[dramatic swashbuckling music]
[narrator] In 1717,
the seas of the Caribbean are ruled by the Flying Gang.
[cannon fire echoing]
-[narrator] Black Sam Bellamy. -Hoist the black flag!
[narrator] Edward Thatch.
Signal Hornigold, ask him if we're gonna attack, now, now, now!
[narrator] And Benjamin Hornigold.
-[pirates cheer] -Nassau! The new Pirate Republic.
[narrator] From their base in the Bahamas,
these pirates steal a fortune
from the wealthiest empires in Europe…
Last chance!
Where are the jewels?
Hornigold! You're the Captain! Stop him! Oh!
[narrator] …and disrupt the lucrative slave trade.
[man grunts]
[narrator] But now a storm is brewing in England.
Bloody pirates! Pirates of the seas…
That is a beast with teeth.
[narrator] The final straw is the capture
of the heavily-armed slave ship, the Whydah.
Pirates are hitting Britain's merchants where it hurts:
their pockets.
I want them dead!
[narrator] Enter the pirate terminator.
Gentlemen! Captain Woodes Rogers.
[narrator] He is on a mission to destroy the Flying Gang of the Caribbean.
[dramatic swashbuckling music]
[gulls crying]
[somber music]
[approaching footsteps]
[somber music]
Five hundred slaves for nothing!
A fortune lost,
and some scum pirate laughing in my face.
You're not alone.
The British South Sea Company's lost two more ships.
Letters have arrived from Jamaica, Boston, Charleston…
Pirates are decimating trade.
As the Pirate Republic was gaining in strength,
the concerns within the Empire, and certainly back in London,
were growing as well.
Because the pirates were starting to destabilize not only commerce,
but the security of the colonies themselves.
[Fox] There was a fear that the slave trade would become untenable,
if the pirate menace wasn't dealt with.
Because they were so powerful in the Caribbean.
And there was no alternative route. You couldn't just go round the pirates.
And there are more disturbing reports that you should be aware of.
More disturbing than the theft of my slaves?
It appears that the Whydah was, in part,
captured with the assistance of slaves.
Slaves that had been set free.
What?
Impossible!
Not according to the communiques I have received.
There have been several recorded instances of slaves being employed by pirate crews,
freely and willingly, it would seem.
And it is said that Nassau
is becoming a haven for runaway Negroes.
Governors complained that the effect of
the rise of piracy in Nassau was causing unrest
among the slave plantations in the Caribbean.
[Woodward] Many of these islands, the slave population outnumbered
the European population by many times.
So, the fear that there would be a slave insurrection,
or that the slaves would feel like they had a future or a possibly…
Hope was a dangerous thing to these places.
White men consorting with savages?
Putting ideas into their heads!
I will talk to the King.
I will summon parliament.
I will give you everything you need, Rogers.
But you stamp this cancer out!
Humphry Morice was a Member of Parliament.
He was also one of the early governors of the Bank of England.
So, he was a very prominent person in British society.
Woodes Rogers is the real deal.
He is an experienced, very tough seaman who's as salty as they come.
He was one of the few people
to have circumnavigated the globe.
[Fox] When he walked into a room,
you could see, before he even opened his mouth,
that here was a man who knew danger,
who knew excitement, who knew adventure.
During his privateering voyage around the world,
he'd been shot in the face with a musket.
[Choundas] Teeth fall out, skitter all over the deck,
and he swallows something hard, and he doesn't know what it is.
But two months later,
the doctor discovers that Woodes Rogers swallowed his own jawbone.
[somber music]
Woodes Rogers' plan was to drive the pirates out of the Bahamas,
to install himself as the governor, to restore law and order to the colonies.
[somber violin music]
[narrator] But the problem is about to get a whole lot worse.
Edward Thatch and Black Caesar are planning their next move.
Their leader, Benjamin Hornigold,
has so far been loyal to the English
and not attacked their merchant ships.
The men have been talking.
-They have-- -[Hornigold grunts]
[burps]
[narrator] But he's had a change of heart.
So, like, worst that I've been thinking.
[sighs deeply]
You can tell your crew that we're not laying off English shipping anymore.
Are you serious?
There'll be no wanton destruction.
No killing.
But from now on,
we're taking what we can.
[male historian] For more than 100 years, English pirates had attacked
what were traditionally enemies of England,
either Spanish or Portuguese ships.
By the 17-teens, for really the first time,
English pirates actively engaged English shipping.
[waves splashing]
[narrator] Hornigold's decision is a game-changer.
