Pirates Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues


Pirates

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Of all the renegades in Britain's age of outlaws,

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pirates were the most pursued.

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Hunted down on the high seas, their bloody exploits would be

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followed by an appalled but enthralled public.

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In May 1701, the corpse of a convicted pirate

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was brought downriver from Execution Dock,

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to the lower reaches of the Thames,

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here, at Tilbury Point.

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The body was tarred to preserve it,

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and then hung in chains above the shoreline

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The body was that of Captain William Kidd,

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whose exploits and downfall had so captivated the country.

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Kidd's corpse was displayed here as a dire warning to all seafarers

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entering the great Port of London to resist the temptations of piracy.

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Kidd was the product of an era of feverish mercantile expansion,

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powered by a vast network of seaborne trade.

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By plundering this global movement of commodities and riches,

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pirates became the most wanted outlaws in the world.

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With flamboyant names like Blackbeard,

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Calico Jack and Black Bart,

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pirate captains would become infamous beyond the seas.

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And through ballads, plays and books,

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they would be transformed into legend.

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And that transformation from reality to mythic outlaw

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is one of the most enduring historical puzzles of the period.

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I'm going to take to the seas to explore

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just how this change happened...

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..and examine the devastating impact of these swashbuckling adventurers.

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Captain Kidd's tarred corpse would rot away here

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over several years, until the birds had picked his carcass clean.

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But this warning went unheeded,

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for the golden age of piracy was only just beginning.

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For a man who would come to be seen as heralding an age of piracy,

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Captain Kidd had never set out to be a pirate at all.

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By the late 1690s with the escalation

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of the Nine Years War against France, Kidd,

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as a highly experienced sailor,

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saw the opportunity to make his fortune -

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not as a pirate but as a privateer.

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Piracy was outright robbery on the high seas, but privateers

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were mercenaries issued with a licence by the government

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to loot the merchant ships

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flying the colours of England's enemies at sea.

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Their licence was issued in the form of a letter of marque

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and reprisal. And this one, dated 11 December 1695,

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is Kidd's own privateering commission,

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granted and signed by no less than the King of England himself,

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William III.

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But this wasn't quite as it seemed because there was a

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second commission, this one to hunt down pirates in the Indian Ocean

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whose plundering was seriously disrupting trade with the East.

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Now, this venture was cooked up by a shady

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syndicate of some of the most powerful men in England

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who would all share from the spoils of Kidd's enterprise.

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And with the king himself due to get a 10% share

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in the profits, the stakes were very high.

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Failure was not an option.

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And yet Kidd's misfortune was to begin almost as soon as he set sail.

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As his ship, the Adventure Galley, slipped down the Thames

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here at Greenwich, Kidd, armed with a new-found arrogance

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from having an actual royal commission -

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believing himself above the law - refused to dip his flag and fire

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a salute at a royal yacht as he passed, which was against all custom.

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And when - outraged - the captain of the yacht

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fired a shot as a reminder,

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Kidd's crew responded with a surprising display of impudence.

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They climbed the yards and slapped their backsides in disdain.

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SHOUTING

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The response was harsher than they could have ever expected.

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Because of Kidd's failure to salute,

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the captain of the naval yacht retaliated by boarding his ship and

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press-ganging most of his carefully hand-picked men into naval service.

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With only a skeleton crew, Kidd set course for Madagascar, known

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to be the great pirate bolthole of the Indian Ocean for its good

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anchorage and strategic position on important Mughal trade routes

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from India, then being exploited by Europe's maritime powers.

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We're talking about an age of tremendous colonial rivalry.

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France, Spain, Holland and England,

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all endeavouring

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to create colonies and to conquer land.

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And so you've got a lot of merchant ships of different nations

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competing to get more money out of the Caribbean,

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or India and from the Far East.

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And pirates aren't fools,

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they gather where the trade routes are narrowing and they can pounce.

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Within sight of Madagascar, Kidd suffered a major setback

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when a third of his crew perished with cholera,

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and the only new recruits

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he could find turned out to be former pirates -

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men who had already turned to piracy and expected Kidd to do the same.

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Kidd's bad luck persisted.

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After several more months without plunder or prizes

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and facing the very real prospect of returning home empty-handed,

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Kidd made the grave decision to leave the Indian Ocean

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and head for the Red Sea, a rich area full of Mughal merchants

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and wealthy pilgrims travelling to and from Mecca.

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Kidd's presence there

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all but announced that he had turned to piracy.

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After a devastating raid on an Indian Mughal fleet

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by a pirate named Captain Henry Every two years before,

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the East India Company, whose monopoly on trade

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with the Indian subcontinent depended on the continuing patronage

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of the vastly rich Mughal Empire,

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was extremely wary of it happening again.

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But Kidd's crew now put increasing pressure on him

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to take prizes, no matter what flag they sailed under.

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In desperation, Kidd attacked a Mughal merchant convoy,

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technically his first foray into piracy.

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But when he was repelled, tensions between Kidd

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and his crew spilled over.

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The ship's gunner, William Moore, claimed that he had brought

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the crew to ruin and desolation,

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upon which Kidd picked up a heavy iron hooped bucket

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and brought it down on Moore's head

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with such ferocity that he fractured his skull, and Moore later died.

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Admiralty law allowed captains a degree of leeway in the use

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of violence, but this was murder.

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Kidd remained unrepentant, though, confident that his good friends

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in England would save him from prosecution.

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And still feeling empowered by his letter of marque from the king,

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he now grew more and more reckless.

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In January 1698, after some minor successes,

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Kidd took his greatest prize -

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a 400-tonne Armenian ship called the Quedagh Merchant, which

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was sailing with French passes for which Kidd had a licence to attack.

