Calico Jack

John Rackham ( December 26th 1682 – November 18th 1720) was an English pirate who, as I mentioned last week first became known as a pirate as the quartermaster aboard Captain Vane's ship, the Ranger. He is remembered best as Calico Jack, a name he got from wearing calico fabric clothing, a coarse, gauze-like material. He is also remembered for his Jolly Roger design, Death's head and crossed sabres, as well as having two female crew members, Mary Read and Anne Bonny. As I mentioned last week, Rackham deposed Vane as captain of his own ship for his refusal to attack a heavily-armed French Man O' War. Rackham named him a coward and Vane and those loyal to him were put aboard a smaller ship in their inventory to form their own smaller crew.

Rackham's Jolly Roger

Rackham assumed command on the 24th of November 1718. They roved the Caribbean sea for some time then, before taking Christmas ashore. After they resumed roving, they came across no substantial prizes for more than two months. They did capture a ship laden with convicts heading for the plantations, but this was recaptured by the English within a few days. They then took two ships, one from Carolina, one from New England, and retreated to the Bahamas to clean and refit the ship with the stores they had captured. However, Woodes Rogers, who was by now governor of Providence, sent out a well-armed sloop to take the pirates. The sloop succeeded in recovering the two taken ships, but Rackham and his crew escaped. From there they laid low in Cuba for a time, until their money had run out, and once again returned to roving.

Rackham and his men were refitting their small sloop, Vane's old ship the Ranger, when a Spanish coastguard warship entered the harbour, along with a small English sloop they had captured. The Spanish warship saw the pirates but could not get at them at low tide, so they parked in the harbour entrance to wait for morning. Rackham saw the warship too, and he and his men rowed over to the captured English sloop and overpowered the Spanish guards there. As dawn broke, the warship began blasting the Ranger, now empty, as Rackham and his men silently sailed past in their new prize. From there Rackham and his men made their way back to Nassau, where they appeared before Governor Rogers and asked to accept the royal pardon, claiming that Vane had forced them to become pirates. Rogers, who hated Vane, believed them and allowed them to accept the pardon and stay. Their time as honest men would not last long. While in port, Rackham began an affair with Anne Bonny, wife of sailor James Bonny, who was employed by Woodes Rogers. After finding out about the relationship, James Bonny brought Anne to Governor Rogers, who ordered her whipped on charges of adultery. Rackham offered to buy Anne in a "divorce by purchase," but she refused to be sold like an animal. Instead, they escaped to sea together, with a new crew, possibly including remnants of Rackham's old crew, voiding their pardons, and stealing a sloop belonging to John Ham. Rackham's crew continued to rove successfully for a time, until the 20th of October 1720, when upon taking a sloop in Discovery Bay, intelligence reached the governor of their presence, and so he sent one Captain Barnet to apprehend Rackham and his men. Rackham was caught unawares when he was treating with another crew, and he and his men were arrested and taken to Port Royal, Jamaica. Rackham was hanged on the 18th of November, 1720.

