Bartholomew Roberts
"In an honest service, there is thin victuals, low wages and hard labor. In this, plenty and satiety, pleasure and ease, liberty and power… No, a merry life and a short one shall be my motto." ~ Bartholomew Roberts.
Pirates of the Caribbean's Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny Depp) was based on the real pirate Bartholomew Roberts.
Bartholomew Roberts. Was the most victorious raider in the history of piracy, he captured a shocking 470 vessels, and so notorious was his fierceness that many of those ships were surrendered to him without a fight.
This merciless pirate was given the nick name of Black Bart because of his black locks and dark eyes as well as for his ruthlessness.
Black Bart took many ships by force; but in 1720 him and his crew brutally slaughtered the crew of a Dutch vessel anchored just off of Dominica in the Caribbean.
Black Bart ordered that the men who had not been killed in the fighting were to be hung, lashed, and even mutilated. The Dutch Capitan’s ears were cut off and showed to him as the reminder to listen when captain Roberts gave him an order. The torture didn’t stop until every last Dutchman was drug out and butchered in a similar way.
Black Bart was born in whales 325 years ago as of may. He started sailing in 1696 at the young age of 13 on a British merchant ship. He later fought in 1702-1713 war of the Spanish succession. Black Bart was not heard of again until 1719 when he sailed on the slave ship
Princess as third mate.
While Roberts was aboard the Princess it was captured by two pirate ships; the Royal James and the Royal Rover captained by Howell Davis. The Princess was captured at a semi-deserted fort on the Gold Coast Of West Africa (now Ghana).
If Black Bart had continued his life aboard merchant ships he would have been sailing from Britain to Africa to the West Indies and North America for many years; only to return with rich cargos for his ship owners. He would have got a wage of about £3 a month with almost no chance of a promotion.
The Royal James was abandoned off the Gold Coast as it was unseaworthy, while the Royal Rover headed for the fort of Principe. The captain of the ship had flags of a British man of war which he’d raise in order to approach merchant ships.
The Portuguese governor let the Royal Rover enter the harbor and entertained the pirates (dressed as officers). After 14 days Captain Davis invited the governor aboard the ship for lunch (secretly planning to hold him hostage for ransom).
The governor however discovered that captain Davis was making advances at his wife so he came up with a plan of his own. He invited the captain to have a glass of wine before the lunch where he had Davis ambushed. When Davis was shot through the stomach he fell firing his gun.
After Davis died a new captain had to be selected. Roberts was elected; although he had only been a pirate for six weeks his seamanship was already recognized.
"He was chosen not so much for his strength and courage, as for his cunning and knowledge of the seas. He could make a quick guess of the bulk and force of any ship that came nigh.”~ fellow pirate.
After being elected his first order was to attack the fort, set the town on fire, steal anything they could carry away and to kill all the men they could find. This act showed him as being ruthless which is how he latter got his name.
Johnny Depp uses Black Bart's cool brave and ruthless side to develop Jack Sparrow’s character. Roberts also dressed in ruffles, velvet trousers, pleaded shirts, buckle shoes, silk jackets and jewels (all of them pillaged). Unlike Jack
Sparrow Black Bart disliked drunkenness and preferred to drink tea.
Roberts took the royal rover to Brazil where he made a fortune by toeing a large Portuguese war ship out to sea. Roberts made off with £40,000 in gold coins and jewelry.
Like Jack Sparrow Roberts was mutinied against while he was chasing away prey off the coast of Guyana. His first mate took the Royal Rover and left Roberts with only one small boat.
Roberts sailed in his little boat (something called a sloop) and built up a crew. He had his crew sign a code of conduct and they were to live by those rules. He sail throughout Barbados and Martinique with a French buccaneer. The boat headed for the Dominica for repairs where 20 of his men died along the way. He then sailed to Newfoundland where he plundered up and down the Atlantic coast.
By the late 1720s Black Bart was back terrorizing the West Indies. Roberts eventually forced a standstill in the shipping on the Spanish Main. Roberts then headed to West Africa for fresh opportunities.
Off of Senegal and Sierra Leone Roberts continued to destroy and command everything in his path.
On February 5, 1722 British Captain Ogle came upon Roberts eating lunch by the shore near Cape Lopez. Roberts sent out a ship to capture the unknown vessel. The ship Roberts sent was shot at. 10 men died and 20 were wounded.
Roberts then went after Ogle and prepared for battle. Their plan was to sail past the ship although they risk broad siding they hoped to catch the wind and flee. Instead a nervous crewman exposed the ship to a second broadside.
Black Bart's throat was torn out by a spray of grapeshot, and he died slumped over a canyon. As a pirate captains' wish to die at sea he was weighed down and thrown overboard.
It is said that the death of Bartholomew Roberts marked the end of the golden age of piracy.
"..... a merry life, and a short one."~ Bartholomew Roberts
