Pirate Biographies

• Nothing is known about Lowther's birthdate or deathdate.
• His ships were "The Delivery", "Happy Delivery", and "Revenge".
• In 1721 he signed on as the first mate to Charles Russell on the ship "Gambia Caste", a slave ship.
• There were few good times aboard the "Gambia Caste".  Many men suffered from diseases.  Hot weather and few ports of call also played big rolls in making the crew bored and unhappy.
• Lowther was more popular than the Captain Charles Russel of the "Gambia Caste", and once the captain even tried to beat Lowther because of his popularity.  The crew came to Lowther's defense and dared the captain to touch him.
• Because of that Lowther and another crewman named Massey  took Russell's ships and left him at headquarters.
• Later he and Massey parted ways.
• Lowther and his pirates killed the crew of the merchant ship "Greyhound" and then burned the ship.
• Lowther eventually committed suicide.  His body was found with an empty gun in his hand and a bullet in his skull.

• Mings was born in Norfolk, Virginia.
• Died in 1666 when wounded in battle
• His ships were the "Marston Moor" and the "Centurion".
• He helped raid Santa Marta, Venezuela in May of 1656.
• He plundered the Central American coastline, Cumana,  Puerto Caballos, and Coroin, Venezuela.
• The haul of treasure from this pirating expedition was estimated to be between one and two million United States dollars.
• He refused to give a share of the loot to the government of  his port city and was arrested and sent back to England to be tried for his life as a pirate.
• The charges were dropped and he returned to Jamaica onboard his ship the "Centurion" in 1662.
• In 1665 he returned to England and became vice-admiral of a squadron of English military ships.
• In 1665 he was given the title of  knight from the King of England.

• Born in 1635 in Llanrhymney, Glamorgan, Wales
• Died on August 25, 1688
• For some time while England and Spain were at war Morgan operated as a privateer.  Later he became a pirate.
• It is thought that he was a part of  an expedition that took Jamaica from the Spanish and made it an English colony.
• He was the commander of a crew of buccaneer that captured Puerto Principe and Portabela, Cuba.
• He also raided the coastline of Venezuela around the Lake Maracaibo.
• Morgan was unaware that England and Spain signed a peace treaty which ended the privateering of the ships from both countries.  
• In August of 1670 he captured the city of Panama using thirty-six ships and two thousand crewmen.
• When most of the crew was on leave from the ship,  Morgan ran off with all of the plunder from Panama.
• Eventhough Morgan did not know that a peace treaty was signed he was arrested,  charged with breaking the treaty,  but the charges were eventually dropped.
• When the treaty between England and Spain was set aside Morgan was knighted by King George II  of England.
• Later he was made the governor of Jamaica.
• He died of natural causes in in Lawrencefield,  Jamaica.

• North sailed on the ships "Great Mohammed", "Pelican", "Dolphin", and "Charles".
• He was a privateer at the beginning of his career.
• As a privateer he spent his time raiding the French along the West African coastline..
• Once he was in danger of  being captured by the British and left his ship and crew and escaped on a small boat.  This boat was sunk in a storm and North had to swim twelve miles in order to reach land.

• Nicknamed Calico Jack because he always wore a shirt and pants made out of colorful calico material.
• He was an apprentice pirate aboard John Avery's ship.
• Soon he demanded and received his own pirate ship and became the captain.
• Would not pick a fight unless the odds of winning were heavily in his favor.
• Failed to show the leadership needed to be a good pirate captain.
• Met a girl named Anne Bonny whose father was a wealthy lawyer in Charleston.                                                 
• She ran away with Rackham and lost her inheritance because of it..
• Rackham was considered to be a coward by his crew and was often teased for it.  One day he became mad and challenged the biggest meanest pirate crewman to a sword duel.  This concerned his fiancé' Anne Bonny because she knew that Rackham was not able to shoot.  She challenged the same pirate to a duel a few hours before the duel with Rackham.  She chose to fight with a cutlass and killed the pirate before he could kill Rackham.
• Rackham was hanged for his crimes as a pirate along with most of his crew.  The only two pirates to survive were the females,  Anne Bonny and Mary Read.

• Born in London
• Died December 18, 1720
• He father disguised her as a boy from an early age.
• She was signed onto a Man-o-War ship at age thirteen.
• Met first husband while fighting in a horse regiment.
• After his death she sailed to the West Indies.
• Pirate John Rackham captured the ship that she was working on and she joined his crew.
• Rackham's ship was captured and the entire crew was hanged except for Anne Bonny and Read. 
• Mary was imprisoned with Anne Bonny where she died from a fever.
• The only reason that Read and Bonny were not hanged with the rest of the ship's crew was that they were pregnant.

