THE CAPTAIN BUTLER

GOOD AND EVIL PIRATES WEBSITE

Alright, so it may not be very much, but this is going to be the page, that is going to be devoted to every Pirate, under the sun, whom I can think of! Good and evil! Now, if you are a devoted scholar, of the history of Piracy, I would fully recommend, that you don't choose my Pirates web page! This is merely something that I am doing for a laugh, but I do have a genuine interest in the history of Piracy, as well, but this isn't what you would call a Piracy Specialist page, and I would suggest to anybody who would like to find websites, that really, really specialise in the history of Piracy, in general, and they really have some remarkable images to download (that I could not even imagine, of finding the space to download them, let alone, be able to display all of those remarkable images of the history of piracy, in  general!), on these web pages, that you go to the various Search Engines, which are available, on the World Wide Web! And one Search Engine, that I would particularly recommend is, Yahoo, one of the very best! So, if you feel, that my Captain Butler Good and Evil Pirates web page, isn't enough to whet your appetite, then please go to: Yahoo! Or Google (Sort that out, at a later date! Marie Birch)

However, I feel that this web page, in question, would not be complete, if I didn't start it off, with that evil Pirate, who was mentioned, quite a number of times, and he was almost featured on Captain Butler himself! So, could you please give a round of applause for:

BLACKBEARD!

Blackbeard, real name Edward Teach (1680?-1718). An English pirate, probably born in Bristol. He was widely known and feared for his robberies and atrocities throughout the West Indies and along the coast of the North Carolina and Virginia colonies. In 1718, the Governor of Virginia sent two British ships to attack Blackbeard, who was spending the Winter, in a North Carolina inlet; the Pirate was killed in the engagement.

Blackbeard a British pirate, was one of the most famous villains in the history of the sea. He received his name, from his habit of braiding his long, black beard and tying the braids with ribbon. Few pirates have looked and acted as fierce, as Blackbeard.

Blackbeard carried three braces of pistols. He made himself look devilish in the thick of fighting by sticking long, lighted matches under his hat, framing his face in fire. If action was slow, Blackbeard stirred things up, by lighting pots of sulphour in his own ship, or shooting off pistols, beneath the table, while entertaining friends in his darkened cabin. His journal states that confusion and plotting developed if his men were sober, but all went well, when they had enough rum.

Blackbeard terrorised the Carolina and Virginia coasts, during 1717 and 1718, in his ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge. In 1717, he blockaded Charleston, South Carolina. He captured ships in the harbour and seized citizens for ransom. He left after he received a chest of medicine as a ransom. After this raid, he ran his ship aground near Cape Fear, North Carolina. Blackbeard then received a general pardon from Governor Charles Eden of North Carolina, whom he probably bribed. Life on land, was not for Blackbeard, and he quickly returned to the sea.

Blackbeard took such a toll of shipping and he created so much terror, along the American coast, that the Virginia and Carolina planters organized against him. the Virginia Governor sent the ship H.M.S. Pearl out to take him alive or dead. He was caught, on the 21st of November 1718, near Ocracoke Inlet, off the North Carolina coast. He fought desperately, with  a sword and pistol, until he fell with twenty five wounds in his body. His head was taken back to Virginia and displayed on a pole.

Blackbeard was born Edward Teach, in either Bristol, England or in Jamaica. He is said to have had fourteen wives.

This may come as quite a surprise, but Sir Francis Drake, who was considered to be one of the greatest Military Commanders, and Explorers, was also considered to be a Pirate, well I have heard that in Cadiz, mainland Spain, he is one of the most feared pirates of them all! And he was certainly classed as a legitimate pirate, especially where the Government of it's day, was concerned! But I do tend to ramble on, don't I? So, for all those of you out there who would all like to know about Sir Francis Drake, one of the greatest gentlemanly pirates of them all, could you please give a cheery wave for:

SIR FRANCIS DRAKE!

