HC_True Caribbean Pirates
Category
đŸ“º
TVTranscript
00:00:00of America's next great adventure.
00:00:11They're the scourge of all nations.
00:00:16The most infamous cutthroats of their day.
00:00:22During the 17th and 18th centuries,
00:00:26the Caribbean boarded thousands of ships,
00:00:31sacked dozens of cities, and violently charred a course
00:00:37for stolen treasure, murder, and revenge.
00:00:41We got to stay dead yet.
00:00:45Larger than life, more dangerous than legend,
00:00:51they capture the imagination of the world
00:00:55and map out a fearsome chapter of history
00:00:58as true Caribbean pirates.
00:01:13October, 1492.
00:01:17Explorer Christopher Columbus searches for a Western passage
00:01:21to the Orient.
00:01:24Under the sponsorship of Spain, he
00:01:27makes landfall in the Caribbean in an island chain
00:01:30now known as the Bahamas.
00:01:33Two years later, Pope Alexander VI and the Treaty of Tordesillas
00:01:38grant Spain the exclusive right to the Caribbean and most
00:01:41of the New World.
00:01:44They didn't know how much land they were even talking about.
00:01:46Spain and Portugal worked with the pope,
00:01:50drew a line on the globe, and said, all of this
00:01:55will be ours.
00:01:57Driven by an insatiable quest for wealth,
00:02:00Spain conquers the Aztecs, the Incas, and most
00:02:04of the Mayan civilization.
00:02:07The whole area becomes known as the Spanish Main
00:02:10because it's the mainland where the Spanish
00:02:13tap unbelievable riches, billions of dollars
00:02:18worth of gold and silver.
00:02:27There is no treasure to be mined in the Caribbean,
00:02:30but the islands offer a much needed stopping point
00:02:33on the six to eight week journey to Spain.
00:02:38Spanish would stop and get up and get water and food
00:02:41for their trip home.
00:02:43And one of the things they did was they released livestock
00:02:46on these islands.
00:02:47And the cattle and hogs flourished.
00:02:51This plentiful food supply also attracts a very tough breed
00:02:55of adventurers, maverick intruders, mostly from France,
00:02:59England, and Holland.
00:03:02Some of them are riffraff.
00:03:04They're former prisoners.
00:03:06They're people who can't find jobs, vagabonds.
00:03:09If they can get on a ship, work their way over,
00:03:11they can jump ship and end up living on these islands
00:03:14and living off the meat.
00:03:15It's also a place for adventurers.
00:03:18They learned how to take strips of the meat
00:03:21and dry it over racks.
00:03:23These racks were called bouquins.
00:03:24They learned this technique from the local native Indians.
00:03:27So they became known as the bouquiniers.
00:03:30That's sort of the French term.
00:03:31And then that got anglicized into the word buccaneer.
00:03:35So originally, buccaneer meant jerky makers.
00:03:39During the early 1600s, the island of Hispaniola,
00:03:43now the Dominican Republic and Haiti,
00:03:45becomes an unofficial home for buccaneers
00:03:48from France and England.
00:03:51They would sell this jerky to the passing ships.
00:03:55And occasionally, they, you know, being enterprising souls,
00:03:58they might take a ship.
00:03:59When the Spanish started getting rattled
00:04:02about this French presence and English presence,
00:04:05they started killing off the wild cattle and pigs.
00:04:08Then the buccaneer had to really try
00:04:11to find some other way of making a living.
00:04:17So the Spanish were the first to come to the island
00:04:20and start killing off the wild cattle and pigs.
00:04:22And then the Spanish were the first to come
00:04:25to the island and start killing off the wild cattle and pigs.
00:04:29And so if that community stops hunting boar and bull,
00:04:33and they start hunting people, most specifically Spaniards.
00:04:40The Spanish created parts of the Caribbean.
00:04:47For the governments of England and France,
00:04:50the buccaneers are the perfect weapon to harass the Spanish,
00:04:54allowing both countries to open up new territory
00:04:57in the Caribbean.
00:05:00In 1654, Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England,
00:05:05sets his sights on the island of Hispaniola.
00:05:094,000 miles to the east, at Portsmouth, England,
00:05:13a massive invasion fleet is assembled.
00:05:1718 warships, 20 transport vessels, 3,000 men.
00:05:26On Christmas Day, 1654, the British force prepares to leave.
00:05:36Among those who volunteer is a young ensign from Wales.
00:05:40Henry Morgan?
00:05:42Sign here.
00:05:44Henry Morgan will eventually become
00:05:46the greatest buccaneer admiral in history.
00:05:49Ensign.
00:05:51Known worldwide as the Sword of England.
00:05:54Did you say Morgan?
00:05:55Aye.
00:05:56Edward Morgan's nephew?
00:05:57Aye, and the nephew of Thomas Morgan as well.
00:06:00Morgan was very well connected.
00:06:02One uncle was a general in Charles' Royalist Army,
00:06:06and another uncle, Thomas Morgan, was a general in Cromwell's Army.
00:06:10And I think from their exploits,
00:06:12he learnt an awful lot about warfare and leadership.
00:06:15It's going to be a while before we see England again, though.
00:06:18Aye.
00:06:19But when we do, I'll be the richest Welshman in Isle of London.
00:06:23The richest.
00:06:24It'd be well, you know, your place.
00:06:38It takes over a month for Morgan and the troops to cross the Atlantic.
00:06:44But when they arrive at Hispaniola,
00:06:46high seas force them to land 25 miles from their target,
00:06:50the city of Santa Domingo.
00:06:54So much for a surprise attack.
00:06:57It takes the British troops three days to reach the outskirts of Santa Domingo.
00:07:05The Spanish were prepared.
00:07:08As the British troops came in through the jungle to Santa Domingo,
00:07:13the Spanish knew they were coming.
00:07:23Fire!
00:07:47Captain, we've got to retreat!
00:07:48Aye, well said!
00:07:54Fire!
00:08:00The English are decimated
00:08:02and beat a hasty retreat through the jungle.
00:08:08And it looks like the whole thing is going to hell in a handbag.
00:08:11They can't go back home. It's been a complete failure.
00:08:14So they look around and they invade Jamaica.
00:08:24Oh!
00:08:26It wasn't heavily defended.
00:08:28The Spanish saw no real value in it.
00:08:30But once the English settled there,
00:08:33they then used it as a base to make an awful lot of money for the crown
00:08:36from the Spanish treasure fleets.
00:08:40The British buccaneers make Port Royal, Jamaica, their base of operations.
00:08:49The English know they can't send a navy over to protect Jamaica,
00:08:52so they hire the buccaneers to protect Jamaica from the Spanish
00:08:57and also to attack the Spanish merchant ships.
00:09:02It was far cheaper for the English crown to tell owners of boats,
00:09:06you go and fight the Spanish, you take all the profits,
00:09:09and it's far cheaper than trying to raise a navy,
00:09:12which is very, very expensive.
00:09:15For both England and France,
00:09:17private ships fighting for profit were privateers.
00:09:23Hold the nation's hope for competing with the Spanish on the seas.
00:09:33In late 1662, Morgan is given captaincy of his own ship.
00:09:38It looks sturdy enough.
00:09:40Get it to where the gold is. That's all that matters.
00:09:43Permission to attack the Spanish
00:09:45requires a privateering license from the governor,
00:09:48known as a letter of marque.
00:09:51Captain Morgan.
00:09:54Privateering is simply the ability to raid commerce
00:09:58of the enemy in time of war.
00:10:00You do it with a license, there's a legal setup,
00:10:03and you've got to bring the ship and the prizes back,
00:10:06and then everybody gets a share.
00:10:08The governor, who will help catapult Morgan to fame,
00:10:11is Sir Thomas Modifert.
00:10:13Anything missing, and it's the last license you'll see.
00:10:16I have no fear.
00:10:18There'll be plenty for us and the king.
00:10:21The king is in England. It's my share I care about.
00:10:25In the Caribbean, the legal definition of privateering
00:10:29will become subject to very loose interpretation.
00:10:35The Caribbean was basically a free-for-all.
00:10:38There would be Spanish being attacked by English, French, Dutch.
00:10:41English began attacking the French.
00:10:43The Dutch were involved.
00:10:45It was basically sort of a frontier zone where anything goes.
00:10:52Henry Morgan, by the legal definitions of the time,
00:10:55is usually a pirate.
