Original subtitles

Pirates. The stuff of myth and legend.

Hold him.

Keep him still!

Swashbuckling outlaws,

bringing murder and mayhem to the high seas.

These wild-eyed scallywags are not a Hollywood invention.

They're all too real.

My name is Blackbeard!

The Golden Age of Piracy

starts after a war between England and Spain.

England wins,

but the Spanish Empire is still a force to be reckoned with...

...until the night she loses her treasure fleet.

Spain is broke,

her riches scattered at the bottom of the sea.

The sunken booty is a beacon for rogue sailors

who prowl the Caribbean and the East Coast of the Americas.

The Benjamin!

Many of these pirates become living legends.

Men like Benjamin Hornigold...

Time to trim that bastard Jennings' sails.

Henry Jennings...

Which will break first? Your will or my poor knuckles?

Black Sam Bellamy...

Hoist the black flag!

Right, lads, let's see what these French sailors are made of.

And they're not all men.

Anne Bonny.

No! No!

Hold!

I think it's about time you let us leave.

And the most famous pirate of them all, Edward Thatch,

better known as Blackbeard.

Course I'm mad.

I'm as mad as a fox.

On your feet.

The pirates of the Caribbean strike terror

into the world's most powerful empires.

The rich rob the poor under cover of law.

We plunder the rich by our own courage.

These Robin Hoods of the sea changed the course of history.

No sailor can get punished without the agreement of the crew.

They believe in equality, and liberate slaves.

You are no longer slaves! You are now subject to the laws of piracy!

They even create a democratic republic.

- Aye! - Nassau, the new Pirate Republic!

They are the real forefathers of modern America.

The pirates of the Caribbean are forged in a brutal conflict.

For 12 long years, Europe is at war.

The War of Spanish Succession might be better called World War Zero.

It all starts

when Spain forms an alliance with France,

to create the world's largest superpower.

The other European powers, the English, the Dutch and the Austrians,

they considered that alliance a threat.

The war quickly spreads to the Caribbean,

the gateway to the New World,

the source of Spain's incredible wealth.

The islands of the Caribbean themselves were also the route

through to South America,

where the Spaniards were mining gold,

and especially lots and lots of silver.

All of that silver had to be traveled through the Caribbean,

back to Europe.

For a long time, Spain has the Caribbean to herself.

Then, the English move in.

Spain discovered the New World in the person of Christopher Columbus,

and so the presence of other European powers,

be it England in Jamaica, Barbados, Bermuda, Bahamas,

that presence was trespass, pure and simple,

and Spain wanted them out.

But the English refused to budge.

The war is Spain's chance to kick them out.

Jamaica is Britain's foothold in the region.

But the crown has no money to fund the Navy halfway around the world,

so they unleash their own pirate force.

She looks loaded, lads.

Yeah!

Of course, it would be too vulgar to call them pirates.

They're given a posher title.

Privateers.

Sailors of fortune, funded by private money.

They then fight the Spanish under the Crown's official license,

known as a letter of marque.

During the Spanish War of Succession,

1,622 letters of marque were given

by the English Royal Court of Admiralty.

That is 1,622 pieces of paper,

which allowed a captain to go out and rob a Spanish vessel.

The Crown gets a mercenary navy for nothing,

and the privateers make big money robbing the Spanish.

Then, after 12 years, the war grinds to a halt.

The cost of the war had reached crippling levels

for all of the participants in the war.

The British came out the clear winner.

They win, but King George I is broke

and wants peace at any cost.

Attacks on Spanish traders must stop,

pronto.

The end of the war meant that privateering commissions lost all value.

No enemy, no plunder,

and so thousands of privateers lost their livelihoods,

but they found themselves

in a sea of other unemployed able seamen.

The Navy scaled right back in terms of size.

It went from about 50,000 in 1712 to just 14,000.

Massive unemployment,

but particularly, massive unemployment amongst a community of people

who knew nothing but sailing, fighting, and stealing.

There's been 12 years of loyal service.

To be tossed aside without pay off or pension,

it's nothing short of betrayal!

I hear you, my friend.

I hear you.

But it'll do you no good to go against the Crown.

Ugh! Same again.

I can't see the peace holding up.

Men like Benjamin Hornigold

really made their careers in the War of the Spanish Succession,

where he operated as a privateer.

We don't know much about his background

because it wasn't documented, mainly because he was a merchant sailor.

