CHRIS > Recent Status Updates

Rogers's primary goal was to clear out the pirates in and around Nassu, where there were previous attempts to colonize it, but remained were an old fort and a lot of tents. This attempt had few successes by establishing a council, but failed again due to the climate and disease with the constant threats of pirate retaliation and Spanish warships. One of the pirates that left before Roger's arrival was Blackbeard.

Even through the public outcry, the British Royal Navy didn't really do anything to track down the pirates because they themselves were collecting a fortune by shipping companies to provide protection from the pirates. It was until a syndicate of English merchants petitioned the King to do clear out the Bahamas, he sent a captain named Woodes Rogers, an expert with lots of experience. I think that Rogers could do it.

The War of Spanish Succession began in 1701 by the death of Charles II, and most pirates worked with protection by nations to attack other merchant ships until 1714. By July 1716, most pirates had established themselves in the Bahamas and had created another place similar to Madagascar 20 years ago. They saw the Bahamas as valuable because they were easier to lurk and wait for ships to pass from the Gulf of Florida.

Kidd stayed in a place called Newgate for about a year until he was put through trial without the French Passes to be found for evidence. Although the piracy was a complicated issue, his murder was used to justify his hanging in Wapping, London. His body was chained outside a port in Tilbury Point to deter any future pirates.

Kidd looked to James Emmott for help, and thought that the french passes were enough evidence to prove his uncountability of piracy. Emmot handed handed the French Passes to Bellomount, who had orders to arrest Kidd under any circumstances. Kidd reached his family and gave away most of the treasures to friends as gifts and sailed to Boston to see Bellomount. But on July 2nd, the council placed an immediate arrest.

The English Authorities had decided to offer free pardons to any pirate except Kidd and Henry Every, this action made most of Kidd's crew willing to turn their captain in. Kidd still had the belief that his connections and his French passes were enough proof that he wasn't a pirate. He decided to complete the trip on a smaller sloop and 12 men who opted to join him back to New York.

After two years, he finally found a pirate named Robert Culliford when they were near Madagascar, but parts of Kidd's crew turned pirate and sacked the November and burned it in order to join Culliford. Kidd was forced to give up a large portion of his gold in order to leave alive. With the Qudah Merchant still floating, Kidd prepared and fitted the ship to sail back to England, but news of his piracy was out.

Kidd and his crew found and captured a Moorish ship called the "Maiden" that was headed for Surat and had a French Pass. He took the ship and renamed it "November', and with the two ships they aimed at smaller ships for things like coffee, rice, and gunpowder. On January 30, 1698, he took a large merchant ship called "The Quedah Merchant", that was commanded by an English Captain, at this point he broke the contract.

It was common for ships to carry and fly different flags when the problem called for it, and that's what happened with Kidd. He followed a fleet with his attention to a Moorish ship, but its escort the "Sceptre", an English East-Indian ship managed to chase Kidd away. From this point I'm still surprised how Kidd is still hopeful that they can still find a ship, and how the crew still hasn't overthrown their Captain.

Realizing that the whole venture had a vague goal, Kidd left the Thames River on December 1695 in the "Adventure Galley". One of the first problems that arose was an incident disrespecting the Navy, which later replaced Kidd's hand-picked crew for Navy rejects. A year passes, and the whole ship realized that they haven't been that successful and only were always having a low supply, most began to advocate for piracy.

William Kidd was born around 1645, and was a Captain of a merchant ship, until he got himself into a venture where he was to seize French ships and pirates in the Eastern Seas if possible. After being forced to agree in order to prove loyalty to the King, he signed the Articles of agreement in 1695. Kidd himself knew that this whole plan was too hopeful that he would capture infamous pirates like Captain Tew.

Another pirate captain named William Kid, had also been prevalent in and around the Indian Ocean aboard his ship named the "Adventure Galley". But after realizing that his brutality would be punished if he returned to America, he decided to sell the Adventure Galley and return in a smaller boat to avoid suspicion. He was tried in London and was publicly hanged on May 23, 1704 his body was left to serve as a warning.

The East India Company had placed a reward on the members of Every's crew, which added on to their pressure by the law. On the other hand, the once powerful and great Moguls, had been loosing influence after Aurangzeb had put a tax on India's Hindu Majority, which resulted in uprisings. And once he lost power to protect the ships to and from Mecca, they were soon attacked by pirates as they carried sums of treasure.

The East India Company had placed a reward on the members of Every's crew, which added on to their pressure by the law. On the other hand, the once powerful and great Moguls, had been loosing influence after Aurangzeb had put a tax on India's Hindu Majority, which resulted in uprisings. And once he lost power to protect the ships to and from Mecca, they were soon attacked by pirates as they carried sums of treasure.

