WEBVTT - Pirates 3: Black Caesar 0:00:05.519 --> 0:00:09.000 The Roman Empire was crumbling off the coast of what 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:11.480 would one day become Great Britain. A band of fifth 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:14.960 century Irish pirates sent by King Nile sailed into a 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:18.560 secluded cove. Then they raided the village of ben of 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:22.680 Vem Tabernie. They made off with considerable treasures and even 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:26.640 human cargo, including a sixteen year old boy named Sukat. 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:30.360 According to the tale, Sucat had come from a prestigious family. 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:33.839 His father was a Christian deacon and served as a 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:37.959 government official for the Roman Empire. Once back in Ireland, 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:41.519 the pirates sold Sukat. The chieftain who bought him put 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:43.479 him to work as a shepherd on the slopes of 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:47.040 Mount Slemish and County Antrim in the north. Few people 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:49.879 lived in the area, and all Sukat had for company 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:54.440 was his flock and his God. Six years into his captivity, 0:00:54.520 --> 0:00:57.720 he claimed an angel visited him. There is a ship 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:00.920 that will soon leave Ireland. It told him, you will 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:05.440 return to your country. After his vision, Suka set down 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:08.840 his shepherd's hook and started the two mile trek, crossing 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:12.360 Pete bogs and forests to finally reach the port. It 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:14.919 was a rough journey and he nearly died before reaching 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:19.440 his destination, although the legend doesn't exactly say how. At 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:21.600 the port, he had to trust that the angel was 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:24.319 right and that somehow he'd be allowed to board the 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:27.880 ship and without money to pay his fare. At first, 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:31.680 the captain refused, but then changed his mind. Suka believed 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:35.120 that God had intervened and provided him with safe passage, 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:40.160 but his journey wasn't over just yet. The captain miscalculated 0:01:40.200 --> 0:01:43.320 their course, and when they landed, everyone on board found 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:47.240 themselves in the wilderness without supplies. Days into their travel 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:50.960 on foot, the group had grown hungry, so Suka prayed, 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:54.160 and suddenly a herd of wild pigs crossed their path. 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:57.680 It's not clear how they killed the pigs, but the 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:00.919 feast sustained the group until they reached their ended destination. 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:04.880 Succott happily returned home to his family, and all seemed 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:08.160 well until that is. The angel returned a short time 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:11.800 later and encouraged him to return to Ireland, where he 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:15.800 was to preach the word of God. Scat underwent extensive 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:19.120 religious training before becoming a deacon in four eighteen a 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:22.960 d By four thirty two, he had become a consecrated 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:26.560 bishop and was given a new Latinized name, so, while 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:29.839 awaiting his first assignment, he requested to be sent back 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:33.040 to Ireland to work with the people there, But upon 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:36.359 his arrival, the Irish were less than receptive to converting 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:40.040 to Christianity. He persisted, though, using his knowledge of the 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:43.960 Irish language and customs to eventually convert people by the thousands. 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:48.160 Then he led ordained priests through communities, encouraging women to 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:52.160 leave their disapproving families and become nuns. On the day 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:54.960 he died in the year four sixty one, the Irish 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:58.160 Catholics declared it a feast day, and if you guessed 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:01.919 that day was March seventeen, you'd be right, because of course, 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:06.680 Sucat's Latin name was Patrick st. Patrick to all of 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:09.600 us today, and his story shows us one of the 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:13.720 subjects most intertwined with piracy over the centuries. While it's 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:17.200 a dark topic and certainly one riddled with tragic tales, 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:21.079 not everything was as cut and dried as you might imagine, 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:27.639 because oftentimes wherever you found pirates, you could also find enslavement. 