Black Bart

.Bartholomew Roberts, born John Roberts and nicknamed "Black Bart'' was the son of George Roberts of Little Newcastle, Wales. He was born on May 17th 1682.

.Roberts first went to sea at the age of 13 and appears to have worked in the merchant service until 1719. For some reason during this time Roberts changed his name from John to Bartholomew. In 1718, Roberts served as a mate of a sloop trading around Barbados.

.Roberts didnt even want to be a pirate in the first place. He was an officer on board the slave ship ''Princess'' in 1719 when his ship was captured by pirates under welshman captain 'Howell Davis'. Perhaps because Roberts was also welsh, he was one of few men who were forced to join the pirates. Roberts had no wish to join the pirates but he had no choice.

.Roberts earned the respect of most of his shipmates, and when Davis was killed only six weeks after Roberts had joined the crew, he was named captain. He said that ''As he had dipped his hands in muddy waters, and must be a pirate, it was better to be a commander than a common man'.

.His first command was to attack the town where Davis had been killed to avenge his former captain.

.He Commanded six ships during his time as captain:- Royal Rover, Fortune, Good Fortune, Royal Fortune, Ranger and Little Ranger.

.Roberts biggest score was when he came across a Portuguese treasure fleet anchored off Brazil. Roberts pretended to be part of the convoy, entered the bay and silently took one of the ships. Roberts then asked the master which ship had the most loot, then sailed up to that ship, attacked and boarded it before anyone knew what was happening.

.Roberts launched the careers of other pirates:- After he had captured the Portuguese treasure ship, one of his captains Walter Kennedy, sailed off with it, infuriating Roberts and starting a career of his own. Two years after that a pirate Thomas Anstis was persuaded by disgruntled crew members to set out on his own aswell. On one occasion TWO ships full of wannabe pirates looked for Roberts looking for advice. Roberts took a liking to them and gave them advice and weapons.

.Because of what his captain Walter Kennedy had done, Black Bart along with the remainder of his crew, produced a set of 'Articles', to be signed and sworn to by all, binding them together. All newcomers were made to take an oath on a bible in the presence of Black Bart. Irishmen were excluded from the benefits as Kennedy was irish.

.He used different pirate flags:- the most common he used was a black one with a white skeleton and a pirate, holding an hourglass between them. Another flag was of a pirate standing on two skulls with the letters ABH and AMH written beneath them, which stood for 'A Barbadian Head' and 'A Martinique Head', for the men Martinique and Barbados as they had sent ships to catch him. When he sailed to Africa he had a black flag with a white skeleton, with the skeleton holding crossbones in one hand and an hourglass in the other. beside the skeleton was a spear and three drops of blood. In Roberts final battle his flag had a skeleton and a man holding a flaming sword.

.In the three years he was captain, Roberts captured and looted over 400 vessels. No other pirate his age came close to that number of captured vessels. He was partly successful because he thought big, usually commanding from two to four pirate ships which could surround and catch victims. Roberts was the most successful pirate of the 'Golden Age Of Piracy' which lasted from 1700 to 1725.

.He was very cruel:- In January 1722, Roberts captured the ship 'Porcupine'- a slave ship he found at anchor. As the ships captain was onshore, he sent him a message telling him to pay a ransom or he would burn the ship, but the captain refused and so Roberts burned the ship, with 80 slaves still shackled on board.

.The end:- In February 1722, off the coast of Africa, 'The Swallow', a royal navy man of war, captured 'The Great Ranger' one of Roberts ships and was closing in on 'The Royal Fortune'. Instead of running Roberts decided to stand and fight and was shot in the throat from one of swallows cannons. His men followed his orders and threw his body overboard, before surrendering. Most of his crew were hanged.