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Jack Quelch
Circa 1700's
At Half Way Rock, outside of Salem Harbor, Jack Quelch was named captain of the vessel "Charles" after its crew had murdered and dumped overboard its previous commander. From there he led his band of pirates in raids off the coast of South America. Their piracy days ended when Captain Quelch and his crew were arrested and hanged in 1704 at Boston Harbor.
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John Rackam
AKA Calico Jack
Britisch Pirate
Died 1720
John Rackam AKA Calico Jack
John Rackam was nicknamed Calico Jack by many due to his fondness for wearing calico colored coats and britches. He is best known for his association with Anne Bonny and Mary Read, the most famous female pirates.
Rackam acquired command of his ship the Treasure when the former Captain Vane retreated from an attack of a French man-of-war. The crews' feeling that this was an act of cowardice along with Rackam's zealous protests were the behind Vane's loss of command. The crew then captured the man-of-war and the former quartermaster of Vane's vessel, became its captain, and Vane was cast off on a smaller sloop along with the members of the crew who had voted against Rackam. Eventually, Rackam turned over control of his ship to the two female pirates Mary Read and Anne Bonny, the latter of which he had whisked away willingly from her husband, and who had fought at his side in many a battle. His ship was captured in November 1720, and brought to Jamaica. Nearly the entire crew, including Rackam himself were sentenced to hang. "If he had fought like a man," said Anne, "he need not have been hanged like a dog."
Calico Jack's Flag
Raga
Active 1820's
Chief of the Malay pirates in the Straits of Makassar, Raga took many European ships and beheaded their crews. His base at Kuala Batu, Sumatra, was destroyed by an American task force.
Rahmah bin Jabr
c. 1756 - 1826
The most famous pirate of the Persian Gulf, this one-eyed captain plundered shipping for 50 years. At the age of 70, in battle with the whole fleet of Bahrain, he set fire to the gunpowder magazine on his own ship, blowing half the enemy and himself sky high.
Sir Walter Raleigh
1552 - 1618
An Elizabethan courtier and navigator, Raleigh fitted out many privateering expeditions in order to fund a new colony in Virginia, North America. On the death of Queen Elizabeth I, Raleigh's fortunes changed. In 1616 he persuaded James I to send him on another search for gold, but he returned empty handed and was beheaded.
Mary Read
British Pirate
Active 1719 - 1721
Mary Read
Dressed in men's clothes, Mary Read had fought as a soldier in Flanders and owned a tavern before sailing to the Caribbean. When her ship was captured by John "Calico Jack" Rackam and Ann Bonny, she joined their pirate crew. Captured in 1720, a female passenger on the merchant ship they had attacked noticed Read's breasts and figured out she was a woman. At her trial in 1720, like Bonny, Read escaped the gallows because she was expecting a baby. She died of fever in Jamaica in 1721.
Redbeard
AKA Barbarossa
Greek/Turkish Pirate
circa 1530's
He and his brother Aruj, sons of a Turk from Lesbos, took up piracy on the Barbary Coast in hopes of seizing an African domain for themselves. When Aruj was killed in 1518, Khidr took the title Khayr al-Din. He offered allegiance to the Ottoman sultan and in return received military aid that enabled him to capture Algiers in 1529. Appointed admiral in chief of the Ottoman Empire (1533), he conquered all of Tunisia. Emperor Charles V captured Tunis in 1535, but Khayr al-Din defeated his fleet at the Battle of Preveza (153 cool , securing the eastern Mediterranean for the Turks for 33 years. His red beard was the source of the epithet Barbarossa, used by Europeans. (Excerpt from Britannica Online)
Basil Ringrose
active 1653 - 1686
This English surgeon traveled through Panama with Bartholomew Sharp and his buccaneers between 1680 and 1682, and wrote about his travels. He was killed in Mexico.
Manuel Pardal Rivero
Portuguese Pirate
Spain, a long time victim of pirating, suffering heavy losses from the pirates and deciding that Sir Henry Morgan's Portobello raid in 1669 was the last straw, sanctioned the governors of its colonies in the procurement of privateers and disbursement of letters of marque. Few pirates responded to this act, but Captain Rivero, who was Portuguese, did and rushed out to seek enemy nation's ships to prey upon.
In 1670, Rivero, in command of the San Pedro left Cartagena for Jamaica but was forced to change course because of winds. Captain Rivero sacked the poor settlement on Grand Cayman Island and seized two small boats as well as taking four children. With his meager booty, he went to Cuba. Once there he found out that Bernard Speirdyke, the Dutch pirate, was at Manzanillo. Captain Rivero set out to do battle with Speirdyke. Captain Rivero was victorious in the battle and seized the Dutchman's ship.
Captain Rivero returned to a hero's welcome in Cartagena in March 1670 and was made admiral of the Spanish corsairs. Captain Rivero next went to Jamaica with two ships and captured a sloop and raided isolated villages in the north. His next venture took him to the southern coast of Jamaica where he issued a challenge to Captain Henry Morgan:
Governor Modyford of Jamaica commissioned Captain Morgan to defend Jamaica. Captain Morgan assembled all French and English pirates that were at Jamaica and set sail, but instead of looking for Captain Rivero, they sailed to Panama and sacked the town. While all this was going on, John Morris encountered Captain Rivero off the Cuban coast. Captain Rivero's ship was boarded by Captain Morris men. The crew panicked and jumped overboard, where they either drowned or were shot by Morris' men. Captain Morgan chased Captain Rivero ashore and shot him to death in 1670.
Bartholomew Roberts
AKA Black Bart
Welsh Pirate
1682 - 1722 Bartholomew Roberts
Roberts was known for his excellent seamanship and was one of the greatest pirate of his day. Roberts is said to have seized 400 ships off West Africa and in the Caribbean. His biggest coup was capturing the "Sagrada Familia," a Portuguese vessel carrying a fortune in coins, diamonds and goods from Brazil.
Black Bart's Flag
Woodes Rogers
English privateer
1679 - 1732
Rogers was a Privateer who helped suppress piracy in the Caribbean by offering caught pirates pardons if they changed their ways and helped him track down other pirates. Those who did not accept or who went back to their old ways were hanged. While on a privateering expedition around the world which was commissioned by Bristol merchants whose ships had been lost to foreign privateers, he rescued a Scottish seaman named Alexander Selkirk from a Pacific island, which inspired Defoe's book Robinson Crusoe. In 1717 Rogers was appointed royal governor of the Bahamas where he established orderly government.
