by Craig Cabell
Blackbeard: pictured with a rifle while standing on board a ship, by Edward Eggleston (1895).
Blackbeard boards Maynard’s ship. By Edward Eggleston, 1904, ‘Laws, Punishments, Bond Servants, Slaves, Pirates’ in The New Century History of the United States (Dr Eggleston’s School Histories, American Book Company).
Smoke and flame surround Blackbeard. This was an oil painting on canvas originally commissioned for Paine’s serialised work Blackbeard, Buccaneer by Ralph Delahaye, 1922.
Blackbeard’s head hanging from the bowsprit of the Jane.
Blackbeard and Lieutenant Maynard battle it out on the bloody deck of the Jane.
Engraving of Blackbeard (Edward Thatch) originally published in the Dutch version of Charles Johnson’s A General History of the Most Notorious Pyrates (1725).
Blackbeard’s last fight. This was originally published in Pyle and Howard’s Jack Ballister’s Fortunes (Century Company, 1894). The oil painting was sold in 1895 under the title Blackbeard’s Last Fight, and is currently in the Delaware Art Museum’s collection.
This engraving of Blackbeard was originally published around 1736 in Daniel Defoe and Charles Johnson’s ‘Capt. Teach alias Black-Beard’ in A General History of the Lives and Adventures of the Most Famous Highwaymen, Murderers, Street-Robbers, &c. to which is added, a genuine account of the voyages and plunders of the most notorious pyrates. Interspersed with several diverting tales, and pleasant songs. And adorned with the Heads of the most remarkable Villains, curiously engraved on Copper (some sources give 1726 as the publication date).
Portrait of Alexander Spotswood, oil on canvas by Charles Bridges (1735 – 45) currently hanging in the Governor ’s Palace, Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. The painter made two copies of the work in 1736. One, hanging in the Governor ’s mansion at Richmond in 1952, was presented by Philip A. Spotswood to the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1874. Another, from which this image is taken, was sold to Colonial Williamsburg Incorporated by I. N. (Louisa Beverley Turner) Jones.
Blackbeard and some of his crew bury treasure. Originally published in ‘Buccaneers and Marooners of the Spanish Main’ by Howard Pyle in Harper’s Magazine (August – September 1887); taken from Howard Pyle and Merle De Vore Johnson (ed.), Howard Pyle’s Book of Pirates: Fiction, Fact & Fancy Concerning the Buccaneers & Marooners of the Spanish Main (1921).
The Old Capitol Building in Williamsburg, Virginia. The flag is incorrect as the red saltire wasn’t added to the Union Jack until 1801 after the USA had achieved independence from Britain (National Register of Historic Places in the USA, 66000925).
This photograph, taken by noted photographer and journalist Frances Benjamin Johnston, shows the chamber of the House of Burgesses in the Capitol Building at Williamsburg, Virginia (Library of Congress).
The Courthouse in Williamsburg. Photograph by D.H. Anderson (New York Public Library).
J.B. Homann’s map of Virginia circa 1715, covering New York City down the Atlantic coast as far as modern-day Georgia. Homann drew this map in response to Virginia Lieutenant-Governor Alexander Spotswood’s plan to settle the interior of Virginia with German immigrants. Though Homann’s remarkable representation of Spotswood’s plan is extraordinarily up-to-date considering that Fort Christanna was founded in the same year that this map was initially published, the remainder of the map embraces a number of common misconceptions and cartographic inaccuracies common to the region.
The hanging of Stede Bonnet. This engraving was originally published in Johnson’s A General History of Pyrates (1725).
Colonel Rhett capturing Stede Bonnet. Originally published in ‘Colonies and Nation’ by Woodrow Wilson in Harper’s Magazine (1901). Sourced from Howard Pyle and Merle De Vore Johnson (ed.), ‘Blueskin, the Pirate’, Howard Pyle’s Book of Pirates: Fiction, Fact & Fancy Concerning the Buccaneers & Marooners of the Spanish Main (1921).