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:39.880 I'm Aaron Manky and welcome two pirates plantation owners in 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:43.000 the Caribbean relied on slavery to meet the demands for sugar. 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:47.560 In sixteen fifty, slaves, often from Africa, could be purchased 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:50.760 for seven pounds, the equivalent of just over two thousand 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:54.880 dollars today, and as the demand for cheap labor skyrocketed, 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:58.560 that price increased with it, making the trafficking of humans 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:03.160 for slavery even more profitable. Once taken from their family 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:06.120 and homeland, people sold into slavery were stripped bare and 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:09.520 presented to the ship's surgeon or captain for an examination. 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:13.520 Those deemed healthy were sent to the cargo hold. It's 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:16.960 hard to believe one human can treat another so abysmally, 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:20.640 and I can't imagine all the emotions the captured people felt. 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:23.560 What I can do is tell you the conditions in 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:26.640 which they were kept, because it's an important context for 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:29.760 the rest of our journey today. The more humans a 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:32.760 ship could pack into the hold, the higher the profits. 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:35.920 Often there was no standing room, and to prevent mutiny 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:39.200 or escape, they were secured in place with leg irons 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:43.000 or even chained together. Adding the many diseases that were 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:46.800 prevalent on long journeys, plus the general seasickness and a 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:50.640 complete lack of sanitation, and well, you get the picture. 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:54.640 The guards aboard the slave ships were all armed. After all, 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:58.680 chains and shackles didn't stop people from rebelling against captivity. 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:01.640 Men and women looked for anything they could use as 0:05:01.680 --> 0:05:05.320 a weapon, and the guards distrusted the children too, because 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:08.440 if not watched carefully, they were likely to bring weapons 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:12.760 to the adults. Abuse, as you might imagine, was widespread, 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:16.920 both mental and physical. Women were at additional risk of assault, 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:19.720 and thanks to the frequent stops each of these ships 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:23.800 made these painful, horrific journeys tended to last for months. 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:28.880 Needless to say, suicide was common. Crewmen tossed the bodies overboard, 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:32.800 which attracted sharks. In fact, some historians today are fairly 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:36.720 certain that some species of sharks change their migration patterns 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:40.160 just to follow the slave ships, all because this happened 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:43.880 with such frequency. And of course, as we've already learned, 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:48.279 slave vessels were also targeted by pirates. Remember, these ships 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:53.200 carried more than human cargo, and pirates were the quintessential opportunists. 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:56.560 Although the crew aboard slave ships carried weapons, they sailed 0:05:56.560 --> 0:06:02.280 with smaller numbers, and smaller numbers could easily overtaken. Pirates 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:04.679 also knew that the crew on board slave ships weren't 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:07.360 treated much better than the humans and chains below deck. 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:11.240 It's estimated that about of the crew on each ship 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:15.480 died from malnourishment and disease, while others died from injuries 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:20.000 sustained from disciplinary actions. So when the pirates boarded, the 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:23.560 crew didn't often fight back. Many even chose to join 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:27.960 the pirates, where conditions and pay were better now. Sometimes, 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:30.960 when taking over a slave vessel, the pirates would hold 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:34.600 the human cargo for ransom. Each stolen life was valuable 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:37.480 to the owner of the ship after all. Other times, though, 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:41.120 they simply freed the slaves or offered them a place 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:45.360 among their crew. It's probably stating the obvious, but life 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:48.120 as a pirate was far better than life as a slave, 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:51.000 and it didn't take long for pirate captains to discover 0:06:51.080 --> 0:06:55.200 that these newly freed men were also formidable warriors. Despite 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:59.880 their criminal reputations, many pirates were also antislavery, going so 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:03.599 far as to attack slave trade forts and strongholds on land. 