The Pirate Benjamin Hornigold.
In the early eighteenth century, with piracy at its peak there was a pirate called Benjamin Hornigold. Hornigold was an unusual name, which at that time was really only common within the parts of Norfolk and Lincolnshire surrounding the Wash. The pirate was English, but his exact place of birth is unknown. Perhaps he was an ancestor of the Hornigold families of Norfolk. If that is the case he may have first served on ships whose home port was Kings Lynn.
Hornigold was believed to have been a privateer who sailed out of Jamaica. A privateer was basically a pirate with authorisation from his own country to attack ships from countries with whom they were at war. When wars ended and privateers were no longer needed some of them turned to outright piracy. This is what happened to Benjamin Hornigold – he became a pirate following the War of Succession. This war, fought against the Spanish, was mainly conducted in Europe, but Spanish “treasure” ships, carrying high value trade goods, were attacked in the West Indies.
Like many of his kind he found that the end of the Spanish War of Succession left him with little employment or money and it seems that he decided to utilise his sea-faring skills for piracy. When the war ended Hornigold sailed from New Providence, in the Bahamas, and became a pirate. In fact it is thought that his piracy career may have started as early as August 1713. Initially Hornigold and two colleagues based themselves in Nassau, the capital of New Providence. During the war Nassau had been the base for many English privateers, but was attacked by the Spanish and virtually destroyed. Using large sailing canoes, known as periaguas, Hornigold and his crew attacked Spanish trade ships off the coast of New Providence, Cuba and the Florida Straits.
Hornigold rapidly built a successful career for himself in the Bahamas. One of his gang, John Cockram, became the business man and moved to Harbour Island, fifty miles north of Nassau. Being on the outer edges of the main Caribbean islands, but close to the pirate stronghold of Nassau, this was the perfect location for Cockram’s plans. He married the daughter of a merchant there, and developed a thriving business based on smuggling and supplying goods to pirates. Hornigold probably bought some of his first ships, sailing canoes and sloops, from this supply chain.
In 1715 a Spanish treasure fleet was shipwrecked off the coast of Florida. An influx of pirates soon followed. The British authorities intended to capture them, but were warned off by Hornigold, who was making a name for himself and could call on his gang of over 200 fellow pirates. Hornigold was largely in control of the New Providence area by now. Despite this confrontation with British authorities, Hornigold made a point of never attacking English ships throughout his life of piracy.
One pirate who Hornigold did not get on with was Henry Jennings. The pair had reputedly fallen out during April 1716. Whilst off the coast of Cuba, Hornigold had put his protective arm around Sam Bellamy and Paulsgrave Williams. The pair had stolen treasure from Henry Jennings. Bellamy, William and a French pirate named Olivier La Buse, sailed alongside Hornigold. Amongst Hornigolds gang were others who would go on to be famous, or infamous, pirates. The afore mentioned Sam Bellamy was one, but the most famous was Edward Teach, or Thatch, who would become well known and feared as Blackbeard, perhaps the most famous of all pirates.
By 1717 Hornigold was captaining the Ranger. This was a thirty gun sloop and was possibly the most well-armed ship in the area. When Hornigold took on the captaincy of the Ranger he awarded Blackbeard [who was not yet known by that name] the captaincy of his previous ship. Blackbeard was now Hornigolds second in command. The pair were soon causing havoc. A merchant ship taking 120 barrels of flour to Havana was captured, quickly followed by a sloop carrying spirits and a Portuguese ship carrying wine from Madeira. In America it was felt that something had to be done to halt the increasing piracy so the Governor of South Carolina sent an armed merchant ship to hunt for the pirates. However this ship was instead attacked by Hornigold and only escaped by running aground on Cats Cay on the Florida coast. Its captain claimed that Hornigold was in command of a fleet of five ships with an estimated total crew of 350 men. A slightly bizarre account tells of Hornigold attacking a sloop off the coast of Honduras. No one was harmed and the only goods taken were the crew’s hats which were apparently needed to replace those of Hornigolds crew. During the previous night’s drinking Hornigolds crew had thrown their hats overboard! In the autumn of 1717 Hornigold and Blackbeard had been on a trip to Martinique Island when Hornigold came upon and captured a French slave ship called La Concorde. It was a well-equipped ship, with 26 guns. Hornigold subsequently gave this ship to Blackbeard who re named it the Queen Annes Revenge. It ultimately became the ship that is always associated with Blackbeard.
Hornigold seemed to be invincible but his determination to not attack English ships was not shared by all of his colleagues. It is unclear whether Hornigold was patriotic or whether his policy was to give him a tenuous excuse in the event of his capture – he would claim to be a privateer, even though the war was over. In November 1717 his various crews all voted and the majority went against Hornigolds policy. Pirates had their own code of honour which was strictly adhered to and as a result of the vote Hornigold was replaced as captain. It is believed that at this crucial time Blackbeard was away in Hornigolds second ship and that he was unaware of what had happened until the two met up again later in the year. It was probably when the two did meet that they finally went their separate ways. Blackbeard returned to the Caribbean, but Hornigold, now reduced to a single sloop returned to New Providence where he continued his piracy for a little while longer.
Things were soon to change though. In December 1717 Hornigold learnt that the King was offering a pardon to all pirates who gave themselves up to a representative of the crown. The King was effectively saying that “if you give up piracy, we will forgive and forget the piracy that you have undertaken in the past”! Some pirates accepted this, some accepted it and carried on with their piracy, and some, including Blackbeard, completely rejected the idea.
In January 1717 Hornigold, along with colleagues who wished to take genuine advantage of the pardon, sailed to Jamaica, where the governor gave them the official pardon. When Woodes Rogers arrived to become the new Governor of the Bahamas, it is said that Hornigold arranged a welcoming party for him. Woodes Rogers commissioned Hornigold as a pirate hunter, a variation on the poacher turned gamekeeper theme, with his old friend John Cockram helping him. For a year and a half Hornigold followed his new career. Woodes Rogers thought highly of him and even wrote to the Board of Trade in London to praise Hornigolds efforts. Hornigold apparently did bring some pirates to justice, but no big names were involved. Perhaps he just did a very good job of pretending to hunt down his former colleagues. Hornigold then became a legitimate privateer again, in the War of the Quadruple Alliance. Once again the Spanish were his prey.
There is an unsubstantiated report that Hornigold was awarded the deeds to Wolferton marsh [near Kings Lynn] either as part of his pardon or as a subsequent reward by Woodes Rogers. If there is any truth in this it could confirm that he had Norfolk origins.
Hornigolds fate is unclear. There are reports of him being captured by the Spanish early in 1719. This was near Havana, and he supposedly died in captivity. However the more likely outcome is that he and his crew died in late 1719 when his ship was wrecked on a reef during a hurricane whilst on a trip to Mexico. Certainly the contemporary account by Captain Charles Johnson who wrote “A General History of the Pyrates” refers to Hornigold being “cast away upon rocks, a great way from land, and perished, but five of his men got into a canoe and were saved”.