u/unknowntrooper1138

This is a more recent drawing of mine featuring the famed "Gentleman pirate" Stede Bonnet. After pirating in the Caribbean and American coast, Bonnet decided to careen his sloop Royal James at the mouth of the Cape Fear River in Carolina. He was ambushed by two pirate-hunting sloops under Colonel William Rhett of South Carolina. Bonnet tried to run but was forced to fight. In the roughly 5-hour fight, both sloops ran around, and Rhett's sloop was left exposed to pirate fire at an especially vulnerable angle, allowing the pirates to shoot on her deck and cause casualties of about 10-12 men dead, about the same number wounded. The pirates lost most likely less than 10 men.

While the pirates were also stuck and would indeed soon lose the fight, as Rhett's sloop was sooner clear than Bonnet's, the pirates had a moment of optimism and bravado in the battle. This is what I decided to depict here. The pirates cheered by hoisting their hats and mockingly gesturing to the crew of the Henry, the sloop of Rhett. The Pirates even made a so-called wiff or "waft" to their red or "bloody" flag of defiance. This maritime term means a knot made in a flag and then hoisted, which was a signal for a pilot to come aboard a ship. Now this signal was part of the pirates' mockery, as Rhett could not board them.

The Battle is best described by a quote from his trial from Rhett's side:

>... the next Morning, Saturday the 27th of September, they [the pirates] got under Sail, and came down the River; and depending on their Sloops sailing, designed only a Running-Fight [with Rhett's sloops]. But our Sloops stood for him, and got on his each Quarter, with design to board the Pirate: which he finding, edged in towards the Shore; and being warmly engaged, their Sloop ran a-ground. Our Sloops being in the same shoal Water, were a-ground as soon as the Pirate; the Henry, in which Col. Rhett was, grounded within Pistol-shot of the Pirate, and on his Bow; the other Sloop grounded right a-head of him, and almost out of Gun-shot, which made him of little Service to the Colonel while they lay a-ground. At this time the Pirates had a considerable Advantage; for their Sloop, after she was a-ground, listed from Colonel Rhett's, by which means they were all covered; and the Colonel's Sloop listing the fame way, his Men were much expos'd. Not-withstanding which, they kept a brisk Fire the whole time they thus lay a-ground, which was near five Hours. The Pirates made a Wiff in their bloody Flag, and beckon'd with their Hats in derision to our People to come on board them; which they only answered with chearful Huzza's, and told them it would soon be their Turn. And which was ſo in a little time...

You can find some of the old pirate trial documents here, Bonnet's as well: https://waynesavage.com/pirate-trial-documents/

In the end, Bonnet was captured and later executed in Charleston after a short escape attempt, so ultimately, this was a bittersweet scene for the pirates.

I wanted to depict that despite being memed about due to popular depictions in video games, TV shows, and media, Stede Bonnet may not have been as clumsy and foolish as often depicted. His resistance to the authorities was more competent than some others, and he was possibly less delusional than often depicted. He was not the sole "gentleman" among pirate captains at the time, and piracy's legal counterpart, privateering, had often worked as a somewhat common enterprise for Caribbean gentlemen in the years before. Bonnet's case received a lot of attention at the time when the colonies drew a hard line against pirates, something they had recently supported via dubious privateering and outright corruption, and thus he was made a disgraced example.

That said, it is true that for a pirate captain, Major Bonnet, being a gentleman planter from Barbados and a former Militia major, lacked nautical experience and probably some leadership skills, but not necessarily bravery or common sense. It is also not impossible that Bonnet has some minor political motivations in the form of Jacobitism, support for the Deposed English King James Edward Stuart, as also apparent in his ship's name, but that is a discussion for another time. For the most part, it appears Bonnet went pirating for the experience and money, but his motivations for these remain unclear.

This is a but more recent drawing of mine depicting a little-remembered buccaneer and historical event.

