The Real Pirates of the Caribbean
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It's January the 30th, 1698. A few miles off the west coast of India, Captain William Kidd stands alone on the top deck of his ship, the Adventure Galley. Its three vast sails are stretched wide across its creaking wooden masts and rows of identical cannons protrude from its sides. Kidd is a British privateer, commissioned by the King to patrol these waters and attack enemy vessels, be they French, Spanish, or Dutch.

But his job isn't easy, and today Kidd senses mutiny among his 150-strong crew. They're frustrated by his failure to fulfill his promise of making them rich by plundering valuable ships. Shoulders slumped, Kidd stares out to sea, lost in thought. Just then, he notices a speck on the horizon moving closer. Raising his spyglass, he sees it is a large ship flying the navy blue and golden flag of France. He lets out a cry of excitement.

This could be his shot at redemption. He yells at one of his men to go and retrieve the false French flags from their counterfeit collection. And then they speed towards the vessel. As they draw alongside it, Kidd reads the words painted on its hull. The Kedar Merchant. He puts two fingers to his lips and lets out a piercing whistle to signal the attack. Warning shots are fired from the cannons, and Kidd's men charge on board.

They brandish cutlasses and pistols, sabers and swords, peppering the victims' sails with bullets as they plunder everything in sight. Kidd searches the vessel and finds the captain cowering behind a wooden desk, pressing his blade against his throat. Kidd demands his immediate surrender. When the captain protests, Kidd recoils in horror at the sound of his voice. They've made a terrible mistake. This captain is British.

Just like Kidd's own crew, these sailors were flying false French flags, perhaps to avoid French privateers. Beads of sweat trickle down Kidd's neck as he hears this ship is owned by the Mughal Emperor and was headed for India, a nation on friendly terms with Britain. This means he has committed an act of treason, a crime punishable by death. Kidd can almost feel the hangman's noose that could be waiting for him back in Britain.

but he's trapped between a rock and a hard place. If he asks his crew to return the treasures they've so hungrily stolen, they'll surely kill him. With nowhere left to turn, Kidd strides onto the main deck and tells his men that the Kedar merchant now belongs to them. Its captain and crew are their prisoners. What's more, they're not heading back to Britain, but instead to the lawless Caribbean. Captain William Kidd, once a respected privateer, has turned pirate.

When news reaches Britain of Captain Kidd's crime, he becomes one of the world's most wanted men. An enormous manhunt unfolds, leading to his eventual capture and execution beside the Thames in 1701. But Kidd is far from the only pirate prowling the seven seas. By the beginning of the 18th century, the Indian and Atlantic oceans are teeming with all kinds of criminal crews, from bloodthirsty barbarians to dandy gentleman pirates.

Based primarily around the islands of the Caribbean, these outlaws will be a thorn in the side of law-abiding maritime traffic and international navies for almost half a century. This era of swashbuckling buccaneers and insatiable treasure seekers will become known as the golden age of piracy. But how much of what we think we know about pirates is real? And how much is legend? What was life really like on board a pirate ship?

And how were these fearsome bandits caught and brought to justice? I am John Hopkins. From Noisa, this is a short history of the real Pirates of the Caribbean. From the moment humans first use the sea to transport wealth, piracy exists. A young Julius Caesar is captured by Sicilian pirates while voyaging across the Aegean Sea in around 75 BCE.

Centuries later, the Middle Ages are dominated by Vikings who ravage the coastal communities of Northern Europe while also committing brutal acts of piracy. During the 14th century, the word "pirate" first appears in the English language. Deriving from the Greek "peiaromai" and Latin "pirata", it roughly translates to "attempt, attack, and assault". But it's not until centuries later that the Caribbean becomes the epicenter of piracy.

Eric J. Dolian is the best-selling author of the pirate book Black Flags, Blue Waters. - Maritime trade in the 17th century contributed to the beginnings of piracy in one basic way, and it all has to do with money.

The Spanish Empire expanded in the late 1500s when Spain conquered the Incas and the Aztecs. And as a result, silver and gold from mines in those parts of Central and South America started flowing across the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.

