"It's an open question how much of this story Avery invented."
—Flint, S4E8
For BLACK SAILS APPRECIATION WEEK 2025: Favourite Character
It's very hard for me to pick a favourite from this show, so how about another ghost in the narrative? He's been there through all the seasons, many characters mention him by name, and he appears to inspire some of their actions. Also it's unclear if he's dead or has escaped piracy, which is as Black Sails as it gets. The historical pirate: Henry Avery🏴☠️
She's using water like a portal, a door. She can materialize through a single drop. We need to go somewhere with no water. – Well, thank God we're not in the middle of the ocean.
DOCTOR WHO (2005– )
S06E03: Curse Of The Black Spot
>>Come all you brave Boys, whose Courage is bold, Will you venture with me, I'll glut you with Gold? Make haste unto Corona, a Ship you will find, That's called the Fancy, will pleasure your mind.Captain Every is in her, and calls her his own; He will box her about, Boys, before he has done: French, Spaniard and Portuguese, the Heathen likewise, He has made a War with them until that he dies.
—A Copy of Verses, Composed by Captain Henry Every, Lately Gone to Sea to seek his Fortune.
Known among his peers as “the King of Pirates”, the fierce Henry Avery was an infamous pirate from the 17th century, specially known for always having escaped alive with his loot. His short-lived career, beginning with the mutiny of the ship he worked in, the Charles II (which he would rename Fancy), was so prolific it inspired many to turn to piracy, and the captain himself was regarded by the public as some romantic figure that fought against injustice. His sudden disappearance in the summer of 1696, while carrying his vast treasure with him, sparked a decade-long hunt for his crew and himself. Adrian Van Broeck, a Dutchman who claimed to have been a survivor of Avery’s many prisoners, would publish in 1709 a pamphlet on the times of his captor, who he presented as both a ruthless, treacherous buccaneer and a passionate lover; he claimed that, after sacking emperor Mughal’s fleet in 1695, Avery took the emperor’s daughter as his wife and, alongside her, founded a pirate utopia that would become a monarchy on its own right. Truth is, Henry Avery was known to have been married at least once, to an Englishwoman by the name of Dorothy Arther, though they had no known offspring; as for his fate, many testimonies state that he was robbed of his fortune while on the run and died a pauper.
Legend or myth, this pirate’s legacy paved the way for many other legendary pirates, and left an indelible mark on literature. His personal sigil —a Jolly Roger with a bandana in a black background—, always waving proud at the top of his Fancy, would drive away in fright all the ships who knew the name of captain Henry Avery.
Almost thirty years after his mysterious disappearance, Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe, would write of him in his General History of the Pyrates, that “None of these bold Adventurers were ever so much talked of, for a while, as Avery”
Overall a fun episode. A pirate-y adventure with a siren that turns out to be a doctor from a ship from another world that uses mirrors as a portal is so very Doctor Who.
The final scene with Rory nearly dying is done great too and is very moving. Death copouts annoy me in general and you do know Rory will live in the end, it’s just a filler episode after all, but the nature of the scene where there is always that real hope of saving him makes it feel much less like a copout and allows the scene to be emotional and not undercut by Rory’s eventual survival.
I also enjoy the Doctor repeatedly being mistaken about the siren, it is kind of refreshing for the Doctor not to magically know the answer to everything, although maybe this could have been better if Amy or Rory had figured the truth out rather than him (that the siren uses mirrors as portals)?
I have to say I’m not entirely convinced by all the details of the plot. Why does the TARDIS get taken? Why do the rest of the crew have to stay on that other ship? Why do the Doctor/Amy/Avery get transported to a random part of the ship rather than the sickbay? There are several details like this that absolutely don’t ruin the episode but do slightly break the immersion. It’s also quite funny that each time the siren appears, they’re able to hold Rory back but just let the other crewmates “die”.
I enjoy the character of Captain Avery, he is fun to watch and pretty complex and nuanced for a one-off. I like having an alien explanation of the mystery of what happened to him - although I didn’t realise Henry Avery was a real historical figure until years after my first watch when someone straight up told me. I’m not entirely convinced by the eventual revelation that gold is what motivates him above all either - it probably would have held more weight if this side of his character had been shown earlier in the episode, I don’t think it comes up until about the halfway point, or if it had had worse consequences. After all, regardless of what happened to his son, they had to go to other world to rescue Rory.
So, I've seen the theory that Hal Gates = Henry Avery, and I laughed at it until I did the research.
And holy shit, it fits.
What made me start scratching my head was when I stumbled upon a second draft script for the pilot that is a little different from what aired. It straight up says that Hal Gates is in his 60s in Episode I/1715. For some reason, I figured him a bit younger, but since Mark Ryan was only 58 when the show started airing...it starts to make sense.
