All language subtitles for Pirates Behind the Legends s01e08 Roberts The Last Great Pirate.eng

[Narrator] This is the tale
of Bartholomew Roberts,

the improbable pirate king.

Captured at sea and forced
into a life of crime,

he swiftly embraces
outlaw life,

transforming from regular
sailor to a pirate captain.

[Historian] From Africa
to the Americas and back again,

he doesn't settle in one base.

He seems to exemplify this idea
that pirates are "of the sea."

[Narrator] In an epic
three-year spree,

he plundered 400 ships

and assembled one
of the fiercest pirate fleets

the world had ever seen.

[Author] Bartholomew Roberts

might be the most successful
pirate in history.

[Narrator]
For a few bloody years,

Bartholomew Roberts
reigned supreme,

but these were the dying days
of the Golden Age of Piracy.

? ?

[birds twittering]

[Richard Blakemore] Roberts
is from a small Welsh village

called Casnewydd Bach

near Abergwaun in Pembrokeshire.

And he's born
into a seafaring family

and probably goes to sea early,

as many people
from that region did.

[Iszi Lawrence]
He was in the merchant navy.

It was hard work.

You were barely paid,

and if you were paid,
it wasn't very much at all.

[Narrator] The young Roberts
grew accustomed to hard labor,

low wages,
and grisly conditions.

Roberts is now third mate
aboard the Princess,

an English slave ship.

? ?

Several ships are
spotted on the horizon.

Are they fellow
merchant vessels?

Or pirates seeking
their next prize?

The Princess
is only lightly armed,

no match for
battle-tested outlaws.

A flag is identified.
The pirates are coming.

[Lawrence] Fleeing is
probably not an option.

Those ships are probably
much faster in the water

and more maneuverable because
they'll be smaller boats,

and they do not want to fight.

Fighting is incredibly
dangerous at sea.

There's no guarantee
that you will survive it.

So, the captain
of the Princess surrenders,

and at this point,
he is at the mercy

of the captain
of these two pirate vessels.

[Narrator] The captain
of the pirate fleet

steps aboard the Princess
and announces himself

as the famed outlaw
Howell Davis.

He seeks men to join his crew.

More than 30
willingly volunteer,

but not Roberts.

He wants no part of piracy, but
he's forced aboard their ship.

[Lawrence] It's unlikely
he did this willingly.

I mean, to join a pirate crew,

you're basically saying
that if anybody catches us,

which is very likely, we are
going to be hanged as criminals.

And in order to join
a pirate crew,

you're basically agreeing
to be a criminal.

You're throwing your life away.

You're gonna risk everything.

And for what?
For your own monetary greed.

It's not seen
as a noble thing to do.

[Charles Ewen] We've really
romanticized the pirate life,

but I think the average pirate
had a miserable life.

A lot of folks
that went into piracy

were either pressed into piracy
when their ships were captured,

some went voluntarily,

but I think most people
that did piracy

didn't have much other choice.

[Narrator] The pirates know a
good sailor when they see one.

Roberts holds years
of seafaring experience

and a sturdy reputation
as a fine navigator.

Although reluctant,

the Welshman soon warms
to his captors.

Piracy may not be
as cruel a life

as he had initially assumed.

[Lawrence] Now, although
he was forced to board,

Roberts was actually
very popular.

It was clear that he was very
good at chatting to people,

at getting along with them,
and Howell Davis, the captain,

really liked him because
they both spoke Welsh.

Howell could confide
with Roberts

without any difficulty at all
because they spoke a language

none of the other people
in the crew spoke.

[Narrator] This shared language
forms the foundation

of a dangerous friendship.

Roberts concedes.
He's a pirate now.

Dropping his common name, John,
he adopts a suitable alias.

The moniker
Bartholomew Roberts

will soon send a shiver of fear

through seafaring men
the world over.

[Lawrence] Already, Roberts
has changed his name.

He's no longer John Roberts.
He is Bartholomew Roberts.

Giving yourself an alias means

it might be easier to slip away
and escape persecution,

so lots of pirates
change their names.

? ?

[Narrator] And now
Bartholomew Roberts gains

his first taste
of pirate action.