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However, when he discovered that its cargo was owned

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by a Mughal nobleman, he tried to hand the ship back

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but his crew refused.

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Wishing to avoid a full mutiny, Kidd relented and kept his new prize.

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But when news reached London, various naval commanders were

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sent out to pursue and seize the said Kidd and his accomplices

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for the notorious piracies that they had committed.

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Now a wanted man with several English men of war in pursuit

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and with the East India Company baying for his blood,

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Kidd made sail for Boston, where his friend, Lord Bellomont,

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the Governor of New York, had promised him safe refuge.

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But Kidd was sailing into a trap that would land him in the dock.

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This here is a letter from Lord Bellomont

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which he had sent to Captain Kidd.

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Lord Bellomont had financed all of Kidd's expeditions

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and they had been friendly with each other.

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You can see in the language of the letter here, he's saying,

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"Do not be discouraged by the false reports of ill men" -

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-don't believe what people are telling you.

-OK.

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"Yes, you may be assured of my having interest employed

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"to do you all the service that I can."

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He's going to do everything he can to help him.

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But actually, he was luring Captain Kidd to Boston

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to get him arrested.

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Lord Bellomont did not want to be associated with piracy at all,

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-whatsoever.

-OK.

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So he used that previous friendship to get Kidd.

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But unfortunately, when he arrived in Boston,

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he was then thrown in prison.

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Do we think Kidd was a bit gullible here?

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Was he just relying on a sense of trust that had existed before?

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I think Kidd was desperate at this point, to be honest.

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I think he knew that, unbeknownst to him, somehow he had been accused

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of piracy when he did not believe he was a pirate, and so

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he was going to take any means he could to try to protect himself.

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It seems clear to me that Kidd hasn't been unfairly

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labelled as a pirate - he was clearly a pirate. He attacked

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the ships of a nation, and he didn't have a licence to do so.

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I think Kidd was a pirate, but I think above everything else,

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he was a scapegoat.

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And this is because just a few years before, a pirate named Henry Every

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had disrupted trade between the Moguls and the East India Company.

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And then, just a couple of years later,

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Captain Kidd does the same thing.

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The Moguls then threatened to cut off all trade,

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which would have practically bankrupted the East India Company.

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Britain had to make Kidd an example to the Moguls that,

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yes, they would take care of piracy in the most brutal fashion,

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so they could show the world exactly what would happen to a pirate

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if they threatened trade and the British economy.

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So what we have here is an indication of just how

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much of a show trial this was.

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This lengthy document that I'm holding is the actual trial

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transcription - verbatim - of Captain Kidd's trial.

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-And this sold out, because it sold so many copies.

-Wow.

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At this point, pretty much everybody knew who Captain Kidd was

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because his crimes had been reported in newspapers for several years

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on both sides of the Atlantic.

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People were fascinated with pirates because these were maritime outlaws

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committing their crimes thousands of miles away.

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They didn't declare allegiance to their formal countries,

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they were these people who had social mobility

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that nobody else had.

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And people wouldn't be able to see them until their execution.

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What was the scene like at Kidd's execution?

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Well, actually, I can show you that, Sam,

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because there's a picture here, in The Newgate Calendar.

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So this here is a pirate being executed at Execution Dock.

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This is how Captain Kidd would have been executed.

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You can see the noose is around his neck.

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Here's the crowd of people.

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And here we have the admiralty marshal

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sitting on his horse.

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And in his hand, you can see right here the silver oar

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of the admiralty. The silver oar was always present at these executions.

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-I've actually got the silver oar...

-Ah-ha!

-..that was used

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-at Captain Kidd's trial and execution.

-How extraordinary.

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Let's have a look.

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-There it is.

-So there it is.

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As you can see, it's got all the symbols.

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That's definitely the Tudor arms.

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This is the garnet and coronet of James Stuart, the Duke of York.

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That's very clearly the fouled anchor which was

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-the symbol of the admiralty.

-Yes.

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A very powerful symbol of maritime authority.

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It was, yes, definitely.

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Everyone who would see it would know exactly what it meant.

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However, there's one further

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and even more compelling artefact

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from Kidd's darkest days.

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And it's this, a letter from Captain Kidd to Sir Robert Harley,

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the leader of the Tories.

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It's Kidd's last desperate attempt to save himself from the noose.

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And what's particularly interesting are these few lines.

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"That in my late proceedings in the Indies, I have lodged goods

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"and treasure to the value of £100,000,

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"which I desire the Government may have the benefit of."

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It's a massive bribe and the promise of an enormous stash of loot.

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This is Kidd's real legacy,

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the founding myth of buried pirate treasure.

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The secret location of Kidd's treasure - if it ever existed -

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has never been found, even though there continue to be

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claims of its discovery up to this very day.

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Kidd had highlighted not only the easy seduction of piracy,

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but also how privateers quickly

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became a hindrance and were shut down by the Government when they

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ceased to serve the interests of the nation and its expanding Empire.

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The Government's attitude to piracy changed because of the exploits

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of Kidd,

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because they damaged British trade,

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and Britain's future was going to be

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a great maritime nation, this was accepted already.

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This was the way that a small island could get global power.

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So obviously, piracy, which people had winked at before

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cos it simply damaged the Spanish or other people that people

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didn't really care about, now it was a problem,

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and it had to be suppressed.

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But far from suppressing the pirate menace,

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Kidd's very public humiliation only served to heighten

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the fascination with these maritime outlaws

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and, in particular, it now rekindled a feverish interest in the elusive

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Captain Henry Every, the one pirate who had got away.

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Every had made the most profitable pirate raid in history when,

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in September 1695, he captured the Ganj-i-Sawai,

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a heavily-armed Mughal trading ship

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carrying over £600,000 worth of precious metal and jewels,

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the equivalent of £52 million in today's money.

