All language subtitles for Pirates Behind the Legends s01e03 John Ward The English Pirate of North Africa.eng

[Narrator] This is
the story of John Ward,

an aging English sailor
who rose to become

one of the most infamous
pirates of the era,

terrorizing the waters
of the Mediterranean

in the service of the Barbary
corsairs of North Africa.

[Expert 1] It's a pretty
remarkable situation

to go from essentially nothing
to becoming a powerful figure.

[Expert 2] He was increasing
in wealth all the time,

in power, he had hundreds
of men working for him.

[Narrator]
Four centuries later,

his story lives on
in popular culture

as inspiration
for the most famous

fictional pirate
of the 21st century,

Captain Jack Sparrow.

[Expert 2] He did
what he did for himself.

He wasn't bowing
to any authority.

[Narrator] So, how did
a penniless fisherman

leave a legacy that reached

across the Mediterranean
and beyond

to become the pirate king?

? ?

? ?

John Ward is born near
the small town of Faversham

on the southeast coast
of England.

As a commoner and a fisherman,
his days are spent at sea,

scraping a grueling,
dangerous living

to provide a meager existence
for he and his wife.

[Jo Esra] Fishing was
quite a hard life,

quite hard work
for seasonal returns.

It wasn't always guaranteed
that you would have enough fish

even to feed your family,
let alone sell and make profit.

[Narrator] In 1585,
Ward spots an opportunity.

War with Spain is brewing.

And Queen Elizabeth I lacks
the resources to build a navy

to defeat the powerful
Spanish Empire.

Her solution?

Outsource her fleet,
allowing any English sailor

to ravage Spanish ships,
seizing their cargo.

A share of the plunder
must go to the Crown,

but the rest, the men
are allowed to keep.

[Esra] Conditions
for those taking to sea,

ordinary seafarers, if you will,
was incredibly harsh.

It was not guaranteed
that you would get money.

It was a hard life.
It was very risky.

Of course, it was
very dangerous.

You were away for a long time
from your families.

[Narrator] Despite this,
thousands of civilians

take to the sea
in search of their fortune-

seasoned fishermen,
experienced sailors,

but also many men
who had never left dry land.

English law defines these
adventurers as legal raiders,

private men of war.

But to the Spanish
merchants who feared attack,

they were simply pirates.

[Esra] The attraction
of privateering or even piracy,

the risks of that were worth it.

[Narrator] John Ward
is amongst those willing

to take such a perilous risk.

Leaving behind an arduous
and unreliable fishing trade,

he spends 18 years at sea
thriving as a privateer.

? ?

Queen Elizabeth's death in 1603

brings Ward's rise
to an abrupt halt.

Her successor, King James I,

is determined to restore
peace with Spain.

[Mark Hanna] James was
not a fan of privateering.

In fact, when he was
king of Scotland,

he was constantly annoyed
by the harassment

against Scottish shipping.

And so when he
took over as king,

he made a clear decision
that he was going to eradicate

privateering from England.

[Narrator] Overnight,
private men of war

are redefined as criminals,

outlawed by the English Crown.

[Esra] Spain's ships
are to operate unhindered

by privateers,

and he introduces quite severe
punishments for that.

[Hanna] There was no longer
support by the Crown anymore

to perform acts
of violence at sea.

[Connie Kelleher]
You now had official captains

and commanders and men
who were legitimate sailors

now out of, out of work.

And while some of them were able
to find employment elsewhere,

the majority of them had no
recourse but to turn to piracy.

[Narrator] Ward is
unemployed and now age 50.

The battle-scarred sailor's
options are limited-

join the king's navy on
the promise of a small salary,

continue raiding
the Spanish as a pirate

and risk the gallows if caught,

or return to the hard graft
of life as a fisherman.

Ward chooses the navy
and is placed aboard a ship,

the Lyon's Whelp.

[Esra] Naval conditions
aren't great.

The rations are poor.

Pay is low or non-existent.

Discipline is very harsh.

[Richard Blakemore]
For some sailors,

especially young
and inexperienced ones,

going into the navy
might have had advantages.

The ships spent
a lot of time in port

because they were so expensive
that the monarch didn't want

to send them out unless
it was totally necessary,

and the labor was shared out

because naval ships often
had very large crews.

But for an experienced
sailor like Ward,

it would have been
less than ideal.