So, he was just, you know, an AB on a ship.

Hornigold was left marooned, effectively, by the British,

and told to make his own way in the world.

Twelve years.

Shh, quiet, friend.

While there's a garrison still here,

well, I'd keep treasonous talk to yourself.

Not fair.

Hornigold knows you can't trust anyone,

least of all his rival, Henry Jennings.

Jennings was from an established Bermuda family.

In addition to the Bermuda Holdings,

Jennings owned an estate in Jamaica.

During the war, Henry Jennings is notorious

as the cruelest of privateer captains,

and he sees himself as a cut above rogues like Hornigold.

Well, well, well, here he comes, Henry Jennings.

Captain at sea, master on land, bastard on both.

Uh!

Keep your fucking men under control...

or I will.

He's grown up among the plantations,

he has seen how you treat slaves,

he knows how to make people do as he says pretty much through torture and fear.

You're all right, aren't you?

Let's have a drink.

What irks Hornigold

is that, while the King forbids him from attacking the Spanish,

the old enemy continues to attack England's merchant ships.

The Spanish Guarda Costa were a legitimate force of privateers

employed by the Spanish government in the Caribbean,

and their job, in theory, was to protect the Spanish trade interests there,

but in practice, they were a menace to trade.

At the end of hostilities, these coastal defense vessels

continued to seize English ships,

especially those coming back-and-forth out of Jamaica.

Our problem, it's not complicated.

The Spanish continue to plunder our ships and get rich.

And while we live under the noses of the Royal Navy garrison at Port Royal,

my hands are tied.

So...

let's move from under the noses of the Navy.

Leave? Port Royal?

He's starting to get it.

Somewhere where we can be free to do what we do best:

get rich off Spanish trade ships.

And that place...

is right here...

in the middle of the Bahamas.

The Bahamas was an excellent choice,

particularly if you wanted to raid Spanish territories,

because it was located astride the main sea routes.

The trade winds mean no cargo can head for Spain

without running the gauntlet of these islands.

The sailors aren't the only ones losing out to the Spanish.

The local merchants in Jamaica,

as well as the merchants in England who traded with Jamaica,

were unanimous in clamoring for something to be done

to deal with the Guarda Costas.

So, they lobby the Governor of Jamaica,

Lord Archibald Hamilton.

Does the King know

that he is the only one pursuing the peace?

I assure you, I have raised the issue with His Majesty,

and he is not for turning.

Does he know that the Spanish are still taking our vessels?

For Captain Henry Jennings, it's an opportunity too good to miss.

They're right, my lord.

The so-called Spanish Coastguard are nothing but pirates.

Our cargoes were safer during the war, for God's sake!

We're all plantation owners,

and we have the means to do something about it.

Jennings needs two things:

a good sized fleet,

and a letter of marque from the Crown.

What say you all to this?

No one has cut more Spanish ears than you, Henry.

Now, I propose a fleet of gunships, with you at the helm.

A kind of defense force, if you will.

Well,

it would be an honor, my lord.

Jennings was an ideal person to be employed by Archibald Hamilton,

um, not only because of his experience of privateering,

but also because he was a member of the upper echelons of Jamaican society.

Jennings has command of a fleet funded by the island's merchants,

but with no letter of marque, he can't attack Spanish ships.

Hornigold needs no official endorsement

as he arrives in the Bahamas with his gang of out-of-work privateers.

This archipelago of hundreds of uncharted islands

with uncharted and unmarked reefs in between them,

and 1,000 hiding places that a vessel could sneak into

and remain unmolested and undetected.

Hornigold identifies the perfect base:

the town of Nassau on the island of New Providence.

Gentlemen, welcome to New Providence,

and our new home, Nassau.

Nassau was less a town than just a collection of huts and hovels.

During the war, the Spanish had laid waste to Nassau.

The Crown had turned its back on the shanty town years before.

But for starving sailors, it is a paradise,

a safe Caribbean home.

There's fresh water here,

and Hog Island yonder, that's got meat aplenty.

In better times,

these could be privateers with commissions.

It's very simple math.

Privateers minus commissions equals pirates.

But the old Colonial settlers who stayed in Nassau

don't take kindly to this invasion of uncouth Jamaican pirates.

Thomas Walker was a Colonial official,

and, in fact, he was the only Colonial official left.

Excuse me, sir.

Tell me, what is your business in Nassau?

To make it our home.

Allow me to introduce you to your new neighbors.

