Speaker 1: Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shonda Land Audio in
Speaker 1: partnership with I Heart Radio. Welcome to Criminalia, where it's
Speaker 1: pirate season. We're continuing to explore the lives and motivations
Speaker 1: of some of the most notorious freebooters throughout history. I'm
Speaker 1: Maria Tremarquis and I'm Holly Fry. We're talking about the
Speaker 1: King of Pirates, Henry Every. In this episode, you'll sometimes
Speaker 1: hear his name pronounced Avery, but it's generally Every and
Speaker 1: that's what we're going with. Henry was an English pirate
Speaker 1: born sometime between sixteen fifty three and sixteen fifty nine.
Speaker 1: Like a lot of our topics this season, his birth
Speaker 1: date is not nailed down, and really neither is his
Speaker 1: young life. It's assumed that he was born close to Plymouth, England,
Speaker 1: but his story doesn't really begin in terms of recorded
Speaker 1: history until he joined the Royal Navy. He served as
Speaker 1: a midshipman on a sixty four gun ship named the
Speaker 1: HMS Rupert, and he may have also spent time on
Speaker 1: the HMS Kent as well. The ship names actually very
Speaker 1: a bit from source to source depending on what you're
Speaker 1: looking at, but these are the two most likely warships,
Speaker 1: but after his time serving in the navy, Henry's story
Speaker 1: fades again. What we do know is that he spent
Speaker 1: years as a privateer. According to a man named Peter
Speaker 1: Henry Bruce, who was a merchant in the Indian Ocean
Speaker 1: at the time, Henry also ran an illegal slave trading
Speaker 1: operation which was sanctioned by the governor of the Bahamas.
Speaker 1: Because it was done illegally and undocumented, it was a
Speaker 1: highly profitable operation. Based on the year or in this
Speaker 1: fuzzy case, the potential year of his birth, Henry was
Speaker 1: likely in his late thirties when he officially began his
Speaker 1: new career, and that was becoming one of the most
Speaker 1: successful pirates in history. Henry's career in piracy coincided with
Speaker 1: what is known as the Golden Age of piracy, the
Speaker 1: period between the sixteen fifties and the seventeen thirties. Roughly,
Speaker 1: not only were there potentially thousands of pirates sailing the
Speaker 1: seas during this period, this was the time of such
Speaker 1: now infamous pirates such as Captain Kidd, Calico, Jack Black Bart,
Speaker 1: and black Beard. Described by historian Decording quote, Henry every
Speaker 1: did not conform to any of the popular images we
Speaker 1: have of pirates today. He was of middle height, rather fat,
Speaker 1: with a dissolute appearance and what was described as a
Speaker 1: jolly complexion Santa. As a pirate, he built an impressive
Speaker 1: career for himself, and he resurfaces in the historical record
Speaker 1: when he takes command of the warship Charles the Second.
Speaker 1: But before captaining his own ship, he began as first
Speaker 1: mate aboard Charles the Second, which was named after Charles
Speaker 1: the Second of Spain. Several London investors hoped for profits
Speaker 1: by sponsoring a privateering campaign in cooperation with the King
Speaker 1: of Spain and Charles the Second was in Spanish service
Speaker 1: while Henry was aboard as a crewman. The forty six
Speaker 1: gun Charles the Second was meant to plunder French shipping
Speaker 1: vessels in the Caribbean, but while anchored off the coast
Speaker 1: of northern Spain for weeks, the crew started to grow
Speaker 1: restless and impatient, waiting for their pay and for the
Speaker 1: delivery of a letter of mark that was a license
Speaker 1: required by all privateering ships that pretty much allowed the
Speaker 1: crew to plunder without consequence. The conditions aboard, though, had
Speaker 1: become horrendous, and Henry capitalizing on this opportunity led that
Speaker 1: restless crew to mutiny, and then Henry was elected as
Speaker 1: the new captain of the ship, and upon taking the
Speaker 1: Charles the Second, he announced his intention to turn pirate, declaring,
Speaker 1: I am captain of this ship. Now I am bound
Speaker 1: to Madagascar with the design of making my own fortune,
Speaker 1: and that of all the brave fell was joined with me.