He could have earned much
higher wages in a merchant ship

or in a plundering ship.

And he could have
had opportunities

to trade or enrich himself

that he wouldn't get
in a naval ship.

? ?

[Narrator] Almost immediately,

Ward seems to seriously
regret his decision.

[Esra] Two weeks on,
and Ward really isn't happy.

[Narrator]
Ward hits breaking point.

In a nearby tavern,
a plot is hatched.

He rallies his shipmates,

urging them to abandon the navy
and flee the country.

He's clearly persuasive,

convincing them
that they will be free men

upon reaching the high seas.

Led by Ward, the deserters
decide to steal a small ship

from Portsmouth Harbor.

[Esra] This is
quite a risky endeavor.

If they're caught, there
would be severe punishment.

[Blakemore] Desertion
is a crime in martial law

and seizing a barque
and sailing off is piracy.

But Ward knows there are
great opportunities out there.

[Narrator] Ward and his men
creep through the harbor,

overpower two watchmen,
and seize control of the ship.

Weighing anchor,
they set out to sea-

these deserters
from the English Navy

now seafaring criminals labeled
by the authorities as pirates.

[Blakemore] Shortly
after setting sail,

Ward is chosen as captain by
the men who've accompanied him.

So, pirates certainly had
more say over who is in charge

than you would get
on a navy ship

where the commanders were
appointed by the state.

To be chosen so quickly shows
that Ward must have been able

to persuade and lead
those who had followed him.

And indeed, he apparently
persuaded them

to steal the barque
in the first place.

And I think it also
speaks to his experience

as a navigator and as a sailor.

They must have respected that
he would be able to take them

where they wanted to go.

? ?

[Esra] They steal a ship
called the Violet.

And then they decide to sail off
to the Mediterranean.

? ?

[Narrator] By 1603, the area
is made up of a patchwork

of feuding states and societies
with high levels of piracy.

Conflict rages
between the Muslim states

of the Ottoman Empire

and the Christian
principalities

of southern Europe,

with much of the fighting
taking place at sea.

Because of this,

the region offers

major opportunities for Ward.

[Blakemore] He knows that
the Mediterranean is a center

of really lucrative trade
between cities like Venice

and Genoa, Aleppo, Izmir.

And he knows that there are
plunderers already active

in the Mediterranean.

There is the corso, the conflict
between Islam and Christianity

from which we get
the word "corsair,"

and various ports
in the Mediterranean

are sending out raiders
to capture shipping.

So, Ward knows that if he heads
for the Mediterranean,

he's going to be able
to get in on this scene.

[Harcourt Fuller] If you look

at the geography

of the Mediterranean world

and North Africa,

you have areas where pirates
could have found a safe haven.

[Blakemore] By the time Ward
arrives in the Mediterranean,

certain ports have
become particular centers

for maritime raiding.

Places like Sal�

on the Atlantic coast
of Morocco,

Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis
on the north coast of Africa.

And also Malta.

[Narrator] To survive,
Ward needs ships.

He begins to build his fleet,

stealing a 32-gun
Dutch flyboat.

Rather than killing the crew,

Ward forces them to sail home
in his own far smaller vessel.

He renames
the captured ship the Gift.

His career as a Mediterranean
pirate is under way.

[Esra] Pirates took ships
through shock-and-awe tactics,

so they might battle
with the ship,

but quite often,
it was drawing up alongside

and just being so violent
and so aggressive,

you know, the hope was
that people would surrender.

[gunfire]

So, he's off pirating
around the Mediterranean,

taking an increasing
number of ships.

And these ships have cargo-
luxury goods, textiles, cotton,

velvet, silk, spices, dyes.

Anything that is being traded

through the Mediterranean
region, Ward is taking.

So, the ships that were used
in the Mediterranean region

were fast sail ships,
xebecs, for example,

so, square rigged lateens.

And these also had people on
oars; it wasn't just sail power.

[Narrator] After months at sea

and with a small fleet
at his command,

Ward now searches
for a friendly port

to unload his stolen cargo.

[Blakemore] Ward heads
first for Algiers,

which he knows is one of these
major centers for plundering.

The problem is
that an English pirate

has very recently attacked ships
in the harbor of Algiers,

so English sailors are
not particularly popular.

And when Ward sails in,

he's arrested and threatened
with the death penalty.

? ?