00:10:58Every once in a while, he is carrying documentation
00:11:01that would appear to put him in the category of privateer.
00:11:06But then you have to look at the documentation itself,
00:11:09and it can be a bit on the shady side.
00:11:12Henry Morgan proves himself in buccaneer campaigns,
00:11:16earning a reputation as a fierce fighter
00:11:19and a brilliant commander.
00:11:26Morgan had the good fortune of being a leader
00:11:29with a tactical genius, a talent for leading men,
00:11:32and living at a time when the world was at war.
00:11:36With a tactical genius, a talent for leading men,
00:11:39and living at a time in the West Indies
00:11:42when such a man was needed.
00:11:46In January 1668, Jamaica's Governor Modiford
00:11:50appoints Henry Morgan Admiral of the Buccaneers.
00:11:55Morgan commands more than 15 ships and 500 men.
00:12:00Would you be any later?
00:12:01Aye.
00:12:03But unlike the Navy, participation in any attack is voluntary.
00:12:07I am going to hit Portobello.
00:12:10Onward with me. We sail with the tide.
00:12:15Portobello was thought of as impregnable.
00:12:18It was the third biggest Spanish city
00:12:21in the Caribbean and South America.
00:12:23It was the main treasure port,
00:12:26so it was heavily, heavily, heavily defended.
00:12:31The treasure ports are very well armed and well manned.
00:12:34There are three ports in Portobello
00:12:36and you're just looking at death if you decide to attack.
00:12:40Morgan says, I don't care, I'm going in.
00:12:50What Morgan knew is impossible to take direct from the sea.
00:12:54So he landed his men a few miles away
00:12:57and hacked through the jungle.
00:13:03Audacity is one of the greatest virtues in warfare.
00:13:06Any time you have a target, whether it's a defended city
00:13:09or a ship that considers itself invulnerable,
00:13:11it is by its very nature vulnerable because it is overconfident.
00:13:16And a great leader is one who can recognize
00:13:19that sense of invulnerability and seize the moment.
00:13:24♪ ♪
00:13:35When someone believes they are invulnerable,
00:13:38there's a psychological lag when attacked.
00:13:41It's, how can this be happening to me?
00:13:49They can't be attacking, it's impossible.
00:13:54♪ ♪
00:13:59Stunned by the sudden ferocity of the onslaught,
00:14:02the Spanish defenders are slaughtered.
00:14:06They're just very efficient killers
00:14:09and if you fight them, they're going to come after you straight on.
00:14:14And they're very good at what they do, they're trained killers.
00:14:18They are hyper-violent, I mean, terrifying.
00:14:25After he takes the first fort,
00:14:27you really have to move on quickly and take the other forts.
00:14:32One after the other, they fell like dominoes.
00:14:38As dawn breaks, the buccaneers move into the town.
00:14:45But the largest fort is still ahead.
00:14:55Hold your fire!
00:14:59Morgan rallies the buccaneers,
00:15:02but this time, the Spanish defenders are ready.
00:15:06Prepare the cannons!
00:15:17Don't let them get close to the walls!
00:15:20Fire!
00:15:21Hurry, hurry!
00:15:26As buccaneers have got near the walls,
00:15:28there's a rain of firepots,
00:15:30which are clay pots filled with combustibles and explosives.
00:15:34There's a rain of grenades coming down upon them.
00:15:38There's no turning back now, Captain.
00:15:40I'll make sure the rest of the men know that as well.
00:15:42Ladder's up! Ladder's up!
00:15:44Ladder's up!
00:15:51Ladder's up!
00:16:21Six to one, Morgan and his men come under heavy fire
00:16:24from the last three fortresses.
00:16:29These men would storm through this hail
00:16:32of weapons, of lead and explosives.
00:16:35They would open fire upon the fortification
00:16:38with small arms, muskets.
00:16:40The idea was to suppress the fire
00:16:42so that the musketeers within the fortification
00:16:44could not shoot back.
00:16:46Move!
00:16:49A buccaneer typically has a musket,
00:16:51a cutlass and one or two pistols,
00:16:54and they will use their muskets to devastating effect
00:16:57by alternating fire, making sort of a continuous barrage.
00:17:04Ladder's up! Ladder's up!
00:17:06Ladder's up!
00:17:07Ladder's up!
00:17:15Morgan had a dedicated team of people
00:17:18who knew that if they didn't succeed, they'd die.
00:17:23So it's a good motivation.
00:17:25You either work as a team or you die.
00:17:37Go, go, go!
00:17:44Go, go, go!
00:17:53The Spanish couldn't believe that Portobello had gone.
00:17:56There's nowhere else like Portobello.
00:17:58For that to take him was a huge blow
00:18:00to Spanish esteem in the New World.
00:18:04For the citizens of Portobello,
00:18:07what follows is even more frightening.
00:18:20We shouldn't whitewash history.
00:18:22We need to recognize that many of these assaults were brutal,
00:18:26and the aftermath of many of these assaults
00:18:28was even more brutal.
00:18:31A lot of them had escaped in the melee
00:18:33and perhaps had taken their valuables with them,
00:18:36so once they had captured, they were torturing them,
00:18:39forcing them to tell where the goods might have been hiding.
00:18:42You will tell me where the valuables are!
00:18:45Tell me where your gold is!
00:18:47Tell me where your valuables are, or this is your fate!
00:18:51I think the most sort of extreme example usually for people
00:18:56is taking the men and hanging them up by their genitals
00:18:59to the weight of their bodies makes them fall to the ground,
00:19:02at which point they are stabbed three or four times
00:19:06and then left to die.
00:19:20They say that Henry Morgan had tortured men, women and children.
00:19:24How much of it was by his own direction
00:19:26or how much of it was men operating on their own, we may not know.
00:19:31To prevent them burning the city,
00:19:34the Buccaneers are paid more than 100,000 pieces of eight.
00:19:44When they return to Jamaica,
00:19:46Morgan and the Buccaneers look for ways to spend their newfound wealth.
00:19:51They go back to wherever they're based.
00:19:53They debauch like mad.
00:19:59They would have a week of partying, drinking, prostitution
00:20:03until all their money was gone.
00:20:05Once their money was all spent,
00:20:07they would go right back out and do it again.
00:20:09It was a crazy life.
00:20:13Then, in August 1670,
00:20:16Morgan sets his sights on the greatest prize in the New World.
00:20:20Here, that's what you call in your mind.
00:20:23Here I eat.
00:20:24You're the captain.
00:20:25Aye, sir.
00:20:30Panama is the second largest city in the New World,
00:20:33a critical seaport for gold and silver
00:20:36mined in the mountains of South America.
00:20:42Approximately 36 ships and 2,000 Buccaneers answer Morgan's call.
00:20:51Nobody had the capacity except Morgan
00:20:54to rally everybody in the Caribbean and say,
00:20:57we're going to go after not a little village,
00:20:59not a little town, not a little pearl boat,
00:21:01we're going to go after the big time.
00:21:09There's no Panama Canal back then,
00:21:11and so to get there, you have to go overland.
00:21:15They then had to spend several days
00:21:17hacking their way through the jungle,
00:21:19catching terrible diseases, starving,
00:21:21living off rats they could catch,
00:21:23any snakes, anything at all.
00:21:27After nine days' march,
00:21:29Morgan and his men finally reach the Pacific.
00:21:32Well, there it is, the Pacific.
00:21:35Another bloody ocean.
00:21:39One day's rest,
00:21:41one day's rest,
00:21:43then we get this done!
00:21:52On a grassy plain outside Panama,
00:21:55Morgan's Buccaneers face the city's defenders.
00:22:00The Spanish are rested.
00:22:02They have the advantage in numbers.
00:22:06Here you've got this nice bunch of townsmen who are militia,
00:22:09who've learned how to fire a gun.
00:22:11Most of them are very uncomfortable doing that,
00:22:14and here you've got these guys
00:22:16who know what killing's all about.
00:22:35And so the pirates sweep right through them.
00:22:40Aah!
00:22:52Anybody who's had any sense in Panama
00:22:55is already on a boat heading somewhere else.
00:23:02While the city burns and the Buccaneers celebrate victory,
00:23:06the Spanish treasure galleon,
00:23:08La SantĂsima Trinidad,
00:23:10slips out to sea with much of the city's wealth on board.
