Speaker 1: In the twelfth century, cities like Lubeck, Hamburg, Bremen, Danzig
Speaker 1: and others along the Baltic and the North Sea coast
Speaker 1: experienced an increase in maritime trade, and of course, wherever
Speaker 1: there are valuables for the taking, there were pirates. To
Speaker 1: help address the issue, Lubeck and Hamburg created the Hanseatic
Speaker 1: League in twelve forty one, also commonly called Hansa. The
Speaker 1: term means fellowship or community, more of a mercantile alliance
Speaker 1: than a city by city effort. The League both supervised
Speaker 1: maritime trade and helped to safeguardships against pirates. By hundred
Speaker 1: nineteen major ports had joined. Some countries, like Denmark, were
Speaker 1: against Hansa and the mercantile monopoly the League had become
Speaker 1: the opposing country. Solution was to create smaller brethren organizations.
Speaker 1: One such group of free booters, the Vitalin Brewder or
Speaker 1: Victual Brothers, consisting of mercenaries and pirates, had been hired
Speaker 1: to bring food visions to Stockholm in the thirteen nineties.
Speaker 1: The Danes had waged an assault on the city in
Speaker 1: an attempt to capture and control it. In response to
Speaker 1: Hanseatic cities in Mecklenburg put out a call for free
Speaker 1: booters at their own expense. The Victual Brothers would harass
Speaker 1: and plunder ships from Denmark and Norway. Thus began the
Speaker 1: privateers War, But seeing as the applicants lining up for
Speaker 1: a license had seed reputations, the conflict seemore like pirates
Speaker 1: versus pirates. The Victual Brothers frequently targeted ports outside of
Speaker 1: Mecklenburg that belonged to the Hansa. Lubeck became a favorite target,
Speaker 1: although the Brothers attacked any ship in the Baltic they pleased.
Speaker 1: While they might have government allies, their actions showed that
Speaker 1: they were first and foremost pirates by nature. One of
Speaker 1: the Brothers vessels made the mistake of attacking a German
Speaker 1: ship in Thirte. The German sailors bested the pirates and
Speaker 1: stuffed them into barrels with just their heads sticking out
Speaker 1: of the top. Once the ship reached the port in Strawson,
Speaker 1: the men were carted off and beheaded. Other Victual brother
Speaker 1: pirates pressed on, eventually becoming so successful that trading in
Speaker 1: the Baltic nearly came to a standstill. Finally, a treaty
Speaker 1: was signed in May of and the victual brothers were
Speaker 1: ordered to leave the Baltic by that July. It won't
Speaker 1: surprise you to learn that the brothers had no intention
Speaker 1: of giving up piracy, though, They just split into smaller
Speaker 1: groups and operated from their new capital on the island
Speaker 1: of Helgoland. The location provided easy access to passing ships.
Speaker 1: Local chieftains along the eastern coast of Frieseland hired the
Speaker 1: pirates for their conflicts and campaigns. From this new brotherhood,
Speaker 1: Klaus stora Becker became legendary in German folklore. Sometime around
Speaker 1: fourteen o one, the hands has set out a fleet
Speaker 1: of ships to capture and destroy Claus's base. For three days,
Speaker 1: the battle reached on. Men took to crossbows, axes, swords,
Speaker 1: and hand to hand combat. At last, Klaus's ship Sea
Speaker 1: Tiger was captured by the captain aboard the d Bunta Coup,
Speaker 1: which oddly translates to the colorful Cow. Klaus and seventy
Speaker 1: two of his crew were taken to Hamburg, where he
Speaker 1: negotiated pardon not for himself, but for any of his
Speaker 1: crewmen that he could walk past after the executioner cut
Speaker 1: off his head. The legend says that headless, Klaus stumbled
Speaker 1: past eleven men. If there's any truth to Klaus's end
Speaker 1: or not, it makes us wonder why we have always
Speaker 1: envisioned pirates as the lone, rogue wolves of the sea.