Howell Davis plots an assault

on the Portuguese island
of Pr�ncipe,

off the west coast
of equatorial Africa.

His goal-kidnap the governor
and hold him to ransom.

But rather than risk
a frontal assault

on the fortified settlement,

Howell opts
for a shrewder approach.

[Blakemore] To enter a port,
you have to use a ruse

to show that you're
a friendly ship.

The normal way of doing this
is to fly a flag of a nation

friendly to the port
that you are entering.

And most ships,
even merchant ships,

would be carrying
multiple flags.

So you could fly an English flag

when you're entering
an English port

or a French flag when
you're entering a French port.

[Lawrence] At this time,
when they approach Pr�ncipe,

which is owned
by the Portuguese,

Britain and Portugal,
they're rivals,

but they're not at war.

They could fly
a flag which says,

"We're not gonna hurt you.
We're not pirates,"

when all along
they actually are.

[Blakemore] There could be
some dangerous consequences

to carrying these flags
and also paperwork

in different languages.

The advantage is that you can
pretend to be, say, French

if you're attacked
by a French ship.

But if you're attacked
by an English ship

and they find French
documentation aboard,

then you could be
condemned as a prize.

Your ship could be taken away.

So it is a very dangerous
game to play,

although it seems that
most ships are playing it.

This is an international
system that is abused a lot,

not just by pirates.

But it's a really useful
technique for Roberts and Davis

to use as they're entering
the port at Pr�ncipe.

[Narrator] With entry
to the port secured,

Davis sets his sights
on the Portuguese governor.

He sends the official an
invitation to visit his ship.

[Lawrence] But the Portuguese
aren't that foolish,

and they think those look
like pirate ships out there.

How about instead of you guys

coming over to us,
come to us first.

We'll have a bit of wine,

we'll have a bit of a sit-down,
we'll have a chat,

and then we'll go over
to your ship, no problem.

And Howell Davis falls for this.

[Narrator] Roberts stays
aboard whilst Davis,

accompanied by a clutch
of loyal pirates, goes ashore,

heading for
the governor's residence.

? ?

Suddenly, the pirates
are surrounded.

It's a trap.

[shouting]

? ?

? ?

Minutes later,
Davis and his men are dead.

[thunder]

The pirates still have
a ship, but no captain.

They assemble for a vote.

[Ewen] One of
the interesting things

that kind of distinguishes
a pirate ship from, say,

a merchant vessel
is captains were elected,

so there was some more
equality amongst pirates

than there would have been in a
naval or even a merchant vessel.

[Lawrence] They actually
had a sort of system

where they had a House of Lords,

like you get
in the British Parliament,

and a House of Commons, like you
get in the British Parliament,

except the Lords in this point

are all the officers
aboard the ship,

and the House of Commons,

they're just
your average seamen.

[Narrator] According to stories,
they nominate candidates.

Then every crew member
casts his vote.

[Lawrence] So, one of
the officers aboard the ship

proposes Bartholomew Roberts,

a man who's only been
on board for six weeks,

to be their leader.

[Blakemore] I think it speaks
to Roberts' capability

as a navigator and perhaps also
the force of his personality

that in that short time,

he has placed himself to become
the leader of this band of men.

[Lawrence] They elected
Bartholomew Roberts,

must have that leadership
quality in him.

He must be seen as clever
enough for this entire crew

to go, "That's our man.
We want him to be leading us."

[Narrator]
But Roberts is reluctant

to accept the responsibility.

After all, he only
recently agreed

to embark
on this life of piracy.

According to legend,

he eventually
accepts the promotion,

claiming that "I have dipped
my hands in muddy water.

If a pirate I must be,

'tis better being a commander
than a common man."

This newly appointed
Captain Roberts

must now decide, will he avenge
his predecessor's death

or sail for safer waters?

[Lawrence] Roberts decides
to take his revenge.

"Let's go after them.

Let's get them back
for killing our captain."

[cannon fire]

[Narrator] 30 pirates
storm Pr�ncipe.

[cannon fire]

Whilst cannons bombard
the fort from the sea,

they breach the battlements.

