WEBVTT - A Pirate’s Life for Gentleman Stede Bonnet 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:06.440 Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shonda Land Audio in 0:00:06.519 --> 0:00:15.640 partnership with I Heart Radio. Welcome to Criminalia, where it's 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:19.240 pirate season. We're continuing to explore the lives and motivations 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:22.560 of some of the most notorious freebooters throughout history. I'm 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:26.440 Maria tru Marquis and I'm Holly Fry. You will hear 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:29.440 the first name of today's topic pronounced a couple of 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:32.520 different ways. You may hear it Stayed or Steed. We've 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:35.000 said both actually on the show before. We're going to 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:36.800 go with Steed for today. But if one of us 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:38.680 says it the other way, or we flipped back and 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:41.680 forth just now, we're just honoring the possibilities with that. 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:48.120 But Steed Bonnet was a wealthy plantation owner, a family man, 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:52.239 a former major in the Barbados Militia. Bonnet, though, was 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:55.880 also a gentleman who was struck with quote a humor 0:00:56.080 --> 0:01:00.680 of going pirate ng You really hear humor and hiating 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:04.080 so much together. But Steve is an interesting kind of guy. 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:08.800 He was born in sixt to Edward and Sarah Bonnet, 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:11.560 who were a wealthy couple that owned an estate of 0:01:11.640 --> 0:01:15.720 over four hundred acres southeast of Bridgetown. Bridgetown today is 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:18.959 the capital of the island of Barbados, but then this 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:21.400 was part of a colony of the British Empire, so 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:24.440 a little bit different than today. Though the family were 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:27.800 originally from England, Steve was born into the second or 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:33.760 possibly third generation of Bonnets of Barbados. His parents died young, though, 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:37.200 and Steve inherited the family's four hundred acre sugar plantation. 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:40.479 He married Mary Alamby in seventeen o nine and lived 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:43.839 on the estate with their three sons, Olumby, Edward, and Steed, 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:48.160 and their daughter Mary. The record of Bonnet's life really 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:51.520 begins with his military service, though although the details do 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:54.480 get a little bit fuzzy, we do know that he 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:57.200 held the rank of major in the Barbados Militia, and 0:01:57.200 --> 0:01:59.800 in fact Major became a nickname that's stuck with him 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:03.480 throughout his life. Though his time with the militia coincided 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:06.800 with the War of Spanish Succession, there is no record 0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:09.840 that he actually took part in combat. It is though 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:14.359 highly likely that he was involved in suppressing armed uprisings 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:17.919 by enslaved persons who were fighting for their freedom at 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:21.520 the time. This was an important function of the militia. 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:24.560 Any such uprisings would also have been something of a 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:28.200 personal matter to Bonnet as well, as he relied on 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:33.239 enslaved labor to keep his sugar plantation successful. That successful 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:37.600 business owner decided to reinvent himself as a pirate. He 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:40.800 was not really your typical pirate, if there really is 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:43.680 such a thing as a typical pirate. He wasn't the 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:46.640 only pirate to do so. That he chose piracy over 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:52.519 his aristocratic lifestyle. Many pirates, such as unemployed sailors or laborers, 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:57.400 chose the lifestyle because they didn't have many options. That 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:00.840 raises the question why did Bonnet leave his home and 0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:04.160 take to the seas. A lot of historians suggests that 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:07.000 while he was wealthy and led a respectable life, he 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:10.480 was kind of just looking for something bigger and more adventurous, 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:12.919 and all of these stories that he was hearing about 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:17.760 pirates were very appealing. There's a book called A General 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:22.200 History of the Robberies and Murders of the most Notorious Pirates, 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:27.040 