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Rich People From History Who Committed Shady and Evil Deeds

Khalid Elhassan April 12, 2022 36 min

rich people from history who committed shady and evil deeds

18. Playing at Pirate Ended Badly for This Rich Man

Stede Bonnet came across Blackbeard in Florida, who befriended the rich planter and convinced him to give up command of the Revenge because of his utter incompetence at piracy. Bonnet transferred to Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge, where he remained as a guest. His own ship, Revenge, was taken over by one of Blackbeard’s lieutenants, whom the crew accepted as their new captain. Soon thereafter, Bonnet accepted a royal pardon and a royal commission to go privateering against Spanish shipping. However, he decided to return to piracy in July, 1718.

Rich - Execution of Stede Bonnet — Execution of Stede Bonnet. Way of the Pirates

Hapless as ever, Bonnet thought that he could mask his identity if he adopted the alias “Captain Thomas” and changed the name of his ship to Royal James would suffice to mask his identity. It did not work. After just a month, a British naval expedition came across Bonnet at anchor in the Cape Fear River estuary, and after a fight, captured him and his crew. Bonnet managed to escape, but was recaptured soon thereafter, and taken to Charleston. There, he was tried and convicted on two counts of piracy, sentenced to death, and was hanged on December 10^th, 1718.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.