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For his actions, a bounty of £1,000 had been put on his head,

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leading to the first worldwide manhunt in recorded history.

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But unlike Captain Kidd,

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Every slipped the net and rumours abounded

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for years that he had ended up in a pirate republic called Libertalia.

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As the story goes, Libertalia was a place where people were equal,

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and goods were shared, and laws were fair.

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And the pirates flew a white flag as opposed to a black flag

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to show that, you know, there was no threat

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and people were free under this flag.

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And stories like that, of course, are a great threat to society

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back home, which is tremendously unequal and very harsh.

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Fugitive outlaws had always caught the public imagination,

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and Every was no exception.

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Stories of his big prize, his vanishing act

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and his pirate utopia passed between deckhands

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across the oceans and returned to England

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in the form of popular ballads.

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And this one was purportedly penned by Every himself.

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# Now, this is the course

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# I intended for to steer

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# My false-hearted nation

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# To you I declare... #

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If Every was indeed the author of this ballad,

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then he was not only fuelling his own infamy, but spreading sedition.

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Ballads were very dangerous things.

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They were banned in periods of political unrest

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because you could turn a populace like that by singing ballads.

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It doesn't seem likely to us today.

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Ballads particularly appealed to the lower classes.

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They were very accessible - they were sold on the streets

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and they were just printed on single sheets of paper on one side.

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And if you couldn't read very well, well, the balladmonger would sing

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the ballad in order to attract a crowd

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and make their sales.

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For the price of a few pennies - or nothing at all

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if you could remember it - you were up-to-date with the latest news.

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# I have done thee no wrong

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# Thou must me forgive

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# The sword shall maintain me

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# As long as I live. #

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Whilst pirates clearly had mass appeal,

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what was now surprising was that,

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amongst the chattering classes, swashbucklers like Every

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and tales of his remarkable disappearance

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became the fashionable new topic.

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And it was a play based on Every which did much to foster

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the legend of the pirate as a brave outlaw.

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The Successful Pirate

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opened at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in 1712.

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Set as a tragic comedy, it cast Every as a self-styled

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king of the pirates and features a rum bunch of incompetents

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hotly debating the virtues of piracy.

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Come on now, sir, I'll oppose you with his faults.

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Is he not extremely violent and intemperate with his desires?

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Granted. A hero should be, though.

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That immoderate desire for power,

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that unquenchable appetite for rule

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that has long been dignified

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by the slaves of tyrants.

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But he is no tyrant!

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Therefore, 'tis virtue in him to desire power.

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The public absolutely loved it, much to the irritation of the critics,

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one of whom was outraged by the way that it glamorised villainy in

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making a swabber - a mere deckhand -

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into the hero of a tragedy.

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Notwithstanding all you've said,

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he is still only an overgrown thief!

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Why, the worst you hypocrites of order can say -

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and it is to his immortal honour -

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is that he has leapt the pale of custom and is a royal outlaw!

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But for one member of the audience -

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the writer and journalist Daniel Defoe -

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the play was proof enough of the pirate's broad cultural appeal.

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With his customary journalistic chutzpah,

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Defoe was to capitalise on the pirates' appeal

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and their ambiguous morality, not only in Robinson Crusoe

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but in several of his books,

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making him, in effect, the first pirate novelist.

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But there was another book published in this period which

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surpassed all others in chronicling the lives

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and exploits of the pirates of the great golden age.

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Now, I was brought up on stories of real pirates,

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and they were all inspired by this book.

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As titles go, it's pretty difficult to beat.

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A General History Of The Robberies And Murders

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Of The Most Notorious Pirates.

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This was the pirate brilliantly

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packaged and neatly presented,

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and the public absolutely loved it.

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The book tapped into a growing vogue for criminal biography,

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but its author - a Captain Charles Johnson -

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remains a mystery figure, as elusive as many of the pirates themselves.

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Johnson displayed such a detailed knowledge of the life

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and language of the sea,

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that it was thought by many that he must have been a retired sea captain,

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that he'd perhaps attended pirate trials,

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or even interviewed pirate crewmen.

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But there has also been a long-standing

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and far more intriguing belief that Johnson was merely

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a pseudonym for our old friend, Daniel Defoe.

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Within that slim volume are the detailed lives of

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20 or so celebrated pirates.

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And it has become a sort of touchstone for piracy.

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And it's been used as the basis, really, for the golden age

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of pirates.

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And what I've found fascinating over the years,

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as I've done research in different areas,

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is it all checks out.

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The capture of ships and what the various pirates did with

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the crew and did with the ships -

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totally authentic.

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And one of the most surprising details of Johnson's book

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is its account of a democratic code of conduct,

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or the Pirate's Code as it was generally known.

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The Pirate's Code provided rules for discipline for the fair

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division of plundered loot, and it even set aside specific

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sums of money for injuries sustained to different parts of the body.

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For example, in pirate currency, the most highly valued

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part of your body was your right arm,

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for which you received 600 of these - pieces of eight.

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Your left arm was valued at 100 less,

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and your legs at 100 less again.

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Bizarrely, a finger and an eye were equally valued at 100 pieces,

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but I suspect that you had to make your own eye patch.

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Seamen had a very harsh life.

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They worked for long hours for years for very low pay.

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When tales came back about pirates running their ships

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on more democratic lines - made joint decisions and decisions

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in common and shared their supplies -

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this would never have happened on a navy ship or a merchant ship.

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And this is egalitarian.

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So, a pirate crew could easily find its numbers swelled by sailors

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desperate to escape an oppressive ship

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and more than happy to switch allegiance and sail

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under the black flag.

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And the lure of the black flag was to become far greater

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following the end of the War of the Spanish Succession

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in 1713,

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which not only saw Atlantic trade resume

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but also witnessed thousands of British seamen relieved

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of military duty.

