Benjamin Hornigold is thought to have born in Norfolk England and if so his home port could have been either Kings Lynn or Yarmouth. Like many others he would have sailed as an English privateer during the War of Spanish Succession. However, when the war ended in 1713 and all letters of marque were withdrawn, he like others were at a loose end and turned to piracy to earn a living.
To this end Hornigold and others made their way to New Providence Island In the Bahamas. Once there he together with John Cockram set up the “Pirates Republic”, bought some small ships from the settlers and continued to attack Spanish shipping. In his crew there were men under him who learnt their trade well, men such as, Paulsgrove Williams, Sam Bellamy and the infamous Edward Teach (blackbeard) all eventually became Pirates in their own right. In less than three years Hornigold’s pirate gang had grown to 200 men and ruled the surrounding seas.
So powerful had Hornigold become that in 1715 he threatened the British Authorities when they tried to arrest some pirates that were raiding a sunken Spanish galleon. Despite the threats he was a patriot in his own way and refused at all times to attack British ships, a situation that caused much unrest amongst the other captains and would eventually cause the break up of the gang.
In 1716 Hornigold who had come to admire Teach, gave him the captaincy of a sloop and for the next year along with others of the gang that now numbered 350 men they terrorised the seas. In November 1717 they took a French Guineyman, the “Concord” and Blackbeard became her Captain, later he brought her gun strength up to forty and renamed her Queen Anne’s Revenge. But before anything else could occur the matter of Hornigold’s refusal to attack British shipping came to a head and the other pirates voted to sail under Blackbeard, leaving Hornigold and a small crew with no choice but to sail his sloop “Ranger” back to New Providence.
Back in New Providence Hornigold continued as a pirate until 1718 when Woodes Rogers the newly arrived Governor of the Bahamas granted him the Kings Pardon. In fact Hornigold made such a good impression on the governor that he commissioned him as a Pirate Hunter, with orders to go after Charles Vane and Stede Bonnet. Despite Hornigold failing in his efforts to capture either of them, (Stede Bonnet was eventually captured by two sloops under the command of Colonel William Rhett out of Charleston) the governor still had faith in him and called on him when he was having problems with another gang of pirates. This time Hornigold caught his men and brought back thirteen of the gang to face justice.
The following year 1719 Hornigold was sent on a trading voyage to Mexico and never came back. According to Captain Charles Johnson, his ship struck a reef far from land and he perished. But others said that he was captured by Spaniards and ended his days in the Spanish prison at Havana.
Whichever it was, the once famous pirate Benjamin Hornigold and founding member of the Pirates Republic, ended his career as a privateer charged with hunting down other pirates.
Kings Lynn or Yarmouth. Like many others he would have sailed as an English privateer during the War of Spanish Succession. However, when the war ended in 1713 and all letters of marque were withdrawn, he like others were at a loose end and turned to piracy to earn a living.