[shouting and fighting]

[Lawrence] Now
he has the fortress.

He's able to take whatever
he likes from the Portuguese.

[shouting]

What better way of saying,

"Yeah, you were right
to vote for me"

than delivering within a day
of being elected captain.

[Narrator] Buoyed
by his success at Pr�ncipe,

Roberts fully embraces
his new identity

along with all of its finery.

[Blakemore] One thing
we know about Roberts

is that he's
a very stylish dresser.

He's said to have worn
a crimson waistcoat,

matching breeches,
and a plume in his hat.

[Lawrence] This boy from a
poverty stricken part of Wales,

he's got now a costume,

and he struck a really
flamboyant character.

[Blakemore] He's not hiding
himself as a pirate captain.

He's setting out
to establish a reputation.

? ?

[Narrator] Lusting after
ever grander prizes,

Roberts decides to leave
West Africa for Brazil,

the sparkling jewel
in Portugal's imperial crown

and one of the largest
slave colonies in the world.

Throughout the 17th century,

enslaved people had cultivated
sugar here on a massive scale.

But by the opening decades
of the 18th century,

an even more valuable commodity
had been discovered-gold.

Brazil now harbors more
of this precious metal

than can be found
anywhere else in the world.

Roberts determines
to make his fortune

in this alluring treasure
or die trying.

[Blakemore]
And he spends some time

cruising off
the coast of Brazil,

and initially
his luck is not good,

he doesn't encounter
many prizes.

And his crew, getting restless,
he's getting disappointed,

and they're just about
to set course elsewhere

when they encounter a convoy
of 42 Portuguese ships.

This is a jackpot for Roberts.

[Narrator] Roberts is near
the port of Pernambuco,

within striking distance
of a Portuguese treasure fleet

awaiting a military convoy
to escort its gold and silver

back to Lisbon.

[Lawrence] Now, obviously,
some of these ships have guns,

you know, he can't take
the entire fleet.

But the thing is,
he doesn't need to.

He just needs to take
the richest ship.

[Narrator] Direct assault
on a fleet of this size

would almost certainly
mean a miserable death.

But the crew has already
sailed 4,000 miles

with little to show
for their progress,

and Roberts needs a prize.

He raises a Portuguese flag,

orders his men
to conceal themselves,

and drifts into formation
with the Portuguese flotilla.

[Lawrence] It's very easy for
another ship to just infiltrate.

If you're not being aggressive,
why would they even notice you?

They're waiting
for another ship,

you know, you're one
of several boats.

And so he literally slips in

like he's just one
of the Portuguese ships.

[Narrator] Quietly joining
the Portuguese fleet,

Roberts sails for one
of the smaller ships.

? ?

He calls out,
"Surrender or face attack!"

Confounded, the captain
quickly submits.

Dragged from his ship,
he's thrown before Roberts.

[Lawrence] This captain
is given a choice.

Either we kill you
where you're standing

and then attack your ship and
kill your crew before escaping,

or you tell us
which of these vessels

has the most amount
of treasure on board.

Now, the captain at this point

is terrified because obviously
he's heard all the stories

about how brutal pirates can be,

so he immediately points
to this boat.

It's a 40-gun vessel
called the Sagrada Familia.

[Blakemore] This is
a substantial vessel.

It's larger probably
than Robert's own vessel,

but he's not daunted.

[Narrator] Roberts
might be outgunned,

but the element of surprise
is on his side.

If he's able to rapidly subdue
the mighty Sagrada Familia,

the surrounding ships will be
too stunned to intervene.

[Lawrence] So, Roberts
gambles everything

and decides to trust
this other captain

that the Sagrada Familia
is the ship to go for.

He's only got one shot at this.

The moment that he reveals
to the rest of the fleet

that he's a pirate ship,
they're going to be wary

and he won't get
another chance.

He's got to take
this boat by surprise,

and that's what he does.

[Narrator] Roberts' ship,
the Royal Rover,

sidles up
to the Sagrada Familia.

He calls out, inviting
the captain to come aboard.

But the captain
isn't so easily fooled.

He knows they're pirates.

Roberts orders an attack.

