Rebecca Simon - Why We Love Pirates

Why
We Love
Pirates

The Hunt for Captain Kidd
and How He Changed Piracy Forever

Rebecca Simon, PhD

Mango Publishing

Co ral Gables

Copyright 2020 by Rebecca Simon, PhD.
Published by Mango Publishing Group, a division of Mango Media Inc.

Cover Design: Gabrielle Mechaber
Cover illustrations: paseven/Adobe Stock
Layout & Design:
Interior Illustrations: kuco/Adobe Stock

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Why We Love Pirates: The Hunt for Captain Kidd and How He Changed Piracy Forever

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication number: 2020940961
ISBN: (print) 978-1-64250-337-1, (ebook) 978-1-64250-338-8
BISAC category code HIS057000HISTORY / Maritime History & Piracy

Printed in the United States of America

Dedicated with all my love to my grandpa, Bernie Jack Shapiro, who, sadly, will never be able to read this book. Thank you for your endless love, support, and interest, reminding me often that you read a book about Jewis h pirates.

Table of Contents

1536: King Henry VIII passes Offences of t he Sea Act

16501680: First Pirate Round: English, French, and Dutch Protestants known as b uccaneers

1651: Navigation A cts passed

1654: England takes Jamaica from Spain

16541660: Anglo-S panish War

1670: Treaty of Madrid between England and Spain; recognizes English ownership of Jamaica

1690s: Second Pirate Round: Indian Oc ean piracy

1692: Pirate stronghold of Port Royal, Jamaica, collapses in an earthquake; pirat es scatter

1695: Pirate Henry Avery robs Mu ghal ships

1699: Pirate Captain Kid d arrested

1700: Act for the Effectual Suppression of Piracy passes to modify Offences of t he Sea Act

May 23, 1701: Pirate Captain Kid d executed

May 24, 1701: Captain Kidds trial transcript published

May 25, 1701: Captain Kidds trial transcript sells out

May 26, 1701: Captain Kidds trial transcript gets secon d printing

1706: Pirates begin to establish unofficial Pirate Republic in Nassa u, Bahamas

1713: Pirate Captain Benjamin Hornigold establishes official Pirate Republic in Nassa u, Bahamas

17011714: War of Spanish Succession

17161726: Third Round of Piracy: Post-war Atlan tic piracy

1718: Woodes Rogers becomes Governor of Bahamas

1717: Act for the Effectual Suppression of Pirac y repassed

1718: Blackbeard killed in battle

1720: Captain Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny, and Mary Read terrorize the Caribbean and are found guilty of piracy

1721: The Act for the Effectual Suppression of Pirac y repassed

1723: Cotton Mathers Useful Remarks published in London

1724: Captain Charles Johnson publishes the first volume of A General History of t he Pyrates

1726: Pirate William Fly executed in Boston, Massachusetts. Last public execution spectacle. Considered the end of the Golden Age of Piracy

1728: Captain Charles Johnson publishes the second volume of A General History of t he Pyrates

1730s: European wars break out and Atlantic piracy is offic ially over

Henry Avery (August 20, 1659unknown): English pirate who operated in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Known as the King of the Pirates. Famous for robbing Indian merchants and escaping pe rsecution.

Captain William Kidd (January 22, 1645May 23, 1701): Scottish sailor who worked for the British East India Company until he was arrested and executed for crimes of piracy.

Captain Benjamin Hornigold (16801719): English privateer during the War of Spanish Succession who later became pirate. Established the pirate kingdom in Nassau, New Providence (Bahamas).

Captain Edward Teach (Blackbeard) (c. 1680November 22, 1718): English pirate who operated between 1716 and 1718. Killed in battle.

Captain Calico Jack Rackham (December 26, 1682November 18, 1720): Pirate captain who once sailed with Charles Vane. Married to Anne Bonny. Captured off the coast of Jamaica and executed for crimes of piracy. Known as Calico Jack because of his penchant for fine clothing.

Mary Read : (1685April 28, 1721): Female pirate who occasionally sailed under the name Mark Read. Sailed under Jack Rackham with Anne Bonny. Found guilty as a pirate but not executed because of her pregnancy. Died in a Jamaican prison of child bed fever.

Charles Vane (1680March 29, 1721): English pirate who mostly operated in and around the Bahamas, known for his cruelty. Executed for piracy i n Jamaica.

Anne Bonny (c. 1697April 1782): Irish pirate who sailed with Captain Jack Rackham with Mary Read.

Edward Ned Low (16901724): English pirate known for his brutality.

Woodes Rogers (c. 1679July 15, 1732): English privateer who later became governor of th e Bahamas.

Map of the Atlantic Worl d, c. 1757

Courtesy of the John Carter Bro wn Library

Map of the W est Indies

Courtesy of the John Carter Bro wn Library

Map of Nassa u, c. 1800

Wi ki Commons

Map of the Island of Jamaic a, c. 1760

Courtesy of the John Carter Bro wn Library

Before graduate school, I wouldnt say I was obsessed with pirates. However, I was definitely a huge fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean films (still amexcept for the fifth one) and the ride of the same name (which has always been my favorite) at Disneyland. But, like most people, when I thought of pirates, I thought of buried treasure, walking the plank, peg legs and eye patches, and the phrase Arrrrrr, matey! I never gave much thought to where these ideas came from or why pirates continue to capture the popular im agination.

That changed when I took a graduate seminar on Colonial American history and was assigned a book called Villains of All Nations by the historian Marcus Rediker. His book upended the beliefs about pirates that I had learned from pop culture my whole life. One of the first things I learned was that pirates are important enough figures to have their own era of history, known as the Golden Age of Piracy. This was a time period between 1650 and 1726 when piracy and persecutions were at their peak in the British Atlantic colonies, namely the Caribbean and North America. Rediker has divided the Golden Age of Piracy into thr ee rounds:

16501680: The buccaneers were mostly English, French, and Dutch Protestants who hunted wild game on deserted islands and attacked Span ish ships.