It shows the buccaneer crew of Roche 'Rock' Braziliano, born Gerrit Gerritszoon, after they were shipwrecked on Chicxulub Beach on the Northern Yucatán Peninsula in December 1669. Roche was a Dutchman who earned his nickname from his stay in Brazil when it was temporarily under Dutch rule in the mid-17th century. He later became known as a colorful and troublesome buccaneer with notoriously rough manners—especially when he had been drinking.

After sailing into Mexican waters, Roche’s pirate brigantine encountered foul winds and was driven ashore, with most of the crew surviving. The pirates secured their arms and valuable equipment, burying them with the intention of returning later. However, they were soon ambushed by the Spanish and were forced to flee, leaving the salvaged equipment behind.

I took care to depict the geography accurately with the buccaneers, and included a subtle nod to the region's Maya history for viewers to find.

Below is a quote from David Marley’s Pirates of the Americas (2010), which provides excellent references for how this event took place:

"On December 18, 1669, the Spaniards suddenly sortied with three armed ships, chasing the intruders away. Brasiliano became caught in a stiff norther which forced him to claw away northeastward, hoping to get clear of Yucatan. He managed to round the northwestern tip of its peninsula, but was eventually wrecked on Chicxulub Beach, a thin strip of barrier-sand just east of the present-day town of Progreso. One of his prisoners escaped, carrying word to the Spanish authorities at the provincial capital of Merida that the rovers were ashore, which prompted the immediate dispatch of a cavalry patrol to the site. They found the pirates hastily burying their artillery, tools, and other heavy items rescued from their wrecked vessel in the sand and bore down on them. Brasiliano’s men scattered for their boat, leaving two behind as they pulled frantically away from shore. This pair surrendered to the Spaniards, who then dug up Brasiliano’s trove—an ancient bronze cannon bearing the arms of Spain’s King Philip II, two bronze pedrerosor ‘‘swivel guns,’’ plus 60-odd iron balls—before returning to Yucatan’s capital at the end of that same month."

This is a few months old drawing by me showing the violent end of cunning pirate Howell Davis, who was killed by local militia and armed civilians in the Portuguese African colony of Principe in 19^(th) of June 1719. Davis tried to present himself as a honest British naval officer to get supplies and possibly kidnap the governor of the island, but his bluff was discovered, and he, with a handful of his officers was ambushed in the town.

There are some depictions of this scene done in media or in artworks. However, none of them seemed to reflect the reality well enough so I wanted to make this scene. The story of Davis’ death has been misrepresented by 19^(th) century source Pirates Own Book and I dug up better accounts. This scene is mostly based on period reports and especially a narrative given by slave trader William Senlgrave (1681–1743) in his book A New Account of Some Parts of Guinea and the Slave-Trade (1734). Snelgrave had met Davis in person before this and told of his downfall based on a story by eyewitness Portuguese monks (depicted here as well) he heard afterwards.

Based on sources, the pirates were ambushed in the central town of the island San Antonio, on their way back from a cancelled meeting with the governor near the town center, not near a fort or in a forest as sometimes depicted.

While pirates were known to be violent themselves, it is also notable that the ambush was very brutal and Davis was shot not less than 5 times before he was finished with a blade. Captain Johnson's General History of the Pyrates (1724) made a possibly semi-legendary addition by noting that Davis fought back, but as it was in no way contradictory to better period sources, I took some inspiration from this:

>"Davis was shot through the Bowels, yet he rise again, and made a weak Effort to get away, but his Strength soon forsook him, and he dropp’d down dead; just as he fell, he perceived he was followed, and drawing out his Pistols, fired them at his Pursuers; Thus like a game Cock, giving a dying Blow, that he might not fall unrevenged."

Several pirates fell, and only a few pirates escaped; sources differ a little how many exactly. Depicted here two.

The appearance of the multiethnic town and its inhabitants is based on accounts of the island and town by period travellers William Smith, who visited the island in the 1720s and published A New Voyage to Guinea (1744) and an earlier 1680s account by Frenchman Jean Barbot (1655 -1712) who published A Description of the Coasts of North and South-Guinea (English translation from 1732). These mention a wooden clapboard town with balconies and lattice windows. I did use images of Portuguese colonial architecture and Google Maps images of the modern town quite a bit whenever it seemed it suited the scene.

