Pirates of the Caribbean
Causes – the new middle class
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“In honest service, there are
commonly low wages and hard
labour; in this – plenty, satiety,
pleasure and ease, liberty and
power. Who would not balance
credit on this side, when all
the hazard that is run for it, at
worst, is only a sour look or
two on choking? No, a merry
life and a short one, that is my
motto.”
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Bartholomew Roberts, Welsh
pirate, 1722, a few days before
he was killed in battle.
Causes – the Conquistadores
1492 – Columbus (a former pirate from Genoa)
discovered America.
 Treaty of Tordesillas – Pope Alexander VI divided
America between Spain and Portugal. “I should
like to see the clause in Adam’s will that
excludes me from a share in the world” Francis I
 1519 – 1521 - Hernan Cortes conquered the
Aztec empire. Sent 3 ships with gold and jewels
back home to Charles V.
 1521 – Pedro de Alvarado conquered the
remains of the Mayan empire.
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Causes – Geography
1527 – Francisco Pizarro and his brothers
conquered the Inca Empire.
 The multitude of sheltered waterways
formed by the rugged coastlines of the
islands and cays of the Caribbean
provided the perfect lairs for the pirates
from which to mount surprise attacks on
their unsuspected victims.
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The Privateers
Private ship owners with a letter of
marque from their government – a
permission to attack ships of any other
country as long as they pay taxes.
 Originally merchant ships, retrofit for the
purpose. Often do both – trade and piracy.
Many involved in slave trade.
 Mostly of non-noble origin.
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French Privateers
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Jean Fleury of Honfleur – in 1521 attacked the 3 ships
sent by Cortes to Charles V and captured 2 of them,
delivering the loot to his patron Jean Ango of Dieppe. J.
Fleury was captured by Spain in 1527 and hung with his
crew – 150 pirates.
1529-1535 – Period of peace between France and Spain,
and England and Spain
1536 – French pirates based on the Bahamas attack
again. Spanish begin the use of convoys.
1538 – 1568 French Huguenots attack settlements in
New Spain incl. taking the North part of Santo Domingo
(today Haiti) in 1553.
Most famous were Francois “Peg Leg” Le Clerc, Jacques
“La Rochelle” Sores and Robert Waal.
English Privateers – The Golden
Age (1558-1603)
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Sir John Hawkins was born in Plymouth in 1532, the son of a wealthy sea captain. In
his youth he went along on trading trips and heard of the riches that lay across the
western sea. In 1562 he sailed to Africa, where he captured 300 people to sell as
slaves. He transported this human cargo to Santo Domingo, in the West Indies, and
traded them for pearls, hides, ginger, and sugar. Although the colonists had been
forbidden by Spain to trade with any other nation, they were eager to buy slaves.
John Hawkins' second voyage two years later was equally profitable, but a third trip
met disaster off the coast of Mexico in 1568.
Accompanied by his cousin Sir Francis Drake, John Hawkins had already broken
Spanish law by selling his cargo of slaves in the Caribbean islands. After they sought
refuge for their six ships in the harbor of Veracruz, an armed Spanish fleet attacked.
Only the vessels commanded by Hawkins and by Drake were able to escape. For 20
years Hawkins remained at home in the service of Queen Elizabeth I. As treasurer
and controller of the navy, he built up Britain's fleet, preparing to challenge Spain
over supremacy of the seas. He armed the vessels more heavily and redesigned them
to make them faster. He also introduced inventions that he had tested in practical
experience at sea. In the great battle in which the Spanish Armada was defeated in
1588, Hawkins served as a vice admiral. He was knighted for gallantry.
In 1595 he sailed with Drake on what was to be the last voyage for both. John
Hawkins joined the expedition hoping to rescue his only son, Richard, who was held
captive by the Spanish in Lima, Peru. Hawkins died at sea on Nov. 12, 1595, near
Puerto Rico.
John and Richard Hawkins
Sir Francis Drake (1540 – 1596)
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Born to a Protestant farmer, eldest of 12 children. Second cousin to
John Hawkins.
Sailed under Hawkins in his 3 voyages in the 1560’s. Survived the
third one.
1577-1580 Drake circumnavigated the globe on the Golden Hind.
Knighted by Elizabeth I in 1581 (she received 50% of the cargo –
more than all royal revenue for the entire year).
