Bartholomew Sharp took on the role of buccaneer, privateer, and pirate at different times in his sea-faring career. Little is known about his early life, except that he was born in 1650 in the parish of Stepney in London. He first went to sea at a young age serving as a privateer during the second Anglo-Dutch war of 1665-67. He is thought to have served under Henry Morgan in the Caribbean, possibly during the infamous Panama raid in 1671. When peace was signed between England and Spain in the Treaty of Madrid in 1670, he became a privateer against the Dutch during the Third Anglo-Dutch war of 1672-74, obtaining the command of his own vessel in the Caribbean while fighting against the Dutch in the Leeward Islands. Once peace had been signed with the Dutch he and his men illegally turned their attention to the Spanish colonies, attacking Segovia in 1675 and capturing of Santa Marta in 1677, as well as later seizing a Spanish merchant ship in the Bay of Honduras.…
Coins of the Spanish Empire
Spanish dollar – This coin, also known as the piece of eight, was made of silver and was in use from 1497 to 1864. It was also known as the real de ocho, being worth eight reals. It was one of the purest coins, slightly lighter than a British crown. It was traded at four and half shillings in England and five shillings in the American colonies. Because of the lack of small coinage in the colonies, it was often divided up into eight pieces, the reason for its popular name. The Spanish dollar was widely used as the first international currency because of its uniformity in standard and milling characteristics. They often originated from the Spanish colonies, where the milling technology not available. Although containing the same value in silver, not being milled and being more crudely minted made them easier to clip.
Howell Davis
Howell Davis was born in 1690 in Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire in Wales. His name was sometimes spelled Hywel Davies. It is said that he grew up around the sea and was a more than competent sailor. Never his plan to become a pirate, his short pirating career lasted from July 1718 to June 1719, during which time he captured fifteen ships. According to the account written by Captain William Snelgrave some years later in 1734, Davis was not a cruel man. He wrote that Davis intervened to save him from being abused by the men of pirate captain Thomas Cocklyn, who had captured Snelgrave and his ship.
Zheng Yi Sao
The famous female pirate Zheng Yi Sao was also known under several other names, including Ching Shih. Not much is known about her early life except that she was of poor and humble origins. Despite that, she ended up commanding a pirate fleet consisting of as many as 70,000 men at its peak. It is known that she was born sometime around 1775 in southern China, possibly in Xinhui, which lies on the coast of the Guangdong province, to a family of fishermen. No-one is really sure of her real name, although it is thought to have been Shi Yang back then. She was later known as Zheng Yi Sao, meaning Ching’s wife, or Ching Shih, meaning Ching’s widow. It is often claimed that she might have started out as a prostitute, later marrying the most powerful pirate leaders, Zheng Yi, in 1801. She had two sons with Zheng Yi: Zheng Yingshi, born in 1803, and Zheng Xiongshi, born in 1807.…
Coins in the American colonies
There was a lack of coins in Britain’s American colonies, one reason being that in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was illegal to export British silver coinage to the colonies, although copper coins could be legally used. Additionally, colonists weren’t allowed to mint their own coins as this was solely a royal prerogative. In place of British silver coins, those from many different nations were used. This wasn’t a problem, because all coins were more or less worth there weight in silver or gold, so it wasn’t important which head of monarch or national emblem was imprinted on it. The foreign coins found in the colonies included German thalers and French écus. The most popular coin was the Spanish milled dollar, or piece of eight, which was legal tender in the US until the 1850s.