DRAKE, SIR FRANCIS (1543?-1596), an Explorer and Military Commander, was the first Englishman to sail around the world. His naval warfare against the Spaniards, the chief rivals of the English, helped England become a major sea power.

Drake was the most famous of the sea Captains who roved the oceans, during the rule of Queen Elizabeth The First. The Queen encouraged the "Sea Dogs", as the sea Captains were called, to raid Spanish shipping. She gave them money and ships for such voyages, and she shared in the treasure, they brought back. Drake lived in the great age of piracy, and he became one of the most feared pirates of his time.

Drake had no formal education. However, he had great self-confidence and ambition. In battle, Drake was courageous, quick and sometimes merciless. He treated his crew with kindness, but demanded loyalty and respect off them.

Early Life: Drake was born near Plymouth in Devonshire. In 1549, he moved with his family to the county of Kent, where his father became a Chaplain in naval shipyards on the coast. Francis was apprenticed to the master of a ship that sailed to ports on the English Channel and in the mouth of the River Thames.

From 1566 to 1569, Drake sailed on two slave-trading voyages, organized by his cousin, Sir John Hawkins, a famous sea dog. Hawkins obtained slaves in Africa and sold them to West Indian plantation owners. These voyages brought protest from both Portugal and Spain. Portugal did not want English competition in the slave trade, and Spain objected to English ships sailing in Caribbean waters. The slave-trading voyages gave Drake valuable sailing experience.

In 1567, Drake commanded the Judith on the second of the expeditions, organized by Hawkins. On the return trip, the ships stopped at the Mexican port of San Juan de Ulua, near Veracruz. A fleet of Spanish ships approached the harbour, pretending to be friendly. But the Spaniards attacked the English, killing many sailors and sinking several vessels. Only the Judith and Hawkins' ship, the Minion, escaped. Drake returned to England hating the Spaniards and vowing revenge.

From 1570 to 1572, Drake took part in looting missions to the West Indies. In 1572, he seized several Spanish ships off the coast of Panama. He landed on the coast and captured the port of Nombre de Dios, near Colon. Drake then looted the town and ambushed a mule train, carrying Peruvian silver across the Isthmus of Panama.

Voyage Around The World: Drake's most famous voyage, began on the 13th of December1577. He and more than 160 men sailed from Plymouth in the Pelican, the Elizabeth and the Marigold. Two other ships, the Swan and the Benedict (also known as the Christopher) carried supplies. The original goals of the voyage are not clear, and neither, is Queen Elizabeth The First’s role, in planning the voyage. But Drake hoped to explore the possibilities of trade and colonial settlement in the Pacific Ocean and to find the western outlet of the Northwest Passage. Drake also may have intended to search for an undiscovered continent, that was believed to lie in the South Pacific. He probably planned to loot Spanish ships and colonies along the Pacific coast of South America.

After leaving Sao Tiago in the Cape Verde Islands. Drake’s expedition met two Portuguese ships. Drake captured one of the vessels, and gave it’s command to a friend, Thomas Doughty. The ships sailed south along the Atlantic coast of South America and ran into violent storms. The expedition then stopped at San Julian for supplies. There Drake had Doughty beheaded because he suspected him of planning a mutiny.

Before leaving San Julian, Drake destroyed the supply ships and the captured Portuguese ship, because they were in poor condition and he did not think, they could complete the voyage. The three remaining ships sailed through the Strait of Magellan. Shortly afterward, violent storms wrecked the Marigold and blew the Elizabeth off course, forcing it to return to England. The storms also blew the Pelican, which Drake renamed the Golden Hind, far to the south. Drake then headed north along the Pacific coast of South America. The Spaniards had left their coastal ports unguarded, because until then, only Spanish ships had sailed the Pacific. After raiding several Spanish settlements, Drake captured a Spanish ship, the Cacafuego, and stole its cargo of gold, silver, and jewels.