00:23:13Let's wait for next to nothing.
00:23:15Look towards the city!
00:23:17The take from Panama is surprisingly small.
00:23:20It had been a large force of men that had taken Panama,
00:23:24so by the time everyone got their share,
00:23:26they didn't get very much,
00:23:28and rumors went around
00:23:30that Morgan had taken more than his share.
00:23:36Rumors of the treasure that Morgan supposedly stole
00:23:39persist to this day.
00:23:44Most historians think it never existed in the first place.
00:23:50Everybody, of course, is always looking forward
00:23:54to discovering pirate treasure.
00:23:57Imagine yourself as a pirate,
00:24:00where you've risked your life, you've fought battles,
00:24:03and then you're going to allow the captain
00:24:05to take a chest of everything you've captured,
00:24:09go off to the coast somewhere,
00:24:12in a cave or on a beach,
00:24:14dig a hole, put the treasure in,
00:24:17and then sail away.
00:24:19Now, pirates may not always be rational actors,
00:24:23but that's a highly irrational act,
00:24:25to allow the captain to go away and bury the stuff.
00:24:28What's in that for you? You're not going to do it.
00:24:31What you want, as soon as there's treasure enough,
00:24:34you want a division.
00:24:37The men were supposed to share out the treasure.
00:24:40Put it this way, there's not one single documented treasure map
00:24:43that's ever been found.
00:24:45The treasure maps are from fiction,
00:24:47so it's not worth digging too many holes.
00:24:53Facing accusations of piracy,
00:24:56Henry Morgan is summoned to England
00:24:58by King Charles II.
00:25:02The Spanish tell me you're a pirate.
00:25:05They would, wouldn't they?
00:25:07They don't like the English.
00:25:09Sit, sit.
00:25:12And the end upshot of it
00:25:14was that Charles II knighted Henry Morgan
00:25:17and made him lieutenant governor of Jamaica.
00:25:23Arise, Sir Henry Morgan.
00:25:26We are most pleased to welcome you
00:25:28Arise, Sir Henry Morgan.
00:25:30We are most pleased you will be our representative in Jamaica.
00:25:37After serving as lieutenant governor of Jamaica for seven years,
00:25:41Henry Morgan dies peacefully
00:25:44in 1688 at the age of 53.
00:25:50In the years that follow,
00:25:52the Caribbean remains a seething powder keg
00:25:54of almost constantly warring superpowers.
00:25:59Fire!
00:26:05On September 7, 1701,
00:26:08the four seafaring nations,
00:26:10with stakes in the Caribbean,
00:26:12wage an all-out war for supremacy.
00:26:15Known as Queen Anne's War,
00:26:17the conflict pits England and Holland
00:26:19against France and Spain.
00:26:22Fire!
00:26:24Twelve years of war
00:26:26transform men into masters
00:26:28of the brutal art of ship-to-ship combat.
00:26:33On April 11, 1713,
00:26:36the cannons are finally silenced.
00:26:40The Treaty of Utrecht
00:26:42brings the long and bitter war to an end.
00:26:46For the first time, Spain is saying,
00:26:48all right, England and Holland
00:26:50have a right to conduct trade in the Caribbean.
00:26:53For the first time, Spain is going to recognize
00:26:56the legitimacy of that.
00:27:01When Queen Anne's War ended,
00:27:03shipping boomed, trade reopened with former enemies,
00:27:06the markets doubled.
00:27:08The only people who lost were the privateers of Queen Anne's War.
00:27:1440,000 English sailors,
00:27:16many of them combat veterans,
00:27:18are suddenly out of a job.
00:27:20The men that had been privateers
00:27:22basically knew of no other way to make a living.
00:27:25All of a sudden, what they had been doing
00:27:28and being rewarded by the English government
00:27:31was all of a sudden not only illegal,
00:27:34but it was punishable by death.
00:27:38I say we keep hitting the Spanish.
00:27:40Bloody bastards.
00:27:42And if the governor has a problem,
00:27:44we raid his ports, too.
00:27:46The Caribbean is primed for the greatest explosion in piracy
00:27:49that the world has ever seen.
00:27:53The spark comes on July 24, 1715.
00:27:57A treasure fleet of 11 Spanish galleons
00:28:00set sail from Havana, Cuba, bound for Spain.
00:28:05Their holds are filled to bursting
00:28:07with gold, jewels,
00:28:09and 7 million newly minted silver coins.
00:28:15Six days after casting off,
00:28:19the fleet sails into a hurricane.
00:28:41The Spanish plate fleet,
00:28:43the treasure fleet,
00:28:45wrecks off of the coast of Florida,
00:28:47spilling millions of dollars worth of bullion
00:28:50and jewels all over the seabed.
00:28:57Of course, this was an absolute magnet for pirates.
00:29:06And the Spanish, of course, said this was still their gold,
00:29:09even if it was under the water.
00:29:12For the Spanish who will try to recover this fortune,
00:29:15and the pirates who want to steal it,
00:29:17the fight for unimaginable wealth is about to begin.
00:29:29You're watching True Caribbean Pirates on the History Channel.
00:29:42July 1715.
00:29:46A hurricane sends 11 Spanish galleons
00:29:49loaded with treasure to the bottom of the sea.
00:29:56Most of the silver is recovered,
00:29:58but unfortunately the ships they send out
00:30:00aren't enough to carry all this silver back in one trip.
00:30:03They leave about 350,000 silver coins
00:30:06in a small shack on the shore with about 60 guards.
00:30:11In Port Royal, Jamaica,
00:30:14rumors of the poorly guarded treasure reach sailors
00:30:17who are out of work and out of options.
00:30:19You heard?
00:30:20The Spanish have lost their plate fleet.
00:30:22Among them, legendary privateer Henry Jennings.
00:30:26They didn't have enough room on their ships
00:30:28for everything they salvaged.
00:30:30I've heard tell of over 300,000 pieces of eight.
00:30:33Henry Jennings is a man of his word.
00:30:36I've heard tell of over 300,000 pieces of eight.
00:30:39Henry Jennings, like most of these fellows
00:30:42who ended up as pirates in the Caribbean,
00:30:45started his career as a privateer.
00:30:48How fast to round up a crew.
00:30:50He wasn't someone to be trifled with.
00:30:56Led by Jennings, 300 ex-privateers launch a raid
00:30:59from which there can be no turning back.
00:31:03The privateers decided to make that one personal leap of faith
00:31:08beyond privateer into piracy.
00:31:28They storm the shore and the 60 guards
00:31:30who had been sworn to protect the 350,000 pieces of Spanish silver
00:31:34immediately turn and run in the jungle.
00:31:40This is what kings see and treasures.
00:31:43Aye, look at it, lads!
00:31:45Tonight we've found our future!
00:31:50The raid by Jennings and his men
00:31:52on the Spanish salvage camp in Florida,
00:31:55the perfect attack.
00:31:57They made the equivalent of 10 years' salary on one night.
00:32:02It's a pirate's dream.
00:32:13The new pirates sail back to Jamaica as wealthy men.
00:32:21But the reception is not what they expect.
00:32:24If you place your foot on Jamaican soil,
00:32:27on orders of the governor, my men will shoot it off.
00:32:32You don't want to be cocking that thing unless you mean to use it.
00:32:35Easy, Charles.
00:32:37We have gifts for the governor.
00:32:39We are prepared to take them directly to him.
00:32:41For decades, pirates have been able to raid the Spanish
00:32:44and just receive a wink and a nod from the English government.
00:32:47The days when someone like Henry Morgan could sack Panama
00:32:52and be knighted for it were over.
00:32:54The English weren't going to look the other way at this sort of piracy.
00:32:57They're just doing what they're told.
00:33:00Prepare to set sail!
00:33:04They're not welcome in Jamaica,
00:33:06and it really signals a turning point in the history of piracy.
00:33:11The pirates cast off,
00:33:13searching for a haven they can call their own.
00:33:17From this point on, pirates are enemies of the world,
00:33:20and by the same token,
00:33:22the ships of every nation were fair game.
00:33:28Set a new course, west-northwest.
00:33:31So it's the Bahamas.
00:33:33Aye, good hunting for those who want to stay pirate,
00:33:36nice enough for those who don't.
00:33:38Cheers to that.
00:33:44The pirates decide on a thinly populated island in the Bahamas
00:33:48called New Providence
00:33:50and the waterfront settlement of Nassau.