An old postcard image of the Bruton Parish Church.
Chapter 11
Pardon
This Vaine had the impudence to send me word
that he designs to burn my guard ship and visit me very soon ... 159
Governor Woodes Rogers, 31 October 1718
When Woodes Rogers took up his position as Governor of New Providence (Bahamas today) he was faced with turning a lawless pirate haven into a legal, civilised colony of the British Empire. His appointment had been proposed on 21 November 1717 and the Council of Trade and Plantations approved his Commission a few months afterwards.160
Originally founded in 1629, Nassau was an English settlement161 that was destroyed by the Spanish and then rebuilt as New Providence and the capital renamed Nassau in 1695 to honour the King of England at the time – William III, of the House of Orange-Nassau. As the town became a haven for pirates, most of the activity revolved around the bustling port where merchants and locals mixed with pirates and prostitutes. It was a town filled with taverns that were frequented by cut-throats of all sorts.
New Providence was largely overgrown with woodlands and had some natural resources. The soil was fertile for farming and Rogers knew that industrial growth could take place here. First, though, he had to bring law, order and justice to the island and build fortifications strong enough to repel the Spanish. He considered the local population to be lazy but they were all he had to work with upon his arrival. Disease was rife and the place stank from rotting hides that were lying on the shore in the harbour.162
While Spain’s influence in the area was diminishing, the threat of war was still an ever-present danger. This part of the Caribbean had old extensive trade routes that were very lucrative. Gold, silver, gems, sugar and cocoa were just some of the goods that filled the holds of merchant ships plying these waters.163 New Providence was at the heart of these trade routes which had once been the exclusive domain of the Spanish but now were crowded with other European ships as well as the Spanish and, of course, pirates.
On 26 July 1718 Rogers arrived in Nassau on board the Delicia commanded by Captain Gale and accompanied by Royal Navy warships, HMS Rose and HMS Milford. Most of the pirates and inhabitants were cowed and impressed by the small powerful fleet arriving in the harbour. All except one man, who decided to create a special welcome for the new governor.
Notorious pirate Charles Vane, captain of a sloop with twenty guns, had captured a French ship a few days before and brought it into Nassau to be plundered. However, he decided to turn it into a fireship. HMS Rose entered the harbour ahead of the other ships and found this burning fireship moving steadily towards them. The crew of the Royal Navy vessel acted quickly, managing to turn their vessel about and heading back out of the harbour, thus avoiding a catastrophe by fire.
Once the danger had passed, the fleet entered the harbour and Vane fled, raising his sails, and hauling up his anchor he sailed away through the eastern passage; a small, narrow channel at the other end of the harbour that led out to the open sea. Firing his guns in defiance, Vane left as quickly as he could and Rogers quickly dispatched vessels to chase after the pirate but they returned with nothing. Vane had at the time around ninety men under his command.164
Why is this information so important in the hunt for Blackbeard? Remember that New Providence had been Blackbeard’s base of operations. He’d been mentored by the man then considered the king of the pirates – Benjamin Hornigold. That’s one reason, but perhaps the most important is that with Rogers’ arrival Blackbeard was forced to flee and so he sailed north to get as far away from Rogers as he could and this would bring him ultimately within striking distance of Spotswood.165
New Providence had been the pirate kingdom without the kind of civilised law and justice that other colonies and territories enjoyed. The law, if there was any at all, was pirate law. It was only really the arrival of Rogers that offered security and order for the merchants and traders on the island.166
Life had been prosperous for the pirates. They’d set up a society of sorts where men could make something of themselves within this pirat
e community. For example, a pirate captain and his crew would capture a vessel and keep it. One of the crew would display some leadership qualities and rise above the rest and be given a captured prize by a more established captain, such as Hornigold did with Blackbeard. The new captain would fit his ship, pick his crew and set sail. The process would be repeated by the new crew. More vessels would be captured, more captains developed and crews chosen and so it went on. At its height there were around 2,000 pirates operating in the area.167
William Moudy was one such pirate. He commanded the Rising Sun, a mighty 36-gun ship and had a little fleet comprising a brigantine commanded by Richard Frowd and a sloop with a total combined crew of around 190 men.