Speaker 1: After all, most wolves hunt impacts. I'm Aaron Manky and
Speaker 1: welcome two pirates. Pirate legends. We glorify them, massive ships
Speaker 1: with brave captains, traveling the seas in search of fortune.
Speaker 1: The Golden Age of Piracy even sounds somewhat romantic, but
Speaker 1: peel back the legends and the history underneath is a
Speaker 1: lot more brutal. Historians often debate just how long the
Speaker 1: Golden Age of Piracy lasted. Some argue it lasted only
Speaker 1: ten years, from seventeen fifteen to seventeen. Others claim it
Speaker 1: occurred between seventeen fourteen and seventeen thirty, while still more
Speaker 1: say that the exact start and end date is rather subjective,
Speaker 1: since pirates roamed the seas hundreds of years before the
Speaker 1: Golden Age of piracy. The definition is generally traced back
Speaker 1: to the use of privateers during conflicts in the Caribbean
Speaker 1: throughout the late sixteen hundreds and early seventeen hundreds. The
Speaker 1: Treaty of You treked in seventeen thirteen ended the livelihoods
Speaker 1: of many seamen who had come to places like Port Royal,
Speaker 1: Jamaica to earn a profitable living as what was essentially
Speaker 1: a sanctioned pirate for higher upwards of six thousand privateers
Speaker 1: previously working with the government found themselves either out of
Speaker 1: work or in a position where they had to return
Speaker 1: to their former employment aboard slave, merchant or navy ships
Speaker 1: with low pay and often deplorable conditions. Seaports in British
Speaker 1: and colonial territories teamed with unemployed seamen. Others chose to
Speaker 1: continue their line of work, officially making them pirates instead
Speaker 1: of privateers. Many attacked only the French or Spanish vessels,
Speaker 1: while others were less discerning and contributing to that rise
Speaker 1: where government without a means to enforce anti piracy laws.
Speaker 1: Most Caribbean pirates hailed from England, but not all of them.
Speaker 1: Pirates came from Africa, Scotland, Ireland and other places around
Speaker 1: the world. Regardless of their heritage, they formed a common bond,
Speaker 1: even working together. Many even came to another pirate's aid.
Speaker 1: We might think of them as lawless, but pirate crews
Speaker 1: formed highly democratic communities and hierarchies. Their captains were not tyrants.
Speaker 1: Crewmen could and did vote them out of power. Plunder
Speaker 1: was divided fairly, and the crew had to say in
Speaker 1: the captain's decision process. Democracy at sea granted them far
Speaker 1: better protection than their employers or governments offered on land.
Speaker 1: Some pirates from the Bahamas even provided disability benefits to
Speaker 1: crew members. Something more than booze, adventure and treasure attracted
Speaker 1: sailors to life as a pirate. It certainly wasn't the
Speaker 1: picture governments painted for them, bloodthirsty murderers, rapists and thieves
Speaker 1: out there only for themselves, who also relished in torturing
Speaker 1: women and children just for fun. While some individuals certainly
Speaker 1: did fit that description, other stories were simply exaggerated. Yet
Speaker 1: no matter what government officials said, the public regarded pirates
Speaker 1: as a form of folk hero even during the Golden
Speaker 1: age of piracy. So Aside from the money, the booze,
Speaker 1: the adventure, and the escape from poor working condition, there's
Speaker 1: another reason rebellion pirates took a social and political stand
Speaker 1: against injustices. When Queen Anne died, for example, and her
Speaker 1: brother was refused the throne because he was Catholic pirates
Speaker 1: like Benjamin Hornegald and Edward Teach remained loyal to the
Speaker 1: House of Stuart and rebelled against King George. It's important
Speaker 1: to remember that most pirates came from poor families, working
Speaker 1: jobs that had little chance of paying off. These men
Speaker 1: and women had nothing to lose and everything to gain,
Speaker 1: Although there were pirates who valued the lifestyle above all else.