And what would that business be, sir?

Patriots, sir.

Patriots doing our duty to the Crown

by doing to Spanish shipping what they are doing to ours.

Are you mad?

The Spanish need no excuse to attack us, sir,

and your business will provoke them even further!

I reckon they'll think twice about returning to Nassau, now.

You think of us as security.

You'll get us all killed!

You haven't heard the last of this!

Cheerio.

As Hornigold and his band of pirates fall for Nassau,

1,200 miles north,

a future legend of the pirate world, young Samuel Bellamy,

is falling in love.

Like hundreds of other English sailors after the war,

he's been dumped by the Navy in America.

Now, he's unemployed and broke.

Somehow or another, he winds up in Eastern Massachusetts

and then legend takes over.

He met our heroine, our wonderful Mary Hallett.

Sam Bellamy took one look at her, fell in love,

but he is a poor, impoverished sailor.

Please.

Mary.

No, Sam Bellamy.

My love, you have been hurt.

Mary is falling in love

with a man from the wrong side of the tracks.

Sometimes it's better to be in jail than on board a ship.

The brutality and the bullying

and the predation of many of the captains that are known.

This is a culture of horrendous violence.

Now, men could be beaten, sometimes to death,

for minor indiscretions.

Ah!

Do they repulse you?

Not at all.

I'm pleased to hear that...

because women rarely marry men they find repulsive.

Sam Bellamy's forbidden love for Mary

will drive this honest sailor

to become one of the most effective pirates of all time,

but not yet.

From their new home,

Hornigold's men are making short work of Spanish traders.

Hornigold, operating out of the Bahamas,

continued trading up, getting stronger and stronger vessels.

Don't thank me, gentlemen. I'll make you all rich before long.

Good days work for a fair share, right?

What will the Spanish do with all that money anyway?

The pirates are making a mint,

but the old Nassau colonists are freaking out.

Thomas Walker was extremely concerned that the pirates' actions,

the raiding of Spanish vessels,

were going to elicit a military response from Spain.

He started sending letters to ask for help

from authorities elsewhere and from London.

Walker's complaints are also picked up by the press.

Pretty soon, Hornigold was finding himself

on the pages of the only newspaper in North America,

a newspaper called The Boston News-Letter.

Walker wants to draw the attention of the Crown

to Hornigold's piracy,

but it backfires.

Tales of men getting rich on sunken treasure

are an open invitation to any would-be pirate.

Inspired by the exploits of Hornigold,

Paulsgrave Williams, our next player,

is a businessman in need of a skipper.

Ahem.

You look in need of a drink.

You're telling me.

Paulsgrave Williams was the son of Rhode Island's attorney general,

and his mother was descended from the Plantagenet kings of England.

Bellamy was a trained sailor and probably a trained combatant,

and Williams was looking for somebody who could handle themselves under sail.

I have problems, too. I thought we might share them.

For a drink, I'll talk to anyone.

Sam Bellamy, ex-Navy,

in love with the most beautiful girl in Cape Cod.

Paulsgrave Williams.

Neither seem like a problem to me.

Ah, the girl has a father,

and he won't give up his daughter to "a penniless, no-prospect bum" like me.

Well, then, I might have a solution.

On April 5th, Benjamin Hornigold took a Spanish ship

with a cargo of silk, rum and sugar,

and money, estimated at 52,700 pieces of eight.

Just

took it.

Now, I'm a shrewd businessman, a silversmith,

and I can tell fool's gold from real and silver from pewter,

so when I see a return like this for a single day's work?

Well, I recognize an industry worth exploring, hmm?

So, here's my problem.

I'm an islander who can't sail.

Who knew such a creature existed?

I've the money to fund an expedition to disrupt trade.

English, Spanish, what the fuck do we Scots care?

- But I need a good captain. - Mm.

Well, if you're half as good a sailor as your reputation suggests,

then it seems to me we have two problems

with a single solution.

I'm not just a good sailor,

I'm a great sailor.

But...

if Mary's father won't let her marry a bum,

my Mary would never marry a criminal.

Thanks for the drink, and the offer,

but I'm afraid

I still have my problem,

and you yours.

And so the richest partnership in pirate history

seems destined to be stillborn.

Until a single event turns the Caribbean upside down.

July 23rd, 1715.

The most valuable flotilla in history leaves Havana for Spain.

