WEBVTT - Pirates 2: Cheers, Mate! 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:08.039 Edward became a British captain in the Royal Navy at 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:10.560 just twenty one. Of course, it could be said that 0:00:10.680 --> 0:00:13.600 great things had always been expected of him. After all, 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:16.320 his father, James, had served as Secretary of State to 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:19.320 King William the Third. At the time of edwards birth 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:24.239 in sixty four, the family wealth afforded him a Westminster education, 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:28.240 a school for well placed Britain's. At sixteen, he joined 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:31.159 the Royal Navy aboard the h M S Shrewsbury, but 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:33.880 his education put him at odds with his fellow shipmates, 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:38.040 who had received only an elementary school education. He quickly 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:41.360 rose through the ranks and switched ships, eventually serving on 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:44.760 board the HMS Britannia during the capture of Barcelona in 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:48.960 seventeen oh five. The following year he captained his first ship. 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:51.920 In April of seventeen oh eight, he took command of 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:55.160 the station in the West Indies. Needless to say, he 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:58.360 was a busy young man. In seventeen twenty one he 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:01.040 was elected as a member of part Lament, but returned 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:04.959 to naval service five years later. Edward continued to advance, 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:09.040 becoming an admiral in seventeen forty five. Not long afterward, 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:11.920 he set his sights on improving the Royal Navy's operations 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:15.760 and protocol, and then returned to Parliament. He died in 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:19.240 seventeen fifty seven, at the age of seventy three. There's 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:23.080 a monument in Westminster Abbey erected in his memory. His 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:26.720 distinguished service as a naval officer spanned forty six years. 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:30.920 But it's not his exemplary service, or the battles, or 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:34.520 even the changes in Parliament that he's most famous for. No. 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:39.840 Edward Vernon's legacy is grog. That's right, the mixture of 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:44.039 rum and water, originally given to British soldiers, oddly enough 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:47.720 to keep them from getting drunk. You see, when Vernon 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:50.040 served in the West Indies, he saw the effects of 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:52.960 an all you can drink buffet of rum on board ships. 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:56.520 In his observations, nothing parted a sailor from his morals 0:01:56.680 --> 0:01:59.760 or his duty faster than rum, and he knew just 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:03.600 to stop it. He issued an order on August one 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:07.920 set declaring that all men would receive their daily allotment 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:11.000 of a half pint of rum divided into two parts, 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:14.160 rather than all at once. A quart of water was 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:17.960 also added to each half pint. Men lined up in 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:20.680 the morning and again in the afternoon to receive their 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:23.640 rations handed out and drank in the presence of a 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:26.400 lieutenant on duty. And if you're thinking that the drink 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:29.880 had to taste awful, you'd be right. But Vernon had 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.359 a solution for that too. The men could use their 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:35.480 salt and bread savings to buy sugar and lines to 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:39.079 make the drink more palatable. The water down drink still 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:42.280 amounted to about five cocktails a day, but at least 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:45.240 the amount of water, the division, and the taste all 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:49.240 seemed to prevent a good portion of drunken Mayhem. Due 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:52.400 to his habit of wearing a heavy water resistant jacket 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:55.040 made of a cloth known as grogram. The men had 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:59.120 long called Vernon Old Grogram or Old Grog for short, 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:02.760 a nick name thankfully they never used in his presence, 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:05.680 and since he'd come up with the foul drink himself, 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:09.079 the men named it after him, shortening it to just 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:15.760 grog yoho ho made. In this episode, we're talking about rum. 