A Brief History
On May 23, 1701, Scottish Captain William Kidd was hanged in London for piracy and murder. Captain Kidd is one of the better known pirates, and here we list 10 of the most famous or infamous of them all. For today, we will stick to real people, so Captain Hook and Long John Silver will have to wait for a fictional list.
Digging Deeper
10. Anne Dieu-le-Veut.
The last name is actually a sobriquet meaning “God wills it” or “God Wants.” She was given this nickname because it seemed she achieved everything she tried. Sent to Tortuga against her will by the French government to be married to colonists there, she married a pirate, and when he was killed she became one herself and married another pirate. Captured by the English, Anne was imprisoned for 3 years before being released, with her activities and circumstances of death after that unknown. Unlike many other women pirates, Anne wore normal female clothing and did not hide her gender while on ship. Unlike the stereotype of a woman on a ship being bad luck, Anne was seen more of a good luck charm, hence her nickname.
9. Black Caesar.
An African slave that turned pirate when captured, Black Caesar prowled the Florida Keys until he hooked up with Blackbeard and became one of his lieutenants. Black Caesar was one of 5 Africans in Blackbeard’s main crew and survived the battle in which Blackbeard was killed, only to be taken prisoner and hanged. Caesar’s Rock, an island north of Key Largo is named for him and was his base of operations. Note: The pirate has no connection to the 1973 “blaxploitation” film, Black Caesar.
8. Mary Read.
A fascinating person, Read was born illegitimately and raised as a boy, later joining the British Army disguised as a man and distinguishing herself in battle on the continent. There she married a Flemish soldier and when he died she went back into a man’s clothing and back in the Army. During a period of peace, Mary quit and went to find her fortune in the West Indies, but was captured by pirates on the way. Forced to join them, she was pardoned by British authorities, becoming a privateer. When the crew mutinied, she joined them in becoming pirates and became part of Calico Jack’s crew. When Jack’s girlfriend, Anne Bonny, took a romantic interest in “Mark,” Mary revealed herself as a woman. Mary fell in love with a male prisoner, and when she was captured by authorities she announced that she was pregnant, and thus could not be hanged. Mary died in prison awaiting childbirth.
7. Black Bart.
Bartholomew Roberts was an incredibly successful pirate, perhaps the most successful of all, with over 470 ships taken by his crew. Never known as Black Bart in his lifetime, Roberts started out as a pirate when captured by pirates and forced to join them. Eventually he took to the life and roamed up and down South America to North America and the Caribbean, straying all the way to Africa. When Roberts died in battle with the Royal Navy in 1722, both pirates and authorities were somewhat shocked as he had been considered almost invincible. Cracked fact: Roberts and his crew developed the 11 article Pirate Code of rules for pirates to live by.
6. Anne Bonny.
Anne was of an Irish family that had moved to the Caribbean when she was a girl. In the Bahamas she met and circulated amongst pirates, meeting and falling in love with John Rackham, aka Calico Jack the pirate. In 1720 when the Royal Navy surprised the pirates, only Anne, Mary Read, and one other crewman fought the boarders with vigor, the rest of the crew including Calico Jack sleeping off a drunk meekly surrendering. Like Read, Bonny was pregnant when captured, and her hanging was delayed until after the delivery of her baby, but she was spared and lived until 1782 dying at a remarkable 93 years old. The last time she spoke to Calico Jack, she told him, “If you fought like a man, you wouldn’t have been hanged like a dog.”
5. Captain Kidd.
William Kidd was actually a privateer, a sea captain given a charter from his government to engage in capturing and looting merchant ships of France, a country at war with his own. He was also supposed to attack and seize any pirate ships he encountered. Kidd and his crew stretched the limits of privateering to the point where he was labeled a pirate for attacking ships not covered by his commission. Arrested in Boston, held for a year, and then sent to England in chains, Kidd went on trial for piracy and murder, and was found guilty. The murder charge shocked him, as apparently he thought it was proper for him to hit a crewman in the head with a bucket that had insulted him, causing the crewman’s death. When he was hanged, the rope broke and he had to be hanged a second time. His body was then hung up in public as a warning to pirates. Kidd was railroaded at trial, with his financial backers undermining his case and not paying for his defense to avoid implication themselves. Evidence that Kidd may have used to win acquittal mysteriously disappeared or was not allowed in court.
4. Calico Jack.
John Rackham earned his nickname for the colorful clothes he wore. His “Jolly Roger” pirate flag consisting of a skull above 2 crossed swords was a distinctive feature flying atop his ship, and the 2 famous lady pirates in his crew, Anne Bonny (his more or less wife) and Mary Read are also on this list. Jack met his end at the end of a hangman’s noose in Jamaica in 1720, left to hang in public as notice to the fate of pirates. Rackham is remembered in many cultural references, including books, movies, and the current Starz cable television series, Black Sails. Like Captain Morgan below, Calico Jack is the name of rum sold today.
