#black bart roberts

[ltwilliammowett]

 Black Bart Roberts Attacks, by Patrick O’Brien (1960-)

Bartholomew Roberts was one of the most feared pirates of the golden age of piracy. He raided ships in the Atlantic until he was hunted down and killed in 1722. His two vessels, Royal Fortune and the Ranger, are shown attacking a British frigate.

[thepinkseat-askthemoonbunny]

Apparently the infamous pirate Black Bart Roberts was probably historically gay and I am LIVING! I say probably because we don’t have concrete evidence or anything (hence why I don’t have any real sources, just stuff that’s been floating around that has strong subtext. Trust me, I’ve been googling for a GOOD minute as soon as I’ve heard and that’s all I found) but rumors have been swirling for YEARS that this man has been banging not only his surgeon, but was also banging another dude on his crew named John Walden. The surgeon’s name was George Wilson and the two were by all accounts very intimate and spent a lot of time together. And apparently they swore to each other that if they were ever captured, they’d go down to hell together and blow up the ship...these niggas made a suicide pact, this is some Romeo and Juliet shit. Now either they were the ULTIMATE bros, or something was going on. Unfortunately the relationship apparently ended up in a Taylor Swift style breakup because Roberts also apparently threatened to cut off Wilson’s ears one time if he didn’t treat a crew member. Yikes.

[ltwilliammowett]

A Most Notorious Pyrate, Black Bart Roberts in the Royal Fortune, by Patrick O’Brien 

After the plundering of eleven slave ships anchored in Ouidah, Roberts saw what he believed to be a great merchant ship on February 5, 1722, and gave the Great Ranger one of three ships in his fleet under Captain James Skyrme the order to pursue. The supposed prey however was the HMS Swallow under Captain Chaloner Ogle, a warship with 60 cannons on board. After a mock retreat, the purpose of which was to get the two ships out of sight of the rest of the pirate fleet, the Swallow suddenly turned back, fired a broadside at the Great Ranger and boarded her.

On February 10, 1722, the warship met the Royal Fortune, which was anchored, and Ogle gave the order to attack. After being informed that the warship was on an attack course, Roberts is said to have finished breakfast, put on his best clothes and armed himself before facing the battle. In the ensuing naval battle, at about eleven o'clock in the morning, standing on a gun carriage, he had his throat slit by a Swallow's cartridge, after which the rest of the crew fought on for about three hours before finally surrendering.  Bartholomew Roberts' body was thrown overboard, as he had requested several times during his lifetime, so that he would not be caught. Similar to Blackbeard's last battle, one of Roberts' men tried to blow up the powder magazine and the ship. However, after the pirates surrendered, he was overpowered. 95 crew members were subsequently sentenced at Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, 52 of them to death by hanging.

[thepinkseat-askthemoonbunny]

Dear fellow pirate lovers:

This whole Roberts vs Blackbeard debate is getting tiresome. We get it, Bart Roberts was a trillion times more successful. But Blackbeard is more famous and he didn’t even have to put in that much work, that’ll never change. I mean just let people like the historical figures that they like regardless of how famous or overrated they are. I mean, I think both of ‘em are pretty cool.

PLUS: Ching Shih blows both of them clean out of the water anyway, COMBINED and NOBODY talks about her, isn’t that a bit of a crime right there?

[aubreysmaturin]

God, I just want a live action Captain Bart Roberts now. Like he's been in a game and that's it.

I want the version of Roberts from The Requiem Shark also. Just please...I didn't get him in Black Sails maybe in Our Flag Means Death?

[ltwilliammowett]

Black Bart Roberts Attacks by Patrick O’Brien      

Bartholomew Roberts was one of the most feared pirates of the golden age of piracy. He raided ships in the Atlantic from 1719 until he was hunted down and killed in 1722. His two vessels, Royal Fortune and the Ranger, are shown attacking a British frigate.

[ordinaryhouseholdtoaster]

[ifapirateimustbe]

The Death of Bartholomew Roberts On 5 February 1722 HMS Swallow, commanded by Captain Chaloner Ogle, came upon the three pirate ships, the Royal Fortune, the Ranger and the Little Ranger careening at Cape Lopez. The Swallow veered away to avoid a shoal, making the pirates think that she was a fleeing merchant ship. The Ranger, commanded by James Skyrme, departed in pursuit. Once out of earshot of the other pirates, theSwallow opened her gun ports and opened fire. Ten pirates were killed and Skyrme had his leg taken off by a cannonball, but refused to leave the deck. Eventually, the Ranger was forced to strike her colors and the surviving crew were captured. On 10 February, the Swallow returned to Cape Lopez and found the Royal Fortune still there. On the previous day, Roberts had captured the Neptune, and many of his crew were drunk and unfit for duty just when he needed them most. At first, the pirates thought that the approaching ship was the Ranger returning, but a deserter from theSwallow recognized her and informed Roberts while he was breakfasting with Captain Hill, the master of the Neptune. As he usually did before action, he dressed himself in his finest clothes: Roberts himself made a gallant figure, at the time of the engagement, being dressed in a rich crimson damask waistcoat and breeches, a red feather in his hat, a gold chain round his neck, with a diamond cross hanging to it, a sword in his hand, and two pairs of pistols slung over his shoulders ... —A General History of the ... Pyrates (1724), p.212 The pirates' plan was to sail past the Swallow, which meant exposing themselves to one broadside. Once past, they would have a good chance of escaping. However, the helmsman failed to keep the Royal Fortune on the right course, and the Swallow was able to approach to deliver a second broadside. Captain Roberts was killed by a grapeshot, which struck him in the throat while he stood on the deck. Before his body could be captured by Ogle, Roberts' wish to be buried at sea was fulfilled by his crew, who weighed his body down and threw it overboard after wrapping it in his ship's sail. It was never found. Roberts' death shocked the pirate world, as well as the Royal Navy. The local merchants and civilians had thought him invincible, and some considered him a hero.