Several volleys of cannon fire
hammer the Portuguese ship.

Grappling hooks
scratch across its decks.

finding purchase.

Pirates begin to board.

Portuguese sailors are
cut down where they stand,

unable to beat back
this furious onslaught.

And within half an hour,

the Sagrada Familia belongs
to Bartholomew Roberts.

[Lawrence] Now,
fortunately for Roberts,

the Sagrada Familia
is easy to break away

from the rest of the fleet.

But he doesn't have time
to check the hold.

He just has to put his men
in charge and get out of there,

which is what they do.

They get as far away
from the potential warships

that they know are coming
to defend the fleet.

They get away.

They open up the hold
and see what's inside.

[Narrator] Roberts and his
pirate crew have just seized

the largest treasure galleon
in the Portuguese flotilla.

[Lawrence]
They were not let down.

Inside this ship's hold
were 40,000 silver coins.

It's more than you
could possibly earn

in like a dozen lifetimes.

This is enormous.

And as well as that,
there is exquisite jewelry.

[Blakemore] One of the jewels
that they seize

is a fabulous silver cross,
encrusted with diamonds.

And supposedly Roberts
takes this for himself

and wears it around his neck
for the rest of his life

as a trophy or a token
of this first big haul.

? ?

[Narrator]
Some are eager to enjoy

their newfound fortune
in peace,

wishing to retire
from the constant hazards

of a life at sea.

But Roberts won't hear of it.

He's just getting started.

[Lawrence] Roberts knows
that they can't stop now.

You're still on the run.
You're still part of this crew.

And at this point,
Roberts doesn't want to stop.

He's enjoying this life.

This is the first time
he's had any sort of success.

[Narrator] Now with two ships
at his command,

Roberts leaves Brazilian
waters, sailing north.

His next victim is a sloop,
which he adds to his fleet.

Then as he nears
Devil's Island,

he spots another ship,
a brigantine.

These are swift
and easy to maneuver

and therefore
highly prized by pirates.

He boards his new sloop
and gives chase,

leaving most
of his crew behind.

[Lawrence] Now, he'd left a man
called Walter Kennedy in charge,

a trusted person on board.

But Walter was one of these men
who was thinking,

"Well, why go to the West Indies
and risk it anymore?

Let's keep low.
Let's stay quiet."

And while Roberts was away,

he'd managed to convince
half the crew to do just that.

They loaded half the treasure
into a smaller vessel

in with the crew who wanted
to stay with Roberts.

Honor among thieves.

And then they took the Rover and
the Sagrada Familia, and left.

[Narrator] For nine
wind-ravaged days and nights,

Roberts frantically
hunts the brigantine.

Food and water supplies
run dangerously low,

contrary winds
blow him off course.

Eventually, he relents, sailing
for the crew he left behind.

? ?

[Blakemore]
When Roberts returns,

he finds that most of his
wonderful gains have disappeared

and most of his crew
and his larger ship.

So he's left with a small number
of men and a small sloop.

[Narrator] The betrayal
is a brutal blow

to the fledgling captain.

He's just lost many men,
most of his loot,

and much of his prestige.

[Ewen] You did
have to have a captain

that knew what he was doing,

that commanded
the respect of the crew.

They were elected as long
as they were good providers

and they were able
to do a competent job

of finding ships and prizes
and gathering them.

[Narrator] Roberts rallies
the remaining pirates.

It's vital that mutiny never
again threatens his command.

[Blakemore] Roberts seems
to have learned a lesson

because, from here on,
Roberts makes sure

that his men sign articles
binding them to the ship

and providing a set of rules
about how these pirates

are going to behave
while they're part of the crew.

And this is a very
interesting dimension

that has really become part of
pirate lore, the idea of codes.

[Lawrence] Roberts is
one of the few pirates

that we have the actual code
that he had written down.

And this might be a sort of
signal of how seriously Roberts

took the code more
than other pirate captains.

This wasn't something
you could just change

and chop up interchangeably
when it suited you.

Roberts believed in it.

[Blakemore] There's
a variety of rules

covering different aspects
of life aboard a ship.