The so-called Plate Fleet is laden with gold and silver,

mined in Spanish colonies in South America.

Spain relied on this fleet for hard currency,

for treasure, for revenue.

It was the most obvious way

for Spain to shore up its adventurism around the world,

but also its maintenance and its operations at home.

War and weather prevent the fleet from sailing for over a decade,

but now Spain needs the money.

Spain is almost bankrupt by the end of the Spanish War of Succession.

It's desperate.

That treasure aboard those 11 ships constituted about 14 million pesos,

which is hundreds of millions of dollars in current US currency.

The cargo is the most valuable ever to set sail across the Atlantic,

but the Spanish know they're taking a major gamble with the weather.

This is hurricane season.

As the fleet made its way up the coast of Florida,

the worst anticipated happened.

The treasure fleet heads straight into the eye of a storm.

Imagine the fear of the Spanish fleet when it sees the sky begin to darken.

They are facing 40, 50-foot waves.

These things are crashing down on them.

It's not so much the waves that are the problem, it's the wind.

The ships were being pushed further and further by the storm

against the beaches

If you don't get your rigging down in time, your mast will snap.

One by one the ships begin to crack.

A thousand men are drowned.

Eleven Spanish galleons are wrecked,

scattering a fortune in gold and silver just off Vero Beach in Florida.

More money than you could earn in ten lifetimes

are in these boats.

News of the wrecks spreads faster than the plague.

This is like discovering oil on another level.

And the man best placed to cash in?

Benjamin Hornigold.

He's one of the first Englishmen to reach the Spanish treasure,

and a quick fortune.

It isn't long before the news of Hornigold's windfall

hits Port Royal in Jamaica.

Governor Hamilton, when he hears word

that the Spanish treasure fleet has been wrecked on Florida,

his first reaction is actually to get in on the action.

This is getting ridiculous.

Lord Hamilton!

You wanted me.

The Spanish treasure.

You have a well-armed fleet sitting in port.

Should the investors sit by while pirates get rich?

The temptation is so great

it needs some official skullduggery.

Let me be clear you know exactly what you're asking.

The Spanish have declared the treasure protected.

Any scavenging will be seen as an act of aggression.

But let's say the Commission isn't to...

...isn't to scavenge Spanish ships,

but to, uh, catch pirates drawn to the treasure.

Jennings' defense fleet has one purpose:

to rob the pirates who'd robbed the Spaniards.

And if some of this stolen treasure falls into our hands?

Well, I see no act against the Spanish in that.

A deal is struck.

Jennings has his letter of marque and is off the leash.

It's a decision Hamilton will live to regret.

Jennings sets off on his treasure hunt,

but weeks pass with no sign of the Spanish wrecks.

He grows frustrated.

But then a Spanish mail ship crosses his path.

It's one of life's mysteries.

Hornigold's navigator can take him straight to the Spanish wrecks,

while mine flails up and down the coast

like a blinded bat!

Luckily, I have you...

my very own Spanish captain,

to take me to the treasure.

Now, I'm going to take your early reticence

as a passing phase.

You will tell me.

The question is,

which will break first?

Your will

or my poor knuckles?

Amongst Jennings's hardcore crew is...

With your permission, sir.

...a vicious thug who gives pirates a bad name.

Who the fuck are you?

Charles Vane.

Sir.

At your service.

Very well.

Charles Vane is born in London, Wapping,

and London is an incredibly tough and brutal existence at the time.

Little is known about Vane's early life

in London's crime-ridden streets.

As the sinner's choking agony reaches your ears,

behold...

Try to imagine what it's like, a boy growing up

on the roughness of those streets.

Death, violence, the public execution is public entertainment...

No surprises then, that when society so brutalizes a child,

it spawns a brutal monster,

and, in Vane's case, everybody's worst nightmare.

No. No. No.

- No? - No!

- Sí. Sí. - No!

No! No! No!

There is a camp.

- Anyone here speak gibberish? - No!

No! No! No! No!

They have the gold.

Your witness, Captain.

Charles Vane.

With Vane's powers of persuasion,

Jennings learns something more valuable than the location of the wrecks.

He discovered that a lot of treasure had already been retrieved,

and was being stored in a camp on the shore.

As Jennings sets sail in a quest for Spanish treasure,

young Sam Bellamy appears to have struck gold with Mary Hallett.

Her parents were not in favor of any kind of union between them.

They were wealthy farmers, and they didn't think that

he would be able to provide for Mary in the way that she was used to.

