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Golden Age of Piracy

The Golden Age of Piracy is a common designation for the period between the 1650s and the 1730s, when maritime piracy was a significant factor in the histories of the North Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

Golden Age of Piracy

  • North Atlantic
  • Indian Ocean
  • Pacific Ocean

Histories of piracy often subdivide the Golden Age of Piracy into three periods:


Narrower definitions of the Golden Age sometimes exclude the first or second periods, but most include at least some portion of the third. The modern conception of pirates as depicted in popular culture is derived largely, although not always accurately, from the Golden Age of Piracy.


Factors contributing to piracy during the Golden Age included the rise in quantities of valuable cargoes being shipped to Europe over vast ocean areas, reduced European navies in certain regions, the training and experience that many sailors had gained in European navies (particularly the British Royal Navy), and corrupt and ineffective government in European overseas colonies. Colonial powers at the time constantly fought with pirates and engaged in several notable battles and other related events.

captain of the Whydah Gally, was lost in a storm off Cape Cod in 1717. Bellamy was popularly known as the "Robin Hood of pirates" and prided himself on his ideological justifications for piracy.

"Black Sam" Bellamy

a rich Barbadian land owner turned pirate solely in search of adventure. Bonnet captained a 10-gun sloop named the Revenge and raided ships off the Virginia coast in 1717. He was caught and hanged in 1718.

Stede Bonnet

one of the few major pirate captains to retire with his loot without being arrested nor killed in battle. He is famous for capturing the fabulously wealthy Mogul ship Ganj-i-Sawai in 1695.

Henry Every

aka La Buse, the only major French pirate in Nassau who was often associated with Hornigold, Bellamy, Kennedy, and Taylor.

Olivier Levasseur

whose execution in 1726 is used by historian Marcus Rediker to mark the end of the Golden Age of Pirates.

William Fly

executed for piracy at Execution Dock, London, in 1701, is famous for the "buried treasure" he supposedly left behind.

William "Captain" Kidd

born in Westminster, was active 1721–1724, was never captured, and was notorious for torturing his victims before killing them; he cut off ears, lips, and noses.

Edward Low

a buccaneer who raided the Spaniards and took Panama City before burning it to the ground. He was to be executed in England, but was instead knighted and made governor of Jamaica. He died a natural death in 1688.

Henry Morgan

famous for his partnership with female pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read, was captured, then hanged and gibbeted outside Port Royal, Jamaica, in 1720.

John "Calico Jack" Rackham

is considered by many to be the most successful Western pirate of all time with over 400 ship captures.

Bartholomew "Black Bart" Roberts

active from 1716 to 1718, is perhaps the most notorious pirate among English-speaking nations. Blackbeard's most famous ship was the Queen Anne's Revenge, named in response to the end of Queen Anne's War. He was killed by one of Lieutenant Robert Maynard's crewmen in 1718.

Edward "Blackbeard" Teach (Thatch)

a particularly violent and unrepentant pirate, who served under Henry Jennings before striking out on his own. Harsh and unpopular with his crew, Vane was marooned before being captured and hanged in 1721.

Charles Vane

an English pirate who helped found the Republic of Pirates and mentored Blackbeard before taking a royal pardon and becoming a pirate hunter

Benjamin Hornigold

a prominent Spanish corsair who dominated the route between Cádiz and the Caribbean. His figure has been wrapped in a halo of romanticism and legend that have linked him to piracy, hidden treasures, and illicit romances. In the marble headstone of his tomb in San Cristóbal de La Laguna a skull with two crossbones is engraved that is winking its right eye.

Amaro Pargo

Decline[edit]

By the early 18th century, tolerance for privateers was wearing thin in all nations. After the Treaty of Utrecht was signed, the excess of trained sailors without employment was both a blessing and a curse for all pirates. Initially, the surplus of men had caused the number of pirates to multiply significantly. This inevitably led to the pillaging of more ships, which put a greater strain on trade for all European nations. In response, European nations bolstered their own navies to offer greater protection for merchants and to hunt down pirates. The excess of skilled sailors meant there was a large pool that could be recruited into national navies as well.


Piracy was clearly on a strong decline by 1720. The Golden Age of Piracy did not last the decade.


The events of the latter half of 1718 (including the arrival of Governor Woodes Rogers in Nassau) represent a turning point in the history of piracy in the New World. Without a safe base and with growing pressure from naval forces, the rovers lost their momentum. The lure of the Spanish treasures had faded, and the hunters gradually became the hunted. By early 1719, the remaining pirates were on the run. Most of them headed for West Africa, seizing poorly defended slavers.[35]

Governance in 18th-century piracy

Guy Chet, The Ocean is a Wilderness: Atlantic Piracy and the Limits of State Authority, 1688–1856. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 2014.

Crowhurst, Patrick (1977). The Defence of British Trade, 1689–1815. Dawson.

Flemming, Gregory (2014). At the Point of a Cutlass: The Pirate Capture, Bold Escape, and Lonely Exile of Philip Ashton. ForeEdge.  978-1-61168-515-2.

ISBN

Little, Benerson (2011). How History's Greatest Pirates Pillaged, Plundered, and Got Away with It: the Stories, Techniques, and Tactics of the Most Feared Sea Rovers from 1500-1800. Fair Winds Press.

Kuhn, Gabriel (2010). Life Under the Jolly Roger: Reflections on Golden Age Piracy. PM Press.

Little, Benerson (2016). The Golden Age of Piracy: the Truth Behind Pirate Myths. Skyhorse Publishing.

Lunsford, Virginia (2005). Piracy and Privateering in the Golden Age Netherlands. Palgrave Macmillan.  1-4039-6692-3.

ISBN

Monod, Paul. "Dangerous Merchandise: Smuggling, Jacobitism, and Commercial Culture in Southeast England, 1690–1760." Journal of British Studies 30.2 (April 1991): 150–82.

Moss, Jeremy (2020). The Life and Tryals of the Gentleman Pirate, Major Stede Bonnet. Koehler Books.  978-1-64663-151-3.

ISBN

Pérotin-Dumon, Anne (2001). "The Pirate and the Emperor: Power and the Law on the Seas, 1450–1850." In Bandits of the Sea: A Pirate Reader, ed. C. R. Pennell, 25–54. New York University Press.

Rediker, Marcus (1988). "Pirates and the Imperial State". Reviews in American History. Vol. 16, no. 3. pp. 351–357.

Rediker, Marcus (2004). Villains of all Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age. Boston: Beacon Press.

Sherry, Frank (2008). Raiders and Rebels the Golden Age of Piracy. Harper Perennial.

Swanson, Carl E. (1985). "American Privateering and Imperial Warfare, 1739–1748". The William and Mary Quarterly. Vol. 42, no. 3. pp. 357–382.

Truxes, Thomas (2008). Defying Empire: Trading with the Enemy in Colonial New York. Yale University Press.

Fleming, Greg. . gregflemming.com.

"America's Worst Pirates"

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"The Golden Age of Piracy"