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:31.399 I'm Aaron Manky and welcome two pirates, Pirates, sailors and privateers. 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:35.560 They all had one thing in common in the sevent alcohol, 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:38.960 and every country had its drink. The Dutch had gin, 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:42.680 while the French provided wine. Those serving in the British 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:45.640 Navy were entitled to one gallon of beer each day 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:48.560 until they either ran out or the beer went rancid. 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:51.160 When the beer was gone, a pint of wine or 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:53.800 a half pint of either brandy or rum was provided, 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:57.360 depending on where they sailed. That's a lot of liquor, 0:03:57.680 --> 0:03:59.800 and some of you might be singing a pirate's life 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:02.440 for me right about now, or maybe you're wondering why 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:06.160 they served so much alcohol. Well, sailors needed to drink, 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:09.000 and the stored water not only tasted bad, but it 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:13.760 also developed algae pretty quickly, especially in tropical climates. Higher 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:17.719 proof spirits stored in oak barrels fared better, often retaining 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:21.640 or improving their flavor. Food onboard ships consisted mainly of 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:24.560 porridge and salted meats, so the alcohol at least gave 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:26.720 the men something to look forward to at meal time. 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:31.320 They drank to alleviate boredom, to ease tensions, or otherwise 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:35.679 endure their time scrubbing the poop deck. Doctors aboard ships 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:40.040 used alcohol as medicine too. Both internally and externally. It 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:44.120 cleaned wounds and enabled men to endure surgery a little easier. 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:48.520 Disease was a major concern aboard a ship, and scurvy, 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:51.480 a condition that occurs without the adequate amount of vitamin C, 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:55.960 was always rampant. Left untreated, it leads to anemia and 0:04:56.040 --> 0:05:00.680 gum disease, among other things. Death eventually follows, usually from 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:04.520 a sudden hemorrhage near the heart or the brain. Men 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:07.320 feared scurvy more than just about anything else at sea, 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:11.760 and rightly so. Captains assumed that fifty of their crew 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:15.920 would die from the disease during any major voyage. While 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:18.800 vitamin C is found in an array of fruits and vegetables, 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:21.280 it was the lime added to the grog that helped 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:24.680 prevent scurvy. From then on, British ships required half an 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:27.159 ounce of lemon or lime to be added to the 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:30.600 men's grog per day, hence the reason English sailors were 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:34.880 often called limes. Made from the leftovers of processing sugar, 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:38.640 rum had a sweet taste, its stored better in casks 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:41.120 than most, and it had a higher potency than beer 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:45.240 or wine. Sugar growers cleverly marketed rum and the British 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:48.599 made at the standard aboard their ships, and for the record, 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:53.120 pirates and sailors rarely swelled rum from a bottle. Glass 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:57.360 was expensive, and alcohol was shipped mostly in casks. Oh 0:05:57.400 --> 0:06:01.159 and about that legendary drink. Higher didn't have the ration 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:04.600 grog that British sailors had, and they liked their rum 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:08.000 made into a punch, adding lines, sugar and often a 0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:12.720 dash of nutmeg, but no water. Either way, drunkenness presented 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:16.599 a few problems. Traversing lines was a job difficult sober, 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:20.000 much less when three sheets to the wind. As pirates 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:23.520 like to say, drunken sailors got into more fights, were 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:27.239 killed or robbed more easily, and even mistakenly recruited onto 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:30.760 other ships. And since drunk pirates were easier to capture, 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:34.040 it put them closer to that dreaded penalty for their profession, 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:38.280 death by hanging. But the threat of death didn't seem 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:41.800 to matter to some though. In seventeen nineteen, pirate captain 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:44.320 Howell Davis took Captain Snell Grave and some of his 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:47.839 