On March 1, 1579 the Golden Hind took the Spanish galleon Nuestra
Señora de la Concepción, which had the largest treasure captured to
that date - over 360,000 Pesos. The six tons of treasure took six
days to transship.
1585 – Returned to the Caribbean and piracy.
1587 – Attacked Cadiz, burned part of the unfinished Armada.
1588 – Participated in the defeat of the Invincible Armada.
1595 – Returned to the Caribbean to help John Hawkins.
1596 – Died of dysentery near Panama, buried at sea.
Drake and the Golden Hind
Sir Martin Frobisher
The fifth child of a farmer,
raised by a relative in London.
 1553 became a sailor.
 1565 rose to a Captain.
 1577 reached North America
with 3 ships.
 1578 led 15 ship armada to
North America
 1585 sailed with F. Drake
 1588 defeated the Armada
 1594 shot in battle with Spain,
died a few days later.
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The Invincible Armada
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130 Spanish ships with 26
000 men and 30 000
more waiting in Belgium
sailed to attack England
for supporting the
Netherlands in 1588.
3 pirates lead a navy of
34 frigates and 160 pirate
ships.
Helped by the poor
weather the English won
decisive victory.
The Buccaneers
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The buccaneers were pirates or privateers who
attacked Spanish, and later French, shipping in the West
Indies during the 17th and 18th centuries.
The status of buccaneers as pirates or privateers was
ambiguous. As a rule, the buccaneers called themselves
privateers, and many sailed under the protection of a
letter of marque granted by British or French authorities.
The legal status of buccaneers was still further obscured
by the practice of the Spanish authorities, who regarded
them as heretics and interlopers, and thus hanged or
garroted captured buccaneers entirely without regard to
whether their attacks were licensed by French or English
monarchs.
Famous Buccaneers
Stede Bonnet, a rich Barbadian land owner,
turned pirate solely in search of adventure.
Bonnet captained the Revenge. Primarily raiding
ships off the Virginia coast in 1717, he was
caught and hanged for piracy in 1718.
 Edward Teach, more commonly known as
Blackbeard, ruled the seas with an iron fist from
1716 to 1718. Blackbeard's most famous ship
was the Queen Anne's Revenge, in response to
the end of Queen Anne's War. Blackbeard was
killed by one of Lieutenant Robert Maynard's
crewmen in 1718.
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Buccaneers – cont.
"Black Sam" Bellamy, captain of the Whydah
Gally, sunk in 1717 in a storm.
 Bartholomew Roberts, sometimes called "Black
Bart", was one of the most successful and
colorful pirates of the day. He was killed off the
coast of Africa in 1722.
 William Fly, whose execution in 1726 is used by
historian Marcus Rediker to mark the end of the
Age of Pirates.
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Henry Morgan
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Son of a welsh squire.
Moved to Jamaica to live with
uncle.
1663 Joined the largest Pirate
expedition of 14 ships, 1400
pirates under Sir Christopher
Myngs
1665 commanded his own ship.
1667-1669 – series of attacks on
Spanish towns.
1671 – conquered Panama
1674 – knighted and appointed
Governor of Jamaica
François L'Olonnais
1650’s came to
Caribbean as an
indentured servant.
 1660 became a pirate
 1667 most famous
voyage – sacked
Maracaibo, Venezuela
 1668 eaten by a
native tribe in
Honduras
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Pirate Democracy
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A hundred years before the French Revolution,
the buccaneer companies were run on lines in
which liberty, equality and brotherhood were the
rule, although only for white members of the
crew. In a buccaneer ship, the captain was
elected and could be deposed by the votes of
the crew. The crew, and not the captain,
decided the destination of each voyage and
whether to attack a particular ship.Spoils were
evenly divided into shares; the captain received
an agreed amount for the ship, plus a portion of
the share of the prize money,usually five shares.
The End of Piracy
As Spanish power waned toward the end of the
17th century, the buccaneers' attacks began to
disrupt France and England's merchant traffic
with Spanish America. Merchants who had
previously regarded the buccaneers as a defense
against Spain now saw them as a threat to
commerce, and colonial authorities grew hostile.
This change in political atmosphere, more than
anything else, put an end to buccaneering.
 The War of Spanish Succession ended in 1713
and this became the beginning of the end for
pirates in the Caribbean.
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The End