Speaker 1: Chapter twenty four of Buccaneers and Pirates of Our Coasts.
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Speaker 1: and Pirates of Our Coasts by Frank Richard Stockton, chapter
Speaker 1: twenty four. A Greenhorn under the Black Flag. Early in
Speaker 1: the eighteenth century, there lived at Bridgetown in the island
Speaker 1: of Barbados, a very pleasant, middle aged gentleman named Major
Speaker 1: Steed Bonnet. He was a man in comfortable circumstances and
Speaker 1: had been an officer in the British Army. He had
Speaker 1: retired from military service and had bought an estate at Bridgetown,
Speaker 1: where he lived in comfort and was respected by his neighbors.
Speaker 1: But for some reason or other, this quiet and reputable
Speaker 1: gentleman got it into his head that he would like
Speaker 1: to be a pirate. There were some persons who said
Speaker 1: that this strange fancy was due to the fact that
Speaker 1: his wife did not make his home pleasant for him.
Speaker 1: But it is quite certain that if a man wants
Speaker 1: an excuse for robbing and murdering his fellow beings, he
Speaker 1: ought to have a much better one than the bad
Speaker 1: temper of his wife. But besides the general reasons why
Speaker 1: Major Bonnet should not become a pirate, and which applied
Speaker 1: to all men as well as himself, there was a
Speaker 1: special reason against his adoption of the profession of a
Speaker 1: sea robber. For he was an out and out landsman,
Speaker 1: and knew nothing whatever of nautical matters. He had been
Speaker 1: at sea but very little, And if he had heard
Speaker 1: a boatswain order his man to furl the keel, to
Speaker 1: batten down the shrouds, or to hoist the fore chains
Speaker 1: to the topmast yard, he would have seen nothing out
Speaker 1: of the way in these commands. He was very fond
Speaker 1: of history, and very well read in the literature of
Speaker 1: the day. He was accustomed to the habits of good society,
Speaker 1: and knew a great deal about farming and horses, cows
Speaker 1: and poultry. But if he had been compelled to steer
Speaker 1: a vessel, he would not have known how to keep
Speaker 1: her bow ahead of her stern. But notwithstanding this absolute
Speaker 1: incapacity for such a life, and the absence of any
Speaker 1: of the ordinary motives for abandoning respectability in entering upon
Speaker 1: a career of crime. Major Bonnet was determined to become
Speaker 1: a pirate, and he became one. He had money enough
Speaker 1: to buy a ship and to fit her out and
Speaker 1: man her, and this he quietly did at Bridgetown, nobody
Speaker 1: supposing that he was going to do anything more than
Speaker 1: start off on some commercial cruise. When everything was ready,
Speaker 1: his vessels slipped out of the harbor one night, and
Speaker 1: after he was sailing safely on the rolling sea, he
Speaker 1: stood upon the quarter deck and proclaimed himself a pirate.
Speaker 1: It might not be supposed that this was necessary, for
Speaker 1: the seventy men on board his ship were all desperate
Speaker 1: cutthroats of various nationalities, whom he had found in the
Speaker 1: little port, and who knew very well what was expected
Speaker 1: of them when they reached the sea. But if Steed
Speaker 1: Bonnet had not proclaimed himself a pirate, it is possible
Speaker 1: that he might not have believed himself that he was one.
Speaker 1: And so he ran up the black flag with its
Speaker 1: skeleton or skull and crossbones. He girded on a great cutlass,
Speaker 1: and folding his arms, he ordered his mate to steer
Speaker 1: the vessel to the coast of Virginia. Although Bonnet knew
Speaker 1: so little about ships in the sea, and had had
Speaker 1: no experience in piracy. His men were practiced seamen, and
Speaker 1: those of them who had not been pirates before were
Speaker 1: quite ready and very well fitted to become such. So
Speaker 1: when this green hand came into the waters of Virginia,
Speaker 1: he actually took two or three vessels and robbed them
Speaker 1: of their cargoes, burning the ships and sending the crews
Speaker 1: on shore. This had grown to be a common custom
Speaker 1: among the pirates, who, though cruel and hard hearted, had
Speaker 1: not the inducements of the old buccaneers to torture and
Speaker 1: murder the crews of the vessels which they captured. They
Speaker 1: could not hate human beings in general, as the buccaneers
Speaker 1: hated the Spaniards, and so they were a little more
Speaker 1: humane to their prisoners, setting them ashore on some island
Speaker 1: or desert coast and letting them shift for themselves as
Speaker 1: best they might. This was called marooning, and was somewhat
Speaker 1: less heartless than the old methods of getting rid of
Speaker 1: undesirable prisoners by drowning or beheading them. As Bonnet had
Speaker 1: always been rather conventional in his ideas, and had respected
Speaker 1: the customs of the society in which he found himself.
Speaker 1: He now adopted all the paratical fashions of the day,
Speaker 1: and when he found himself too far from land to
Speaker 1: put the captured crew on shore, he did not hesitate
Speaker 1: to make them walk the plank, which was a favorite
Speaker 1: device of the pirates. Whenever they had no other way
Speaker 1: of disposing of their prisoners. The unfortunate wretches, with their
Speaker 1: hands tied behind them, were compelled one by one to
Speaker 1: mount a plank which was projected over the side of
Speaker 1: the vessel and balanced like a sea saw. And when
Speaker 1: prodded by knives and cutlasses, they stepped out upon this plank.
