Why Stede Bonnet Was The Gentleman Pirate
Stede Bonnet was born in 1688, on the Caribbean Island of Barbados. As the son of a wealthy plantation owner in Bridgetown, he had a very privileged upbringing, being the recipient of a private education.
In 1709, Bonnet married Mary Allamby and the couple went on to have four children. Details of Bonnet's military service are unclear, but he held the rank of major in the Barbados militia, likely due to his family's land holdings, however, there is no record that he took part in the fighting during the War of the Spanish Succession.
Despite his high social status and the luxurious comforts it afforded him, Bonnet quickly became dissatisfied with married life. In a remarkable and surprising turn of events, he decided to abandon his seemingly boring life in Barbados to pursue a career in piracy, even though he had practically no knowledge or experience of sailing. In the spring of 1717, he contracted a local shipyard to construct a sloop, which he christened the Revenge and after acquiring ten guns and a crew of over 70 men, he set sail under the cover of darkness.
That summer, the Revenge cruised off the Eastern coast of the American colonies and captured a handful of trading vessels. Some of these ships hailed from his native Barbados but he took measures to ensure that no news of his piratical activity ever reached home by burning any of the vessels he captured.
By September, Bonnet decided to head south to the infamous pirate den of Nassau in the Bahamas, but en route was caught up in his first ever combat engagement, with a Spanish man-of-war. After a fierce battle, in which half of the Revenge’s crew were either killed or wounded, Bonnet was able to eventually put in at Nassau. Bonnet himself was seriously wounded in the fight and spent much of the subsequent weeks recovering from his injuries.
Whilst ashore in Nassau, Bonnet encountered the notorious pirate Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard. The two pirates soon agreed to join company but being still unwell to resume command of the Revenge, Bonnet temporarily transferred the captaincy of his ship to Blackbeard, whilst he stayed on board to fully recover. From Nassau, they sailed north to Delaware Bay, where they captured and looted 11 ships. They returned to the Caribbean that November and continued their piracy, capturing La Concorde, a French slave ship off the coast of Saint Vincent, which Blackbeard took possession of it for himself, renaming it Queen Anne's Revenge.
Bonnet and Blackbeard separated sometime after 19th December, with Bonnet sailing onto the western Caribbean. In March 1718, the Revenge encountered the merchant vessel Protestant Caesar off the coast of Honduras, but the ship managed to escape. Perhaps owing to his lack of nautical knowledge, Bonnet had thus far achieved very little in terms of success as a pirate and as a result, his crew were now beginning to grow restless. When Bonnet next encountered Blackbeard a few weeks later, his men quickly deserted him to join the now infamous pirate onboard the Queen Anne’s Revenge. Bonnet was forced to relinquish command of his vessel and joined his mutinous crew onboard Blackbeard’s flagship. In the spring of 1718, the pirate fleet sailed onto South Carolina, blockading the port of Charleston and effectively held the town to ransom for a number of days. They then headed north to Topsail Island, to rest and refit their vessels, however, the Queen Anne's Revenge ran aground on a sand bar and had to be abandoned.
In the previous year of 1717, King George I of Great Britain issued a royal proclamation, granting pardons to pirates if they handed themselves in and swore to never take up piracy again. Realising that he should probably draw a line under his failing career as a pirate and move onto new ventures, Bonnet travelled alone to Bath in North Carolina, to obtain a pardon from Governor Charles Eden. Whilst there, he was also granted permission to take the Revenge to the Danish colony of St Thomas, where he planned to secure a letter of marque and go privateering against Spanish shipping in the region.
Bonnet returned to Topsail Island only to find that Blackbeard had sailed away with most of the captured loot, leaving behind the Revenge stricken of it’s supplies and only a handful of the crew, who were marooned on a nearby sandbar. With his plans to sail onto St Thomas now in ruins and with no other means of supporting himself, Bonnet was forced to return to his piratical ways despite having just received a pardon. In the hopes of preserving his name and recent absolution from the law, Bonnet adopted the alias of Captain Thomas and changed the Revenge's name to the Royal James. He engaged in a false pretence of trade with the next two vessels that he came across, in order to disguise his intentions to rob them but shortly afterwards, he reverted to openly blatant piracy and pillaged eleven vessels in Delaware Bay.
