Bartholomew Roberts

[caster89]

Bartholomew Roberts went to sea at the age of 13 in 1695 but there is no further record of him until 1718, when he was mate of a Barbados sloop. In 1719 he was third mate aboard the slave ship Princess of London, under Captain Abraham Plumb. In early June that year the Princess was anchored at Anomabu, then spelled Annamaboa, which is situated along the Gold Coast of West Africa (present-day Ghana), when she was captured by pirates. The pirates were in two ships, the Royal Rover and the Royal James, and were led by captain Howell Davis. Davis, like Roberts, was a Welshman, originally from Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire. Several of the crew of the Princess of London were forced to join the pirates, including Roberts. Davis quickly discovered Roberts' abilities as a navigator and took to consulting him. Roberts is said to have initially been reluctant to become a pirate, but soon came to see the advantages of his new life. Captain Charles Johnson reports him as saying:

"In an honest service there is thin commons, low wages, and hard labour. In this, plenty and satiety, pleasure and ease, liberty and power; and who would not balance creditor on this side, when all the hazard that is run for it, at worst is only a sour look or two at choking? No, a merry life and a short one shall be my motto."

A few weeks later the Royal Marlesa had to be abandoned because of worm damage. The Royal Rover headed for the Isle of Princes, now Príncipe. Davis hoisted the flags of a British man-of-war, and was allowed to enter the harbour. After a few days Davis invited the governor to lunch on board his ship, intending to hold him hostage for a ransom. As Davis had to send boats to collect the governor, he was invited to call at the fort for a glass of wine first. The Portuguese had by now discovered that their visitors were pirates, and on the way to the fort Davis' party were ambushed and Davis himself shot dead

Roberts and his crew crossed the Atlantic and watered and boot-topped their ship on the uninhabited island of Ferdinando. They then spent about nine weeks off the Brazilian coast, but saw no ships. They were about to leave for the West Indies when they encountered a fleet of 42 Portuguese ships in the Todos os Santos' Bay, waiting for two men-of-war of 70 guns each to escort them to Lisbon. Roberts took one of the vessels, and ordered her master to point out the richest ship in the fleet. He pointed out a ship of 40 guns and a crew of 170, which Roberts and his men boarded and captured. The ship proved to contain 40,000 gold moidors and jewelry including a cross set with diamonds, designed for the King of Portugal.

The Rover now headed for Devil's Island off the coast of Guiana to spend the booty. A few weeks later they headed for the River Surinam, where they captured a sloop. When a brigantine was sighted, Roberts took forty men to pursue it in the sloop, leaving Walter Kennedy in command of the Rover. The sloop became wind-bound for eight days, and when Roberts and his men were finally able to return, they discovered that Kennedy had sailed off with the Rover and what remained of the loot. Roberts and his crew renamed their sloop the Fortune and agreed new articles, which they swore on a Bible to uphold.

In late February 1720 they were joined by the French pirate Montigny la Palisse in another sloop, the Sea King. The inhabitants of Barbados equipped two well-armed ships, the Summerset and the Philipa, to try to put an end to the pirate menace. On 26 February they encountered the two pirate sloops. The Sea King quickly fled, and after sustaining considerable damage the Fortune broke off the engagement and was able to escape. Roberts headed for Dominica to repair the sloop, with twenty of his crew dying of their wounds on the voyage. There were also two sloops from Martinique out searching for the pirates, and Roberts swore vengeance against the inhabitants of Barbados and Martinique. He had a new flag made with a drawing of himself standing upon 2 skulls, one labelled ABH (A Barbadian's Head) and the other AMH (A Martiniquian's Head).

In early April 1721 the pirates captured a French man of war and discovered that one of the passengers was the Governor of Martinique. Roberts had him hanged from the yardarm. By the spring of 1721, Roberts' depredations had almost brought sea-borne trade in the West Indies to a standstill. The Royal Fortune and the Good Fortune therefore set sail for West Africa. On 20 April Thomas Anstis, the commander of the Good Fortune, left Roberts in the night and continued to raid shipping in the Caribbean. The Royal Fortune continued towards Africa.


