Speaker 1: Everyone knows the word mutiny. We can't talk about life
Speaker 1: on the high seas without diving into the stories about
Speaker 1: sailors rebelling against their captains or the reasons behind those insurrections,
Speaker 1: and our intro today starts with one of the British
Speaker 1: Navy's most infamous captains and how the mutiny all began.
Speaker 1: A tropical fruits related to the fig that would be
Speaker 1: bread fruit. Discovered in seventeen sixty nine. It was a
Speaker 1: cheap and nutritional food source. It grew well in tropical areas,
Speaker 1: and plantation owners in the Caribbean used the fruit to
Speaker 1: supplement enslaved workers diets. Fast forward to seven, when the
Speaker 1: British Crown sent the HMS Bounty to Tahiti to harvest
Speaker 1: saplings for transport to the West Indies. The journey wouldn't
Speaker 1: be difficult or long, requiring a crew of just forty
Speaker 1: six including two botanists. On this trip, Captain William Blyth
Speaker 1: decided to take Fletcher Christian, the son of a family
Speaker 1: end and teach him how to be a good sailor.
Speaker 1: Captain and crew departed England on December and looked forward
Speaker 1: to an easy trip. Three months into the journey, though
Speaker 1: the weather forced them to take a longer route. Tempers
Speaker 1: flared and tensions ran high, but not because of the detour.
Speaker 1: You see, the crew despised their captain. Bligh seemed to
Speaker 1: find fault in everything they did, often in the most
Speaker 1: condescending ways. He took delight in humiliating his men, the
Speaker 1: officers in particular. By the time they reached Tahiti in
Speaker 1: October of seventeen eight seven, the men were overjoyed to
Speaker 1: leave the ship. It would be five months before the
Speaker 1: rainy season ended, delaying their journey to the West Indies.
Speaker 1: While they indulged in relationships with the female population, Captain
Speaker 1: Bligh worked on trading with the indigenous people, picked out
Speaker 1: breadfruit saplings, and made extensive lists complaining about his men.
Speaker 1: So when the crew set sail for the West Indies
Speaker 1: on April fifth, seventeen eighty nine, the ten between captain
Speaker 1: and crew hovered as thick and dark as any storm cloud.
Speaker 1: Bli took the shouting insults at everyone, even young Fletcher Christian.
Speaker 1: Something had to give. That time came when Bli accused
Speaker 1: Christian of stealing coconuts simply because the pile appeared smaller
Speaker 1: than he recalled. Christian denied the theft, and Bli promptly
Speaker 1: punished the entire crew. And while it's not clear what
Speaker 1: instance of Bligh's abuse led to the mutiny, his journal
Speaker 1: states that Christian and a few other men entered his
Speaker 1: cabin early on April. They tied his hands and set
Speaker 1: him and a few men adrift in a boat loaded
Speaker 1: with provisions. Bli eventually reached a Dutch settlement and informed
Speaker 1: the British Navy of the mutiny. He wrote to his wife,
Speaker 1: telling her that he was innocent of all wrongdoing and
Speaker 1: that he had acted with valor. Eleven months later, Bli
Speaker 1: returned to England, where locals hailed him as a hero.
Speaker 1: Christian and the others didn't fare so well. Eighteen years later,
Speaker 1: in eighteen oh eight, a each team discovered one of
Speaker 1: Bligh's old crew members in a small community on Pitcairn Island.
Speaker 1: As the lone survivor of Bligh's crew, he explained his
Speaker 1: fellow crewman's fate. Without a chain of command, everything had
Speaker 1: fallen apart. Mutiny had led to anarchy and eventually to death.
Speaker 1: I'm Aaron Manky and welcome two pirates. We've probably all
Speaker 1: heard the expression before to run a tight ship. Roughly,
Speaker 1: it means keeping an organization or company well organized or controlled.
Speaker 1: And although BLI ran a well disciplined ship, he might
Speaker 1: have been a little too tight. Contrary to the belief
Speaker 1: at the time that pirates were lawless, they did have rules.
