Stede Bonnet (1688 – 10 December 1718) was an early 18th-century English/Barbadian

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

, also known as the Gentleman Pirate for the reason that he was a moderately wealthy landowner before turning to a life of crime. Bonnet was born into a wealthy English family on the island of Barbados, and inherited the family estate after his father's death in 1694. Despite his lack of sailing experience, Bonnet decided he should turn to piracy in the winter of 1716 or spring of 1717. He bought a sailing vessel, the ''Revenge'', and travelled with his paid crew along the Eastern Seaboard of what is now the United States, capturing other vessels and burning other Barbadian ships. Bonnet set sail for

Nassau Nassau may refer to: Places Bahamas *Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792 *Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...

in the Bahamas, to the haven for pirates known as the "

Republic of Pirates The Republic of Pirates was the base and stronghold of a loose confederacy run by privateers-turned-pirates in Nassau on New Providence island in the Bahamas during the Golden Age of Piracy for about eleven years from 1706 until 1718. While it ...

", but he was seriously wounded ''en route'' during an encounter with a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

warship. After arriving in Nassau, Bonnet met Edward Teach, better known as the infamous pirate

Blackbeard Edward Teach (alternatively spelled Edward Thatch, – 22 November 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's North American colonies. Little is known abou ...

. Incapable of leading his crew, Bonnet temporarily ceded his ship's command to Blackbeard. Before separating in December 1717, Blackbeard and Bonnet plundered and captured merchant ships along the East Coast. After Bonnet failed to capture the ''Protestant Caesar'', his crew abandoned him to join Blackbeard aboard the ''

Queen Anne's Revenge ''Queen Anne's Revenge'' was an early-18th-century ship, most famously used as a flagship by Edward Teach, better known by his nickname Blackbeard. Although the date and place of the ship's construction are uncertain, it was originally believed ...

''. Bonnet stayed on Blackbeard's ship as a guest, and did not command a crew again until summer 1718, when he was pardoned by

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

governor Charles Eden and received clearance to undertake

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 ...

ing against Spanish shipping interests. Bonnet was tempted to resume his piracy but did not want to lose his pardon, so he adopted the alias "Captain Thomas" and changed his ship's name to ''Royal James''. He had returned to piracy by July 1718. In August 1718, Bonnet anchored ''Royal James'' on an estuary of the

Cape Fear River The Cape Fear River is a long blackwater river in east central North Carolina. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The river is formed at the confluence of the Haw River and the Deep River (North Carol ...

to careen and repair the ship. In late August and September, Colonel

William Rhett Colonel William Rhett (4 September 1666 – 12 January 1723) was a British-born plantation owner in the Province of Carolina in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. He arrived in America in 1694, accompanied by his wife Sarah. Rhett quickly b ...

, with the authorization of

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

's governor

Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His landmark recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generati ...

, led a naval expedition against pirates on the river. Rhett's and Bonnet's men engaged in combat for hours, but the outnumbered pirates ultimately surrendered. Rhett arrested the pirates and brought them to Charles Town in early October. Bonnet escaped on 24 October, but was soon recaptured on Sullivan's Island. On 10 November, Bonnet was brought to trial and charged with two acts of piracy. Judge

Nicholas Trott Sir Nicholas Trott (19 January 1663 – 21 January 1740) was an 18th-century British judge, legal scholar and writer. He had a lengthy legal and political career in Charleston, South Carolina and served as the colonial chief justice from 1703 un ...

sentenced him to death. Bonnet wrote to Governor Johnson to ask for

clemency A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

, but Johnson endorsed the judge's decision, and Bonnet was hanged in Charles Town on 10 December 1718.

Pre-criminal life

Stede Bonnet was born in 1688, as he was christened at Christ Church parish on 29 July 1688. His parents, Edward and Sarah Bonnet, owned an estate of over southeast of

Bridgetown Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the capital and largest city of Barbados. Formerly The Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the parish of Saint Michael. Bridgetown is sometimes locally referred to as "The Ci ...