Speaker 1: The Charles the Second was renamed as the Fancy And
Speaker 1: speaking of names, this is when Henry Every became Captain
Speaker 1: Henry Every. Throughout his career of piracy, Henry Every was
Speaker 1: known to use a lot of aliases, such as Benjamin
Speaker 1: Bridgeman or Henry Bridgeman. He was also known sometimes as
Speaker 1: Jack Avery or John Avery. That's kind of what leads
Speaker 1: to that situation we mentioned at the top of the show,
Speaker 1: where you'll hear his name pronounced different ways. To his crewman,
Speaker 1: he was known as long Bent and sometimes Captain Bridgeman.
Speaker 1: During his years of piracy, which were not many, just
Speaker 1: two years between six four and sixt Henry picked up
Speaker 1: a few other nicknames, the arch Pirate and the King
Speaker 1: of Pirates. In addition to gold, silver and jewels. Henry
Speaker 1: was an English pirate who apparently also looted names, clearly names.
Speaker 1: I like your name, I'm going to take it right.
Speaker 1: As the captain of a pirate ship, Henry would generally
Speaker 1: have had the last word. However, pirates did have their
Speaker 1: own form of democracy aboard their vessels. It wasn't like
Speaker 1: our modern democratic process, but their culture of electing their
Speaker 1: captain and as well as how they split their loot,
Speaker 1: did have elements of the democratic process as you might
Speaker 1: recognize it. So here the crew decided that each crewman
Speaker 1: would get one share of loot and the captain would
Speaker 1: pocket two shares. There was some honor among thieves. Henry
Speaker 1: had made some modifications to his vessel. He had modified
Speaker 1: its superstructure, removing the top deck of the Fancy to
Speaker 1: increase it's already pretty considerable speed. And after the mutiny
Speaker 1: and now under Henry's command, the crew decided not to
Speaker 1: wait any longer for a letter of mark or for
Speaker 1: the authorities to arrive, and they just decided to make
Speaker 1: a run for it. The Fancy, with her new captain,
Speaker 1: crew and name, sailed for the Indian Ocean. Henry and
Speaker 1: his crew sailed to the African coasts, where trade routes
Speaker 1: were full of English, Spanish and French chips to prey
Speaker 1: upon and based their operations in both the Atlantic Ocean
Speaker 1: and the Indian Ocean. They pretty much followed what was
Speaker 1: known as the Pirate Round, and the Pirate Round was
Speaker 1: a sailing route that was popular among English pirates during
Speaker 1: the late seventeenth and into the early eighteenth century. This
Speaker 1: route led from the Western Atlantic, ran parallel to the
Speaker 1: Cape Route around the southern tip of Africa, stopped at Madagascar,
Speaker 1: and then went onto the coasts of Yemen and India.
Speaker 1: The Pirate Round was largely the same as the roots
Speaker 1: used by the East India Company ships. Years later, after
Speaker 1: months of plundering along trade routes, Henry and his crew
Speaker 1: had stolen five ships, making him powerful enough to attack
Speaker 1: even the most well armored vessels sailing between India and
Speaker 1: the Middle East. We're going to take a break now
Speaker 1: for a word from our sponsor, and when we're back,
Speaker 1: we're going to set the scene. Henry's big win. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to criminal Lya. This is when Captain every turns
Speaker 1: himself into the world's most prosperous pirates. So it said
Speaker 1: that Every's crew was fairly content, as they had been
Speaker 1: pillaging and plundering the coasts of various places for several months,
Speaker 1: But then Henry learned that there was treasure, real treasure
Speaker 1: to be found. A Mogul Empire Armada was preparing to
Speaker 1: set sail from the port of Mocha in the Red
Speaker 1: Sea on a voyage home to Surat, India. The convoy
Speaker 1: of possibly as many as twenty five vessels would be
Speaker 1: carrying more than one thousand Muslim pilgrims on their way
Speaker 1: to the holy city of Mecca, but the fleet would
Speaker 1: also include several treasure filled merchant vessels owned by the
Speaker 1: Emperor a wrongzeb Alamgir known also as the Grand Mogul,
Speaker 1: who ruled what is modern day India. One of them
Speaker 1: was the flagship Ganji Sawai. The Ganji Sawai, which is
Speaker 1: also known as the Gun Sway, was the biggest ship
Speaker 1: in the fleet, with several dozen cannons and upwards of
Speaker 1: four hundred riflemen combined. This was more firepower than Henry's
Speaker 1: entire pirate fleet. But it was well known that Henry
Speaker 1: was a good captain and a good pirate, and famous
Speaker 1: pirate captains, including Captain William May and his ship the
Speaker 1: Pearl Joseph Farrell and the Portsmouth Adventure, Thomas two in
Speaker 1: the Amity, William Want and the Dolphin, and Thomas Wake
Speaker 1: and Susannah are all to have said to have joined him,
Speaker 1: and they were under his command at the very least.