Speaker 1: Of course, it tipped up and down they went into
Speaker 1: the sea. In this way, men, women and children slipped
Speaker 1: out of sight among the waves as the vessel sailed
Speaker 1: merrily own. In one branch of his new profession, Bonnet
Speaker 1: rapidly became proficient. He was an insatiable robber and a
Speaker 1: cruel conqueror. He captured merchant vests all along the coast,
Speaker 1: as high up as New England, and then he came
Speaker 1: down again and stopped for a while before Charlestown Harbor,
Speaker 1: where he took a couple of prizes, and then put
Speaker 1: into one of the North Carolina harbors, where it was
Speaker 1: always easy for a pirate vessel to refit and get
Speaker 1: ready for further adventures. Bonnet's vessel was named the Revenge,
Speaker 1: which was about as ill suited to the vessel as
Speaker 1: her commander was ill fitted to sail her, for Bonnet
Speaker 1: had nobody to revenge himself upon, unless indeed it were
Speaker 1: his scolding wife. But a good many pirate ships were
Speaker 1: then called the Revenge, and Bonnet was bound to follow
Speaker 1: the fashion, whatever it might be. Very soon after he
Speaker 1: had stood upon the quarter deck and proclaimed himself a pirate,
Speaker 1: his men had discovered that he knew no more about
Speaker 1: sailing than he knew about painting portraits. And although there
Speaker 1: were under officers who directed all the nautical operations, the
Speaker 1: mass of the crew conceived a great contempt for a
Speaker 1: landsman captain. There was much grumbling and growling, and many
Speaker 1: of the men would have been glad to throw Bonnet
Speaker 1: overboard and take the ship into their own hands. But
Speaker 1: when any symptoms of mutiny showed themselves, the pirates found
Speaker 1: that although they did not have a sailor in command
Speaker 1: over them, they had a very determined and relentless master
Speaker 1: Bonnet knew that the captain of a pirate ship ought
Speaker 1: to be the most severe and rigid man on board,
Speaker 1: and so at the slightest sign of insubordination, his grumbling
Speaker 1: men were put in chains or flogged. And it was
Speaker 1: Bonnet's habit at such times to strut about the deck
Speaker 1: with loaded pistols, threatening to blow out the brains of
Speaker 1: any man who dared to disobey him. Recognizing that although
Speaker 1: their captain was no sailor, he was a first class tyrant,
Speaker 1: the rebellious crew kept their grumbling to themselves and worked
Speaker 1: his ship. Bonnet now pointed the bow of the Revenge southward,
Speaker 1: that is, he requested somebody else to see that it
Speaker 1: was done, and sailed to the Bay of Honduras, which
Speaker 1: was a favorite resort of the pirates about that time.
Speaker 1: And here it was that he first met with the
Speaker 1: famous captain Blackbeard. There can be no doubt that our Amma,
Speaker 1: a pirate, was very glad indeed, to become acquainted with
Speaker 1: this well known professional, and they soon became good friends.
Speaker 1: Blackbeard was on the point of organizing an expedition, and
Speaker 1: he proposed that Bonnet and his vessel should join it.
Speaker 1: This invitation was gladly accepted, and the two pirate captains
Speaker 1: started out on a cruise together. Now, the old reprobate
Speaker 1: Blackbeard knew everything about ships and was a good navigator,
Speaker 1: and it was not long before he discovered that his
Speaker 1: new partner was as green as grass in regard to
Speaker 1: all nautical affairs. Consequently, after having thought the matter over
Speaker 1: for a time, he made up his mind that Bonnet
Speaker 1: was not at all fit to command such a fine
Speaker 1: vessel as the one he owned and had fitted out,
Speaker 1: And as pirates make their own laws, and perhaps do
Speaker 1: not obey them if they happen not to feel like it,
Speaker 1: Blackbeard sent for Bonnet to come on board his ship,
Speaker 1: and then, in a manner as cold blooded as if
Speaker 1: he had been about to cut down a helpless prisoner,
Speaker 1: Blackbeard told Bonnet that he was not fit to be
Speaker 1: a pirate captain, that he and tended to keep him
Speaker 1: on board his own vessel, and that he would send
Speaker 1: somebody to take charge of the revenge. This was a fall, indeed,
Speaker 1: and Bonnet was almost stunned by it. An hour before,
Speaker 1: he had been proudly strutting about on the deck of
Speaker 1: a vessel which belonged to him, and in which he
Speaker 1: had captured many valuable prizes. And now he was told
Speaker 1: he was to stay on Blackbeard's ship and make himself
Speaker 1: useful in keeping the log book, or in doing any
Speaker 1: other easy thing which he might happen to understand. The
Speaker 1: Green pirate ground his teeth and swore bitterly in sight
Speaker 1: of himself, But he said nothing openly on blackbeard ship.
Speaker 1: Blackbeard's decisions were not to be questioned. End of Chapter
Speaker 1: twenty four