Stede Bonnet, The Gentleman Pirate

Title: "Some men are born to be Pirate Captains. Others learn on the job." (HBO, David Jenkins)

Historical Era: The Golden Age of Piracy

Summary: Born a gentleman, Bonnet's life took an unusual turn when he decided to abandon his privileged family life and answer the call of piracy. At first it feels like an awkward middle-aged man playing dress-up. But Bonnet persisted, took pirate lessons from Blackbeard himself, and dove into character. But sadly, he also received a pirate's end...

Bibliography:

• Butler, Lindley S. Pirates, privateers, and rebel raiders of the Carolina Coast. University of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill, 2000.

• Brooks, Baylus C. “‘Born in Jamaica, of Very Creditable Parents’ or ‘A Bristol Man Born’? Excavating the Real Edward Thache, ‘Blackbeard the Pirate.’” The North Carolina Historical Review, vol. 92, no. 3, 2015, pp. 235–77.

• Cordingly, David. Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1995.

• Crawford, Amy. The Gentleman Pirate: How Stede Bonnet went from wealthy landowner to villain on the sea. Smithsonian Magazine, 2007.

• Duffus, Kevin. The Last Days of Blackbeard the Pirate, Looking Glass Productions, Inc, 2008.

• Johnson, Captain Chalres. A History of the Pyrates. Ch. Rivington, J. Lacy, and J. Stone: Britain, 1724.

• Other Crimes and Misdemeanors from the Earliest Period to the Year 1783 by Thomas Bayly Howell and William Cobbett, from Google Books.

• Pringle, Patrick. Jolly Roger: The Story of the Great Age of Piracy. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 2001.

• Rediker, Marcus. “‘Under the Banner of King Death’: The Social World of Anglo-American Pirates, 1716 to 1726.” The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 38, no. 2, 1981, pp. 203–27.

• Snow, Edward R. Pirates and Buccaneers of the Atlantic Coast. Dublin, New Hampshire: Yankee Publishing Co, 1944.

• Woodard, Colin. The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man who Brought Them Down. New York: Harcourt, 2007.

• Text of the proclamations

• Transcript of Bonnet Trial: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/lawlib/law0001/2010/201000158861859/201000158861859.pdf

• https://www.barbadoscarolinas.org/stede-bonnet-gentleman-pirate