and it's an almost encyclopedic account of piracy, as well 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:31.120 as biographies of many of the pirates during in particular 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:34.160 the rise of the Golden Age of piracy. It was 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:38.200 published in sevento, which was after Bonnet's death, but it 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:43.040 included stories of details about everyone from Blackbeard and Bonnie, Bartholowy, 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:48.560 black Bart, Roberts and Steve Bonnet. So this two volume 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:51.920 set quickly became a hit and became the go to 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:54.520 source for the stories of a lot of well known 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:58.240 pirates of the time. And the details may be embellished 0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:01.480 in fact most historians agree that are, but it is 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:05.360 generally believed to be at least based in factual information 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:10.160 largely garnered from such sources as trial records and personal letters, 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:14.160 and it turned the pirates of this era into exotic 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:19.560 and colorful characters. Their stories became myth. The author's name, 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:23.960 Captain Charles Johnson, is widely considered to have been a pseudonym, 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:26.320 and there is a great speculation that it may have 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:30.880 actually been Daniel Defoe who authored that work. Defoe, as 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:33.800 you probably know, was a British novelist, but he did 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:36.640 a lot of other things in his lifetime. He worked 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:41.080 as a journalist, as a political pamphleteer, and even a spy. 0:04:41.440 --> 0:04:44.839 Many of us know his name because he wrote Robinson Crusoe, 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:49.000 and these books really are responsible for shaping our perception 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:53.839 of pirates, including some fact such as black beards, flaming beard, 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:58.520 and some myth like wooden legs and parrots. Robert Louis 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:02.000 Stevenson's Treasure Island, as well as J. M. Barry's character 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:06.200 Captain Hook and Peter Pam borrow from these very stories. 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:09.800 Bonnett was living in the golden age of piracy, and 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:13.720 becoming a pirate could have definitely seemed an adventurous new 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:16.599 beginning if that's what he was looking for. Some suggest 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:20.279 that maybe he was having a midlife crisis. Few sources 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:22.880 report that one of the Bonnet children passed away and 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:26.560 he took up piracy as he grieved. One more theory 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:30.560 this point is recorded in a general History of the Pirates, 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:35.480 is that Bonnet turned to piracy because of quote discomforts 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:39.960 he found in a married state, something made him unhappy 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:42.440 enough to make a big life change. That's what we 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:46.359 do know. Many experts, though, actually believe it was probably 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:49.640 a combination of the personal pressures of his family life 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:53.880 along with his politics. The theory here is that he 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:56.839 may have been a Jacobite in support of James Stewart 0:05:56.880 --> 0:06:00.560 as King of England rather than George. The first historian 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:03.719 and author of the Republic of Pirates, Colin Woodard, writes 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:07.120 that quote, most pirates at the time thought of themselves 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:11.240 as in revolt against King George. We're going to take 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:13.599 a quick break now for a word from our sponsor, 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:16.240 and when we're back we'll get into how someone like 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:29.080 Bonnet could meet someone like black Beard. Welcome back to Criminalia. 