His crew buried him at sea.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON SIR FRANCIS DRAKE

Sir Francis Drake (Born 1540?-96), was an English navigator and explorer, born near Tavistock. He served an apprenticeship as a mariner, and in 1567 he was given his first command. His ship, the Judith was one of a squadron of vessels led by a kinsman of Drake, the English navigator, Sir John Hawkins, on a slave-trading voyage in the Gulf of Mexico. All but two ships of the expedition, were lost, when they were attacked by a Spanish squadron. In 1570 and 1571, Drake made two profitable trading voyages to the West Indies. In 1572, he commanded two vessels in a marauding expedition, against Spanish ports in the Carribean Sea. During this voyage, Drake encountered the Pacific Ocean, where he captured the port of Nombre de Dios, on the Isthmus of Panama, and he destroyed the nearby town of Portobelo. He returned to England, with a cargo of Spanish silver and a reputation, as a brilliant privateer. He was next sent to Ireland, to help quell the rebellion there from 1573 to 1576.

In 1577, Drake was secretly commissioned by Elizabeth The First, Queen of England, to undertake an expedition, against the Spanish colonies on the Pacific coast of the New World. With five ships and one hundred and sixty six men, Drake set sail from Plymouth, England, on the 13th of December 1577. After crossing the Atlantic Ocean, two of the ships had to be abandoned, in the Rio de la Plata esturary of South America. In August 1578, the three remaining ships left the Atlantic Ocean and entered the Strait of Magellan at the southern tip of the South American continent. Sixteen days later they sailed into the Pacific Ocean. A series of violent storms, lasting more than fifty five days, destroyed one ship. Another sailed back to England. Drake, blown far south, sailed on in his flagship, the Golden Hind.

The lone vessel moved northward along the Pacific coast of South America, plundering Valparaiso and other Spanish ports; Drake also captured Spanish ships and subsequently made use of their more accurate charts. Seeking and eastward passage back to the Atlantic Ocean, Drake continued to sail north, possibly reaching as far as latitude forty eight degrees North, near the present U.S.-Canadian border. Unable to find a passage, he came about and headed south. The Golden Hind put in for repairs at an inlet (now called Drake's Bay) north of present-day San Francisco. Drake claimed the land for England, naming it New Albion.

On the 23rd of July 1579, Drake set sail again, this time heading westward across the Pacific Ocean. In November he reached the Moluccas, a group of islands in the southwest Pacific. He stopped at Celebes and Java, islands of Indonesia, rounded the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa, and he reached England in September 1580. Bearing a rich cargo of spices and captured Spanish treasure, he was hailed as the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world. Seven months later, he was knighted aboard the Golden Hind by Queen Elizabeth The First. He became Mayor of Plymouth in 1581 and he served, as a member of Parliament in 1584 and 1585.

Later in 1585, Drake sailed again, with a large fleet for the West Indies. He raided many Spanish settlements, including Saint Augustine in present-day Florida. Before returning, he put in at the first English colony in the New World, on Roanoke Island, off the coast of what is now North Carolina, and brought the unsuccessful colonists back to England. According to tradition, Drake introduced tobacco to England as a result of this visit to North America.

In 1587, war with Spain, was recognised as imminent, and Drake was dispatched by the Queen, to destroy the fleet being assembled by the Spanish in the harbour of Cadiz. He accomplished most of his purpose, and in the following year, he served as Vice Admiral of the English fleet that defeated the rebuilt Spanish Armada. In 1589, Drake was unsuccessful, in an expedition designed to destroy the few remaining Spanish ships. He returned to Plymouth and to Parliament. In 1595, the Queen sent for Drake and Hawkins, to go on, an expedition, against the Spanish forces in the West Indies. This mission, as well, was a failure. Both Drake and Hawkins contracted dsyentery in the Carribean, and their bodies were buried at sea.

PAGE LAST UPDATED: 19TH AUGUST 1999

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