Category: Famous pirates

The explorer and privateer Sir Francis Drake was one of the most famous English historical personalities, best known for circumnavigating of the world and playing an important role in defeating the Spanish Armada. To the Spanish he was an infamous pirate known as El Draque (The Dragon in old Spanish), but to the English he was a national hero. He was born in about 1540 in Tavistock near Plymouth, Devon, but grew up in Kent. He was the oldest of twelve boys and his father, Edmund Drake, was a preacher. At the age of twelve Drake became an apprentice to the master of a small freight vessel, which he later inherited. Not satisfied with the life of a coastal trader, he sold the vessel and returned to Plymouth, where he had contacts – John and William Hawkins, who were possibly his cousins. He sought employment on their voyages. Drake married Mary Newman in 1569, but not much is known about her.…

“In an honest service there is thin commons, low wages, and hard labour. In this, plenty and satiety, pleasure and ease, liberty and power; and who would not balance creditor on this side, when all the hazard that is run for it, at worst is only a sour look or two at choking? No, a merry life and a short one shall be my motto.”

 A General History of the Pyrates (1724)

Active between 1719 and 1722, Bartholomew Roberts is viewed as being one of the most successful pirates, when judged by the amount of vessels captured. It is thought he took as many as 470 vessels, albeit the half of them being fishing boats. Born with the Christian name John, it is unsure why he took the name Bartholomew. Some say he adopted the name in reference to the legendary buccaneer Bartholomew Sharp, others say in order to hide his true identity.…

Often overshadowed by her fellow pirate Ann Bonny, Mary Read is still better-known than many pirates with more successful pirating careers. Read and Bonny stood out because it was unusual at the beginning of the 18th century for a woman to be part of a pirate crew. Pirates, like all seamen, generally frowned upon a woman’s presence aboard a ship. Not so much is really known about Read’s early life, the main source being her trial documents, newspaper articles, and Charles Johnson’s A General History of the Pyrates. According to Johnson, Read’s unnamed mother is said to have been married to a seaman, who went to sea and never returned. Her first child, a son, died, but she then gave birth to Mary out of wedlock. One theory is that Mary’s mother was Ann Cantrell, who is recorded as sending a letter to Adam Baldridge, a smuggler and ex-privateer on Madagascar, laying claim to some money that her husband, a pirate called John Read, who died on Madagascar some time prior to 1698, had entrusted to Baldridge.…

“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.…

Rackham’s true first name was John, Jack being a nickname for John, said to have originated from the Middle English variation of John, which was commonly pronounced as ‘Jankin’ or ‘Jackin’, over time being shortened to ‘Jack’. His surname is usually spelt Rackham, although other spellings appeared in sources of in a time before spelling was standardized, such as Rackam, Rackum, Racum, or even Racan. The nickname ‘Calico Jack’ first appeared in the 1728 edition of Charles Johnson’s A General History of the Pyrates. It has been claimed he was born in Bristol, England, in 1682, but there is no surviving evidence of this. He is often considered as having been one of the least successful pirates of the Golden Age, only having captured fourteen vessels over a short period, seven of which were fishing boats, one a canoe, the others small trading vessels, obtaing no more than £1400 in plunder.…