![]() ![]() Hornigold was mentor to pirates such as the infamous Edward Teach, known as “Blackbeard”, along with Sam Bellamy and Stede Bonnet. The “Republic” was dominated by two famous pirates who were bitter rivals – Benjamin Hornigold and Henry Jennings. This led to large numbers of unemployed privateers making their way to New Providence to join the “Republic” and swell its numbers. ![]() It was said that when pirates slept, they did not dream of going to heaven but instead of returning to their favourite port of Nassau on New Providence Island.īy 1713 the War of the Spanish Succession was over but many British privateers were slow to get the news or reluctant to accept it and so slipped into piracy. The pirates essentially established their own “Republic” with its own “governors” and their plundered booty forming the basis of a thriving community that attracted rogues, merchants and wild women from far and wide. #PIRATE WATERS FULL#From their snug harbour in Nassau they could employ their hit and run tactics to full effect and they devastated the merchant shipping that plied the trade routes just a short sail away. The Bahamas were well-suited as a base of operations for pirates as its waters were too shallow for a large man-of-war but deep enough for the fast, shallow draft vessels favoured by pirates. Nassau was then taken over by English privateers who became completely lawless pirates over time. The island was effectively abandoned by many of its settlers and left without any English government presence. The pirates became increasingly powerful and the era of true pirate control occurred when a combined Franco-Spanish fleet attacked Nassau in 1703 and again in 1706. This established Nassau as a base where pirates could operate safely, although various governors regularly made a show of suppressing piracy. Henry Every bribed the Governor of The Bahamas Nicholas Trott with gold, silver and with the Fancy itself which was still loaded with 50 tons of elephant tusks and 100 barrels of gunpowder. The era of piracy in the Bahamas began in 1696 when the privateer Henry Every brought his ship the Fancy loaded with loot from plundering Indian Empire trade ships into Nassau harbour. The Golden Age of Piracy lasted for thirty years from 1690 to 1720 and Nassau was at its heart. ![]()
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