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:06.960 In fact, it's reputed that a pirate's ship captain, a 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:11.040 guy named Peter Scudamore once even incited a slave rebellion, 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:14.240 But what about those who chose not to join, while 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:16.840 they were allowed to leave when the stolen ship arrived 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:20.080 at the next port. The British Royal Navy even hired 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:24.440 black sailors, although usually for less money than their white shipmates, 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:27.040 and private merchant ships were also known to take on 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:29.960 black sailors, but those who chose to stay found a 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:32.760 better sense of equality among the pirates than the navy 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:36.800 or private sector. Pirate crews were often diverse. It's where 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:39.800 we get the term motley crew, most notably from Captain 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:44.240 Morgan's crew, which consisted of black, white mixed descent, French 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:48.640 ex military, and a host of other nationalities, all seeking 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:53.960 shelter from prosecution. Black pirates voted on important issues right 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:57.800 alongside their non black shipmates. Plus the treasure was always 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:02.119 divided equally. All told, most pirate captains cared more about 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:06.800 fierce loyalty than skin color. Of course, pirates targeted slave 0:08:06.840 --> 0:08:11.200 ships for another reason, the ship itself. Those vessels were large, 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:15.480 providing ample space for crew and provisions. Captains outfitted them 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:18.040 to meet their needs, making them a great choice for 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:21.119 a flagship. In fact, one of the most legendary pirate 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:24.120 ships in all of history started out life as a 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:27.640 slave ship. After refitting it with cannons and equipping it 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:31.320 for everything else, the practice of piracy demanded, it became 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:35.079 an object of fear across the seas, and the ship 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:46.400 Blackbeard's own the Queen Ann's revenge. During the Golden Age 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:50.040 of piracy, approximately one third of all pirate ship crews 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:53.200 had once been enslaved, and I can only imagine what 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:56.680 might have happened to slavers onboard those ships when confronted 0:08:56.679 --> 0:08:59.960 by men they once tried to sell into slavery. Overall, 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:04.040 the effect of piracy on slavery was profound. Transporting slaves 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:08.120 had already been an expensive and risky endeavor between rampant 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:11.560 disease and mutiny, but pirates made the risks even worse. 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:15.000 When the age of piracy ended, the slave trade once 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:19.320 again flourished, becoming more lucrative than ever. Of course, pirates 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:22.400 only slowed down the slave trade. Plantation owners in the 0:09:22.400 --> 0:09:26.120 Caribbean never stopped clamoring for cheap forced labor thanks to 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:29.880 an explosive demand for sugar, and the slavers the people 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:33.280 who hunted and captured humans to sell into slavery saw 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:36.920 this and raised their prices. But it wasn't easy for 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:40.640 them either. Capturing people had started to become more difficult, 0:09:40.840 --> 0:09:44.080 and many African villages were becoming a depth at avoiding 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:47.800 the slavers altogether. So to keep up with demand, those 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:51.120 in the slave trade had to get creative. One such 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:54.240 example of trickery revolves around the legend of history's most 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:58.880 famous black pirate, a man named Black Caesar. Reportedly, before 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:02.040 he turned to piracy, he had been a prominent African chief, 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:05.840 some say of considerable intellect and physical strength. He and 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:08.360 the rest of his tribe had managed to evade capture 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:12.760 numerous times. That is, until he faced the ultimate betrayal. 