One says every man shall have
a vote in affairs of moment,

which implies a certain
democratic tendency,

although I think we have
to be very careful there,

because, again,
we know from other evidence

that actually many of the crew

are forced by violence
to join in,

so they probably
don't have a vote.

Another rule says there should
be no fighting aboard ship.

And to settle any disputes,

pirates had to go ashore
and fight a duel.

But we know people
did get into fights,

and this rule may not
always have been observed.

[Lawrence] Roberts
is also really strict

about women and boys on board.

He couldn't have that sort
of sexual jealousy on board.

He says in the rules
that if a woman is on board,

that a man will be placed
in front of her to guard her.

And this goes to show how
scared, I suppose, Roberts was

that infighting would
completely ruin his plans.

[Narrator] In addition
to keeping the peace,

Roberts' pirate code
included articles governing

the working conditions
of the crew.

[Blakemore] We do know that
there were musicians aboard,

and some of these
musicians do complain

that they were forced to play,
even though they didn't want to,

and that they were prisoners
aboard the ship.

So, one of my favorite rules is
that musicians get Sundays off.

[Narrator] They pledge
to live by this new code.

Roberts will need loyalty
where they're headed-

the Caribbean, one of
the richest places on Earth

and an incredibly dangerous
region for pirates.

[Narrator] After facing years
of terror at sea,

Europe's major empires
have finally

strengthened their defenses
in the Caribbean.

Naval gunboats
and well-armed colonial ships

now patrol these waters
on the hunt for pirates.

But Roberts isn't
easily intimidated,

and his sloop, now renamed
the Good Fortune,

soon seizes several prizes.

[Blakemore] Roberts
continues plundering.

And indeed, he's now so
well-known that the governors

of the various colonies
in the Caribbean

send out expeditions
to try and hunt him down.

[Narrator]
French pirate hunters

finally catch up with Roberts,

firing a barrage
of grapeshot into his ship,

ripping into the crew
and splintering the rigging.

[shouting]

The pirates are outgunned
but scramble to escape.

Roberts won't soon
forget this defeat.

The Good Fortune has
sustained terrible damage.

Many of the pirates
are dead or injured.

They sail into port at Dominica
for repairs to the ship.

Having sustained
such heavy losses,

finding competent
replacements proves tough.

Sourcing skilled recruits
is practically impossible.

[Blakemore] Injury and disease

was a very common
experience for sailors,

so one of the groups

that Roberts was always keen
to recruit were surgeons.

[Narrator] Sea surgeons were
typically jacks-of-all-trades,

serving as physicians,
dentists, and barbers

to the ship's crew.

[Blakemore] Often surgeons
on merchant ships or naval ships

would be young men, perhaps
apothecaries or apprentices,

people looking
to establish themselves

and taking the opportunities
for employment.

Sometimes they were old men
whose careers had gone badly,

and they were taking
whatever they could get.

It certainly wasn't
the most desirable employment

in this period.

We know that at least one of the
surgeons who served with Roberts

was described as a very bad man
and often a drunkard,

so he seems to have
let took the opportunity

to join Roberts' crew
and live the lifestyle

that he was looking for.

But others were
captured as prisoners

and forced under threat
and beatings to tend to the crew

and would later protest
that they had never wanted

to be pirates at all.

? ?

[Narrator] Roberts' code
also made provision

for those injured
in the line of duty.

Wounded combatants would
receive additional shares

of plunder, pirate insurance.

[Blakemore] We know that
within his pirate articles

there was provision
for injured sailors.

So a sailor who lost
a right arm would get �800.

A sailor who lost a left arm
would get �700.

A sailor who lost an eye
or a finger would get �100.

And this is very common
in other pirate ships as well,

and indeed is a tradition
that goes back

several decades at least.

These are very substantial sums,

possibly more than most sailors
would earn in a lifetime.

So this is really quite
a generous reimbursement

for these injuries
that these sailors

might encounter during battle.

[Narrator] Roberts and his crew
lay low for several months

after their
near-fatal encounter

with the French pirate hunters.

As spring turns to summer

and the oppressive
tropical heat

of the Caribbean intensifies,

Roberts decides to sail
for more temperate waters.