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:32.599 Let's talk about how Steve had a whole lot of 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:38.040 enthusiasm but absolutely no idea what he was doing. The 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:41.960 way that pirate crews typically worked was that crew members 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:45.240 moved up the ranks. Typically they'd start as part of 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:47.880 the crew and then move on to stealing their first ship, 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:50.680 or maybe rise to captain a ship in a larger 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:54.719 pirate fleet. The infamous pirate Blackbeard, for instance, worked his 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:57.320 way up from deckhand to captain of his own forty 0:06:57.320 --> 0:07:00.960 gun warship known as Queen Anne's Revenge. But instead of 0:07:01.000 --> 0:07:04.680 stealing his first ship, Steeve bought one. He named it 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:07.200 the Revenge, and outfitted it to hold at least a 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:11.840 dozen cannons. He hired a crew of seventy or eighty men, 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:13.960 whom he paid out of his own pocket, and this 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:17.400 too was not at all typical. The captain and crew 0:07:17.440 --> 0:07:20.600 would normally be paid wages from what they stole. The 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:24.240 Revenge also carried a library of books, mainly in the 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:27.800 captain's stateroom, which is not something we've uncovered on any 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:33.440 other pirate ships so far this season. It's like a 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:39.800 wave riding cruise ship. Bonnet had absolutely no idea what 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:43.080 he was doing. During the beginning of his life of piracy. 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:47.400 He and his crew, who he completely relied upon, again 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:50.960 because he was green as could be, spent much of 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:54.080 their time running up the Jolly Roger and looting ships 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:58.600 along the Virginia coast. He did have a few pirty successes, 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:03.240 pillaging rum and sugar and kidnapping enslaved individuals from ships 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:06.600 along the seaboard from New York to South Carolina. At 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:08.520 this time, these were, of course, all part of the 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:15.120 British colonies. Bonnet was a very inexperienced pirate, and when 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:17.760 he attacked what he thought was a merchant's vessel off 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:20.720 the coast of Florida, he quickly realized he had made 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:26.000 a considerable mistake. He had actually attacked a Spanish man warship, 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:30.440 a ship that was definitely not interested in trading. The 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:33.520 battle ravaged the crew of the Revenge, and as many 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:36.520 as half the crew were killed or injured. Bonnet and 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:40.120 his ship, both also injured, limped back to Caribbean waters. 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:44.920 It's about this time that Bonnet met Edward Teach or Thatch, 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:47.880 also known of course as black Beard, and while there 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:52.239 don't seem to be really many solid and reliable details 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:54.920 about their meeting, we do know that it happened in 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:58.160 the late September of seventeen seventeen on the island of 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:01.800 New Providence in the Bahamas. It is here, while he 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:05.160 was injured, that Bonnet may have given temporary command of 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:09.480 the Revenge to Blackbeard. Some suggest that black Beard, who 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:13.640 was both an observant and opportunistic man, took the ship 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:16.880 upon noticing that the crew of the Revenge didn't seem 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:20.720 to have much respect for their captain. The crew, writes 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:25.480 historian Lindley Butler, complained about their leaders quote personality weaknesses 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:32.120 and poor seamanship, not good not good, personality weaknesses, stings. 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:37.160 It was also a better ship than the one that 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:39.320 black Beard had at the time, and it has also 0:09:39.400 --> 0:09:42.760 been suggested the men traded for it. There is a 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:46.320 whole long list of possibilities as to what exactly happened, 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:51.240 but ultimately Blackbeard took control of the revenge. However it 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:55.160 went down, Bonnet was no longer a pirate captain. He 0:09:55.240 --> 0:09:58.800 had no ship. Again, we have multiple versions of this story, 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:02.360 and at this point Bonnet either became what we're going 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:08.800 to air quote colleague guest on Blackbeard's ship, or he 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:11.680 became a passenger on what had been his own ship. 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:15.560 He spent his time in his stateroom on whichever ship, 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:19.040 reading and not participating in much piracy really at all. 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:22.240 Black Beard, with the Revenge now part of his fleet, 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:26.200 sailed north to terrorize the coastline along the Chesapeake Bay area. 