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The Real Pirates of the Caribbean

Khalid Elhassan January 7, 2020 32 min

22. The Pirate Who Got Away

Artistic impression of Henry Avery. Villains Wiki

Real-life piracy was often a short career that ended in death at a young age from disease or violence. Relatively few major pirates got to retire with their loot, but still – some did. One such was Henry “Long Ben” Avery (circa 1655 – disappeared 1699).

Avery not only pulled off one of history’s most lucrative piratical heists, but also avoided getting killed in battle or an arrest and execution, and reportedly lived to retire with his plunder. His life inspired a popular play, The Successful Pyrate, about a pirate who retires after one year of piracy, and lives the rest of his life under an assumed name as a rich man.

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.