Uncategorized – Under the Black

The Urca de Lima didn’t have “treasure,” but it did help create some pirates

Hey everyone! Sorry I’ve taken so long to update this. I’m still reading through The Republic of Pirates, mostly because I’ve been stopping every five seconds to take notes. (I’ve decided to just read it through now and take notes later.) But I’ve found out some interesting things so far.

First of all – for anyone who watches Black Sails – the Urca de Lima did exist, and it did run afoul of a storm and become shipwrecked. It wasn’t, however, carrying the gold and silver. But it was still part of the shipwrecked Spanish fleet that became the origin story for some pirates.

What followed is an array of domino incidents. The years 1715-1716 shaped the pirate republic and alliances/rivalries. There were three main pirate pairs of captains and partners or captains and mentees:

Sam Bellamy and Paulsgrave Williams (Partners)
Benjamin Hornigold and Edward Teach (Teach was Hornigold’s protegee)
Henry Jennings and Charles Vane (Jennings mentored Vane)

Jennings considered himself still a privateer, despite the fact that privateers weren’t really a thing anymore. His belief caused him to look down on Hornigold, causing friction between the two.

The three pairs crossed paths while chasing down French prizes. Jennings partnered with Bellamy to capture a ship. But when Hornigold arrived, Jennings sailed off the meet him, and Bellamy took that opportunity to steal Jennings’ prize and then team up with Hornigold.

Now, Hornigold considered himself a British patriot and refused to attack English ships. He would only attack Spanish and French ships. Bellamy, on the other hand, was fighting against the British and the system that left him poor.

Eventually, Hornigold’s crew grew angry over his unwillingness to attack English ships. So they deposed him and joined Bellamy’s crew.

And that’s where I left off. Hornigold is in New Providence Island, trying to rebuild Nassau’s fort. And Bellamy is on his way to capturing the Whydah, a ship he wants to use to destroy the British man-of-war Scarborough.

Day 2? NYPL Update & The War of Spanish Succession

I went to the New York Public Library on Wednesday and met with a research specialist, who showed me many resources I can use to chase down primary research. It’s a lot, so I will probably be spending… the rest of my life? Looking for information.

Right now I’m searching for primary sources, not only to be as authentic as possible, but also because I’m curious. Unforuntately, it’s hard to track down primary source documents written by pirates, so I know this may be fruitless. But it’s cool anyway to see some of these things – like letters of marque, etc.

I’m still in the stage of formulating a timeline (this is much harder than it sounds, because there are many different historical characters and events that influence each other, and in turn influences my story) and gathering as much general research as possible.

So far I’ve really only learned about the poor conditions of working in the British navy and impressment (they basically chased people down and forced them into very horrible conditions on the ship.)

The other main event is the War of Spanish Succession. The wars leading up to the Golden Age of Piracy played monumental roles in creating pirates like Blackbeard, etc. The wars did a couple of things: They raised the number of privateers and forced people into working in the British Navy.

Privateers were basically legal pirates, emboldened by their government during times of war to sack ships from other countries. Some privateers did become pirates.

British naval conditions were so brutal that crew members left for piracy instead, where they received a vote on the ship and faced better conditions.

I’ll write more on both these topics later, but for now I’m just fascinated by these events. The world is always changing, but the early 17th and 18th centuries saw the world shifting in many different ways.

Day 1: Primary Source Adventures

I’m not a historian, but I was a history minor! I actually almost double majored in history and journalism, but decided I didn’t want to take the four math classes required by BU’s College of Arts and Sciences.

I’ve never lost my love for history — especially U.S. pre-Civil War history — but I haven’t looked for primary sources in six years.

I reached out to the New York Public Library and asked to meet with a research specialist, and I’m actually quite surprised they took my request for “primary sources on pirates” seriously.

I’m meeting with them today, and I am very excited. The NYPL has a vast archive or resources, but I have no clue how to navigate them. Or what I’m even looking for…