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The result was a large number of idle but highly trained

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sailors at a time of considerable seaborne trade, as all of the

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European maritime powers sought to expand their colonial empires.

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Now a great deal of money could be made transporting goods

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on this network. But if you knew that network,

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you could of course just steal it, which is why peacetime provided

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so many opportunities for the maritime outlaw.

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This was especially so in the seas around the West Indies,

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with its lucrative trade in sugar and, more notoriously, slaves.

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There were ships all over the place - merchant ships -

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waiting to be plundered.

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So you had in the Bahamas a whole lot of unemployed seamen,

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adventurers, out-of-work privateers and pirates, all waiting for action.

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It became so full of people looting and raping and whatever

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that it became, in a way, what we would call now a failed state.

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During the War of the Spanish Succession,

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Nassau, in the Bahamas,

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had been utterly ransacked and left in ruins.

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By 1715, still ungoverned and undefended,

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it had become a pirate haven.

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By the following year, the pirate population outnumbered

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Nassau's law-abiding citizens by ten to one.

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It had become, in effect, a pirate republic -

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a sprawling encampment of carousing, fornicating sailors,

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funding their profligate lifestyles with plunder.

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It seemed as though Captain Every's mythical pirate kingdom

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had come alive.

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One of the rising ringleaders of this new encampment of renegades

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was a tall, robust Englishman from Bristol named Edward Teach.

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By March 1717, Teach had formed a company of 70 men aboard

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his six-gun sloop and had begun to cultivate a formidable reputation.

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His flag was soon the most feared on the horizon.

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And with his mane of coarse, dark locks,

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he now went by the catchy new name of Blackbeard.

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The skull and crossbones has been a symbol of death

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since the Middle Ages. And in this great period, the pirates adopted it

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as their own menacing symbol, with each captain having his own version.

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And unsurprisingly for Blackbeard who was obsessed with his image,

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his flag had it all.

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If ever there was a symbol to strike fear into the heart of your victim,

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then this was it.

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A skeleton holds an hourglass in one hand,

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to show you that your time is running out,

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and a spear in the other,

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threatening to draw blood from your heart if you do not surrender.

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And if this wasn't enough, Blackbeard added horns and cloven feet

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to his skeleton to signify that he was in league with the devil.

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Sailors during the early 18th century

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were almost universally superstitious.

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And aside from the sight of Blackbeard's flag,

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the sight of the man himself was enough to cause the crews

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of merchant ships to surrender.

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His reputation rests entirely on his appearance,

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which was vividly recorded in Captain Johnson's book.

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"This beard was black

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"which he suffered to grow of an extravagant length.

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"As to breadth, it came up to his eyes.

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"He was accustomed to twist it with ribbons and small tails,

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"and turn them about his ears.

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"In time of action, he wore a sling over his shoulders

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"with three brace of pistols hanging in holster like bandoliers

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"and stuck lighted matches under his hat,

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"which appearing on each side of his face,

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"his eyes naturally looking fierce and wild,

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"made him altogether such a figure that imagination

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"cannot form an idea of a fury from hell to look more frightful."

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Blackbeard was ruthless.

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On one occasion when a victim didn't voluntarily offer up

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the ring on his finger, he simply cut it off, ring and all.

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And he wasn't above maiming his own crew.

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We also know that he shot his second mate, Israel Hands,

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in the knee just to remind him who was boss.

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If Blackbeard looked like a walking arsenal,

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then it was for a very good reason.

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Flintlock pistols like this only fired a single shot,

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and they were also notoriously unreliable at sea.

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So if your pistol failed to fire because of a damp charge,

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you could go straight on to the next one.

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And then when both were used up, you still had your cutlass.

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One of the most important articles of the Pirate's Code

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was to "Keep your pistols and cutlass clean and fit for service,"

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especially in the run-up to an attack.

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They would all be on deck waving cutlasses, firing in the air.

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And as they came alongside, they would also throw a primitive

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form of hand grenade onto the deck of the merchant ship,

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which caused chaos, and send over a grapnel rope

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and pull themselves alongside, by which stage, normally,

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the petrified crew, not used to battle, just said, "We surrender."

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Blackbeard's reign of terror lasted two years.

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Tormenting the American Eastern Seaboard

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from the Caribbean to North Carolina, he plundered sugar,

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rum and loot from a series of English merchant vessels.

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But following his ruthless blockade of Charlestown Harbour

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in May 1718,

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the governor of Virginia issued a warrant for Blackbeard's arrest,

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with a reward of £100 for his capture -

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dead or alive.

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Lieutenant Robert Maynard of HMS Pearl was despatched to hunt

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him down and eventually tracked him to the shallows of Ocracoke Inlet.

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Blackbeard raised a bottle of liquor in salutation and declared that

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Maynard and his crew were cowardly puppies,

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before calling out to them,

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"Damnation seize my soul, if I give you quarters or take any from you."

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Blackbeard was ready for a fight.

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The ensuing battle was brief and bloodthirsty.

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As the ships closed in, Blackbeard's men hurled bottle grenades.

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And using grappling hooks and boarding axes,

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they clambered on board.

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But Maynard had hidden most of his crew below deck,

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and they now took the pirates by surprise, engaging in furious

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hand-to-hand combat, with Blackbeard coming up against Maynard himself.

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Holding his cutlass aloft, Blackbeard lunged with such ferocity

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that he sheared off Maynard's blade near the hilt.

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But coming for him again, Blackbeard was surrounded

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and hit from all sides.

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Riddled with shot and cut to ribbons,

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Blackbeard then suffered a terrible wound to his neck

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from a Scotsman wielding a broadsword.

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"Well done, lad," said Blackbeard,

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before staggering but cocking his pistol again.

