For example, in January 1722, he captured an 11-ship fleet off the coast of West Africa. To avoid capture, Roberts would order his ships to attack vessels on one coast and then cross the ocean to attack on another coast. Roberts would often fly the flag of a particular country when approaching a ship and then quickly replace it with one of his pirate flags when it was too late He also used a flag with a skull above two crossed bones that became known as the Jolly Roger. The flag might have represented bragging or a warning because on one of his adventures, Roberts had captured Martinique’s governor and hanged him from the yardarm. The governors of Barbados and Martinique, respectively. The skulls represented the severed heads of One flag consisted of a silhouette of himself standing with a sword astride one skull labelled ABH and another, AMH. To make it clear that his ships belonged to no country, Black Bart created his own flags. After an apparent encounter with a Dutch ship, he ordered its crew members’ ears to be cut off if they did not surrender the information he sought. Another theory is that the name refers to Roberts’s ruthlessness as a pirate. The meaning behind this moniker is uncertain, but it might have referred to how his skin tanned and darkened after Now a pirate captain, he changed his first name from John to Bartholomew to confuse British authorities. Roberts left the fort on the Island of Princes badly damaged and the nearby town His first order was to attack the town from which the Portuguese ship had sailed. Davis was killed in a battle with a Portuguese ship off the West African coast.ĭespite having been aboard for only six weeks, the crew chose Roberts as their new captain. ( See also Black Enslavement in Canada.) When a pirate ship captained by Howell Davis captured Princess inįebruary 1720, Roberts either volunteered to join the pirates or was kidnapped by them. In 1718, he became second mate on Princess of London, which transported enslaved people from the African coast to Britain. Roberts left home at around age 13 to work aboard ships and is believed to have worked as a merchant seaman. His father was a landowner, and he spent his youth helping out with the family farm. Bartholomew Roberts was born around 1682 in Pembrokeshire, southwest Wales.
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