, which was bequeathed to Bonnet upon his father's death in 1694. It is not known where Bonnet received his education, but many who knew him described him as bookish; Judge Nicholas Trott alluded to Bonnet's liberal education when sentencing him. Bonnet married Mary Allamby in Bridgetown on 21 November 1709. They had three sons—Allamby (who died by 1715), Edward, and Stede—and a daughter, Mary. The three surviving children were all younger than five when their father abandoned them for piracy.Butler (2000), pp. 55–56. Edward's granddaughter, Anne Thomasine Clarke, was the wife of General Robert Haynes, who was Speaker of the Assembly of Barbados for 36 years. In ''

A General History of the Pyrates ''A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates'' is a 1724 book published in Britain containing biographies of contemporary pirates,

'', Charles Johnson wrote that Bonnet was driven to piracy by Mary's

nagging Nagging, in interpersonal communication, is repetitious behaviour in the form of pestering, hectoring, harassing, or otherwise continuously urging an individual to complete previously discussed requests or act on advice. The word is derived from th ...

and " scomforts he found in a married State". Details of Bonnet's military service are unclear, but he held the rank of

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

in the Barbados militia. The rank was probably due to his land holdings, since deterring revolts by enslaved people was an important function of the militia. Bonnet's militia service coincided with the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

, but there is no record that he took part in the fighting.

Early career as a pirate

During the spring of 1717, Stede Bonnet decided to become a pirate, despite having no knowledge of shipboard life. He contracted a local shipyard to build him a sixty-

ton Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds ...

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

, which he equipped with ten

guns A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, ...

Letters of Capt. Benjamin Candler as discussed a
The Republic of Pirates blog
and named the ''Revenge''. This was unusual, as most pirates seized their ships by

mutiny Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military, of a crew or of a crew of pirates) to oppose, change, or overthrow an organization to which they were previously loyal. The term is commonly used for a rebellion among member ...

or by boarding them or by converting a

vessel to a pirate ship. Bonnet enlisted a crew of more than seventy men. He relied on his quartermaster and officer for their knowledge of sailing, and as a result, he was not highly respected by his crew. In another break from tradition, Bonnet paid his crew wages, not shares of plunder as most pirates did.

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 F ...

intelligence reported that he departed

Carlisle Bay, Barbados Carlisle Bay is a small natural harbour located in the southwest region of Barbados. The island nation's capital, Bridgetown, is situated on this bay which has been turned into a marine park. Carlisle Bay's marine park is a popular spot on the ...

, under cover of darkness. Bonnet's initial cruise took him to the coast of the

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colonial empire, English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertG ...

, near the entrance of the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...

, where he captured and plundered four vessels, and burned the Barbadian ship ''Turbet'' to keep news of his crimes from his home island. He sailed north to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, taking two more ships, and picking up naval supplies and releasing captives at

Gardiners Island Gardiner's Island is a small island in the Town of East Hampton, New York, in Eastern Suffolk County. It is located in Gardiner's Bay between the two peninsulas at the east end of Long Island. It is long, wide and has of coastline. The isl ...

. By August 1717, Bonnet had returned to

the Carolinas The Carolinas are the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina, considered collectively. They are bordered by Virginia to the north, Tennessee to the west, and Georgia to the southwest. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east. Combining Nor ...

, where he attacked two more ships, a

brigantine A brigantine is a two-masted sailing vessel with a fully square-rigged foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts. Older ...

from

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and a Barbadian sloop. He stripped the brigantine, but brought the cargo-filled Barbadian sloop to an

inlet An inlet is a (usually long and narrow) indentation of a shoreline, such as a small arm, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In marine geogra ...

off North Carolina to use for

careening Careening (also known as "heaving down") is a method of gaining access to the hull of a sailing vessel without the use of a dry dock. It is used for cleaning or repairing the hull. Before ship's hulls were protected from marine growth by fasteni ...

and repairing the ''Revenge''. After the Barbadian sloop's tackle was used to careen the ''Revenge'', the ship was dismantled for timber, and the remains were burned. In September 1717, Bonnet set course for

, which was an infamous pirate den on the island of New Providence in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

. ''En route'', he encountered, fought, and escaped from a Spanish

man-of-war The man-of-war (also man-o'-war, or simply man) was a Royal Navy expression for a powerful warship or frigate from the 16th to the 19th century. Although the term never acquired a specific meaning, it was usually reserved for a ship armed wi ...