On 5 February H.M.S. Swallow, commanded by Captain Chalonor Ogle, came upon the three pirate ships, the Royal Fortune, the Ranger and the Little Ranger careening at Cape Lopez. The Swallow veered away to avoid a sandbank, making the pirates think that she was a fleeing merchant ship. The Ranger, commanded by James Skyrme, departed in pursuit. Once out of earshot of the other pirates, the Swallow opened her gun ports and an engagement began. Ten of the pirates were killed and Skyrme had his leg taken off by a cannon ball, but refused to leave the deck. Eventually the Ranger was forced to strike her colours and the surviving crew were captured.

On 10 February the Swallow returned to Cape Lopez and found the Royal Fortune still there. The previous day Roberts had captured the Neptune, and many of his crew were drunk and unfit for duty just when he needed them most. The pirates at first thought that the approaching ship was the Ranger returning, but a deserter from the Swallow recognized her and informed the captain. Roberts was breakfasting in company with Captain Hill, the master of the Neptune, when he was given the news. As he usually did before action, he dressed himself in his finest clothes:

"Roberts himself made a gallant figure, at the time of the engagement, being dressed in a rich crimson damask waistcoat and breeches, a red feather in his hat, a gold chain round his neck, with a diamond cross hanging to it, a sword in his hand, and two pairs of pistols slung over his shoulders"

The pirates' plan was to sail past the Swallow, which meant exposing themselves to one broadside. Once past, they would have a good chance of escaping. However the helmsman failed to keep the Royal Fortune on the right course, and the Swallow was able to approach to deliver a second broadside. Captain Roberts was killed by grapeshot cannon fire, which struck him in the throat, while he stood on the deck. Before his body could be captured by Ogle, Roberts' wish to be buried at sea was fulfilled by his crew, who weighted his body down and threw his body overboard after being tied in his ship's sail. It was never found.

Roberts was the most succesful pirate duiring the golden age of piracy, his death brought relief to America, Europe, Africa, and south america.

~cc.wikipedia.org

[Capt. Cannon]

Thats interesting. The game seems more...real when you know abit about the people who you are swinging big crates at to knock them overboard. Do you know anything about blackbeard, Caster89?

_________________
Go Fishing.

Johnny Ringo- "This fight isn't with you"
Doc Holliday-"I bed to Diffuh."
(Tombstone)

http://www.fishnj.netfirms.com/

Capt. Cannon <((((((<

[caster89]

[Augey]