And these vast quantities of silver and gold got the attention of mariners who wanted to be pirates. They wanted that gold and silver for themselves. But it's not only treasure ships that flow in and out of the Caribbean. Thanks to ongoing wars between countries looking to monopolize the Americas, fleets of vessels are stationed in the Caribbean's waters. On board these boats are specialist sailors known as privateers.

employed by their country's navy to weaken the enemy by plundering their ships.

Privateers were privately owned ships that were given government permission to attack enemy ships during times of war. That government permission came in the form of a letter of marque, which was an official legal document that gave the bearer the right to not only attack enemy ships, but bring them back into

and have those ships and their cargoes sold. And then the profits from those sales would be split between the owners of the privateering vessel and all the men who fought on board the vessel itself. The life of a privateer is an appealing one, far better than that of a sailor in the Navy, with its poor conditions and pitiful salaries. The only catch is that privateering is limited to times of war.

As soon as peace is declared, privateers must cease their activities and return to land. But having tasted the freedom and fortunes of the sea, many are eager to continue this lifestyle. If only there was a way to raid ships for their treasure all the time. By the 1680s, a number of individuals have found a way to do just that. Legends begin to emerge from the sandy shores of the Caribbean islands.

One of the first is the story of Captain Morgan, a respected Welsh privateer who goes too far when he attacks the Spanish colony of Panama. He kills over 500 Spaniards and makes away with a sizable fortune. The trouble for Morgan is that during his raid, unbeknownst to him, a peace treaty is signed between Britain and Spain. Morgan is arrested, sent back to England, and charged with being a pirate, one of the first of his kind.

But although this offense can result in execution, Morgan's formerly good reputation saves him. He spends just a few miserable months behind bars. However, if the authorities had hoped his brief punishment would deter others from following in his footsteps, they're mistaken. For many, the temptation of the fortunes to be made at sea are too much to resist. And before long, more tales of pirates are swirling through the Caribbean.

Most tell of violent men terrorizing captives and sacking expensive ships before taking them as their own. A few depict Robin Hood-type figures, those who avoid violence, only rob the rich, and share their fortunes with their crew. But whether they're known for aggressive attacks or peaceful negotiations, these early pirates all share the same desire.

Beyond the allure of cold, hard cash, they want to break free from society's restraints and live lives of adventure exactly as they please. But even pirates have to come ashore sometimes, and for that they need a safe base. As the 1600s come to an end, one Jamaican town fits the bill, sitting right in the middle of the busy sea trade routes. Port Royal grows into a de facto pirate republic, crawling with taverns, brothels, and gambling houses.

From the stolen ships lining its shallow ports, pirates pour in to enjoy drunken nights of debauchery. Soon, Port Royal has earned the title of "the wickedest city on earth." The 1690s see devastating earthquakes destroy much of Port Royal. But it's too late to stamp out piracy, which is proliferating at speed.

So, even as the ruined pirate republic sinks into the sea, the promise of freedom and riches from the tales of men like Morgan and Kidd continues to inspire sailors. And these early stories are just a taste of what's to come. The turn of the century will mark the start of one of history's bloodiest, most lawless and infamous eras, the Golden Age of Piracy.

Throughout the first decade of the 18th century, much of Europe is locked into a conflict known as the War of the Spanish Succession. Following the death of King Charles II, several great powers fight over the vast Spanish Empire he leaves behind. But when Britain is granted the majority of Spain's lands with a series of treaties called the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, not everyone is pleased, least of all the sailors whose services are no longer required.

Benjamin Hornigold was a privateer during the War of the Spanish Succession. When that war was winding down in 1713, he suddenly found himself out of work. He was in the Caribbean. He decided, as many privateers do once wars wind down, he decided to take his particular skill set and become a pirate. With the war over, Hornigold and a few of his former crew sailed to the Bahamas.

It's a sparsely populated archipelago of islands, north of Jamaica and far away from the prying eyes of any government. They settle in a sunny port town, recently abandoned as a failed British colony, but with piratical roots stretching back to the mid-1600s. Its name is Nassau.

Hornigold and his men came into Nassau and they essentially took over the town and they created this pirate republic of sorts. And what it did for them was crucial because now they had a place to reprovision, stock up on new supplies, rest, party, carouse. They work hard too.

