Pyrates Part 4: The life of Pirate Black Bart

Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts is generally considered to have been the last of the golden age pirates. His introduction to the pirate life came against his will. In1719 the ship he was sailing on was boarded by pirates and Roberts was impressed into the crew. Elected as a pirate captain a short time later, he spent the next two years plundering ships from America to Africa. In contrast to his predecessor, Blackbeard, Roberts preferred to wear expensive clothing and jewelry. He was known to wear a red colored waistcoat and a lavish hat accented with a red feather. [1]

Though very similar in dress and appearance to Captain Morgan, Black Bart was the opposite of his processors in one exceedingly important way, he was completely morally corrupt. This corruption was so complete that he exceeded even Blackbeard, who was never known to have killed a defenseless man. Roberts, on the other hand, is known to have once burned a slave ship with eighty men still aboard, reportedly because he couldn’t be bothered to unchain that many people.[2]

By the summer of 1720 Roberts had managed to assemble a fleet of pirate ships that were operating in the Caribbean. The fleet was so aggressive and successful that they virtually shut down trade in the Caribbean until early 1722. The fleet ran afoul of a Royal Navy patrol commanded by Captain Challoner Ogle, who had been dispatched for the sole purpose of hunting down Black Bart.[3]

Ogle found Roberts ship at anchor in Cape Lopez, and engaged him immediately. What might have been a grand and glorious fight ended almost before it began. Black Bart was struck by grapeshot fired in the first volley. Killed almost immediately and reduced to a bloody mass, Bartholomew Roberts’s career as a pirate was over.[4]

Roberts was the last, and almost certainly the most successful, of the ‘great’ pirates. In his three years of activity, Black Bart captured more than four-hundred prizes and a tremendous amount of wealth. But just like William Kidd and Blackbeard, the fortune Roberts accumulated couldn’t save his life.

The life of pirates has been glamorized in theater, books and movies. Pirates were the master criminals of their day and often morally corrupt. Only one of the four pirates examined here, Sir Henry Morgan, attained wealth and lived to enjoy it. He was an aberration, only loosely defined as a true pirate, and one of the very few to retire from his pirate career to a life of luxury. Unlike the pirates from story, historical pirates typically had short and fierce lives. They were dealt with via violence, falling from either the noose or the blade, or by the occasional grapeshot. There was no glamour and no heroics, they were brigands and thieves nothing more.

[1] Ossian, Rob. Bartholomew Roberts. n.d. http://www.thepirateking.com/bios/roberts_bartholomew.htm (accessed December 21, 2011).

[2]Famous Pirate: Bartholomew Roberts. n.d. http://www.thewayofthepirates.com/famous-pirates/bartholomew-roberts.php (accessed December 21, 2011).

[3] Ossian, Rob. Bartholomew Roberts. n.d. http://www.thepirateking.com/bios/roberts_bartholomew.htm (accessed December 21, 2011).

[4] Ossian, Rob. Bartholomew Roberts. n.d. http://www.thepirateking.com/bios/roberts_bartholomew.htm (accessed December 21, 2011).

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Hawkins, Paul. Captain William Kidd. 2009. http://www.captainkidd.org/ (accessed December 9, 2011).

Herrmann, Oscar. Pirates and Piracy. New York: Stettiner Brothers, 1902.

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Modyford, Sir Thomas. "Letter of Marque Henry Morgan 1669." Piratedocuments.com. 2011. http://www.piratedocuments.com/Letters%20of%20Marque/henry_morgan_1699.htm (accessed November 20, 2011).

Ossian, Rob. Edward "Blackbeard" Teach. n.d. http://www.thepirateking.com/bios/teach_edward.htm (accessed December 21, 2011).

Ossian, Rob. Bartholomew Roberts. n.d. http://www.thepirateking.com/bios/roberts_bartholomew.htm (accessed December 21, 2011).