men hostage after ransacking his ship. His crew found the 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:51.640 liquor and then drank themselves into a stupor. A fire 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:53.640 broke out when one of the men went below deck 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:56.960 with an open flame around the highly flammable rum. The 0:06:57.000 --> 0:06:59.719 fire then jumped from barrel to barrel, making its way 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:04.200 to thirty thou pounds of gunpowder. The men, all drunk 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:07.520 is could be, accepted their fate and made a final toast, 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:10.880 but thankfully Captain snell Grave and some of his other 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:14.200 men had remained sober and put out the fire, avoiding 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:17.640 a disaster. It's no wonder that we tend to think 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:22.280 of pirates as insatiable drunkards. Captain Henry Morgan is undoubtedly 0:07:22.360 --> 0:07:25.640 the poster child for rum, yet stories surrounding him are 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:28.920 not driven by one specific type of liquor. No, the 0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:33.360 pirate most associated with rum was Edward Teach, otherwise known 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:37.320 as Blackbeard. Although he could drink massive quantities, he never 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:40.360 passed out. Legend has it that he often mixed rum 0:07:40.400 --> 0:07:44.600 with gunpowder, lighting the substance before drinking it, which makes 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:47.840 sense since, as we've learned, black Beard had mastered the 0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:51.520 art of projecting a fierce image. So there you have it. 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:55.240 While pirates and sailors both enjoyed rum or just about 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:58.040 any other alcohol, really, we tend to see pirates and 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:09.120 rum as well practice the inseparable. Some pirates owed their 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:13.000 rise and downfall to rum. Raising cattle was the main 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:16.600 way of earning a living in Pembrokeshire, Wales in two 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:19.840 We don't know much about John roberts early years during 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:22.360 that time, but we do know that by seventeen eighteen 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:26.040 he'd become third mates aboard the Princess, a British slave 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:28.560 trading ship. He had also taken on the first name 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:32.319 of Bartholomew, although most just called him Bart. On a 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:35.280 June morning in seventeen nineteen, he toiled away at his 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:38.680 daily chores aboard the Princess, anchored off the Ghana coast. 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:42.840 On shore, mud huts and a crumbling stone fort stood 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:46.640 against a tropical blue sky. Canoes filled with their human 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:51.040 cargo road towards the ship. At noon, two ships entered 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:54.760 the harbor, black flags flying in the wind for Roberts 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:57.920 and the others. The color meant one thing pirates. The 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:00.760 Princess and the other slave ships were non match, and 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:05.240 the captain immediately surrendered. Welsh pirate Howell Davis sent his 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:09.480 men aboard to raid the Princess. They took all the liquor, food, gold, 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:14.040 and clothing, and then they took thirty four crew members. 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:18.640 Some went willingly. Roberts did not the manner they'd been boarded, 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:21.560 the way the pirates ransacked the ship, and the apparent 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:26.960 drunken anarchy among the men. All of it disgusted Roberts. However, 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:30.439 he changed his mind about piracy after seeing the crew's treatment. 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:33.040 While his captain had treated him and the others not 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:36.880 much better than slaves, Davis treated his men practically as 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:41.160 equals and divided all treasure fairly among them. He also 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:44.720 learned that pirate life wasn't anarchy. Life aboard the ship 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:49.040 seemed organized and even democratic, and so Roberts grew to 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:53.240 like Davis. An impressive man with an impressive ship. On 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:57.400 board were thirty two cannons, twenty seven swivel guns, and 0:09:57.480 --> 0:10:00.319 a large crew, making them a solid match for any 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:04.160 ship that crossed their path. That didn't mean safety, however, 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:07.560 six weeks later, Davis and several of his top crew 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:10.040 members were gunned down during an attempt to raid a 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:14.160 Portuguese settlement. In fact, only two men made it back alive. 