. The ''Revenge'' was badly damaged, Bonnet was seriously wounded, and half the crew of the sloop was killed or wounded in the encounter. Putting in at Nassau, Bonnet replaced his casualties and refitted the ''Revenge'', increasing the sloop's armament to twelve guns.

Collaboration with Blackbeard

While at Nassau, Bonnet met

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Benjamin Hornigold and

Edward Teach Edward Teach (alternatively spelled Edward Thatch, – 22 November 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's North American colonies. Little is known about ...

for the first time; Teach, better known as Blackbeard, played a large role in the remainder of Bonnet's life. Disabled by his wounds, Bonnet temporarily ceded command of the ''Revenge'' to Blackbeard, but remained aboard as a guest of the more experienced pirate captain. Blackbeard and Bonnet weighed

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ἄγ ...

and sailed northward to

Delaware Bay Delaware Bay is the estuary outlet of the Delaware River on the northeast seaboard of the United States. It is approximately in area, the bay's freshwater mixes for many miles with the saltwater of the Atlantic Ocean. The bay is bordered inlan ...

, where they plundered eleven ships. On 29 September 1717, the ''Revenge'', captained by Blackbeard, plundered the sloop ''Betty'', which had a cargo full of Madeira wine. Captain Codd, whose merchant ship was taken on 12 October, described Bonnet as walking the deck in his nightshirt, lacking any command and still unwell from his wounds. The ''Revenge'' later captured and looted the ''Spofford'' and ''Sea Nymph'', which were leaving

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. On 22 October, the ''Revenge'' stopped and robbed the ''Robert'' and ''Good Intent'' of their supplies. Blackbeard and Bonnet left Delaware Bay and returned to the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

in November, where they successfully continued their piracy. On 17 November, a 200-ton ship named the ''Concorde'' was attacked by two pirate craft nearly away from the island of

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...

. The lieutenant on board described the pirate vessels as one having 12 guns and 120 men and the other having eight guns and 30 men. The crew of the ''Concorde'' put up a fight, but surrendered after the pirates bombarded them with "two volleys of cannons and musketry". Blackbeard took the ''Concorde'' and sailed south into the Grenadines, where he renamed the ship ''Queen Anne's Revenge'', possibly as an insult to King George I. Some time after 19 December, Bonnet and Blackbeard separated. Bonnet sailed into the western Caribbean. In March 1718, he encountered the 400-ton merchant vessel ''Protestant Caesar'' off

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

. The ship escaped him, and his frustrated crew became restive. When Bonnet encountered Blackbeard again shortly afterwards, Bonnet's crew deserted him to join Blackbeard. Blackbeard put a

henchman A henchman (''vernacular:'' "hencher"), is a loyal employee, supporter, or aide to some powerful figure engaged in nefarious or criminal enterprises. Henchmen are typically relatively unimportant in the organization: minions whose value lies pri ...

named Richards in command of the ''Revenge''. Bonnet, surprised that his colleague had betrayed him, found himself as a guest aboard the ''Queen Anne's Revenge''. Bonnet confided in a few loyal crew members that he was ready to give up his criminal life if he could exile himself in Spain or

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. Bonnet would not exercise command again until the summer of 1718. Under Captain Richards, the ''Revenge'' captured a Jamaican sloop, the ''Adventure'', captained by

David Herriot David Herriot (died 1718, occasionally Herriott) was a ship’s master and pirate best known for serving under Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet. History Herriot was master of the 80-ton 8-gun Jamaican logwood hauler ''Adventure'' when it was capture ...

