Bartholomew Roberts

(Black Bart)Laura Rojas and Gloria de Zamacona

He was originally named John Roberts and was born in Whales in 1682. (His name is Barti Ddu in Welsh)

Because he loved the naval life, he chose to work for many ships and thus found himself working on the British Slaver “Princess”

He was then captured and enslaved by a pirate, Howell Davis, but he soon realized that enjoyed the life of a pirate. He became Davis’ favorite shipmate.

In 1719 his ship was ambushed and Davis died, the crew elected Roberts as a new captain and he changed his name to Bartholomew Roberts

The Beginning

Flag First flag: Shows him

(Bartholomew) and death holding an hourglass

Second flag: shows him standing on two skulls, meant to represent a Barbadian and a Martiniquian

It was established in 1721.

Article II: when distributing prizes such as gold, money, and clothing, all men will have equal amounts.

Article III: no gambling! Article IV, lights out by eight. Article VI: no women or boys allowed, if found

with either person, consequence of death shall be put in place. 

His code of conduct

The majority of his flagships were named

Royal Fortune. One of them was captured multiple times in

various French ports. Another Royal Fortune was a French warship

equipped with 52 guns. Other ship names included: Rover, Little

Ranger, Good Fortune, and Sea King

Ships

The areas with the most activity were:

Africa, the Atlantic, and the Caribbean. They stole enormous amounts goods from the

Portuguese off the coast of Brazil. Stole from early American colonies in New

England. In some African coasts he and his crew

captured over 100 ships. Roberts captured over 21 ships in the

Caribbean

Who did he harass the most?

Association with other pirates Howell Davis

He was his ‘mentor’ and the person that introduced him to piracy.

Besides Davis, he did not require the help of other pirates(besides his crew members) to get what he wanted.

The majority of his activity occurred between

1719-1722 Because most of the crew members in

captured ships fled or died in the process, Bartholomew just claimed their ships and goods.

Whenever a slave ship was captured, Bartholomew figured he'd make a profit by selling slaves.

Pirating Activities

He preferred to wear fancy clothes: a rich

crimson waistcoat, a hat with a red feather, and a diamond cross hanging from his neck

Bartholomew was calm but quite cold-blooded. He captured a slave ship once, holding eighty slaves and their slaver. For unknown reasons, he chose to burn the ship with the people on it, instead of taking advantage of its value.

He captured the governor of Martinique, his archenemy, and had him hanged

Interesting Stories

He was the most successful pirate of the

Golden Age of Piracy, capturing more ships than Blackbeard or Captain Kidd.

The year in which his crew was captured was the last year of the Pirate's Golden Age.

Continuation…