Bartholomew Roberts ('Black Bart')
June 1719 to February 1722. English. Ships: Royal Fortune, Great Fortune, Fortune, Rover, Great Ranger, Ranger Born (as John Roberts) to a poor family in Pembroke County, Roberts rose to mate of a Barbados sloop by 1718. Turning pirate, he cruised from Brazil to Canada to Africa. Altogether, he captured some 400 vessels, including several substantial prizes. Almost alone amongst pirate captains, he rarely drank alcoholic beverages.
In June 1719, Roberts was the third mate of a ship captured of Ghana by Howell Davis as its crew brought slaves for the Royal Africa Company. Roberts joined Davis' crew and took the name "Bartholomew." Tall, dark and handsome, he was called "Black Barty" by his shipmates.
The Pirates proceeded south and careened their ship at Principle Island. Toward the end of July, they were ambushed by the Portuguese governor, and Davis was slain. Roberts was elected captain of the Rover and revenged Davis by bombarding the town and burning the fort.
Roberts plundered a Dutch vessel and burned an English slave ship before making for Brazil. In September he fell in with a convoy of 42 Portuguese traders escorted by two 70-gun warships. In a bold attack, he captured a larger and better-armed vessel with £30,000 in gold coins and other rich cargo. However, both the Rover and his prize were snatched by Walter Kennedy, left in command while Roberts was off in a captured sloop.
Roberts renamed the 10-gun sloop Fortune, looted four small vessels, and outsailed a British ship sent in pursuit. After selling his booty in New England, Roberts reached the New Foundland fishing banks in June 1720. Roberts' raiders spread terror along the coast, captured 26 sloops and 150 fishing boats, and wantonly destroyed sheds and machinery along the shore.
With the Fortune, Roberts seized an 18-gun galley and traded her for a 28-gun French ship, renaming each in turn the Royal Fortune. As he returned south with his two ships, Roberts pillaged at least a dozen English merchantmen. The raiders fell upon the London ship Samuel like a "parcel of furies," destroying her cargo and taking away £8,000 in booty. Many seamen from his prizes voluntarily enlisted, and the pirates recruited others by force. Roberts preferred English seamen, and some reports say he tortured and killed French captives.
After taking on food at Deseada and Saint Bartholomew in the Caribbean, Roberts made for Africa. Through bad navigation, the pirates sailed to the south of the Cape Verde Islands and could not go back against the trade winds. Forced to return to the Caribbean, they ran out of water and survived on one mouthful a day.
Reaching the West Indies in September 1720, Roberts attacked the harbour at Saint Kitts, seized and looted one ship, and set fire to two others. The Fortune returned the next day, but was driven off by cannon fire. With his usual bravado, Roberts sent an insulting letter to the English Governor.


Had you come off as you ought to a done, and drank a glass of wine with me and my company, I should not have harmed the least vessell in your harbour. Further, it is not your gunns you fired that affrighted me or hindered our coming on shore, but the wind…

After repairing his ships at Saint Bartholomew, Roberts returned to the attack in late October and plundered 15 French and English vessels. In January, he captured a 32-gun Dutch slaver and played a clever trick on the inhabitants of Martinique. The Dutch ship sailed past the harbours and signaled the Frenchmen to visit Saint Lucia, where Dutch smugglers sold slaves. The pirates seized and burned 14 French ships and tortured their crews. They severely whipped some victims and cut off their ears. Others they hung from the yard-arm and used for target practice.
Roberts looted another French vessel and then careened his ships at an Island of eastern Hispaniola. The Fortune was replaced by an 18-gun brigantine, renamed the Good Fortune. Soon after, his two ships captured a French man-of-war carrying the Governor of Martinique. Roberts hanged the governor and took over his 52-gun ship, the third to be named the Royal Fortune.
In April 1721, Roberts sailed to Africa to trade his plundered goods for gold. The Royal Fortune at this time had a crew of 228, including 48 blacks. The Good Fortune carried 100 white and 40 black seamen. To keep control of these large and often drunken crews. Roberts became increasingly autocratic. On the way to Africa, Thomas Anstis deserted with the Good Fortune, but Roberts had kept the best loot on board his own ship.
Roberts arrived at Africa in June, captured four prizes, and kept one, renamed the Ranger (later called the Little Ranger). After resting at the Sierra Leone River, the rovers headed for Liberia. There they captured the Royal Africa Company's Onslow (with £9,000 in cargo), which became the last Royal Fortune.
Roberts cruised southeast to Nigeria and Gabon and then went back to the Ivory Coast, taking at least six prizes along the way. On January 11, 1722, he reached Whydah (Ouidah, now in Benin) and captured 11 slave ships, each of which paid eight pounds of gold dust in ransom. When one Portuguese captain refused to pay, the pirates burned both his ship and it's cargo of 80 slaves. A 32-gun French warship was retained as the Great Ranger.
Rogers decided to return to Brazil to disband his crew. Meanwhile, two British men-of-war had been pursuing the pirates along the coast. On February 5, the Swallow, under Captain Challoner Ogle, caught up with Roberts' squadron near Cape Lopez in Gabon. Mistaking the warship for a Portuguese trader, the Great Ranger chased the Swallow and surrendered after a gun battle.
The Swallow returned to Cape Lopez on February 10 and found the Royal Fortune at anchor. The pirates had taken a prize the previous night, and most either helplessly drunk or hung over. Roberts dressed for battle in a crimson damask waistcoat and trousers, a hat with a red plume, and a gold chain and diamond cross.
Giving orders with his usual boldness, Roberts sent the Royal Fortune toward the Swallow to escape with the wind. Grapeshot from the Swallow's broadside brought instant death. Loyal to his last wish, the pirates threw Roberts' body overboard, rather than let it be hanged in chains from a gallows.
The Royal Fortune surrendered about three hours later. Captain Ogle's men found about 300 pounds of gold dust (worth about £14,000) in Roberts' three ships. The captain of Roberts' last prize had escaped after stealing other booty from the Little Ranger. Captain Ogle took his prisoners to Cape Coast in Ghana, where a Vice-Admiralty court was set up. Seventy black pirates were returned to slavery. Fifty-four crewmen were hanged, 37 received lesser sentences, and 74 were acquitted.
Roberts' boldness was his trademark. He led his crew into action wearing a number of pistols tucked into a silk bandolier and carrying a sharp cutlass. He attacked ships of all nations, but particularly singled out France and its colonies. A tall, handsome man who loved fine clothes he was also a gifted leader of men, and held his crews together by the use of prize money, codes of conduct and above all, constant success.
_________________
er son de bragh Albainn