Using a sloop and flotilla of periaguas, or sailing canoes, Hornigold and his men attack the unsuspecting ships that sail by. In their first summer on the island, they amass more than 11,000 pounds in stolen booty from merchant ships. Millions in today's money. Unsurprisingly, when word spreads about the treasure island of Nassau, other men are tempted into piracy.

Before long, hundreds of individuals are voyaging to its sunny shores to see what fortunes await. Despite the dangers, merchants are also quick to capitalize on this new trade. A lot of American colonial merchants knew about Nassau. They would sail down to Nassau with all the types of things that a good pirate would need, and they would sell them to the pirates who often had ready cash.

As a result of this rapid migration, Nassau transforms into a raucous pirate republic with brothels and taverns quickly springing up to service the new residents. Literally hundreds, if not a thousand needles came down like the heavens were falling. I'm Natalia Petruzzella from BBC Radio 4. This is Xtreme. Musclemen.

When you're muscular, when you're big, you get respect. This is the story of the biggest illegal steroid operation the United States had ever seen and the lengths to which we'll go in pursuit of perfection. Extreme Musclemen. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Pirates, however, aren't known for paying taxes and contributing to infrastructure.

With no plumbing system in place, human and animal waste wash through the small town, drawing in hungry mosquitoes and creating conditions rife for disease. But despite the danger and death lurking around every corner, for the swarms of pirates who wander its filthy streets, it is home. Even a pirate republic, though, needs its leaders. And Benjamin Hornigold is just the man.

Within a few years of settling in the Caribbean, he possesses a fleet of five vessels and commands a combined crew of 350 men. Alongside other ex-naval captains, as well as his loyal second-in-command Edward Teach, otherwise known as Blackbeard, Hornigold establishes a pseudo-government group calling themselves the Flying Gang. These pirate captains are the unofficial presidents of Nassau, from whom everyone takes orders.

strutting around in their finery, showing off the jewels, coins, and exotic goods they've stolen. These pirate kings are untouchable. But there is more to being a pirate of the Caribbean than rum, prostitutes, and fancy clothes. The most important part of piracy is undoubtedly the plundering of ships. The glittering fortunes of William Kidd and Captain Morgan don't come to everyone.

Many pirate crews spend months at sea, but come away with little more than supplies of stolen food, alcohol, rigging, or navigational equipment. These items are far easier to come by, as merchant ships carrying them aren't as well protected as the treasure fleets. The good news, though, is that pirate ships are always in need of repairs after being battered by fighting and the elements. So amenities and supplies come in handy. What's more, they can be guaranteed to sell for a high price on the black market.

But no matter what the pirates want to steal, their methods of attack usually follow a similar routine. First, when a pirate ship catches sight of an approaching vessel, its crew hoists counterfeit flags to make it appear friendly to the target ship's home nation. Once the victims are lured in by this false sense of security, the pirate ship charges at full speed. Then, when there is no way out, the pirates raise their own flags.

Although this will differ for each ship and captain, the flag is generally a variation of what we now call the Jolly Roger: white skulls, crossbones, or weapons set against a sinister black background. Historians debate where the flag earned its name. Some believe Jolly Roger originates from Joli Rouge, "beautiful red" in French, or Old Roger, English slang for the devil.

Whatever its origin, the sight of the dreaded flag is usually enough to convince merchant ships to do the sensible thing and surrender. Some pirates even hoist an additional flag, which promises that if the unfortunate vessel doesn't put up any resistance, no unnecessary violence will follow. For those plucky ships which don't comply, the pirates have further means of persuasion.

Though most are reluctant to deploy cannons, as they'll damage the ship they're hoping to steal. Common pirate weapons include grenades, muskets, pistols, cutlasses, axes, and clubs. Once the warning signals have been fired, it's time to attack. Hordes of fearsome pirates charge from their ship and leap onto the helpless vessel, looting anything and everything in sight. Then the ship itself becomes the prize. It's up to the captain to decide what becomes of the captives.

Most are simply killed or sold on as slaves to make quick cash. If the captain is feeling generous, he'll force them to join his pirate crew. But it is almost unheard of for a pirate captain to let captives go free. While pirate attacks may be aggressive affairs, their lifestyle while at sea is surprisingly civil.