I understand that the colonial history of Africa and the Atlantic is a sensitive topic, and I in no way intend to depict anything here in a bad way, but this scene now happens to be somewhat violent and one-sided due to the situation based on historical information, even after critical examination. I think this image should not be violent enough to be any issue, but in case it is, I will remove it promptly.

Now this is an odler scene by me with some smaller issues like poses, shading (or lack thereof), and perspective. It is based on a possibly semi-legendary event which took place when a Portuguese treasure ship was taken pirates by Richard (John) Taylor, Olivier La Buze and Japser Seegar (commonly thought to have been the real name for Edward England in popular historiography, but he was in fact a separate older pirate who died soon as appears in a careful look into period sources). The Portuguese ship had just suffered a storm and was largely disarmed when the pirate found her near the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean.

Douglas Botting's Pirates (1978) has this story based on some period accounts of the event depicted here which happened when a Portuguese Viceroy aboard the treasure ship wanted to make resistance:

"The Cabo was virtually defenseless, for there were only 21 cannon and 34 muskets to share among the crew of 130. Against the Portuguese were ranged 200 fearsome cutthroats armed to the teeth with cutlasses and blunderbusses. Hurling grenades onto the Cabo's deck, the pirates swarmed on board. There was not much chance to resist, and 13 crewmen immediately deserted to the pirates. But the gallant Count, conspicuous in his scarlet coat, made a desperate last stand on the quarterdeck. When his sword was broken in two in hand-to-hand combat, he continued to lash about until Captain Taylor roared out the order to give quarter and the fighting stopped.

The Count of Ericeira’s bravery earned him the pirates’ respect. They treated him with courtesy and gave his broken sword back to him, though its hilt was encrusted with gold and diamonds."

Pirates soon released the count having no need for large ransoms after their capture and their behavior contrasts with modern popular ideas of pirates hating all of nobility. The capture of Nossa Senhora do Cabo with its oriental treasures, including diamonds, is often seen as one if not the most profitable instance of piracy in the Golden Age of Pirates.

This is an several months old drawing by me with some wonkiness. This depicted episode happened in a cruise when a group of English buccaneers passed Panama Isthmus and began cruising in the Pacific against the Spanish. The buccaneers changed leaders several times during the expedition and this happened when John Watling had surpassed Bartholomew Sharp(or Sharpe) for a while. To raid the settlement of Arica in a desert coast of Chile the buccaneers had to march 5 days to reach the town and the force was then split to fight the fort and the town. The Spanish fought back and Watling was killed and Sharp regained captaincy. I decided to depict the buccaneer on the march in the desert landscape and used historical references for their arms, cltohes and equipment, and can share more details if someone wants to know more in comment. For anyone interested for an easy to read account of these events I can recommend this old book: ''Buccaneers of the Pacific' by George Wycherley: https://archive.org/details/buccaneersofpaci0000geor The story of the Pacific adventure written by actual buccaneers in the voyage is also featured as an addition to many editions of 'Buccaneer of America', originally a book by Alexandre Exquemelin so here the more original source for those interested as well, but an easy read modern edition still: https://archive.org/details/buccaneersofamer00exquuoft/page/n7/mode/2up If I recall right I draw the lizard after the four-banded Pacific iguana (Microlophus quadrivittatus) which should fit the setting well.

This is a plausible scene about the famous but short-lived career of John Rackham and the two famous female pirates, Anne Bonny and Mary Read. As is apparent, the crew has made a small temporary encampment and is preparing some dinner.

 Rackham is the man in a patterned calico print jacket and breeches or “drawers”, as they were sometimes called. Made these represent the claim that Rackham was called “Calico Jack” by Captain Johnson’s general History of the Pyrates volume 2 from 1728. This book and its 1724 first volume, which also includes the story of Rackham and the female pirates (actually one contradicting vol 2), are quite unreliable sources and a source of many myths. Used this in case there was truth to the claim about “Calico Jack”, even if this detail is not documented elsewhere, also because it is the only description of Rackham’s appearance by any contemporaries.