Speaker 1: Those who have seen the Pirates of the Caribbean films
Speaker 1: will recall the Pirate Code. The Code, as the movie
Speaker 1: refers to it, was a book containing laws for pirates
Speaker 1: by pirates that they must all adhere to well. Mostly,
Speaker 1: the consequence for breaking the code was death, unless it
Speaker 1: was interpreted as a guideline. In real life, lawlessness and
Speaker 1: chaos in a pirate's line of work would surely get
Speaker 1: them killed, either by their own crew, their targets, or
Speaker 1: by a sudden drop and stop at the end of
Speaker 1: a rope. While no single book existed, pirate captains and
Speaker 1: communities did have written rules that every new member read
Speaker 1: before joining. Now, aside from the rules governing members right
Speaker 1: to vote, the ratio of pay and equality, there were
Speaker 1: other laws to job. Duties were often spelled out, hierarchies
Speaker 1: were explained, and a form of a judicial system was
Speaker 1: put in place. Captains didn't create these rules solely from
Speaker 1: the goodness of their buccaneer hearts. Though pirating was a
Speaker 1: business and operations had to run smoothly, less the consequences
Speaker 1: be death no guidelines about it, and while pirate rules
Speaker 1: seem much more reasonable and afforded sailors better pay than
Speaker 1: those aboard navy and merchant ships, they were practical too.
Speaker 1: Given the working conditions for the government or working aboard
Speaker 1: a pirate ship, captains understood the value of creating loyalty
Speaker 1: among the crew. Naval captains like Bly often ruled with
Speaker 1: an iron fist. With such poor treatment and pay, merchant
Speaker 1: ships had to create horrific punishments to prevent theft among
Speaker 1: the already disillusion crew. Those impressed or forced into service
Speaker 1: aboard British naval ships weren't paid at all. It was
Speaker 1: a horrible, horrible life. All that neglect and abuse aboard
Speaker 1: legitimate ships only encouraged solidarity among those on pirate vessels.
Speaker 1: Their code adapted over the years, starting from laws that
Speaker 1: were cherry picked from those on land and altered to
Speaker 1: best fit life at sea. Rolls aboard pirate ships were
Speaker 1: clearly defined due to the danger of the job. Experience
Speaker 1: mattered over race or status when placing a crew member. However,
Speaker 1: the crew voted captains and other high ranking officers into position,
Speaker 1: and they could vote them out as well. Every crew member,
Speaker 1: regardless of nationality, had equal suffrage. While higher ranks meant
Speaker 1: a larger share of the plunder. The officers earned that
Speaker 1: extra by effectively leading the crew and managing the risks.
Speaker 1: The amounts and benefits varied from ship to ship. For some,
Speaker 1: the captain and officers received extra portions, while others thought
Speaker 1: equal portions kept egos in check and speaking of officers
Speaker 1: of all the kinds on board, the captain and crew
Speaker 1: trusted the quartermaster the most. The crew elected someone who
Speaker 1: would do the job best at balancing out the captain's power,
Speaker 1: ensuring that every member of the crew received fair treatment,
Speaker 1: and enforced the ship's rules. Every action the captain took
Speaker 1: had to pass through the quartermaster first. The role also
Speaker 1: entailed selecting new crew members, dividing the booty, and dispersing
Speaker 1: food and drink. The quartermaster's motto could easily have been
Speaker 1: equal pay for equal prey. Many who held the position,
Speaker 1: like Calico Jack Rackham, went on to become captains with
Speaker 1: the rules or codes in fighting was severely curtailed. Crew
Speaker 1: Members who didn't adhere to the rules or stole or
Speaker 1: hid bounty found themselves marooned or worse. Pirating was dangerous work,
Speaker 1: sometimes resulting in death or dismemberment. To encourage the crew
Speaker 1: to embark on raids, captains made provisions for those who
Speaker 1: became injured. Many offered disability pay or allowed the men
Speaker 1: to stay on board the ship for as long as
Speaker 1: they liked, and still gave them a part of the
Speaker 1: booty pirate. Jeremiah Huggins received gold pistols, gold dust, silver,
Speaker 1: and other treasure after he became injured. John Fenn, who
Speaker 1: lost an arm, became a captain, and, perhaps most famously,
Speaker 1: Blackbeard delayed taking a pardon, opting for one last raid
Speaker 1: on ships in Charleston Harbor. He didn't do it out
Speaker 1: of greed, though he risked everything to get his sick
Speaker 1: crew medicine. It's a unique perspective on the legendary pirate.
Speaker 1: In the end, it was his devotion to his crew
Speaker 1: that set in motion the events that led to his
Speaker 1: own death. Blackbeard wasn't alone. Although Edward teaches selfless act
Speaker 1: seems more widely known. We would be remiss if we
Speaker 1: left out the story of Sam Bellamy, otherwise known as
Speaker 1: Black Sam, and the loyalty he inspired in his crew. Tall,
Speaker 1: dark haired, and charismatic, Bellamy became one of the most
Speaker 1: well known pirates of his day. Although his looks won
Speaker 1: over the love of his life, and his charm and
Speaker 1: expertise made him popular with his crew, it was his
Speaker 1: own unjust treatment that turned the small town boy into
Speaker 1: a well loved pirate. Captain Sam Bellamy was born in
Speaker 1: England on March eighteenth of six eighty nine. One of
Speaker 1: five children. He became the only son to survive to adulthood,
Speaker 1: making him the sole heir to his father's estate. At
Speaker 1: the time, only the eldest son of a male landowner
Speaker 1: could inherit the family wealth. The family estate wasn't much,
Speaker 1: just a parcel of farmland in a town consisting of
Speaker 1: a few cottages. The Bellamy family struggled to survive planting
Speaker 1: crops of potatoes, but over time English lords drove off
Speaker 1: the peasants who had lived on the land for generations,
Speaker 1: taking the property for themselves. Bellamy soon found work on
Speaker 1: a naval ship in seventeen o two. The promise of
Speaker 1: a warm bed and free food sounded far better than
Speaker 1: poverty and starvation. What he found, though, at the tender
Speaker 1: age of thirteen, was hard labor and beatings. After four
Speaker 1: years and surviving the War of Spanish Secession, seventeen year
Speaker 1: old Bellamy made a break from the navy. He set
Speaker 1: out for the New World, hoping to make a better
Speaker 1: life for himself. He settled in Cape Cod finding two things,
Speaker 1: work as a sailor and Mary Hallett. On a spring
Speaker 1: night in seventeen fifteen, he met the sixteen year old
Speaker 1: at a local tap room and fell in love at
Speaker 1: first sight. He charmed her with his adventures at sea,
Speaker 1: and Mary, impressed with his looks and story, was equally infatuated.
Speaker 1: While his fellow sailors were more of a love him
Speaker 1: and leave him type, Bellamy doated on Mary mean more
Speaker 1: smitten with her. As their relationship continued. The two soon
Speaker 1: began talking about marriage and their life together. Her wealthy
Speaker 1: parents were less than thrilled with the prospect of a
Speaker 1: penniless sailor for a son in law, and quickly forbade
Speaker 1: Mary from seeing him again. Angry and humiliated, Bellamy left
Speaker 1: Cape Cod, promising Mary that he would return for her
Speaker 1: once he made his fortune. Soon after, he connected with
Speaker 1: a silver smith by the name of Paul's Grave Williams.
Speaker 1: He was the son of an influential Rhode Island family.
Speaker 1: The Williams ran an unregulated business and needed an experienced sailor.
Speaker 1: The pair planned on using a family owned ship to
Speaker 1: smuggle goods from the West Indies. Of course, that was
Speaker 1: before a better opportunity presented itself. On July thirteenth, seventeen fifteen,
Speaker 1: a Spanish treasure ship set sail from Havana, flanked by
Speaker 1: ten other vessels. Six days into the trip, the ships
Speaker 1: found themselves in the midst of a fatal hurricane. The
Speaker 1: next day, their treasures of gold, silver, jewels, and other
Speaker 1: valuables glitter in the relatively shallow water among the many
Speaker 1: corpses ships descended on the area like vultures. Williams and
Speaker 1: Bellamy arrived in January of seventeen sixteen, but they were
Speaker 1: too late. Pirate Henry Jennings had managed to run off
Speaker 1: with a hefty amount of the treasure, leaving the pair
Speaker 1: to scrounge for the leftovers along with hordes of other
Speaker 1: treasure seekers. What Bellamy wasn't aware of was that back home,
Speaker 1: Mary had given birth to their stillborn child alone in
Speaker 1: her parents barn. Neighbors heard her screams, and, upon discovering
Speaker 1: the deceased child, accused her of murder. Mary was publicly
Speaker 1: whipped for her loose morals, they said. Afterwards, she roamed
Speaker 1: the cliffs along the coastline, waiting for Bellamy's return. She
Speaker 1: would be waiting for some time, though, having yet to
Speaker 1: fulfill his promise, Bellamy was still at sea seeking his fortune.
Speaker 1: He and Williams headed to South America that March. They
Speaker 1: worked with a handful of pirates, but not from a
Speaker 1: mighty ship. They operated from a pair of small sailing canoes. Still,
Speaker 1: they successfully looted and stole a Dutch vessel. After recruiting
Speaker 1: a larger crew for the ship, they seized an English vessel,
Speaker 1: and when they returned to Cuba, that came across Jennings
Speaker 1: and a French ship right for the picking. Late that night,
Speaker 1: Jennings watched in total amazement the smaller pirate fleet beat
Speaker 1: them to the target. Bellamy's men all naked and howling
Speaker 1: like madmen and waving cutlasses and brandishing pistols, boarded and
Speaker 1: attacked the ship. The Jennings astonishment, the French captain surrendered
Speaker 1: without a single shot fired. Out Numbered, all Bellamy and
Speaker 1: Williams could do was wait while Jennings crew divided the booty.
Speaker 1: One of the men called out, pointing to an approaching
Speaker 1: ship flying a pirate flag. Jennings recognized the ten guns
Speaker 1: sloop as one belonging to Benjamin horne Goold. To say
Speaker 1: that Jennings and Hornegold where enemies would be an understatement.
Speaker 1: Bellamy couldn't help but wonder what this meant for his
Speaker 1: share of the bounty. Once Jennings and a small crew
Speaker 1: left to intercept Hornegald, Bellamy and his crew ransacked the
Speaker 1: French ship and rode off in canoes loaded with pieces
Speaker 1: of eight. By the time Jennings returned, Bellamy, Williams and
Speaker 1: the treasure were long gone. The pair didn't get far
Speaker 1: before running into Hornegal though. However, instead of relieving them
Speaker 1: of their treasure, Hornegald welcomed the brash young pirate who
Speaker 1: had fleeced his enemy. He even made Bellamy captain of
Speaker 1: the Marianne, a recently acquired ship. Later During a hunt
Speaker 1: off the western edge of Cuba, Hornegald, Bellamy, and another
Speaker 1: pirate ally named Olivier le Bouse spotted an English merchant ship.
Speaker 1: Being the eternal patriot, Hornegald refused to attack, although Bellamy
Speaker 1: and Leboos had no such reservations. The crew under Hornegal's
Speaker 1: command voted this time in favor of the raid. The
Speaker 1: attack was successful, and the trio moved on to an
Speaker 1: even more prosperous ship carrying cocoa. Hornegald left for Nassau
Speaker 1: and May of seventeen sixteen. Meanwhile, Williams Bellamy and Laboos
Speaker 1: set sail for Hispaniola. In the hopes of securing cannons.
Speaker 1: They rated English ships, which didn't go over well with Hornigold.
