1717 in piracy

Events

Caribbean Sea

  • January – HMS Scarborough bombards and destroys several pirate vessels careening on St. Croix, stranding the pirate crew.
  • Late February – Black Sam Bellamy in the Sultana takes the Whydah Gally near Jamaica and keeps it for his own use.
  • April 1 – Benjamin Hornigold and a pirate named Napping capture a large armed sloop, the Bennet out of Jamaica.
  • April 4 – At Bluefield's Bay in Jamaica, Hornigold and Napping capture the sloop Revenge carrying a load of Spanish gold.
  • September 29 – "Gentleman Pirate" Stede Bonnet, who has traded plantation life for a pirate ship, transfers command of his sloop, the Revenge, to Blackbeard.
  • November 28 – Blackbeard captures the French slave ship La Concorde near Martinique, equips her with 40 guns, and renames her the Queen Anne's Revenge.
  • December 10 – Blackbeard overtakes and ransacks the merchant sloop Margaret off the coast of Anguilla near Crab Island.

North America

  • Spring – Edward Teach and Benjamin Hornigold take two sloops to Virginia, robbing three vessels en route, then return to Nassau, Bahamas.
  • April – Bellamy seizes a merchant vessel off South Carolina.
  • April 26 – The Whydah Gally wrecks in a nor'easter off Cape Cod, Massachusetts; Bellamy and 143 men are drowned. Over 4 tons of treasure is lost under just 14 feet (4.3 m) of water – it would elude discovery for over 260 years.
  • July – Stede Bonnet's pirates in the Revenge plunder the Anne, Turbet, Endeavour, and Young off the coast of Virginia, burning the Turbet.
  • August – Bonnet raids two vessels off South Carolina, firing one.
  • October – Edward Teach and Stede Bonnet raid shipping in the mouth of Delaware Bay.
  • October 12 – Blackbeard captures a Captain Codd and his vessel off the Delaware capes. He later captures and loots the Spofford and Sea Nymph.
  • October 22 – Blackbeard, on the Revenge, stops and plunders the Robert and Good Intent of their cargo.

Europe

  • September 5 – King George I of Great Britain issues a royal decree, known as the Act of Grace, pardoning all pirates who surrender to the appointed authorities by 5 September 1718.[1]

Deaths

  • April 27 – Black Sam Bellamy, pirate commander captain (born February 23, 1689, aged 28), along with 143 of his crew.

See also

References

  1. "No. 5573". The London Gazette. 14 September 1717.
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