His area of operations was around the Bay of Carolina, St Thomas and Antigua. Moudy was known for taking hostages and he would send some of them ashore or onto another vessel to demand a ransom for the release of the remaining hostages and to demand the cargoes of the ships he captured or anchored in the various harbours he attacked. He and his crew had no qualms about abusing their prisoners.168
One of the more successful pirates operating in the region was Edward England; an Irishman who some sources claim commanded a 12-gun brigantine with a crew of about ninety, along with another sloop also under his command. Other sources claim he had a crew of 180 and had a ship of twenty-six guns. He was a prolific pirate and had a reputation for beating information out of his victims about where valuable cargo was or where any jewels, money, gold and other treasures might be hidden on board. On one occasion, he threatened to throw a captain overboard, weighted down with a double-headed shot around his neck. Like Hornigold, Blackbeard and Vane, England operated out of New Providence until the new governor, Woodes Rogers arrived, and then he fled to Madagascar where he ended his days penniless.169
The task facing Rogers was daunting. London expected him to transform the haven of piracy into a law-abiding prosperous colony. He had to ensure that his reforms were permanent; that there would be no slippage back into the lawless ways of the pirates. The first step was to find out who were the leading and most influential local people – the key merchants, plantation-owners and even those who were trading with the pirates. In short, he needed to know who he could trust of the more prominent local inhabitants. Once he’d confirmed who these people were through interviews and so on, he set up a council that consisted of people who had come with him on the voyage from England and of local merchants and plantation-owners whose dealings with pirates were relatively small. These were Nathaniel Taylor, Richard Thompson, Edward Holmes, Thomas Barnard, Thomas Spencer and Samuel Watkins who were joined on the council by those men who had sailed with Rogers – Robert Beauchamp, William Salter, William Fairfax, William Walker, Wingate Gale and George Hooper. Rogers would later appoint Beauchamp as First Lieutenant and Secretary General making him effectively his deputy. Sadly Salter and Watkins died shortly after they were appointed to the council and they were replaced by Christopher Gale and Thomas Walker. Christopher Gale was a recruit from North Carolina, where he had served for thirteen years as Chief Justice and he assumed the same post on his arrival in Nassau.170
Now that he had a new council, Rogers needed to rebuild the defences which were in a poor state. Facing the problem of piracy there was also the threat of war which was never far away:
If H.M. would please to contribute towards the fortifications necessary to be erected in two more places in the harbour of Nassau when I have workmen here, the charge would be much less than at any other place in the West Indies, and I presume not of less consequence.171
Defending the Bahamas was vitally important if it was to become a thriving prosperous colony. Rogers knew this. Reports of attacks on English shipping and settlements by the Spanish were coming in. Spanish ships had seized Thomas Bowling’s vessel out of Nassau along with his crew while they were on a trading voyage. The Spanish took Bowling first to Andros Island to help them capture English loggers but as this didn’t produce results they forced him into spying for them to gather intelligence on the defences at New Providence. When the Spanish did finally release Bowling and his crew, they claimed they believed Bowling and his men were pirates.172
Ships arriving in Nassau harbour reported further attacks taking place by the Spanish. On 19 July 1718, four English sloops were anchored in a lagoon exploring and plundering some wrecks off the coast of Florida when four Spanish vessels appeared. The English captains, fearing the approaching vessels might be pirates, opened fire. In the meantime, the Spanish landed around 130 men on the north side of the lagoon. The fire continued. One Spanish ship sailed into the mouth of the harbour and began firing its cannon at the English ships. Neither side gave way and both sides took heavy casualties until an uneasy truce was negotiated that enabled both sides to work on the wrecks, but the Spanish broke the truce first by capturing the English and taking them prisoner. However, during a period of bad weather the English prisoners managed to escape and reported their experiences to the British authorities.173 Perhaps more worrying for Rogers was the arrival of a new Spanish governor in Havana:
A new Governor was lately arrived at the Havana from Spain, with orders to destroy all the English settlements on the Bahama Island: and that they had provided for that purpose, one ship of 50 guns and 700 men, another of 26 guns and 300 men, and three row galleys full of men, with instructions in case of surrender, to transport the people and their effects to Carolina, Virginia, or some other of the Northern Governments, but in case of resistance, to send them to the Havana, for Old Spain.174
The new governor was interested in taking as many English possessions and territories as he could. The Spanish took the English sloop Elizabeth and Mary and then on 26 July 1718 they invaded Catt Island where they managed to capture six women and several children. The men had fled.