Speaker 1: Upon their return, tensions among the three men and their
Speaker 1: crew continued to rise. When horn and Goold refused to
Speaker 1: attack on another English ship, his crew voted to relieve
Speaker 1: him of his command and replaced him with Bellamy. A
Speaker 1: crew member sewed their new flag, the infamous skull and
Speaker 1: crossbones we know as the Jolly Roger. Bellamy allegedly told
Speaker 1: his men the flag represented resurrection, not death. They were
Speaker 1: free men who raided any ship regardless of nationality, but
Speaker 1: especially those who had treated them poorly. Laboose and Bellamy
Speaker 1: left Hornigold and decided they should move on. The crew agreed,
Speaker 1: and by November nine, the pirates captured an English passenger
Speaker 1: sloop traveling to Antigua. Bellamy and Laboose took the sloop
Speaker 1: to an island and used it to make repairs to
Speaker 1: their own ships. Bellamy made sure that none of the
Speaker 1: ship's crew or the exceptionally wealthy passengers were hurt, except
Speaker 1: for one man who tried to escape. Joseph King, a
Speaker 1: boy of about ten or eleven years old, asked to
Speaker 1: join the crew. Bellamy obliged, taking him on as his
Speaker 1: ship's boy. Then he released the sloop, taking only some
Speaker 1: fine clothing. Before he and the crew set sail, they
Speaker 1: came upon a ship that was a step up from
Speaker 1: the Mary Anne. He asked his crew to vote on
Speaker 1: taking over the Sultana, equipped with twenty six guns, and
Speaker 1: they all agreed. Again. Bellamy now commanded three ships. They're
Speaker 1: growing numbers emboldened them to take on even larger ships,
Speaker 1: like the Widow, an English merchant ship with four and
Speaker 1: a half tons of gold and silver on board. Bellamy's
Speaker 1: tactic of wild behavior worked yet again. Captain Lawrence Prince
Speaker 1: fired two rounds before surrendering. Once the pirates boarded, he
Speaker 1: found their behavior had been a ruse. Bellamy and his
Speaker 1: men treated him and his crew fairly. Bellamy, having realized
Speaker 1: that he had just become exceedingly wealthy from the raid,
Speaker 1: offered the cow another sultana twenty pounds in gold and
Speaker 1: silver as a gesture of goodwill. With the approval of
Speaker 1: his crew. One last time, he suggested that they make
Speaker 1: one more trip. For Bellamy, it was time to go home.
Speaker 1: Mary would be waiting, and soon enough he was almost home.
Speaker 1: One night, while off the coast of Cape Cod, Bellamy
Speaker 1: stood on the deck deciding what to do next. Lightning
Speaker 1: illuminated the cliffs they had sailed into. A northeaster rains
Speaker 1: pummeled the Widow, and the storm tossed the ship around
Speaker 1: in the high waves. The anchors were all that stood
Speaker 1: between them and the jagged rocks, but if they stayed,
Speaker 1: the waves would also tear the ship apart, so he
Speaker 1: asked his men to vote on cutting the anchors and
Speaker 1: to try to steer the ship to shore. He'd been
Speaker 1: fair and honest, always adhering to the rules that he
Speaker 1: had written and adjusted to match his own kinder values
Speaker 1: and morals. They lived by the code, and if they
Speaker 1: were wrong, they would die by the code. The men
Speaker 1: believed in their captain, and so they cut the anchor hopes.
Speaker 1: If Mary still walked the cliffs, her weight had finally ended.
Speaker 1: The next day. Only two survivors were found, Sam Bellamy
Speaker 1: was not among them. Scholars who study pirates are faced
Speaker 1: with a problem. Items aboard sunken vessels are difficult enough
Speaker 1: to identify, and even worse when they are documents written
Speaker 1: on paper. Perhaps this is why so much of what
Speaker 1: we know of pirate life almost reads like legend. When
Speaker 1: the news hit about Bellamy and the widow, treasure hunters
Speaker 1: descended upon Cape Cod just as Bellamy and Williams had
Speaker 1: done after the Spanish vessel met a similar fate years before.
Speaker 1: None of the fortune seekers were successful, though, until October
Speaker 1: of Barry Clifford ignored everything else in his life, his job,
Speaker 1: his marriage, and his family. Over the years, he poured
Speaker 1: over records, talked with treasure hunters, and recovered scraps of
Speaker 1: iron he believed had once belonged to the Widdaw In
Speaker 1: two he went as far as the U. S. District
Speaker 1: Court to secure all rights to any treasure he might find.
Speaker 1: With his request granted, he anchored his boat in the
Speaker 1: area that he believed the Widow had anchored That night
Speaker 1: in seventeen seventy one, after moving sand on the ocean floor,
Speaker 1: his team uncovered millions of dollars worth of treasure. They
Speaker 1: had a problem, though they couldn't prove the ship was
Speaker 1: the Widow. Without proof, he had no claim to the treasure,
Speaker 1: at least until his crew uncovered the ship's bell after
Speaker 1: archaeologists cleaned it. Clifford had his proof. The inscription on
Speaker 1: the bell read the Widdah Galley seventeen sixteen, with millions
Speaker 1: of dollars in treasure at stake. The state of Massachusetts
Speaker 1: sued for joint ownership for three years, the case remained
Speaker 1: in litigation. In night, Clifford won his case, saved by
Speaker 1: his earlier grant handed to him from the U. S.
Speaker 1: District Court. His team can in you to extract artifacts
Speaker 1: and treasure over the years, making a monumental discovery. In
Speaker 1: two thousand six, they uncovered bones and a shoe Forensic
Speaker 1: evidence suggests the skeleton belonged to a ten or eleven
Speaker 1: year old boy, most likely that of Joseph King. Last year,
Speaker 1: in one Clifford's team recovered the remains of six more men.
Speaker 1: They tested the DNA taken from a leg bone against
Speaker 1: the DNA of a Bellamy family descendant. Unfortunately, that particular
Speaker 1: femur was not a match to the famous pirate. The
Speaker 1: site is still active, though, and there may be more
Speaker 1: to find among the wreckage. Until then, just as Mary
Speaker 1: did all those years ago, all we can do is wait.
Speaker 1: Pirates and mutiny go hand in hand like an ocean
Speaker 1: born chocolate and peanut butter. Everywhere you look, stories of
Speaker 1: the High Seas and the criminals who sailed them never
Speaker 1: semed to be without a bit of well organizational restructuring,
Speaker 1: which is why it should be no surprise that we
Speaker 1: have one more tale to tell. And if you stick
Speaker 1: around through this brief sponsor break, my crewmates Alie Steed
Speaker 1: will tell you all about it. She had what might
Speaker 1: be the worst midlife crisis in history, and he wasn't
Speaker 1: even thirty. It was August and most of the pirate
Speaker 1: community and NASA still mourned the loss of Sam bellamy.
Speaker 1: When a strange boat arrived, morning turned to curiosity. Usually
Speaker 1: few civilians ventured to the island. After all, the captain,
Speaker 1: a plump, soft looking man, appeared on deck wearing a
Speaker 1: nice dressing gown. Steve Bonnet might have been unusual, but
Speaker 1: the pirates in Nasa hardly considered him threat. Bonnet was
Speaker 1: an aristocrat, born into wealth and had grown up in
Speaker 1: rather a charmed life. His family owned over four hundred
Speaker 1: acres of sugarcane fields, ninety four enslaved peoples, and three
Speaker 1: household servants. He had the very best education money could buy,
Speaker 1: while serving as a major in the local militia, a
Speaker 1: requirement rather than a preference. Bonnet courted Mary allenby, the
Speaker 1: daughter of another plantation owner. The two married in seventeen
Speaker 1: o nine and settled into a comfortable life together in
Speaker 1: a house just south of Bridgetown Harbor. It seemed he
Speaker 1: led the perfect fairytale life, but nothing good lasts forever.
Speaker 1: The couple's first child died, and although they had three more,
Speaker 1: the loss haunted Bonnet for the rest of his life.
Speaker 1: Around the same time, residents were worried about pirates. Stories
Speaker 1: of teach born a gold and Bellamy struck fear in
Speaker 1: everyone's hearts, except for Bonnet, who was delighted with the tales.
Speaker 1: He began to see pirate life as a means of
Speaker 1: escaping the loss of his child and the discomfort he
Speaker 1: felt in his marriage. He bought a warship, telling authorities
Speaker 1: he planned to hunt pirates. He christened the ship the Revenge,
Speaker 1: though he had nothing to get revenge against, and hired
Speaker 1: a crew. One night in late spring of seventeen seventeen,
Speaker 1: he bid farewell to his family and set sail for
Speaker 1: South Carolina. His wife and children would never see him again.
Speaker 1: Johnston's harbor made it a popular destination, like a sandbox
Speaker 1: for pirates in training lots of easy targets. On August,
Speaker 1: Bonnet rated his first ship there, though the bounty was
Speaker 1: barely worth the effort. Other raids followed with minimal successes.
