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Mary Read (1685–1721) -

Born in England, Read (right) became one of two celebrated women pirates during the 18th century, the other of course being Anne Bonny (left).

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Mary Read (1685–1721) - Read masqueraded as a man to gain work on a ship after arriving in the West Indies and soon fell in with a band of pirates. In 1720 she joined "Calico Jack" Rackham and Anne Bonny. The illustration shows her dispatching a fellow pirate.

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Mary Read (1685–1721) -

After her capture Read, like Bonny, cheated the hangman because she was pregnant. However, she died of fever while in prison and is probably buried near St. Catherine Parish Church in Jamaica.

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Bartholomew Roberts (1682–1722) -

Born John Roberts in Wales, his merciless marauding took him to waters off Brazil, the Caribbean, and as far north as Newfoundland.

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Bartholomew Roberts (1682–1722) - Later he chartered a course to West Africa, attacking merchant vessels off Cape Verde, Gabon, and Nigeria. The engraving shows his victorious crew drinking at the Calabar River, Nigeria.

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Bartholomew Roberts (1682–1722) -

In his lifetime Roberts captured over 400 vessels, making him the most successful pirate of the age. 

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Samual Bellamy (1689–1717) - Despite being given the nickname "Black Sam" Bellamy, this dapper English captain pirate was admired for the compassion and generosity he showed towards those he captured on the high seas.

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Samual Bellamy (1689–1717) -

Bellamy's greatest prize was the capture of the slave ship the Whydah Gally. Laden with riches, the vessel was attacked as it sailed between Hispaniola and Cuba. 

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Samuel Bellamy (1689–1717) -

Bellamy sailed the Whydah Gally north to Cape Cod and straight into a violent storm. The vessel sank along with Bellamy and most of his crew. In 1984 the shipwreck was discovered with its priceless cargo of ivory, indigo, British sterling, and gold intact.

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Blackbeard (c.1680–1718) - One of the most infamous pirates to have plied the high seas, Blackbeard, otherwise Englishman Edward Teach, relied on his fearsome appearance to placate those he captured during raids. He never harmed or murdered prisoners.

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Blackbeard (c. 1680–1718) - Based out of the Bahamian island of New Providence, Blackbeard operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's North American colonies.

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Blackbeard (c. 1680–1718) -

Merchant vessels provided rich pickings for the pirate. But his plundering days were numbered. He was captured during a sea battle off Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, and was met with a gruesome end.

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Stede Bonnet (1688–1718) - Already wealthy before taking up a cutlass and swearing allegiance to the skull and crossbones, Bonnet turned to piracy in 1717. Known as the gentleman pirate, he plagued the Eastern Seaboard of what is now the United States.

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Stede Bonnet (1688–1718) -

His life of crime was brief but effective. He too based himself out of New Providence, and collaborated with Blackbeard on several raids. Fate caught up with Bonnet at the Battle of Cape Fear River, when British forces captured the pirate and much of his crew. He was hanged in Charleston.

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Philip Roche (1693–1723) -

Roche roamed the seas of northern Europe, seeking out merchant vessels to attack and plunder. Crews and captains were murdered without mercy.

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Stede Bonnet (1688–1718) - A memorial in Charleston commemorating the Battle of Cape Fear River and the hanging of Bonnet at White Point allows visitors to ponder the life and death of the pirate.

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Howell Davis (c.1690–1719) - In a career lasting just 11 months, Welshman Davis managed to capture 15 known English and French ships, several of them in the West Indies. 

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Howell Davis (c.1690–1719) - He later sought richer pickings off the coast of West Africa, terrorizing shipping around the Portuguese Cape Verde islands and the island of Príncipe, where he was ambushed and killed.

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Edward England (c.1685–1721) - In fact born in Ireland as Edward Seeger, England hoisted the Jolly Roger flag over the African coast as he plundered and looted several ships during his voyage to the Indian Ocean.

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Edward England (c.1685–1721) - As his infamy grew, his ransacking increased. He fought a fierce battle near the Comoros Islands, and ended up marooned on Mauritius (then known as Île de France).

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Henry Every (1659–1699?) - Known as "The King of Pirates," such was his popularity that Every, an Englishman, even inspired others to take up piracy.

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Henry Every (1659–1699?) - Every enjoyed the spoils of his plunder without being arrested or killed in battle. His most successful raid was on a treasure-laden armed dhow, an attack that netted enough to make him the richest pirate in the world.  

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Israel Hands (?–?) -

As second-in-command to the notorious Blackbeard, Hands was complicit in harassing shipping off Mexico and Honduras. He later enjoyed immortality as a character in Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novel 'Treasure Island.'

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Benjamin Hornigold (1680–1719) -

Hornigold was extremely adept at menacing merchant fleets off the coast of New Providence, not least because he was in command of a thirty-gun ship—which was arguably the most heavily armed in the region.

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Benjamin Hornigold (1680–1719) -

He looted ships off Jamaica, Cuba, and Puerto Bello in Panama (pictured), before making an astonishing decision to turn pirate hunter and pursue his former cohorts on behalf of the Governor of the Bahamas.

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William Kidd (c.1654–1701) - Better known as Captain Kidd, the Scotsman began his seafaring career as a member of a French-English pirate crew sailing the Caribbean. He was eventually hanged for murder and piracy on the high seas.