00:33:57Don't imagine that Nassau is a glorious resort the way it is today.
00:34:01It's a shantytown, but it was certainly an area
00:34:04where pirates came and rendezvoused,
00:34:06and they learned from each other.
00:34:12Nassau, the last and the greatest of the pirate hell towns
00:34:16where the pirates really ran the show.
00:34:18They weren't just residents of a town, they ran the town.
00:34:38Already a living legend,
00:34:40Henry Jennings retires from piracy to live the good life.
00:34:47But other privateers turned pirate are just beginning.
00:34:53Moving, moving, moving!
00:34:55That initial attack on the Spanish storehouse
00:34:58really kind of kicked off the great rush of pirates
00:35:02heading to New Providence.
00:35:05Among those drawn to New Providence
00:35:08is a former privateer named Edward Teach.
00:35:11He will soon become the most famous pirate in history.
00:35:16Better known as Blackbeard.
00:35:22Let's board him and cut him to pieces!
00:35:36You're watching True Caribbean Pirates on the History Channel.
00:35:41In 1713, for the first time in more than a century,
00:35:46the nations of Spain, England, France, and Holland
00:35:50are at peace in the Caribbean.
00:35:52In the wake of warfare comes the most lucrative trading triangle
00:35:56that the world has ever seen.
00:36:01Sugar to Europe, guns and trade goods to Africa,
00:36:05and slaves to America and the Caribbean.
00:36:10The Caribbean was the big growth area in the world economy
00:36:13in the 17th and 18th centuries.
00:36:16Sugar was the big new bonanza crop.
00:36:21And in some ways the whole North Atlantic economy revolved around it.
00:36:27She's the right one.
00:36:29In the Caribbean, this cycle of wealth is under siege
00:36:32from former privateers who have crossed the line into piracy.
00:36:37It's the perfect place for piracy
00:36:40because you've got a lot of islands situated through there,
00:36:44various nationalities, places to hide out in,
00:36:47and choke points that ships and vessels had to travel through,
00:36:51and you could just sit and lie and wait there,
00:36:53grab your prize, and then take off.
00:36:57Move, lads, move!
00:37:07Aah!
00:37:11By 1717, more than 2,000 pirates make their base in the Caribbean.
00:37:17Among them is an ex-privateer named Edward Teach.
00:37:21At 6 feet 4 inches tall, Teach is an intimidating giant of a man
00:37:26who will later become known as Blackbeard.
00:37:36Don't make it so obvious. Keep your heads down or I'll blow them off.
00:37:40Since Edward Teach is an alias,
00:37:42historians know next to nothing about the days before he became Blackbeard.
00:37:47It's only in early 1717 that Blackbeard appears in official documentation
00:37:54or historical sources of the time
00:37:57as a commander of a sloop out of New Providence, Bahamas.
00:38:03November 28th, 1717.
00:38:06Blackbeard sails alongside a second pirate ship
00:38:10looking for prizes off the island of St. Vincent in the central Caribbean.
00:38:22A lookout spots a large merchant vessel flying a French flag.
00:38:33The Concorde had 20 guns at that time, so they were outgunned and outmanned.
00:38:38But these pirate ships were quite maneuverable.
00:38:42They were a lot quicker and handier to move around.
00:39:03As the Concorde tries to flee,
00:39:05the two pirate vessels move in on opposite sides of the ship.
00:39:16The two pirate sloops, six guns on one, I believe eight on the other,
00:39:20began to fire broadsides into the ship from either side.
00:39:25Fire!
00:39:30A pretty brazen thing to do when you consider that the ship had them outgunned
00:39:35and probably outmanned.
00:39:38The small cannons on the sloops have little impact on the massive ship.
00:39:43Reload! Reload!
00:39:47There are not very many big ship-killing cannons in pirate ships.
00:39:53If you're a pirate, the last thing in the world you want to do
00:39:56is smash your ship to bits and watch it sink into the water
00:40:00because that's your business is getting things out of it,
00:40:03not seeing it sink.
00:40:08Blackbeard's most effective weapon is not made of steel.
00:40:11Oyster on!
00:40:15You want them frightened of you.
00:40:17You want them wetting their pants as soon as they see that black flag
00:40:20and knowing that it's you.
00:40:21You want them to strike their colors, lower their topsails and say,
00:40:24please, just don't hurt us, we'll give you anything you want.
00:40:28It amplifies their fears.
00:40:30They're afraid of you before they even see you.
00:40:34I think Blackbeard could read his opposition.
00:40:36He knew what it took to scare the hell out of them.
00:40:44Get the others out!
00:40:51Tucked under Blackbeard's hat are links of slow match,
00:40:55burning rope used to ignite cannons.
00:40:58And they would make a hazy smoke around his face,
00:41:01and with the ribbons in his huge beard and the smoke around his face,
00:41:04he looked like the devil himself when he went into battle.
00:41:07You better have a nice cargo aboard, for your sake!
00:41:15And so what you'd see advancing toward you is this big gun
00:41:19who's loaded with all kinds of weapons, and he's firing,
00:41:22and he's got smoke reading his head, and he looks like a maniac.
00:41:26And if you don't surrender, he's going to hack you to bits.
00:41:30So, up you go.
00:41:40Blackbeard and his men loot the Concord.
00:41:45But the greatest prize is the ship itself.
00:41:50Blackbeard renames her Queen Anne's Revenge,
00:41:54and claims her as his flight ship.
00:41:59The Queen Anne's Revenge was an enormous ship by the standards of the pirates.
00:42:03It mounted 40 guns, bigger than virtually any other pirate vessel
00:42:07that was sailing the Caribbean at that time.
00:42:11Blackbeard increases the ship's armament to 40 cannons.
00:42:18Then, on the leeward side of St. Vincent,
00:42:21he spots a British merchant vessel named the Great Allen.
00:42:24Faster, Tommy, faster!
00:42:31They fired a broadside, and that was so powerful,
00:42:36They fired a broadside, and that was so powerful,
00:42:40that it shook not only the ship, but the seas,
00:42:43and the skies around her as well.
00:42:48Fire!
00:42:55The mighty broadside convinces the captain and his officers
00:42:59to surrender the Great Allen without a fight.
00:43:02Treasure, Frankie, master captain! Treasure, son!
00:43:08Blackbeard sets the Great Allen crew adrift.
00:43:16As a practical matter, slaughtering a merchant crew was a very poor tactic.
00:43:20It wasn't good business to slaughter crews.
00:43:25After Blackbeard conquered the Great Allen,
00:43:28it was all his ego needed to grow stronger and more powerful.
00:43:39Blackbeard rules through intimidation.
00:43:42But there's another side to Edward Teach
00:43:44that sets him apart from the average sailor of his day.
00:43:48He knew how to read and write.
00:43:50I believe he was very intelligent and was able to use this.
00:43:53He was able to keep control of his men.
00:43:56I mean, people have the stereotype that pirate captains
00:43:59had full control and could do anything they wanted,
00:44:02but that's not true.
00:44:04Captain!
00:44:10The biggest threat to a captain is an unhappy crew.
00:44:13At any point, the crew can call a council of war
00:44:16and vote out the captain.
00:44:18And if the crew votes this, the captain is powerless to stop it.
00:44:23Some pirate ships went through 13 captains in 2 years.
00:44:26Moron! Moron!
00:44:28Hey! Who's the captain?
00:44:31Moron!
00:44:34Basically, a pirate captain had authority only in time of battle,
00:44:38in which case his authority was near absolute.
00:44:41But otherwise, where the ship went, what it did,
00:44:44was basically according to the consent of the crew.
00:44:47One of us, right? Right?
00:44:49All right, let's hear a vote now. Come on!
00:44:52A pirate ship was really a pure democracy,
00:44:56and it was arguably the only real democracy
00:44:59in all of the Western world at that time.
00:45:02Israel!
00:45:04It's time we did a little something
00:45:06about that little problem we had in the Bahamas.
00:45:09Get the men together. Thank you.
00:45:11This idea of equal representation, one man, one vote,
00:45:16elected leadership, it's really quite extraordinary.
00:45:22Between November 1717...
00:45:26and mid-May 1718,
00:45:29Blackbeard captures 16 to 20 ships.
00:45:33With as many as 400 pirates
00:45:35and a fleet of 4 ships under his command,
00:45:40he is now the most famous and feared pirate in the world.
00:45:47In May 1718,
00:45:49Blackbeard and his crew decide on an act of piracy
00:45:52that will send shockwaves through the New World.
00:45:55Anything going into or coming out of Charlestown Harbor belongs to us.
00:46:08You're watching True Caribbean Pirates on the History Channel.
00:46:17April 11th, 1718.
00:46:20An ultimatum is delivered to pirates in the Caribbean
00:46:24on behalf of England's King George I.
00:46:27As you probably know, I bring with me the king's pardon,
00:46:32which will forgive the past sins of all those who renounce piracy.
00:46:37For those of you who do not, the penalty is death.
00:46:42There is nothing in between.
00:46:47Long live the king!
00:46:49Long live the king!
00:46:53In Nassau, the capital of piracy in the Caribbean,
00:46:57almost every pirate accepts the king's mercy.
00:47:00Your name?
00:47:02William Jennings, Benjamin Hornigold.
00:47:04Proud of you.
00:47:06My quarrel has never been with England. I want that known.
00:47:09I resisted the taking of English ships.
00:47:12The war for taking ships and breaking treaties is over.
00:47:19You have the king's pardon.
00:47:21If you could give your name to my clerk, thank you.
00:47:24Your name?
00:47:28But while the king's warships are in the Caribbean,
00:47:31Blackbeard sails his fleet of four ships and almost 400 pirates
00:47:36to the busy seaport of Charlestown, South Carolina.
00:47:43Come on!
00:47:48Any ship coming in or out is immediately captured.
00:47:52He robbed the ships as they came, and he took hostages off some.
00:47:55One of the hostages that he took who was trying to leave Charleston
00:47:58was a very important man named Samuel Ragg,
00:48:01and Ragg was a member of the South Carolina Colonial Council.
00:48:06That's ridiculous.
00:48:08Fancy hat, though.
00:48:10The deal was that he had captured several nobles of the town,
00:48:15various high-ranking members of society,
00:48:17and was holding them hostage and sent several of his men ashore with the demands.
00:48:20If they weren't back by the following nightfall with the aforementioned ransom,
00:48:24he was going to execute each and every one of his hostages
00:48:27and send their heads back in a rowboat.
00:48:29I'm for the middle of the fat one. That way we're bound to hit something.
00:48:34Come on, Blackbeard!
00:48:38But instead of getting the ransom from the governor of South Carolina,
00:48:42Blackbeard's pirates are getting drunk.
00:48:46Time dragged on, and Blackbeard was working himself up into a furor.
00:48:50He called Samuel Ragg into him, and he said,
00:48:53There must be some kind of a trick, and I'm going to start killing you people off.
00:48:59Get the rope!
00:49:03This one first.
00:49:05The fancy hats.
00:49:07I know you think it's not your fault,
00:49:10but if you were more important people, they would have paid for you.
00:49:14And you, you're in the town council, and they still wouldn't pay.
00:49:20So guess whose neck we're going to stretch first.
00:49:28Captain, the hat!
00:49:34It's your lucky day, my friends. Your lucky day.
00:49:40The ransom is not what the hostages are expecting.
00:49:44One small metal chest.
00:49:54Looks like the goods.
00:49:57A small chest of medical supplies.
00:50:00A small chest of medical supplies.
00:50:03Medicine? That's it?
00:50:05To treat his crew members' ills.
00:50:08Ever had the truck?
00:50:12Actually, diseases that they had picked up probably from girls in the Bahamas.
00:50:17Venereal diseases.
00:50:20All right, lads. They should take care of us.
00:50:25That easy.
00:50:28They are franken.
00:50:30He did release the prisoners, but he sent them back stark naked,
00:50:33not a single piece of clothing on them.
00:50:35Just as a chiding for being a day late with his medicine.
00:50:43Blackbeard's blockade of Charlestown sends a ripple of fear through the colonies,
00:50:48as governors and merchants wonder where he will strike next.
00:50:54In June 1718, Blackbeard orders his four-ship fleet
00:50:59into a shallow channel off North Carolina called Topsail Inlet.
00:51:06Six fathoms deep.
00:51:10Five fathoms.
00:51:12Steady as she goes.
00:51:16It's not deep enough. He's going to run out of ground.
00:51:19Who knows these waters best? You or Blackbeard?
00:51:22Four fathoms.
00:51:26One minute, you're rising and falling gently on the swell.
00:51:35The next minute, there's solid ground that comes slamming up to meet you
00:51:39from underneath, taking your knees right out from under you.
00:51:47When the tide comes up, she'll sink.
00:51:49When the tide comes up, she'll sink.
00:51:51Peach ran the Queen Anne's Revenge aground at Topsail Inlet
00:51:54hard enough to crack planks and spring the mast.
00:51:57He hit with extreme violence.
00:52:00Her hull shattered.
00:52:02Queen Anne's Revenge is only kept afloat by the sandbar beneath her.
00:52:06There'll be time for other trips.
00:52:08Save the treasure!
00:52:12With surprising speed, the valuables are transferred to a small sloop
00:52:16manned by Blackbeard's most loyal men.
00:52:18Quickly!
00:52:23What? What did you say?
00:52:26Blackbeard's crew realized then that something was not exactly right
00:52:31and, of course, they started to question that.
00:52:33I couldn't hear you. What did you say?
00:52:37The ship's much too small for all of us, sir. We're not all fit.
00:52:41There'll be time to discuss this later.
00:52:44If any of you question me now, I'll blow off your head!
00:52:49Blackbeard made a statement that how dare them question their captain.
00:52:53He would have their livers for lunch.
00:52:55Back to work, all of you!
00:52:58Quicker!
00:53:04Blackbeard's fearsome reputation buys the time he needs to complete his plan.
00:53:10He was getting rid of the Queen Anne's Revenge for a purpose.
00:53:14These 400 men that he had were too many to share the wealth with
00:53:19and he became one of the early practitioners of what today we would call corporate downsizing.
00:53:26Blackbeard stranded his men on a sandbar and took off on this small sloop.
00:53:36Stop. Where's the easy?
00:53:44Now sailing in the sloop Adventure, Blackbeard heads north to Ocracoke Island.
00:53:52Some historians believe that Blackbeard is looking to retire from piracy.
00:53:57Others, that he plans to establish a new base in North Carolina.
00:54:13Rumors of Blackbeard's presence reach Alexander Spotswood, governor of Virginia.
00:54:21Spotswood was enticed to attack Blackbeard
00:54:24because he had been promised not only more popularity as a governor
00:54:28but he had been promised Blackbeard's treasure as well.
00:54:33Anything you find will be brought back to Virginia for proper disposal
00:54:36and the allocation of your shares.
00:54:38Understood. Ready the line!
00:54:40Now of course, Spotswood didn't really have the authority
00:54:43to be sending warships down to North Carolina, but he ignored all that.
00:54:46With your leave, Governor Spotswood.
00:54:49Good hunting.
00:54:51Cast off!
00:54:54Command of the operation is given to Lieutenant Robert Maynard,
00:54:58a Royal Navy officer with a reputation for bravery.
00:55:02On November 17th, 1718, Maynard sets sail for Ocracoke.
00:55:14Five days later, Blackbeard sees Maynard's two sloops
00:55:18at the entrance to Ocracoke Inlet.
00:55:23Just the two of them, then?
00:55:25Aye, hold your horses.
00:55:27Just the two of them, then?
00:55:29Aye. Holding outside the bar.
00:55:32Look to be waiting for morning high tide to cross.
00:55:43Very good, very good. Quickly now, quickly.
00:55:45They'd even put sand on the ship
00:55:47to keep the British sailors from slipping in the blood.
00:55:51They knew it would be a bloody battle.
00:55:58Cannon's are loaded in every musket.
00:56:01Let's go over and say hello.
00:56:28He suspected that this might be a Navy party coming in to attack him.
00:56:33Teach was never known to have shied away from a fight.
00:56:37He seemed always to welcome going into battle.
00:56:41He was ready for whatever came along.
00:56:43All right, lads, climb those cannons.
00:56:46Those bastards are off to obstruct.
00:56:54Nice to see you, little helmsman.
00:56:58He's moving toward us.
00:57:00Thank you, I see him.
00:57:02Teach hollered over to Maynard and said,
00:57:04Damn you for villains, who are you?