He follows a common
pirate circuit,

heading towards the fishing
grounds of Newfoundland.

Along the way,
he picks off several ships.

[Lawrence] Fishing vessels
don't contain much money,

but they're very easy to take.

They contain things
like, you know,

alcohol and provisions
for the crew

and can be easily transformed
into more pirate ships.

[Blakemore] And he's
also recruiting men

from many of the prizes
that he captures.

Some of them are volunteers.

Others are forced
through violence,

through threats,
to join the ships.

They're forced
to sign the articles,

and this binds them to the crew.

This means that they are legally
liable for charges of piracy

because they've signed up to
receive a share of the plunder.

? ?

[Narrator] June 21, 1720,
dawns like any other day

in the quiet fishing town
of Trepassey

on the southern shore
of Newfoundland.

But then, in the distance,

a faint din
of trumpets and drums.

As the music grows louder,

the shattering sound
of cannon fire

suddenly echoes
across the harbor.

This can mean
only one thing-pirates.

Panic-stricken men
abandon their ships in droves

and rush ashore for safety.

[Blakemore] When he sails
into Trepassey,

which is quite different
to the earlier attempt

to trick the governor
of Pr�ncipe,

he's really making a big show.

He's fearless. He's bold.

He's demonstrating
that he's not afraid.

[Narrator] As the Good Fortune
sweeps into port,

an ominous black flag can
be seen flying from the mast.

[Blakemore] Roberts is
making no pretense here.

Flying a black flag declared
that you were a pirate.

[Narrator] Legends claim
that Roberts' flag featured

a skull with a single
cutlass beneath it.

Variations on this theme

incorporating skulls,
skeletons, and cutlasses

are widely used
by pirate crews at this time.

These flags would come
to be known as Jolly Rogers.

[Blakemore] This is
a warning that the pirates

are going to be brutal.

It's a way of intimidating
the victims of piracy.

And this saves
the pirates danger,

it saves the pirates work.

[Ewen] A lot of being a pirate
was like being a terrorist.

You wanted to inspire terror.

You wanted to intimidate them
into just giving up.

That way, you didn't have to
fight or damage the vessel

and you could take all their
stuff relatively unharmed.

[Narrator] This theatrical
show of force works.

Trepassey's sailors surrender
without firing a shot,

despite vastly
outnumbering Roberts

and his meager crew of 60.

Bartholomew Roberts
is now master of the town,

taking command of its 22 ships
and over 200 fishing vessels.

? ?

Local captains are
brought before Roberts.

He invites the most experienced
men to join his crew,

knowing better than anyone
that merchant sailors

can be turned into pirates
whether they're willing or not.

[Lawrence] He invites them
on board his ship.

And he tries to convince them,
this is the way the pirates are.

You can live like free men.
You can be like us.

But there was a threat
behind that.

And it was a threat
he actually carried out,

which was, if you didn't join
and you didn't become a pirate,

well, then they would
burn your ship.

[Narrator] For several weeks,

Roberts scours
the North Atlantic

for fishing vessels
and merchant ships,

forcibly converting ever
more men to a life of piracy.

He now has the fighting
force and firepower

to storm the Caribbean,
seeking bloody revenge

on the pirate hunters
who so nearly defeated him.

[Narrator] Roberts prowls the
Windward and Leeward Islands,

snatching ship after ship.

In one productive
three-day stretch,

he captures 15 French
and English vessels.

Pirates often remained loyal
to their monarch,

but not Roberts;

he's an equal opportunity
freebooter,

preying on every ship he spots,
regardless of nationality.

[Blakemore] Merchants are afraid
to send their ships to sea

because they fear that they
might be captured by Roberts.

He plunders so many ships
in the Caribbean

that he practically brings
trade to a standstill.

There have been pirates
active in this area

over the last few years,
but Roberts really stands out

in the way that he distorts
the trading networks

through his
plundering activities.

[Narrator] For six months,
Roberts' brazen attacks

across the seas
around the French colonies

of St. Lucia and St. Kitts
humiliate the authorities.

Roughly 350 pirates
now sail under his command,

and only the largest naval
vessels dare confront him.