Once the large fleet had all received their shares, Every and most of his crew members decided to settle down in different areas such as Ireland, London, and many other places. Only about 24 of Every's men were found to be pirates and were either hanged or became convict laborers in Virginia. Every's life afterwords was unknown, some say he lived as a pauper after a bad deal to sell off the treasure with extortion.

Every eventually became in command of a small fleet of around 25 ships, all headed for India. They eventually found a ship named the Gang-i-Sawai, and it was much bigger and carried 62 guns, and about 1000 people onboard. After Every took everything, they took about 325,000 pounds and some crew members to their party.

Henry Every came up with a plan to steal a Spanish ship that would be good for pirating called the Charles II, Every easily hijacked the ship began sailing it towards the Atlantic Ocean. Once Captain Gibson woke up to realize what was happening, Every gave him a choice to either join or leave on a smaller ship. Gibson chose to leave, and Every had a new ship and renamed it the "Fancy".

The book tries to go into the life of Henry Avery, who was already in his early forties when he became a pirate. He seemed to be born around 1653 near Plymouth England, and was known to be a slaver that was very deceitful with the slaves he bought along Africa's Guinea coast. This part made me think how attractive pirating was, despite it being pretty harsh and sometimes coming across no real fortunes.

Baldridge became very powerful and wealthy on Madagascar, and had an important and popular port for pirates, he was forced to move back to New York and died of age. Another entrepenur named John Plaintan, who rose to the same height 20 years later in the same area. I think that this whole period contributed to the interest to search for gold in the Americas, because people wanted to get wealthy.

Once everyone saw Tew's fortunes, the Red Sea became a desirable location to get rich. People such as Adam Baldridge made their living by creating an outpost in Madagascar where pirates could resupply and repair their ships with Adams protection against other ships. I could see how valuable this outpost was because it saved a lot of time and distance to resupply, and could mean that the pirates could sail for longer.

Captain Tew tried again to find another ship by November 1694, and found another Indian merchant ship in September 1965. Tew died when he was shot through the stomach attempting to board the ship, from this point forward, other pirates actually thought if it was worth death to steal from the weakening Moguls. I can see why the Moguls felt helpless against the pirates, they were losing wealth and power with every ship

After a few months, Captain Tew found and boarded a ship that belonged to the Great Mogul of India, and although the ship had 300 guards, Captain Tew took the ship and loot without losing a single pirate. He then sailed, without any problems, towards Madagascar to get supplies for the voyage to Newport. I think that this loot would be the biggest one of his life, and it would only go downhill from this point forward.

Some English pirates were commissioned to steal from the French ships as a way to pick apart the available resources. Captain Tew had bought a new ship called the Amity, and had a outlined plan to raid a small French outpost. Tew and his crew decided to instead, set sail towards the East for a more profitable voyage. I would like to believe that Captain Tew would somehow get in more trouble, but who would find out.

A Captain called Thomas Tew arrives in Newport after more than 15 months on the waters, the whole town he was in became hysterical. A lot of young men try to join his crew, and even try to sneak onboard in order to be part of Tew's next voyage. They also wanted a part of the wealth that he had gained after pillaging the coasts of Arabia and India in a 22,000 mile journey.

There was another event when two merchant ships were leaving from an island near Madagascar in 1720, before being spotted by two pirate ships. One of the merchant ships was able to escape, while the other after 3 hours were able to retreat onto the island. They later went back to negotiate with his life after they recognized him as one of their past captains, he leaves with one of their ships and some loot.

When pirates found a ship to take, most of the encounters were quick because they used the stories about their savageness to their advantage. But some merchant ships did fight back, with the case of the "Bauden" on October 26, 1686, where the crew of only 68 men held off a ship more than twice the size and 250 men. After two hours, they survived with 8 dead and 16 injured.

Most pirates, when joining had to swear to follow some rules that if broken, had the punishment of marooning or death. These rules described aspects such as loot distribution, behavior, and how much of each share every position should get. These were meant for the safety and welfare of a pirate ship in order to keep the crew efficient.

Onboard the pirate ships, there was a bit of democracy, where the majority can vote others for positions, and vote them off. The Quartermasters were the next most important man on the ship and was also chosen by the crew. His responsibilities included, deciding on whether or not to punish offenses, was the first aboard other ships, and distributing the loot.

Disease and Starvation were some of the greatest dangers on the ships while traveling, as they couldn't easily restock at any nearby port. A large part of a regular crew would die from either the lack of food, the diseases that ran rampant aboard the ships, or the wounds inflicted on the body. These took up some of their time, but they also had lots of time and did things such as reading and making pretend courts.

The Captain lived to make one of the few records of pirates that gave insight into how these people acted. It's explained that piracy has been present for about since trading began to grow. It describes the miserable living and quality of life conditions during the 17th century that made piracy an appealing way where most people made more than if they continued working.