A flag commonly attributed to Bartholomew Roberts depicts him holding a glass out to toast a skeleton holding a spear, which represents death. It originates from volume 29 of the journal Mariner’s Mirror in 1943. The same flag with an hourglass instead of drinking glass first appeared in the historian Basil Lubbock’s 1922 book The Blackwall Frigates, inspired by an illustration from 2nd edition of A General History from 1724.
Empire of the Deep: The Rise and Fall of the British Navy by Ben Wilson
The story of our navy is nothing less than the story of Britain, our culture and our empire. Much more than a parade of admirals and their battles, this is the story of how an insignificant island nation conquered the world’s oceans to become its greatest trading empire. Yet, as Ben Wilson shows, there was nothing inevitable about this rise to maritime domination, nor was it ever an easy path.
“She was of a fierce and courageous Temper, wherefore, when she lay under Condemnation, several Stories were reported of her, much to her disadvantage, …” Captain Johnson, A General History of the Pyrates, 1724
Ann Bonny, her first name sometimes spelt Anne, was one of the two notorious female pirates who sailed with Jack Rackham. Much has been written, but no so much is really known about her life. It is unclear where she really came from. It is often claimed she was born in Ireland, but there is no evidence of this, although it can be assumed she was born sometime in the late 1690s. No primary source, including her own trial transcript, makes mention of her age or nation of origin. No records of an Ann Bonny being born in the late 17th century have been found in the list of baptisms of Ireland. Bonny is not noted as having been an inhabitant of Nassau before pirates arrived in 1713.…
A physical or verbal attack meant to serve as a warning that strong action will be taken if a person does not stop doing something or change their behaviour. The bow is the rounded forward part of a ship on both sides, which meet at the prow, which is the very front end or tip of a vessel. A shot across the bows derives from the naval practice of firing a harmless cannon shot across the bows of an opponent’s ship as a signal that they should stop, letting them know they will be attacked unless they surrender immediately.
The name King William’s War was given to the American theatre of operations in the Nine Years’ War. It was probably named so because the war broke out when William III ascended to the throne of England and because of the financial interests he held in the Hudson Bay Company. It was fought on a much smaller scale than in Europe. One area of contention was the fur trade in the colonies, another was Caribbean trade. England and Spain, who were traditionally enemies in the Caribbean, were now allied against France, but although the Allies had for the most part the naval advantage in this region, it proved impossible to keep the French from supplying their colonial forces.