We can see that Rogers had a lot to contend with, in addition to putting down piracy. With the rumours of war, the building tension between the Spanish and the English and the re-establishment of law and order and government perhaps Blackbeard felt it was time to leave, that it might be too dangerous to stay, even for him. He likely knew that the seas around the Bahamas would soon be filled with warships from both sides which would make plundering vessels extremely hazardous for a pirate. So he decided to sail north, which for a little while was a lucrative and wise decision.
Governors such as Rogers and Spotswood had limited methods available to them for putting down piracy. One was to send warships to hunt them down but another and certainly more successful was to get the pirates to turn themselves in and begin hunting those pirates who remained at large. Royal Navy warships were scarce and would become even more overstretched as they prepared for war with Spain so the second option was far more preferable – the King’s Pardon.
The King – George I – issued a proclamation that effectively pardoned the pirates of their crimes providing they surrendered to the appropriate authorities (the governors) by 5 September 1718. With the words ‘every such Pyrate and Pyrates so surrendering him, or themselves, shall have our gracious Pardon’, the King had set in motion something that would achieve far more than any pirate-hunter or naval expedition could ever match.175
A Royal Pardon meant that in the eyes of the law the pirates were officially forgiven for their actions and they now had the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start again in a new respectable life. It was hoped that the amount of ex-pirates and pirate-hunters would eventually outnumber the amount of pirates that remained on the wrong side of the law, and so decrease the number of pirates to such a degree that the limited resources available could be better used and directed against those that were left:
And we do hereby strictly charge and command all our Admirals, Captains and other officers at Sea, and all other Governors and Commanders of any Forts, Castles or other places in our Plantations, and all other Officers Civil and Military, to seize and take such of the Pyrates who shall refuse or neglect to surrender themselves accordingly.176
Of course, if some of those pirates who accepted the pardon became pirate-hunters themselves, helping to track down the remaining villains, then so much the better. The plan worked. Many pirates took the pardon and lived by selling the goods they’d plundered while they’d been pirates.177
Benjamin Hornigold was one of the pirates who accepted the pardon from Woodes Rogers shortly after the latter’s arrival. Because Hornigold was such an influential pirate, many others including Henry Jennings accepted the pardon as well as turning their backs on piracy. While Jennings lived a quiet retirement, Hornigold turned pirate-hunter, and Rogers sent him out to get Charles Vane, the man who had so dramatically escaped from New Providence on the day of the new governor’s arrival.
On 1 September 1718, three men from Vane’s crew appeared in a boat off the coast of Cuba where they’d arranged to meet their captain. Hearing of this, Rogers realised he had an opportunity to get Charles Vane so he dispatched a vessel, commanded by Captain Whitney, to investigate. He then discovered that Vane had three vessels (two ships and a brigantine) moored at Green Turtle Key near Abacoa. However, with every day passing and Rogers hearing no word he worried that Hornigold might have turned back to piracy which would only add to the new governor’s problems. His fears proved to be unfounded, as Hornigold eventually returned with a sloop that had been registered in the Bahamas as a turtle-fisher but had instead been trading with Vane.178 Vane, however, had eluded him.