00:57:06You are from whence do ye come?
00:57:10Hoist the collars.
00:57:12Maynard hoisted his British collars and said,
00:57:15You can see by our flag that we're no pirates.
00:57:21Blackbeard called for a drink of rum,
00:57:24crafted down, and said,
00:57:26Damnation beat me if I take any talker,
00:57:29or ask any for view.
00:57:31Marines, to the rails.
00:57:34Mark the route he follows with your eyes.
00:57:36Find a landmark and note every step.
00:57:38Blackbeard is outnumbered, two ships to one,
00:57:41roughly 60 men to 19.
00:57:43Take us to the south side of the deep hole.
00:57:46No soundings.
00:57:48We'll see how they follow us.
00:57:50But Teach knows the channels and currents of the inlet
00:57:53are deeper than any man alive.
00:57:55The other big advantage that he had
00:57:57was he had eight cannon on board his ship,
00:58:00and Maynard had no cannon at all.
00:58:02He had only small arms, cutlasses.
00:58:05Take us to the east of the next side bar.
00:58:08Teach used these things to his advantage.
00:58:10He brought his ship up against a very shallow area.
00:58:14Maynard tried to come in after him with both of his sleuths.
00:58:17Watch for the current. She's taking us.
00:58:20Now?
00:58:22Harder, Norbert!
00:58:26Harder, Norbert! Harder, Norbert!
00:58:36They've hit the bar!
00:58:39And because they outweighed Teach's sleuth,
00:58:42they ran aground.
00:58:44She's stuck fast.
00:58:46We need to lighten her, fast as you can.
00:58:50All cannon to the port side.
00:58:53Bring her about, nice and easy.
00:58:56While Teach arranges his cannon for a broadside,
00:59:00Maynard desperately tries to lighten his ship.
00:59:03Quickly!
00:59:04He wasn't thinking about, you know, what are we gonna drink?
00:59:07If we have to go back, he was thinking about,
00:59:09we're gonna do whatever it takes right now.
00:59:11We're gonna win this fight.
00:59:13Everything open, boy. There's no need to fight.
00:59:16Quickly!
00:59:18Hold your fire! Let's lighten both up!
00:59:26We're free! We're free!
00:59:28Quickly! We need some wind!
00:59:31Fire!
00:59:41Reload!
00:59:44While Blackbeard reloads,
00:59:46Maynard's second sleuth retreats back to sea.
00:59:54All hands on deck!
00:59:56But Maynard refuses to quit.
00:59:58Hold your line!
01:00:00Fire!
01:00:04When he locked into this fight, he was not coming out.
01:00:07It was gonna be a fight to the death.
01:00:13Faster or the king will stop on this boat right now!
01:00:17Blackbeard delivers his second broadside.
01:00:20Ready?
01:00:24Fire!
01:00:36When the smoke cleared and Blackbeard looked over,
01:00:39there appeared to be only Maynard out on the deck
01:00:42and the man with the helm.
01:00:44He didn't see anyone else still alive.
01:00:46They're all knocked in the end, mates!
01:00:48Let's board them and cut them to pieces!
01:00:53They threw their grappling hooks.
01:00:55They grappled alongside, pulled the two sleuths close together,
01:00:59and Blackbeard's men, screaming and charging,
01:01:02waving their cutlasses and shooting their pistols
01:01:05swarmed over the side.
01:01:08Once Blackbeard is on board,
01:01:11Maynard's trap is sprung.
01:01:22Twenty or so men came swarming up the ladders
01:01:25with their pistols firing and their cutlasses swinging,
01:01:28and it was a pretty even match at that point.
01:01:36Blackbeard and Maynard were face to face.
01:01:39They both pulled pistols and fired point-blank.
01:01:45Perhaps because of the amount of rum
01:01:47that Blackbeard had consumed the night before,
01:01:50his bullet missed and Maynard shot him head-on,
01:01:53and strangely, that didn't seem to slow him down much.
01:02:10He broke off Maynard's cutlass and was about to finish him off
01:02:14when one of Maynard's men came up from behind him.
01:02:20And he took a strong swing and hit Blackbeard in the neck.
01:02:30Good one, lad!
01:02:35Blackbeard went, cutlass and pistol,
01:02:38with Maynard before he finally dropped to the deck.
01:02:41He really, he died a pirate's death.
01:02:44He died the death you would expect someone like that to die.
01:02:53With Blackbeard dead, his crew give up the fight.
01:03:01After he died, Maynard cut his head off
01:03:04so that he could bring it back as a trophy.
01:03:09Threw his body overboard.
01:03:11The legend is that Blackbeard's body
01:03:13swam three times around the ship before it sunk.
01:03:18Blackbeard's decapitated head becomes a grisly trophy,
01:03:22first hung from Maynard's bowsprit.
01:03:26News of Blackbeard's death spreads quickly through the Caribbean.
01:03:33In New Providence, it reaches someone determined
01:03:36to become the most famous pirate in history.
01:03:39You're the best daft pilot ever! Blackbeard!
01:03:42Her name is Anne Bonny.
01:04:121718, the pirate haven of Nassau is no place for a lady.
01:04:17But it's the perfect place for Anne Bonny.
01:04:21Anne Bonny, by all accounts, was a beautiful woman.
01:04:24Anne was raised in one of the wealthiest families in Charleston at the time.
01:04:29She had everything that she wanted.
01:04:31She was apparently sought by all of the young men in the region.
01:04:37The search for adventure has led Anne Bonny
01:04:39from Charleston, South Carolina to New Providence in the Bahamas.
01:04:43Whatever you would like. Anything.
01:04:45Anything? Anything.
01:04:47Oh, then I'll just have the one you're holding.
01:04:49Now she sets her sights on one of Nassau's most popular pirates.
01:04:56It's mother's milk. Go get me another.
01:05:00His name is John Rackham.
01:05:03John Rackham, he is more popularly known as Calico Jack Rackham.
01:05:07He'd been known for dressing in flashy clothes, Calico Prince,
01:05:12and being rather of a dandy at the time.
01:05:17She fell head over heels in love with him.
01:05:21The only problem, Anne Bonny is already married.
01:05:26The governor threatened to have Anne flogged if she didn't go back to her husband.
01:05:33In order to stay together, they decide to do the one thing that Rackham was good at.
01:05:39Let's do it then.
01:05:41Go pirating.
01:05:44By the time the sun comes up, they're out of Nassau Harbor,
01:05:47sails set, heading toward the west, and Anne Bonny's pirate career has begun.
01:05:53June 1719, Jack Rackham and Anne Bonny prepare to board a Dutch merchant ship.
01:06:00Grappler hooks are thrown across to the other ship.
01:06:02The two ships are bound together.
01:06:04Rackham and his pirates pour over the bulwarks of the other ship.
01:06:10Most of the crew surrender without a fight.
01:06:13Put it down.
01:06:14Put it down.
01:06:16We got one up front.
01:06:18Put it down.
01:06:21We got one up front.
01:06:23But one sailor refuses to drop his sword.
01:06:44What's your name, lad?
01:06:47Harkreid.
01:06:48So you're English?
01:06:49Aye.
01:06:51Do you ever mind if I go pirating?
01:06:53Less work, more pay, better rum.
01:07:00When a pirate captured a merchant ship,
01:07:02generally one of the first things they did was to gather the crew
01:07:06and ask if anyone on the crew wanted to join the pirates.
01:07:10And that, in fact, was the primary recruiting tool.
01:07:13I'll come on the account.
01:07:17I'll come on the account.
01:07:25Harkreid proves himself as a capable sailor and an excellent swordsman.
01:07:31But Calico Jack Rackham soon regrets bringing him on board.
01:07:36It became clear after a while that Anne had some feelings
01:07:41for this young sailor, Harkreid.
01:07:45So Rackham was getting increasingly jealous
01:07:47because Anne was spending time with this young sailor.
01:07:50Finally, he can't stand it anymore.
01:07:52He's going to confront them.
01:07:56I can't match swords with you, but I don't have to.
01:07:59Wait, what are you doing?
01:08:00He can't come aboard my ship and take my woman.
01:08:03What are you going to do, shoot us for having a laugh?
01:08:05I will. I'll shoot you too if you move out the bloody way.
01:08:07Captain, I'm not...
01:08:09I'm not a threat to you.
01:08:11No, put that back on, Anne.