. Herriot joined the pirates, and Blackbeard possessed three ships. Bonnet accompanied Blackbeard to

, where Blackbeard's four vessels blockaded the port of Charles Town in the late spring of 1718. Needing a place to rest and refit their vessels, Blackbeard and Bonnet headed north to

Topsail Island Topsail Island (, TOP-sill) is a 26-mile (41.8 km) long barrier island off the coast of North Carolina, roughly equidistant between the barrier islands of the Crystal Coast and the beaches of the Cape Fear (region), Cape Fear region, lying ...

, where the ''Queen Anne's Revenge'' ran aground and was lost. Leaving the remaining three vessels at Topsail Island, Blackbeard and Bonnet went ashore and journeyed to Bath, which was the capital of

. Once there, both men accepted pardons from Governor Charles Eden under King George's Act of Grace, putatively on condition of their renouncing piracy forever. While Blackbeard quietly returned to Topsail Island, Bonnet stayed in Bath to get a "clearance" to take the ''Revenge'' to Denmark's Caribbean colony of St. Thomas, where he planned to buy a letter of marque and go

ing against Spanish shipping. Eden granted Bonnet this clearance.

Resumption of pirate command

Bonnet returned to Topsail Island to find that Blackbeard had beached the majority of their former crew, robbed the ''Revenge'' and two other vessels of the squadron of most of their supplies, and sailed away for parts unknown aboard the sloop ''Adventure'', carrying all the loot with him. In late June or early July 1718, Bonnet resumed command of the ''Revenge''. Few, if any, of his original crew from Barbados were still aboard. Bonnet reinforced the ''Revenge'' by rescuing a number of men whom Blackbeard had

marooned Marooned may refer to: * Marooning Marooning is the intentional act of abandoning someone in an uninhabited area, such as a desert island, or more generally (usually in passive voice) to be marooned is to be in a place from which one cannot escape ...

on a

sandbar In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank (geography), bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body o ...

at Topsail Island. Shortly after Bonnet resumed command, the crew of a

bumboat A bumboat is a small boat used to ferry supplies to ships moored away from the shore. The name comes from the combination of the Dutch word for a canoe—"''boomschuit''" ("''boom''" meaning "tree"), and "boat". In Tobias Smollett's 1748 no ...

told him that Blackbeard was moored in

Ocracoke Inlet Ocracoke Inlet ()
, from the North Carolina Collection's website at the

. Bonnet set sail at once to hunt down his treacherous ex-confederate, but could not find him, and Bonnet never met Blackbeard again. Although Bonnet apparently never discarded his hopes of reaching St. Thomas and getting his letter of marque, two pressing problems tempted him back into piracy. First, Blackbeard had stolen the food and supplies he and his men needed to subsist (one pirate testified at his trial that no more than ten or eleven barrels remained aboard the ''Revenge''). Second, St. Thomas was in the midst of the

Atlantic hurricane season The Atlantic hurricane season is the period in a year from June through November when tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic Ocean, referred to in North American countries as hurricanes, tropical storms, or tropical depressions. In addition ...