He manages to talk
or, indeed, buy his way out

by offering the plunder
that he already has in his hold,

so he loses everything that
he's got from the voyage so far

except the ships themselves.

That means he can keep on going,
and he sails on to Tunis,

where he gets a much
more favorable reception

from the local ruler.

? ?

[Narrator] 1605.

Ward sails into Tunis,

a city ruled over by the feared
former soldier Kara Osman Dey,

leader of a powerful
guild of corsairs,

elite North African pirates

who prey on ships
across the Mediterranean.

[Blakemore] When Ward
sails into Tunis,

the dey sees an opportunity.

[Esra] Kara Osman pays a quarter
towards stocking Ward's ship,

puts some of his own men
on the ship,

and the agreement is that Ward

will sell the stolen goods
to Kara Osman,

who will store them
and then sell them back

to English merchants
at a huge profit.

[Narrator] Ward
and Kara Osman have a deal.

The dey would take a percentage
of any goods captured.

And with the former
soldier's backing,

Ward could begin
to establish his name

as one of the most notorious
pirates in the Mediterranean.

Ward and his fleet set sail

alongside
North African corsairs,

attacking and seizing
vulnerable ships.

[Esra] Ward confines
his activities

to the Mediterranean region.

He doesn't venture
out of the Mediterranean

to go further afield to pirate.

He has rich pickings
where he is.

He's ideally situated
for Christian shipping.

[Blakemore] The corsairing
vessels, the xebecs,

are well-known
in the Mediterranean.

But here is a European ship
with a European crew,

so he may be able
to approach target vessels

without arousing suspicion.

And this is
a really useful advantage

when plundering
in these shipping lanes.

[gunshot]

[Esra] Ward would have
a small fleet of ships,

but these would have
been, you know,

merchant ships
that he would capture,

that they would have then
put ordnance on them

and armed them and made them
into his men of war.

? ?

[Narrator] 1606.

Having left Tunis, Ward spots
and seizes a merchant vessel.

? ?

[Blakemore] He encounters a ship
called the John the Baptist,

which he renames
the Little John,

almost certainly
a reference to Robin Hood,

that great hero of the
oppressed and the downtrodden,

who was very popular
in this era.

Just as he did with his
naval shipmates in Plymouth,

Ward now persuades
the crew of the Little John

to stay with him.

He must have had
a great style of talking.

He must have been able to compel
and encourage these people

to follow him
in his piratical career.

[Narrator] Yet again, Ward
uses his powers of persuasion,

convincing the crew
of this merchant ship

to join him
in a life of piracy.

[Esra] This feeds into a sort
of latent narrative about Ward

that he is an outlaw,
an antihero,

somebody who
is taking on authority

and actually to the benefit of
the poorer sections of society.

And what we certainly
have is evidence

that he was paying
to release captives.

He would help out
poor English sailors

that found themselves
in difficulty.

And he was recruiting and
making wealthy ordinary sailors.

Ordinary seafarers
would have seen his successes

as well as heard about them.

He would have had
English sailors,

he would have had Dutch sailors,

and he would have had
Islamic sailors.

There is, of course,
evidence that he is a leader,

that he is keeping
his crew together.

His life really is focused
on his ships, his crew, his men,

gathering more wealth,
and his pirating activity.

[Narrator] Only
a few years have passed

since his flight from the navy,

but Ward is now rich
and successful,

and yet he still wants more.

? ?

[Blakemore] Once he's
captured the Little John,

Ward goes on to capture
several other ships,

including the Rubi
and the Carminati,

both Venetian ships,
both very valuable.

And he brings these
back to Tunis,

and this only raises
his standings with the dey.

With the support of the dey,
Ward fits out four ships-

the Little John, the Rubi,
the Carminati and the Gift.

He's provided with cannons,
with swords, with muskets,

with all of the tools
of the pirating trade.

While these preparations
were ongoing,

Ward and his men
would have been leading

something of a high life
in Tunis.

This was a cosmopolitan port.

It was a trading port
as well as supporting corsairs.

There would have been
merchant ships.

There would have been people
from all over the Mediterranean

rubbing shoulders on the docks.

And so these sailors
would have found it very easy

to get along in this society.

They were used to
places like this,

and they just got
a lot of plunder,

so they had cash
in their pockets.

There were lots
of different things

they could have found
to do with that cash.

