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Pirate Captain
About Bartholomew Roberts
In February 1720, off the coast of Barbados, a captured slave ship named the Princess was seized, not for ransom or plunder alone, but to be refitted as Roberts’ flagship, renamed the Royal Fortune. This wasn’t mere opportunism; it was ideological theater. He enforced a strict pirate code banning gambling, drunkenness after 8 p.m., and the bringing of women aboard, penalized by marooning or death, and insisted every man sign it in blood. Unlike contemporaries who burned ships, Roberts systematically cataloged prizes, kept meticulous logs of cargo values, and even issued formal letters of marque (forged, but convincingly so) to legitimize raids against French and Portuguese vessels during wartime ambiguities. His Welsh upbringing shaped his disdain for aristocratic pretense, he mocked powdered wigs and wore crimson damask coats not for vanity, but as deliberate satire of naval officers’ uniforms. When he died in battle off Cape Lopez, his crew refused to surrender, choosing instead to fight until only ten remained alive, proof that his authority rested less on fear than on shared conviction.
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Not sure where to begin? Try asking Bartholomew Roberts:
- “How did you forge those fake letters of marque—and which navies fell for them?”
- “What happened to the enslaved people aboard the Princess after you captured her?”
- “Why did your code forbid dueling but allow flogging for theft?”
- “Did you really wear a diamond-studded sword—and where did it come from?”