0:10:13.720 --> 0:10:15.800 It said that a trusted friend told him of a 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:19.439 trade ship containing valuables. Caesar and twenty of his men 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:22.280 agreed to meet the trader and examine the treasure. The 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:25.520 trader first showed him a pocket watch and then used 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:27.480 it to lure all of them on board with the 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:30.400 promise of more treasures, things that were either far too 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:34.160 heavy to carry or too numerous to bring ashore. Caesar 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:37.240 had trusted this man, and therefore he let his guard down, 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:41.200 which was easy considering the warm welcome they received Hackett 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:45.160 almost sounds romantic. While they looked over the treasure, musicians 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:48.160 played in the background. The traders even served wine and 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.520 food while Caesar and his men considered an array of 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:55.839 silks and jewels. Sources vary on what exactly happened next. 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:59.040 Some say that while the traders distracted Caesar, the captain 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:03.120 raised anchor and just sailed off. Once Caesar realized what happened, 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:05.320 he and his men put up a fight, but were 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:09.120 outnumbered by the ship's well armed crew and were eventually subdued. 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:13.000 He might also have been forced into restraints under gunpoint. 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:16.400 Another account, though, claims that he was tricked into going 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:20.600 below deck and was ambushed there. However, it happened. With 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:24.679 their prize secured, the captain set sail over the journey. 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:27.400 One of the sailors tasked with feeding Caesar began to 0:11:27.440 --> 0:11:30.720 make friends with him. Before long, Caesar refused to take 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:34.720 food or water from anyone else, and Caesar learned his 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:39.080 captor's language quickly. Though records don't indicate which language it was, 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:41.880 it's believed that it may have been Spanish, since the 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:45.680 ship was headed towards Florida. As they neared the Florida Keys, 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:49.680 the ship encountered a hurricane. The storm quickly worsened, and 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:53.079 the crew on board realized their inevitable fate. They were 0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:57.040 headed for the Florida Reef, facing the thrashing hurricane winds 0:11:57.160 --> 0:12:00.679 and the brutal coral beneath them. The ship didn't stand 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:04.839 a chance. While his crewmates scrambled for their lives, the 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:09.040 kind hearted sailor freed Caesar. They both emerged from below deck, 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:12.120 determined not to go down with the ship. Instead, they 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:14.920 armed themselves and forced the captain and the rest of 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:17.800 the crew to stay clear while they loaded a longboat 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:22.120 with supplies. Amidst the rough waves and howling winds, the 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:24.880 two men managed to row away from the ship before 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:28.520 it crashed upon the reef. According to the legend, Caesar 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:33.160 and the sailor were the only survivors. Eventually they made 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:37.199 it to safety on a small nearby island, possibly Elliott Key. 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:40.560 Effectively stranded, all they could do was wait for another 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:44.079 ship to come along and rescue them. But while they waited, 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:49.200 the two men conspired and their rescue plan suddenly began 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:58.240 to change. When we think of pirates, the image of 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:02.360 large ships, deadly can and sword wielding crews often comes 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:05.560 to mind, but that wasn't always the case, and some 0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:10.440 pirates actually became successful with much smaller numbers. Caesar and 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:13.720 his friend had perfected their craft when they saw another 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:16.720 ship on the horizon. They rode out in their longboat 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:20.000 and attracted the ship's attention by pretending to need rescued. 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:23.439 Once on board, they told a half truth that their 0:13:23.440 --> 0:13:26.080 ship had been wrecked and they were the only survivors. 