The Pirate Era is a coastal legacy in South Carolina. Piracy along the Carolina
coast began soon after the first settlements were established and grew along
with the prosperity of the colonial seaports. By the 1700’s pirates were
capturing British ships with a frequency that threatened English commerce.
Charleston SC, as one of the busiest American ports, was plagued by some of the
fiercest pirates in history. They used small, fast vessels to seize the larger,
slower merchant ships - then they would escape into the coastal shallow areas
where heavy warships could not follow. The shallow creeks and inlets along the
coast made ideal haunts for pirates. Many tales have been told of pirates
hiding treasures and never returning to claim their bounty. Many were killed in
sea battles or captured and hanged in Charleston or other port cities.
Stories about pirates have been handed down as part of South Carolina's history.
Pirates came from all walks of life - some were well-educated, others were
illiterate, and some just "ne're do wells" who just wanted to make a
fast buck from their ships. They usually hung gruesome flags that were designed
to invoke fear and used intimidating aliases. While most were cruel and
heartless, one pirate did not fit that stereotype - a well-educated wealthy
plantation owner from the Bahamas given the nickname "Gentleman
Pirate," as he bought his first ship and paid his crew wages instead of
compensating them by sharing the booty. This was Major Stede Bonnet, alias
Captain Thomas - credited with the invention of "Walking the Plank".
He raided the Carolina coastal areas for several years, but was finally hanged
in Charleston while holding firmly to a flower bouquet given to him by a lady
friend.
A famous woman pirate, Anne Bonny, called Charleston, her home. Born in Ireland,
she had come with her father to the colony of South Carolina as a child - where
her father was a lawyer and successful merchant. Anne developed a reputation
for being a spitfire - and against her father's wishes, she married a young
sailor and went with him to The Bahamas. In Nassau, she abandoned her husband
and took up with a colorful pirate captain known as Calico Jack Rackam. Joining
the pirate's crew, she participated in the "sweet trade" - fighting
alongside the male crew members. Off the coast of Jamaica, she and the crew
were captured by a British royal sloop, taken to Jamaica in chains, and all
sentenced to be hanged. Her father, however, had influential business friends
who managed to obtain a pardon for Anne, and she returned to her father's South
Carolina plantation and disappeared from the pages of history.
Of all the pirates that haunted the Carolina coasts, Captain Edward Teach, alias
Blackbeard, was the most bloodthirsty and feared. With his forty cannon ship Queen
Anne's Revenge, Blackbeard and his crew preyed on coastal trade. In June
1718, he captured a succession of nine ships, and held a group of passengers
hostage in exchange for medicines for his crew. In a message to South
Carolina's Governor Robert Johnson, Blackbeard threatened to kill all of his
captives and burn Charleston if his demands were not met. Not surprisingly they
were, and he sailed northward - later to be killed in North Carolina's Outer
Banks.
The Golden Era (~1690-1720) of piracy soon came to an end - but it remains an intriguing and
often romanticized part of South Carolina's history.