Bartholomew Roberts
“Black Bart”
Bartholomew Roberts, also nicknamed “Black Bart”, sailed the seas of the Americas and Africa in the early 1700’s. The storey goes that he was born John Roberts in Southern Wales and in his early adulthood became a sailor on a slave ship. During his career, he became one of the most successful pirates capturing over 400 ships.
He terrorized the waters of the American Colonies, The Caribbean, Eastern South America, and the West Coast of Africa. It appears that he was not very particular which ships he attacked, English, French, and Dutch were all fair game. He had a particular dislike for the people of Martinique and Barbados and intimidated them by designing a flag to show his hatred. The flag has an image of Black Bart holding a flaming sword in one hand and a dagger in the other. Each foot is resting on a human skull, under one of the skulls are the initials A.M.H., for “A Marinican’s Head” and under the other were the initials A.B.H., for “A Barbadian Head”.
Black Bart was said to be a fancy dresser with a diamond cross on a gold chain hanging from his neck. He was known to carry two pairs of pistols and was very skilled in the arts of seamanship and intimidation. His career ended in 1722 when a British warship fired broadside on Black Bart’s ship and he was killed instantly. His crew reportedly disposed of his body overboard so that the corpse would not be captured. His crew took part in one of the largest trials and executions in the early 1700’s. The trial was held at Cape Coast Castle in West Africa and 54 were hung, 37 sentenced to prison or servitude, some were acquitted and 70 African pirates were sold as slaves.
A lot more detailed information is available about Bartholomew Roberts or “Black Bart”, including dates, ship names, and battles from the sources listed below. Arrgh!
Sources:
www.piratesinfo.com/cpi_The_Great_Pirate_Roberts_533.asp, Copyright © 1996-2006 Krzysztof Wilczynski, All rights reserved.
The History of Pirates by Angus Konstam, The Lyon Press, 1999, 2002
Pirates by John Matthews, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2006