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:30.720 Black Beard and Bonnet together must have been quite appair 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:34.880 to see. Bonnet, of course, was accustomed to silk stockings 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:38.720 and powdered wigs, very fancy man, and he continued to 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:41.840 dress that way as a pirate. In addition to his 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:46.520 fancy coats and his leather shoes, black Beard, in comparison, 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:50.600 was known for wearing a feathered tricorn hat, draping himself 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:54.600 with swords and pistols, and frightening enemies by igniting bits 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:57.880 of hemp or small candles that were tucked into his beard. 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:02.160 While it's been written that Bonnet saw himself as black 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:05.480 Beard's right hand ma'am, it's more likely that black Beard 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:09.320 just saw Bonnet as a sucker. There is a reference 0:11:09.480 --> 0:11:13.000 in a general History of the Pirates that suggests Bonnet 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:17.680 may have had at least once second thoughts about his 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:21.040 new pirates life, saying that quote, he would gladly leave 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:24.120 off that way of living, being fully tired of it, 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:26.240 but he should be ashamed to see the face of 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:29.520 any Englishman again. Therefore, if he could get to Spain 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:32.960 or Portugal, where he might be undiscovered, he would spend 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:35.760 the remainder of his days in either of those countries. 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:41.319 The volume of pirate activity was becoming exasperating to authorities 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:44.640 and to locals as well. Black Beard was known to 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:47.600 anchor near the Carolina's and that was not just for 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:51.520 a vacation. With a fleet of four ships, including the 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:55.760 Revenge Bonnet still along for the ride, plus several hundred men, 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:59.280 black Beard sailed into the harbor at Charlestown in the 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:02.199 province of South South Carolina, which is of course now Charleston, 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:05.839 and in what many historians considered to be his boldest 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:09.640 act in his pirrating career, Blackbeard set up a blockade 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:12.839 of the port and took several ships and their passengers 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:17.320 hostage for six days. Basically, no one could get in 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:20.920 or out of the harbor. Everyone was turned loose when 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:24.439 his demands for medicine were met. It's theorized among those 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:27.360 who have studied his life that black Beard might have 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:30.760 been trying to treat syphilis among his crew, and that's 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:32.840 what he was there for in terms of medicine, but 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:36.080 there is actually no solid answer as to what medications 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:39.120 he may or may not have wanted. It was after 0:12:39.240 --> 0:12:42.760 this brazen act that authorities were determined to stamp out 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:47.120 piracy once and for all. The relationship between these two 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:51.600 pirates was reportedly complicated, which I'm sure we can all imagine, 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:54.840 and the two parted ways in the summer of seventeen. 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:59.640 The end came when Bonnet, tricked by Blackbeard, lost not 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:02.679 only his crew and command of his ship, but then 0:13:02.760 --> 0:13:06.160 everything he had on the revenge. As there always seems 0:13:06.160 --> 0:13:08.480 to be, there are two versions of what happened um 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:10.760 and it's the same in this case. Between Bonnet and 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:13.439 black Beard. The first version is actually pretty straightforward, and 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:16.400 it goes like this, While Blackbeard and his fleet were 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:19.680 docked in North Carolina, Bonnet went ashore, and when he 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:22.040 returned to his ship, it had been looted and marooned 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:26.600 the end of version one. The second version has a 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:30.320 little bit more detail and goes like this. Black Beard, 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:32.760 in an effort to get Bonnet away from the crew 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:35.840 and the fleet, lied saying he was going to take 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:38.559 what the King of England was offering to stop piracy, 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:43.600 a no questions asked royal pardon. Bonnet decided to follow suit. 