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The Real Pirates of the Caribbean

Khalid Elhassan January 7, 2020 32 min

16. Black Bart Runs Up the Score

Black Bart’s flag, showing him and death holding an hourglass. Pintrest

At the height of his career, Black Bart commanded a fleet of four pirate ships and over 500 pirates. Much of his success is owed to his organizational and leadership abilities, combined with charisma and daring that inspired and encouraged his crews. During his four-year career as a pirate, he captured and looted over 470 ships.

Black Bart trying deserters. Metropolitan Museum of Art

He was cruel and sadistic, and relied on terror and a frightening reputation to win compliance. In 1722, he captured a slave ship at anchor while her captain was ashore, and sent him a message demanding ransom for the return of his ship. When the captain refused, Roberts burned the ship, with 80 slaves shackled aboard. A bloodthirsty man, his end was appropriately bloody: in 1722, Black Bart decided to fight it out with a Royal Navy vessel, only to get his throat torn out by grapeshot in the first broadside. His men honored his standing order that he be buried at sea, and immediately weighed him down and threw him overboard before surrendering.

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.