Speaker 1: In seventeen twenty two, for example, pirate Joseph Mansfield once
Speaker 1: said that he loved drinking and a lazy life more
Speaker 1: than he valued any pure The men and women who
Speaker 1: were active during the Golden Age of piracy left an
Speaker 1: indelible mark on history, many becoming larger than life legends.
Speaker 1: When we think of pirates today, popular names like Edward Teach,
Speaker 1: Sam Bellamy, and Steve Bonnet come to mind, as well
Speaker 1: as the trio of Calico, Jack and Bonnie and Mary Read.
Speaker 1: And each of these pirates was powerful in their own right.
Speaker 1: They captained or served aboard flagships that could hold their
Speaker 1: own against any man of war, and with so many
Speaker 1: of them commanding what amounted to entire naval fleets, it
Speaker 1: seems as though they would see each other as direct competition. Yet,
Speaker 1: as it turns out, these very capable individuals and crews
Speaker 1: came to form a tighter bond. Not only did they
Speaker 1: know each other, but they also created a community referred
Speaker 1: to as the Pirate Republic. Pirates rated ships for more
Speaker 1: than just gold. Honestly, they would plunder anything of value.
Speaker 1: Of course, stolen goods required buyers who didn't ask a
Speaker 1: lot of questions. Port Royal and Martinique had once been
Speaker 1: prime locations to sell, but by the Golden Age the
Speaker 1: ports began to crack down on pirates and their buyers.
Speaker 1: Small colonies short on supplies sometimes looked the other way,
Speaker 1: but larger colonial ports prohibited and enforced laws preventing the
Speaker 1: sale of stolen goods. This forced the buyers and pirates
Speaker 1: to meet at prearranged locations to do their business. The
Speaker 1: easiest solution for the pirates was to find a port
Speaker 1: city they operated. They found the perfect spot in Nassau
Speaker 1: on the island of New Providence. In the late seventeenth century,
Speaker 1: England and Spain engaged in a conflict over salvaging wrecked
Speaker 1: ships in the area. Spain raided the then British controlled Bahamas. Naturally,
Speaker 1: the British retaliated with their own privateers against Spain. The
Speaker 1: hostilities resulted in burning the settlement to the ground, but
Speaker 1: mostly abandoned area attracted new settlers willing to rebuild, including
Speaker 1: English privateers. By the colonists established Nasa as the capital.
Speaker 1: As we learned earlier privateers found themselves without a job
Speaker 1: after the Treaty of Utrecht was signed. Afterward, both the
Speaker 1: Spanish and French ignored the treaty and rated Nassau in
Speaker 1: the early eighteenth century, and the settlement was abandoned once more.
Speaker 1: In seventeen fifteen, though, a fleet of Spanish treasure ships
Speaker 1: made their way home after a lengthy time at sea.
Speaker 1: On June thirty, as they sailed through the channel between
Speaker 1: Florida and the Grand Bahamas, they encountered a hurricane. The
Speaker 1: one hundred mile per hour winds tore the sails, and
Speaker 1: the fifty foot waves slammed the ships into the jagged
Speaker 1: reefs off the Florida coast. Only one ship survived. Ten
Speaker 1: others sank, along with an immense treasure of silk, coins, ingots,
Speaker 1: and jewels. When the hurricanes subsided, nearly a thousand corpses
Speaker 1: washed ashore approximately seven million pesos worth of treasure lay
Speaker 1: in shallow water. Everyone from the Spanish, to the navy
Speaker 1: to the pirates converged on the area. Port Royal's governor
Speaker 1: hired privateer Henry Jennings to bring back whatever he could.
Speaker 1: Jennings and his men attacked a Spanish garrison and seized
Speaker 1: nearly sixty thousand pieces of eight. Spain left the area
Speaker 1: in seventeen sixteen, leaving behind a significant amount of treasure.
Speaker 1: Jennings and his men packed up their treasure and left.
Speaker 1: While the pirates raked in considerable sums. Spending them proved
Speaker 1: a bit more difficult. They couldn't spend them in Port Royal,
Speaker 1: but Nasaw, a new providence, provided the perfect alternative. Benjamin
Speaker 1: Hornegald and Edward Teach had already established themselves in the settlement.
