The tryals of Captain John Rackam, and other pirates

Jonathan Barnet (1677/78 – 1745)"Jonathan Barnet", ''Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery'' https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146662203 Retrieved 1 January 2022. was an English

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 deleg ...

in the Caribbean, best known for capturing pirates

Calico Jack John Rackham (26 December 168218 November 1720), commonly known as Calico Jack, was an English pirate captain operating in the Bahamas and in Cuba during the early 18th century. His nickname was derived from the calico clothing that he wore, whi ...

Anne Bonny Anne Bonny (8 March 1697 – disappeared April 1721), sometimes Anne Bonney, was an Irish pirate operating in the Caribbean, and one of the few female pirates in recorded history. What little that is known of her life comes largely from Capta ...

, and

Mary Read Mary Read (1685 – 28 April 1721), also known as Mark Read, was an English pirate. She and Anne Bonny were two famous female pirates from the 18th century, and among the few women known to have been convicted of piracy at the height of the " ...

. The Assembly of the

Colony of Jamaica The Crown Colony of Jamaica and Dependencies was a British colony from 1655, when it was captured by the English Protectorate from the Spanish Empire. Jamaica became a British colony from 1707 and a Crown colony in 1866. The Colony was prima ...

gave him a financial reward, and a large estate with African enslaved people in the parish of St James.

Privateer

Lord Archibald Hamilton Lord Archibald Hamilton of Riccarton and Pardovan (1673 – 5 April 1754) was a British officer of the Royal Navy, and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1708 and 1747. In the 1690s, he was active in the English Channel pur ...

, Governor of

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 His ...

, commissioned ten privateers in late 1715 and charged them with hunting pirates. Among them was Barnet, who sailed out in his 90-ton

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

''Tyger''. The ''Tyger's'' owners and Barnet posted bond before he sailed. Barnet's six-month commission was periodically renewed by Hamilton and succeeding Governors. Hamilton gave Barnet specific instructions on which flag to fly, on keeping a journal, and where to bring captured prize ships for confirmation, as well as a warning: "You are not on any pretence to committ any acts of hostility, on any of H.M. allies, neuters, friends or subjects." In fact Barnet immediately joined the other privateers in raiding the wrecks of the 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet. Jamaican Deputy Secretary Samuel Page initially blamed Barnet's actions on the sloop ''Barsheba'' captained by

Henry Jennings Henry Jennings (died possibly 1745) was an 18th-century English privateer from the colony of Bermuda, who served primarily during the War of the Spanish Succession and later served as leader of the pirate haven or " republic" of New Providence ...

, spurring a Spanish emissary to make an angry visit to Jamaica demanding action against the privateers. The ''Tyger's'' owners included Daniel Axtell, who also held shares of the privateer (and later pirate) vessels commanded by Leigh Ashworth, James Carnegie, and Samuel Liddell, all of which looted the Spanish wrecks as well. After Barnet's raids came to light, Page was removed from office for consorting with pirates. Governor Hamilton himself was also recalled to England, replaced by

Peter Heywood Peter Heywood (6 June 1772 – 10 February 1831) was a British naval officer who was on board during the mutiny of 28 April 1789. He was later captured in Tahiti, tried and condemned to death as a mutineer, but subsequently pardoned. He ...

. Governor Heywood would later fume against the rogue privateers who antagonized the Spanish under the flimsy pretense of privateering, remarking, "had not Comissions icbeen granted which were given out on pretext of suppressing pyracys, these unhappy disorders had not been committed: and what was said to Jonathan Barnet (as will appear from his deposition) was too great an encouragement to be given to those sort of people."

Capture of Rackham

In 1716 Barnet testified against embattled Jamaican Governor

, who was removed from office for consorting with pirates. Barnet may have taken a 1717 pardon offered to all pirates who surrendered within a year: by 1720 his commission had been renewed yet again, this time by Heywood's replacement Governor

Nicholas Lawes Sir Nicholas Lawes (1652 – 18 June 1731) (sometimes "'Laws'" in contemporary documents) was Governor of Jamaica from 1718 to 1722. Early life Nicholas Lawes was born in 1652 to Nicholas and Amy Lawes. Knighthood He was a British kni ...

. Barnet sailed late that year on a trading voyage alongside Jean Bonadvis, another former pirate and privateer turned pirate-hunter. Bonadvis spotted a sloop nearby and approached, only to be fired on. He retreated and reported the aggressor's location to Barnet, who left in pursuit. Barnet hailed the vessel, whose drunken crew refused to surrender, and captured it after a brief battle. The vessel turned out to be the ''William'', captained by John "Calico Jack" Rackham, who had aboard two female pirates, Mary Read and Anne Bonny. The pirates were quickly tried and hanged, though the women managed avoid execution by claiming to be pregnant. Lawes congratulated Barnet: "About a fortnight ago a trading sloop belonging to the Island, being well manned and commanded by a brisk fellow one Jonathan Barnet, did us a very good of service. He was met by a pirate vessel at the Leward part of this Island commanded by one Rackum in which were 18 pirates more, whom he took and are now in gaol..."

Planter and slaveholder

The Assembly of Jamaica gave him a substantial estate in Jamaica as his reward, and he was later elected one of the two elected representatives for

Saint James Parish, Jamaica St. James is a suburban parish, located on the north-west end of the island of Jamaica in the county of Cornwall. Its capital is Montego Bay (derived from the Spanish word ''manteca'' (lard) because many wild hogs were found there, from which l ...

. His estate embodied the fledgling port of Montego Bay, and one of the main streets in the city is named after him. Barnet died in 1745, and he was replaced in the Assembly by William Barrett. At his death, Barnet owned 144 enslaved Africans, including 81 male slaves and 63 females. Of that number, 26 were children. Barnet's estate was valued at nearly £7,000, of which the majority was the valuation of his enslaved labour force. However, Barnet had no legitimate white offspring to inherit his estates, so in 1739, Barnet submitted a bill to the Assembly to have his mistress, Jane Stone, “a free mulatto woman”, and her four children, Thomas Hugh Barnet Stone, Elizabeth, another Jane Stone, and Ann Stone, entitled to “the same rights and privileges with English subjects, born to white parents”. They were declared white by the Assembly, and Hugh Barnet went on to inherit his father's estates and African slaves.Journals of the Assembly of Jamaica, 24 March 1739, pp. 465-6.

Privateer

Capture of Rackham

Planter and slaveholder

See also

Notes

References

Further reading