My brother, Jack, sent me a very fascinating article from The Daily Mail about Bartholomew Roberts aka Black Bart.
The Real Jack Sparrow: He would have eaten Johnny Depp for breakfast:
His name was Bartholomew Roberts. The most successful raider in the history of piracy, he took prisoner an astounding 470 vessels, and so renowned was his ferocity that many of those ships were surrendered to him without a fight.
Black Bart was the nickname he was given – and not only because of his black locks and dark eyes. When this swashbuckling Welsh buccaneer had to fight for his prizes, he was merciless.
In 1720, the crew of a 42-gun Dutch vessel anchored off Dominica in the Caribbean dared to resist. In the close-quarters cannonade which followed, several of his crew were cut down. Even more were slaughtered in the hand-to-hand fighting as Black Bart’s pirates swarmed over the vessel.
Go and read the rest, it’s fascinating stuff.
I always figured that if Sparrow wasn’t based solely on Roberts that there also had to be a bit of Blackbeard in there as well. Anyone who has seen the latest movie, and is a pirate fan, will certainly recognize the nods toward several notorious, real pirates. Right down to their authentic flags.
The article is also interesting in the fact that it’s shown how un-romatic pirates could be. I’ll admit, if I saw a real pirate I’d be swimming in the other direction as fast as I could. I prefer the romanticized version. I do, however, enjoy reading about their history.
Here are a couple of good articles on pirates and Black Bart:
Pirates – at Wikipedia
Black Bart – the most successful pirate during the golden age of piracy.
Tags: pirates