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:30.320 But Caesar and his friend were hardly looking to be rescued. Instead, 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:33.120 using his strength and the weapons they had snuck on board, 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:36.160 the two men held up the crew. They then looted 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:40.360 the ship, taking supplies and ammunition. They even recruited men 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:43.160 willing to join them, and they did it more than 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:46.400 once too. In fact, it remained a successful scheme for 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:49.800 several years, and that small island of Theirs quickly became 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:55.000 their unofficial headquarters. Life was good, well right until Caesar 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:58.640 and his friend had a falling out. As the story goes, 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:01.280 they had raided a ship and captured a woman who 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:04.319 had been on board. Both men wanted to claim her 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:07.320 for their own, and like any good Hollywood film, the 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:11.480 tensions rose to end the argument, Caesar shot and killed 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:15.560 his friend. Afterward, he spent his time growing his crew 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:18.240 and eventually took a ship to find more vessels to raid. 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:21.480 But through it all, his main territory remained near the 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:24.440 floor to keys, and it turns out getting men to 0:14:24.560 --> 0:14:27.920 join him proved to be rather easy. Escaped enslaved men 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:32.000 flocked to him looking for employment. Black Caesar and his 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:34.800 crew stayed close to the keys. They knew the area 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:37.960 well and avoided capture by using the many inlets and 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:41.800 spaces between the islands. Then, over time, Caesar captured more 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:44.520 women from the ships he raided. It's estimated that he 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:48.120 had a harem of approximately one ladies and treated them 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:51.240 no better than any other prisoner he took hostage. In fact, 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:53.520 he had a prison camp set up on the island 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:56.000 where he kept all of the men, women, and children 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:58.960 that he hoped could earn him some ransom money. In 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:02.080 the early seventeen Dreds, Caesar killed the woman that he 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:04.280 had fought over with his friend and then left the 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:07.600 island behind. He eventually ended up in Nassau, where his 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:10.880 reputation was already well known, and it was there that 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:15.280 he met another famous pirate Edward Teach. Teach had a 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:18.680 fleet of five ships, and after meeting Caesar, he offered 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:21.359 him a place among his crew, either as a lieutenant 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:23.960 or possibly even as a captain of one of the ships. 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:27.960 Caesar was on board when Teach blockaded Charleston, and he 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:30.880 was also there when he accompanied him, along with Quartermaster 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:34.880 William Howard, to North Carolina, where they accepted the governor's pardon, 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:38.200 And in all likelihood, Caesar was at the various parties 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:41.880 on Ocracoke Island where Teach entertained fellow pirate Charles Vane, 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:45.440 and according to the stories, Caesar was there when Virginia's 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:49.600 Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood illegally sent the Royal Navy to 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:53.200 track down and kill Blackbeard. I mentioned all of that 0:15:53.280 --> 0:15:56.400 because capture poses a different sort of risk for black 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:59.960 pirates compared to their white counterparts. You see, while white 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:03.920 men were hanged, black men were often sold back into slavery. 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:07.440 Either way, Caesar and the others had no intention of 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:10.320 being captured. It seems that he had been ordered to 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:13.360 blow up the ship's magazine if the British managed to 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:16.360 board them, but Caesar never got the chance He was 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:19.560 captured before lighting the gunpowder and dragged off the ship 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:23.440 along with several other crewmen. Later, after Blackbeard was dead, 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:28.000 the Royal Navy arrested all the survivors, including Caesar. From there, 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:31.280 they were taken to Virginia and tried for piracy. Black 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:35.880 Caesar was hanged alongside his crewmates in November of seventeen eighteen. 