Nassau: Republic of Pirates | The Pirates Port

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Today we think of Nassau being a tropical vacation paradise full of beautiful hotels with pristine white sand beaches and crystal clear waters. Cruise ships routinely stop here and divers explore the gorgeous coral reefs offshore. It wasn’t always this way and today we’re going to explore Nassau’s past.

In 1670 British settlers on New Providence founded a town around a fort and named it Charles Town in honor of the English King Charles II. The town was used as a base for privateers against the Spanish up until 1684 when a Cuban privateer named Juan de Alarcón invaded on behalf of Spain. Alarcón arrived with 150 men at dawn and, without having any chance to react, the English were incapable of defending the town. The Bahamian governor, Robert Clarke, was captured and ultimately tortured to death being roasted on a spit. The town was burnt to the ground and the remaining English fled with around 200 fleeing to Jamaica.

In 1695 the town was rebuilt under Governor Nicholas Trott and renamed Nassau in honor of William III, King of England. William’s family was called the House of Nassau. In October 1703 Nassau was again invaded by a Spanish and French allied force that occupied the town before once again burning it down. After this the English largely ignored the Bahamas and there was no legitimate governor until 1718. During this time Nassau became a pirate haven and the Governor of Bermuda reported that there were over 1,000 pirates in Nassau.

The pirates transformed Nassau into a pirate republic, a radical concept for the day where the men governed themselves. The harbor was too shallow for large warships but could fit around 500 sloops, there was fresh fruit, game for hunting, and a fresh water source. The republic was led by two pirates who were bitter rivals - Benjamin Hornigold and Henry Jennings. Jennings was a mentor to Charles Vane, Calico Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny, and Mary Read. Hornigold was a mentor to Sam Bellamy, Stede Bonnet, and the famous Edward Thache, better known as Blackbeard. I just want to take a moment to address the name Thache versus Teach. In a soon to come video I’ll take a look at the name and explain why I prefer Thache, which sounds a lot like Teach or Thatch, but in a nutshell I believe his father has been identified as Edward Thache Sr., a wealthy plantation owner that moved to Jamaica around 1685.

Anyway, back to Nassau. Despite pirates having personal rivalries from time to time they agreed to ally with one another and develop the republic. Blackbeard was voted to be Magistrate enforcing law and order as he saw fit. The Pirates rule of law was called the pirate code and according to the code the pirates ran their ships as democracies, sharing plunder equally, selecting their captains by popular vote, and they even had a rudimentary form of workers compensation insurance in case someone was injured in battle. As free people former slaves were now free men and were equal members of the crews. In some cases these men even became captains themselves.Originally the pirates agreed to avoid attacking British ships with Thomas Barrow remarking “We will make it a second Madagascar, and expects 5 or 600 men more from Jamaica sloops to join in the settling of Providence, and to make war on the French and Spaniards, but for the English, they don't intend to meddle with them, unless they are first attack'd by them”. In time this rule was broken, either due to greed or simply slim pickings in the waters around the Bahamas. However, at the height of the pirate republic some captains commanded fleets of ships large enough to take on Royal Navy frigates.

As Nassau grew, both in size and in reputation, the public outcry for the removal of the pirates also grew as well. In 1718 King George I appointed Woodes Rogers as governor of the Bahamas as sent him with explicit instructions to break up the republic of pirates. Rogers arrived in Nassau with a fleet of 7 ships and offered a pardon to any pirate who agreed to refrain from further piracy. Rogers also rebuilt the fort using his own money. One of the pirates who accepted Rogers offer was Benjamin Hornigold. Hornigold was commissioned to hunt down the pirates who refused to surrender and bring them to justice. While pirates like Blackbeard and Charles Vane escaped and were not captured by Hornigold he did take ten pirates prisoner and on December 12th 1718 nine of the pirates were executed. After this the British re-established control.

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