 Anne Bonny is the one looking after the fire, and Mary Read peels potatoes in the tent. While rebellious characters in many respects, it is clear that all in such a small crew had to do the work as well. In case someone is wondering why the ladies are not dressed as men, we know from the trial documents that the women were openly women aboard Rackham’s sloop and that they indeed dressed as men only during battle. An eyewitness noted that when the pirates “saw any Vessel, gave Chase, or Attacked, they [the women] wore Men’s Cloaths; and, at other Times, they wore Women’s Cloaths”.

 I might later do a scene with the women dressed as men as well, but I figured this scene needed a better representation, as you cannot really find many images of the women pirates without their sailor clothes on.

 You can see some others of Rackham’s crew around the camp, some more helpful than others. One on the left brings hunted fowl, a West Indian whistling duck or another such species. Hunting was a common way for sailors and pirates to gain fresh provisions and this scene is not based on any specific event. On the right one can see a growing palmetto tree or cabbage palm, common in the Bahamas.

This is a few months older drawing I made about a specific historical scene based on a period journal of a victim of pirate Ned Low titled The Four Years' Voyages of Capt. George Roberts (1726). This took place off Cape Verde Islands in the West African Atlantic. Captain Ned Low, despite his harsh reputation, welcomed captured merchant Captain George Roberts into his great cabin aboard Low's ship Rose Pink and dealt with him well. Roberts, being surprised by the pirates, was himself only half-dressed, which some of Low's pirates felt was insulting. When the gunner of the pirates escorted Roberts into the cabin, Low greeted him while he was standing on a cannon despite the cabin having chairs. Roberts's life was threatened several times, but Low seemed to have liked him more than some of his pirate crew. Roberts's adventures would go on for a few years after his capture on the Cape Verde Islands, which is a place with other instances of forgotten pirate history.

In the image from left to right: Low, Roberts and the pirate gunner. An empty punch bowl on the table is a hint about the next scene where Low ordered a bowl of punch prepared for him and the guest, Low having even a small bell to call a helping hand. (My idea here is that the pirates, known for constant drinking, might have had a punch bowl ready all the time and refilled from time to time.) George Roberts is depicted here as bald, based on the common habit of many wealthy captains having wigs and hence a shaved head when not wearing one. Low's appearance is guesswork as we have little written about him (likely he looked pretty average). The cabin has some navigation instruments and daily items likely seen aboard pirate ships.

The book all this information is from was The Four Years' Voyages of Capt. George Roberts (1726), written by or based on the exploits of Captain George Roberts, a merchant captain. While this source has often been seen as being a work of Daniel Defoe and sometimes seen even as fiction, a careful look into period sources has confirmed quite a few details and events in the book and the factuality of the historical Captain George Roberts. The work may have embellishments, so common in sources like this, but some recently found sources highlight that there was a lot of truth to the story of George Roberts.

The book, like A General History of the Pyrates is usually found with Defoe's name, who might have helped the real captain with this journal. For example you can read it freely here: https://archive.org/details/fouryearsvoyage00robegoog/page/n4/mode/2up

The description of Ned Low as a more benevolent character is not necessarily contradictory with stories of his cruelty, even if many are exaggerated and some perhaps invented already by period writers. People, bad or worse, are always more nuanced than the story built around them later. Other sources like American colonial mariner Philip Ashton's journal of his time with Low's villainous crew do build an image that Low and his pirates were men of moods, often in the worst way possible but not only.

