The Life and Tryals of the Gentleman Pirate, Major Stede Bonnet

Chesapeake-native Jeremy Moss brings to life the golden age of piracy through the vivid life of one of the least likely, yet most interesting pirates, Major Stede Bonnet. Using his book, The Life and Tryals of the Gentleman Pirate, Major Stede Bonnet as a backdrop, Moss re-creates the life and times of some of the most famous pirates of the Golden Age of Piracy, including the infamous Blackbeard.
Awash with myth-busting history, Moss tells the story of the real pirates, sharing accounts of their daily life, social issues, natural disasters, political intrigues, bloody battles, and, of course, buried treasure, while weaving in interesting connections to the history of Hampton.
An heir to an established land-owning aristocratic family in Barbados, Major Stede Bonnet enjoyed luxuries equal to those of the finest houses in London. “A Gentleman of good Reputation” and a “Master of a plentiful Fortune,” he was given “the Advantage of a liberal Education,” but the call of the sea-and perhaps more significantly, the push of his obligations as a father and husband-cast Major Bonnet onto an unlikely and deliberate course toward piracy. Easily likable, by friend and foe, many would be drawn to Bonnet. In his two short years of piracy, Stede Bonnet stood alongside some of the New World’s most notorious pirates, including Charles Vane, Charles Condent (also known as “Billy One-Hand”), Robert Deal, “Calico” John Rackham, Israel Hands, Benjamin Hornigold, William Kidd, Mary Read, Anne Bonny, and the pirate to whom Bonnet would forever be connected, Edward Thatch (infamously known around the world as “Blackbeard”).
Jeremy R. Moss is a lawyer and lobbyist living in Alexandria, Virginia. An emerging author and freelance historian, Moss's research is focused on piracy and early colonial maritime history. When not working or writing, he is a family man and can be found telling stories of adventure and buried treasure to his three young sons.
Hampton History Museum
120 Old Hampton Lane
Hampton, Virginia 23669
757-727-1102
www.hamptonhistorymuseum.org
hampton.gov/119/Hampton-Histo...

[@d.m.collins1501]

Great lecture! I wonder: do any of the original documents record the names of any pirate crew members who weren't the captain (or never went on later to become great pirate captains themselves)?

[@jamesgrimes4587]

Time Stamps 00:00 Introduction of Port Hampton Lecture Series (Alan Holman) 01:00 Introduction by Author 02:36 Introduction of Book 04:00 Book of Humble Beginnings (Coffee Shop) 05:40 The Golden Age of Piracy, Blackbeard 12:20 Stede Bonnet, a Gentleman Pirate? 13:40 A Young Man on a Maturing Settlement 15:19 Little Sovereigns (Bonnet in Charge at 21) 17:36 “A Humor to go a-pirating” Bonnet’s Discomfort with Family Life 19:50 The Voyage Narratives and Wanderlust (How Far I’ll Go) 21:30 Stede’s Revenge (Buying his Ship) 22:30 A Gentleman at the Wharf (Enlisting a Crew) 24:14 Gone Without Clearing (Bonnet leaves Barbados) 26:15 The Virginia Capes 27:57 Hampton Roads in the Early 1700s 29:40 The Tindall’s Point Piracy (1682) 30:56 Education and Piracy: The College of William and Mary Founded By Pirates 33:30 Providence Galley: Ugly John James and the Essex Prize (Virginia hates pirates) 37:04 Le Paix, Louis Guitar and Governor Nicholson (Governor beats the Pirates) 42:35 Bonnet’s Early Success (Takes Many Ships in Virginia, Gardner’s Island) 43:52 The Many Flags of Bonnet (jolie rouge) 44:50 Pirate Codes of Conduct 46:16 The Lynnhaven 46:36 The Florida Wrecks and the Spanish Man-of-War (inexperience catches up to Bonnet) 49:38 Bonnet Meets Blackbeard at Nassau 51:00 A Year of Plunder 51:56 Trickery at Topsail (The Act of Grace) 52:40 Bonnet and Blackbeard Split, The Royal James 53:10 Careening and the Battle of the Cape Fear, Blackbeard’s Death 54:41 A Pirate’s Fate (Dressed up as a woman, caught) 55:11 New Memories of the “Major” 56:21 Bonnet’s Legacy and Final Thoughts