, which would last until autumn. However, returning to freebooting meant nullifying Bonnet's pardon. Hoping to preserve his pardon, Bonnet adopted the alias "Captain Thomas" and changed the ''Revenge''s name to the ''Royal James''. The name ''Royal James'' that Bonnet conferred on his sloop was presumably a reference to the younger Prince James Stuart, and may suggest that Bonnet or his men had Jacobite sympathies. One of Bonnet's prisoners further reported witnessing Bonnet's men drinking to the health of the "Old Pretender" and wishing to see him king of the English nation. Bonnet further tried to disguise his return to piracy by engaging in a pretence of trade with the next two vessels he robbed. Soon afterward, Bonnet quit the charade of trading and reverted to naked piracy. In July 1718, he cruised north to Delaware Bay, pillaging another eleven vessels. He took several prisoners, some of whom joined his pirate crew. While Bonnet set loose most of his prizes after looting them, he retained control of the last two ships he captured: the sloops ''Francis'' and ''Fortune''. On 1 August 1718, the ''Royal James'' and the two captured sloops sailed southward from Delaware Bay. The captured sloops lagged behind, and Bonnet threatened to sink them if they did not stay closer. During the passage, Bonnet and his crew divided their loot into shares of about £10 or £11 and distributed them amongst themselves. This is the only time Bonnet is known to have practised this pirate custom, and it suggests he had by then abandoned his unorthodox practice of paying regular wages to his crew. Twelve days out of Delaware Bay, Bonnet entered the

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

of the

and anchored near the mouth of a small waterway, now known as Bonnet's Creek. The ''Royal James'' had begun to leak badly and was in need of

. Shortly afterwards, a small

shallop Shallop is a name used for several types of boats and small ships (French ''chaloupe'') used for coastal navigation from the seventeenth century. Originally smaller boats based on the chalupa, the watercraft named this ranged from small boats a l ...

entered the river and was captured. Bonnet had the shallop broken up to help repair the ''Royal James''. The work of careening was done, in whole or in part, by the prisoners Bonnet had captured. Bonnet threatened at least one man with marooning if he did not work with the slaves to repair the ''Royal James''. Bonnet remained in the Cape Fear River for the next 45 days. According to Bonnet's

boatswain A boatswain ( , ), bo's'n, bos'n, or bosun, also known as a deck boss, or a qualified member of the deck department, is the most senior rate of the deck department and is responsible for the components of a ship's hull. The boatswain supervi ...

Ignatius Pell Ignatius Pell was a pirate who served as the boatswain to Captain Stede Bonnet aboard the ''Royal James'', a ship previously named ''Revenge''. He was arrested in October 1718 and testified against his crew and captain. Battle of Cape Fear Rive ...

, the pirates intended to wait out the hurricane season there.

Battle of Cape Fear River

By the end of August, news had reached Charles Town that Bonnet's vessels were moored in the Cape Fear River.

, governor of South Carolina, authorised Colonel

to lead a naval expedition against the pirates, even though the Cape Fear River was in North Carolina's

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Jur ...

. After a false start due to the appearance of another pirate ship near Charles Town, Rhett arrived at the mouth of the Cape Fear River on 26 September with two eight-gun sloops, the ''Henry'' and the ''Sea Nymph'', and a force of 130 militia men. Bonnet initially mistook Rhett's squadron for merchantmen and sent three

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the term ...

s to capture them. Rhett's

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

''Henry'' had run aground in the river mouth, enabling Bonnet's canoe crews to approach, recognize the heavily armed and crewed sloops as hostile and return uninjured to warn Bonnet. The sun had set by the time the rising tide lifted the ''Henry'' off the river bottom.Seitz (2002), p. 137. The 46 pirates were scattered among the three sloops. During the night, Bonnet brought all of them aboard the ''Royal James'' and planned to fight his way out to sea in the morning rather than risk the Cape Fear River's narrow channels in the dark. Bonnet also wrote a letter to Governor Johnson, threatening to burn all the ships in Charles Town Harbour. At daybreak, on 27 September 1718, Bonnet set sail toward Rhett's force, and all three sloops opened fire, initiating the

Battle of Cape Fear River The Battle of Cape Fear River, or the Battle of the Sandbars, was fought in September 1718 between a United Kingdom, British naval :wikt:expedition, expedition from the Province of South Carolina against the pirate ships of Stede Bonnet. British ...