Charles Vane

Charles Vane (c.1680 – March 29, 1721) was one of the notorious pirate captains of the New Providence Pirate Republic, an alliance of pirates that for a time dominated the waters of the Caribbean. His piratical gains in today's currency would exceed £1.5 million. Like most pirates of note, Vane was vicious and cruel, showed little respect for the pirate code and cheated his crew on multiple occasions, and killed hostages after promising mercy.
Nothing is known of Vane's early life, but he began his pirate career serving under Captain Henry Jennings. At the end of July 1715, a Spanish treasure ship was wrecked by a hurricane off Florida, and as the survivors attempted to salvage the cargo, Jennings raided the wreck site, making off with some £87,000 in gold and silver.
Vane was not long a captain of his own when Woodes Rogers and his fleet descended on the Caribbean to put an end to piracy. Outnumbered and out-gunned, the majority of the pirates in New Providence, including Captain Jennings, surrendered and accepted the promised royal pardon for their crimes. Vane had other ideas, and in July 1718, as the Royal Navy's Men O' War descended on New Providence to negotiate a surrender, Vane and a crew of like-minded buccaneers who refused the pardon, filled a recently captured French vessel with gunpowder and set it alight, on course for the incoming royal Men O' War. In the confusion, Vane and his crew made their escape on a sloop called the Lark, alongside Blackbeard and his Queen Anne's Revenge, proudly flying piratical colours and firing on the English ships as they fled.
Two days later, Vane captured a Barbadian sloop, and fitted it with 25 hands, commanded by one Mr Yeats. The next day, Vane captured another sloop called the John and Elizabeth laden with pieces of eight. Now armed with three ships and considerable loot, Vane and his men retired to a small uncharted island which they claimed as a base.
From there Vane began several months of successful roving, trading up to a larger sloop called the Ranger, and became one of the most dangerous pirates of the day, collecting a number more ships to add to his fleet. However he neither respected nor trusted his consort Mr Yeats. Vane had hoped to prevent his underling from taking the pardon by fitting his crew with a significant number of ex slaves, for whom the pardon would mean re-enslavement. However, one evening Yeats and his crew made a break for it, and made sail away from Vane's hideout. Vane gave chase in his own ship and fired on them, but to no avail. Yeats and his crew accepted the pardon, the black pirates were returned as slaves to the owner from whom they had originally escaped.

An early 18th Century engraving of Vane

After a time of searching for Yeats, Vane retreated to the Cape Fear river in North Carolina to clean his ships. The governor of South Carolina ordered one Colonel Rhet to take two well armed sloops up to the Cape Fear river in search of pirates. However, upon beginning his voyage, Rhet met with a ship that had been plundered by Vane not long since, one sailor aboard informed the colonel that he thought he had heard one of the pirates say they should clean ships in one of the southern rivers. So Rhet altered his course southward in search of Vane, thereby missing him.Vane meanwhile had met with Blackbeard on Ocracoke Island (where the latter would meet his end later that year) and tried to convince him to join a mounted attack to retake Nassau from the English. Blackbeard refused, having too much to lose.

Deposed

Lacking the firepower to take Nassau alone, Vane returned to roving, and in November 1718, came upon a French Man O' War. Vane felt the ship was too dangerous to attack, and wished to avoid engaging her. However Vane's quartermaster, Jack Rackham, felt the French ship was laden and slow, and would prove easy to take. Vane and his first mate, Robert Deal, along with fifteen or so others, were outnumbered by Rackham and the rest of the crew, however the pirate code allowed a captain to make all decisions regarding fighting, chasing, or being chased, and so the French ship was left unmolested. However, the next day Vane was obliged to stand to a vote, and Rackham called out Vane as a coward, and usurped him as captain of his Ranger. Vane, and all those who had voted with him, were put aboard one of the smaller of the pirate company's ships, with sufficient supplies and ammunition.
Undeterred, Vane continued roving, within three days taking a sloop off Jamaica, and making his loyal mate Robert Deal captain of her. On the 16th of December 1718, Vane and Deal took a third ship, the Pearl, and carried her to a small island called Bonacca, where they made their hideout. In February 1719, Vane's ship was hit by a tornado and he was wrecked on an uninhabited island near Honduras. Most of his men drowned, but Vane himself survived, living on fish for several weeks. Deal's ship survived, and continued to rove for a short time, until Deal and his crew were taken by one of Rogers' Men O' War.
Eventually a ship pulled into the island Vane was castaway upon. The ship's master, one Captain Holford,  was a former pirate and acquaintance of Vane's, however Holford refused to rescue Vane, saying he did not trust him, fearing he would lead his own men against him. So Holford left Vane stranded, and claimed that he would return in one month, and if he found Vane still upon the island he would take him prisoner to Jamaica to be hanged. Fortunately for Vane, he found rescue on a second passing ship some time later, claiming to be another man. However, Vane's luck ended when the ship he was aboard met with Holford's ship, and in coming aboard, Holford happened to cast his eye down into the hold and recognised Vane, and outed him to his new captain. Vane was then arrested, taken to Jamaica and imprisoned. He was hanged on the 29th of March, 1721. 

