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.…
Tag: famous pirates
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.…
Thomas Tew
Thomas Tew was one of the most well-known Red Sea pirates active in the 1690s. It is thought he was born in 1649, but it is unsure exactly where. Suggestions include Rhode Island in the American colonies and Northamptonshire in England, although evidence seems to be lacking for the latter. Whether from Rhode Island or not, it is believed Tew had family in Rhode island. He was thought to have been married with two daughters, one of whom was named Amity, living in Newport, Rhode Island. He is best known, along with other infamous pirates such as Henry Avery and William Kidd, for sailing the Pirate Round, a sailing route followed by certain pirates during the late 17th century leading from the western Atlantic, running parallel to the Cape Route around the southern tip of Africa until Madagascar. From there one could reach targets in the Red Sea and India.…
François l’Olonnais
Francois l’Olonnais was renowned for being particularly cruel and was especially feared by the Spanish colonists. Very little is know about his early life. It is known that his real name was Jean-David Nau and that he later became known as Francois l’Olonnais, meaning Frenchman from Sables-d’Olonne, referring the place he was born in sometime between 1630 and 1635. It is thought he received this name while on Tortuga. He was also sometimes simply known as Captain Francois. His family were so poor they sold him or he sold himself as an indentured servant to the French West India Company when he was fifteen. At first, he was sent to work on a sugar plantation in the French colony of Martinique in the Caribbean in the 1650s, sometime later ending up on Tortuga, off the coast of Hispaniola. While serving his three-year indenture, he got to know many buccaneers. What we know of this infamous pirate captain comes mostly from Alexandre Exquemelin’s 1678 account in the Dutch version The History of the Buccaneers of America.…