. The two South Carolinian sloops split up in an effort to bracket the ''Royal James''. Bonnet tried to avoid the trap by steering the ''Royal James'' close to the river's western shore, but ran aground in the process. Rhett's closing sloops also ran aground, leaving only the ''Henry'' in range of the ''Royal James''. The battle was at a stalemate for the next five or six hours, with all the participants immobilized. Bonnet's men had the advantage that their deck was heeled away from their opponents, giving them cover, while the ''Henry''s deck was tilted toward the pirates, thus exposing Rhett's men to punishing musket volleys. Bonnet's force suffered twelve casualties while killing ten and wounding fourteen of Rhett's 70-man crew. Most of Bonnet's men fought enthusiastically, challenging their enemies to board and fight hand to hand, and tying a knot in their flag as a mock signal to come aboard and render aid. Bonnet himself patrolled the deck with a pistol drawn, threatening to kill any pirate who faltered in the fight. Nevertheless, some of the prisoners who had been forced to join the pirate crew refused to fire on Rhett's men, and one narrowly escaped death at Bonnet's hands in the confusion of the engagement. The battle was ultimately decided when the rising tide lifted Rhett's sloops free while temporarily leaving the ''Royal James'' stranded. Bonnet was left helpless, watching while the enemy vessels repaired their rigging and closed to board his paralysed vessel. Outnumbered almost three to one, Bonnet's men would have had little hope of winning a boarding action. Bonnet ordered his gunner, George Ross, to blow up the ''Royal James''s powder magazine. Ross apparently attempted this, but was overruled by the remainder of the crew, who surrendered. Rhett arrested the pirates and returned to Charles Town with his prisoners on 3 October.

Escape, recapture, and execution

In Charles Town, Bonnet was separated from the bulk of his crew and held for three weeks along with his boatswain, Ignatius Pell, and his

sailing master The master, or sailing master, is a historical rank for a naval officer trained in and responsible for the navigation of a sailing vessel. The rank can be equated to a professional seaman and specialist in navigation, rather than as a military ...

, David Herriott, at the home of Town Marshal Nathaniel Partridge. Pirate Edward Robinson, the gunner from

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, and the remaining crew were held outside of Charles Town at the Watch House, at White Point. On 24 October, Bonnet and Herriott escaped, probably by colluding with local merchant Richard Tookerman. Governor Johnson at once placed a £700 bounty on Bonnet's head and dispatched search teams to track him down. Bonnet and Herriott, accompanied by a slave and a Native American, obtained a boat and made for the north shore of Charles Town Harbour, but foul winds and lack of supplies forced the four of them onto Sullivan's Island. Governor Johnson sent a posse under Rhett to Sullivan's Island to hunt for Bonnet. The posse discovered Bonnet after an extensive search, and opened fire, killing Herriott and wounding the two slaves. Bonnet surrendered and was returned to Charles Town. While awaiting trial, some sort of civil uprising in his support took place within the city, an event authorities would later describe as having nearly resulted in the burning of the town and the overthrow of the government. Bonnet possibly awaited his execution in the Court of Guard, a militia guardhouse in the city where the current

Exchange and Provost The Old Exchange & Provost Dungeon, also known as the Custom House, and The Exchange, is a historic building at East Bay and Broad Streets in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. Built in 1767–1771, it has served a variety of civic institutional func ...

stands today. On 10 November 1718, Bonnet was brought to trial before Sir

, sitting in his capacity as Vice-Admiralty judge. Trott had already sat in judgment on Bonnet's crew and sentenced most of them to

hang Hang or Hanging may refer to: People * Choe Hang (disambiguation), various people * Luciano Hang (born 1962/1963), Brazilian billionaire businessman * Ren Hang (disambiguation), various people Law * Hanging, a form of capital punishment Arts, e ...

