Black Bart (Bartholomew Roberts) - Pirate of the Seas

When you think of Wales piracy may not be the first thing to come to mind but back in the Golden Age of Piracy Wales produced Bartholomew Roberts who went on to become one of the great pirates in the Caribbean. Born John Roberts of Little Newcastle in Pembrokeshire, Wales, he later changed his name to Bartholomew; history would call him Black Bart (Barti Ddu in Welsh) or Black Bart Roberts.

Though there are few accounts of his early life, most of what is known about Bartholomew Roberts begins when he was a 3rd mate on board the British slaver Princess. While off the coast of present-day Ghana pirates led by Howell Davis, another Welshman, attacked. Roberts was press ganged into service and made a navigator given his talents. Here is where Robert's pirate tale begins.

A reluctant pirate, Bartholomew Roberts quickly grew accustomed to his role, and Captain Davis no doubt felt relief at being able to confide in Roberts by speaking Welsh. Yet their association would be short lived for only a short six weeks later Davis would meet his end. Sailing to the isle of Principe and masquerading as a British Man-o-War, Davis planned on holding the governor for ransom. Yet the plan went awry as the Portuguese caught on that they were pirates and Davis was ambushed while on land.

With Davis' death, Bartholomew Roberts was voted captain of the Royal Rover. As his first act, Bartholomew avenged their former captain by returning to Principe raiding and plundering the town. This was quickly followed by the capture of two ships and the crew voting to sail to Brazil by the end of June 1719.

Unsuccessful at first, Black Bart and his crew eventually found a 42 Portuguese ship convoy waiting for its escort in the All Saints Bay of Brazil. With no protection, the ships surrendered quickly and Black Bart hauled away more than 40,000 gold coins and jewelry including items meant for the king of Portugal. With such a haul they traveled to French Guiana to spend the wealth.

Along the way they captured a sloop taking it as a second ship. With the making of a fleet, Black Bart came across a Brigantine as well. Leaving Walter Kennedy to oversee the Rover, the sloop set off in an unsuccessful pursuit. Upon their return, the Rover was gone with the remaining booty. With no other choice Black Bart renamed the ship the Royal Fortune and drafted a pirate code (See below) that the crew swore to on a Bible.

By February of 1720, Bartholomew Roberts was joined by pirate captain Montigny La Palisse in his sloop The Sea King, only to be attacked by two Barbados sloops a short time later. La Palisse fled and Roberts Fortune took damage and casualties. With two Martinique ships also hunting for him, Black Bart drew up a new flag with him standing on the skull of a Barbados and a Martinique to signal his desire for vengeance. He soon decided to head for the West Indies.

His next destination Newfoundland, Black Bart captured many ships in the area, raiding the ports of Ferryland and Treppassey where he met little resistance. Captains abandoned their ships at the sight of him entering harbor. From Treppassey Harbor alone he took 22 ships, claiming a brig to replace his current sloop Royal Fortune. The rest of the ships in harbor were burned.

Success continued throughout the summer as Black Bart plundered ship after ship, taking on as a second ship, the Good Fortune. Soon joined once again by Captain Montigny la Palisse and his sloop, over a hundred ships would fall prey to them. By Spring 1721 Bartholomew Roberts actions had brought shipping to a near stand still in the West Indies and it was time to move on to Africa. Yet in late April the Good Fortune under command of Thomas Anstis slipped away under the cover of night to continue plundering the West Indies, leaving the Royal Fortune and Sea King to sail off to Africa by themselves.

Arriving off the Cape Verde islands by the West African coast, the Royal Fortune was abandoned due to leakiness and replaced with the Sea King, renamed the Royal Fortune. Bartholomew Roberts would continue his successes here, seizing two ships off of Guinea, which would be added to his fleet as the Ranger and the Little Ranger, the Little Ranger serving as a store ship. Seizing a frigate it would serve as the new Royal Fortune. Hunting continued to prove successful and by January 1721, Black Bart had plundered many more ships including 11 ships from Ouidah Harbor who struck colors at the first sight of him.

Resting off the coast of Cape Lopez in early February, the three ship fleet ran into the HMS Swallow, captained by Chaloner Ogle. In its action to avoid a shoal the pirates thought it was a merchant ship running away and the Ranger under Captain Skyrme gave pursuit. When the Ranger had left the sight of the rest of the fleet, the Swallow turned about and brought its guns to bear injuring Captain Skyrme. Fighting the good fight, eventually the Ranger could take no more and had to surrender.

Unaware of the danger, the Royal Fortune was still anchored off Cape Lopez when the Swallow returned almost a week later. Having just captured a ship named Neptune the prior day, the crew were mostly drunk in celebration. When it was realized that the approaching warship was not the Ranger, Captain Roberts took action. Setting sail he planned on taking only one broadside in their escape. Yet a helmsman error would cause the Swallow to get off a second. Loaded with grapeshot, Bartholomew Robert was struck in the neck dying instantly.Per his request the crew weighed down his body and threw him overboard, thus ending the career of Bartholomew Roberts.

Throughout the several hour battle only three pirates including Roberts would die but the pirates had to surrender when their ship took too much damage. Over 270 pirates were captured of which about 70 black pirates were sold into slavery, another hundred executed or given hard time and the rest acquitted. Captain Ogle, for his success, would be knighted.

Like most pirates of the era Black Bart had a short lived career, only about 30 months, but he accomplished the impressive feat of plundering over 400 ships and almost halting all shipping in the West Indies. From humble beginnings in Wales to a British slave ship to pirate, he became a force to be reckoned with garnering a reputation that caused fear among the nations and captains on the High Seas. His death is considered by many to be the signal of the end of the Golden Age of Piracy.

Created by Bartholomew Roberts, Captain Black Bart and his crew swore on a Bile to follow the Pirates Code, formally called Articles of Agreement, in order to keep order and harmony aboard ship. To summarize the Articles state:

• ARTICLE I - Every man has an equal vote and equal access to fresh provisions and strong liquors when seized unless scarcity causes a need to vote for a retrenchment.
• ARTICLE II - Every man receives a proper share of the booty. Any stealing or defrauding is punished by marooning.
• ARTICLE III - None shall game for money either with dice or cards.
• ARTICLE IV - Lights and candles are extinguished at 8:00 and any crew still wanting to drink can do so on deck without light
• ARTICLE V - Every man is to keep their weapon clean and ready for action.
• ARTICLE VI - No boys or woman on board ship. Sneaking a woman on board would result in death.
• ARTICLE VII - Deserting ship or station during battle will result in death or marooning.
• ARTICLE VIII - None shall strike another on board the ship, but every man's quarrel shall be ended on shore by sword or pistol in this manner. At the word of command from the quartermaster, each man being previously placed back to back, shall turn and fire immediately. If any man do not, the quartermaster shall knock the piece out of his hand. If both miss their aim they shall take to their cutlasses, and he that draweth first blood shall be declared the victor.
• ARTICLE IX - No man shall talk of breaking up their way of living till each has a share of 1,000 pounds. Every man who became crippled or lost lose a limb while serving would receive 800 dollars from the common stock and for lesser hurts proportionately.
• ARTICLE X - The captain and the quartermaster receive two shares of a prize, the master gunner and boatswain one and half shares and all other officers one and one quarter. Pirates receive one share each.
• ARTICLE XI - The musicians can rest on the Sabbath Day but must play all other days.