Famous Pirates

What legacy do you want to be known for?

Henry Morgan• Henry Morgan was a Welsh

Puritan who volunteered to take Hispaniola, instead conquered Jamaica

• Raided Portobello, Panama, treasure city taking all three forts

• Led men on a three week Jungle trek to Panama and conquered it but lost over ½ of his men

• Became Lt Governor of Jamaica, in charge of Privateers

Henry Jennings

• Took 300 pirates against 60 guards of the remains of the recovered Treasure fleet

• Each man made over 20,000 in pieces of eight

• Retired to Bahamas and took King’s pardon

William Kidd• William Kidd was a privateer who

lost his license and captured two Spanish treasure ships one carrying gold and jewels for the royalty

• Possibly buried treasure on Oak Island

• Raided 5 English trading ships but tried to give king of England jewels, seeking a pardon

• Tried and found guilty of Piracy, hung, body caged and hung on banks of Thames as a warning to a pirates

Henry Every• A Pirate who started with Mutiny of a

slave ship which he took to the Arabian sea

• He then plundered all around Africa and India for a year, before coming to the Caribbean

• In the Caribbean he bribed a governor, for protection with 7,000 pounds, He tried to buy a pardon but was denied

• The Grand Moghul of India had a bounty for his head, because he had stolen an Indian treasure ship

• Retired 1 yr after coming to Caribbean, changed name to Benjamin Bridgeman and disappeared in Ireland

• Many stories and Plays written about Every, became the model for fictional pirates

Black Beard• Possibly the most famous pirate was Edward

Teach or Thatch, from England a former privateer out of work because of the Treaty ending Queen Anne’s War

• 6’3” tall and incredibly strong, he captured 27 ships in a 2 yr period

• Dressed in red with a Black hat with cannon fuses burning creating a cloud of smoke encircling his head, fuses and bows in his beard he terrorized Caribbean sea

• Teach held port of Charleston captive for medical supplies

• He abandoned 2/3rds of his men, on a sand bar• Killed by English off of Ocracoke island, NC• Died pistol in hand and sword in other• Legend says when they chopped off his head his

headless body swam around the ship three times before sinking thus making people say he was possessed

Calico Jack• Known as Jack Rackum, Calico Jack

was a very successful pirate in that he captured 19 ships in three years

• Took on board with him two female pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read

• Was known for his flashy clothing and suave way with the ladies

• Captured and tried and hung, Bonny and Read both claimed pregnant at trial, Read died in jail possibly during childbirth, Bonny disappeared possibly returning to NC

Bart Roberts• The most successful pirate was

Bartholomew Roberts, taken captive and forced onto a pirate ship because he was the navigator, Black Bart became captain when the captain was killed

• Raided Africa then across the Atlantic to Rio and then north, massive treasure ships headed for Portugal captured

• He captured over 400 ships had 20 ships and crews of over 400 men

• He answered a call for his head by the governors of Martinique and Barbados by attacking the Governor of Martinique’s French Man of War and making it his own, he humiliated the governor

• He also attacked the most powerful ship in the world a British Man of War and defeated it

• Killed of coast of Africa by Pirate hunters

Francois Olonnais• Arrived in Caribbean as an indentured

servant• French pirate who escaped and held a

town hostage, beheaded all of Spanish sent to capture him

• Gathered 8 ships and 600 pirates, captured a Spanish treasure ship along the way to Lake Maracaibo, tortured to find treasure, then attacked Gibraltar, sacked so much, city ceased to exist

• Tried to attack Mexico city, with 900 pirates ambushed and cut the heart of leader out and ate it, driven back

• Attacked Panama where he was ambushed and eaten by cannibals

Sir Francis Drake• Began pirating at 23, escaped

Spanish capture in Panama• Began to attack in Columbia,

wounded stayed 2yrs• Decided to circumnavigate the

globe while hunting Spanish treasure ships in Pacific, captured three Spanish Treasure Ships

• Saved England from Spanish Armada, using fire ships and a storm, Knighted and became head of British navy

Jean Lafitte

• French-American pirate from Louisiana and Galveston

• 1810 began smuggling and Piracy

• 1814 Helped US Army build defenses against British in the Battle of New Orleans

• Wounded in Battle against a Spanish ship, buried at sea