In fact, during the Golden Age, most Nassau pirates are bound by a series of laws which will eventually be written down as the official "Pirate Code of Conduct". Pirate law insists that democracy is practiced on board. Captains are voted in by their crew and can just as easily be voted out if the majority says so. Their second in command and all other positions of leadership are also democratically elected. In the words of the Code: "Every man has a vote on the affairs of the moment."

An extension of this principle of democracy is the rule that loot should be distributed equally, or distributed at least.

The captain would get usually more, maybe two shares, and the rest of the people on board would each get a share each. So it was a relatively equal distribution of shares. There was also in the Pirate Code an early form of social security. If anybody lost a limb or lost an eye, they would get a certain amount of money, maybe a few hundred pieces of eight to compensate them for that loss.

The code also prohibits drinking, gambling, and sleeping with women while on board. It's down to the second-in-command, also known as the quartermaster, to uphold the ship's rules and administer punishments if and when they are broken.

You could be whipped with a cat of nine tails. You could be sweated, which is basically you'd be tied to the main mast of the ship by a rope and you would run around that mast. And as you ran around, all of your fellow pirates would stab at you with their cutlasses

hit you and basically punish you. You could be keel-hauled, which is having a rope tied around you, thrown overboard, and essentially dragged up out of the ocean along the underside of the vessel, which often left the person who was keel-hauled in very sorry state, bloodied and bowed.

The absolute worst punishment that you could give a pirate for violating the pirate code was to maroon them on a desert island. For those wishing to avoid such barbaric punishments, it's safest to wait until they dock at Nassau to enjoy anything forbidden by the code. With democracy at the heart of their charter, it's easy to assume pirates are social revolutionaries, carving out their own utopian, egalitarian worlds.

However, it's far more likely that pirates uphold the rules out of necessity. Now, a lot of people have looked at that and said, hey, that's democracy in action. Power to the people. Majority rule. Well, another way to look at it is that that was a necessary prerequisite to having a well-functioning ship because a lot of these men became pirates after they mutinied.

And a lot of these men had been sailors on merchant vessels and naval vessels, and they often railed against the control of despotic captains. Almost everything they did on board the pirate ship, including the pirate code, including the majority rule concept, was done because they had to create a functioning, cohesive society on board this ship.

floating vessel although Piracy flourishes in the Caribbean during the 1710s there are still some efforts to stamp it out Thomas Walker a British official living in Nassau loathes Pirates and holds a personal Vendetta against hornegolt Walker's dream had been to transform the Bahamas into a thriving British colony so it's unbearable for him to witness the pirate Republic it's become

Even worse, he knows that many of his own men are being corrupted by pirates, taking bribes to look the other way. In August 1716, three years after Hornigold first arrived in the Caribbean, Thomas Walker sends a report to the British government about the area's thriving pirate community, along with a desperate plea for help. He trusts the government will dispatch its top naval commanders to cleanse the island before it gets any worse. But Walker's faith is misplaced.

It turns out that the British have no interest in sending money, men, or resources to the long-forgotten colony. They're much too preoccupied with quelling the Jacobite rebellion at home, in which the Scottish House of Stuart is attempting to usurp King George I. But while Walker can't find support in the British government, he can take some comfort in its legal system.

18th century maritime law demands that when a suspected pirate is arrested, they're transported to a British colony and tried. Generally, the trials are short and defendants are found guilty. After that, the condemned criminals are taken to the local prison to count down the hours until their execution. When the dreaded time finally arrives, the pirates are paraded through the town streets carrying a silver oar as mobs spitted them on their way to the gallows.

In front of a sea of jeering spectators, they're forced to apologize for their crimes, beg for forgiveness, and warn others not to follow their lead. Then they're hanged with an especially short rope to elongate the strangulation process. Their bodies are left to rot on the beach until the tide washes them away. However, if pirates like Benjamin Hornigold teach their crews anything, it's that the rewards of piracy far outweigh the risks.

Besides, without anyone in Nassau to properly implement maritime law and most officials in the pockets of the flying gang, the grisly fate of hanging seems a million miles away. Under Hornigold's leadership, two men who exploit this lax governance more than anyone else become some of the most notorious pirates of the Caribbean. The first is a man called Samuel Bellamy.