The Royal James soon began to take on water and was in need of careening, so Bonnet sailed into the Cape Fear River and anchored at the mouth of a small waterway. He remained in the Cape Fear River for the next 45 days, intending to wait out the hurricane season there. However, in August, news reached Charleston that Bonnet's ship was moored there and the Governor of South Carolina, Robert Johnson, authorized Colonel William Rhett to lead a naval expedition against the pirates.
Rhett reached the Cape Fear River estuary on the night of 26th September and was sighted by Bonnet and his men. Believing the ships to be those of merchants, the pirates boarded three canoes and headed for the unrecognized South Carolinian expedition. It was at this time that Rhett's flagship, Henry, ran aground on a sandbar. This allowed the canoes to approach close enough to discover the identity of Rhett’s ship and then quickly turnaround to warn Bonnet.
Instead of fleeing up the small river in darkness, Bonnet decided that he would fight his way back out to sea the next morning. As day broke, Bonnet raised his flag and attacked. They sailed until they came within range of the enemy ships, then opened fire with cannon and muskets. The British sloops returned fire and split up in an attempt to outflank Bonnet, but the Henry ran aground again along with the other of Rhett’s sloops. To avoid the enemy fire and navigate out to the open sea, Bonnet steered his vessels close to the western shore of the river, but they too ran aground in the shallows.
The battle became a stalemate for the next five or six hours, with all the participants immobilized but still able to fire upon one another. The rising tide in the afternoon eventually lifted Rhett's sloops free, while the Royal James remained stranded further up stream. Bonnet was left helpless, watching while the enemy vessels closed in to board his paralysed ship. His men were outnumbered almost three to one and stood no chance of victory, so Bonnet ordered his gunner to blow up the Royal James's powder magazine but his crew overruled him and promptly surrendered. Rhett arrested the pirates and returned to Charleston with his prisoners on 3rd October.
In Charleston, Bonnet was separated from the majority of his men and held along with a few of his close associates at the home of the Town Marshal. However, on 24th October, Bonnet and one of his crew, David Herriot, managed to escape. Governor Johnson quickly dispatched search parties to find the escapees and placed a £700 bounty on Bonnet's head.
After obtaining a small boat, Bonnet and Herriot sailed for the north shore of Charleston Harbour but were forced onto Sullivan's Island due to bad winds. The search parties soon caught up with them on the island and opened fire on their hiding place. Herriot was shot and killed, whilst Bonnet surrendered and was taken back to Charleston.
While awaiting trial, civil disorder broke out in support of Bonnet within the city, which nearly resulted in the burning of the town and the overthrow of the government. On 10th November, Bonnet was brought to trial before Sir Nicholas Trott, who was sitting as Vice-Admiralty judge. He was charged with only two acts of piracy against two ships, both of whose commanders were present to testify against Bonnet in person. Judge Trott had already sentenced most of Bonnet’s crew to be hanged but one had turned King's Witness and testified, somewhat reluctantly, against his former captain. Bonnet pleaded not guilty to the charges and conducted his own defence without the assistance of counsel but Judge Trott delivered a damning summation of the evidence and the jury ultimately found Bonnet guilty. Two days later, he was sentenced to death.
While awaiting execution, Bonnet wrote to Governor Johnson, begging for clemency and promising to have his arms and legs cut off as assurance that he would never commit piracy again. It was reported that the Governor delayed his execution seven times, which apparently drove Bonnet to the brink of insanity, not knowing whether he was going to be reprieved or not. Finally, on the 10th December, 1718, Bonnet’s last day came and he was hanged at White Point Garden.
Stede Bonnet is often remembered as the ‘Gentlemen Pirate’ and his story certainly is a peculiarity compared to those of his contemporaries, who took to piracy on the high seas out of necessity, rather than out of curiosity, as in the case with Bonnet. His lack of experience and judgment resulted in a string of failures during his short lived pirate career, which lasted a little over 12 months and culminated in his capture and eventual execution. Bonnet’s story, although interesting and eventful is tinged with remorse, as he needlessly gave up his life of comfort and privilege, in exchange for one of pain and suffering.