[caster89]

uh....i dont know wat to say...

[corsair91]

Bartholomew Roberts

https://www.thoughtco.com/bartholomew-black-bart-roberts-2136212


Wikipedia link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholomew_Roberts

One example of people adding 2+2 and getting 5
is this in the Roberts wikipedia article:

Quote:

In 1997, a book was published that theorized Bartholomew Roberts was a woman transvestite.
It was argued that Roberts' corpse was thrown overboard to conceal this fact.

Gabriel Kuhn & Tyler Austin, ed. (1997). "Sea Princess Bartholomew Roberts: Was "the Most Successful Pirate" a Woman?". Women Pirates and the Politics of the Jolly Roger. Black Rose Books. pp. 178–188.


Seen somewhere else the suggestion put forward it could even have been Anne Bonney in male clothing.

Roberts movenents are well known for the period
and what is known of Bonney's don't match up.

Robert's was actively Pirating while Bonney was in jail,
so somebody has too much idle time to make mischief
based on the fact Robert's Body was never found.

Given that Roberts understandably wanted to probably avoid
having his corpse exhibited in a gibblet as a public deterrence
to Piracy, it doesn't make Roberts a woman in drag.

The lack of privacy on board ship, hang your ass over the
rail to have a crap means very unlikely the crew would not know the correct gender.

So nice contraversial theory which might have sold a few books
but no actual evidence for it.

The authorities would not have been shy suggesting this
if it were true at the time as Roberts was someone they would
done their upmost to blacken his name if they could.

[Salty Dog]

Henry Avery, or Henry Every made the most money of any pirate and was smart enough to escape with his life!

https://www.thoughtco.com/henry-avery-pirate-who-kept-loot-2136226

[corsair91]

The Greatest Pirate of the Caribbean - Black Bart Roberts I PIRATES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A45uGDIYRhs


IT'S HISTORY
18 Apr 2015


During the Golden Age of Piracy, there was one captain who became a legend. He invented the pirate code, had the biggest stach of loot among them all and even on his flag he defied death: Bartholomew Roberts aka Black Bart Roberts. Find out more about this legendary pirate with Brett on IT'S HISTORY.

[corsair91]

Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts: The Dread Pirate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G021ce_Dcqc

Biographics
23 Oct 2020

[corsair91]

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag - Bartholomew Roberts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wnTeZk97kc

All the cut scenes and narrative gameplay for Bartholomew Roberts



Assassin's Creed: The Real History - "Bartholomew Roberts"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pwklf84OUs

OnlineKnights
3 Jan 2014

the story behind the pirate Bartholomew Roberts.

[corsair91]

The Pirates of Sid Meier’s Pirates!
Firaxis


Bartholomew Roberts

On June 15, 1719, in the English trading station of Anamaboe on the Guinea coast of Africa, pirates under the command of Howell Davis captured a Dutch slaving vessel named the Princess. Several merchant seamen were forced to join the pirates as crew, including the Princess's third mate, Bartholomew Roberts.

Roberts was a fine sailor and natural leader, and when Davis was killed several months later, the men elected him captain. In a very short time Roberts was to prove himself one of the greatest pirates who ever lived.

Somewhat of a dandy, Roberts dressed in a rich crimson damask waistcoat and breeches, wore a red feather in his hat and a large gold cross around his neck. He carried two braces of pistols on a silk sash and a heavy sword at his side. He drank great quantities of tea and disliked alcohol aboard his vessels.

Upon assuming command, Roberts sailed south along the coast of Africa, picking up several prizes. Then he took the ship to Brazil, where they captured the richest prize out of a fleet of 42 merchants awaiting military escorts.

Then the pirates turned north to Newfoundland, where Roberts captured 22 merchants and 150 fishing ships in harbor without firing a shot. He then headed south once again, capturing half a dozen French prizes off the Newfoundland banks and several English ships off of New England.

Roberts then entered the Caribbean. Basing himself off of St. Lucia, he launched upon a campaign of such brilliance and ferocity that he single-handedly brought trade in the Caribbean to a standstill. Among other exploits, he sailed boldly into St. Kitts and ravaged a number of English merchantmen at anchor there. Later on, he seized, burned, or sank fifteen French and English vessels in a three-day period. The local authorities were helpless, and the naval forces in the area refused to challenge him.

By spring of 1721 there was no shipping left in the Caribbean to capture, and Roberts set sail for Africa. The pirates spent several months rampaging up and down the coast, until at last the British 50-gun HMS Swallow found them at anchor.

For a time the pirates mistook the approaching vessel for a merchantman, and it wasn't until the warship was quite near that Roberts realized what he was facing. Roberts did not savor an encounter with the more powerful vessel, and he planned to flee as fast as his sails could bear him. But before he left he wanted to give his attacker one parting shot, perhaps hoping that his fire would damage his enemy's sails or otherwise slow the pursuit, so he gave orders to close with the approaching ship. In the event, the Swallow's cannon-fire proved the more deadly: her first broadside tore Robert's throat out and he died almost immediately.

During his four-year career, Roberts pillaged, captured or sank over 400 ships and took untold millions in treasure. He rampaged across the entire Atlantic, from Brazil in the south to Newfoundland in the north, from the Caribbean in the west to Africa in the east. His death brought profound relief to merchants and naval officers on four continents.

[corsair91]

https://www.worldhistory.org/Bartholomew_Roberts/



Bartholomew 'Black Bart' Roberts: The Last True Pirate (Pirate History Explained)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTOi-8B0vDo

The Legends of History
runtime 13:01

Bartholomew Roberts was considered to be the most successful pirate who ever lived, and that's no exaggeration. He dominated the seas and would be remembered as the last pirates to close the curtain on the golden age of piracy.


The Legends of History
https://www.youtube.com/@thelegendsofhistory

[corsair91]

The Battle of Cape Lopez: End of the Golden Age of Piracy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tZJdXhZtCY

The History Guy


The History Guy
https://www.youtube.com/@TheHistoryGuyChannel


The Battle of Cape Lopez (1722)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cape_Lopez

A Royal Navy man-of-war under Captain Chaloner Ogle
defeated the pirate ship of Bartholomew Roberts
"Black Bart" off the coast of Gabon, West Africa.