Believed to have been born in Devonshire, England in 1689, Bellamy spent his early life working for the British Navy. But when he left his wife and child to seek his fortune at sea, he instead found Hornigold's famous pirate crew. Bellamy rose through the ranks on Hornigold's ship, impressing everyone with his knack for leadership. But now, in 1716, he is promoted to captain of his own ship. Bellamy is ambitious, courageous, and clever.

He commands two ships, one which is powerful and loaded with heavy cannons, and a second which is light and fast. Together they create the perfect balance to coordinate successful attacks. And Bellamy becomes the richest pirate in the Caribbean, amassing a fortune worth over 100 million pounds today. As well as being a rich pirate, Bellamy is a diplomatic one. Whenever he plunders ships, he instructs his crew to abstain from violence unless it is absolutely necessary.

He's one of the few pirates who never kills captives and releases vessels that aren't carrying the cargo he's looking for. This earns him a reputation as a kind of Robin Hood figure. And whenever sailors see the Jolly Roger flag, they might pray it's Bellamy and his crew. Bellamy's control of the seas will be short-lived.

In April 1717, just off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, his boat is hit by a violent storm, sending the ship, its treasure, most of its crew, and its captain to the bottom of the ocean. The other pirate who learns the ropes under the watchful eye of Benjamin Hornigold is a man called Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard.

Very little is known about Blackbeard's life before piracy, although historians suggest he's born in Bristol around 1680 and comes to the Caribbean as a British privateer. After the War of the Spanish Succession, Blackbeard joins the company of Benjamin Hornigold at roughly the same time as Sam Bellamy. But though the two apprentices sail on the same ship and learn under the same captain, their approaches to piracy couldn't be more different.

After amicably parting ways with Hornigold in 1717, Blackbeard captains his own ship, Queen Anne's Revenge, and ignites a reign of terror. His fancy white shirts, crimson breeches, and elegant coats may give the appearance of a gentleman pirate, but in reality, he is a psychotic killer. On one occasion, he shoots and kills his own first mate for no apparent reason, and he loves nothing more than a spectacle.

Legend has it that when preparing for attack, he plants sticks of gunpowder in his long dark beard and lights matches in his hat. The demonic flaming halo strikes fear into his victims and as soon as sailors catch sight of him, they surrender. During his years as an infamous captain, Blackbeard will raid almost 50 ships.

Thanks to the likes of Benjamin Hornigold, Samuel Bellamy, and Blackbeard, piracy is thriving in the Caribbean by the late 1710s. It spreads like a disease, affecting not just disillusioned sailors, but also women and girls lusting for adventure. Even bored aristocrats, such as the wealthy landowner Steed Bonnet, find themselves unable to resist the lure of piracy. But the misdeeds of pirates don't impress everyone.

Although the trade in enslaved people is expanding by 1718, transatlantic shipping is almost ground to a halt as a result of piracy, and merchants are furious at the loss of profits.

During the 1710s and early 1720s, there were perhaps as many as 4,000 pirates operating in the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean from around 1715 to 1726. And some estimates indicate that these pirates captured or plundered maybe as many as 2,400 ships during that time.

That compares favorably with the number of ships captured during the entire War of the Spanish Succession. So it's at this point, five years after Hornigold first arrived in Nassau, that the British Navy decides it's time to do something about the pirates of the Caribbean. It's a warm evening on July the 24th, 1718. On the clear waters of the Caribbean Sea, a few miles off the coast of Nassau, Captain Woods Rogers stands on the top deck of his ship.

Rogers has already made a name for himself, having circumnavigated the globe. He also rescued marooned sailor Alexander Selka from an isolated island, something that later inspires the novel Robinson Crusoe. But tonight he's about to face his greatest challenge. He's been commissioned by the King of England to obliterate piracy from Nassau. The quartermaster announces they're a few minutes away from docking, and Rogers hurries down the wooden stairs into his cabin to prepare for arrival.

Opening the drawer of his bureau, he pulls out the weapon with which he intends to fight the pirates. It is a rolled up sheet of parchment, sealed with the crimson wax crest of King George I of Great Britain. This is the Royal Pardon, an agreement which will grant forgiveness to any man who gives up his pirate ways. But as he clutches the pardon to his chest, he appears out of the window towards the island's port and notices something wrong. The air is thick with fog.

Frowning in confusion, he climbs back onto the deck to see what's going on. The moment he steps outside, Rogers' lungs contract. It's not fog, but smoke. Thick clouds of it that fill his nose and mouth and cause his eyes to prickle with tears. Squinting through the swirling gray clouds and rising embers, he sees Nassau's harbor lit up with a deep orange glow and hears the ominous sounds of crackling wood. The port where Rogers and his men had planned to dock

is on fire. As Rogers helplessly watches the flames, his ship is shaken by the thunder of a cannon, then another even closer. Looking up in horror, he sees a sleek vessel slicing through the smoke. At its helm is a tall man in a crimson coat, his dark hair flying behind. Snapping from a pole at the stern is a flag bearing the symbol Rogers has come to loathe, the black and white skull and crossbones of the Jolly Roger.

Leaving a trail of haunting laughter in its wake, the pirate ship streaks away into the night. Furious, Rogers realizes what's happened. One of Nassau's pirates has set fire to the port to simultaneously stage his own escape and prevent Rogers from landing. Rogers curses. This is going to be harder than he thought. When Woods Rogers lands in Nassau in July 1718, he is supported by over 500 men and seven ships.

His crew is made up of a mixture of professional soldiers trained to fight the pirates and young families. The intention is that the newcomers will help to colonize Nassau and outnumber the pirates. He also gets help from a familiar face already living on the island, Thomas Walker. Recently appointed Chief Justice of the Bahamas, Walker can finally play a part in ending the pirates he has despised for so long.

Although Roger's campaign gets off to a rocky start when the dreaded pirate Charles Vane sets fire to the port, it's not long before things start to go his way, thanks mainly to the royal pardon.

The basic idea is that if you grant these pirates a pardon for all of their piratical activity and basically give them a clean slate, maybe they'll come in and in effect surrender and they'll leave the pirates full. To encourage this repentance, the pardon promises that if any pirate hands himself over to a governor before September 6, 1718, he will be absolved of all crimes.

He'll also receive a plot of land and free timber to build a house and begin an honest life. In addition, there are financial rewards on the table. Pirates are promised £200 if they turn in their captains, over £40,000 today. But those who don't comply before the deadline will be considered fair game for capture and execution. The Royal Pardon is distributed throughout the Caribbean, printed in newspapers, pinned on notice boards, and spread by word of mouth.

It's a success, convincing around 300 to renounce their criminal ways in 1718 alone, including, incredibly, Benjamin Hornigold. But the pardon isn't the only factor working against piracy.

So a number of forces were brought to bear to attack pirates and more of His Majesty's warships were sent to the east coast of the colonies to attack pirates. And they were very successful at that.

Another factor that led to the decrease in piracy in the late 1710s is that a lot of merchant ships were getting larger. And a lot of merchant ships were more heavily armed. So they were in a better position to defend themselves from pirate attacks. They're also better placed to hunt and kill pirates.

On November 22, 1718, the legendary Blackbeard is killed in a sword fight with naval officer Lieutenant Robert Maynard. In a 40-minute hand-to-hand battle on board Maynard's ship, the Jane, Blackbeard is stabbed over 20 times and shot another five. He dies of blood loss, and his severed head, once the most feared face of the Caribbean, is gifted to the governor of Virginia.

who mounts it on a pike along the edge of the Hampton River. This location will become known as Blackbeard's Point. Shortly after Blackbeard's death, famous aristocrat-turned-pirate Steed Bonnet is also captured. It's a huge victory for the Navy, who are seeking revenge after Bonnet and Blackbeard worked together to blockade the city of Charleston the previous summer.

Although Bonnet pleads clemency and tries to leverage his former good name, the judge shows no mercy and sentences him to death. Bonnet's mangled body is left hanging for everyone to see. Not even the upper classes can escape justice now. Suddenly, the gruesome punishments that had seemed distant nightmares are now the brutal reality. In the decade following 1716, over 400 men will be hanged for piracy.

It's clear to everyone in the Caribbean that the tides are changing. Well, almost everyone. It is minutes before midnight on October 22, 1720. Just off the coast of West Jamaica, near Negril Point, a dilapidated pirate ship cruises across the still waters. Like the vessel's tattered sails and splintered decking, its crew have seen better days.

Men lie sprawled in hammocks, some sleep on the hard floor, while a few murmur incoherently as they pass around a bottle of rum. Jack Rackham, captain of this sad ship, stares at his motley crew swaying where he stands. Just a few months ago, his own appearance would have sickened him. His once fashionable clothes are torn and grubby, his face unshaven, and his skin dirty with the blood of one too many battles.

but Rackham is past the point of caring. Like many around him, he can sense the end. Lifting a bottle to his mouth, he takes a long... Seconds later, the drowning of his sorrows is interrupted by a threatening cry, followed by the explosion of a cannon. Dropping his bottle with a smash, Rackham whirls round to see the cause of this commotion. A dreadful sight greets him.

Bobbing on the water, just yards in front, is an English navy vessel. And even if he wasn't seeing double, its crew would outnumber his many times over. The captain shouts at Rackham, demanding he and his pirates surrender. But though he knows he's past his best, Rackham has no intention of doing any such thing. He raises his pistol to the sky and fires, instantly rousing his crew into action.

The English bridge the gap between the ships with planks, and soldiers charge onto Rackham's ship, firing bullets and brandishing swords. The captain lunges after Rackham, and pirate and pirate-hunter clash for several minutes, blade against blade. But though Rackham is a skilled fighter, his head is spinning, and his vision blurred. He needs a quick escape. So when the naval captain reaches into his holster to draw his gun, Rackham takes advantage of his momentary distraction and wriggles free.

He yells to his crew to hide, and a handful of them break off fighting and scatter across the deck. Knowing their ship well, they take cover behind wooden chests and stairs, between cannons and rigging as the bullets continue to fly. Rackham grabs the arm of one of his crewmates, and they squeeze behind a battered sail, breathing heavily, hearts pounding. A look between them confirms that they both know defeat is inevitable. Within minutes, they'll be dragged onto the navy vessel and sent back to the mainland for execution.

But now, Rackham hears shrieking, and as he peers out, he sees two of his own pirates sprinting down the deck. They each hold a blood-stained blade as they charge towards the English soldiers. In their other hands are pistols, with which they fire bullet after bullet, screaming with glee as they take out their enemy. Recognizing who they are, Rackham laughs to himself. The English are in for a shock.

Sure enough, as the moon comes out from behind a cloud and illuminates the pirates, the men of the Navy realize with horror that these two bloodthirsty individuals are women. The pair of female pirates on board Jack Rackham's ship are Irish-born Anne Bonny and the English Mary Read. Though they put up a good fight, they're eventually overpowered by the English Navy and arrested along with the pirate crew.

While on trial in Jamaica a few weeks later, it's revealed that Anne Bonny is married to Jack Rackham. The pair met in Nassau in 1719 and became lovers. Scandalously, Bonny deserted her first husband for the notorious pirate and joined his crew at sea, where she met Mary Read, a former captive turned criminal. Together, Rackham, Bonny, and Read ransacked their way through the Caribbean, leaving their bloody marks on any boats unfortunate enough to cross their path.

But their capture in 1720 marks the end of their lawless lives. Rackham and his men are hanged, while Bonnie and Reed are left to languish in jail, spared execution when they claim to be pregnant. Reed dies in her cell a few months later, perhaps from illness or complications relating to childbirth. But no one knows what happens to Anne Bonnie. Some believe she escapes and heads back out to sea, sailing away to become yet another pirate mystery.

The capture of Jack Rackham's crew is one of the last major pirate arrests of the Golden Age. By the 1720s, around 600 pirates have accepted the royal pardon. Many have even joined Rogers' team to hunt down those men they may once have called colleagues. Although the pirates don't always go completely cold turkey, and Rogers notices with frustration that many slip back into their criminal habits, in general, piracy is on the decline.

as is Nassau, which has become a macabre relic of what it once was. After 1718, the anchor that the pirates had used, the anchor of Nassau as their place of refuge and refueling, was gone. No longer did pirates have free reign on Nassau. And essentially after 1718, there was no place in the Atlantic Ocean where pirates were really welcome.

In February 1722, the final blow to piracy is dealt when the Royal Navy captures the most successful pirate of the Caribbean. His name is Bartholomew Roberts, known as Black Bart, a moniker he's earned from the tone of his skin after years at sea. Having operated in the Caribbean since the 1710s, Black Bart has plundered over 400 ships, more than four times that of Blackbeard and Samuel Bellamy combined. He's a strange pirate, though.