• Many historians call him the last of the great pirates.
• He was also called "Pirate of Principle"
• His ship was named the Boston Rover
• Roberts was born in Wales
• Before he became a pirate he was the captain of a merchant ship that was captured by the pirate Howel Davis.
• When Howel Davis died Roberts was elected captain of his pirate ship.  That's how Roberts became a pirate himself.
• The pirate crew elected him to be their captain because he proved to them that he was brave and had good sense.
• Roberts was pretty sneaky.  He often fooled the ship's crew  that he wanted to attack and didn't have to fight to capture the ship all of the time.  An example of this was when he made his pirate crew hide below deck and calmly sailed up to the side of a Portugese ship that was in Bahia.  The ship was part of a treasure fleet.  Roberts invited the captain of this ship onboard and he came over to meet him.  Roberts told him that he was captured and told him he wanted to know which of the ships in the fleet carried the most treasure.  The captain pointed out the ship named the Sagrada Familia to Roberts because he wanted to live.  Roberts avoided the Portugese cannon attack from all of the ships in the fleet, captured the Sagrada Familia, and sailed her out to sea without being harmed.
• Roberts had so many successful captures that he felt like he could never be captured.  This was a bad mistake.
• British captain Chaloner Ogle trapped Roberts and with a broadside attack using cannons at his ship killed Barthelemew Roberts in 1722.
• When he died he was dressed in his best clothes.  
• He liked to look his best by wearing rich clothing, diamond jewelry, and a feather in his hat.

Black Bart

Early Jolly Roger

Later Jolly Roger

• Unknown birthdate

• Unknown time of death

• Skryme was known as a man of science.

• Began as a ship's doctor onboard one of Sam Bellamy's pirate ship.

• Because medical supplies were hard to get a lot of the pirates with injured arms or legs lost them when they became infected.  Skryme had to cut them off to save the pirate's life.

• Skryme became a pirate during a rebellion in England against King George I.  

• To escape being punished for taking part in this rebellion, he decided to become a pirate.

"Blackbeard"

Queen Anne's Revenge

Artifact photos here

• One of the meanest pirates to sail the seas.

• It is thought that he was either born in Port Royal, Jamaica, or in Bristol, England.

• He became a pirate after he ran away from home and joined the crew on a privateering ship.

• Nicknamed "Blackbeard" because he always wore a long thick black beard on his chin.

• He was very tall and large.

• Teach dressed like a rich man.

• He sailed his pirate ships mostly in the Spanish Main.

• A tower in the capital city of the Virgin Islands,  Charlotte Amalie, still is there.  It is believed that Blackbeard used it as a lookout tower.

• He had many wives.  When he got tired of one he would lure her to his treasure room and while she looked at his wealth he would lock her in and leave her to die.

• When he went into battle he stuck lighted matches into his hat and tied some from his beard.  He did this to frighten the crew of the ships that he was attacking.

• In 1717 he captured a large French merchantman ship.  He made this a powerful ship by putting forty guns on her and named her the "Queen Anne's Revenge".

• He became well known for his mean actions in battle. 

• Offered a pardon by King George I when Captain Woodes Rogers came to the Bahamas to make the offer.  Some pirates accepted this offer, but not Blackbeard.

• He sailed north along the east coast of North America and sank his ship "Queen Anne's Revenge" on purpose. 

• Blackbeard was given a new ship after he made a deal to split his loot and booty with the Eden, governor of North Carolina .  The governor agreed not to try to capture Blackbeard.

• Blackbeard began to charge ships a toll to pass through his area safely.  If the ship would not pay, it was sunk.

• The merchant's got tired of paying the toll and of the other mean things that Blackbeard did to them, so they asked the lieutenant governor of Virginia, Alexander Spotswood to help get rid of him.

• Spotswood found Blackbeard and a battle was fought.  Blackbeard was sure that he could win the battle, but Spotswood tricked him into thinking his crew was dead.  

• Spotswood and Blackbeard fought hand to hand.  They both injured each other badly.  Blackbeard was shot, hit with clubs, and stabbed more than 25 times.

• Blackbeard collapsed and died because he bled to death when an artery was cut open.

• Spotswood cut off Blackbeard's head and stuck it on the bowsprit of his ship and sailed back to his town.

• The merchants treated him like a king.

Blackbeard's hideout off the shore of  North Carolina

Blackbeard's Jolly Roger

Blackbeard's Skull

• Tew was born in Newport, Rhode Island and his family was rich.
• He had a privateering commission to attack a French trading post in the town of Goree off the coast of Africa.
• He went there with another ship, but the were separated during a storm.
• Tew offered his crew the chance to turn into pirates and go after real treasure that they would not have to share with anyone.
• His crew decided to become pirates and their first attack was on an Arab ship that was carrying treasure.
• After that Tew joined with French pirates called corsairs and sailed off the coast of Madagascar.
• He captured several large treasure ships and then loaded his booty onto the ship that he captained when he was a privateer.  He sailed home where no one knew that he was a pirate and lived there for a while.
• He could not resist being a pirate and began to sail as a pirate again.
• He sailed back to the Red Sea to become a pirate again, but he was attacked and killed.
• He was killed when a gunshot ripped open his belly and his intestines spilled out into his hands.

Thomas Tew is Shot