Speaker 1: They lent firepower to the Fancy as she went on
Speaker 1: her attack, with every fleet in sight. The Mogul's vessels scattered.
Speaker 1: Most of the ships in Henry's fleet were too slow
Speaker 1: to keep up the chase, and they fell back. By morning,
Speaker 1: the crew of the Fancy could reach only two ships,
Speaker 1: the Fatim Mohammed and the larger of the two, the
Speaker 1: guns Sway. They first attacked the Fatimahammed, whose crew surrendered,
Speaker 1: but not before Thomas too was killed and allegedly disemboweled
Speaker 1: while fighting. Henry's victory was due to his skill as
Speaker 1: a pirate, but it was also due to luck. During battle,
Speaker 1: Henry's fleet took out the mainmast of the Gun's Way,
Speaker 1: but it was when an artillery piece malfunctioned and exploded
Speaker 1: on the guns Way that every saw his opportunity to
Speaker 1: board the ship. His boarding party engaged in some fierce
Speaker 1: hand to hand combat, but when the captain of the
Speaker 1: guns way abandoned his crew. The crew then surrendered. Every
Speaker 1: screw was brutal and murderous. Those who survived were tortured
Speaker 1: until they gave up locations of potentially hidden treasure. The
Speaker 1: whole ship came under their control, and they carried away
Speaker 1: all the gold and silver. That was written by Indian
Speaker 1: historian Coffee Colm later about the event, and then he
Speaker 1: went on quote. After having remained engaged for a week
Speaker 1: in searching for plunder, stripping them and of their clothes,
Speaker 1: and dishonoring the old and young women, they left the
Speaker 1: ship and its passengers to their fate. Some of the women,
Speaker 1: getting an opportunity, threw themselves into the sea to save
Speaker 1: their honor, while others committed suicide using knives and daggers. Henry,
Speaker 1: it said, actually never went aboard the Gun's Way, Yet
Speaker 1: that catch and the brutality of all his men who
Speaker 1: did board, turned him into the world's most prosperous and
Speaker 1: most wanted pirate at the time. Henry's attack on that
Speaker 1: fleet enraged the Grand Mogul. He had senior level employees
Speaker 1: at the East India Company arrested because he believed that
Speaker 1: they had conspired with the English pirate against him, although
Speaker 1: he had no evidence that that had actually happened, and
Speaker 1: he threatened to end trade agreements with the East India Company.