His gang quickly seizes a mighty English ship,
the Bonnet.
Hornigold makes it his flagship.
[cannon fire echoing]
And then Thatch trades up, too,
when he spots another heavily-armed merchant ship.
[Thatch] Hold her steady!
Telescope, quick!
She's English.
Good size, too.
Come here, lad, come here!
Signal Hornigold, ask him if we're gonna attack, now, now, now!
[Thatch] Come on, Benjamin. Come on, Benjamin.
Come on, come on, come on!
[pirate] Hornigold says we can attack!
[Thatch] Benjamin Hornigold, you beautiful bastard!
-Load your cannons! -[pirate] Cannon full!
Prime your weapons!
[loud splash]
[men shouting]
[door splintering open]
[laughs]
-[pirates laughing and cheering] -[pirate] Look at that!
[narrator] The ship is overflowing with the profits of slavery.
-[pirate] Where's the captain? -[shouts] This is a British ship!
And you are violating international treaties!
The Navy will be informed, and you will all be imprisoned.
[pirate] Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh.
You don't think we know you stole this yourself?
It's the wage of an African life.
[somber music]
Tell me, how can we steal from you,
what you stole from us?
[coins clinking]
[Fox] One surprising fact about pirates is that many of the crews contained
large numbers of former African slaves.
Some of those men, we know, were free.
[captain] I recognize you.
You're Benjamin Hornigold!
You realize this is treason!
What sort of Englishman attacks his own country,
and consorts with apes?
[foreboding music]
Apes?
Hold him.
What are you doing?
Hornigold, you're the captain, stop him! Oh, oh, oh!
[captain grunts, gags]
What you eat, you shit.
[pirates laugh]
[narrator] Hornigold agonizes over his disloyalty to the English Crown.
But Black Sam Bellamy has no such qualms.
That is a beast with teeth!
[narrator] Bellamy has just taken the greatest English merchant ship of the age,
a slave trader called the Whydah.
The things we could do with a ship like that.
[narrator] It makes Bellamy unstoppable.
[pirate] Fire!
[cannon fire echoing]
[hull creaking]
[waves splashing]
[Choundas] Sam Bellamy and Paulsgrave Williams,
intercept a sloop captained by a man named Beer.
Beer is brought aboard the Whydah.
Bellamy and Williams have made the decision.
Beer seems like a decent fellow.
After they finished plundering, they were gonna give him his sloop back.
But the companies disagree.
So, the men have voted.
Voted?
I'm sorry. Your ship's to be burned.
But you--
Williams and Bellamy's men overrule the captain's determination
and the company, in pirate life, rules.
Don't you have any control over your men?
Don't you have any loyalty toward the Crown, man?
Which Crown?
I mean, Quintor, he's Dutch.
And Julia's Mexican-Indian, Eric's Danish, Williams, he's a Scot.
[Williams] Mm.
And might I add,
fuck that sausage-eating ass-wipe King George. [spits]
[pirates laugh]
You're a disgrace!
All of you, gutter trash, cowards!
Captain Beer is important in the history of piracy,
no so much for what he did, but for what he heard.
One of the most famous speeches ever delivered by a pirate.
I'm sorry we have to sink your ship,
but this is all on you.
Men like you,
you lay down and you let the rich walk all over you.
They call us villains.
But there's really only one difference.
The rich rob the poor under cover of law.
We plunder the rich by our own courage.
Isn't it better to be one of us
than to sneak after them
for your work?
My conscience would never allow me to break the law of God and man.
Your conscience? [sniffs]
Well,
here's what my conscience tells me.
I'm a free prince, and I have just as much right
to wage war on the whole world,
as someone with a hundred sail of ships at sea,
or an army of 100,000 in the field.
Farewell, Captain.
In his speech to Captain Beer,
Bellamy basically lays out the credo of the, you know,
pirates as social revolutionaries.
Imagine what it was like for an enslaved person
in the 18th century to bear witness
to someone challenging authority…
[somber music]
…and describing himself as his own free prince.
[birds chirping]
[waves splashing]
[gulls crying]
This is good.
So, where do we go next?
To Eastham.
It's time I saw Mary.
We should've let that ship go.
Yeah, but what could you do, huh?
Democracy rules.
Have a drink.
Just think,
in a few days you'll be back in Eastham,
the richest pirate that ever set sail.
And you'll have your Mary there to meet you with booty of her own.
[Bellamy chuckles]
I should go back to the Mary Anne
before the crew start causing mischief.
Enough with the long face, Sam.
We are rich, and you're going home.
[gulls crying]
[somber piano music]
[Williams sighs]
Looks like a fog is coming in.
[narrator] The weather threatens to delay Bellamy getting home
to the woman he became a pirate for…
Mary Hallett.
[somber piano music continues]
[thunder rumbling, lightning crashing]
[sobbing]
[narrator] An unmarried mother, she's been cast out by her family.
[sobbing] No.
Mary Hallett is found with a dead infant in her arms, her own infant, in a barn.
I didn't kill her.
[whispering] I didn't kill her. I didn't kill her.
I didn't kill her.
At the time, the only thing worse than having a baby outside of wedlock
was losing one.
I didn't kill her.
[policeman] Mary Hallett.
-You're under arrest. -No.
-Come with me. -I didn't…
[Cale] She was suspected of having killed the child herself.
Father, please don't.
[somber violin music]
[man] Mary Hallett, you are accused before God
of the heinous crime of infanticide.
Cotton Mather was a very prominent person in Massachusetts society.
He was a Puritan preacher.
He was very well-known for his very strict religious views.
[sobs] A curse on you, Sam. You didn't come.
Begin the punishment.
-[whip cracking] -[whimpering]
[screaming and whimpering]
[Hallett sobbing]
Mary was publicly flogged,
she was imprisoned, and she was eventually driven out of town.
[somber music]
[narrator] Sailors are a superstitious lot.
Salt over your shoulder keeps the devil at bay.
Rats leaving a ship, time to disembark.
Whistling on board whistles up a storm.
And that was the real enemy…
[thunder rumbles, cracks]
…the weather.
Upset the gods,
you'll surely be dragged to the ocean floor.
[ship creaking]
[Bellamy] Paulsgrave!
Paulsgrave!
[sighs]
[somber music]
It's okay, lad. We'll meet up with Paulsgrave in the morning,
once we've cleared this fog.
Loose sail.
Steer us northeasterly.
See if we can get out from under this blanket.
[Woodward] So, as Bellamy's flotilla was sailing along
the leeward shore of the outer Cape,
a terrible storm approached at the worst possible timing.
-[thunder rumbling] -[waves crashing]
-[ships creaking] -[sailors shouting]
What Bellamy's hoping will happen
is that he'll be able to out-pace the storm, maybe maneuver round it.
[narrator] Bellamy's Whydah, with 160 souls on board,
and a ton of treasure,
is being driven towards the shore of Cape Cod.
Fierce waves started striking the ship.
-[waves crashing] -[men shouting]
Pretty soon it was clear they were not going to make it around the Cape.
[dramatic music]
I'm scared. I don't want to drown.
[Bellamy] Hold on tight, lad.
[pirates shouting]
[thunder crashes]
[men shouting]
[deafening splash]
[somber music]
By morning, when any residents of the outer Cape
came out to see what had happened during the storm,
the beach was strewn with the bodies of almost all of the Whydah's crew and men.
[Cale] Anyone that found a wrecked pirate ship,
must've felt like they won the lottery.
Most of the time, these are going to be filled
with all different kinds of things.
So, we're not only talking about gold, but also things that have
pretty serious monetary value.
Ivory tusks, jewels, anything you could think of.
Of 160 people aboard the Whydah when it crashed,
only two of them survived and made it to shore to survive the night.
[somber music]
Bellamy was not among them.
[ravens cawing]
[Woodward] The sadder moments is archaeology has shown,
that the nine-year-old cabin boy, John King,
was drowned still wearing the shoes and silk stockings
his mother had dressed him in before he decided to volunteer
to join the pirate crew months earlier.
[gulls crying]
[narrator] At the age of 28, Black Sam's story is over.
[somber, dramatic music]
In just over a year, he becomes the richest pirate in history.
He does it all for the love of a woman.
But he never sees Mary again.
She loses her mind…
-[lightning cracks] -[screams]
…and becomes known as the Witch of Eastham.
[gulls crying]
The few survivors from Bellamy's fleet
make it into town,
where they drown their sorrows.
[Woodward] But the eight pirates aboard the Mary Anne
only got as far as the tavern in Eastham when the local justice of the peace
had headed them off, knowing that this was one of the few places
where strangers from abroad might acquire horses to escape.
And instead, they would leave the Cape in irons.
[somber music]
[waves splashing]
[narrator] As for the Flying Gang back in Nassau,
Black Sam's death cuts them deep.
Word didn't reach Nassau until a few weeks later
as to what had happened to the Whydah and that it had crashed ashore.
But when it did, it would've been electrifying news.
It's all my fault.
I persuaded him to carry on raiding when we could have retired.
We'd never seen that much gold.
We were rich.
And now he's dead, and…
that is on me.
There's nothing you could've done.
Just thank the gods you missed the storm and made it home.
[narrator] Captain Henry Jennings leads a rival pirate gang.
May I?
I'm sorry about Bellamy.
He was unusually clever for a man of his
upbringing.
Most common sailors can't be trusted
with anything more than a mop and a shit cloth.
Isn't that right, Vane?
I have news.
A trader just in from Boston.
Apparently, they have eight of Bellamy's men in the cells there.
They've passed sentence.
Execution by hanging.
If they so as much as scratch one of 'em,
so help me God, I'll raze Boston to the ground.
Anyway, I thought you'd want to know.
[Jennings] To Bellamy.
God rest his soul.
[Jennings chugging pint]
[sniffs] Here.
Next one's on me.
Why couldn't he have drowned?
The devil takes care of his own, Teddy.
[somber music]
-[blow striking flesh] -[man groaning]
Cotton Mather was keen to stamp out the evils of piracy,
the ungodly criminal ways that these pirates had.
[pirate groans]
[pirate] Urgh!
[Mather] Enough.
The end is coming for you.
[narrator] Bellamy's men are strung up like butchered cattle,
in the largest hanging of pirates in Boston's history.
What is it?
[sniffs]
Sam, he knew a lot, yeah.
And he was the smartest and luckiest of all of us, you know that?
[sighs]
No man…
can beat the sea.
The sea, the Navy, any other bastard,
it's only a matter of time before they get ya.
From here,
we work faster and harder, more than any man ever has.
We terrify ships.
We load the holds with gold.
And then we vanish…
before the devil gets us.
Nobody beats the devil.
Mm.
What if you become the devil?
[narrator] Thatch is planning the mother of all revenge,
but he needs more firepower.
[waves splashing]
[narrator] Opportunity beckons when an unlikely pirate turns up in Nassau.
His name is Stede Bonnet.
Pardon my French, but
what the fuck happened to you?
[narrator] The hapless Bonnet has just taken a beating
from a Spanish warship.
Thatch was casting about, looking for a bigger, stronger vessel
than the one he already had, and Bonnet brought him one.
It's a fine looking ship you've got there, Mr. Bonnet.
Could be a terror
in the right hands.
[narrator] Known as the Gentleman Pirate,
Bonnet is from a wealthy family and has had his own ship built:
the Revenge.
I would still be captain?
Of course.
Edward here will be overseeing things for you.
But you can trust him with your life.
Loyal as they come is our Edward.
What do you say?
[Fox] It was ideal for Thatch.
Bonnet needed somebody to take over,
sort of show him the ropes, to show him how to be a pirate.
And there was Thatch, so it was an ideal solution for both of them.
Did you see the ship's name?
The Revenge.
All hell is going to follow after her.
All we need is a devil to captain her.
[dramatic music]
[cannon fire echoing]
Faster! Faster!
[narrator] Thatch wastes no time in taking his revenge on the British.
No ship out of Boston is now safe.
But Thatch runs his ship democratically and fairly.
[Thatch] We need a doctor.
One of our crew is very sick.
It's very important that the captain is shown to take every crew member seriously,
and to treat them with respect, and also to look after them,
because they're all in it together.
If you come forward,
you will be rewarded.
[waves splashing]
If, however, you're inclined to lie…
and perhaps you say you're a clerk or a watchmaker…
perhaps even an exotic dancer…
then perhaps I'll make my men strip you and ride you like a backdoor whore.
And when they've finished with ya,
there won't be nothing left for the little fishies.
What's your name?
Dr. John Howell.
Well, John Howell, we have one very sick crew member.
All this for a Negro?
This man is a very important member of my crew,
and as they all are.
Do you believe God created man in his own image doctor?
[Howell] Yes.
And this Negro,
does he bleed red blood like we do?
[Howell] Yes.
And when you look at his insides, are they identical to the rest of us?
Yes.
Well, then,
maybe God is a Black man.
Or maybe He is a She.
Or maybe we're all the same except some are stronger,
and some are weaker.
[pirate groans]
We may need to amputate.
I don't think so.
If you don't cure this man, it could mean I lose out on a small fortune,
and then possibly it could mean you lose out on your life.
When you're done with him,
come find me in my cabin.
There's another separate matter I'd like to discuss with ya.