. Bonnet was formally charged with only two acts of piracy, against the ''Francis'' and the ''Fortune'', whose commanders were on hand to testify against Bonnet in person. Ignatius Pell had turned King's evidence in the trial of Bonnet's crew and testified, somewhat reluctantly, against Bonnet. Bonnet pleaded not guilty and conducted his own defence without assistance of counsel, cross-examining the witnesses to little avail, and calling a character witness in his favour. Trott rendered a damning summation of the evidence, and the jury delivered a guilty verdict. Two days later, after treating the convicted man to a stern lecture on his violation of Christian duties, Trott sentenced Bonnet to death. While awaiting his execution, Bonnet wrote to Governor Johnson, begging abjectly for

and promising to have his own arms and legs cut off as assurance that he would never again commit piracy. Charles Johnson wrote that Bonnet's visibly disintegrating mind moved many Carolinians to pity, particularly the female population, and London papers later reported that the governor delayed his execution seven times. Bonnet was eventually

hanged Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...

White Point Garden White Point Garden is a 5.7 acre public park located in peninsular Charleston, South Carolina, at the tip of the peninsula. It is the southern terminus for The Battery (Charleston), the Battery, a defensive seawall and promenade. It is bounded ...

, in Charles Town, on 10 December 1718.

Legacy

Bonnet's authority

The actual degree of authority any pirate captain exercised over his crew was questionable, as he had no access to the procedures and sanctions of

admiralty law Admiralty law or maritime law is a body of law that governs nautical issues and private maritime disputes. Admiralty law consists of both domestic law on maritime activities, and private international law governing the relationships between priva ...

that supported government captains. Many pirate captains were elected by their crews and could be deposed in the same manner. Because of his ignorance of nautical matters, Bonnet was in an even weaker position than other pirate captains, as is demonstrated by the utter domination Blackbeard exercised over him during their collaboration. During Bonnet's early career, his crew seems to have been less than loyal to him and to have greatly preferred the more charismatic and experienced Blackbeard. At his trial, Bonnet downplayed his own authority over his pirate crew. He told the court that his crew engaged in piracy against his will, and said he had warned them that he would leave the crew unless they stopped robbing vessels. He further stated that he had been asleep during the capture of the sloop ''Francis''. The court did not accept these protestations. Boatswain Ignatius Pell testified that Bonnet's

quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In m ...

, Robert Tucker, had more power than Bonnet. A powerful quartermaster appears to have been a common feature of pirate crews in the early modern era. Nevertheless, Bonnet's crew represented him as being a leader, and it appears likely that, after his rescue of Blackbeard's marooned crewmen, he became at least a co-equal commander aboard the ''Royal James''. He appears to have been entrusted with the company's treasure, and made most major command decisions such as the direction of the ship and what vessels to attack. Most significantly, at Delaware Bay he ordered two of his crew to be

flogged Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, Birching, rods, Switch (rod), switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging ...

for breaches of discipline. Pirates did not lightly submit to flogging, as they resented the frequent use of this punishment in the naval and merchant services from which most of them came, and thus only a leader who commanded the obedience of his crew could successfully order such penalties.

Bonnet's pirate flag

Bonnet's

flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

is traditionally represented as a white skull above a horizontal long bone between a heart and a dagger, all on a black field. Despite the frequent appearance of this flag in modern pirate literature, no known early-

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

period source describes any such device, much less attributes it to Bonnet. This version of Bonnet's flag is probably one of a number of pirate flags appearing on an undated manuscript with unknown

provenance Provenance (from the French ''provenir'', 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody or location of a historical object. The term was originally mostly used in relation to works of art but is now used in similar senses i ...

in Britain's

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unite ...

, which was donated by Dr. Philip Gosse in 1939. Bonnet's crew and contemporaries generally referred to him flying a "bloody flag", which likely means a dark red flag. There is also a report from the 1718 ''

The Boston News-Letter ''The Boston News-Letter'', first published on April 24, 1704, is regarded as the first continuously published newspaper in the colony of Massachusetts. It was heavily subsidized by the British government, with a limited circulation. All copies ...

'' of Bonnet flying a death's head flag during his pursuit of the ''Protestant Caesar'', with no mention of color or of any long bone, heart, or dagger.

