Josiah Burgess
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Josiah Burgess
Josiah Burgess (1689–1719) was an English pirate active in the Caribbean. He is best known as one of the heads of New Providence’s “Flying Gang.” History Burgess was leading a pack of four ships near Panama in September 1716. Outgunned by three Royal Navy warships, he waited until the warships sent crews ashore to gather water. His crew then paddled out of hiding, taking the Navy sailors’ small boat and capturing all of them, leaving the warships undermanned. Alongside Benjamin Hornigold and Henry Jennings, Burgess was among the most influential pirates in Nassau in early 1717. That September King George offered a pardon to all pirates who surrendered within a year. Captain Vincent Pearse of sailed to the Caribbean in March 1718 to deliver the news. The "commanders and ringleaders" of the pirates - Burgess, Hornigold, Francis Leslie, and Thomas Nichols - implored Pearse to release Charles Vane and other prisoners as an enticement to the other gathered pirates. Pear ...
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Kingdom Of England
The Kingdom of England (, ) was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 12 July 927, when it emerged from various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. On 12 July 927, the various Anglo-Saxon kings swore their allegiance to Æthelstan of Wessex (), unifying most of modern England under a single king. In 1016, the kingdom became part of the North Sea Empire of Cnut the Great, a personal union between England, Denmark and Norway. The Norman conquest of England in 1066 led to the transfer of the English capital city and chief royal residence from the Anglo-Saxon one at Winchester to Westminster, and the City of London quickly established itself as England's largest and principal commercial centre. Histories of the kingdom of England from the Norman conquest of 1066 conventionally distinguish periods named after successive ruling dynasties: Norman (1066–1154), Plantagenet (1154–1485), Tudor ...
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Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service. From the middle decades of the 17th century, and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid 18th century, it was the world's most powerful navy until the Second World War. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing and defending the British Empire, and four Imperial fortress colonies and a string of imperial bases and coaling stations secured the Royal Navy's ability to assert naval superiority globally. Owing to this historical prominence, it is common, even among non-Britons, to ref ...
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Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or delegated authority issued commissions, also referred to as a letter of marque, during wartime. The commission empowered the holder to carry on all forms of hostility permissible at sea by the usages of war. This included attacking foreign vessels and taking them as prizes, and taking prize crews as prisoners for exchange. Captured ships were subject to condemnation and sale under prize law, with the proceeds divided by percentage between the privateer's sponsors, shipowners, captains and crew. A percentage share usually went to the issuer of the commission (i.e. the sovereign). Privateering allowed sovereigns to raise revenue for war by mobilizing privately owned armed ships and sailors to supplement state power. For participants, privateerin ...
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Woodes Rogers
Woodes Rogers ( 1679 – 15 July 1732) was an English sea captain, privateer, Atlantic slave trade, slave trader and, from 1718, the first List of colonial heads of the Bahamas, Royal Governor of the Bahamas. He is known as the captain of the vessel that rescued Marooning, marooned Alexander Selkirk, whose plight is generally believed to have inspired Daniel Defoe's ''Robinson Crusoe''. Rogers came from an experienced seafaring family, grew up in Poole and Bristol, and served a marine apprenticeship to a Bristol sea captain. His father held shares in many ships, but he died when Rogers was in his mid-twenties, leaving Rogers in control of the family shipping business. In 1707, Rogers was approached by Captain William Dampier, who sought support for a privateering voyage against the Spanish, with whom the Kingdom of Great Britain, British were War of the Spanish Succession, at war. Rogers led the expedition, which consisted of two well-armed ships, ''Duke'' and ''Duchess'', ...
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Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola (the island containing the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic); the British Overseas Territory of the Cayman Islands lies some to the north-west. Originally inhabited by the indigenous Taíno peoples, the island came under Spanish rule following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1494. Many of the indigenous people either were killed or died of diseases, after which the Spanish brought large numbers of African slaves to Jamaica as labourers. The island remained a possession of Spain until 1655, when England (later Great Britain) conquered it, renaming it ''Jamaica''. Under British colonial rule Jamaica became a leading sugar exporter, with a plantation economy dependent on the African slaves and later their des ...
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Blackbeard
Edward Teach (alternatively spelled Edward Thatch, – 22 November 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was an English Piracy, pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's Thirteen Colonies, North American colonies. Little is known about his early life, but he may have been a sailor on privateer ships during Queen Anne's War before he settled on the The Bahamas, Bahamian island of New Providence, a base for Captain Benjamin Hornigold, whose crew Teach joined around 1716. Hornigold placed him in command of a sloop that he had captured, and the two engaged in numerous acts of piracy. Their numbers were boosted by the addition to their fleet of two more ships, one of which was commanded by Stede Bonnet; but Hornigold retired from piracy toward the end of 1717, taking two vessels with him. Teach captured a French slave ship known as , renamed her ''Queen Anne's Revenge'', equipped her with 40 guns, and crewed her with over 300 men. He became a renown ...