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:46.960 But when Bonnett returned from receiving his pardon from the 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:49.760 governor of the province of North Carolina, a man named 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:54.040 Charles Eden, he found he'd been double crossed. Blackbeard may 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:56.840 or may not have been given amnesty, but he had 0:13:57.000 --> 0:14:01.559 definitely louded the revenge. There were somewhere between five to 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:05.440 maybe twenty five crew who remained, and Blackbeard was nowhere 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:10.720 to be found. Bonnet, now seeking revenge, returned to piracy. 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:14.200 Despite his royal pardon. He began to go by the 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:17.959 name of Captain Thomas, using that and other aliases to 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:21.360 conceal his real identity from the authorities who had just 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:27.440 pardoned him. Steve Bonnet isn't doing it Captain Thomas's. We 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:30.240 also read that he may have used the name Captain Edwards, 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:32.720 but those records are a bit unclear as to win. 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:36.160 So really, his efforts to conceal his movements worked, at 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:39.400 least as far as the historical record is concerned. He 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:43.520 also re christened the Revenge to the Royal James, assembled 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:46.240 a crew of forty men and sailed off in pursuit 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:49.080 of black Beard, rumored to be anchored off the coast 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:52.480 of Ogracoke Inlet. As it turns out, he set out 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:54.480 on a two month trip that would not end as 0:14:54.520 --> 0:15:00.000 he expected. Always fun to do a little foreshadowing. Unfortunately 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:03.360 for Bonnet, black Beard did have a headstart, and he 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:07.560 did have greater skill. Bonnets skills, though, had improved since 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:10.480 he had first taken to the seas, but he wasn't 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:13.120 nearly up to the task as Blackbeard was. He had 0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:15.640 also learned from black Beard and other pirates he had 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:18.880 encountered just what was most often expected from being a 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:22.800 pirate captain. So the once gentle captain who paid his 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:25.080 crew a salary out of his own pocket, took to 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:30.160 abusing his crew, killing prisoners, and threatening civilians. We're gonna 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:32.360 take a quick break for a word from our sponsor. 0:15:33.040 --> 0:15:35.720 When we're back, we will talk about who Colonel William 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:46.680 Rhett was and how he met Steve Bonnet. Welcome back 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:50.680 to Criminalia. Let's talk about how just short lived Steve's 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:56.120 life of piracy actually was. Late summer of seventeen eighteen, 0:15:56.200 --> 0:15:59.120 while he was captaining the Royal James is considered really 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:03.120 the peak of its career. He captured several vessels as 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:07.120 he trawled the Atlantic seaboard. In July, for instance, Bonnet, 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:10.640 as Captain Thomas and his crew captured a merchant sloop 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:14.000 called the Fortune off the coast of Delaware Bay. Just 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:17.920 two days later, they seized the sloop Francis. Bonnet was 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:20.760 beginning to gather a small fleet by pretending he was 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:24.080 a legitimate merchant hoping to trade, and then seizing the 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:27.320 merchant ships that he had duped. About two weeks after 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:30.240 they sailed out of the Delaware Bay area, Bonnet and 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:32.560 his crew reached the mouth of the Cape Fear River 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:36.520 in the province of North Carolina. Bonnet needed to perform 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:39.600 routine repairs on the Royal James, which was taking on 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:43.800 water from recent skirmishes. They sailed into a small waterway 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:46.680 and remained there for about a month or so, intending 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:50.240 to wait out the hurricane season before moving along. Bonnet 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:52.720 captured and broke up the first ship it said that 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:55.560 entered the area and used it as replacement parts for 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:58.800 his sloop. It's reported that he also forced the crew 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:01.120 of the captured Chip to most of the hard work. 