Henry Avery was (probably) born in 1659. He'd be 56 in 1715.
Short history: Henry (Hal?) Avery was a British-born sailor who spent some time in the Royal Navy as a master's mate, became a privateer, and then a pirate captain when the crew of his ship mutinied and elected him. Then he became the most successful pirate of his age, the "Arch Pirate," and the subject of the first-ever worldwide manhunt after only two years as a pirate captain.
Then he escaped with his loot around 1695, twenty years before Black Sails begins, never to be seen again.
But there are theories that he disappeared to New Providence Island.
(More on that below the cut). Isn't that fascinating? We don't know where Hal Gates comes from, but we know he's been around for quite awhile. He's the right age (practically spot on). Hornigold implies that Gates has been at sea for around 50 years, which would mean he first went to sea around 1665, give or take a little. The first mention of Every at sea is around 1671, but what's 5-6 years when you're rounding?
The Black Sails universe credits Avery/Every as one of the founders of the Nation of Thieves, saying "this is a place for free men," on New Providence Island. He's also the man who found Skeleton Island.
We know Hal Gates sailed on his crew and had his journals (his "prized possession," which he gave to Flint for safekeeping. Why give those to someone who was supposedly a minor member of his crew (someone who was "terrified Avery knew his name")? That doesn't add up very well. Why would Gates even have those journals?
"They say it started with a man named Henry Avery. Sailed into the port of Nassau, bribed the colonial governor to look past his sins, encamped his crew upon the beach, and thus began the pirate issue on New Providence Island." (Thomas Hamilton to James McGraw)
Avery vanishes into thin air, after supposedly giving Hal Gates his journals and leaving some of his crew on New Providence Island, including - presumably - Gates. Unless, of course, he is Hal "Gates." Then we've definitely seen him, the man who didn't really want to be a pirate captain until it was thrust upon him. That's a weird attitude, unless, of course, he's retired and is just going to see as a quartermaster because he missed the action?
More Avery/Every history beneath the cut.
Black Sails spells his name as Avery, though the common spelling is actually Every. So, what's his story?
Henry Every, also known as Henry Avery, Jack Avery, John Avery, Benjamin Bridgeman, or Long Ben, was the "Arch Pirate" or "King of Pirates" in his day.
He was probably born in Newton Ferrers, England (near Plymouth), in August 1659. His last name may have been spelled "Evarie" at this time.) Sometime between 1671 and 1689, he joined the Royal Navy under the name Henry Every and made it to the rank of master's mate before being discharged in 1690.
He also married to Dorothy Arther in 1690. Even in the navy, he was known as a family man, sending his money home instead of wasting it.
Then Every joined up with a new shipping company, and became first mate on a privateer warship, Charles II. The Spanish Expedition Shipping company was basically a bunch of English privateers who headed out to help Spain (then an English ally) hurt the French (never an English ally) in the West Indies. But Spain didn't deliver the promised letter of marque, failed to pay them, and left them sitting around as virtual prisoners. The crew of Charles II mutinied. Next you know, Every was unanimously elected captain and they changed the name of the ship to Fancy.
Over the next two years, Every and his crew embarked on a legendary series of raids that culminated in him commanding a squadron of pirate ships and taking a prize worth about £600,000 (about $135 million today). This was a 25 ship convoy owned by the Grand Mughal (Emperor), and it was the biggest prize ever taken by a pirate at the time.
The result? The first ever worldwide manhunt for one Henry Every. Britain's privy council and the East India Company offered a bounty of £1,000 (about $224,000 today) for his capture, plus a free pardon to informers.
It was due to his actions that Parliament declared pirates hostis humani generis ,or enemies of all mankind.
What happened to Every after this? What we know for sure is that he disappeared, forever to be the one pirate who got away scott free with his treasure. Sightings were reported for years, but none were reliable. Some say he died in poverty after squandering his treasure or being unable to sell it. But there's a strong theory that he disappeared in a place we all know very well: New Providence Island.
According to this theory, in Every and Fancy headed to St. Thomas and sold some of their treasure. Anchoring about 50 miles off New Providence Island, some of his men went to talk to the governor and ask leave for the crew to come to the island in exchange for hefty bribe. Their captain, "Henry Bridgeman" promised the governor a gift.
Every's crew spent months in the Bahamas and Fancy was stripped of everything valuable, ending up running aground and sinking, perhaps at the governor's orders. Eventually, the governor learned about the price on Every's head and put a warrant out for his arrest, but he seems to have tipped off the crew. Of 113 men, only 24 were captured (and 5 executed). Every was never seen again, having told his men multiple stories about where he intended to go.