There would have been taverns,
there would have been brothels,

there were probably
other kinds of intoxicant drugs

available as well.

But that's not the whole story,
because they may have

established links
with the local community.

They may have made friends.
Some of them may have married.

Ward builds up
his position in Tunis

through his relationship
with the dey.

The dey gives him
a place to stay

and also a role
in the treasury,

which might to us seem like a
strange job to give to a pirate,

but the economy
of these cities

was so heavily involved
in maritime raiding

that actually it probably
made a lot of sense

because Ward was contributing
to the treasury

on each voyage where
he brought back more plunder.

[Narrator] Ward and
Kara Osman Dey grew close.

To his friends,

Captain John Ward
goes by "Jack."

But legends say the dey
had another nickname for him.

Ward has a tattoo on his arm,

the classic mariners' image
of a swallow given to sailors

when they've traveled
5,000 nautical miles.

But the swallow
is unknown to the dey,

so instead,
he calls him Sparrow,

Captain Jack Sparrow.

? ?

Following months
of preparation,

Ward sails from Tunis
with a fleet of four ships.

They're headed
for a busy Adriatic Sea,

on the promise
of merchant ships

bound to or from Venice,

one of the wealthiest
states on the globe.

But they're hit
by a ferocious storm.

Two boats are lost.

Ward and the survivors
press on.

April 26, 1607.

Ward spots an enormous vessel.

It's the Reniera e Soderina,

one of the finest and largest
ships in the Venetian fleet,

carrying passengers
and a huge cargo of valuables.

[Esra] Cargo from the Soderina
was estimated to be worth

up to two million pounds.

This consisted of textiles,
luxury goods, cotton, silk,

indigo, you know, dyes,
spices such as cinnamon.

Clearly this was a huge amount
of cargo for Ward.

It was a huge coup for Ward.

[Narrator] Designed
to be pirate-proof,

the sheer size and firepower
of the mighty Soderina

is a deterrent
to those used to preying

on smaller, lighter vessels.

But Captain John Ward
is not your average pirate.

Despite having lost half
his fleet, he opts to attack.

? ?

A gentle wind blows that day,

not enough to shift
the massive Soderina,

but plenty to move Ward's ships
to within firing range.

[Esra] This was
quite easy for Ward

to kind of draw up alongside.

[Narrator] Ward opens fire.

Cannonballs splinter the hull.

The Venetians fire back,

but Ward is already
on the move,

skillfully
traversing the waves,

shifting his ships
out of range.

For three bruising hours,
he pummels the Soderina,

before ordering his men
to stand by to board.

In a desperate dash
to the quarterdeck,

the Soderina's survivors
prepare to repel the pirates.

A moment before he issues
the command to attack,

Ward calls for his gunners to
fire off a round of chain shot.

[Blakemore] A chain shot
is two cannonballs

combined with a chain,
and it's a particular weapon

used to damage
masts and rigging.

[cannon fire]

[Narrator] Tearing through
the Soderina's rigging,

its men are thrown
30 feet to their deaths.

Others are ripped to pieces
in an instant.

Terrified survivors
are cut down by the pirates,

who now board
the disabled ship.

John Ward has just become
master and commander

of one of the finest ships

ever to grace
the Mediterranean Sea...

...as well
as the sole possessor

of the substantial
wealth it holds.

He has no sense
of the political tempest

he's just unleashed.

[Oliver Finnegan] That is,
in a way, his biggest success.

But it might be the start
of his downfall as well.

? ?

[Finnegan] Ward really seems
to achieve a degree of notoriety

when he captures
the Reniera e Soderina.

But the problem he has,

and this is something
you often find with piracy,

is he creates
a diplomatic crisis.

? ?

[Narrator] When
the Venetians learn

that their precious Soderina

has been stolen
by an English pirate,

they furiously turn
their gaze to King James,

demanding compensation
for their stolen treasures.

? ?

James still fancies himself
the great peacemaker of Europe,

but this renegade fisherman
turned Barbary corsair

has sullied the king's mission.

To prevent a war with Venice,
the exasperated monarch

sends a fleet of pirate hunters
into the Mediterranean

in search of Ward.

? ?

Sensing danger,
Ward sends a share of goods

stolen from the Soderina
back to England

in an attempt to negotiate
a royal pardon.

[Finnegan] This is common
in a lot of cases of piracy.

