Captain England

Edward Seegar was born in Ireland around 1685. He changed his name to England when he took up piracy. Like many pirates, he originally served as a privateer in the Royal Navy during the War of the Spanish Succession, but was captured by a pirate captain Christopher Winter and pressed into joining the crew. Defoe describes England as a man of reason, who should have known better than to turn pirate, perhaps indicating that he was educated. Defoe also describes England as good-natured, courageous, not avaricious and averse to the ill-treatment of captives.
England, along with Charles Vane, took part in Captain Jennings' assault on the Spanish salvage ship at Palma de Ayz, Florida, where they escaped with £87,000 of gold and silver. By March 1718, England was Vane's quartermaster, a position that would later be given to Calico Jack (to Vane's eventual detriment) after Vane granted England captaincy of his own ship, one of Vane's captured sloops, in the summer of 1718. Captain England's Jolly Roger is the best remembered pirate flag in history, the death's head and crossed humerus. 

England's Jolly Roger

England was clever, but did not wish to take the king's pardon. So with the Royal Navy bearing down on the Caribbean, he sailed for the coast of Africa. En route to Africa, England seized a number of ships, notably a ship called the Cadogan, a ship captained by a man called Skinner, who some of England's crew knew, and had served under before. Skinner had failed to pay the men any wages, and so when he came aboard, Skinner was met by his old Boatswain, who said, ″Ah! Captain Skinner! Is it you? The only man I wished to see. I am much in your debt, and now I shall pay you in your own coin.″ The men immediately seized Captain Skinner, bound him to the windlass and pelted him with glass bottles. Then they whipped him about the deck until they were bored. Afterwards they said, because he had been a good Master he should have an easy death, and so out of mercy, shot him through the head.It was aboard the Cadogan that Howell Davis was mate. Being a likeable man, he gained favour with England, who, after having his pick of prizes from the ship, granted him captaincy of the Cadogan, from where he would start his own notable pirate career.
It was then that England upgraded to his best remembered ship. He seized a vessel called the Pearl, from a Captain Tyzard, which he renamed the Royal James. In the spring of 1719, the rovers returned to Africa, and entered into a very prosperous period of piracy, taking 10 ships in a single voyage and recruiting over 50 sailors from their collective crews.

England and his crew settled in an unspecified African town for a time, but after some friction with the natives, fighting broke out and the town was put to the torch. Afterwards, they put to a vote where they should head next, and elected for India. They shaped their course accordingly and sailed for Madagascar, in search of the legendary pirate Henry Every, who's crew they had heard to be settled on the island. They did not find Every's crew, who were settled on the other side of the island, and so continued on to India. By 1720, England had reached the Indian Ocean, where he met with fellow pirate Captain Oliver la Buse. England captured a thirty-four gun Dutch ship, which he named Fancy in honour of Henry Every, and he made the Fancy his new flagship. 

Battle with the Cassandra

Once in the Indian Ocean, England attacked an East India Company ship called the Cassandra, captained by James Macrae, which resulted in a protracted, deadly battle, in which both ships ran aground. Macrae and his surviving men escaped onto land, where they hid for 10 days, England laying siege to them, holding the beached Cassandra to ransom. Finally, Macrae surrendered. The value of the Cassandra's cargo was estimated at £75,000. England, being notable for his kindness, spared Macrae's life, and gave him the heavily damaged Fancy in exchange for the Cassandra. England lost 90 men capturing the Cassandra, and John Taylor, England's Quartermaster and captain of England's ship, the Victory, had strongly objected to sparing Macrae. At this point, an unknown member of the crew appeared, 'a fellow with a terrible pair of whiskers, and a wooden leg, being suck round with pistols, swearing and vapouring upon the Quarter-Deck, and asks, in a damning manner, which was Captain Macrae'. Macrae believed that this man was to be his executioner, but when he came near him, he took him by the hand, swearing damn him he was glad to see him, and said "and show me the man that offers to hurt Captain Macrae, for I'll stand by him', and so with many oaths told Taylor he was an honest fellow, and that they had formerly sailed together. This put an end to the dispute and Taylor went to bed. England advised Macrae to begone before Taylor awoke, lest his generosity leave him overnight.

A short time later, England and his crew heard a false rumour that Macrae was organising a fleet to take back the Cassandra. Enraged, like Calico Jack before him, Taylor deposed his captain and seized his ships, marooning England on Mauritius with three others, including the one-legged man who had defended Macrae. England survived for a while on the charity of other pirates, possibly some of Henry Every's old crew. He died in 1721, from ″severe strings of his conscience″ according to the unreliable account of a sailor named Downing, either from disease or suicide.