To be a Pirate, is to be a robber at sea. There have been thousands of pirates across the world throughout history and in some parts of the world there are still criminals at sea today, who we could call pirates.
However, when we talk about pirates, generally we mean the Pirates from the Golden Age of Piracy over 300 years ago.
Below you'll find some of the most infamous Pirates from history.



Portrait of Blackbeard


Thomas Tew


Thomas Tew, also known as the Rhode Island Pirate, was a 17th century English privateer-turned-pirate. Although he embarked on only two major piratical voyages, and met a bloody death on the latter journey, Tew pioneered the route which became known as the Pirate Round. Many other famous pirates, including Henry Every and William Kidd, would follow in Tew’s path.

Henry Avery ("Long Ben")


Portrait of Henry Avery


Jim Bones

1699 – 1718

Portrait of Jim Bones

Records indicate that the Pirate 'Jim Bones' probably came from somewhere in southern Ireland. He was active in the atlantic ocean plundering many ships and amassing large amounts of treasure. Although he was ruthless when it came to taking ships, he was renouned for being a fair captain amoungst his crew who called him "The Good Captain". Bones and his crew were known to sail in two ships: His first ship "The Black Swift" is rumoured to have sank somewhere in the caribbean, being lost in a storm after just a year of pirating. His second ship "The Calico Princess" served him well for many years.
Compared to other pirates of his day, Bones was active over an huge period, spanning nearly 20 years. The Calico Princess was finally docked in Penzance, Cornwall in 1718 and neither Bones, his crew, nor (strangely) his ship we're ever seen again. It is assumed that he lived out his days peacefully.

John Quelch


John Quelch was an English pirate who had a lucrative but very brief career of about one year. His chief claim to historical significance is that he was the first person to be tried for piracy outside of England under Admiralty Law and thus without a jury. These Admiralty courts had been instituted to tackle the rise of piracy in colonial ports where civil and criminal courts had proved ineffective.

Black Bart (Bartholomew Rogers)


Portrait of Black Bart

Two years after Roberts was made captain he had accumulated over 51 million pounds worth of treasure and had taken close to 400 ships throughout the Americas, Africa and Europe. His skill had nearly halted Spanish importing and exporting while having lasted this time traveling the Navy Plagued waters, the Caribbean. By this time he had renamed himself Bartholomew Roberts and acquired the nickname "Black Bart."
He decided to return across the Atlantic in order to sell his stolen goods. From there he then proceeded to pillage the African Coast where he took several slaves. This eventually led to a confrontation with the Royal Navy patrol in February of 1722. After catching Robertís consort, the Great Ranger, a British warship, the HMS Swallow, commanded by Captain Chaloner Ogle, caught up to the pirates off the coast of Cape Lopez (present day Gabon). In an attempt to escape, Roberts tried to flee, sailing before the wind to gain the advantage. Ogleís ship arrived at dawn and Roberts headed his sloop back towards the pursuer in hopes of sailing past then out to the open sea. As the ships passed each other, Ogle released cannon fire on the pirates. When the smoke cleared, Roberts was found dead. He had been killed instantly and his body lay slumped over a cannon. To prevent Roberts' corpse from being seized, his crew threw his body overboard into the sea.

Calico Jack (John Rackham)


Portrait of Calico Jack


Edward Low


He captained a number of ships, usually maintaining a small fleet of three or four. Low and his pirate crews captured at least a hundred ships during his short career, burning most of them. Although he was active for only three years, Low remains notorious as one of the most vicious pirates of the age, with a reputation for violently torturing his victims before killing them.

Stede Bonnet


Portrait of Stede Bonnet

Stede Bonnet was an early 18th-century Barbadian pirate, sometimes called "The Gentleman Pirate" because he was a moderately wealthy landowner before turning to a life of crime. Bonnet was born into a wealthy English family on the island of Barbados, and inherited the family estate after his father's death in 1694. In 1709, he married Mary Allamby, and engaged in some level of militia service. Because of marital problems, and despite his lack of sailing experience, Bonnet decided to turn to piracy in the summer of 1717. He bought a sailing vessel, named it Revenge, and traveled with his paid crew along the Eastern Seaboard of what is now the United States, capturing other vessels and burning other Barbadian ships.
Bonnet set sail for Nassau, Bahamas, but he was seriously wounded en route during an encounter with a Spanish warship. After arriving in Nassau, Bonnet met Edward Teach, the infamous pirate Blackbeard. Incapable of leading his crew, Bonnet temporarily ceded his ship's command to Blackbeard. Before separating in December 1717, Blackbeard and Bonnet plundered and captured merchant ships along the East Coast. After Bonnet failed to capture the Protestant Caesar, his crew abandoned him to join Blackbeard aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge. Bonnet stayed on Blackbeard's ship as a guest, and did not command a crew again until summer 1718, when he was pardoned by North Carolina governor Charles Eden and received clearance to go privateering against Spanish shipping. Bonnet was tempted to resume his piracy, but did not want to lose his pardon, so he adopted the alias "Captain Thomas" and changed his ship's name to Royal James. He had returned to piracy by July 1718.

Walter Kennedy


Kennedy headed for Ireland, but having no skill in navigation landed on the north-west coast of Scotland instead. Seventeen of the crew were arrested near Edinburgh and put on trial for piracy, with nine of them being hanged. Kennedy himself was able to reach London where he is said to have kept a boarding house in the Deptford Road. When one of his logers accused him of theft, he was sent to the Bridewell Prison, where he was denounced as a pirate by the mate of a ship he had taken. Kennedy was transferred to the Marshalsea prison and put on trial for piracy. He was hanged at Execution Dock on July 21, 1721.

Emanuel Wynn

Little is known of Emanuel Wynn, other than that he was a French pirate of the 18th century, and is often considered the first pirate to fly the Jolly Roger. His design incorporated an hourglass beneath the bones to represent that time was running out.

Other Known Pirates

Here are some other pirates that you might like to research further: