(He became known as the gentleman pirate, because he always dressed in the best of clothes and wore a periwig).
Part 1
Stede Bonnet was born in 1688 on the island of Barbados, while there was no record of his birth, there was a record of him being christened on 29th of July in the parish of Christ Church on the Island. His father and mother were Edward and Sarah Bonnet and the English family were wealthy enough to own a four-hundred acre plantation, which Stede had bequeathed to him at the death of his father in 1694.
In 1709 Bonnet married Mary Allamby and they went on to have four children three boys and one girl, however, the eldest boy died before 1715. At some point he joined the Island’s militia and was appointed Major. Then in the summer of 1717 this upstanding and honest plantation owner decided on a complete change of direction - some said it was because of a nagging wife.
Anyway, whatever the reason his course of action was a shock to his family, Mary’s husband and her children’s father, bought a sixty-ton-sloop, fitted her with cannon, renamed her the Revenge, hired a sixty man crew and despite having no experience of the sea, went off to be a pirate.
Sailing to the coast of Virginia Bonnet and his crew took the following shipping, the Anne, the Turbet, the Endeavour, the Young and several more before moving on to New York where took a sloop before sailing to Gardiner’s Island to take on provisions before moving on. In the August of the same year they took and plundered a sloop and a brigantine, the brigantine he let go but took the sloop he ran ashore and set fire to her.
Putting to sea Bonnet went in search of more prey but before he could, he came across the Queen Anne’s Revenge captained by Edward Teach (Blackbeard) who invited him to join forces, which he did. They hunted together for a while and took a few ships, but realising Bonnet was a poor seaman and that his crew were unhappy with the situation, Blackbeard talked Bonnet into coming aboard the Queen Anne’s Revenge, where he could live the life of a gentleman, while one of his own men took command of the sloop.
Sometime after the siege of Charleston, they sailed to Topsail Inlet. On reaching the inlet Blackbeard accidentally ran the Queen Anne’s Revenge aground on a sandbank and called for Israel Hands, who was captaining a second captured sloop, to come to the rescue, unfortunately the sloop also ran aground. At this point Blackbeard declared that he intended to surrender to the King’s Proclamation and suggested to Bonnet that if he did so too, he would return his sloop to him.
Bonnet set off immediately for Bath Town in North Carolina, where found that England and France had declared war on Spain, he surrendered and received a certificate and clearance for the Revenge.
He left pretending to sail to St Thomas, to get a privateers commission from the French that would allow him to go against the Spanish, but he actually sailed back to Topsail Inlet to collect his share of the loot from Teach. Only when he got there he found that Teach, his crew - apart from seventeen men he had marooned on a small Island - and the sloop with all the loot on board had gone. After picking up the men from the Island Bonnet went after, but never did find Teach, or get his share of the loot back.
From, “The History And Lives Of All The Most Notorious Pirates And Their Crews. Fifth edition 1735. Anonymous.
The Major was a Gentleman of Fortune and Distinction in the Island of Barbadoes, who before his Piracy bore the character of a worthy honest man, and no-body could ever account for this his undertaking, for he wanted neither learning nor understanding. He fitted out a Sloop with ten guns and sixty men, which he named the Revenge, at his own expence, and sailed from Barbadoes for the Cape of Virginia, where he took the Anne from Glasgow, the Turbet from Barbadoes, the Endeavour from Bristol, the Young from Leith, and many others. From thence he went to New York, and there took a Sloop, and then stood in at Gardiner’s Island where he bought provisions, and went off. August, 1717, he came off at the Bar of South Carolina, and took a Sloop and Brigantine, which they plundered, and then he dismissed the Brigantine, but took the Sloop with him to an Inlet in North-Carolina, where he careened, and set her on fire.
Afterwards he put to sea, but could not agree with the men what course to take; for the Major being no sailor, was obliged to submit to many things his men imposed upon him, when falling in with Edward Teach, alias Blackbeard, who was a good sailor, but a hardened villain, Bonnet’s Crew joined with him, and put Bonnet aboard Blackbeard’s Ship.
But Blackbeard losing his Ship at Topsail Inlet, surrendered to the King’s Proclamation; when Bonnet re-assumed the command of his own Sloop, and sailed directly for Bath Town in North-Carolina, where he also surrenders himself, and receives a certificate. There getting a clearance for his Sloop, he pretended to sail for the Island of St. Thomas, to get the Emperor’s Commission to go a-Privateering upon the Spaniards. But returning to Topsail Inlet, he found that Blackbeard and his gang were gone, with their effects; and that they had set on shore, on a small sandy island about a league from the continent, seventeen men, without any provisions, or vessel to escape. There they had been two nights and one day without any sustenance, when, to their inexpressible joy, they saw Major Bonnet, who had been informed of their being there by two of Blackbeard’s crew, who had escaped to avoid his cruelty.
m Teach. Only when he got there he found that Teach, his crew - apart from seventeen men he had marooned on a small Island - and the sloop with all the loot on board had gone. After picking up the men from the Island Bonnet went after, but never did find Teach, or get his share of the loot back.