Monday, January 18, 2016

Black Pirates

In honor of Martin Luther King Day, today’s blog is about Black (African) pirates during the Golden Age of Piracy.


First let’s get our terminology straight. Every once in a while, I run into someone who wants to call these people “African American Pirates.’ Sorry, guys. “African American” is a term that only works in the United States of America. Since, during piracy’s Golden Age the US had not yet broken free from England, there were no African Americans at the time.

However, the terms that were in use are not specific, mostly because these people were not viewed as a homogenous group. Some were slaves. Some were slave owners. Some, as we shall see, were Dutch, or French.

The story of many Black pirates was at many times also the story of slavery. Since the first founding of colonies in the New World, European countries scraped up their poor, or occasionally just their unlucky, and forcibly shipped them off to New World colonies as “indentured servants.” That the term of servitude (often 7 years) outlasted life expectancy in the harsh new colonies (sometimes as little as 2 years) bothered the authorities not at all.


However, ship captains bent on kidnapping prostitutes, thieves, beggars and gypsies for transportation sometimes also scooped up relatives of the rich and powerful. By 1700, indentured servitude was on the decline.

Landowners looking to acquire lifelong or hereditary workers also enslaved non-Christians. This could be done under the excuse that by “Christianizing” these people, the slaver owner was benefiting them. But problems surfaced when Jews, Muslims, Native Americans or Africans converted. Could Christians be held as hereditary slaves?

Disputes also broke out about what constituted a Christian. Catholic Spain and France claimed that Protestants were non-Christians, while Protestant England said the same about Catholics.

By 1700, the vast majority of slaves brought to the West Indies, the area that we now refer to as the Caribbean, were Black people from Africa.


Pirates had long had problems with slavery. Beginning in the 1600’s, pirates who captured slave ships often gave the slaves an opportunity to join their crews. In the beginning, human cargo on captured ships might amount to 6 or 7 people. By the 1700’s, purpose built slave ships were carrying hundreds of slaves from Africa.

Capturing a slave ship could vastly increase a pirate captain’s power. At one point, pirate captain Sam Bellamy’s crew consisted of more than 50% freed African slaves.

Bellamy’s friend Blackbeard had a crew that was estimated at 30% African. In fact, some historians believe that Blackbeard’s famous black beard came from African heritage. Some people even claim that Blackbeard was the offspring of an English nobleman and a mulatto (half-African) servant. Will we ever know for sure? Probably not. But descriptions of Blackbeard’s appearance make this plausible.


We are certain that a Black pirate who called himself Black Caesar was a pirate captain who occasionally ran with Blackbeard, and was with him when Blackbeard fought his last action against the Lieutenant Maynard of the Royal Navy. Caesar had been given the duty of blowing up the ship if it looked like the pirates would not win. Though willing to carry out his suicidal mission, he was stopped by two (presumably white) pirates with less bravery.


The problem with these African pirates is that, like most working pirates of their day, their stories remain untold. But a few names are noted in history. Hendrick Quintor, for instance, was a skilled Dutch sailor of African origin. He joined Bellamy’s crew when the Spanish brigantine he was sailing on was captured. Quintor was one of the few pirates to escape the disastrous hurricane that sank Bellamy’s flagship.

Quintor was tried with his fellow pirates, and found guilty. But unlike the others, he and John Julian, a Native American pirate, were sold into slavery. It is noted that both men made bad slaves, but their ultimate fates remain unknown. Was it better or worse than facing the hangman’s noose, the fate of the other members of Bellamy’s crew?


Other black pirates of note include Diego Grillo, a man of African descent who was born in Havana. He took up the pirate trade in the 1630’s. He was esteemed by his comrades, and was elected to the post of captain.

The legend of Diego Grillo has attached itself to many Black Caribbean pirates from the era. One Spanish priest writes of being captured by Grillo, and states that the pirate captain felt a particular hatred of the Spanish, who had enslaved him, and that Grillo made a special effort to burn Spanish ships.


Grillo is said to have made his base either Tortuga or New Providence, the later home to the Pirate Republic. Some even claim that he was a ship’s captain during Morgan’s raids against the Spanish.

A pirate by the name of Old South, a Black man, is said to have captained one of the many pirate ships called the Good Fortune.

In 1731 Juan Andres, a man of mixed African heritage, was the leader of a pirate crew of runaway slaves and Indians. They plundered along the coast of Venezuela. Authorities assumed Andres had died two years later when the attacks ceased. In reality, Andres and his crew had merely moved to the safety of Curacao before resuming their assaults.

 

Peter Cloise, a former slave, became a pirate after Edward Davis took him from his owner in 1679. They became close friends and went pirating in the Caribbean and along South America’s Pacific coast. After Davis’ ship put into Philadelphia in May 1688, Cloise was arrested, but no records of his execution have been found.

