Bartholomew Roberts

Compare and contrast the careers of the pirate captains in the first phase of piracy with that of Bartholomew Roberts. What similarities can we detect? Differences? Why did the careers of the early pirates differ so much from that of Roberts?

It is said that Bartholomew Roberts didn’t even want to be a pirate. Bartholomew was stationed onboard a slave ship named the Princessen when it was captured by pirates. This pirate ship was captained by Howell Davis, who was a Welshman. Roberts, also being Welsh, was forced to join the pirates even though he didn’t want to. While being onboard the pirate ship, he quickly gained the respect of the crew. After Howell Davis was killed, the crew elected Roberts to be the captain. He embraced the role,

saying “that if he had to be a pirate, it was better to be captain.” Roberts, otherwise known as “Black Bart” was considered the most successful pirate of the Golden Age of Piracy.

He was successful in part because he was very smart, and he thought big, usually commanding a fleet of anywhere from two to four pirate ships which could surround and catch victims. Defoe tells us of many ships that were captured by Roberts throughout the Atlantic. Bartholomew Roberts differed from most pirates as he covered a wide surface area instead of being restricted to one geographic location which resulted in him being able to capture more ships than any other pirate. Most pirates only stuck with regions of water that they were familiar with, such as the Caribbean. Roberts sailed all throughout the Atlantic from Newfoundland, to South America, to the Caribbean and to the west coast of Africa. Black Bart was also very cunning, in Brazil he managed to sneak up on a fleet of ships and capture one without anyone noticing. Defoe says “they found this ship exceeding rich, being loaden chiefly with sugar, skins, and tobacco, and in gold 90,000 moidores.” The jewelry held on board also included a cross with diamonds that was designed for the King of Portugal. This made Roberts a good leader and someone that his men looked up to. Being a leader also meant he had to

live by his word and abide by the articles that he and his crew agreed upon. He also had to maintain a great respect in order to have the cooperation of other pirates to achieve his goals. Later in his career, Bartholomew Roberts captured a frigate named Onslow. After the capture the name of the ship was changed to Royal Fortune and mounted 40 cannons on her deck. The upgraded ship was a nearly invincible pirate ship, and at the time only a well-armed navy vessel could hope to stand against her. “The Royal Fortune was as impressive a pirate ship as Sam Bellamy’s Whydah or Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge.” Black Bart was hard-hitting and brawled to the end. In February of 1722, one of Roberts’ ships was captured by the Royal Navy. After its capture, the Royal Navy turned towards the Royal Fortune. Roberts had a decision to make, he could have run away, or stay and fight. Of course he decided to fight. This fight is where Roberts lost his life. Roberts’ last wish was to not let his body be taken by the Royal Navy, and with this the crew of the Royal Fortune wrapped his body in the sails of the ship and threw his body overboard. His body was never recovered.

Defoe, D., & Schonhorn, M. (1999). A general history of the pyrates. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications.

What does the pirate stance on race and gender tell us about the Golden Age of Pirates? How does their stance on race and gender conflict with the larger European narrative of colonization in the Americas?

“During the Golden Age of Piracy, many women joined the pirate movement and fought against the social mores of European society.” But we know that during the 18th century, it was the norm for women to be married and have children and stay at home. Most women of this time worked on farms or in jobs that had been in the family and having self-regulating careers outside of the home was not an option. It is known that parents of daughters usually had them married to someone that they wanted, in other words, the wedding would be arranged. It was not an option for the daughter to marry who she wanted. Since women were to stay home and not have an outside job, it would be unlikely for them to become sailors on board any ship, let alone a pirate ship. Ships during the 18th century had all male crews and the only women that would be on board would be considered a passenger. There are two individuals who put a twist on this. Anne Bonny and Mary Read were two women who left behind the stereotypical women at the time for an adventure on the high seas. In Pennell’s book, he makes reference to Steve Gooch’s play, The Women Pirates, and quotes “for example, portrays two rebel women escaping from female stereotypes in “a small ‘alternative’ society of anti-colonial” rebel pirates.” From this perspective Read and Bonny were not just breaking with conventional life ashore, they were also trying to construct a new way of life at sea. These two women would inflate the importance of a women’s role in piracy and piratical activity.
From what we know of pirates, we could say that most pirates spoke English and came from Europe.

But when we take into account the historical reality of pirates’ ships, we can see that this is not really the case. There were ships that were used to transport slaves from Africa. These ships would be captured by pirates and the crew would either be set free, forced into piracy, or killed. Either way I believe that African Americans were considered equal on pirate ships. Pennell says “concepts such as nationality, race, ethnicity, and creed were not as static, immutable, and/or insurmountable in the early modern period as they would become later. On the eighteenth-century maritime frontier, merit at least occasionally became a more important marker.” Race at the time wasn’t an issue. Pennell continues and says “Blacks are accordingly found as leaders of predominantly white crews.” African Americans were able to carry firearms and were frequently active combatants. In this respect, piracy was ahead of the times as far as tolerance. As long as a person was able-bodied and could perform the grueling tasks required by the seafaring life, the color of their skin was not an

issue.

Pennell, C. (2001). Bandits at sea: A pirates reader. New York: New York University Press.
Rediker, M. (Jun 2004). Villains of All Nations. Beacon Press.

What were the major factors contributing to the extermination of piracy after 1722? Did Atlantic pirates actually constitute a serious threat to the Atlantic World? Why did religious leaders join the chorus in calling for their extermination? What role did pirates play in undermining European colonization efforts in the Americas?

Having more men being out of work led to the number of pirates being able to multiply. This led to more ships being captured, more ships that contained items that were needed for trade. The lack of trade which provided funding for European nations would be one motivation to exterminate pirates. European nations would grow their navies to offer protection for merchant ships and were used to hunt pirates. Rediker reminds us that piracy was a crime against property (specifically vessels of merchant companies) and therefore against all property owners.
Another motivation for the world to become interested in exterminating piracy was that merchants were tired of being bullied. Pirates started off as men who desired fair wage and treatment; overtime this ideal was lost. Pirates would plunder what they liked and destroy what they did not, this abuse of property was of ill repute with many people around the world, as, “pirates broke the law as they stole property, taking plunder in money and cargo… throwing goods riotously into the sea, burning and sinking ships… They interfered with the very security of possessing property,” (Rediker, 2004). After many cases and pleas were brought up with the crown as well as several other governments, the overall consensus was to, “extirpate them out of the world,” (Rediker, 2004). The acts that lead piracy through the golden age were no longer tolerable.
Rediker also states, "For as the King's attorney claimed in a 1717 trial, piracy was a singularly atrocious crime because it is done in remote and solitary places, where the weak and defenseless can expect no assistance nor relief and where these ravenous Beasts of Prey may ravage undisturb'd, hard'ned in their Wickedness with Hopes of Impunity, and of being Concealed forever from the Eyes and Hands of avenging Justice." This statement tells us that the European powers felt helplessness where piracy was concerned. They had little to no power over the pirates and they felt it threatened their power and hold over the colonies they had established. If the parent nations could not protect the colonies or their own soil from pirates, their people would lose faith in the nation and this could weaken their power. It could also be said that the parent nations used religion to further their cause of eradicating piracy by claiming pirates were non-Christian and were wicked. The parent nations wanted no weakening of their power in their homeland or in the colonies they had established and this was their major motivation in allying to exterminate piracy.

Rediker, M. (Jun 2004). Villains of All Nations. Beacon Press.