the crew, who surrendered. Rhett arrested the pirates and returned to Charleston with his prisoners on October 3.^[54]^[55]

Escape, recapture, and execution

In Charleston, Bonnet was separated from the bulk of his crew and held for three weeks in the provost marshal's house along with his boatswain, Ignatius Pell, and his sailing master, David Herriott. On October 24, Bonnet and Herriott escaped, probably by colluding with local merchant Richard Tookerman. Governor Johnson at once placed a £700 bounty on Bonnet's head and dispatched search teams to track him down.^[56] Bonnet and Herriott, accompanied by a slave and an Indian, obtained a boat and made for the north shore of Charleston Harbor, but foul winds and lack of supplies forced the four of them onto Sullivan's Island. Governor Johnson sent a posse under Rhett to Sullivan's Island to hunt for Bonnet.^[57] The posse discovered Bonnet after an extensive search, and opened fire, killing Herriott and wounding the two slaves. Bonnet surrendered and was returned to Charleston.^[58] While awaiting trial, some sort of civil uprising in his support took place within the city, an event authorities would later describe as having nearly resulted in the burning of the town and the overthrow of the government.^[59]

On November 10, 1718, Bonnet was brought to trial before Sir Nicholas Trott, sitting in his capacity as Vice-Admiralty judge. Trott had already sat in judgment on Bonnet's crew and sentenced most of them to hang.^[60] Bonnet was formally charged with only two acts of piracy, against the Francis and the Fortune, whose commanders were on hand to testify against Bonnet in person.^[61] Ignatius Pell had turned King's evidence in the trial of Bonnet's crew and now testified, somewhat reluctantly, against Bonnet himself.^[62] Bonnet pled not guilty and conducted his own defense without assistance of counsel, cross-examining the witnesses to little avail, and calling a character witness in his favor. Trott rendered a damning summation of the evidence, and the jury delivered a guilty verdict. Two days later, after treating the convicted man to a stern lecture on his violation of Christian duties, Trott sentenced Bonnet to death.^[63]

While awaiting his execution, Bonnet wrote to Governor Johnson, begging abjectly for clemency and promising to have his own arms and legs cut off as assurance that he would never again commit piracy.^[64] Charles Johnson wrote that Bonnet's visibly disintegrating mind moved many Carolinians to pity, particularly the female population, and London papers later reported that the governor delayed his execution seven times.^[65] Bonnet was ultimately hanged at White Point, in Charleston, on December 10, 1718.^[66]

Legacy

Bonnet's authority

The actual degree of authority any pirate captain exercised over his crew was questionable, as he had no access to the procedures and sanctions of admiralty law that supported legitimate captains. Many pirate captains were elected by their crews and could be deposed in the same manner.^[67] Because of his ignorance of nautical matters, Bonnet was in an even weaker position than other pirate captains, as is demonstrated by the utter domination Blackbeard exercised over him during their collaboration. During Bonnet's early career, his crew seems to have been less than loyal to him and to have greatly preferred the more charismatic and experienced Blackbeard.^[68]

At his trial, Bonnet downplayed his own authority over his pirate crew. He told the court that his crew engaged in piracy against his will, and said he had warned them that he would leave the crew unless they stopped robbing vessels.^[69] He further stated that he had been asleep during the capture of the sloop Francis. The court did not accept these protestations.^[70] Boatswain Ignatius Pell testified that Bonnet's quartermaster, Robert Tucker, had more power than Bonnet.^[71] A powerful quartermaster appears to have been a common feature of pirate crews in the early modern era.^[72]

Nevertheless, Bonnet's crew represented him as being a leader, and it appears likely that, after his rescue of Blackbeard's marooned crewmen, he became at least a co-equal commander aboard the Royal James. He appears to have been entrusted with the company's treasure, and made most major command decisions such as the direction of the ship and what vessels to attack. Most significantly, at Delaware Bay he ordered two of his crew to be flogged for breaches of discipline.^[45] Pirates did not lightly submit to flogging, as they resented the frequent use of this punishment in the naval and merchant services from which most of them came,^[73] and thus only a leader who commanded the obedience of his crew could successfully order such penalties.

Bonnet's flag is traditionally represented as a white skull above a horizontal long bone between a heart and a dagger, all on a black field. Despite the frequent appearance of this flag in modern pirate literature, no known early-Georgian period source describes any such device, much less attributes it to Bonnet. This version of Bonnet's flag is probably one of a number of pirate flags appearing on an undated manuscript with unknown provenance in Britain's National Maritime Museum, which was donated by Dr. Philip Gosse in 1939. Bonnet's crew and contemporaries generally referred to him flying a "bloody flag",^[74] which likely means a dark red flag. There is also a report from the 1718 Boston News-Letter of Bonnet flying a death's-head flag during his pursuit of the Protestant Caesar, with no mention of color or of any long bone, heart, or dagger.^[75]

Walking the plank

Bonnet is alleged to have been one of the few pirates to make his prisoners walk the plank.^[76] No contemporary source makes any mention of Bonnet forcing prisoners to walk the plank, and modern scholars such as Marcus Rediker, Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh, generally agree that the whole concept of pirates forcing prisoners to walk the plank belongs to a later age than Bonnet's.^[77]

Captain Lewis

Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin The Pirates Writter

Port Royal a Pirate Heaven

Captain Stede Bonnet The Gentleman Pirate

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