31. The Gentleman Pirate
Stede Bonnet was nicknamed “The Gentleman Pirate”, and swiftly gained fame – or infamy. Not because of his success as a pirate, but because of the astonishing incompetence he displayed after taking up a career he had no business pursuing. As it turned out, he probably should have left piracy to roughnecks better suited to its travails and vicissitudes.
As might be expected from a rich dilettante who became a pirate on a whim, Bonnet was not very good at it. He was soon exposed as an incompetent sailor and poor leader, and managed to capture only a few small and trifling prizes off the coasts of the Carolinas and Virginia. The only reason Bonnet’s crew did not depose him and elect another in his stead to command the Revenge was that he paid them regular and generous wages – the only pirate captain to do so.