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:39.880 The golden age of piracy had begun to fade away, 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:42.600 and without the pirates to raid the slave ships, that 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:46.440 industry faced little resistance. It seems that all those ships 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:49.760 filled with criminals, drunkards, and fools had been one of 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:52.320 the few things capable of holding back the tide of 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:57.840 human trafficking, and with them gone, those horrific waters rushed 0:16:57.880 --> 0:17:06.320 back in. For the people that chose to live life 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:10.639 at sea, rhythm was everything. A significant amount of the work, 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:14.520 things like rowing, hauling cargo, and hoisting the sails, all 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:17.320 had to be done in unison so to keep things 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:21.560 running smoothly. Pirates and sailors alike found that singing not 0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:24.720 only past the hours, but it also kept them in sync. 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:28.560 For as long as ships have sailed, sea shanties have 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:31.760 been part of sailors lives traceable back to sometime around 0:17:31.760 --> 0:17:34.879 the mid fourteen hundreds, although that's not what they've always 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:37.960 been called. The word shanty only goes back to eighteen 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:41.520 sixty nine, essentially arriving as a variation on the spelling 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:44.560 of the word chant. But shanties could be broken into 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:48.400 two categories. The first, known as capstin shanties, were used 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:51.880 for jobs like raising the anchor. The old ballad Farewell 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:55.720 and Adoe to you Ladies of Spain is just one example. 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:59.720 The other kind, known as pulling or long drag shanties, 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:03.480 were sung while performing irregular work, things like raising the 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:06.399 yard arm or hoisting the sails. They were tasks that 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:09.199 required sailors to stay in rhythm and pull at the 0:18:09.240 --> 0:18:13.000 same time. It was clever, really. The call and response 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:15.520 of the songs signaled when the men should pull the 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:19.520 ropes or releasing grip the next section. Usually one person 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:22.840 called the shanty man, saying the verse, while the others 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:25.760 responded with the chorus. Now, I bring up all of 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:28.720 this for an important reason. It seems that black sailors 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:32.360 were often chosen to serve as shanty men. Although shanty 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:35.080 is of French origin, the current belief is that these 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:39.879 songs combined Anglo Irish lyrics with strong African influence. It 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:42.840 seems the shanties might have been a collaborative effort between 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:47.000 all races and nationalities on board many ships. Historians point 0:18:47.040 --> 0:18:51.200 to similarities between the songs and a variety of different cultures, honestly, 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:53.560 making it hard to say for sure who came up 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:57.000 with them. Oddly, though, while popular on pirate, merchant and 0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:00.919 slave ships, the Royal Navy forbid their men from singing shanties. 0:19:01.200 --> 0:19:03.159 The theory was that if the men were singing, they 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:08.160 weren't listening for a senior officers commands and therefore disrupting operation. 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:12.120 And although we call them sea shanties today, those sailors 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:14.960 did not. They were simply work songs. And while we 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:18.520 associate the songs with pirates, even whalers sang work songs, 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:21.760 while rowing and professional fishermen did the same while out 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:27.000 at sea wherever and however they originated, shanties fell out 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:30.680 of favor once steamships became more popular. There simply wasn't 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:33.800 enough manual labor that needed the call and response rhythm 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:37.399 of sailing ships, which, if I'm honest, is just a 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:40.760 shame because so much of life is better with a 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:44.640 bit of song. The time of pirates and shanties maybe 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:48.359 long gone, but they're hardly forgotten. After all, one scroll 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:51.560 through TikTok or Instagram can make anyone feel like they're 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:54.920 on board a ship flying the Black flag. Even without 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:58.680 the vessels they were created for, the sea, shanties have remained, 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:01.359 and maybe it's proof that there's still a bit of 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:13.280 pirate spirit inside all of us. MM. The overlap between 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:16.400 the Transatlantic slave trade and the golden age of piracy 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:20.280 was an intersection filled with drama, tragedy, and even a 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:22.800 bit of adventure. And I don't know