[Lawrence] He was
the final scourge of the seas

that had to be put down.

He's basically the pinnacle

of all of these famous
pirates from history.

[Narrator] Relief for
the French colonies arrives

in the spring of 1721

in the form of three
heavily armed frigates.

Two more British warships
also sail for the Caribbean,

desperate to finally corner the
man now known around the globe

as the great Pirate Roberts.

Roberts decides not
to risk confrontation

with French or British forces.

Instead, he shifts
his operation,

sailing for the familiar
waters of West Africa,

in search of more plunder.

Much has changed
in the intervening two years.

Then he was merely
a common sailor;

now he's the feared pirate
Bartholomew Roberts.

[Lawrence] The British
Royal Navy are after him.

So many different people
have been complaining,

so many different colonies, so
many different merchant vessels,

that he's become something they
need to extinguish, and fast.

[Blakemore] But Roberts
doesn't seem to care

that he's being pursued.

Or perhaps it inspires him
to even greater

and more dramatic violence
and greater destruction.

[Narrator] British warships
now patrol the African coast,

but they're of little
concern to Roberts,

who continues to seize

merchant vessels
and their crews.

Two French patrol ships
chase him down

near the mouth
of the Senegal River.

Roberts turns
and captures both boats.

In Sierra Leone, he abandons
his old French ship

and captures the Onslow,

which they rename
the Royal Fortune.

January 1722.

He now sails
for the port of Whydah,

discovering 12 slave ships
in its harbor.

Raising the black flag,

he demands their
immediate surrender.

[Lawrence] And he
does his old trick.

He gets the captains
to, you know, give in to him,

or he'll burn their ships.

[Narrator] The captain
of one ship, the Porcupine,

refuses to negotiate
with Roberts.

[Lawrence] Roberts thought,
"Well, if I can't, you know,

convince you, I'm going
to destroy your cargo."

And so they set the ship alight.

[Blakemore] This is one of the
most excessively violent acts

that Roberts commits.

He seems to be reaching
a height of violence

and damage and destruction.

[Lawrence] He burnt that ship

that had 80 enslaved
people aboard

and just let them die
in the most horrific way

that you could possibly imagine.

? ?

? ?

[Narrator] A month later,

Roberts is anchored
in a bay at Cape Lopez.

It's the morning after the
capture of yet another frigate,

and the crew is recovering
from their celebrations.

? ?

[Blakemore]
The Royal Navy ship Swallow,

under Captain Chaloner Ogle,

has arrived on the coast
of West Africa with a convoy,

and his mission
is to hunt down Roberts.

He finds Roberts off Cape Lopez.

[Narrator] The pirates
are roused from their sleep.

Worse for wear, they stumble
and scramble to their posts

and prepare to engage.

[shouting]

[Blakemore] The pirates
outnumber the Swallow

and the naval vessels,

but the Navy have
more powerful firepower.

So Ogle uses a tactic
where he sails in

and then pretends to flee,

and this is too tempting
for the pirates.

[Narrator] Roberts
takes the bait.

Assuming the Swallow to be
a richly loaded merchant ship,

he dispatches the Ranger.

The pirates give chase,
barely noticing they're now

some distance from the safety
of Roberts' fleet.

Suddenly, His Majesty's Ship
the Swallow swings around,

revealing its true identity

as a heavily armed
navy warship.

Unloading a crippling
broadside,

the men aboard the Ranger
are blown to pieces.

Roberts is now exposed, trapped
in the bay by a powerful enemy

who is headed straight for him.

[Lawrence] Roberts must know
the game is nearly up.

HMS Swallow knows where he is
and is moving in.

Now, at this point,
Roberts decides to flee,

but he's been trapped in a bay,

and it's so hard for him
to maneuver out of this bay

without going broadside
to this ship.

[shouting]

? ?

The Swallow fires.

[gunshot]

[Blakemore] A large number
of small musket balls

are fired out of a cannon,

so this is a hail of shot
that sweeps across the deck

and hits Roberts in his throat.

[Narrator] Roberts
is killed instantly.

Panic sets in
amongst the survivors.

Their mast has
been obliterated,

their captain is dead,

and the British warship
is closing in.

