Stede Bonnet ( 1688 - 1718 ) is an English pirate , sometimes called a "gentleman of pirates" [1] , mainly because of his origin. His first fairly complete biography is contained in the book The General History of Piracy by Daniel Defoe (published under the pseudonym Charles Johnson ).
| Steed bonnet | |
|---|---|
| English Stede bonnet | |
 Steed Bonnet. 18th Century Engraving | |
| Date of Birth | July 29, 1688 |
| Place of Birth | Bridgetown , Barbados |
| Date of death | December 10, 1718 (30 years old) |
| Place of death | White Point, South Carolina |
| Nationality |  England |
| Occupation | pirate |
| Father | Edward bonnet |
| Mother | Sarah Bonnet |
| Spouse | Mary ellamby |
| Children | Ellamby Bonnet (died before 1715), Edward Bonnet, Stead Bonnet Jr., Mary Bonnet |
By origin Bonnet - a nobleman , received a good education. Before he engaged in robbery, he served as a major in the colonial police on the island of Barbados .
The reasons forcing him to engage in piracy are not entirely clear. Gossip about easy insanity as a result of an unsuccessful marriage to Mary Ellambi, which allegedly prompted the former officer to go into pirates, was quite popular in the 18th century . Another version was the scandalous nature of his wife, whom he could not stand and decided to tackle piracy . By the time he bought the sloop and began to rob passing ships, he was eight years married and had two sons and a daughter.
Content
Bonnet's pirate activity
In the summer of 1717, Steed Bonnet went to sea on his own sloop "Revenge" ( Revenge ), armed with 10 cannons and with a team of 70 people. Steed initially announced that it was a commercial flight, but after hijacking or robbing several vessels, the main purpose of the expedition finally became clear. Bonnet cruised along the shores of North America, capturing or robbing passing ships. Bonnet acted like most pirates, took merchant ships to fright or boarding, took the goods or took the ship, dropped off the crew, burned the captured ship. For example, having captured two ships in August 1717, they took all the goods from the brigantine and let them go home, and took the sloop with a load of rum, sugar and slaves. After using the sloop for krengovaniya , it was burned.
With the onset of autumn, Bonnet headed south, but on his way he met a meeting with a Spanish military ship. As in most other cases, the pirate was forced to flee after a heavy battle.
An important turn in Bonnet’s fate was his meeting with the famous Edward Teach , nicknamed “Blackbeard”. The detachment of the major joined the Tych pirates, and he, according to Defoe, transferred the command of his ship to one of the assistants of Blackbeard and served on his ship for some time.
When the Blackbeard ship wrecked near Topsel Island , the major decided to submit to the terms of the royal pardon decree; he again took command of his sloop and arrived at Battown in North Carolina, where he announced his readiness to carry out the will of the king, for which he was pardoned.
When war broke out between the Confederates of the Triple Alliance and Spain , Bonnet set out to seek permission from the commander in chief to attack the Spaniards. To this end, he left North Carolina and headed for the island of St. Thomas . When he again appeared on the island of Topsel , he discovered that Teach and his detachment had already sailed away from here in a small ship and had taken all the money , weapons and other things with them, as well as dropped off seventeen guilty people from their crew. Bonnet took the poor man aboard.
The major learned from the crew of the sloop he met on the way that Captain Teach, with eighteen or twenty people, was on the island of Ocracok . Wanting to take revenge on Tych for a series of insults inflicted on him, Bonnet decided to first sail to the captain's place of refuge, but missed him; after an unsuccessful cruise for four days in the Ocracoke area, he headed for Virginia.
Under the new name of Thomas (he took the pseudonym because he received a pardon under his real name), the major again engaged in piracy, seizing and robbing oncoming ships.
Due to repeated news of the seizure of ships by a certain pirate , the Council of South Carolina sent Colonel with two sloops to the pirate's place of residence in order to attack his ships. After a bloody battle, Colonel Rhett arrived in Charleston on October 3, 1718 with prisoners on board. Bonnet was taken into custody.
After some time, Bonnet with one of his accomplices escaped from prison. The governor sent several armed barks in search of fugitives, and also issued an appeal, promising a reward of £ 700 to anyone who could catch him. Bonnet was found on the Isle of Suillivants , surrendered and was escorted the next day to Charleston , where, by order of the governor, he was detained pending trial .
On October 28, 1718, the process opened. Steed Bonnet and thirty other pirates appeared before the court; almost all of them were convicted and sentenced to death. The judge’s speech is fully cited in Daniel Defoe 's General History of Piracy .
On December 10, 1718, Steed Bonnet was hanged at White Point .
In computer games
Steed Bonnet is present in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag . Here he appears in the guise of a simple-minded and uncertain merchant, who later decided to embark on the path of piracy.
In Sid Meier's Pirates! 2004 as one of the representatives of various eras of piracy, which can be defeated and promoted in the list of pirates to a greater number of places.
Links
Literature
- Victor Gubarev . Unlucky Major Steed Bonnet / In: V.K. Gubarev. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Life of Famous Captains. - M .: Eksmo ; Yauza , 2009 .-- S. 350—358. - ISBN 978-5-699-32076-9 .
- Gubarev V.K. 100 Great Pirates. - M .: Veche, 2011 .-- 432 p. - A series of "100 great."
- Rogozhinsky Jean. Encyclopedia of pirates. - M .: Veche, 1998 .-- 679 p.
Notes
- ↑ Patrick Pringle. Jolly Roger: The Story of the Great Age of Piracy. - Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 2001 .-- P. 191. - ISBN 0-486-41823-5 .