[waves splashing]
[ship creaking]
[Thatch exhales]
[seething] Come on, man, you're the doctor, diagnose me!
[narrator] Thatch has symptoms of an illness which is the curse of sailors.
[exhales]
[pained grunt]
Treponema pallidum.
I know what it is, pox syphilis. Do you have any mercury?
No.
Blackbeard suffered from syphilis. I don't see how he could've avoided it.
I mean pirates, you know, they would spend their nights with women,
who they'd either bought or married.
I believe that Blackbeard married quite a few women,
possibly as many as 14 in different ports all over the Caribbean.
[Cale] Syphilis was particularly brutal.
Syphilis begins to eat at the soft tissues of a body.
People losing noses, pieces of their faces.
If you tell anyone about this,
you'll be dead before me.
And it will be very slow.
He would do anything he could to try to find that medicine,
if he believed that it would cure him.
[narrator] But there was no cure.
Most victims went mad before dying.
Bellamy's death has left Thatch hell-bent on vengeance.
He terrorizes British shipping.
The very foundations of the Empire are at stake.
[cannon fire echoing]
As the piracy outbreak started reaching its zenith,
it was becoming an existential threat
to the Empire, rather than simply a nuisance.
-[cannon fire] -[men groaning]
Royal Navy vessels that were stationed in the Americas
were becoming out-gunned and out-manned by the pirates themselves
[cannon fire echoing]
[narrator] British merchants are clamoring for action.
They have finally lost patience with Member of Parliament Humphry Morice.
[man, angrily] Look at me, I'm reduced to bankruptcy!
What are you going to do about this?
[Morice] Gentlemen!
Gentlemen, a moment, please.
Let's listen to what Mr. Rogers has to say.
Thank you.
I have a proposal for you all.
A private company of ships and men armed to retake the seas and end this villainy.
But with the best of will,
these pirates are formidable sailors,
well-armed,
and emboldened with a common resolve to villainy.
What if your armed expedition isn't enough to defeat them?
And excellent observation.
Force alone won't be enough.
That's why I have another plan.
We're going to ask the King to pardon them.
What?
I want them dead!
Drowned, hung, quartered!
Not fucking pardoned!
I know these men!
I know them.
Let me explain.
They present a formidable front,
but in every wall there is always a crack.
A weak spot.
Pick at it long enough,
and the whole building comes crumbling down.
And what is this weak spot?
Greed.
[narrator] Rogers plans to divide the pirates.
[gulls crying]
The pardon would have introduced an element of confusion
and infighting amongst the pirates in the Bahamas.
When news of the pardon hits Nassau,
this is huge news for everybody.
You have to remember, a lot of the people who've gone into being a pirate
have done so under desperation.
[soft music]
[door opens]
Wait!
Get off!
Vane!
Is this genuine?
Aye.
-Vane! -What is it?
Go and get Hornigold, now! Tell him we need to parley.
What does it say?
[Jennings] It's an offer from the King.
A pardon!
[dramatic music]
[Woodward] The King's pardon presented all of the pirates
with a decision that they never thought that they would need to contemplate.
They'd all thought that when they went into piracy it was a one way trip.
Suddenly, there was a choice.
[waves splashing]
[thunder cracks]
[narrator] Edward Thatch is undergoing a metamorphosis.
[in unhinged voice] I'm Edward Thatch.
[narrator] One that will seal his name in history.
Do you know who I am? I'm Edward Thatch.
[whispering] I'm Edward Thatch.
You can call it madness or you can all it genius,
but it was probably a little bit of both.
[echoing] Do you know who I am?
It is possible that after some time sailing,
his mind became a bit addled due to effects of syphilis.
My name is Edward Thatch.
[Simon] In some of the later stages,
it can cause peoples' personality to change.
[eerie, unsettling music]
He created this image for himself,
he became "Blackbeard" instead of Thatch.
These both were cast alive in a lake of fire.
With which he deceived them.
Burning and brimstone. That worshiped the image.
He created this kind of rock star persona before that was even a thing.
[eerie, unsettling music]
Attaching sulfurous fuses
to the end of his beard and locks of his hair.
With three strands of pistols and cutlasses upon him…
[fire crackling]
He wasn't any longer a person.
He was an entity, a different character entirely.
He looked like a wild man. He looked like he might be possessed by the devil.
[sulfur crackling]
This terrifying vision of hell and fury.
[cannon fire echoing]
[sulfur sparkling]
He became the most terrifying person
in the Western world.
My name is Blackbeard!
[dramatic swashbuckling music]