3. Sir Henry Morgan.
A successful privateer sometimes commanding a fleet of ships, Morgan raided Spanish settlements in the New World amassing wealth for himself and his crews. His forays sometimes stretched the limits of privateering and he was accused of piracy in a 1683 book, leading to a lawsuit by him for libel. Morgan won the suit, but his reputation as a bloodthirsty pirate remained, and remains to this day. The raids and attacks on ships certainly required an amount of ruthlessness, and of course many Spaniards and other were killed by Morgan and his crews. Morgan is commemorated today in an extensive list of books, movies, television shows, songs, and of course, like Calico Jack, a rum is named Captain Morgan. Morgan died at age 53, possibly of tuberculosis.
2. Sir Francis Drake.
A naval officer and privateer, Drake so bedeviled the Spanish navy and merchant fleet that the king of Spain put a bounty of 20,000 ducats on his head ($6.5 million in today’s dollars). As a naval officer, Drake defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588, and as a privateer he was the scourge of the Atlantic and the Pacific coasts of North and South America, continuing his travels through the Indian Ocean and around Africa, becoming the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. Along the way he and his crew took many treasure ships, giving the British Crown a huge influx of cash, more than the rest of the Crown’s income for the whole year. Drake died an inglorious death at age 55 in 1596 of dysentery and was buried at sea in his full armor, and placed in a lead coffin. His remains have been searched for, but not found.
1. Edward Teach (Blackbeard).
The pirate that embodies the stereotype of pirates, the big, fearsome looking devil of a pirate struck fear along the American coast. Despite given a pardon, Teach and his crew went back to pirating until authorities (Royal Navy) finally caught up with him off North Carolina and fought a ferocious battle, vanquishing the mighty pirate and his crew. (See our November 22, 2013 article.) No longer would the hellish vision of Blackbeard with ribbons and matches (slow burning cords) tied in his big bushy beard befoul the eyes of terrified sailors. The legend of Blackbeard’s ferocity was certainly true, as it took over 20 sword slashes and 5 gunshot wounds to take him down, a fitting end for the Number 1 Pirate!
Question for students (and subscribers): Who else would you include? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Cordingly, David and Charles Captain Johnson. General History of the Robberies & Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates. Lyons Press, 2010.
Konstam, Angus. Blackbeard: America’s Most Notorious Pirate. Wiley, 2007.
You can also watch a video version of this list on YouTube:
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2349 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=2349">57 Comments
Blackbeard deserves to be the first on the list, he was almost invincible needing so many sword slashes and 5 gunshots. And poor Captain Kidd had a terrible death, to be hung twice because the first time didn’t suffice would be the worst that could happen.
-AD
I think Sir Francis Drake deserved his spot on the list. He seemed like a successful pirate because he conquered the Spanish armada and managing to get a large bounty on his head.
I give major props to Anne Bonny and Mary Read not only for being female pirates in a massively male dominated ‘profession’, but also for dealing with the huge wimp Calico Jack. To think they battled two and a crewman against a navy while the rest of the crew, and the Captain, forgot to care for their lives.
Blackbeard should be number one on this list! He was very successful with all of his kills!
There were many more females on the list than I would have thought. It shows that females have always had a part in parts of history that most would not know. There seems to be a fine line between privateer and pirate and all could have been considered either one. Historians really get to write the final say on that.
A lot of these pirates were females which is very interesting because each one of them had their own certain story on how they accomplished their own piracy.
Anne Bonny fought like more of a man than Jack. Also good to see they at least let the baby be born before they were to hang her.
Blackbeard seems to be the most iconic pirate. Can’t believe it took that much force to take him down.
It is nice to see that 3 successful pirates were given the acknowldege they deserve. I have never actually heard of female pirates before so it was interesting to learn about their successes and the fact that they exist.
I don’t know about anyone else but being a pirate is probably number one on my list of most badass things. These guys (and girls) lived at sea basically and fought battles in the mean time. Blackbeard is my favorite because the guy just seems like he struck fear into anyone that looked at him.
I would be most frightened to face Black Caesar as previously being a slave. I feel like he would have no mercy and have the most rigorous fighting tactics.
Captain Jack Sparrow
That is wild that there are two different pirates on the list that have rums named after them. It is also wild that it took so much to kill Blackbeard
Piracy is so fascinating to me. It is a life that I will obviously never understand, but it really is cool/terrifying. I have no idea why anybody would do it, especially today, but I guess to each his own there. I think the best pirate of all time was Blackbeard. He was just too cool.
Any idea if any big time pirates are alive today?
Crazy, how much it took to kill Blackbeard. Blackbeard was very smart, when going into battle he would try a scare the other team by his looks..something new
I have always been fascinated by pirates… their names, battles and the movies made after them… perhaps that is why I joined the U.S. Navy! — DAVID WARDLE
The pirate life seems like an amazing adventure. that definitely where I would be if I lived back then!
Good diversity in the pirate world!
can i just say that being a pirate would have been pretty cool. Aside from murdering and other crimes, sailing around the world, finding treasures and such would be very adventurous.
It took that much to bring Blackbeard down….. that crazy
It took a lot to take down Black beard ! His reputation helped him a lot.