Speaker 1: Hornegald had a hundred men and a well armed sloop
Speaker 1: in the harbor, asserting an unchecked, if not temporary, authority
Speaker 1: over the settlement. Pirates nearly outnumbered other settlers, and they
Speaker 1: walked freely through the streets as though the town belonged
Speaker 1: to them. As more pirates converged, their dominance in Nasa
Speaker 1: increased the pirates began to refer to themselves as the
Speaker 1: Flying Gang. Those who didn't want to join left for Jamaica,
Speaker 1: fresh office treasure hunt in Florida, Jennings and his men
Speaker 1: arrived in Nasa. He stole a small Spanish sloop belonging
Speaker 1: to Hornegal, challenging the status quo. As it turned out
Speaker 1: the two men had a long history of rivalry. Hornegal
Speaker 1: had to do something to prove his worth or risk
Speaker 1: losing control, so he took Edward Teach and two hundred
Speaker 1: men on his ten guns sloop through the Florida Straits
Speaker 1: and around Cuba during the spring of seventeen sixteen, where
Speaker 1: the crew captured several valuable prizes. Hornegal recruited a few
Speaker 1: other pirate captains, including Sam Bellamy and an unlikely ally
Speaker 1: French captain, Olivier Labouse. They returned to Nasa, only to
Speaker 1: discover that the pirate community had substantially increased the population
Speaker 1: there of pirates and illegal traders. Caught the attention of
Speaker 1: Virginia's governor, who complained to England that pirates had taken
Speaker 1: control of the Bahamas, and as time went on, streams
Speaker 1: of outcasts found their way to Nassau from farmers to
Speaker 1: runaway slaves. Life among the pirates provided them with freedoms
Speaker 1: and a sense of community that they didn't have back
Speaker 1: in the colonies. By seventeen seventeen, most of the names
Speaker 1: that were familiar with called Nassa home, though not all
Speaker 1: of them belonged to the Flying Gang, and although Jennings
Speaker 1: and Hornegold remained enemies, the island provided room enough for
Speaker 1: both leaders. New providence had become a pirate's paradise. Sources
Speaker 1: indicate that they might have taken counsel with each other
Speaker 1: and may have formed an organized and structured community, living
Speaker 1: what we might call governing by pirate code. But utopia
Speaker 1: is just an illusion, and all good things, as they say,
Speaker 1: must come to an end. Word reached England's King, George
Speaker 1: the First that the Caribbean had become so infested with
Speaker 1: pirates that the future of trading, even into the American
Speaker 1: colonies had become endangered. To deal with the pirates and
Speaker 1: those trading with them, the king signed a proclamation in
Speaker 1: September of seventeen seventeen. Pirates had until the following September
Speaker 1: to surrender to authorities. However, instead of punishment. They would
Speaker 1: receive a pardon as long as they gave up piracy
Speaker 1: for good after one year. England would offer a bounty
Speaker 1: for the capture of pirate officers, and of course, military
Speaker 1: force would be used against all pirates. The proclamation reached
Speaker 1: New Providence in December. As you might imagine, the letter
Speaker 1: divided the pirates into two different camps, those who favored
Speaker 1: taking the pardon, like Jennings and Hornegal, and those who
Speaker 1: were against it, like Charles Vane. Those who accepted flew
Speaker 1: the Union Jack on top of Fort Nassau to signify submission.
Speaker 1: Vain wasn't alone in his refusal to submit. Jack Rackham
Speaker 1: and Edward England, among others, didn't see themselves as outlaws.
Speaker 1: Although their individual reasons varied, they basically saw themselves as rebels.
Speaker 1: They removed the Union Jack, replacing it with a death's
Speaker 1: head flag. Both sides held counsel but were unable to
Speaker 1: agree on the pardon. Those opposed mostly packed up and left,
Speaker 1: and when the HMS Phoenix arrived in February of seventeen eighteen,
Speaker 1: many of the pirates welcomed the ship, much to the
Speaker 1: captain's surprise. Regardless of where they stood on the King's offer.