Stede Bonnet, the gentleman planter who turned pirate to get away from his nagging wife, summed up the piratical attitude when settling a dispute between one of his African crew members and a white recruit. Stede’s judgement was that piracy was a race in itself – it trumped color, nationality and station of birth. A man who called himself a pirate could never be called a slave.

So, to all those who were confused by the recent hullabaloo about Paymobile offering a Black pirate with a slave collar around his neck... It's a valid image if you change one thing... The pirate should be holding the slave collar in his hand (having just ripped it off his own neck) and he should be waving a pirate flag!


32 comments:

  1. Good article. Informative. Thank you for the post.

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  2. This is great. enlightening. I am inspired thank you!

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  3. This is very intetesting. Thank you. Return favor. Visit this site amazingfacts.org

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  4. Awe this is a good idea for my book.

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  5. I've always wondered about this. My father used to tell stories of his Grandfather swimming with the Dolphins to the Islands. Thanks

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  6. wow awesome history lesson, i wish from my heart that these history lessons and historical facts were shared long ago, think how much better things could have been for black people knowing their history was more than slave ships and pickin cotton, Hidden Figures should have been shared in the 60 s

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  7. excuse that picture of Peter Cloise is not from him but from Pedro Camejo, a black hero from venezuelan independence

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  8. I would also throw in Jacquotte Delahaye since she is of French (father) and Haitian (mother) origin.

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  9. Great read. Thank you for writing this. Lots more to read and investigate now.

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  10. AMAZING LOVE TO SEE MORE. :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster

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  11. However, it should be pointed out regardless of race/color... pirates often murdered and even raped while plundering for their food and drink. Being the aggressor, does not justify any attempt to self-defence.

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    1. so did every single European Colonialist. All's fare when your facing genocide.

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  12. You should make some YouTube videos about these men.

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  13. This would be a decent article if so much propanda wasn't inserted. Most, if not ALL of these Pirates were indigenous Americans and or European's fighting against the Albino invasion. This invasion is better known as the protestant reformation, 30 year war, British civil war, Jacobite revolution. ALL the royalty of Europe was black [swarthy/olive/dark-skinned]; and all the southeast American Indian Chiefs were black. The Great European Migration was the wealthiest black people leaving to settle the Americas. This is how you get romantic tales like Pocahontas and John Rolfe. THEY WERE ALL VARIOUS TYPES OF BLACK PEOPLE! Have you ever seen a pink or pale-skinned Olive? REALLY? England under protestant [anti-christ] rule assumed the former royalty names and titles and then pursued the Black nobility. Captured many scots, picts, and Britons [Black catholic loyalist] and shipped them to New Zealand, Canada, Austria and the Americas. The truth is simple if you Albinos open your eyes. Your ancestors are usurpers from Central Asia and were called the Yuetzi or Kushan empire. They marched over Europe spreading democracy [Demon-ran-society] and causing civil discontent over God's [YHWH's] laws. To this day... It is all about the race war on Black Nobility. Do you folks really think that so-called white people #1 fought each other all the time #2 Had time to go to Africa and get slaves. #3 Fight ALL the hostile Indians and battle the nature of a new land. #4 Teach the African slaves how to farm and hope they dont kill them in their sleep. #5 Keep traveling to get more of your own people and slaves. All while not being able to whoop a black man 1v1 without a gun and traveling through the most vicious waters year round with tens of thousands of Hostile Black men. LMAO! Time to wake up white folks... When your ancestors tried to enslave the Black Indians; there was IMMEDIATE WARFARE. The only slavery that existed for the so-called Negro/Indian is slavery by deception; CONTRACT. Every time a black man agrees to provide a service for an Albino, the Albino tells everyone and writes down that the Black guy is his SLAVE or Bonded servant. Then tries to stop the Black man from learning how to read the contract:)) LMAO! WAKE UP! You are being scapegoated for this RIGHT NOW. The Fake European Jew [white turkish person]is using the basic western white man as his puppet and is bringing down the hammer on you. Blaming you for all the worlds problems and usurping the Black man from his throne. Be afraid of God's wrath and not losing your temporal positions of authority and wealth. Good luck:))

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    1. Wow that was remarkably retarded!

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    2. Someone with accurate knowledge of history.

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    3. All facts huh? Same thing that the "flat-earthers"...

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    4. The Gods are back. I love how y'all try to tell us things we don't remember

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    5. Aye where can I find more info on this?I just knew it was more to the story. It makes since cuz when Haitians revolted they went for the Albinos too.

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  14. My article https://thetexian.blogspot.com/2019/04/portugese-man-o-war-forgotten-life-of.html?fbclid=IwAR3UbchwS0hfsAAEy4_3GLrmIrS9Dg4ylPuC0NuRHtMDoHlKwM93K2oc0bw

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  15. Please consider removing the racist and offensive term mulatto from this piece.