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"I'll do better," said the Scotsman,

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before hacking away at his neck again deeply,

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killing that great man dead on his own deck.

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With their captain's fighting spirit,

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Blackbeard's men fought on but were soon overcome.

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As proof of Blackbeard's death

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and in order to collect the reward of £100,

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Maynard called for Blackbeard's head to be severed...

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..and hung up on the bowsprit.

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The rest of Blackbeard's corpse was then thrown overboard,

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whereupon hitting the water, according to legend,

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it then swam several times around the sloop,

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searching for its own severed head, before sinking without trace.

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Because of his fearsome reputation,

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Blackbeard's death was seen as a major

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coup in the war against piracy and, in propaganda terms, as significant

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as the trial and hanging of Captain Kidd.

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But even with Blackbeard gone,

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there were still some 2,000 pirates roving the seas.

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The colonies were facing what amounted to an imperial crisis.

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We've got the golden-age pirates rampaging across the Caribbean.

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They're disrupting trade, the colonial governors

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are complaining to London, "You've got to do something about it."

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The Governor of Jamaica is saying, "I can't send a ship in or out

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"without it being captured by pirates."

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And one of the things the authorities do, they get onto

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the admiralty and they say, "Send more ships to the Caribbean."

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So it actually becomes part of the brief of the navy

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to suppress the pirates.

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The naval ships that were sent out tended to be

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what are called sixth-rate ships - they were about 40 guns or so -

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and they were powerful vessels. But they were quite big -

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they weren't able to go into shallow estuaries and bays.

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The pirates selected mostly what are called sloops.

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They were relatively shallow draft compared with the naval ships,

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so they could sneak in and out of estuaries and bays

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and channels that the naval ships couldn't get into.

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But naval ships...

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If there were only four to cover the entire Caribbean

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and there were, what, 200 to 300 pirate ships operating

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in that same area, the naval ships couldn't be everywhere at once.

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So the navy had a difficult job and, in a way,

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the pirates had the advantage.

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But as the Government soon realised,

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it would take more than deploying a few more naval ships.

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In 1717, under the new king, George I,

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one of the measures taken to quell the pirate menace was the issue

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of a royal proclamation -

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an Act of Grace -

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in which the king promised that any pirate who voluntarily

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surrendered himself to British authorities within a year

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would receive his most gracious pardon.

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One of the pirates who took advantage of this amnesty,

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albeit briefly, was Captain John Rackham,

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whose colourful cotton clothes

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earned him the equally colourful nickname of Calico Jack.

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Calico Jack achieved lasting fame,

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not for his actions which amounted to seizing

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a handful of vessels in the seas off Jamaica but for his association

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with two of his crew members, which became one of the most beguiling

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and frankly suspect episodes of the entire golden age of piracy.

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It was whilst taking advantage of the pirate amnesty

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and frequenting the taverns of Nassau that Calico Jack met

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and courted a bold young Irishwoman named Anne Bonny.

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And with his return to piracy soon after,

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he took her to sea. And she joined his crew, dressing in men's clothes.

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Now, here the story takes a rather brilliant turn.

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When Calico Jack's sloop, Revenge, captured a merchant ship,

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he acquired a young sailor by the name of Mark Read.

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Now, Anne Bonny, who was serving on Jack's crew dressed in men's

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clothes, took a bit of a fancy to this young sailor,

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and in a quiet moment alone, revealed to him that she was in fact a woman.

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Upon which, Mark Read revealed that he was also a woman named Mary.

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In late 1720, a merchant sea captain named Jonathan Barnet,

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with a commission to hunt down pirates, took Calico Jack and his

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crew by surprise whilst they enjoyed a rum party anchored off Jamaica.

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Jack and his men were too drunk to fight and fled to the hold,

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leaving only Bonny and Read to resist.

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The two women flew at Barnet's men like furies,

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firing their pistols, wielding their cutlasses and axes,

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and shouting obscenities as they went.

0:39:170:39:20

But they were unable to rouse their crew who tamely gave up,

0:39:200:39:23

with Calico Jack himself calling for quarter.

0:39:230:39:27

Calico Jack's female crew members would end up behind bars,

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but their exploits have posed questions ever since.

0:39:340:39:37

And for leading folk musician Martha Tilston,

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their story has provided the inspiration for a new composition

0:39:410:39:45

which she has asked me to perform with her.

0:39:450:39:47

Martha, it's really exciting that you've written

0:39:470:39:49

a ballad about pirates because ballads were the way that

0:39:490:39:52

the activities of the pirates, which happened thousands of miles away,

0:39:520:39:55

were brought home and sold to the masses.

0:39:550:39:57

You're part of a long tradition.

0:39:570:39:58

Well, I imagine it was totally fascinating for people to hear this,

0:39:580:40:01

especially for women who maybe were not in a situation

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where they were having a particularly adventurous life,

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or living a life that was very sort of stuck at home.

0:40:060:40:08

To read about that is a way of escaping, or to hear about it.

0:40:080:40:11

So you'd pass the story round. But it would have spread.

0:40:110:40:14

I think the news and the story would have spread because a good story is

0:40:140:40:17

spread through music and storytelling at that time.

0:40:170:40:20

You've written a duet, so there's a male voice,

0:40:200:40:23

the voice of the jailor who's taking Anne Bonny off to her cell.

0:40:230:40:25

-Yeah.

-And then Anne Bonny and Mary Read singing.

0:40:250:40:27

Well, I wanted to get the male and the female.

0:40:270:40:29

I think what was beautiful about the lady pirates is

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they were out in this fairly male world, but there was a good

0:40:320:40:34

female presence there, and it's nice to put that across.

0:40:340:40:37

And also the voice of the law and the outlaw, I guess, so...

0:40:370:40:40

-Let's give it a go.