Speaker 1: Hornegold had counseled them to take the pardon and buy
Speaker 1: some time. They could always return to piracy. Later, the
Speaker 1: Phoenix returned to New York with the names of over
Speaker 1: two hundred pirates willing to take the pardon. But while
Speaker 1: the Phoenix had been there in Port, Charles Vane had
Speaker 1: been busy assembling a crew. Not long after the Phoenix left,
Speaker 1: his reign of terror began. Not only did he plunder ships,
Speaker 1: but he also brutalized their crews. In response, Britain named
Speaker 1: a new governor in the Bahamas to help bring the
Speaker 1: Golden Age of piracy to an end. Newly appointed Woods
Speaker 1: Rogers had once successfully keptained a privateering crew, providing them
Speaker 1: with fair treatment, good food, and medical care. During his service,
Speaker 1: he also managed to capture a Manila galleon, a feat
Speaker 1: that only four other ships and three centuries had ever accomplished.
Speaker 1: Described as courageous and deeply devoted to king and country,
Speaker 1: Woods Rogers was eager to devote himself to the task.
Speaker 1: Three Navy warships escorted the British fleet to New Providence
Speaker 1: on the evening of July eighteen. The squadron anchored just
Speaker 1: outside the harbor. Even under the cloak of darkness, the
Speaker 1: pirates knew the ships were there. The arrival took Charles
Speaker 1: Vane by surprise. Although he had added his name to
Speaker 1: the people on the pardon list, he had no desire
Speaker 1: to honor it. Over the last few days, he and
Speaker 1: his crew had prepared his ship to leave New Providence
Speaker 1: and set sail for Brazil. But now Roger's fleet blocked
Speaker 1: his exit. He couldn't fight his way out, but he
Speaker 1: did have a plan of escape. That night, the crew
Speaker 1: took a French ship filled with combustibles. They rolled the
Speaker 1: guns to their gun holes and filled them with cannonballs
Speaker 1: and gunpowder. The men slathered the deck and rigging with tar,
Speaker 1: and then they set sail. Vain and the rest of
Speaker 1: the crew sailed out in a smaller sloop behind them.
Speaker 1: The crew aboard the French vest set their ship on fire.
Speaker 1: When they drew closer to the anchored British fleet, they
Speaker 1: jumped overboard, hoping their fiery ship would collide with one
Speaker 1: of the Navy's vessels. The men aboard two of the
Speaker 1: British ships, the Rose and the Shark, scrambled to cut
Speaker 1: the anchor lines and raise their sails. The Navy ships
Speaker 1: moved just in time, nearly colliding with the French ships.
Speaker 1: As the cannons and gunpowder exploded, Charles Vane sailed straight
Speaker 1: out of the harbor, black flag flying in the wind.
Speaker 1: After outrunning roger ship, he set off a single cannon
Speaker 1: shot in defiance. The next day, the new governor took
Speaker 1: control of New Providence. Later he hired Hornigal to hunt
Speaker 1: down vain In see Charles Vane was hanged for piracy.
Speaker 1: The remaining pirates, who had once served with each other,
Speaker 1: once more stood on two different and opposing sides, the
Speaker 1: hunted and the hunters. The golden age of piracy and
Speaker 1: the pirate community that had filled it had finally come
Speaker 1: to an end. The island of New Providence had provided
Speaker 1: the pirates with a distinct vantage point in which to
Speaker 1: see arriving ships, and now it served Woods Rogers. He
Speaker 1: had the island fortified, including a barricade around the fort,
Speaker 1: and armed militia watched for surprise attacks. In a short time,
Speaker 1: he'd done more to curb piracy in the Caribbean than
Speaker 1: anyone else before, and he remained staunchly devoted to England.
Speaker 1: In a time where many British colony governors were lining
Speaker 1: their pockets. Instead, Rogers used some of his own money
Speaker 1: to fund the efforts, believing in the greater cause. Things
Speaker 1: didn't run smoothly for him, though. The size of his crew,
Speaker 1: relatively small to start with, grew smaller still as the
Speaker 1: men succumbed to a variety of tropical diseases. Despite his
Speaker 1: hard work and his good results, England ignored his repeated
Speaker 1: requests for extra men and funding. Governors from the colonies
Speaker 1: wrote to England. Each stated their concern that without proper support,
Speaker 1: the pirates would overtake New Providence and set up camp
Speaker 1: once more. Even Vain sent Rogers a letter vowing to
Speaker 1: return and take back the island. Determined and eternally loyal,
Speaker 1: Rogers carried on even without support from the Crown. But
Speaker 1: his devotion would be his downfall. He worked until his
Speaker 1: health suffered. Exhausted, ill and bankrupt, he finally returned to England,
Speaker 1: hoping to start over. In his place. The Crown sent
Speaker 1: George Fenny to govern the Bahamas. Back in England, Rogers
Speaker 1: received no thanks, no gratitude, and no assistance for his work. Instead,
Speaker 1: he was thrown into debtor's prison. The new governor of
Speaker 1: the Bahamas, Fenny, didn't subscribe to his predecessor's honesty and
Speaker 1: became corrupt, and sometime in the late seventeen twenties, the
Speaker 1: Crown reappointed Woods Rogers to govern the Bahamas in his place.
Speaker 1: Once he returned, he eradicated the pervasive corruption in the colony.
Speaker 1: He continued his work to wipe away the pirate legacy
Speaker 1: and replace it with honest business and a booming economy.
Speaker 1: And the best part of all, he accomplished all of
Speaker 1: that in part by hiring some of the very same
Speaker 1: people he'd been sent to get rid of pirates. The
Speaker 1: centerpiece of the Golden Age of piracy, in the minds
Speaker 1: of many people today, is their community at Nassau. It
Speaker 1: was where they lived out the freedoms they fought so
Speaker 1: hard to acquire, where they rested, and where they planned
Speaker 1: for the future. But it wasn't the only place for pirates.
Speaker 1: In fact, my crewmates, Alie Steed has one more location
Speaker 1: to discuss with you, and if you stick around through
Speaker 1: this brief sponsor break, she'll tell you all about it. Well.
Speaker 1: The Pirate Republican New Providence is fairly well documented there's
Speaker 1: another pirate utopia nearly lost to history. Although there's much
Speaker 1: debate on exactly how much of the story happened, the
Speaker 1: roots appear based on some facts. According to Captain Charles Johnson,
Speaker 1: the author of the seventeen twenty four book A General
Speaker 1: History of the Robberies and Murders of the most Notorious Pirates,
Speaker 1: there was once a Captain James Mission. Mission was a
Speaker 1: restless soul by nature. When his father wanted him to
Speaker 1: join the Musketeers, he chose a life at sea instead.
Speaker 1: Hoping to satisfy his adventurous spirit, he found a spot
Speaker 1: on a French privateering ship called the Victois. Life at
Speaker 1: sea proved to be even more than he dreamed of,
Speaker 1: and Mission devoted himself to learning everything about life aboard
Speaker 1: a ship. At some point in the journey, the ship
Speaker 1: docked at Naples. With the captain's permission, the pious Mission
Speaker 1: traveled to Rome. What he saw there disheartened him. The
Speaker 1: immoral behaviors of the local clergy deeply shook his faith.
Speaker 1: A priest named Karaguli confirmed Mission's worst fears, telling the
Speaker 1: young traveler that organized religion served as a means to
Speaker 1: keep the public under control. Mission asked the priest to
Speaker 1: join him on the ship, and without hesitating, corrachially agreed.
Speaker 1: The two became fast friends and captured many treasures together.