Captain Martel

Ahoy mateys! This week I am writing about a rather unknown pirate captain, John Martel of Jamaica, but nevertheless had gains in excess of $1.5 million US in a present value adjustment. Like most carribbean pirates, Martel started out as a privateer in a war against the Spanish, but at the conclusion of the war, turned to piracy.
At the start of his pirate career, Martel commanded a pirate sloop of eight guns and 80 men, and his first recorded act of piracy was in September 1716, when he attacked the galley Berkley, robbing a Captain Saunders of £1000 in cash, and afterwards raided another sloop by the name of King Solomon, from which he took an indeterminate but valuable amount of money, provisions and goods.

Martel's flag

Martel eventually captured a galley called the John and Martha from a Captain Wilson, and took the ship as an upgrade. The new ship had 20 guns, as opposed to Martel's original eight, and had cargo of logwood and sugar that Martel carried to market. Martel marooned most of the original crew of the John and Martha but detained a few to bolster his crew. Martel now had a galley of 22 guns, 100 men, and left 25 hands aboard his old sloop. Thus armed, Martel began a lucrative pirate career, plundering ships across the Caribbean and the east coast of America, including fellow pirate vessels, taking everything from gold dust, to slaves, to ivory.
By 1717, Martel had a small flotilla comprised of two ships with 20 guns, a sloop of eight, a sloop of four and one sloop unarmed. He made a base for himself on the tiny island of St. Croix, and mounted guns at the mouth of the inlet as defence. Martel was known for his cruelty even by his own men, who reported that he killed the entire crew of a merchant vessel he captured for no reason.

Captain Hume

Martel's eventual downfall would come in the form of Captain Hume of Barbados, commander of the HMS Scarborough, who was hunting two pirate sloops that molested the colonies. The Scarborough was fitted with 30 guns and 140 men, but battle and illness had thinned Hume's ranks to just 80, and was therefore in an ill state to go to sea, however Hume left his sick men behind and recruited more from the other islands, taking on soldiers from Antigua, Nevis, and St. Christopher's. Hume set out in search of the sloops, but to no avail, and returned to Barbados. By chance, that night a boat had anchored there from St. Croix, and Hume received information about a pirate ship of 22 or 24 guns with other vessels in tow going into the Northwest part of the island.
The Scarborough weighed immediately, and by next morning of the 17th of January 1717, came in sight of Martel and his crew. The larger ship was unable to continue due to the shallow water of the inlet and the fact that it was guarded by an armed sloop. So Hume exchanged fire with the coast for several hours. Eventually he came to anchor alongside the reef, and at about 4 in the afternoon, managed to sink the sloop that had been guarding the inlet. For three more days the Scarborough laid siege to the island, until Martel made a break for it, but his ship ran aground and Hume quickly caught up to him. In a panic, Martel and his crew abandoned ship, and set her alight with 20 slaves burned alive in the hold. 19 of Martel's crew escaped on a second sloop, but Martel and the rest took to the woods of the island, and were never seen again, presumably dying of starvation on the island.

The Caribbean

Without a doubt the most famous area for piracy has been The Caribbean, and this week I cover the rise and fall of the Caribbean pirates.