-OK.

0:40:400:40:42

# Oh, step aside, I'm Anne Bonny

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# I am a lady pirate

0:40:540:40:57

# And there's more beside me out on the sea

0:40:570:41:00

# All dressed in manly fare

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# Climbing up the rigging

0:41:030:41:06

# Leaping down with the moon on our blades

0:41:060:41:11

# On the edge of life, we're living

0:41:110:41:14

# And we'll take if you're not giving

0:41:140:41:17

# Then we'll slip away

0:41:170:41:19

# Into the velvet night

0:41:190:41:24

# Oh, come with me, Anne Bonny

0:41:260:41:29

# I'll show you to your cell

0:41:290:41:32

# An outlaw is an outlaw

0:41:320:41:35

# And you all hang just as well

0:41:350:41:39

# And you all hang just as well

0:41:390:41:41

# But you thought that we never could tell

0:41:410:41:44

# But you didn't hide your shape so well

0:41:440:41:51

# Thrown like a barrel over the ocean, oh

0:41:510:41:54

-# And we had you pinned

-No, you never knew

0:41:540:41:57

# Thrown like a barrel over the ocean, oh

0:41:570:42:00

# And you fought as well

0:42:000:42:02

-# Like a man

-Down went Calico and Mary, oh

0:42:020:42:06

# But hanged I will never be

0:42:060:42:09

# Free as a herring gull on the ocean, oh

0:42:090:42:12

# You'll sing my name through history

0:42:120:42:16

# Ooh, ooh, ooh... #

0:42:160:42:18

There's something really romantic and very attractive about the idea

0:42:180:42:22

of these female pirates out, and were they dressed up as men or not,

0:42:220:42:24

and why were they dressed up as men and...

0:42:240:42:26

I mean, for me, my instinct when I read about it, or heard about it,

0:42:260:42:29

was that that's just going to be easier to climb the rigging

0:42:290:42:32

if they haven't got skirts on.

0:42:320:42:33

I can imagine that when they were taking over other ships

0:42:330:42:36

or when they were in battle,

0:42:360:42:37

that sort of to not obviously be a woman might be advantageous.

0:42:370:42:41

But I can't imagine they hid the fact that they were women

0:42:410:42:45

for that amount of time on a ship with loads of men.

0:42:450:42:47

No, and that's the thing, I think, that really stands out for me.

0:42:470:42:50

-I'd like to think that all of the men knew they were women and...

-Yeah.

0:42:500:42:53

For sure they would. I can't imagine how you'd do it,

0:42:530:42:55

but also why would you do it.

0:42:550:42:57

Calico Jack was her lover, so...

0:42:570:42:58

I mean how would she keep that from the whole ship?

0:42:580:43:01

# We commandeered a ship one day

0:43:010:43:04

# Out on the stormy seas

0:43:040:43:07

# And of the men that joined us

0:43:070:43:09

# There was one young Mary Read

0:43:090:43:12

# She was dressed in manly fare

0:43:120:43:15

# We became a savage pair

0:43:150:43:18

# We rode the waves with the moon in our hair

0:43:180:43:24

# Thrown like a barrel over the ocean, oh

0:43:240:43:28

-# And we had you pinned

-No, you never knew

0:43:280:43:30

# Thrown like a barrel over the ocean, oh

0:43:300:43:34

-# And you fought us well

-Like a man

0:43:340:43:36

# Down went Calico and Mary, oh

0:43:360:43:40

# But I will never be hanged

0:43:400:43:42

# Free as a herring gull on the ocean, oh

0:43:420:43:46

# You sing my name through history

0:43:460:43:50

# Oooh, ooh-ooh... #

0:43:500:43:56

Legislation passed since Captain Kidd's trial

0:44:010:44:05

meant that admiralty law could now be administered in the colonies,

0:44:050:44:08

that the accused did not need to be sent back to England.

0:44:080:44:13

Unsurprisingly, Jack and his men were found guilty at the ensuing

0:44:130:44:16

trial and were sentenced to death.

0:44:160:44:19

Now, in prison, Jack was allowed to see Anne one last time,

0:44:190:44:22

but far from pitying him,

0:44:220:44:24

she brazenly reprimanded him for their capture.

0:44:240:44:28

"Had you fought like a man," she scowled,

0:44:280:44:30

"you need not have been hanged like a dog."

0:44:300:44:34

It was at the point of their sentencing that Bonny

0:44:340:44:37

and Read's story took its last and most dramatic twist.

0:44:370:44:41

When the judge passed sentence, he asked them

0:44:420:44:45

if they had anything to say.

0:44:450:44:47

The ladies replied, "My lord, we plead our bellies."

0:44:470:44:51

They claimed that they were pregnant.

0:44:510:44:53

The judge ordered a physical examination to be undertaken,

0:44:530:44:56

and both women were indeed found to be pregnant,

0:44:560:44:59

and both were granted a stay of execution.

0:44:590:45:02

For Mary Read, however, this was no happy resolution

0:45:100:45:15

as she contracted a fever soon after the trial and died in prison.

0:45:150:45:20

As for Anne Bonny,

0:45:270:45:29

there's no historical evidence that she was executed or released.

0:45:290:45:33

Like Captain Henry Every, she simply vanished.

0:45:330:45:37

Following his execution, Calico Jack's body -

0:45:510:45:55

like that of Captain Kidd -

0:45:550:45:56

was hanged in chains as a warning to others,

0:45:560:45:59

on a sandy spit off Port Royal in Jamaica, now know as Rackham's Cay.

0:45:590:46:05

But plenty of others would follow him to the gibbet.

0:46:060:46:09

Nassau, in the Bahamas, which had been a pirate republic of

0:46:260:46:30

lawless riot and drunken revelry

0:46:300:46:33

had been brought under control with the appointment

0:46:330:46:35

of Captain Woodes Rogers as the island's governor.

