Stede Bonnet

Stede Bonnet
Engraving of Bonnet from A General History of the Pyrates (1724)
Born	c. 1688 Bridgetown, Barbados
Died	10 December 1718 (aged c. 30) Charles Town, South Carolina
Piratical career
Nickname	The Gentleman Pirate
Type	Pirate
Allegiance	None
Years active	1717–1718
Rank	Captain
Base of operations	Atlantic Ocean, along East Coast of the British Colonies, and Caribbean Sea
Commands	Revenge, later renamed Royal James
Battles/wars	Battle of Cape Fear River

Stede Bonnet (c. 1688 – 10 December 1718) was an early eighteenth-century Barbadian pirate, sometimes called "The Gentleman Pirate" because he was a moderately wealthy landowner before turning to a life of crime. Bonnet was born into a wealthy English family on the island of Barbados, and inherited the family estate after his father's death in 1694. In 1709, he married Mary Allamby, and engaged in some level of militia service. Because of marital problems, and despite his lack of sailing experience, Bonnet decided he should to turn to piracy in the summer of 1717. He bought a sailing vessel, named it Revenge, and travelled with his paid crew along the Eastern Seaboard of what is now the United States, capturing other vessels and burning other Barbadian ships.

Bonnet set sail for Nassau, Bahamas, to the haven for pirates known as the "pirates' republic", but he was seriously wounded en route during an encounter with a Spanish warship. After arriving in Nassau, Bonnet met Edward Teach, the infamous pirate Blackbeard. Incapable of leading his crew, Bonnet temporarily ceded his ship's command to Blackbeard. Before separating in December 1717, Blackbeard and Bonnet plundered and captured merchant ships along the East Coast. After Bonnet failed to capture the Protestant Caesar, his crew abandoned him to join Blackbeard aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge. Bonnet stayed on Blackbeard's ship as a guest, and did not command a crew again until summer 1718, when he was pardoned by North Carolina governor Charles Eden and received clearance to go privateering against Spanish shipping. Bonnet was tempted to resume his piracy, but did not want to lose his pardon, so he adopted the alias "Captain Thomas" and changed his ship's name to Royal James. He had returned to piracy by July 1718.