I feel like Anne Bonny was a badass. It would have been interesting to live during this time period and hear the stories that circulated then.
I love to hear the stories that circulate about pirates back then. I find it entertaining that they have such intricate lives with sword fights and treasure. And the dedication to the sea.
The pirate life seems fascinating.. Took too much to take down Blackbeard.
Surprised to read about the women pirates, especially the one who dressed as a man. Apparently Blackbeard was a fierce individual.
Three of the pirates on this list all sailed on the same ship.
surprised to see women on the list
I think one of the most interesting things about these pirates is that most of them were either privateers in the beginning or they were captured by pirates and just ended up working for them.
I have not heard of a lot of these pirates, but their stories were all interesting. It was also surprising to me to see women included on the list, I generally think of men when the word “pirate” is said.
I was getting a little worried Blackbeard wasn’t going to make the top 10. Glad to see he got that #1 spot, he deserves it.
Interesting how many pirates used their military experience in order to become effective pirates.
Like many of the top ten lists on this site, I have not heard of many of the pirates. It is a great article. Always fun to learn something new
The adventures that some of these pirates experienced were heightened by their military history, while others were simply “captured” by pirates and then joined them. I found the backgrounds of the various pirates and how they came to be pirates to be a very interesting aspect.
HD
Having played Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, it was really cool to see all these pirates in real life. I know Assassin’s Creed tries to base a lot of the game on real life people and events, but I had no idea there were so many real-life pirates represented in the game. Really cool
N.W.
The basis of Pirates of the Carribean and of Assassins Creed aren’t truly how everything works obviously, but the idea is close enough. It is cool also to see the more in depth of people that were in the crews and how the Black Caeser and Blackbeard became teammates.
I was really surprised and happy to see that women were also pirates. I’ve always pictured pirates being dirty men. Now I know that the women still dressed like women but were just as tough as the men.
It is really cool to read about real pirates because I always think of them as fictional movie characters. It’s interesting that there is a list of rules for pirates to live by. I’m sure it would be entertaining to read those rules.
I also thought it was cool to see that many famous pirates were female, especially back in a not-so-progressive time. You can tell I have played my fair share of Assassin’s Creed 4, as I know many of these figures only because of the game.
All I know about pirates is just what I’ve learned from movies I’ve seen, like the Pirates of the Caribbean and Captain Phillips, so it’s interesting to learn about the actual history behind the movies. I’m glad to see that women were pirates too.
I fail to see how this contributes to the settling of North America, no matter how interesting the top ten pirates are. GW
I don’t know why, but I didn’t realize there were so many women pirates and I am impressed. But, Mary Read just confuses me, I’m not sure what was going on there…
Pirates always seemed like a bit of a myth or a story and never seemed real. But seeing these videos and learning more about them really brings it to reality. This definitely sparked my interest.
The only pirates I have seen are in the movies, like Pirates of the Caribbean, so actually learning about actual pirates. I had not heard of many of these, and I am also glad at the amount of female pirates there were.
Blackbeard was a very sneaky pirate, but also a very vibrant one. He is a tough man to kill, like how it is in the movies for main characters, they are like invinsable.
Reading about all the women pirates surprised me. The image of a woman does not come to mind when I hear the word “pirate” and this article told interesting stories about many courageous woman pirates. In my opinion, woman did not get enough credit back in the day. Some of them were really brave, like the ones mentioned who disguised themselves as men in order to fulfill their dreams.
I always thought that women were not allowed on ships because they caused bad luck, but now seeing that three out of the top ten pirates were women and weren’t afraid to show it leads me to believe that it is only sheer determinations that can keep someone from doing something.
It did not surprise me that Blackbeard was on this list, and that he was number 1 on this list. Whenever people think of pirates, they think of Blackbeard. This is because he had such a horrible reputation and he is the generic “pirate” that everyone thinks of.
I love when women dress up as men and fool other men for years. It shows that they have just as much strength as a man.
I had no idea that there were female pirates!
Some of the people were expected mostly the biggest stereotypical pirate Blackbeard the man almost every one thinks about when they hear the word pirate.
Black Bart is the star here. He took over 470 ships?! That is an unruly amount. Imagine all that plunder
The fact that some women decided to dress up as men just to be pirates is great. Love stories where they try to avoid the segregation among their sex. Also who wanted want to be a pirate? Pirates are badass.
I was shocked to see how many female pirates were on the list. I really never knew of any before reading this article. I found Sir Francis Drake to be interesting. I visited St. Thomas in the V.I. and remember seeing and hearing about him. There was a beautiful location on the island called Drake’s seat named after him, I believe it was a look out area.
There were a lot of female pirates on this list, which surprised me. I find it awesome that they endured what the men who pirates did. Before this article, I only knew of Blackbeard!
It is cool to me how there were as many girl pirates as there were. before reading this, i only knew of blackbeard.
I was surprised to learn that Calico Jack and Captain Morgan
were real people, and I’m curious if Admiral Nelson was real too.