Age of Piracy

Age of Piracy, story by story.

1. IThe Isthmus of Panama, January 1671
   

   Chapter I · The Isthmus of Panama, January 1671

   The Sack of Panama

   You play Henry Morgan

   Can anyone cross the jungle and take the richest city in the Americas, and what is left when they do?

   Panama, 1670. One of the richest cities in the Americas sits on the Pacific coast, where the silver of Peru comes ashore on its way to Spain.

   Your first call · Your men: about 1,200. Theirs: more, with cavalry

   Take the highway straight inFollow the guide through the woods

   Sources

   • Alexandre Exquemelin, The Buccaneers of America (English edition of 1684), Part III chapters 14 to 18: the vote for Panama, Providence and the guides, the Chagres fort and the prisoners' warning, the march (no food, leather bags, the Pacific, the cattle), the steeple and the horsemen, the guide's path through the wood, the battle and the cattle, the wine ban, three weeks in Panama, 175 mules and 600 prisoners, the division at Chagres and Morgan's departure
   • Commission from Sir Thomas Modyford to Admiral Henry Morgan, 2 July 1670 (Calendar of State Papers, Colonial: America and West Indies, July 1670): Spanish landings on Jamaica's north side, firing houses and taking prisoners; orders to destroy ships and land on enemy places; 'exceed in Civility and Humanity'
   • Dictionary of Welsh Biography, 'Morgan, Henry (1635?-1688), buccaneer': Welsh origin, Portobello 1668, deputy governor 1674, burial at Port Royal 1688
   • Henry Morgan, 'A true account and relation of this my last expedition against the Spaniards' (April 1671), Calendar of State Papers, Colonial: America and West Indies, vol. 7, no. 504: 37 captains vote for Panama, Old Providence, four guides, Chagres taken, 1,400 men up the river on 9 January, 200 left with the boats, the South Sea and the cattle on the 17th, the enemy 2,100 foot and 600 horse, the cattle stratagem, the city 'commanded to be fired' by its defenders, 28 days in Panama, mines of Peru, departure 6 March
   • Sir Thomas Modyford to Lord Arlington, 18 December 1670, CSP Colonial vol. 7, no. 359: Morgan 1,800 strong with 200 or 300 French and 36 ships; a copy of the articles of peace sent after him, but the vessel missed him
   • Instructions for Sir Thomas Lynch, December 1670, CSP Colonial vol. 7: the treaty for establishing peace in America concluded at Madrid 8/18 July 1670
   • Richard Browne to Joseph Williamson, 6 April 1672, CSP Colonial vol. 7, no. 798: the Welcome, 'wherein Admiral Morgan is sent home prisoner'
   • Sir Henry Morgan, letter of 14 July 1681 as deputy governor, on the 'villanous Pyrates that now infest these coasts' and a pirate executed (Spink auction lot transcription)
2. IIThe Red Sea, August 1697
   

   Chapter II · The Red Sea, August 1697

   Captain Kidd

   You play William Kidd

   An honest captain, paid only in loot: how long does he stay honest?

   London, 1695. Pirates from the Americas are robbing ships in the Indian Ocean and selling the loot in New York.

   Your first call · Months at sea without a prize: eleven

   Wait here for the Mocha fleetLet it pass. Go and find real pirates

   Sources

   • John Biddulph, The Pirates of Malabar (1907), chapter 2: Perim, three boats sent to Mocha, the attack on the fleet and the Sceptre escort, Moore and the bucket, the Quedah Merchant, Kidd's oath to Culliford
   • Earl of Bellomont to the Lords of Trade, Boston, 8 July 1699 (Blathwayt papers, Colonial Williamsburg): the promise of the King's pardon if innocent, Kidd landing a week before, refusing to speak to him without witnesses, the gold and silver
   • Graham Brooks (ed.), Trial of Captain Kidd (Notable British Trials, 1930): the trial record of May 1701 (Palmer, Bradinham and Owens on Moore and the bucket, the Mocha fleet and its English and Dutch convoy, the Quedagh Merchant, the oath to Culliford 'rather his soul should broil in hell-fire'), the King's grant of pirates' goods to Bellomont and the nominees of Somers, Shrewsbury, Orford and Romney, the articles of 10 October 1695 ('No Purchase No Pay'), Kidd's own narrative (men pressed at the Nore, about fifty dead at Mohilla, 95 men to Culliford), the proclamation of 8 December 1698 'excepting Henry Every alias Bridgman, and William Kidd', Gardiner's Island, the arrest, the broken rope on 23 May 1701
   • Minutes of the Council of New York, May 1698, CSP Colonial vol. 16: Bellomont's information that Colonel Fletcher admitted notorious pirates to bring their spoils into New York, 'receiving considerable rewards for the same'
   • Trinity Church vestry minute, 20 July 1696: 'Capt. Kidd has lent a Runner & Tackle for the hoiseing up Stones'
3. IIICharleston, South Carolina, May 1718
   

   Chapter III · Charleston, South Carolina, May 1718

   Blackbeard at Charleston

   You play Blackbeard (Edward Thatch)

   The most feared man in America has made a threat. Does he mean it?