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:04.960 As all of this was happening, the governor of the 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:08.640 province of South Carolina was organizing a force in an 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:12.800 effort to capture pirates along his coastline. That force was 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:16.280 commanded by Colonel William Rhett, who was a British plantation 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:20.480 owner and a pirate hunter, and his force consisted of 0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:24.040 two sloops, the Henry and the Sea Nymph. Each of 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:29.000 those carried eight guns. It's believed that Rhett knew that 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:33.159 pirates were gathering around Cape Fear because people told him so. 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:35.720 There actually wasn't a lot of detective work that he 0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:40.840 needed to do. Among the informants was Bonnet's own ignacious 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:47.520 pell Hell was probably very likely bonnets quartermaster, which would 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:50.359 have given him the most authority on board, second to 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:55.000 the captain. He was Bonnet's right hand man, bonnets sailing master. 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:59.840 The ship's navigator, David Harriet, was also implicated. Based on 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:04.440 Pell and Harriet's good intelligence, Rhett found the Royal James 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:08.200 just where he expected. After about five to six hours 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:13.479 of fighting, Bonnet and his crew were captured on September eighteen. 0:18:14.560 --> 0:18:17.840 Bonnet threatened to blow up himself and the ship before 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:21.480 he would ever surrender, but Rhet's men managed to overwhelm 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:24.760 him and take the ship. But it wasn't only Bonnet 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:28.040 who Rhet was looking for. Rhett had information he'd also 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:32.359 find Blackbeard as well as the notorious pirate captain Charles Vane, 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:35.560 a name you've surely heard us mentioned many times this season. 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:37.760 Bone It was not the only pirate said to be 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:41.720 lurking there, but Bonnet was the one captured by red 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:46.080 Land transported in chains into Charlestown. It said that he 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:48.879 hoped he would be given a lenient sentence and that 0:18:49.040 --> 0:18:52.200 he would never be executed the pirate way by hanging, 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:57.720 because he was a former gentleman. But Bonnet's hopes were dashed. 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:02.080 There were no proper ales or prisons in the province 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:05.240 of South Carolina, and there wouldn't be until the early 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:09.560 seventeen seventies. However, because he was, at least before his 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:13.280 acts of piracy, an affluent, educated man who was a 0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:16.760 former officer in the militia, Bonnet was allowed to be 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:20.520 imprisoned in the home of the local marshal. That came 0:19:20.560 --> 0:19:24.359 with a certain but small amount of free reign and 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:27.960 a gentleman's agreement that he would not escape. Bonnet was 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:30.359 held during the month between his capture and his trial. 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:34.960 Pell and Harriet testified against their captain and crew in 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:38.440 exchange for clemency, and they were held for three weeks 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:42.320 while waiting to be questioned. They too were also held 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:48.360 in the marshall's house. That sounds tense. Despite that gentleman's agreement, 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:51.879 Bonnet escaped. He may have bribed those guarding him to 0:19:51.920 --> 0:19:55.439 look the other way, but the escape probably happened with 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:58.960 the aid of locals, in particular a local merchant named 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:03.439 Richard Tuckerman. Bonnet and Harriet were also able to flee. 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:08.119 But what about Pell. Hell was in protective custody because 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:12.080 he was to provide the prosecution with valuable evidence during 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:17.440 that upcoming trial. Rhett was relentless, though, and tracked Bonnet 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:22.280 to nearby Sullivan's Island, where he captured him again. The 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:25.160 trials took place over the course of three weeks until 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:29.240 November twelve. Trials plural because there was not just one. 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:33.080 There were actually several small trials held for Bonnet and 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:36.720 his crew, basically charging them with a variety of different 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:40.840 things and trying each of them separately. Ultimately, thirty six 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:44.840 prisoners were found guilty of piracy. Most of the crew 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:48.639 were charged with primarily two crimes, one the capture of 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:52.800 the sloop Francis and to the capture of the sloop Fortune. 