0:46:350:46:38

He continued to offer that royal pardon

0:46:380:46:41

and set about rebuilding the island's defences.

0:46:410:46:44

Captain Woodes Rogers is a key figure in the war

0:46:490:46:53

against the pirates.

0:46:530:46:54

He was a tough and resolute sea captain.

0:46:540:46:57

He had orders to drive the pirates from their lodgement.

0:46:570:47:01

And he goes out there with a fleet of ships,

0:47:010:47:04

gets a hostile reception, but he establishes order.

0:47:040:47:07

He captures some pirates

0:47:070:47:09

and he then sets up a show trial which he presides over.

0:47:090:47:14

Nine of them are hanged on the beach in front of the Fort of Nassau.

0:47:140:47:18

And this sent a signal, really, across the Caribbean

0:47:180:47:23

that there's a man in Nassau now who's in charge,

0:47:230:47:27

who's restoring order.

0:47:270:47:29

And in effect, it was an example to other colonial governors

0:47:290:47:34

that if you're tough with the pirates, you can get rid of them.

0:47:340:47:37

Following the clamp-down in the Caribbean, many of the pirates

0:47:410:47:45

set off across the Atlantic for other less well-patrolled waters.

0:47:450:47:49

And it was to the slave coast of West Africa that they headed.

0:47:580:48:02

It was in these waters just two years before

0:48:020:48:05

that one sailor had risen to prominence -

0:48:050:48:08

a pirate captain to eclipse all others -

0:48:080:48:12

in what was to be the final flourish of this age of plunder.

0:48:120:48:16

His name was Bartholomew Roberts,

0:48:200:48:22

an outspoken and disciplined man whose swarthy Welsh complexion

0:48:220:48:26

would lead to him being remembered as Black Bart.

0:48:260:48:29

Like many sailors of his generation, Bart had faced a dilemma

0:48:290:48:33

when his ship had been captured by pirates,

0:48:330:48:35

and he had reluctantly turned pirate.

0:48:350:48:38

But that reluctance was then blown out of the water

0:48:380:48:41

when his crew elected him captain.

0:48:410:48:44

"Since I have dipped my hands in muddy water," he surmised,

0:48:440:48:48

"it's better to be a commander than a common man."

0:48:480:48:52

Over the course of three years, from 1719,

0:49:030:49:07

Black Bart had wrought havoc among merchant shipping on both

0:49:070:49:11

sides of the Atlantic. And by the time he reached

0:49:110:49:14

the shores of Africa in June 1721,

0:49:140:49:17

he was in command of a flotilla of three vessels

0:49:170:49:20

in addition to his flagship, The Royal Fortune.

0:49:200:49:23

Such was the size and loyalty of his combined crew, that Black Bart's

0:49:310:49:36

little fleet seemed like a proper navy, especially when you

0:49:360:49:39

consider the way that he further formalised the Pirate's Code.

0:49:390:49:43

Amongst his articles or rules,

0:49:430:49:46

he stipulated that no-one was to game at cards or dice for money.

0:49:460:49:50

Anyone found seducing women or bringing them on board disguised

0:49:500:49:53

would suffer death.

0:49:530:49:55

Oh, and the lights and candles had to be out by 8.00pm.

0:49:550:49:59

So that's no fun, no women and you all had to be tucked up early.

0:49:590:50:02

Bartholomew Roberts was, in a way, the most resolute

0:50:040:50:08

and unbending of all pirates.

0:50:080:50:10

He was a rather puritanical character and, I should think,

0:50:100:50:13

completely terrifying to meet.

0:50:130:50:15

Those who did put up a fight with Bartholomew Roberts had

0:50:150:50:18

a really bad time and were usually eliminated in horrible ways -

0:50:180:50:23

I mean, not just cutting off ears and noses, but he would hang them

0:50:230:50:28

up in the rigging and use them for target practice.

0:50:280:50:30

And this was simply in order that the word would get around -

0:50:300:50:34

you don't mess around with Bartholomew Roberts.

0:50:340:50:36

Black Bart proved so elusive that those in pursuit began

0:50:430:50:47

to think he was invincible, beyond capture,

0:50:470:50:50

even pistol-proof, as his own crew described him.

0:50:500:50:54

However, there was one man -

0:50:540:50:56

Captain Chaloner Ogle of HMS Swallow -

0:50:560:50:59

who had been tracking Bart for some eight months,

0:50:590:51:01

and he was soon to find his quarry in his sights.

0:51:010:51:04

Sail ahoy! Sail ahoy!

0:51:070:51:10

When the cry came for sail ahoy,

0:51:100:51:12

Black Bart was enjoying a breakfast of strong tea -

0:51:120:51:15

because he abhorred liquor -

0:51:150:51:16

and salmagundi, a pirate speciality of pickled herring,

0:51:160:51:20

boiled eggs, meat and vegetables.

0:51:200:51:23

But for a man normally so disciplined and astute,

0:51:230:51:27

Black Bart had finally been caught out.

0:51:270:51:30

Looking through his telescope, he saw that the approaching ship

0:51:350:51:38

was using the old ruse de guerre of flying false flags,

0:51:380:51:43

and he quickly ordered his men to ready themselves for battle.

0:51:430:51:46

Black Bart, perhaps sensing that the fatal hour was upon him,

0:51:530:51:57

decided to go out in style and dressed gallantly for the engagement.