Speaker 1: That's big. The East India Company, so fearful that that
Speaker 1: threat might come to fruition, compensated the mogul and also
Speaker 1: placed a bounty on Captain every We can't get into
Speaker 1: the details too much, but the East India Company, we're
Speaker 1: mentioning it once or twice here, so let's talk about
Speaker 1: how it's important to the time and place. Between six
Speaker 1: and eighteen seventy four, the East India Company became the
Speaker 1: most powerful corporation the world had ever seen. The company
Speaker 1: was incorporated under the approval of Queen Elizabeth the First
Speaker 1: and went on to create a monopoly on trade on
Speaker 1: everything from spices to fabrics to opium. But the way
Speaker 1: that the East India Company worked was not at all
Speaker 1: through collaboration. They were known for widespread abuses of power,
Speaker 1: and they got their way through intimidation and bribery. Imagine
Speaker 1: a company so big and influential that it built its
Speaker 1: own three thousand men army for the East India Company
Speaker 1: and for the Queen of England. The trade relationship with
Speaker 1: the Grand Mogul was exploitative, but that trade with the
Speaker 1: East and Southeast Asia and India was also very importan
Speaker 1: into the crown. So back to that treasure, that kind
Speaker 1: of booty. Put a bounty on Henry's head. A proclamation
Speaker 1: for apprehending Henry Every alias Bridgeman and Sundry other pirates
Speaker 1: was distributed by authorities. It called for the punishment and
Speaker 1: execution of Captain Henry Every and his crew as quote
Speaker 1: heinous and notorious offenders of the law. They encouraged the
Speaker 1: quote seizing and apprehending the persons of such open and
Speaker 1: villainous transgressors. They called Henry and his crew notorious rogues,
Speaker 1: and offered a reward to anyone who took part in
Speaker 1: their capture, especially the capture of Henry. Henry replied to
Speaker 1: that proclamation stating that he and his crew were quote
Speaker 1: now in a ship of forty six guns and one
Speaker 1: fifty men, bound to seek our fortunes. I have never
Speaker 1: as yet wronged any English or Dutch, nor never intend
Speaker 1: while I am commander. Many of his pirates retired after
Speaker 1: that haul. They did not fall into the more modern
Speaker 1: one more score before I quit trope. It was a
Speaker 1: little different. They actually did quit while they were ahead,
Speaker 1: and then Henry vanished. We're left with his legend and
Speaker 1: perhaps some current ideas about what happened to his treasure.
Speaker 1: But today's historians can't seem to agree on many parts
Speaker 1: of Henry's life. The most interesting debate, though, isn't about
Speaker 1: his childhood or exactly what his job might have been
Speaker 1: in the Royal Navy. It's about how he ended his career.
Speaker 1: We are going to take a break for a word
Speaker 1: from our sponsor, and when we're back, we're going to
Speaker 1: talk about how Henry may or may not have ended
Speaker 1: that career. Welcome back to Criminalia. Now we're getting into
Speaker 1: why Captain Henry every was so special he got to
Speaker 1: retire during the time of Henry Every not many pirates
Speaker 1: die rich and respected or in their own beds. So
Speaker 1: let's look at long been compared to a couple very
Speaker 1: successful pirates during the Golden Age of piracy. Let's start
Speaker 1: with Henry Morgan. You probably actually know Henry Morgan, or
Speaker 1: at least his likeness. Captain Henry Morgan can be seen
Speaker 1: on bottles of Captain Morgan's spice rump. Henry was a pirate, Yes,
Speaker 1: but because he conducted his piracy under the service of
Speaker 1: the Queen of England, he technically was considered a buccaneer.
Speaker 1: Buccaneer is the term for a pirate who specifically operated
Speaker 1: from the Caribbean and Pacific coast of Central America. Henry
Speaker 1: was known as a vicious seamen and he amassed not
Speaker 1: only quite a head count but also a tight a
Speaker 1: bit of treasure during his time plundering. In sixteen seventy four,
Speaker 1: with his deeds overlooked, Henry was knighted by Queen Anne
Speaker 1: for his service to the crown, and when Sir Henry
Speaker 1: Morgan retired from piracy and relocated to Jamaica, he was
Speaker 1: awarded by the monarchy the position of Lieutenant Governor, a
Speaker 1: post he served in for about nine years. He spent
Speaker 1: his retirement years with his wife and died in sight,
Speaker 1: but not from a bullet or a thrust of a
Speaker 1: cutlast the rather likely from tuberculosis. Henry Morrigan was a
Speaker 1: pirate who did die in his own bed, but he
Speaker 1: was definitely in the minority. Blackbeard right, everybody knows about Blackbeard.
Speaker 1: Like Henry, every Blackbeard's piracy career only lasted a few years.
Speaker 1: He died as an active pirate in battle. During that time,
Speaker 1: he acquired more of a reputation than he did treasure.