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:56.360 Sailors who had been aboard those vessels could and did 0:20:56.480 --> 0:21:01.040 testify against Bonnet and his crew. There were an additional 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:04.840 two charges, the theft of goods out of the captured sloops, 0:21:05.080 --> 0:21:08.359 the Francis and the Fortune, but according to court records, 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:10.919 just a handful of the crew were found guilty of 0:21:10.960 --> 0:21:16.040 those charges. There were no defense attorneys in the courtroom, 0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:19.800 and there was no legal counsel for the crewmen. Bonnet 0:21:19.800 --> 0:21:22.719 and educated man acted as his own defense, but with 0:21:22.800 --> 0:21:25.960 little success and may not seem like a fair and 0:21:26.080 --> 0:21:28.600 just trial, but it was what you could expect in 0:21:28.640 --> 0:21:32.879 the Anglo American justice system in the early eighteenth century. 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:36.440 Bonnet had his own trial, and after the jury found 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:39.920 him guilty, he was given what sources referred to as 0:21:39.960 --> 0:21:44.040 a quote stern lecture by the judge. During the trial, 0:21:44.320 --> 0:21:48.960 Judge Trot alluded to Bonnet's quote liberal education, and during 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:52.560 sentencing referred to the fact that he was quote generally 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:56.399 esteemed a man of letters. Not much as known or 0:21:56.440 --> 0:22:00.240 recorded about if or where or when Bonnet received his educationation, 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:04.479 but many sources referred to him as quote bookish, and 0:22:04.560 --> 0:22:07.480 of course he did have that impressive library in his 0:22:07.560 --> 0:22:11.920 stateroom when it was sentenced to execution by hanging, and 0:22:12.160 --> 0:22:15.320 on November twelve, Judge Trott handed down the same sentence 0:22:15.359 --> 0:22:19.040 he had delivered to the pirate grew we quote that 0:22:19.119 --> 0:22:22.840 you that said state Bonnet shall go from hence to 0:22:22.880 --> 0:22:25.800 the place where once you came, and from thence to 0:22:25.840 --> 0:22:28.239 the place of execution, where you shall be hanged by 0:22:28.240 --> 0:22:31.960 the neck till you are dead. Bonnet's fortune gained through 0:22:32.000 --> 0:22:36.199 piracy was added into the state treasury. Between sentencing and 0:22:36.240 --> 0:22:39.280 when his day of execution would be carried out, Bonnet 0:22:39.280 --> 0:22:42.560 wrote letters pleading his case as a gentleman to local 0:22:42.600 --> 0:22:48.400 authorities everything he claimed was really Blackbeard's faults. To the governor, 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:52.560 he made a plea that is hard to imagine or stomach. 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:56.360 He asked instead to have his arms and legs cut 0:22:56.400 --> 0:22:59.760 off to ensure that he would never sail again, rather 0:22:59.800 --> 0:23:03.720 than be hanged, but his request for clemency went unanswered. 0:23:04.440 --> 0:23:06.560 At the end of the trials, just four men were 0:23:06.560 --> 0:23:10.560 found not guilty. Bonnet and roughly thirty members of his 0:23:10.640 --> 0:23:13.640 crew were to be given a pirates execution, and Bonnet 0:23:13.760 --> 0:23:18.000 himself was hanged on December tenth, seventeen eighteen, at the 0:23:18.040 --> 0:23:22.760 gallows near Whitewood Garden in downtown Charlestown. Ignatious pal, who 0:23:22.960 --> 0:23:26.320 turned King's evidence and was a witness for the prosecution, 0:23:27.080 --> 0:23:30.280 was never indicted and he was never tried for anything. 0:23:30.600 --> 0:23:34.840 David Harriet, who had escaped the Marshall's house with Bonnet, 0:23:35.080 --> 0:23:37.639 was indicted, but he was killed on Olivan's Island before 0:23:37.640 --> 0:23:42.280 the trial concluded. According to witnesses and noted by Charles 0:23:42.320 --> 0:23:48.760 Johnson's last possibly Daniel Dafoe quote, all his resolution failed him, 0:23:48.800 --> 0:23:52.119 and his fears and agonies so wrought upon him that 0:23:52.160 --> 0:23:54.720 he was scarce sensible when he came to the place 0:23:54.720 --> 0:23:59.480 of execution. His piteous behavior under sentence very much affected 0:23:59.520 --> 0:24:03.840 the people of province, particularly the women, and great application 0:24:03.960 --> 0:24:06.600 was made to the governor for saving his life. But 0:24:06.800 --> 0:24:10.560 in vain. Bonnet's body was buried below the low tide 0:24:10.560 --> 0:24:12.600 mark in a muddy marsh, as were the rest of 0:24:12.640 --> 0:24:16.800 his crew, done so no trace of the men would remain. Well, 0:24:16.920 --> 0:24:19.400 maybe it's not the end you'd expect for an eighteenth 0:24:19.400 --> 0:24:23.400 century gentleman plantation owner. It maybe exactly what you may 0:24:23.440 --> 0:24:27.280 imagine for a bunch of pirates. Although his pirate career 0:24:27.480 --> 0:24:30.040 was short, Steve Bonnet was part of a gang of 0:24:30.119 --> 0:24:35.280 unaffiliated pirates who plundered the Caribbean. These are the pirates 0:24:35.359 --> 0:24:38.880 quote responsible for the images we have of pirates today. 0:24:39.000 --> 0:24:43.640 According to historian Colin Woodard, Bonnet never did find black 0:24:43.680 --> 0:24:46.720 Beard to enact whatever revenge plan he had in mind. 0:24:47.480 --> 0:24:51.480 But not only our Bonnet and Blackbeard's legends intertwined. They 0:24:51.560 --> 0:24:55.359 have some parallels. They both had short lived careers in piracy, 0:24:55.840 --> 0:24:58.359 and both were captured and executed at the end of 0:24:58.400 --> 0:25:02.320 seventeen eighteen. Black Beard was killed fighting British soldiers near 0:25:02.359 --> 0:25:04.760 Okracoke is Land off the coast of the province of 0:25:04.800 --> 0:25:10.639 North Carolina on November eighteen in a notoriously gruesome story 0:25:10.680 --> 0:25:14.200