Piracy began in the Carribbean during the Anglo-Spanish War of the mid 17th Century, and privateers were enlisted by both sides to raid enemy ships and settlements. However at the conclusion of the war, with Spain and England technically at peace, a lot of privateers were put out of work, and either turned to piracy or were tempted by the French governors to lend their services to the French crown. Therefore, keeping English sailors in the Restoration inactive meant losing them to France, and so blind eyes were turned to various raids against the Spanish. One pirate captain who took advantage of this situation was Henry Morgan, who in 1668 launched several attacks on Spanish dominion without official condemnation. The English crown refused to condemn him, as he was helping to fill the pockets of many beached English adventurers throughout the West Indies, and averted the danger of them going over to France.
However in 1670, the Spanish officially recognised English dominion of Jamaica, and English ships were given free movement of the Caribbean. This led to a heavy decline in the number of illegal attacks, not just from the external politics of the European crowns, but also the domestic needs of the islanders. Sugar plantation owners, who had previously been accomplices in many illegal raids, now sought only peace and security, and feared reprisals for their part in the raids on neighbouring Spanish territories. Therefore, to distance themselves from the pirates with whom they had had dealings, they openly denounced these former watchmen of their coasts and violent defenders of English interests, and the pirates became personae non gratae in the West Indies. Another factor in the decision of the plantation owners to sever ties with the pirates may have been their continued disruption of the Spanish merchant vessels, who were now peaceful trading partners seeking English sugar.
Between pressure from the European crowns and being shunned by the plantations, piracy in the Carribbean declined and pirates shifted to easier areas of plunder. English and French buccaneers under the captains Coxon, Sharp and Cook discovered a convenient overland trail through the Isthmus to the South Pacific, and plundered enormous wealth from the undefended cities of the Pacific coast, and the English campaign in that area was the most famous and well documented voyage of the age. 
Piracy declined sharply in the new world in 1701, when the War of the Spanish Succession were declared, and the mobs of unemployed seamen found work in the naval and privateering services of their respective countries, and England offered a mass pardon for all pirates who agreed to participate in the war. During these years these enemies of all civilised people became privateering patriots, and piracy all but disappeared from the seas. When the Treaty of Utrecht was signed in 1713, the fleets were dispersed, and seamen were once again out of work. However, following this peace, the newly unemployed sailors found themselves bolstered by new armaments, larger Men-O'-War and changes in naval strategy, and these factors led to the greatest decade of pirate activity in modern history. With the peace between the European powers breeding much commerce and prosperity, the pirates of the Caribbean found easy plunder among the slow, poorly defended merchant vessels. In addition, the governors of the islands, through necessity as much as greed, continued to be casual over the commission and allegiance with captains of questionable character. Pirate ships remained largely unchallenged in the Caribbean, as naval captains were reluctant to attack well-armed and fiercely defended pirate vessels when there was no guarantee of capturing a treasure-laden prize that would justify the risk posed by attacking them.

The pirate fleets grew strong enough to rival the European powers, and pirate havens sprang up across the West Indies, a The most famous of the pirate havens was Nassau, a town that between 1703 and 1718, had no official governor and was not occupied by any European force, making in a main place for pirates operating in the area. The Governor of Bermuda stated that there were over 1000 pirates in Nassau and that they outnumbered the mere hundred inhabitants of the town. The pirates proclaimed Nassau a pirate republic, arguably the first modern democracy, and established themselves as "governors." By April 1718, Captain Woodes Rogers was dispatched from England with the sole purpose of ridding the Caribbean of pirates for good, and although general pardons were offered to pirates who peacefully surrendered, and bounties offered to those bringing them to justice, piracy continued to be so rife in the area that it all but paralysed trade in the West Indies. The English fleet eventually coaxed the pirates into submission, and with the symbolic death of the deadliest pirate of the day, Bartholomew Roberts, in 1722, the Golden Age of Piracy came to a close. Other examples of pirates that used Nassau as their base are Charles Vane, Thomas Barrow, Benjamin Hornigold, "Calico" Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and the infamous Blackbeard. I will write articles about all of them separately in following weeks.

Hope you enjoyed this week's instalment folks, come back next Wednesday for an article about Madagascan pirates - Captain