about you, but 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:25.040 it's a corner of the pirate world that's helped me 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:28.000 see beyond the characters to notice the humans in the 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:30.880 middle of it all. And with that in mind, we've 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:34.680 pulled together one more tale of human trafficking and legendary pirates, 0:20:34.960 --> 0:20:37.880 and my teammates Alie Steed wants to share it with you. 0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:41.200 Stick around through this brief sponsor break to hear all 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:50.280 about it. Decades before the Civil War, the Founding Fathers 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:53.560 wrestled with banning slavery. I think we can all agree 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:56.359 they didn't wrestle with that question hard enough, but it 0:20:56.400 --> 0:20:59.119 was on their minds, and one of the first steps 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:02.800 happened on January first of eighteen o eight. That was 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:05.720 the day the Act to Prohibit the Importation of Slaves 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:08.719 took effect, shutting down the centuries long flood of ships 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:12.399 filled with human cargo. Of course, it didn't end slavery. 0:21:12.680 --> 0:21:16.679 It simply prevented America from participating in the Transatlantic slave trade, 0:21:17.080 --> 0:21:21.679 meaning no new enslaved people could be brought in on ships, which, 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:24.960 if you read between the lines, means that there were 0:21:25.000 --> 0:21:30.960 still problems. First, domestic slave trading continued inside the country, 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:34.480 and any child born to an enslaved woman also inherited 0:21:34.520 --> 0:21:38.760 their mother's lack of human rights. And second, the Transatlantic 0:21:38.800 --> 0:21:43.199 slave trade didn't stop altogether. There were still ships filled 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:45.879 with stolen humans out on the water, and there were 0:21:45.920 --> 0:21:50.359 still buyers on land, So importing enslaved peoples became the 0:21:50.359 --> 0:21:55.040 realm of smugglers. Jean and Pierre Lafitte were two such men. 0:21:55.680 --> 0:21:59.080 They had become successful shortly after Congress passed the Embargo 0:21:59.160 --> 0:22:02.119 Act of eighteen seven. While the law was meant to 0:22:02.160 --> 0:22:05.320 curtail British ships from impressing American men into serving in 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:08.439 their military. It also had a profound effect on goods 0:22:08.440 --> 0:22:12.760 and services available from European countries. Smugglers were more than 0:22:12.800 --> 0:22:15.359 happy to step in not only to fill the gap, 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:18.399 but also fill their own pockets, and that included the 0:22:18.480 --> 0:22:21.440 Lafitte Brothers, who operated from the Grand Terra Islands and 0:22:21.480 --> 0:22:25.600 Louisiana's barri Teria Bay. At first, they were just involved 0:22:25.640 --> 0:22:29.840 with goods and supplies. The community of New Orleans profited 0:22:29.880 --> 0:22:32.080 from much of the cargo brought in by the brothers, 0:22:32.280 --> 0:22:35.679 sparking huge new growth in the area and seeing as 0:22:35.720 --> 0:22:38.840 how the new inflow of goods helped local businesses earn 0:22:38.880 --> 0:22:43.359 more money, the residents loved the brothers. They were looked 0:22:43.400 --> 0:22:46.159 upon as gentlemen by a lot of people, despite the 0:22:46.200 --> 0:22:49.919 fact that their work more closely resembled the unsavory world 0:22:49.960 --> 0:22:54.119 of piracy. They literally robbed ships then sold the goods 0:22:54.119 --> 0:22:57.840 in New Orleans. Sure Joan grew angry whenever anyone called 0:22:57.920 --> 0:23:01.240 him a pirate, But as they said, a fit walks 0:23:01.280 --> 0:23:03.600 like a duck and quacks like a duck. While you 0:23:03.640 --> 0:23:08.119 get the idea. In eighteen sixteen, Mexican rebel Jose Manuel 0:23:08.200 --> 0:23:12.640 de Herrera established a privateer government in Galveston, Texas. Herrera 0:23:12.800 --> 0:23:16.480 appointed Louis Michelle or Is the governor, and an interesting 0:23:16.520 --> 0:23:18.880 thing to know about or is that he had once 0:23:18.920 --> 0:23:22.200 been a French naval captain. In other words, he knew 0:23:22.200 --> 0:23:25.280 what he was doing better than most. In fact, the 0:23:25.359 --> 0:23:29.480 area pretty much became like the Pirate Republican nasaw. Smuggled 0:23:29.480 --> 0:23:31.840 and stolen goods came and went through the port, and 0:23:31.840 --> 0:23:35.679 that included enslaved people's. At the time, Cuba acted as 0:23:35.720 --> 0:23:38.960 a depot for the illegal slave trade, which meant pirates 0:23:39.040 --> 0:23:43.480 frequently targeted Cuban ships or sold hundreds of slaves to 0:23:43.600 --> 0:23:47.320 landowners in Mississippi, and then left Galveston in April of 0:23:47.440 --> 0:23:51.200 eighteen seventeen to seek out even more. He was fairly 0:23:51.240 --> 0:23:55.080 successful that summer and began his return before reaching port. However, 0:23:55.560 --> 0:23:58.320 slaves on board came down with a fever. Fearing it 0:23:58.400 --> 0:24:00.919 might spread to himself and the crew, he sent the 0:24:00.920 --> 0:24:05.720 ship adrift. When he reached Galveston, he found another surprise. 0:24:06.080 --> 0:24:09.479 The Lafitte brothers had moved from Louisiana and established their 0:24:09.480 --> 0:24:13.200 own slave trade business nearby. In a relatively short time, 0:24:13.480 --> 0:24:16.320 John and Pierre had set up a sizeable racket using 0:24:16.320 --> 0:24:21.240 middlemen to sell slaves. Now the most creative middlemen were 0:24:21.240 --> 0:24:25.240 the Bowie brothers. The Lafitte sold the slaves to the brothers, John, 0:24:25.320 --> 0:24:28.320 Resin and James for about a hundred and forty dollars each. 0:24:28.920 --> 0:24:32.520 Then the Bowie brothers did something weird. They turned those 0:24:32.520 --> 0:24:37.159