Walking the plank

Bonnet is alleged to have been one of the few pirates to make his prisoners walk the plank. No contemporaneous source makes any mention of Bonnet forcing prisoners to walk the plank, and modern scholars such as Marcus Rediker, Professor of History at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

, generally agree that the whole concept of pirates forcing prisoners to walk the plank belongs to a later age than Bonnet's.

Popular culture

Kate Bonnet - The Romance of a Pirate's Daughter - Kate and her Father in the Warehouse

Bonnet has been portrayed several times in literature. His life was turned into a story by

Marcel Schwob Mayer André Marcel Schwob, known as Marcel Schwob (23 August 1867 – 26 February 1905), was a French symbolist writer best known for his short stories and his literary influence on authors such as Jorge Luis Borges, Alfonso Reyes, Roberto Bol ...

in his book ''Imaginary Lives''. He is a major character in Tim Powers' ''On Stranger Tides'', along with other famous pirate characters, particularly Blackbeard. In this novel, Bonnet takes up piracy after having been framed by Blackbeard, who has used Bonnet's hatred for his wife (only married two years in the novel) against him. ''Kate Bonnet: The Romance of a Pirate's Daughter'', by 19th century author Frank Stockton, is a satirical novel relating the adventures of a fictional daughter of Bonnet named Kate. Portrayals of Bonnet also extend to video games, such as ''Sid Meier's Pirates! (2004 video game), Sid Meier's Pirates!'' and ''Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag''. In the 1941 film ''The Devil and Daniel Webster (film), The Devil and Daniel Webster'', the Devil summons Bonnet to join a jury of the damned, announcing Bonnet and fellow seaman Floyd Ireson as "the fiendish butchers". A plaque commemorating Bonnet stands near Bonnet's Creek in Southport, North Carolina, on the Cape Fear River. The Yacht Basin Provision Company also holds an annual Stede Bonnet Regatta near Southport, commemorating the infamous pirate's dash for the ocean. The radio program ''This American Life'' produced a feature on May 5, 2017, on pirates. In the prologue, host Ira Glass spoke to producer Elna Baker about the life of Stede Bonnet. The podcast ''Real Pirates'' discusses Bonnet and Blackbeard across five episodes, with appearances by Stede Bonnet biographer Jeremy R. Moss and pirate historians and authors Dr. Rebecca Simon, Colin Woodard and Eric Jay Dolan. The period comedy television series ''Our Flag Means Death'', created by David Jenkins (television writer), David Jenkins, stars Rhys Darby as Stede Bonnet and Taika Waititi as Blackbeard. Jenkins depicts a romantic relationship between the two. On April 11, 2022, Theatre Three of Dallas, Texas presented the world premiere production of the musical comedy ''Stede Bonnet: A F*cking Pirate Musical.'' Nicole Neely conceived and wrote the play's book; Clint Gilbert composed the music and lyrics; Danielle Georgiou directed and choreographed the production; and Danny Anchondo, Jr. directed the music.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Botting, Douglas. ''The Pirates''. Time–Life, Time-Life Books, Inc., 1978. . * * * * Fox, Edward Theophilus.
Piratical Schemes and Contracts: Pirate Articles and Their Society 1660-1730
'. Exeter: University of Exeter, 2013. * * * *

External links

Proceedings of Stede Bonnet's Trial
from ''A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason and Other Crimes and Misdemeanors from the Earliest Period to the Year 1783'' by Thomas Bayly Howell and William Cobbett, from Google Books {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonnet, Stede 1688 births 1718 deaths 17th-century Barbadian people 18th-century Barbadian people 17th-century English people 18th-century English people 18th-century pirates Barbadian pirates British pirates English Jacobites Privateers British military personnel of the War of the Spanish Succession Recipients of American gubernatorial pardons Pardoned pirates People executed for piracy Executed English people Executed Barbadian people People executed by the Thirteen Colonies by hanging People executed by South Carolina by hanging People executed by the Kingdom of Great Britain English escapees Escapees from South Carolina detention People from Bridgetown Barbadian people of English descent