The Ten Most Infamous Pirates

Avast! The entire world has become enthralled by pirates recently. While during their own time they were mostly considered to be frightening outlaws, several were actually sanctioned by their countries of birth to pirate for the causes of their nation. As long as these pirates attacked and robbed the ships of other countries, the country of their birth would not prosecute them as thieves for a small cut of their plunder. However, many decided to be free agents who only gave money to the state once they were caught and about to be hanged for their crimes. Today they are seen as noble ruffians who were merely going against the establishment of the past. Even though modern people have a soft spot for these sea-faring brigands, their vicious acts cannot be ignored. Here is a look at the top ten most infamous pirates with hearts of ice.

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Your browser may not support display of this image. While Calico Jack wasn’t the most successful pirate during the Golden Age of Piracy, he is one of the most remembered. The reason for his remembrance is his allowances for women in his crew (two famous female pirates were under his command—Anne Bonny and Mary Read) and the fact his flag (the Jolly Roger) contributed to the popular design of skulls in pirate flags as well as its use in modern popular culture. Rackham became a captain of his own ship though through a mutiny aboard a pirate vessel captained by Charles Vane. The pirate crew agreed that Rackham with his ideas of valor and bravery would be a better captain. However, instead of killing Vane, Rackham merely took command of the larger ship at his disposal while giving Vane, and his handful of supporters, the smaller sloop to help in his piracy efforts. This kindness was not the norm of most pirates. However, he was eventually captured in Jamaica in 1720 then hanged and had his gutted body put on display as a warning against piracy.

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Captain Kidd was born in Scotland in 1645. He began life early as a sailor and was a commissioned privateer most of his life for the English colonies. Most of his work included capturing rogue privateers along the coast of North America and the Caribbean. He is also known for his attack on the French island of Mariegalante as he and his men destroyed the entire town and looted the surrounding areas to the sum of roughly 2,000 sterling pounds—equaling approximately $435,000 in modern US currency. Much of Kidd’s time was spent chasing pirates. However, when his prisoners were released, they would claim to have been tortured through acts of savagery, such as being pulled up by their arms to hang suspended while they were beaten with a cutlas, which caused the idea of Kidd being a pirate into the social conscious. His trial for piracy is for what he is generally remembered. Kidd had two lawyers assisting in his defense, paid for by the Whig party which backed him. However, the Tory ministry at the time wanted to use Kidd as a way to pull support from the Whigs. The Tory party made sure that Kidd was treated harshly during imprisonment and convicted then hanged to bring shame onto the Whigs more than for reasons of Kidd’s actual acts of piracy.

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Grace O’Malley was one of the most fierce pirates of all time. She was generally called Granuaile The Pirate Queen. She was born in 1530 in Ireland to the O’Malley clan—a very rich, noble Irish family that was known for its sea prowess and regular trading with Scotland and Spain. Grace was married at 16 to the man who was to inherit the power and money of the O’Flahetty clan. However, instead of settling down like the noblewoman she was born to be, she decided to take up her father’s place as a sailor, eventually overshadowing her husband and commanding an Irish fleet of ships. She used the fast, unleaded ships to attack British trading ships crossing the Irish Sea, demanding a fee for safe passage. If the British on-board denied the fee, she had her men plunder the vessels. Her piracy efforts severely hurt the British in their attempt to gain more land and money in Ireland. She was captured on-and-off during her fifties as the Irish rebellion continued and the English kept taking more Irish lands. She went to Queen Elizabeth I herself to plead the release of one of her sons and her brother. Elizabeth relented to this release of prisoners, but since the British did not stop their attacks on the Irish, Grace did not stop her piracy until just a few years before her death well into her seventies.

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Your browser may not support display of this image. Jean Lafitte was one of the most well-known pirates of the Gulf of Mexico. His place of birth is still a matter of contention as some historical records say that he was born in France while others claim it was the French colony of Saint-Domingue. Either way, he ended up operating a warehouse in New Orleans which acted as a cover for his brother Pierre’s smuggling business. However, the Embargo Act of 1807 pushed them to move their operation to Barataria Bay where they continued to smuggle and pirate ships, particularly Spanish ships, that came close to the Bay. Most of Jean Lafitte’s fleet was captured in 1814 though when Americans invaded the port. For an official pardon, Lafitte helped General Andrew Jackson keep the British from taking New Orleans in 1815. He resumed pirating when the Americans had stopped paying attention to him and was killed trying to take a Spanish ship in 1823.

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Olivier Levasseur got the nickname of “La Buse” early in his pirating career. “La Buse” is French for a buzzard or hawk-like bird which possesses tremendous speed and a ferocity toward its prey. With this nickname in mind, the character of Levasseur is easy to assess. He actually began as a privateer for the French during the early 1700s, making him a legally justified pirate during the War of the Spanish Succession according to then French King Louis XIV. However, when that War was over, he was ordered to bring his ship and crew back to France. He had taken a liking to piracy too much to do such a thing and ignored the orders, becoming a completely illegal pirate along the western coast of Africa. Levasseur was scarred across one of his eyes during this time and eventually started wearing a traditional pirate eyepatch. He plundered countless ships of any nationality, even French ships, all around Africa. He tried to seek an official pardon later in life but would not give the French government the amount of loot they desired for the pardon. Settling down in the Seychelles archipelago with his ridiculous fortune, he gave up piracy to retire. Yet, he was soon after captured off Madagascar and hanged for piracy in 1730 before he could enjoy his hoarded wealth.