If you've got the goods,

you can negotiate
if they give you a pardon.

If you don't have the goods,
then you have absolutely nothing

to negotiate with
if they try and prosecute you.

[Narrator] In Tunis, Ward
finds a ship called the Husband

that's bound for London.

The captain has no idea

his ship is being loaded
with stolen goods.

[Finnegan] While
the ship is in Tunis,

many bundles of goods
are put onto the ship,

along with a lot
of different passengers,

which seem to,
a lot of them, be English,

and they're bringing
a lot of money.

[Narrator] The Husband departs
Tunis on a course for England.

But the Venetians have
figured out Ward's plan.

As the ship nears port, it's
suddenly stopped in its tracks.

[Finnegan] The Venetians
effectively arrange

for the ships to be seized,

and that completely destroyed
any negotiating position

that Ward had with the cargo.

[Narrator] With Ward's
leverage now in the custody

of his Venetian enemies,

King James refuses his pardon,

unwilling to risk war
with Venice.

Ward knows he can never again
return home to England.

? ?

Despite this setback,
Ward plans a spree of raids

across the Mediterranean
with one of the region's

mightiest weapons now
at his disposal, the Soderina.

Sparing no expense,

he transforms
the merchant vessel

into a deadly battleship,

carving new ports into her hull
to accommodate 70 brass guns.

Ward goes on a recruitment
drive, bringing together

a fighting force of
over 400 sailors and soldiers.

They set sail in early 1608,

soon capturing
two English ships

and a French merchant vessel.

But then a storm hits.

[thunder]

The expensive alterations
Ward made have fundamentally

weakened his prized
ship's timbers.

As rain and waves
batter the Soderina,

it begins to break apart.

[Esra] Unfortunately,
the Soderina does sink

with a great loss of life,

so 250 Englishmen and
150 Muslims actually perish

on that ship when it sinks.

? ?

[Narrator] Ward is assumed dead
amongst the wreckage.

? ?

[waves crashing]

[oars creaking]

But the pirate
is very much alive,

making his careful escape

in one of the smaller
vessels of his fleet.

Returning to Tunis,
he faces a reckoning.

The men who perished aboard
the Soderina are the husbands,

fathers, uncles, and brothers
of many Tunisians.

How did the captain
miraculously survive

whilst their
loved ones perished?

Ward seals himself
in his mansion

to avoid the outrage
of the people,

increasingly dependent on
Kara Osman Dey for protection.

But rather than flee the city
under the cover of darkness,

Ward makes a bold decision.

In 1610, he converts to Islam.

As is custom, he selects
a new Muslim name, Yusuf Reis.

Ward's Christian English life
is over for good.

[Hanna] Essentially,
one just simply

had to renounce one's religion

and could change their name
to become Muslim.

In England, this was considered
one of the worst things

you could ever do
to your community.

You became known as an apostate,

meaning you gave up
your religion,

you gave up your people,
your community, your monarch.

[Blakemore] When Ward
converts to Islam,

this is a really
significant step for him.

It's a rejection of the culture
that he grew up with in England,

and it would have made it
difficult for him

to return to England.

Those sailors who did
return to England

after converting to Islam were
treated with deep suspicion.

Apostasy was a sin against
the Church under Church law,

and so those sailors
had to undergo

a very public humiliation
and penance in order

to reestablish themselves
within English society.

[Narrator] In England,

these converts were
known as renegades,

and John Ward was
one of the most notorious.

[Finnegan] Renegades
are Christians

who've converted to Islam,

and they came to hold some
relatively prominent positions

within the Ottoman Empire.

A lot of them
became ship's captains.

A lot of them became sailors

based out
of Ottoman territories,

like in Algiers or Tunis.

And then they would
convert to Islam.

Second, conversion would
perhaps allow them to enjoy

a degree of prominence locally,

or indeed some
of those conversions

would have been genuine.

[Esra] I don't think he was
doing it for religious purposes.

I don't think he was doing it
to please the Dey of Tunis.

I think he's doing it
to survive.

And he's somebody
who is not willing to accept

his place in life.

You know, he's had 50 years of
pretty much living in poverty,

and that is not the end for him.

[Fuller] In general,
this goes for both

the Islamic world
and the Christian world.

Whenever you're trying
to make inroads

into a civilization
or a culture,

usually in order for you
to conduct business

without much hassle,
you have to convert.