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  16. The Moors were the so called pirates. The West African Muslims were called Saracens(Muslims) by the catholic church (Eurasians). They (Moors) came into Europe in 711 and civilized the Eurasians.Building universities, museums,civil engineering, architecture,sanitation, religion, art, farming etc.By 1492 the christian powers had conquered the moors in Spain. Many Moors converted to catholic and joined in with the christian crusade that was sanctioned by the Roman catholic church. A lot of the arch bishops were black.nobles that converted and served the papacy.Many of the Moors were given an ultimatum, serve the church by conversion or leave your estate within 30 days for eg.The moors that didn't have a choice because they were in a war fighting to keep their territory.Decided to flee rather than being captured and forced to either serve the papacy, or be imprisoned or killed.Due to the Moors ruling Europe for more than 700 years, these moors had established an empire by annexing many countries within those 700 years.Therefore many of the moors had access to other jurisdictions that were still under the Moorish empire. Some went to Africa, some went to other parts of Europe that still had their sovereignty as a Moorish states.Some went to the West Indies, America and also Asia. These Moors in the West Indies were exceptional navigators and had family and allies in many countries.The so called Indians were (Aboriginals)moors (black Negros) that Columbus first encountered.They were called Amerindians and later American Indians and many other misnomers.Columbus had Moors on his ships as crew members and many of them spoke Arabic, Hebrew and Latin. Due to the Dum Diversas which is a papal bull issued on 18 June 1452 by Pope Nicholas V. It authorized Afonso V of Portugal to conquer Saracens (Muslims/Moors)and pagans (Aboriginal Moors/(misnomer Indians)and consign them to "perpetual servitude". Wikipedia. The crusade was a genocidal contract with hired mercenaries that went under the protection of the Roman curia to conquer that last resistance of the Moorish empire.The popular narrative is black people were slaves from Africa and never had any civilization and was ignorant savage beast that needed to domesticated because this is what they had in their racist literature, blacks were 2/3 of a human being and is therefore a beast. We know now that (black) people were the fathers and mothers of all peoples on the planet and built all of the ancient monuments around the world. Buddha, Krishna, Tehuti,Egyptians, Sumerians , Mayans and the list goes on.What we have here is a hypothetical and usurpation of a conquered people that was genocide and denationalized, why because their were international treaties that were in play and a treaty is a contract that was agreed by to nation states. One such document was the Moroccan treaty of Peace and Friendship.This is the longest held treaty in relation to the United States of America and Morocco.What was this treaty about, well Morocco was where the Emperor of Morocco Empire resides. The British were conquering many of the Moroccan territories and allies. The so called Indians were at war with the colonizers.At this time there was no United States of America. The British had sent out many colonizers to try and establish settlements and many wars ensued.The British in time gain some grounds and there were many revolts by the aboriginal moors (misnomer Indians). What is not talked about is, the role British subjects in America had to pay tribute to the aboriginals for being tenants on their land. The British subjects got tired of paying and two of the British subjects were given permission by the Chief Aboriginal Moor, Chief Tammany, he was partner with William Penn in a boldly conceived agreement dated 1683 that Europeans and Indians would live together in peace as long as the creeks and rivers run and while the sun, moon, and stars endure.

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    1. What is not mention in many of the accounts of Chief Tammany and Penn's relationship was, Penn was a British subject and wanted to expatriate from Britain. He was granted a passport and given citizenship by Chief Tammany, why because the Americas was not yet birthed and when you read the Treaty of Peace and Friendship it explains how Morocco's Emperor recognized them and that gave them status to become an officially recognized government. So before it was called America, it was the territory of Morocco, basically West Morocco.The newly formed United States government decided to dishonor the treaty some 8 years later because it was facing some financial challenges and decided to go to war with Morocco. This war along with the internal unrest with the so call Indians(moors) proved to be over whelming.Due to the treaties being broken, the newly formed America decided to enslave the Indians(Moors) and under threat , duress were forced to work for the colonist . This is not slavery, they were P.O.W prisoners of war and had been conquered.During this dark time in history the Moors fell asleep and lost their identity. They, the American (black) Indians(Moors) are the rightful heirs to the lands of the Americas, including the Islands.They lost their governments (Tribal governments)and was forced to assimilate into the foreign jurisdiction and convert to Christianity. They were baptized and received a christian name of their colonist and was forced to perform in contracts that kept them in a perpetual servitude by adhesion tacit consent. So what happened in the end is paper genocide along with the many atrocities they did and are still doing to this day! A lot of the Moors are responsible for the injury and harm that went on and still going on. Mos of the Caribbean islands are sovereign nations and many have black leaders. But why are the people so oppressed in these nations?Well its simple they are the conversos that betrayed their Moroccan Empire and gave up their nationality to become Roman and British subjects, therefore honoring the 1452 Edict of the papacy.Whats in the dark, must come to light!

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