01:08:12Will you stop your yapping?
01:08:13It's only you and I know about it.
01:08:15You see, no threat.
01:08:20Nadia, you're a woman.
01:08:22I am.
01:08:24A woman?
01:08:25I knew as soon as I saw her.
01:08:29Mary Reed.
01:08:31I need a drink.
01:08:32The chances of this happening are extraordinary.
01:08:35The two of them should meet on the high seas
01:08:37and Anne starts falling in love with him.
01:08:39Her, I should say.
01:08:41So what's your story?
01:08:43Mary had spent most of her life dressed as a boy.
01:08:46She had been a foot boy.
01:08:49She had served in the British Navy as a cabin boy.
01:08:53She had actually apparently been a very successful soldier.
01:09:05With each successive capture,
01:09:07word spreads through the Caribbean.
01:09:09Calico Jack Rackham has two women pirates aboard his ship.
01:09:13Don't you move. Don't you move.
01:09:15Where is the treasure?
01:09:17No one had ever heard of anything like this before.
01:09:19Now, in the days where women wouldn't even get a job
01:09:23or an education, per se,
01:09:24here are two women who are pirates
01:09:26and they're doing it openly and flaunting their sex.
01:09:29It was very sensational.
01:09:32Tell me where it is!
01:09:34Do you want to hang today?
01:09:36I'm talking to you!
01:09:38It really became the true crime drama of the 18th century.
01:09:45On June 6, 1719, off the west coast of Africa,
01:09:49another drama is playing out.
01:09:52One that will soon bring
01:09:54the most successful pirate in history to the Caribbean.
01:10:01Robert, isn't it?
01:10:04You do navigation for this ship?
01:10:06Bartholomew Roberts is the navigator on a slave ship
01:10:09captured by pirate Howell Davis.
01:10:12I want you to join us.
01:10:15I'm no pirate.
01:10:19Most pirates are volunteers,
01:10:21but when Bart Roberts refuses to join,
01:10:24he is forced into service.
01:10:27A forced man aboard a pirate ship
01:10:29is someone who is serving the pirate but has no choice.
01:10:33He is told basically serve or die.
01:10:39The navigator was extremely important to pirate ships
01:10:42who at this time were crisscrossing between the Americas,
01:10:45the Caribbean, and the African coast
01:10:48following the slave trade and the riches that it brought.
01:10:52To the wild, undisciplined pirates,
01:10:55Roberts is an enigma.
01:10:57Here you go.
01:11:00The water tastes better with a bit of rum in it.
01:11:02Maybe so. I don't drink.
01:11:04Not even it?
01:11:06Nothing.
01:11:08I know what you're thinking.
01:11:10Truly, I don't care.
01:11:15Bart Roberts' most unusual characteristic
01:11:17was that he was a tea toddler,
01:11:19which is virtually unheard of in the pirate community.
01:11:23One month after Roberts is forced into piracy,
01:11:26Captain Howell Davis is killed in an ambush
01:11:29on the island of Principe off the west coast of Africa.
01:11:37So, who's the new fool you got to be leading us here?
01:11:43That'll be you.
01:11:45In an astonishing move,
01:11:47the veteran pirates offer the captaincy to the newcomer.
01:11:50So you'll do it then?
01:11:52When Roberts was quizzed, he said he feared none of them.
01:11:54He didn't care about their feelings.
01:11:56He was better than they were.
01:11:58So, a short life and a merry one will be my motto.
01:12:01And I'll be your captain.
01:12:04Any thoughts about where to sail to?
01:12:07We've got a dead captain to avenge.
01:12:10Thank you.
01:12:12He felt his first act had to be something personal,
01:12:15something to really affirm the crew behind him and his leadership.
01:12:18And he thought nothing better than to go back
01:12:20to the town that had murdered their previous captain
01:12:22and exact their revenge.
01:12:25They had no warning and no time to react
01:12:27before the pirates stormed shore.
01:12:31Can't fire a straight shot.
01:12:33Kill them! Kill them all!
01:12:37He was someone who would exact
01:12:40the most extreme revenge upon anyone who resisted.
01:12:47Why aren't they dead yet?
01:12:58There. Now you can take whatever you want.
01:13:02Everything that wasn't nailed down was taken with them,
01:13:05and they sailed out, all without losing a single man.
01:13:08At that point, the crew was solidified behind him.
01:13:13It was a very terrible retribution.
01:13:16And this is a man who was a total teetotaler
01:13:19and kept Sunday services on his pirate ship.
01:13:24So there's quite a dichotomy in what his thinking was.
01:13:29To everything there is a season,
01:13:32and that I am to every purpose under heaven.
01:13:36God says the world is ours for the taking.
01:13:45On Robert's urging, the pirates set sail for the Caribbean.
01:13:49He thinks that easy pickings await.
01:13:55Robert crosses the Atlantic, wreaking havoc and taking ships
01:13:59as he heads towards the Caribbean.
01:14:08In January 1720, word of his advance
01:14:11reaches the local governors of Barbados and Martinique.
01:14:16The governors hire pirate hunters, private vigilantes,
01:14:20to hopefully hunt down and defeat Roberts.
01:14:31Those governors had threatened his life.
01:14:34There was no way Bart was going to allow that to happen.
01:14:37He was out for vengeance.
01:14:39It was almost as if they had the audacity to say
01:14:42that they're coming after me to hell with them.
01:14:45They're in trouble now.
01:14:49What he wanted was to kill the governor of Barbados
01:14:52and kill the governor of Martinique.
01:14:55How long they been hanging us, huh?
01:14:57They've been hanging us for a short of time.
01:15:00Black Bart Roberts issues a declaration of war.
01:15:07A short and merry life have we, huh, lads?
01:15:10His pirate ship against the world.
01:15:241720.
01:15:26The pirates who once ruled the Caribbean
01:15:29are now being hunted by the navies of 4 nations.
01:15:34Ready?
01:15:39The French were getting better, the Dutch were getting better,
01:15:42the Spanish were getting better at killing them.
01:15:45And from about 1718 onwards,
01:15:48naval admiralty records show 200 to 300 pirates
01:15:52being hanged every year.
01:15:54They were decimated.
01:15:59Nice.
01:16:01For Calico Jack Rackham and the women pirates
01:16:04Anne Bonny and Mary Read,
01:16:06it is a bad time to let down their guard.
01:16:10On October 22, 1720,
01:16:13Jack Rackham and his crew are anchored off Dry Harbor Bay, Jamaica.
01:16:19The men have been drinking heavily for several hours.
01:16:23Only the women remain sober.
01:16:31An approaching sail heralds opportunity or disaster.
01:16:37A ship didn't approach that boldly
01:16:41unless they meant business,
01:16:43unless they were specifically hunting for pirates.
01:16:52The women are able to rally the men to slip the cable and set sail.
01:16:58Anchors going!
01:17:00Outnumbered by over a hundred men,
01:17:02the pirates' only hope is to slip away once darkness falls.
01:17:06Who are you? And where's your point?
01:17:09Why?
01:17:11Nobody knows if it's drink or bravado
01:17:14that prompts Jack Rackham's response.
01:17:17Jack Rackham, from Cuba!
01:17:20Rackham shouts defiantly,
01:17:22I'm John Rackham of Cuba.
01:17:25The sun's going down,
01:17:27in the dim light,
01:17:29the guns are blasting them with great shot, a round shot.
01:17:32They can hear the shot whistling overhead.
01:17:36Fast and maneuverable,
01:17:38Rackham's small sloop is on the verge of escape.
01:17:44A round shot from Barnett's ship slams into the boom
01:17:48which holds the lower part of Rackham's mainsail.
01:17:51It shatters the boom, essentially disabling the vessel.
01:17:55The pirates know they will soon be boarded by overwhelming numbers.
01:18:00This is going to be it.
01:18:02If they're captured, they're dead, and they all know it.
01:18:08Where are you going?
01:18:12I'm not going to hang for you, Jack!
01:18:22And they go down below again, and they start drinking.
01:18:25They accept their fate, essentially.
01:18:27I mean, they know that's it.
01:18:29And they were all arrested and brought back to the capital of Jamaica,
01:18:33in irons, and put on trial.
01:18:46Tried first, the men are sentenced to hang.
01:18:52Anne Bonny and Mary Reed don't have any more defense
01:18:55than Rackham and his men did, so it's a pretty short trial.