His religion forbids him from attacking on the Sabbath, and he enforces strict laws that forbid his crew from gambling and drinking. He also implements a curfew of 8:00 PM. Perhaps it's not surprising that it was he who formally established the Pirate Code of Conduct in 1721. But his apparent piousness hasn't made him any less violent. Rumor has it that he set fire to a slave ship, killing 80 enslaved people on board.

And even if the British businessmen don't care about the loss of life, they certainly care about the loss of profits. So in 1722, when he is finally killed in a skirmish with a British warship, his death is celebrated throughout the empire. Fulfilling their captain's wish not to be captured in life or death, his loyal crew weigh his body down with rocks before tossing him overboard.

But just weeks later, following a mass pirate's trial in Cape Cod, the members of the crew each meet a grisly fate. 77 of his African crewmen are sold as slaves in a tragic reversal of fortunes, as it's likely they joined Black Bart's ship to escape slavery in the first place. Meanwhile, their European shipmates receive lengthy prison sentences, and 52 men are hanged in full public view.

This mass execution sends the message that it's no longer pirates who rule the waves, but the navy. By the mid-1720s, the golden age of piracy is almost over. British, French, and Dutch rule is firmly established in the Americas and the Caribbean, and their navy's nimble vessels are effective at catching pirates. What's more, the construction of roads and railways means maritime trade suffers a decline.

But although piracy fades, the names and legends of many individuals live on. When British author Charles Johnson publishes A General History of the Pirates in 1724, it is an instant hit. Blending fact with fiction, the book romanticizes the adventures of some of the era's most notorious rogues, having them bury their treasure and giving them memorable features like eye patches, wooden legs, and gold teeth.

They are unlikely characteristics for the majority of pirates, but audiences love to read and hear about them.

Why do we look upon pirates as these colorful characters, good-natured rapscallions operating on the open ocean, as opposed to looking at them as what they were and what they are today, which is thieves, not romantic at all, the lifestyle or what they're doing. Perhaps people want to abstract the image of, you know, getting rid of their job, going on the open ocean, searching for treasure,

getting drunk when they want to, wine, women, and song. I mean, in the abstract, it was a very alluring image. Mark Twain captured this longing to go on the open ocean. He admitted that even though he and his friends had one permanent ambition, to be steamboatmen,

Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates. Now that quote, I think captures in a nutshell this abstract, totally unrealistic image of piracy that captures the hearts and souls of young boys and girls

The birth of Hollywood extends Piracy's legacy further, with film adaptations of popular books like Treasure Island and Peter Pan, and later the Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise. When the first of these is released in 2003, it generates over $600 million at the box office, proving that pirates are still as popular as ever. These days, the swashbuckling, rum-drinking 18th century Pirates of the Caribbean exist only in films and storybooks.

Technological improvements such as radar and GPS make it almost impossible for modern merchant ships to be ambushed. However, piracy does still pose a threat to maritime trade. Even now, the International Maritime Bureau estimates that $16 billion is lost to piracy each year, with Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia being most at risk.

It's clear that for some, the allure of free cargo is still just too appealing to pass by.

Piracy has never disappeared. Today, we're dealing with piracy still. There are the Somali pirates, which everybody has heard about in large part because of the Tom Hanks film Captain Phillips. And there was an upsurge in piracy off the Venezuelan coast in the 2010s when the economy there was really tanking.

A lot of men who owned boats decided that the way that they were going to make money, just like the pirates of old, was to go out and attack ships and bring the treasure back home. So just as it has been since time immemorial, as long as there are ships at sea that have things of value, and as long as there are men who are in desperate straits, there are going to be pirates.

Next time on Short History Of, we'll bring you a short history of Eleanor Roosevelt. I think the most significant legacy of Eleanor's, in addition to her fierce dedication, is her work on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. There would have been no declaration without Eleanor Roosevelt, period.

What Eleanor uses the Declaration to do is to say, OK, you can say that war is inevitable, more horror and more ethnic, racial and religious bigotry and persecution than you can imagine. Or we can say, I am not going to live my life in fear. That's next time.