May '06 - Stede Bonnet

Stede Bonnet is referred to as one of the sea’s strangest and most unlikely pirates from the Virginia coast. He was originally a high ranking individual, known as Major Stede Bonnet. He came from an upright, wealthy English family. Possessing a liberal education and being known to be "a man of Letters", he seemingly had everything needed in life to settle down, though he decided to take a different turn in his life, and this turn led him to shocking the high society of Barbados.

For no apparent reason, Major Bonnet left his life as a gentleman planter to become a pirate. Doing so, he mortified his neighbours who excused his actions as the result of some "disorder in his mind", a thought, not utterly unreasonable. There were also those who insinuated that it was his aversion toward respectability, which drove him to such an extreme change of career.

As some of the sources state, “as a pirate, Bonnet was merely an amateur. Unlike stealing or capturing a ship, as any respectable pirate would do, he purchased his own, which was completely unheard of in the archives of piracy. This fast little ship was purchased in early 1717. It had ten pieces of artillery, secured to her single gun deck. For unknown reasons, he renamed her “the Revenge”. Bonnet did another unheard of thing by paying his crew out of his own pocket, instead of drawing up a contract for them to sign. It was this strategy however, that kept him from being deposed by the crew, and let him remain in command. He found his band from the taverns and grogshops of Bridgetown, and ended up signing on about seventy destitute seamen”, - this information gives us a possibility to compare this pirate to others, and having compared so, we can easily come to a conclusion that he was, mildly speaking, unusual. Honestly speaking, weird.

He set his course for the Virginia Capes, where he captured a few vessels, the first of which were only plundered, and the last of which, the ship known as the Turbes, was burned. After this every Barbadian ship taken by Bonnet was burned. It became somewhat as a trademark of Captain Stede Bonnet.

After sailing, and capturing prizes off the New England Coast, and some in the northern waters, he returned to the south. At this time however, there was trouble brewing. His inexperience began to manifest itself to the crew, who were slowly becoming hostile, and began whispering amongst themselves. During the increasing hostilities, Bonnet dropped anchor in the Bay of Honduras, where he met up with the Queen Anne’s Revenge, along with her captain, the fearsome Edward Teach, nicknamed "Blackbeard". The two quickly befriended each other, and this strange duo, a veteran and an amateur decided to cruise together.

This alliance however, soon proved a big mistake on the part of Bonnet. Teach became aware of his inexperience, and invited Bonnet aboard the Queen Anne’s Revenge, where Bonnet became pretty much a prisoner. Teach tried to convince him that a man of his education and mannerisms, should not be forced to the rigors of commanding a ship like the Revenge, and to transfer himself to the more comfortable and spacious quarters of the Queen Anne’s Revenge. There was little Bonnet could do or say, and soon one of Blackbeard’s lieutenants, by the name of Richards, took over command of the Revenge, and quickly stifled the threat of mutiny by imposing stern discipline, and gaining the crew’s confidence.

So, Bonnet’s ‘friendship’ with more experienced Blackbeard, didn’t bring him any profit. On the contrary, it caused him troubles of being almost imprisoned.

Though, Stede didn’t give up that easily. Eventually he convinced Blackbeard to allow him to command the Revenge again. Soon after, the two parted, and Bonnet left his ship for the town of Bath and surrendered himself as a reformed pirate to the Governor of North Carolina, Charles Eden. This act however did not subside Bonnet’s desire for Piracy, and he continued to scour the sea for vessels until his capture by Colonel William Rhett, from whom he escaped only to be recaptured, and brought to trial under a Court of Vice-Admiralty in Charles Town (Charleston), South Carolina. Sir Nicholas Trott Esq., who at that time was the judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court, sentenced Bonnet to death on the gallows. Stede Bonnet was hung for piracy on December 10, 1718.