01:18:58There really is not any question of their guilt.
01:19:01Do you have any final words?
01:19:04Anne Bonny and Mary Reed both had a unique claim
01:19:07that Aberdeen court's never heard before
01:19:09in defense of why they should not be hung.
01:19:12We plead our bellies, milord.
01:19:14We're both quick with child.
01:19:22Very well. This will be verified.
01:19:25And if true, your execution will be stayed,
01:19:29but only until such time as you have given birth.
01:19:33Guards, take them away.
01:19:38Well, Anne Bonny and Mary Reed are both put back in prison,
01:19:42and they're left there until their children are born,
01:19:45in which time they're going to be hanged.
01:19:49In contrast to the court proceedings,
01:19:51there are few records of what happened
01:19:54to the women pirates in jail.
01:20:02Mary!
01:20:04On April 8, 1720, Mary Reed dies.
01:20:08Some believe it is fever.
01:20:11Others, fear for her life.
01:20:15Some believe it is fever.
01:20:17Others, that she died during childbirth.
01:20:21Mary!
01:20:24There are no records of Anne Bonny's fate.
01:20:29Her father was still a plantation owner in the New World.
01:20:32It's been well speculated that her father
01:20:34pulled some strings to smuggle her out.
01:20:39The fact that she never showed up in any amuletary records
01:20:41of being hung is evidence of the fact she was never killed.
01:20:48Anne Bonny disappears from public record.
01:20:54Approximately 900 miles away, near the island of Martinique,
01:20:58Black Bart Roberts is on a personal quest for revenge.
01:21:04You're sure the governor of Martinique is on board?
01:21:06Positive.
01:21:08But it's a man-at-war.
01:21:10Two gun and nine swivel.
01:21:1224-pound cannon to you four-pounders.
01:21:16Nothing can stand up to it.
01:21:18Set a course for Martinique.
01:21:20It's difficult to think of any other instances
01:21:22where a pirate captain has taken on a man-at-war.
01:21:26He is utterly fearless.
01:21:28He's almost looking for death.
01:21:30We're coming for you, Martinique!
01:21:33Les pirates! On nous attaque!
01:21:41You're watching True Caribbean Pirates on the History Channel.
01:21:52April, 1721.
01:21:57The French governor of Martinique
01:21:59is traveling on board a 32-gun man-at-war.
01:22:03Ă€ l'heure actuelle...
01:22:08A French merchant vessel pulls alongside to relay some news.
01:22:32We're coming for you, Martinique!
01:22:35Les pirates! On nous attaque!
01:22:47Music!
01:22:50It was the element of surprise.
01:22:52No man-at-war expected to be approached by a French merchantman
01:22:55and suddenly get raked with gunfire across your deck.
01:22:58A French man-at-war wouldn't have been expecting that at all.
01:23:02Get down in the brain, you slime!
01:23:17They grapple alongside, pull the ship in close,
01:23:20throw some of these homemade hand grenades
01:23:22as men would scramble over the side,
01:23:25swinging their cutlasses and firing their pistols
01:23:28and attempting to force the quarry into a quick surrender.
01:23:33Oh, God!
01:23:40Bring me Martinique!
01:23:42Governor man!
01:23:46Find the governor! Be quick about it!
01:23:53Captain, what will we do with him?
01:23:55Bring him to me.
01:23:58I was afraid you'd killed yourself.
01:24:01Not man enough for that, I see.
01:24:04Tell him he has one minute to say his prayers.
01:24:07Make a noose!
01:24:18I don't care what you have to say.
01:24:28I love you!
01:24:35And he hung the governor of Martinique
01:24:38from the yardarm of his own ship
01:24:41and felt that the man deserved it
01:24:43because he had the effrontery to go after him,
01:24:46to try and capture him.
01:24:51He was hated and feared across the world.
01:24:54The governors of all the Caribbean colonies wanted him dead.
01:24:57They're all imploring the Royal Navy to find Roberts and kill him.
01:25:03So he decided at this time to head back across to Africa once more.
01:25:09On February 10th, 1722,
01:25:12Black Bart Roberts is anchored off Cape Lopez, Africa,
01:25:16with enough treasure to fill three ships.
01:25:21What is this?
01:25:23What's a drunken idiot?
01:25:25Hey!
01:25:31His crew's been celebrating all night
01:25:33because the day before they'd taken a 200-ton pink emergent man
01:25:36called the Neptune, which was full of alcohol.
01:25:40The Neptune is approximately the 400th ship
01:25:43taken by Roberts in his three-year career.
01:25:47To put it in perspective,
01:25:49Blackbird took 23 ships in a 15-month career
01:25:52and Captain Kidd only took two real prizes.
01:25:56He was absolutely the most successful,
01:25:59most famous, most feared pirate in Western history.
01:26:05A sail is spotted on the horizon.
01:26:08However, as it comes in closer and closer,
01:26:11Roberts seems to suspect something's wrong
01:26:13and, deserted from the swallow, rushes up to him,
01:26:15a man called Armstrong, and says...
01:26:17Oh, no, that ship, that's the swallow.
01:26:19Royal Navy!
01:26:23Look lively, lads. On the ready.
01:26:26Carrying 32 cannon, the swallow is a Royal Navy man of war.
01:26:37We've got a Royal ship on our heels!
01:26:39Move!
01:26:40A Navy ship has us dead to right!
01:26:43Roberts' men are drunk
01:26:45and they're not in a position to put up a serious fight,
01:26:48particularly not against a real enemy
01:26:50like a British man of war.
01:27:00Unlike the French man of war,
01:27:02that didn't suspect Roberts was going to attack it,
01:27:05this man of war is fully ready for action.
01:27:10On your orders, gunner.
01:27:12Make it count.
01:27:14Go! Get out! Go!
01:27:16While his drunken crew take cover from the inevitable broadside,
01:27:19Roberts remains on deck.
01:27:23Roberts is sitting astride a cannon.
01:27:25It looks like he's waiting for death.
01:27:27He doesn't seem to care whether he lived or died.
01:27:30That's Roberts. In the red jacket.
01:27:32Fire!
01:27:40Graveshot hits him. He falls over.
01:27:45Dead.
01:27:47Bring me a cloth.
01:27:49This man was into the drink.
01:27:52The crew honour a promise to ensure that Roberts' body
01:27:56would never be put on display.
01:27:58Best pirate I ever knew!
01:28:01Ready?
01:28:03And go!
01:28:08So Roberts is there somewhere,
01:28:10with his skeletons off the coast of Africa, wrapped in chains.
01:28:13Fire muskets. Prepare to board.
01:28:18Once the charismatic leader is dead,
01:28:20all the heart goes out of his crew,
01:28:23and they're captured.
01:28:25Drop it! Drop your weapon! Come on!
01:28:34There were certainly pirates after Roberts,
01:28:37just as there were pirates before Roberts,
01:28:39but Roberts' demise really brought an end to this golden age.
01:28:47From Morgan...
01:28:49to Blackbeard...
01:28:52to Anne Bonny...
01:28:54to Black Bart Roberts,
01:28:56the pirates who ruled the Caribbean
01:28:59also captured the imagination of the world.
01:29:04At the essence of every pirate crew,
01:29:06no matter how debaucherous, no matter how violent,
01:29:08no matter how decadent their lifestyle,
01:29:10it always centered about freedom.
01:29:13In defiance of every law but their own,
01:29:16pirates pursue the life that will lead to their destruction.
01:29:21This is not a lifestyle that could be maintained for very long.
01:29:25There were so many things that could kill them.
01:29:27A hangman's noose.
01:29:29A shipwreck.
01:29:33A broadside.
01:29:35A door.
01:29:38A door.
01:29:41There were so many ways for pirates to die.
01:29:43I think they recognized
01:29:45that they were not going to have a very long lifespan,
01:29:49and they were right.
01:29:53We celebrate pirates because they were rebels,
01:29:56but pirates were not what we think of them as,
01:29:59as some grand, egalitarian group of sea-roving Robin Hoods.
01:30:03Pirates were cutthroats, murderers, thieves.
01:30:06People who went beyond the pale of society.
01:30:09They were, in a Latin phrase used at the time,
01:30:12enemies of all mankind.
01:30:28A short and merry life have we, eh, lads?
01:30:31A short and merry life!
01:30:36Pirates of the Caribbean