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Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean formed by the confluence of the Ashley, Cooper, and Wando rivers. Charleston had a population of 150,277 at the 2020 census. The 2020 population of the Charleston metropolitan area, comprising Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties, was 799,636 residents, the third-largest in the state and the 74th-largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States. Charleston was founded in 1670 as Charles Town, honoring King CharlesII, at Albemarle Point on the west bank of the Ashley River (now Charles Towne Landing) but relocated in 1680 to its present site, which became the fifth-largest city in North America within ten years. It remained unincorpor ...
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Charles Vane
Charles Vane (c. 1680 – 29 March 1721) was an English pirate who operated in the Bahamas during the end of the Golden Age of Piracy. Vane was likely born in the Kingdom of England around 1680. One of his first pirate ventures was under the leadership of Henry Jennings, during Jennings' attack on the salvage camp for the wrecked Spanish 1715 Treasure Fleet off the coast of Florida. By 1717, Vane was commanding his own vessels and was one of the leaders of the Republic of Pirates in Nassau, Bahamas, Nassau. In 1718, Vane was captured but agreed to stop his criminal actions and declared his intention to accept a 1717–1718 Acts of Grace, King's Pardon; however just months later he and his men, including Edward England and Calico Jack, Jack Rackham, returned to piracy. Unlike some other notable pirate captains of the age like Benjamin Hornigold and Samuel Bellamy, Vane was known for his cruelty, often beating, torturing and killing sailors from ships he captured. In February 1719 ...
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Thomas Nichols (pirate)
Thomas Nichols ( fl. 1717–1718) was a pirate active in the Caribbean and off the American east coast. He is best known as a leader among the " Flying Gang" of pirates operating out of New Providence. History Very little is known of Nichols’ life or career. He is recorded as attacking Nathaniel Brooker’s snow ''Restoration'' in his 6-gun, 80-man sloop alongside Captain Napin (Napping) in August 1717 en route to Boston, from which the pirates took cargo, sails, rigging, and general goods before releasing it. Brooker described Nichols’ jolly roger flag: he “had in his flag a dart and a bleeding heart.” King George offered a general pardon to pirates in September 1717, forgiving any who surrendered by September 1718. Captain Vincent Pearse of sailed to Nassau to deliver the offer to the Caribbean pirates personally. In early 1718 Nichols was among a group of pirate leaders who urged Pearse to release Charles Vane and other pirates he’d detained as a show of good f ...
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Francis Leslie (pirate)
Francis Leslie ( fl. 1717-1718, last name occasionally Lesley) was a pirate active in the Caribbean. He is best known as one of the leaders of the "Flying Gang" of pirates operating out of New Providence. History As part of a plan to reduce piracy in the Caribbean, in September 1717 King George offered a general pardon to pirates, forgiving any who surrendered within a year. The message reached the American colonies but was slow to reach the Caribbean, so on his own initiative Captain Vincent Pearse of sailed to Nassau to deliver the offer personally. In early 1718 Leslie was among a group of pirate “commanders and ringleaders” including Benjamin Hornigold, Josiah Burgess, and Thomas Nichols, who urged Pearse to release Charles Vane and other captured pirates as an incentive for the others to surrender. Pearse agreed, and Leslie and over 200 others accepted the King’s Pardon. Technically only colonial Governors could grant the pardon, so Leslie, Nichols, and a few ...
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1717–1718 Acts Of Grace
The Proclamation for Suppressing of Pirates (also known simply as the Act of Grace) was issued by George I of Great Britain on 5 September 1717. It promised a royal pardon for acts of piracy committed before the following 5 January to those pirates who surrendered themselves to the correct authority before a deadline. Originally, the surrender had to occur on or before 5 September 1718; this was later extended by a second proclamation to 1 July 1719. The proclamation also included bounties for the capture of pirates who failed to surrender before the deadline, as well as offering rewards for pirate crew members facilitating the capture of their captains. Background Precedent Kings James I, James II and William III issued similar pardons or proclamations in the prior century. Pardons under James I With the end of the first Anglo-Spanish war under James I, and the corresponding end to English privateering in 1603, English sailors resorted to piracy. In 1611, Captain Rich ...
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George I Of Great Britain
George I (George Louis; ; 28 May 1660 – 11 June 1727) was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 and ruler of the Electorate of Hanover within the Holy Roman Empire from 23 January 1698 until his death in 1727. He was the first British monarch of the House of Hanover as the most senior Protestant descendant of his great-grandfather James VI and I. Born in Hanover to Ernest Augustus and Sophia of Hanover, George inherited the titles and lands of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg from his father and uncles. A succession of European wars expanded his German domains during his lifetime; he was ratified as prince-elector of Hanover in 1708. After the deaths in 1714 of his mother Sophia and his second cousin Anne, Queen of Great Britain, George ascended the British throne as Anne's closest living Protestant relative under the Act of Settlement 1701. Jacobites attempted, but failed, to depose George and replace him with James Francis Edward Stuart, Anne's Catholi ...
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