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:18.400 The pirates found themselves without leadership to solve the problem, 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:21.480 They made punch and drank. One of the men suggested 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:24.679 they select the best navigator, the man with the most courage. 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:30.040 Then he offered a name, Bart Roberts. The crew filled 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:33.360 the remaining leadership roles and resolved to avenge Davis's death. 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:37.480 Roberts organized thirty men and stormed the main fort. They 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:40.440 plundered a few houses, torched two ships in the harbor, 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:44.040 and then sailed away toward Brazil in search of additional wealth. 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:47.240 They arrived at the Bay of All Saints to find 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:50.920 forty two Portuguese ships along with two men of wars, 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:54.679 each with seventy guns. A direct attack would be suicide, 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:59.120 but fleeing would also be difficult. Instead, Roberts sailed the 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:01.760 Royal Rover into harbor as though they were part of 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:05.840 the convoy. His men dressed in French colors and sailed 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:09.200 to the smallest boat, threatening attack. If anyone resisted or 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:13.320 sent up a distress signal, the smaller ship surrendered. Roberts 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:16.720 then greeted their captain kindly, well as kindly as possible 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:19.559 under the circumstances, and asked which of the ships in 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:23.640 the harbor contained the most treasure. If the captain cooperated. 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:26.600 Roberts promised to allow him and his crew to sail 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:30.960 off unharmed, lie or resist, and they'd face sudden death. 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:35.280 The Portuguese captain pointed toward the Sagrada Familia, a ship 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:37.920 with just forty guns and a hundred and fifty men 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:41.640 on board. It wasn't long before Roberts quickly hatched a plan. 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:44.960 The kidnapped captain would hail the larger ship and request 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:48.120 a meeting. When the captain of the Sagrata boarded, his 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:51.080 men would take him hostage. However, the men aboard the 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:54.760 Sagrata weren't easily fooled and prepared to defend themselves. For 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:58.240 Roberts and his crew, both choices to run away or 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:01.400 keep going wouldn't let them the aime results, so they 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:05.559 chose to advance. Sharpshooters aboard the Royal Rover picked off 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:08.480 the Portuguese men on the main decks. The Pirates pulled 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:12.880 alongside the Sagrata Familia and boarded, brandishing swords and tossing 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:16.760 primitive hand grenades. In the end, Roberts only lost two 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:19.880 men in the battle. Of course, all that noise drew 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:23.360 plenty of attention, the Portuguese sailors set off cannons to 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:25.920 alert the Man of Wars. There wouldn't be time to 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:30.320 unload the Sagratta familiars treasure, so Roberts decided to steal 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:33.840 the entire ship instead. It all came down to speed. 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:37.120 The Sagratta Familia and the Royal Rover were faster than 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:40.560 the Man of Wars and the pirates. They sailed safely 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:43.920 out of harbor. When they had traveled quite a distance, 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:46.360 they found a place to go ashore. They had just 0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:49.040 plundered more treasure than any of them could spend in 0:12:49.040 --> 0:13:01.000 a lifetime, and that's when at all fell apart. Although 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:03.640 he had led them into a wildly successful raid, a 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:07.560 majority of the crew mutinied to moating Roberts. He regained 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:10.360 command by mid seventeen twenty, though, forming one of the 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:14.000 most successful crews in the Atlantic, raiding more ships than 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:17.840 anyone else. Roberts also had a flair for the dramatic. 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:20.880 In one instance, he sailed into the harbor town south 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:23.480 of Newfoundland in a ship they had captured and renamed 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:25.839 the Good Fortune. It had to be a site to 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:29.200 a large sloop flying the black flag the sound of 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:33.560 beating drums and men firing guns. It was late June 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:37.880 of seventeen twenty. Over twenty ships and approximately one fifty 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:40.960 small fishing boats sat in the bay at the site 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:44.000 of the good fortune. Every ship in the harbor surrendered 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:48.960 without a single shot. Over time, Roberts acquired more men 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:52.280 and more ships. He had so many men that establishing 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:56.319 new rules became necessary to prevent another mutiny. He wrote 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:59.120 that every crewman had a vote in the affairs of 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:02.320 the moment and was entitled to equal shares in strong 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:05.000 alcohol at the time it was seized. The men could 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:08.439 use it at their pleasure. Of course, he also required 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:10.599 the men to keep their guns clean. There were to 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:14.800 be no irish crewmen, no gambling, physical violence, and absolutely 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:18.640 no women on board. Deserters would either be marooned or 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:21.520 put the death. Musicians on board were to be given 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:25.040 the sabbath off, and by eight pm each night lights 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:28.040 were to be put out. Those wishing to continue drinking 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:31.240 had to do so on the main deck. It was 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:34.360 a final attempt to curtail the amount of drunken revelry 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:37.160 his crew had grown fond of. Far too often, the 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:40.160 crew was unfit for duty, and they were frequently too 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:44.440 drunk to participate in raids. Drinking had begun to unravel 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:47.560 his crew, although they had a series of successful raids 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:50.840 in the West Indies. In seventeen twenty, they captured so 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:53.600 much rum that the men declared it a crime against 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:57.840 providence if they weren't continually drunk. In May, they returned 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:01.080 to the western shores of Africa. Seve role British warships 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:04.800 were at ports, including the HMS Swallow, commanded by Captain 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:08.600 Chaloner Ogle. While anchored off shore, Roberts tried to rein 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:13.440 in his rum swigging crew. Although they were constantly inebriated, 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:16.080 They managed to plunder a four hundred and ten foot 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:19.840 English slave ship that August. The Onslow carried twenty six guns, 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:23.720 fifty crewmen, and six hundred slaves. Robert kept the ship, 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:27.320 equipping it with forty additional cannons and renamed it the 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:30.760 Royal Fortune. Now at the helm of the largest ship 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:33.960 any pirate captain had ever sailed, The crew patrol the 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:38.320 African coast throughout January of seventeen twenty two. However, they 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:42.840 had company Captain Ogle and the Swallow, so Roberts charted 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:45.800 a course for Brazilian waters, hoping to cash in one 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:49.280 more time before retiring. They anchored near Cape Lopez on 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:53.200 February five of seventeen twenty two, and that's when Ogle 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:57.080 and his crew finally caught up with them. The pirate 0:15:57.120 --> 0:16:00.520 captain had three ships, seventy two guns and two hundred 0:16:00.520 --> 0:16:03.440 and fifty three men. Ogle had just as many men, 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:07.000 but they were all aboard one ship with only fifty guns. 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:09.880 But Roberts and his men mistook the Swallow for a 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:12.920 merchant vessel carrying sugar and allowed it to get a 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:16.080 bit too close. You would think they'd be happy they 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:19.040 had all the rum they could drink, but they wanted punch, 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:22.440 and that meant that they needed sugar. Roberts sent the 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:25.880 Royal Ranger to give chase, which divided his fleet, and 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:29.280 that was a mistake that Ogle didn't miss. He slowed, 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:32.120 allowing the pirate ship to follow, and once the Royal 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:34.760 Fortune was out of ear shot, he allowed the Royal 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:38.440 Ranger to draw closer. The pirates raised their black flag 0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:42.440 and fired a warning shot, believing they had another easy victory. 