If you were not
a Muslim, in this case,

that means that you,
of course, could be raided,

you could be captured, and you
could even be sold into slavery

depending on the context.

[Finnegan] By the 1580s, around
50% of the population of Algiers

were renegades,
formerly Christians.

Native Algerians made up
a much smaller section

of the population.

Renegades were a central part
of what we can describe

as corsairing or piracy,
depending upon your perspective,

in the Mediterranean
in that period.

And Ward was one of these.

He gets this interesting title
bestowed on him of Arch-Pirate.

[Narrator] Ward's decision
to convert becomes a source

of speculation, outrage, and
even entertainment in England.

In 1612, a popular
English dramatist

composes a play
about the notorious pirate.

Its title-
A Christian Turned Turk.

[Esra] The play actually
portrays his conversion

not for economic gain
or for social status,

which was quite often
why English sailors

would, would convert to Islam.

But it's actually in the play
portrayed as something romantic,

so he wants to marry
a Muslim woman.

[Hanna] The moment of
significance in the play itself

is Ward's circumcision.

And we know that the audience
at the time would have been

really just taken aback
by this moment.

And it was John Ward's
sort of symbolic gesture

of throwing off his religion.

And in some ways,
it would have been horrifying

to an English community
to see this happen.

[Esra] It would
have been something

that would have enthralled
the audience.

It would have been something
quite taboo to witness.

[Narrator] To some,
Ward is an object of scorn.

But to others,
he's an inspiration.

Hordes of English pirates
set sail for the Mediterranean

in search
of the opulent lifestyle

enjoyed by their hero.

Some even follow Ward
into Islam.

[Esra] The fact
that conversion was seen

as quite a simplistic thing
for somebody to do

over in the Islamic world

would have been terrifying
for the authorities.

It would have been another form

of the Ottoman Empire
taking over, you know,

encroaching on territory
by taking souls.

[Hanna] He kills himself in the
play in a very dramatic fashion.

And what's interesting
is clearly this was written

by the playwright to sort of

dispel the legend
of Ward himself,

to convince people
maybe to not join him

and to realize it's a,
it's a worthless task.

[Narrator]
As Ward's legend grows,

so does his fleet of corsairs.

[Esra] He was increasing in
wealth all the time, in power.

He had hundreds of men
working for him.

[Finnegan] Really he becomes
a kind of admiral

of a private fleet.

[Esra] And I think, you know,
the nature of seafaring

at the time was very much

that his reputation would
spread by word of mouth.

He's very successful.

? ?

[Narrator] Ward takes on
an unlikely new career...

...as a teacher.

He operates what is essentially
an academy for pirates,

instructing the next generation
of Barbary corsairs

on the finer points
of gunnery and navigation.

[Esra] His men look up to him,

and the younger men
are being recruited.

They are learning from Ward,

they are learning
from his years at sea,

and also his operations
with piracy in the region.

[Hanna] One reason why John Ward

is one of the most infamous
pirates in English history

was the fact that he
provided the technology

to North African city-states

that allowed them
to transform ships

that were more
coastal-oriented

to actually be able
to sail out into the ocean.

And for the first time,
corsairs sailed in the Atlantic.

Before John Ward,

North African communities
not only used galleys,

which were ships that
required oars or sweeps,

but one of the reasons
why they plundered for

and to enslave people

was to actually keep
manning those ships,

to be able to provide the labor
to allow those ships

to cruise along coastlines.

[Blakemore] He introduces
North Atlantic sailing ships

to Tunis and the
North African corsairs.

These square rigged round ships
that are so much more effective

in the North Sea
and the Atlantic.

And as a sailor who had spent
much of his career at sea,

as a sailor who's in his 50s
before he becomes a pirate,

Ward would certainly
have been very knowledgeable

about the workings
of these ships.

[Narrator] By 1612,
Ward has retired from piracy

and is enjoying the fruits
of his illicit labor.

He settles into
a life of opulence

in his Tunisian palace,
surrounded by servants

and liberal supplies
of strong alcohol.

The elderly pirate can now
enjoy the hobbies and luxuries

unimaginable for a poor
fisherman from Kent.

[Esra] In 1616, the Scottish
traveler William Lithgow

meets Ward and describes him
living in this amazing palace,

beautified with
alabaster and marble.

And his reputation
is of somebody

who's incredibly successful
at what he does.

He has got an unimaginable
wealth and riches.

It's been said that he sent
money home to his English wife,

but also it seems that he also
married when he was in Tunis,

so had a wife in Tunis as well.

There's reports
towards the end of his life

that he's puttering around
in his palace with his chickens,

and he was obsessed with trying
to incubate eggs in camel dung.

[Narrator] But peace
hasn't come easy.

Hunted for
the past two decades,

the aging arch-pirate
has seen off

assassination attempts
from sea captains, diplomats,

and trained killers.

None succeed.

Instead, it's a faceless enemy,

the plague, which
finally captures Ward.

In 1622,

he dies in his palace
at the age of 70,

having enjoyed one of the
longest, most remarkable lives

of any pirate of the era.

[Narrator] Even in death,

Captain John Ward's
legacy continues on.

The North African pirates
he helped train

are more than capable
of sailing

beyond the Mediterranean,

hard-nosed Barbary
slave traders

now operating as far afield

as Northern Europe.

[Fuller] When it comes
to the study of slavery

in the modern world,

a lot of emphasis is placed
on the transatlantic slave trade

because of the impact
that it had on the Americas

and also on the European powers
that were involved in the trade.

However, there was an Arab
slave trade that took place

long before
the transatlantic slave trade,

which really sort of takes
off in the 16th century,

going into the 17th century.

[Hanna] They would capture
these people and send them

back to the North African
city-states to be enslaved,

to work as labor
either on the forts

or in the harbor itself.

Between 1530 and 1780,

we know there were about
1 to 1.25 million Europeans

enslaved in North Africa.

I think this is important

because it highlighted it
for many

the hypocrisy of African
slavery within England.

Many were aware that
as people complained bitterly

about their brethren
being enslaved to Africans,

that they themselves
were enslaving Africans.

We also know that there
are stories of corsairs

sailing up the Thames
as far as London,

apparently stealing someone and
kidnapping them from their bed.

[Esra] Many people died.
Many people were enslaved.

Some captives escaped.

Some converted
to Islam like Ward.

[Narrator] In June 1631,

corsairs sail their
square rigged ships to Ireland.

They storm the small harbor
village of Baltimore

in County Cork
in one of the largest,

boldest seizures
of European slaves in history.

? ?

[Kelleher] As for
the raid on Baltimore,

they captured roughly
109 individuals

who were living
in the village at that stage.

Many of them
were English settlers,

and they were taken off
into the slave markets,

essentially, of Algiers.

White slavery and white captives

was very much
the cargo of choice

by the corsairs at that stage.

They went in search
of human cargo,

and they captured them,
and they took them back

to feed the slave markets
of North Africa.

? ?

[Narrator] In his 70 years,
John Ward lived many lives-

a simple fisherman,
a private man of war,

a deserter,

a Barbary corsair, a teacher,

an Englishman, an Ottoman,

a Christian, and a Muslim.

In the eyes of his countrymen,

he was the most infamous
infidel of the age.

But to the men he commanded,

Ward was a marvel
of reinvention,

the ageless pirate who defied
fate and died like a lord.

[Hanna] I think what's important
to understand with John Ward

was the opportunity
that was presented to him,

which was that he could
remain a poor sailor

on the coast of England,
or he could go to North Africa

where you become head of a navy.

It's a pretty remarkable
situation to go

from essentially nothing
to becoming a powerful figure.

He knew how to sail
in the ocean.

He had an understanding
of how to actually

build and construct ships.

It made sense for them
to raise him up

to a position of authority.

It's something he never would
have been able to possess

or probably ever obtain
if he stayed home in England.

He's famous
as a renegade apostate,

someone who left
his community and his religion

for greed, for power.

He was willing to join
a community that represented

the sort of worst of all piracy.

This is one reason why John Ward
was so famous and legendary.

He's not remembered,
I think, today as much,

but during his own time period,
it was, he was extremely famous.

[Narrator] The legend
of John Ward grew

through the work
of playwrights and poets,

whose work was inspired
by the pirate king

for decades to come.

One of the most famous ballads

depicts Ward at the height
of his power and ambition.

In it, he defeats
a mighty English ship,

then gloats
in characteristic fashion,

"Go tell the king of England.

Go tell him thus from me.

If he reigns king
of all the land,

I will reign king at sea."

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