   Charleston, May 1718. Four pirate ships sit across the harbour mouth, and nothing gets in or out. Aboard the biggest are a crowd of prisoners, and the most feared man in America.

   Your first call · Deadline: passed

   Carry out the threatGive them two more days

   Sources

   • Charles Johnson, A General History of the Pyrates (1724), chapter 3, 'Of Captain Teach alias Black-beard': privateer origins, Hornigold, the Queen Ann's Revenge, five or six days off the bar of Charleston, ships taken, the demand for a chest of medicines and the threat to kill the prisoners and send their heads to the governor, Samuel Wragg of the council, envoys walking the streets, prisoners' gold and silver, Topsail Inlet and the marooning, the pardon from Governor Eden, the French ship and the governor's sugar, Spotswood and Maynard, the fight at Ocracoke, the beard, ribbons, pistols and lighted matches under his hat
   • Robert E. Lee, Blackbeard the Pirate: A Reappraisal of His Life and Times (John F. Blair, 1974), pp. 42-47: Marks and the pirates given two days to bring the medicine, Marks's boat capsized on the way in, a messenger asking for more time, a further two days granted, the fleet moved into the harbour, the pirate escorts found drinking with friends
   • Queen Anne's Revenge Project, North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, 'Ship's journey': La Concorde from Nantes, 516 captives embarked, 61 died on the crossing, some taken by the pirates, others returned to Martinique
   • Governor Robert Johnson to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Charleston, 18 June 1718, CSP Colonial vol. 30, no. 556: four sail off the bar, 8 or 9 ships taken with several of the best inhabitants, the chest of medicines or every prisoner put to death, prisoners 'plundered of all they had' and 'sent ashore almost naked', Teach alias Blackbeard with a ship of 40 odd guns, 3 sloops and above 400 men
   • Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood to the Council of Trade and Plantations, December 1718, CSP Colonial vol. 30: 'Capt. Tach' and his ship of 40 guns lost in June, the surrender to North Carolina's governor, the French ship of sugar and cocoa taken near Bermuda, two hired sloops and 55 men from the Pearl and Lyme, the fight at Ocracoke on 22 November
   • Queen Anne's Revenge Project, 'Blackbeard: History of the Dreaded Pirate' (N.C. Office of State Archaeology, from the depositions of Dosset and Ernaut): La Concorde taken off Martinique late in 1717, captives put ashore at Bequia and carried on to Martinique, Charleston blockaded for nearly a week, Captain Brand's letter on the ship of forty guns lost at Topsail Inlet
4. IVNassau, the Bahamas, July 1718
   

   Chapter IV · Nassau, the Bahamas, July 1718

   The King's Pardon

   You play Charles Vane

   The King offers every pirate a pardon. Who takes it, and who keeps running?

   Nassau, 1718. Blackbeard learned his trade here. So did many of the men robbing ships from Africa to Boston, because this harbour in the Bahamas is the pirates' own town.

