Engraving of Bonnet from A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates, 1725 edition. Stede Bonnet (1688 - December 10,1718) was an English pirate born in Barbados. He was nicknamed "the gentleman pirate", because he had be


Engraving of Bonnet from A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates, 1725 edition. Stede Bonnet (1688 - December 10,1718) was an English pirate born in Barbados. He was nicknamed "the gentleman pirate", because he had been a wealthy landowner before turning to a life of crime. In the summer of 1717, with no prior shipboard life, he decided to become a pirate. He bought a sailing vessel, named it Revenge, and traveled with his crew along the American eastern seaboard, capturing other vessels and burning down Barbadian ships. He set sail for Nassau, Bahamas, but was seriously wounded en route during an encounter with a Spanish warship. After arriving in Nassau, he met Blackbeard and together they plundered and captured merchant ships along the East Coast. In August 1718, he anchored his ship on an estuary of the Cape Fear River to repair and careen the ship. Colonel William Rhett, with the authorization of South Carolina governor Robert Johnson, led a naval expedition against the pirates on the river. Bonnet was brought to trial and charged with two acts of piracy. He was found guilty and hanged in Charleston on December 10, 1718. Bonnet's flag is traditionally represented as a white skull above a horizontal long bone between a heart and a dagger, all on a black field.


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