Speaker 1: He and his crew were killed by British naval Lieutenant
Speaker 1: Robert Maynard and his crew of the Jaine, sent by
Speaker 1: Virginia Governor Alexander Spotswood. Blackbeard met his end when he
Speaker 1: made an incorrect assumption. He assumed that he had killed
Speaker 1: the other guys with cannon fire. He had not. His
Speaker 1: crew was overtaken by force when they jumped the mails
Speaker 1: of the chain. After a six minute brawl with knives, swords,
Speaker 1: and guns, all common fighting implements used at the time,
Speaker 1: black Beard and many of his crew were left dead.
Speaker 1: There's this romantic notion of a pirate on an isolated
Speaker 1: tropical island, and like many pirates from the Golden Age
Speaker 1: of piracy, Henry every name popped up through the centuries
Speaker 1: in this type of scenario, but most of that is legend.
Speaker 1: The story of his death, or the lack of story
Speaker 1: about his death, is actually a story in itself. Tales
Speaker 1: we hear about the end of Henry's life can be
Speaker 1: a bit preposterous, and some can be fun and some
Speaker 1: can maybe be plausible. It was said that Henry married
Speaker 1: an Indian princess in one of these, maybe even the
Speaker 1: granddaughter of the Grand Mogul. Then there's the one where
Speaker 1: Henry founded a new monarchy. In the years following his disappearance,
Speaker 1: there were claims that he was spotted here or there,
Speaker 1: pretty much everywhere. He like the Elvis of piracy. At
Speaker 1: that point, he had moved on from his Santa Claus nous.
Speaker 1: Some people believe that he lived out his life on
Speaker 1: an unidentified tropical island. Some said that he had gone
Speaker 1: to Madagascar to retire, and some stories suggest Henry sailed
Speaker 1: to Ireland with his remaining crew members. There are some
Speaker 1: versions of the story that claimed that some of his
Speaker 1: crew had been apprehended and hanged, and there were even
Speaker 1: accounts that suggested that Henry had squandered his fortune and
Speaker 1: died on the streets of London. Henry commanded the Fancy
Speaker 1: only until late when he disappeared, and it's thought he
Speaker 1: retired from piracy at that time. We do know that
Speaker 1: he vanished from all records in sixteen, and that his
Speaker 1: whereabouts and activities after that period we're still unknown. The
Speaker 1: fate of the Fancy is also unknown, although one version
Speaker 1: of his story suggests a Henry Bridgeman sold it or
Speaker 1: perhaps just gave it up. In the AMAS, there are
Speaker 1: accounts of the tale that suggests that he changed his
Speaker 1: name to Benjamin Bridgeman after he had used that for
Speaker 1: an alias for many years, and then quietly lived out
Speaker 1: the rest of his life. But again, where there could
Speaker 1: be volumes compiled on the many theories about his retirement
Speaker 1: and his death if someone took the time to compile
Speaker 1: them all, and they are all just theories, we have
Speaker 1: no documentation exactly, sir. With the questionable dates of his
Speaker 1: birth and his dath, Henry may have been anywhere between
Speaker 1: forty and about sixty years old when he died. Despite
Speaker 1: that bounty on his head and the ensuing man hunt
Speaker 1: that followed, Henry seems to have gotten away with it,
Speaker 1: away with his life, away with Luke. That's estimated to
Speaker 1: be about sixty million dollars in today's currency. Some value
Speaker 1: that at about a hundred million dollars or more, and
Speaker 1: Gail Sellinger, author of the book Pirates of New England,
Speaker 1: rights the value of the entire cargo would equal at
Speaker 1: least three hundred million dollars when adjusted for inflation. Henry's
Speaker 1: career in piracy may have only lasted for two years,
Speaker 1: but he is known as one of the very few
Speaker 1: pirate captains to escape with his lute before being killed
Speaker 1: in battle or arrested and hanged. His legend instead is
Speaker 1: that he is the infamous pirate captain whose big reputation
Speaker 1: making heist was one of the most profitable acts of
Speaker 1: piracy in just that short period of time on the
Speaker 1: high seas. Henry's escapades captured people's imaginations, and that led
Speaker 1: to two things. The first, those successful two years flung
Speaker 1: Henry into the spotlight, and he became inspiration for others
Speaker 1: to take up a career in piracy. The second, his
Speaker 1: exploits sparked works of art, including plays and literature, poems, songs,
Speaker 1: and you can even find today his likeness captured in
Speaker 1: wood carvings. That is our Henry story, Holly, Would you
Speaker 1: like to take us into our cocktail story? Yes, step
Speaker 1: into the groggery where I am decorating it with carved
Speaker 1: wooden engravings of Henry. Every today's cocktail is called the
Speaker 1: Vanishing Pirate in line with the end of his story.