Speaker 1: Feeling more confident, he sailed into Spanish territory. This proved
Speaker 1: to be a mistake, however, Experienced pirates new to steer
Speaker 1: clear of more powerful ships and could tell the difference
Speaker 1: between a merchant ship and a man of war. Bonnet
Speaker 1: did not. He took on a warship, and either was
Speaker 1: sheer luck or because the Revenge was smaller and faster.
Speaker 1: They managed to escape with their lives, but the fighting
Speaker 1: cost him half his crew, and he himself suffered a
Speaker 1: serious injury. The ship lumbered into Nassau, where at first
Speaker 1: pirates soon granted Bonnet refuge and Blackbeard spotted an opportunity.
Speaker 1: While Bonnet recovered from his injuries, Blackbeard prepared the sloop
Speaker 1: and added two additional cannons to make future battles a
Speaker 1: little more of a fair fight. Afterwards, Blackbeard put his
Speaker 1: most trusted crewmen in charge. Quartermaster William Howard took control
Speaker 1: of the Revenge, and Bonnet joined teach on Queen Anne's Revenge.
Speaker 1: In return for the swap, Bonnet would learn from Blackbeard,
Speaker 1: one of the most feared and experienced pirates operating in
Speaker 1: the Caribbean. They sailed together for a time, but it
Speaker 1: isn't clear why the two separated. In early sevent eighteen,
Speaker 1: now captaining the Revenge and with his original crew, Bonnet
Speaker 1: took to hunting ships near Honduras. They spotted a large
Speaker 1: ship four times the size of the Revenge, and despite
Speaker 1: the odds and his previous disasters, Bonnet decided to risk
Speaker 1: an attack, Bonnet shouted to the captain on the other
Speaker 1: ship that his crew would give no quarter the plumb
Speaker 1: captain and the smaller vessel did little to intimidate the
Speaker 1: larger ship's captain. The resulting battle lasted three hours before
Speaker 1: Bonnet ordered a retreat. Exhausted with Bonnet and his antics,
Speaker 1: the crew voted to return to Turnip in Central America
Speaker 1: to meet with Edward Teach. Their captain had clearly learned
Speaker 1: nothing while acting as his apprentice. When they arrived, black
Speaker 1: Beard listened to their grievances and ordered a vote. A
Speaker 1: distraught Bonnet could do nothing while his men chose to
Speaker 1: replace him with one of teachers men. They even chose
Speaker 1: to evict him from his own ship, though black Beard
Speaker 1: allowed him to live aboard the Queen Anne's revenge. He
Speaker 1: tried to cheer Bonnet, assuring him that he could spend
Speaker 1: his time aboard his ship, where he would be free
Speaker 1: of all duties. Though once they reached North Carolina, Blackbeard
Speaker 1: to Bonnet and twenty five of his men behind when
Speaker 1: he decided to take the pardon. Undeterred and hungry for
Speaker 1: revenge against Blackbeard, Bonnet set sail once more. His new
Speaker 1: stint as captain didn't last long, and he was captured
Speaker 1: on September seventeen eighteen and put on trial in South
Speaker 1: Carolina for piracy. Bonnet tried to leverage his status as
Speaker 1: a gentleman rather than a pirate and blamed everything on Blackbeard.
Speaker 1: He escaped briefly, but was recaptured after a storm forced
Speaker 1: him ashore at Sullivan Island. The trial came to a
Speaker 1: swift conclusion, and Steed Bonnet, the gentleman pirate, hung on
Speaker 1: December eighteen. Pirates was executive produced by Aaron Manky and
Speaker 1: narrated by Aaron Manky and Alexander Steid. Writing for this
Speaker 1: season was provided by Michelle Mudo, with research by Alexander
Speaker 1: Steed and Sam Alberty. Production assistance was provided by Josh Thayne,
Speaker 1: Jesse Funk, Alec Williams, and Matt Frederick. To learn more
Speaker 1: about this and other shows from Grimm and Mild and
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio, visit Grimm and Mild dot com MHM