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:45.200 I can only imagine their faces when the Swallow swung 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:49.040 around opened the lower gun ports and delivered a barrage 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:53.200 of cannon fire. The damage to the Royal Ranger was devastating, 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:56.960 killing all but one men. Needless to say, the surviving 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:00.560 crew surrendered. A few days later, Ago returned to bay 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:04.040 and overtook Roberts and his crew, all because they were 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:07.680 too drunk to fight. While only three aboard the pirate 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:11.200 ship would die, one of them would be Roberts. Before 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:14.320 his remaining men were arrested, and through a haze of rum, 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:18.360 no less roberts men managed to follow his last wish, 0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:29.800 they tossed his body overboard into the sea. Over his career, 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:33.199 Roberts had become an empire. Before his death, he had 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:36.320 led his crew on over four d raids, and that's 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:40.639 pretty darn prolific. But even with the best ships, heavy artillery, 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:43.120 and a small army of men, he was taken down 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:46.920 rather easily by a single ship with far less speed, firepower, 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:51.800 and crew. And historians today can only blame the rum 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:54.679 while they blame the pirates who drank all the rum. 0:17:54.680 --> 0:17:57.320 But you get what I mean. Here's how it happened. 0:17:57.800 --> 0:18:00.800 On February ninth, Ogle found the Royal Fortune right where 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:03.560 he'd last seen it. They had seized another ship and 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:06.920 were in the process of rating its liquor supply. Ogle 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:09.120 waited until the following morning, when most of the men 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:12.800 would be drunk or suffering hangovers, and his plan worked. 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:15.080 In fact, the men were so drunk they didn't even 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:18.280 see the HMS Swallow approach until the ship was almost 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:21.199 upon them. Even then, they were in such a stupor 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:24.439 they mistook it for another trading vessel or even the 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:28.199 Royal Ranger come back. Finally, Roberts came out onto the 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:31.080 main deck to see what was going on. He took 0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:34.480 the bold strategy of heading straight towards the Swallow, intent 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:38.520 on exchanging sideblows before heading out for open water. The 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:41.800 two ships exchanged cannon fire, and the Royal Fortune took 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:46.720 on some damage. The Swallow remained barely untouched. Roberts then 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:49.680 steered his ship toward open water, but as crewmen were 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:53.320 simply too intoxicated, some had passed out on the deck, 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:56.679 while others could barely walk, let alone sail. And it 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:59.399 was all that erratic behavior that allowed Ogle to swing 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:02.040 his ship a hound and catch up. The Swallow. Delivered 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:05.080 several more shots at the Royal Fortune, destroying the mast, 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:08.360 and while Robert's crew, well those who hadn't passed out 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:11.720 at least, tottered around on the deck, the pirate captain 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:16.960 lowered the flag and surrendered. Soon after Ogle's men boarded 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:21.000 and secured the crew with barely a skirmish. Historians remain 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:23.040 on the fence if the name black Bart had to 0:19:23.080 --> 0:19:27.160 do with his black hair and darker complexion or his reputation. 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:30.920 Either way, he didn't earn the moniker until after his death. 