No way is she going to marry this horrible man,

according to her parents.

However, she has another idea.

This was a very strict religious society.

This is not a society that has any kind of tolerance

for anything like premarital sex.

Mary?

- Slut! - Keep your hands off her.

If I hear you touched a hair on her head, I'll come back, I'll set you straight.

- You're not worthy of my daughter! - Stop it. Stop shouting.

Mary?

I'll be back. I swear.

I'll be back with more than enough means to satisfy your father.

And you, you don't lay a finger on her.

Leave my property, now!

And so the Spanish treasure becomes Bellamy's only hope...

...and Paulsgrave Williams has the means to get it.

With every passing day

this Hornigold character impresses me more.

Picking a fortune from the Florida sands under the noses of the Spanish themselves.

God..

Breaks my heart, but what a nerve, huh?

Yeah! Yeah.

I'll have that drink you owe me, Paulsgrave.

Decided that the bachelor life is for you after all, eh, Sam?

My Mary won't marry a villain,

but I don't think there's a law against scavenging.

Bellamy wants the money, so he can go back home to his sweetheart

and convince her parents that he's a good bet.

Get Captain Bellamy a drink.

Captain? Captain Jennings?

There they are.

The Spanish gold is being guarded

by a paltry crew of Spaniards.

No contest for a bunch of seasoned British privateers.

Under cover of darkness, he lands three detachments of soldiers.

Jennings definitely had a profit motive in mind.

There was an enormous amount of treasure there

and he was beelining right to it.

He may have felt that there was nothing immoral

about him taking treasure back from the Spanish.

And they know full well they're playing with fire.

The Florida coast is Spanish territory.

Captain!

On your feet. Quickly!

Is this war?

Admiral Salmon tried to negotiate his way out of it,

you know, offering them 25,000 pesos if they'd just go in peace.

They would have none of it.

We want everything. Comprende?

Uh-uh. Every fucking thing.

And if you...

I can't hear myself think.

Vane? Could you...?

Shh.

Men? Take everything.

Leave nothing.

Gracias.

Yes.

It's war.

Jennings and his men ended up leaving with almost £80,000 in treasure.

Spain and Britain were at peace at this point,

so it risked re-igniting open conflict.

On the way back to Jamaica,

Jennings decides to take a detour to Nassau

to rub his triumph in Hornigold's face.

There's this archness condescension that you'd actually do that.

Who are you, Hornigold, with your rag-tag group of men

operating out of this crappy failed colony?

But Hornigold's Flying Gang is growing by the day,

and the latest recruit is a diamond.

- Mr. Hornigold, sir. - Who wants him?

Another fan, Captain.

Uh, apologies. I'm Edward Thatch.

You're a legend, sir.

Been reading The Boston News-Letter by any chance?

- What can I do for you? - Um...

I'm from Jamaica.

My family own land there.

Thatch gave his inheritance to family members

and had been a mate on Jamaican merchant vessels.

It suggests that he was relatively educated,

not completely penniless.

I was interested in joining your crew, you know, to learn the ropes.

I can pay you for my own keep.

Oh.

- Pirate's apprentice? - Yeah.

Well, I reckon I've heard it all now.

You handle a musket?

Yeah.

Lift a barrel?

Yeah.

Neck grog and not spew your ring?

Waste your wages on women?

Catch a rat? Sleep with lice?

Captain? We've trouble.

Jennings is in town. He's fresh from the wrecks and he's flush.

You come as a pair, do you?

Very much so.

Quartermaster, set these two men to work.

Hornigold doesn't welcome Jennings and his gang

disturbing the peace of his pirate haven.

Oh, no, no. Mine, I think you'll find.

- Whoa, feisty. - Get off!

- Feisty, huh? - Get off!

Stop!

You wanna play, you pay like everyone else, Jennings.

Fuck off, Hornigold! You jumped up powder monkey.

This isn't Port Royal.

The women here need to be treated...

I don't think you've met Mr. Vane. He's quite mad.

No, I mean properly, properly insane.

I wouldn't upset him any further if I were you.

Hornigold has his own enforcer, Edward Thatch.

And so, battle lines are drawn

between two very different pirate leaders,

united by their greed and opportunism.

Mr. Hornigold?

Hornigold, sir.

What?

It's Jennings.

That night, Jennings sails off to Jamaica...

in Hornigold's ship.

Fuck!