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William Kidd (c.1654–1701) -

Kidd's enduring legend revolves around the belief that he buried substantial amounts of treasure throughout various parts of the world. The wreck of the Indian merchant vessel Quedagh Merchant, captured by Kidd but later sunk, was discovered in 2007 off the coast of Catalina Island in the Dominican Republic.

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Edward Low (1690–1724) - One of the nastiest and most unsavory of the so-called golden age pirates, Edward "Ned" Low was born into poverty in London. Still young, he moved to Boston, Massachusetts and became a pirate.

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Edward Low (1690–1724?) -

Using a captured ship, Low and his reprobate crew headed south to Grand Cayman where they honed a tactic of hoisting false colors and approaching an unsuspecting vessel.

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Edward Low (1690–1724?) -

Low's sadistic nature plunged to new depths as he tortured and murdered at will. Working as far north as Nova Scotia, as far south as Suriname, and across the Atlantic to the Canaries and Cape Verde, no vessel was safe.

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Edward Low (1690–1724?) -

Low's fate is unknown. Some reports suggest he was last sighted near the Canary Islands. Another rumor points to New Guinea. The National Maritime Museum in London opines that he was never caught, ending his days in Brazil.

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Amaro Rodríguez Felipe (1678–1747) - Better known as Amaro Pargo, this Spanish pirate would often plunder vessels belonging to enemies of the Spanish Crown, the prizes of which would be sent back to Madrid.

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Amaro Rodríguez Felipe (1678–1747) -

Pargo thought nothing of fighting other pirates and once endured a skirmish against Blackbeard. He also fought against Turkish pirates off the Canaries, where he was born and died. His tomb is in the Church of Santo Domingo, in Tenerife.

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John Rackham (1682–1720) - An English pirate captain operating in the Bahamas and the waters off Cuba, Rackham, known as "Calico Jack," is remembered chiefly for employing two female crew members, Mary Read and his lover, Anne Bonny.

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John Rackham (1682–1720) -

He was also known for his successful tactic of plundering smaller vessels close to shore. But while doing so off Jamaica he was captured and later executed in Port Royal.

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Anne Bonny (1697?–1782?) - Charismatic and enigmatic in equal measure, red-haired Bonny was an Irish pirate with a fiery temper. She was one of the most famous female pirates of all time.

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Anne Bonny (1697?–1782?) - Disguised in men's clothing, Bonny joined John Rackham's pirate sloop and took part in skirmishes alongside the men. By all accounts she was effective in combat and won the respect of her shipmates.  

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Anne Bonny (1697?–1782?) - Convicted of piracy, Bonny apparently escaped the hangman only because she was pregnant. However, her ultimate fate is open to speculation, as recorded in Captain Charles Johnson's 1724 collection of pirate biographies.

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Philip Roche (1693–1723) - Irishman Roche was an especially callous and brutal individual—the illustration is captioned: "Roche and his villainous companions throwing their victims overboard."

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Philip Roche (1693–1723) - Justice caught up with the Irish pirate after he fled to Scotland and later London. Tried for piracy, he was found guilty and hanged at Newgate Prison (illustrated).

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Woodes Rogers (c.1679–1732) - The English sea captain and privateer is known for embarking on a voyage against the Spanish and circumnavigating the globe, capturing several Spanish ships along the way.

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Woodes Rogers (c.1679–1732) - During the voyage his vessel rescued the castaway Alexander Selkirk, who'd been marooned for four years on an uninhabited island. His plight inspired author Daniel Defoe's fictional character Robinson Crusoe.

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Woodes Rogers (c.1679–1732) -

Renouncing piracy, Rogers eventually became the first Royal Governor of the Bahamas and played a pivotal role in the suppression of pirates in the Caribbean.

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Francis Spriggs (?–1725?) -

A British pirate active in the Caribbean, Spriggs and his crew would perform a mild form of torture on captives by forcing them to run through "the sweats," a ring of burning candles, while the pirates jabbed at them with sharp implements.

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Thomas Sutton (1699–1722) - Africa's tropical Gold Coast was regularly patrolled by Scottish pirate Sutton, who also sailed alongside Bartholomew Roberts.

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Thomas Sutton (1699–1722) - With Sutton in command of Ranger, and Roberts at the helm of Royal Fortune, the pirate fleet captured several vessels off the coast of Sierra Leone and Liberia.

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Thomas Sutton (1699–1722) -

Intercepted by the British warship HMS Swallow, Roberts was killed in the ensuing battle. Sutton was captured and hanged at Cape Coast Castle in Ghana (pictured), an infamous "slave castle."

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Thomas Tew (1649–1695) - English by birth, Tew (seated left in the illustration) became known as the "Rhode Island Pirate." His life on the high seas was short lived, managing only two voyages before he was killed at the mouth of the Red Sea.  

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Thomas Tew (1649–1695) -

Tew pioneered the so-called Pirate Round, a sailing route that led from the western Atlantic to India. The final resting place of many pirates is in the cemetery at Île Sainte-Marie, Madagascar.

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Olivier Levasseur (1688?–1730) -

The dashing French pirate is said to have composed a puzzle that consists of a short piece of encrypted text. Deciphered, it's supposed to lead the reader to a hidden treasure trove. Levasseur took his secret to the grave.

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Olivier Levasseur (1688?–1730) -

This is Levasseur's enticing cryptogram. Can you unravel its secrets? Apparently there's a vast fortune to unearth for anyone who can crack the complicated code. Good luck!

See also: Secret code words you are not supposed to know.

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