   Your first call · Warships: in the channel. Daylight: a few hours away

   Send the French ship at them, on fireFight it out from the harbour

   Sources

   • Charles Johnson, A General History of the Pyrates (1724), Introduction: the Spanish wrecks in the Gulf of Florida and Jennings's raid with 300 men, the King's Proclamation of 5 September 1717 (surrender by 5 September 1718; rewards of £100 for a pirate commander and £200 to a crewman who delivers his own commander), the pirates' general council and the commonwealth idea, Jennings and about 150 men surrendering, Rogers (the Duke and Dutchess, the Acapulco ship, round the globe), Vane's escape by the second channel
   • Charles Johnson, A General History of the Pyrates (1724), chapter 6, 'Of Captain Charles Vane': setting fire to a prize and sailing out with pirate colours flying, firing at the man of war; the Carolinas; meeting Blackbeard; the French man of war, Rackham's argument and the captain's absolute power in fighting and chasing, majority rule otherwise; the vote deposing him; the sloop given to him and about fifteen others; the hurricane wreck off Honduras; Holford and the dory; the second ship; recognition in the hold; trial and execution in Jamaica
   • The Tryals of Captain John Rackam and other Pirates (Jamaica, 1721), trial of Charles Vane, March 1721: Captain Vincent Pearce of HMS Phoenix deposed that Vane surrendered to him at Providence for the benefit of the proclamation 'and afterwards turned Pirate'; ships taken by Vane from 29 March 1718; executed at Gallows Point, Port Royal, 29 March 1721
   • Governor Woodes Rogers to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Nassau, 31 October 1718, CSP Colonial vol. 30, no. 737: arrival 26 July, the French prize of 22 guns set on fire to drive out HMS Rose, which cut her cables, Vane fleeing in a sloop under the black flag and firing guns of defiance; Hornigold sent after Vane
   • Governor Benjamin Bennett of Bermuda, March 1718, CSP Colonial vol. 30: the Phoenix, Captain Pierce, at Providence giving certificates to pirates who surrendered
5. VNassau, the Bahamas, August 1720
   

   Chapter V · Nassau, the Bahamas, August 1720

   Bonny and Read

   You play Anne Bonny

   Two women want back to sea in a town with a gallows. How far will they go?

   Nassau, 1720. Two years after the King's pardon, the pirates' old town in the Bahamas has gone very quiet.

   Your first call · Your crew: about fifteen, counting you

   Take the sloop tonightRecruit more men first

   Sources

   • Charles Johnson, A General History of the Pyrates (1724): Introduction (Rogers building a fort and forming 400 pardoned pirates into companies, the December 1718 hangings at Providence, the gallows speech about not having done more mischief, four hundred former companions watching); chapter 7 and the lives of Mary Read and Anne Bonny (the punch party and capture off Negril, the court's question and the pleas of pregnancy, Bonny leaving her husband for Rackham, 'if he had fought like a Man, he need not have been hang'd like a Dog', Bonny not executed)
   • The Tryals of Captain John Rackam and other Pirates (Jamaica: Robert Baldwin, 1721; National Archives CO 137/14), digitised copy: Rackam and crew condemned 16 and 17 November 1720, Barnet's capture off Negril Point on 22 October (punch with the turtlers, a broadside, quarter called), Rackam executed at Gallows Point on 18 November and hung in chains at Plumb Point, the trial of Mary Read and Ann Bonny alias Bonn on 28 November (Dorothy Thomas: men's jackets, long trousers, handkerchiefs, machete and pistol, cursing at the men to murder her; the French witnesses on men's clothes in action), sentence of death, then 'quick with Child' and execution respited
   • Governor Woodes Rogers's proclamation, Nassau, 5 September 1720, printed in the Boston Gazette, 17 October 1720: Rackum and others 'and two Women, by Name, Ann Fulford alias Bonny, & Mary Read' took the sloop William, about 12 tons, 4 guns and 2 swivels, belonging to Capt. John Ham, on 22 August (transcribed in full)
   • Governor Woodes Rogers to the Council of Trade and Plantations, December 1718, CSP Colonial vol. 30: thirteen pirates taken by Hornigold and Cockram, three dead of wounds, one (George Rounsivell) reprieved under the gallows, so nine hanged
6. VIThe coast of West Africa, January 1722
   

   Chapter VI · The coast of West Africa, January 1722

   Black Bart

   You play Bartholomew Roberts

   "A merry life and a short one": how long can the most successful pirate keep it going?

   West Africa, 1722. Blackbeard is dead and Nassau has gone honest. But one pirate is still at sea, and he has taken more ships than any of them.

   Your first call · Ransoms still to collect: several ships' worth of gold

   Stay and collect every ransomTalk them round and sail tonight

   Sources

   • Charles Johnson, A General History of the Pyrates (1724), chapter 9, 'Of Captain Bartholomew Roberts': taken out of the Prince at Anamaboe as second mate; his speech ('thin Commons, low Wages, and hard Labour... a sour Look or two at choaking... A merry Life and a short one'); the articles; Whydah (eleven sail, eight pounds of gold dust each, the receipts, the Porcupine burned with eighty slaves chained two and two, the sharks); the intercepted letter about the Swallow and Roberts reading it to his crew; staying 'only from Thursday to Saturday Night'; winds bringing them to Cape Lopez; the Swallow's feint on 5 February and the capture of the Ranger; the Neptune on the 9th; the morning of the 10th, breakfast, Armstrong's advice to go before the wind; passing close and receiving her broadside; Roberts's dress; grapeshot to the throat; Stephenson; thrown overboard in his arms and ornaments