Still, they manage to fulfill
Roberts' final wish

for a pirate's burial.

They grab his body
and toss it overboard

so it can't be carried back
to London in triumph

by the British Navy.

They surrender,
finally bringing to a close

one of the deadliest eras
in pirate history.

[Narrator] Bartholomew Roberts'
three-year reign of terror

has come to a bloody end,

his ship seized,
his men arrested.

[Blakemore] Many
of his men are executed.

This is a statement of intent
by the British government.

The empire is
asserting its power,

and it's saying
they will pursue

and destroy pirates anywhere.

So Roberts' death
and the execution of his men

becomes part of this
big political statement

as the British Empire
tries to eradicate piracy

over these years.

? ?

[Narrator] In the decades
following his death,

the name Bartholomew Roberts
passes into legend.

He and his crew appear
in swashbuckling chronicles

and popular novels
such as Treasure Island.

Later, he'll become
known as Black Bart.

[Blakemore] Two years
after Roberts' death,

The General History
of the Pyrates is published,

and of all of the pirates
discussed in that book,

Bartholomew Roberts
gets the largest chapter.

It's a really
extensive narrative.

That's partially because he has
such a long piratical career

by pirate standards,

but it's also because
he's such a dramatic figure.

And this is part of how
his legend comes to circulate

in the years after his death.

[Narrator] Bartholomew Roberts

was the last of the great
European pirates.

No other captain could boast

of what Black Bart
had achieved.

In less than three years,
he had sailed 35,000 miles,

captured roughly 400 ships,
and briefly paralyzed

the trade routes of Europe's
mightiest empires.

Defiant to the last,

his death in 1722 marked
the final dramatic act

in the Golden Age of Piracy.

[Blakemore] Bartholomew Roberts
is really iconic of this one era

in the history of piracy,

where these pirates are not
based in a single port.

They're not necessarily
associated with

or supported
by a colonial governor.

They are out for themselves.

And while Roberts
may have wished to retire

with all his plunder
like other pirates did,

he does keep going
for a long time.

And you have to wonder
if he's just doing it

for the sake of it,

if he's just plundering
to keep on plundering.

Maybe he just really
liked being a pirate.

And this is really unusual.

It's the image of piracy
that we have today,

but it's not what
most pirates in history do.

But it is what
Bartholomew Roberts does.

[Narrator] After the violent
death of Roberts,

the world's remaining pirates

are hunted to extinction
by European navies.

The age of Morgan, Blackbeard,
Rackham, and Roberts

has come to an end.

[Mark Hanna]
It's not self-sustaining.

If you have no place
to fence your goods,

you have no communities
to settle down,

eventually it's not going
to function any longer.

[Narrator] The kings
and queens of Europe

congratulate themselves
for securing the seas,

ridding the world
of those they labeled

the enemies of all mankind,

as captured and convicted
pirates are sent

to the gallows by boatload,

pirates that had sought
their fortune through robbery,

murder, extortion,
and abduction.

They were bandits
of a chaotic era,

a time of slave traders

plundering Africa
of its people,

of Europe's lords using
commoners for their labor,

of colonists

forcing Native Americans
from their land.

So, were these pirates
any worse

than the authorities
that pursued them?

[Margarette Lincoln]
Often with piracy

it's a question of perspective.

[Tara Rider] Who's being
attacked and who is attacking?

[Narrator] While at sea,

pirates maintained
a degree of equality

that didn't exist in the
societies they left behind.

Social class held
little significance,

and even the lowest born
could rise to be captain.

Plunder was shared,
the wounded insured.

[Lincoln] They had
no culture to speak of

other than what they
made up for themselves.

[Narrator] So, were these
pirates skilled seamen,

loyal to their crews,
or savage criminals

ready to kill
for their treasure?

[Hanna] We see this going
from Drake to Blackbeard

as the total extremes

in the way we understand

the history of piracy.

On the one hand,
the anarchistic maniac,

on the other, a heroic figure
supported by his own community.

[Narrator]
Perhaps they were both.

Most of these outlaws achieved
exactly what they sought-

a merry life,

but a short one.

? ?

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