This is based on a historical accounts about famous Dutch buccaneer Laurens de Graaf and his largely French buccaneer or "Filibustier" crew and his exploits near Mexico during one of his many raids. He fought two large Spaniards with his frigate and accordingly to period sources he was wounded on the leg but returned to fight soon to encourage his men. Laurens was known in period sources as a tall blond haired mustachioed swashbuckler with a sense for bravado so I dressed him akin to French and Dutch naval fashion of the time with some tweaks for the region (no waistcoat under the coat) and I made his pistol in Spanish style as was his mustache. He had served as a sort of mercenary even Spain as a gunner so likely he aimed some guns himself, as some period sources seem to hint (have to say as a little accident in the drawing the cannon does not really line up with the main Spanish ship. but we cannot see the other one and the scene is caotic so yeah....). Went into some length to make his crew seem like a piratical group but keeping it still grounded with historical images and sources. Here used especially historical images of period French buccaneers and sailors. The exact account of this battle can be Benerson Little's book "The Golden Age of Piracy: The Truth Behind Pirate Myths" and on his blog here a the bottom of the page: https://benersonlittle.com/2023/01/23/pirate-ships-pirate-prey-pirate-hunters-eyewitness-illustrations-accompanying-stories/

This is a few months old scene by me which features my take on a rarely discussed obscure but at the time notorious French pirate known as Jean Hamlin (real name likely Pierre Egron). He was known to have a good personal ties to a corrupt colonial governor of Adoph Esmit of St. Thomas in the Danish Virgin Islands what is now St. Thomas in US Virgin Islands. Esmit did not only protect Hamlin from the English (Hamlin raided especially Dutch and English in the Caribbean and West Africa) but he also sold him confiscated English vessel at one point and this is what this scene depicts. This scene features the governor's enslaved African servant feeding a pet parrot (here the intent is not in any way to romanticize slavery but only to depict a calmer side of the colonial life). Hamlin is the central figure and the governor is there behind the table. On the wall of the governor's mansion is a map of the Caribbean based on a 1661 Dutch map. The governor has at the time fashionable oriental carpets also used very often as tablecloths. If someone is interested in the colonial history of Danish Caribbean I can recommend book The Danish West Indies Under Company Rule 1671-1754 by Waldemar Westergaard (1917) which you can find freely on archive.org.

Another historical pirate scene drawn by me a few months ago with a quite bit of backstory. This is based on an specific historical incident involving pirate crew of Robert Culliford of the Mocha Frigate (aka Resolution named by the pirates) and East India Company ship Dorrill in 1697 in the Indian Ocean. An Eyewitness on the EIC ship wrote of the pirate encounter how after a chase (period spelling here): “One [of the pirates likely the captain himself as depicted here] stept forward upon the forecastle and said, ‘Gentlemen, we want nott your shipp, but onlie youre monie.’ Wee told them wee had none for them, bidding them come alongside and take whatever they coulde get. “Then the parcel of Bloodhound Rogues clasht their cutlasses and said they woulde have oure money or oure hearts’ blood saying, ‘Do you nott know us to be the Mocha?'” The pirates were not fully competent in this battle and were forced to retread after causing and suffering nasty damages, but I felt this scene had some picturesque feel to it. Of special note is the musician. Captain of the EIC ship reported before this how the pirates played 'a Levitt [levet] with the musick of Hautboys and Drums' while another witness mentioned pirates playing trumpet and drumm. The mention of hautboys (oboes) was specific enough for me to include one here. Note also the speaking trumpet, commonly used for long distance hailing or shouting even if not mentioned in the sources specifically. One of the crewmen there is a "lascar" native sailor of some of the Indian ocean coast hired or even forced to work on board hips in the area. They were not always well treated aboard ships including pirates (indeed Culliford faced a mutiny of forced lascars at one point) but wanted to include this forgotten piece of history too. The information comes from an old book quoting period documents a lot called Pirates of the Eastern Seas (1618-1723). A Lurid Page of History (1933) by Charles Grey but the encounter is also included in The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd (2003) by Richard Zacks. Grey's book can be found freely on archive.org for those interested.

Pencil and graphite drawing of early 18th century pirates dueling with sword and pistol accordingly to reputed articles of pirate crews of Bartholomew Roberts and Richard Taylor. Special care has been used to reconstruct period clothing and arms. Can give more historical details if someone wants to know. This is an older piece from February. Have a few newer ones which I think are getting a bit better to share later.

A Marooned pirate on a Caribbean Shore. By me. Pencil on small A5 paper.