Speaker 1: He does kind of vanish. It is delicious, so it
Speaker 1: vanishes from the glass very quickly, and if you drink enough,
Speaker 1: your stories will be as hazy as the end of
Speaker 1: his life. It is one of those things that it's
Speaker 1: easy to drink a lot very quickly. Please don't drink responsibly,
Speaker 1: but just know you will have hazy stories. So the
Speaker 1: Vanishing Pirate, it's just a quick three ingredient one. It
Speaker 1: starts with one ounce of elder flower cordial, so like
Speaker 1: a Sender main or something along the lines of that.
Speaker 1: One ounce of vodka I recommend using a strawberry vodka here,
Speaker 1: and then six ounces of ginger beer. What happened is
Speaker 1: that the sweetness of the cordial rounds out that bite
Speaker 1: that ginger beer can have, so you have all of
Speaker 1: the crisp, refreshing, bubbly brightness of it and none of
Speaker 1: that like sometimes ginger beer can leave like a little
Speaker 1: spike feeling on my tongue where I'm like too sharp. No,
Speaker 1: it softens it all up and it gives it that
Speaker 1: fruity roundness to it. It's absolutely lovely and easy to
Speaker 1: drink a lot of and you can just pour those
Speaker 1: directly into your last with ice. You don't need to
Speaker 1: do anything fancy. Give it a quick stir and you're good.
Speaker 1: You start with the sand germain on the bottom and
Speaker 1: then add your vodka and your ginger beer on top.
Speaker 1: The process of pouring over one over the other helps
Speaker 1: mix them already. So um, it's so delicious. It's so
Speaker 1: delicious that I texted Maria while I was working on
Speaker 1: it and said, sometimes I have an idea. I poured
Speaker 1: the drink and then I go, oh, man, I'm actually
Speaker 1: good at this. Not often, but once in a while,
Speaker 1: I believe that. I replied that you have to have
Speaker 1: a talent, and that's a pretty good one to have.
Speaker 1: There are worse things to befall a person, right. The
Speaker 1: non alcoholic version of this is also incredibly lovely, but
Speaker 1: it does involve an ingredient that you might have the
Speaker 1: special order, and that is elder flower syrup. It's not
Speaker 1: hard to get, but it's not like a thing that
Speaker 1: grocery stores often stuff, So you're going to use that
Speaker 1: instead of your your cordials, so that's easy as pie.
Speaker 1: And to make this, you're actually going to cut up
Speaker 1: some juicy ripe strawberries, pour them into your glass with
Speaker 1: that syrup, and muddle it just a little bit together
Speaker 1: so that you have, like just a nice mush and
Speaker 1: then pour the ginger beer over that also delicious, also
Speaker 1: delicious um and highly recommended, and that won't make you
Speaker 1: fuzzy at all. You can drink them forever. They'll vanish
Speaker 1: just as quickly as Henry Every did, and yet your
Speaker 1: memory will not be compromised in anyway. It'll be great.
Speaker 1: Hopefully you'll give this a try. If you do, I
Speaker 1: hope you like it and you can always share your
Speaker 1: success or failure with it by tagging us. So we
Speaker 1: has to take Criminalia on social media. We are so
Speaker 1: thankful that you spent this time with us talking about
Speaker 1: Henry Every Today and the vanishing pirate cocktail delicious. We
Speaker 1: hope we will see you right back here next week
Speaker 1: because we have plenty more piracy to come this season,
Speaker 1: and so we will see you around on Criminalia. Criminalia
Speaker 1: is a production of Shonda land Audio in partnership with
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from Shonda land Audio,
Speaker 1: please visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.