0:51:570:52:01

As Captain Johnson's General History Of The Pirates records,

0:52:020:52:07

"Roberts himself made a gallant figure,

0:52:070:52:10

"being dressed in a rich crimson damask waistcoat and breeches,

0:52:100:52:14

"a red feather in his hat,

0:52:140:52:16

"a gold chain round his neck with a cross hanging to it,

0:52:160:52:19

"a sword in his hand

0:52:190:52:21

"and two pairs of pistols hanging at the end of a silk sling,

0:52:210:52:25

"flung over his shoulders, according to the fashion of pirates."

0:52:250:52:29

Bart's plan was a characteristically bold one.

0:52:310:52:34

If he was to stand any chance of escape, he would need to force

0:52:340:52:37

that naval ship onto a new course, but that involved sailing

0:52:370:52:41

directly towards her, which would expose his ship to cannon fire.

0:52:410:52:45

The two ships closed on each other and exchanged broadsides.

0:52:480:52:53

Captain Ogle's ship, The Swallow, remained unscathed, but Black Bart's

0:52:530:52:58

lost its mizzenmast. Though, on it sailed, heading out into open sea.

0:52:580:53:03

However as the noise subsided

0:53:050:53:06

and the smoke cleared after that first broadside,

0:53:060:53:09

the helmsman noticed Bart slumped on deck on a pile of rigging.

0:53:090:53:13

Not realising he was injured, he swore at him to get up

0:53:130:53:16

and fight like a man.

0:53:160:53:18

But Bartholomew Roberts was dead.

0:53:180:53:20

His throat had been ripped out by grapeshot.

0:53:200:53:23

And before his body could be seized and taken as a trophy,

0:53:230:53:26

his faithful crew wrapped it in a sail,

0:53:260:53:28

weighed it down with shot, and consigned it to the deep.

0:53:280:53:31

A second broadside brought The Royal Fortune's mainmast down,

0:53:370:53:41

upon which Black Bart's crew -

0:53:410:53:43

with their spirits sunk and their captain gone -

0:53:430:53:46

called for quarter.

0:53:460:53:47

For his success, Captain Ogle was awarded a knighthood,

0:53:580:54:02

the only British naval officer to be honoured specifically

0:54:020:54:06

for his actions against pirates.

0:54:060:54:08

The battle, Black Bart's death and the subsequent trial

0:54:120:54:16

of his remaining crewmen at Cape Coast Castle,

0:54:160:54:19

on the coast of Ghana,

0:54:190:54:20

was to prove the turning point in the war against pirates.

0:54:200:54:24

And this is their death warrant -

0:54:350:54:37

a small piece of paper that would herald the end of an era.

0:54:370:54:41

"Ye and each of you are adjudged

0:54:430:54:45

"and sentenced to be carried back to the place from whence you came.

0:54:450:54:48

"From thence to the place of execution

0:54:480:54:51

"without the gates of this castle.

0:54:510:54:54

"And there, within the flood marks,

0:54:540:54:57

"to be hanged by the neck until you are dead, dead, dead."

0:54:570:55:02

Like Captain Kidd some 20 years before,

0:55:140:55:17

these 52 dead pirates swaying out across the Atlantic

0:55:170:55:22

were a stark reminder of the perils of piracy.

0:55:220:55:25

It was the greatest slaughter of pirates ever carried out

0:55:250:55:29

by the admiralty.

0:55:290:55:31

And in a stroke, it brought this brief and bloody age

0:55:310:55:34

to a dramatic finale.

0:55:340:55:35

Black Bart's short career had amounted to capturing

0:55:490:55:53

over 470 vessels and plundering riches worth

0:55:530:55:57

a total of around £20 million in today's money.

0:55:570:56:01

When the rewards so greatly outweighed the risks,

0:56:010:56:04

it's no wonder that so many sailors embraced the life of piracy.

0:56:040:56:09

In his book, Captain Johnson devotes more space to Black Bart than

0:56:110:56:15

to any of his contemporaries, and it includes a quote from Bart

0:56:150:56:19

himself that, for me, serves as a mantra for all pirates.

0:56:190:56:24

"In an honest service," says he,

0:56:240:56:26

"there is low wages and hard labour.

0:56:260:56:29

"In this, plenty and satiety, pleasure and ease,

0:56:290:56:33

"liberty and power.

0:56:330:56:35

"A merry life and a short one shall be my motto."

0:56:350:56:39

Now, what's that if not the Faustian pact of all outlaws?

0:56:390:56:43

As Georgian Britain's imperial

0:56:450:56:48

and mercantile ambitions marched on, so its navy grew in size

0:56:480:56:53

and strength, bolstered by vast numbers of sailors who only a

0:56:530:56:57

few years earlier, might have easily joined the ranks of the pirates.

0:56:570:57:01

They may have been a bunch of common outlaws, but these pirates

0:57:040:57:07

had shaken the very foundations of a fledgling empire that would spread

0:57:070:57:12

across the world once their lawless reign over the seas was ended.

0:57:120:57:15

And these maritime renegades left a powerful legacy.

0:57:240:57:27

Ordinary men - and women - forging new identities

0:57:280:57:32

and a dangerous vision of freedom

0:57:320:57:34

far removed from the authoritarian social order of Georgian Britain.

0:57:340:57:40

To the establishment they were "enemies of mankind".

0:57:400:57:44

But to the public, they became folk heroes,

0:57:440:57:47

and have remained so ever since.

0:57:470:57:50

It would seem that in this short but sensational period in our

0:57:500:57:53

history, it was the pirate and not Britannia who really ruled the waves.

0:57:530:57:58

Next time, outlaws come closer to home.

0:58:060:58:10

In the teeming cities of Georgian Britain

0:58:100:58:12

and with no established police force,

0:58:120:58:14

the thief, the robber and the cheat could live beyond the law.

0:58:140:58:18

Rogues like Jack Sheppard, who no prison would hold,

0:58:180:58:23

and Deacon Brodie, the original Jekyll and Hyde.

0:58:230:58:26

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