Speaker 1: When the Victoria's captain died in battle, the crew voted
Speaker 1: Mission as their captain and currachily for their lieutenant. During
Speaker 1: their travels, the crew converted to the former priest's ideals,
Speaker 1: namely that all men were equal, regardless of race, and
Speaker 1: that they had a right to absolute freedom from both
Speaker 1: the chains of religion and the secular government. There should
Speaker 1: be no social status and no slavery. In fact, they
Speaker 1: wouldn't even speak the word Courragili suggested that they sail
Speaker 1: in defiance of any government. From then on they would
Speaker 1: have no grudges, only brotherly love and equality. The crew
Speaker 1: cheered and set sail across the sea, taking treasures from
Speaker 1: any merchant ship they found along the way. The men
Speaker 1: took great care to be as respectful as possible to
Speaker 1: the captains and crew of the ships they plundered. They
Speaker 1: rescued mistreated sailors and declared those aboard slave ships free,
Speaker 1: often taking on both his crew mates. Eventually they found
Speaker 1: their way to the northern tip of Madagascar and decided
Speaker 1: to establish a camp. The island they chose had an
Speaker 1: excellent harbor, and the area provided plenty of fresh water
Speaker 1: and good soil for farming. The men set to work
Speaker 1: building a settlement they named Libertalia. While some of the
Speaker 1: men built forts and homes, others searched for food. These
Speaker 1: hunters encountered in native men they befriended and gifted with
Speaker 1: an axe. As time went on, Pirate Captain Thomas too
Speaker 1: came upon the settlement. He and his crew became so
Speaker 1: impressed that they joined the establishment. As more time passed,
Speaker 1: the colony only grew. The men married local women and
Speaker 1: started families of their own. Every member in Libertalia equally
Speaker 1: shared in the work and the prizes taken from merchant
Speaker 1: ships they raided while at sea. Mission commanded ships with
Speaker 1: French crews, and two commanded those aboard English vessels. The
Speaker 1: colony eventually formed a government based on fairness and equity.
Speaker 1: They chose to elect a conservator who would serve for
Speaker 1: no more than three years. The village, of course appointed Mission. Well,
Speaker 1: it's true that Thomas too was a real pirate, The
Speaker 1: legend's timeline may be a bit more fabrication than fact.
Speaker 1: Two died by the end of the seventeenth century, and
Speaker 1: by the author's own account, some of the story's timeline
Speaker 1: happened after his death. Fact or fiction. The utopian town
Speaker 1: did not survive while Too was away, Natives ambushed the
Speaker 1: colony in the middle of the night, killing many of
Speaker 1: the settlers, including Karachili. Mission and some of the crew
Speaker 1: managed to escape and find Too. After hearing what had happened,
Speaker 1: Two suggested that Mission had to the Americus. Not long
Speaker 1: after the men parted ways, mission ships sank in a
Speaker 1: storm with no survivors, and while two ships arrived, he
Speaker 1: later died in battle. Skeptics point out that the story
Speaker 1: exists only in Johnson's book. They point to the striking
Speaker 1: resemblances to fictional pirate narratives, including the novel Robinson Crusoe.
Speaker 1: Many experts believed that Captain Charles Johnson was actually a
Speaker 1: pseudonym for Daniel Defoe, than novels author, and yet there
Speaker 1: are some historically correct details. There was a settlement of
Speaker 1: pirates in Madagascar, and we know that because Woods Rogers
Speaker 1: provided the novelist with accurate details about the life of pirates.
Speaker 1: And although Libertalium may have been fiction. New Providence serves
Speaker 1: as a real life example that pirates once set up
Speaker 1: their own community, work together and formed a government. Brothers,
Speaker 1: as they say to the Bitter End. Pirates was executive
Speaker 1: produced by Aaron Manky and narrated by Aaron Manky and
Speaker 1: Alexandra Steid. Writing for this season was provided by Michelle Mudo,
Speaker 1: with research by Alexander Steide and Sam Alberty. Production assistance
Speaker 1: was provided by Josh Thayne, Jesse Funk, Alex Williams, and
Speaker 1: Matt Frederick. To learn more about this and other shows
Speaker 1: from Grimm and Mild and I Heart Radio, visit Grimm
Speaker 1: and Mild dot com.