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:34.119 It's an interesting nickname for a pirate who was a 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:38.760 complete teetotaler. In fact, t was his preferred drink, and 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:40.919 it was his lack of drinking that had caused his 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:44.520 crew to distrust him and mutiny the first time. Little 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:46.800 did he know then, but his crew had already planned 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:50.000 to abandon him after the raid at Cape Lopez, all 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:54.880 because they didn't trust a sober captain. Rum, the pirate 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:58.480 drink of choice, had been black Bart's downfall. In the 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:02.119 words of Robert Louis Steven's Treasure Island, drink and the 0:20:02.160 --> 0:20:05.480 devil had done the rest Yo ho ho and a 0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:10.800 bottle of rum. All throughout seafaring history, alcohol had served 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:14.680 a purpose and presented a problem. Even military ships around 0:20:14.680 --> 0:20:18.320 the world still carried alcohol on board, long after keeping 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:21.960 clean drinking water had become possible. For the Royal Navy, 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:25.600 the centuries old tradition of issuing grog ended on July 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:30.960 of nine. On that day, sailors around the world took 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:34.359 one last swig before dumping the barrels over the rail. 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:38.040 Some of those sailors even took to wearing black armbands, 0:20:38.240 --> 0:20:41.200 while others had a mock funeral as they tossed the barrels, 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:44.359 marking the day as black top Day. And I like 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:48.000 to imagine that as they did, some of them even saying, 0:20:48.800 --> 0:20:51.560 and we heaved them over and out of sight with 0:20:51.600 --> 0:21:04.000 a yo, heave ho and a fair you well, pirates 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:07.560 and rum it's appairing almost as classic as chocolates and 0:21:07.600 --> 0:21:10.679 peanut butter, just with a bit more wobbling. I guess, 0:21:11.080 --> 0:21:13.720 I certainly hope you found our journey through that territory 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:17.720 today to be as satisfying as a delicious drink. But 0:21:17.800 --> 0:21:20.840 don't hoist the anchor just yet. We have more sailing 0:21:20.920 --> 0:21:23.800 to do. In fact, after this brief sponsor break, my 0:21:23.920 --> 0:21:27.119 grim and mild teammates Alie Steed will come aboard to 0:21:27.240 --> 0:21:36.960 share one more rum soaktail. Where there's a will, there's 0:21:36.960 --> 0:21:39.760 a way. If the demand for something is high and 0:21:39.840 --> 0:21:43.919 the rewards even higher, some will go to great lengths 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:51.119 to get it, especially rum. On January eighteenth, Amendment of 0:21:51.119 --> 0:21:56.199 the United States Constitution banning the manufacturing, transportation, and sale 0:21:56.320 --> 0:22:00.760 of intoxicating liquors was ratified, and so began the Ahibition era. 0:22:01.760 --> 0:22:04.480 But of course the law never stopped the bootleggers. It 0:22:04.600 --> 0:22:09.400 was hard to enforce, and ingenious methods of smuggling quickly emerged, stills, 0:22:09.680 --> 0:22:13.919 fast cars, and speakeasies. We've all heard those stories before, 0:22:14.480 --> 0:22:16.560 but let's talk for a minute about the bootleggers of 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:21.360 the sea. The rum runners. During the Prohibition, ships cruised 0:22:21.359 --> 0:22:25.120 the coastline between the Caribbean and Canada, parking themselves just 0:22:25.640 --> 0:22:29.080 off shore. If the coast guard approached, they moved into 0:22:29.119 --> 0:22:33.360 international waters and out of jurisdiction. Known as rum row, 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:36.480 the ships existed along every state and coastline on the 0:22:36.480 --> 0:22:40.800 Atlantic and Pacific. Smaller, faster boats often accompanied the rum 0:22:40.880 --> 0:22:44.240 laden vessels. Their job was much like the fast cars, 0:22:44.760 --> 0:22:47.920 out racing law enforcement to deliver the rum to port. 0:22:49.119 --> 0:22:53.200 Like legendary pirates. One rum Runner stood out Captain Jack 0:22:53.720 --> 0:22:58.400 Jack Randall, that is, and his schooner I'm Alone. Jack 0:22:58.440 --> 0:23:00.760 had always wanted to be a pirate. As a twelve 0:23:00.800 --> 0:23:02.960 year old in eighteen ninety nine, Jack and his friends 0:23:02.960 --> 0:23:07.160 pretended to be swashbuckling sailors. They rated his parents jam 0:23:07.160 --> 0:23:11.720 and cookie covers, and the rum cabinet drunk. He set 0:23:11.720 --> 0:23:14.200 out to find a ship. Of course, a few miles 0:23:14.240 --> 0:23:17.760 down the road, sickness and clarifying sobriety hit, and he 0:23:17.840 --> 0:23:21.679 returned home to face the consequences. His father understood his 0:23:21.720 --> 0:23:23.800 son's love of the sea and took him on fishing 0:23:23.800 --> 0:23:28.480 trips off Canada's Labrador coast. As an adult, Jack worked 0:23:28.480 --> 0:23:31.399 on trade ships and then military vessels, fighting in the 0:23:31.440 --> 0:23:35.320 Boer War, World War One, and World War Two. He 0:23:35.400 --> 0:23:37.800 never outgrew the love of the sea, but it was 0:23:37.840 --> 0:23:40.879 also what Jack did between the First and Second World 0:23:40.880 --> 0:23:45.000 Wars that showed us he still loved pirates too. It 0:23:45.080 --> 0:23:47.480 was spring of nineteen twenty two when the idea came 0:23:47.520 --> 0:23:52.080 to him rum running. Jack was good, really good at 0:23:52.119 --> 0:23:56.680 being captain. He commanded several ships, becoming legendary among his peers. 0:23:57.240 --> 0:24:00.440 In ninety eight, a group of Montreal business men made 0:24:00.520 --> 0:24:04.040 him an even more enticing proposition, and Jack took command 0:24:04.160 --> 0:24:07.320 of the I'm Alone, a single deck, two massed schooner 0:24:07.520 --> 0:24:12.440 with twin hundred horsepower diesel engines. The ship's capacity was key. 0:24:12.560 --> 0:24:15.680 It could carry two thousand, eight hundred cases of liquor 0:24:15.760 --> 0:24:18.920 worth upwards of a hundred thousand dollars in a single run, 0:24:19.480 --> 0:24:23.000 and those are ninety six prices. And like in the 0:24:23.040 --> 0:24:26.199 golden age of piracy, Captain Jack and the i'm Alone 0:24:26.240 --> 0:24:28.919 had a price on their heads. The US government was 0:24:29.000 --> 0:24:32.679 determined to stop rum runners, but little did anyone know 0:24:32.840 --> 0:24:36.040