When Bartholomew Roberts was a young man working board a British merchant galley, it was attacked by two pirate ships and he was taken prisoner and subsequently forced to work aboard the pirate's ship. Six weeks later, when the pirate ship's captain was killed, the crew elected Roberts captain. Roberts became the most successful pirate of the following era (c. 1690-1725), plundering more than 400 ships from the coasts of West Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean, and as far north as NewÂfoundland. His reign of terror finally came to an end when he was fatally shot during a battle with a British warship.
posted
Bartholemew Roberts 'Black Bart' was born in a really pretty, very tiny little Welsh village called Casnewydd-Bach (Little Newcastle), where I've spent some wonderful summer vacations. They have a memorial to him on the village green. They're really proud of him.
I'm really freaked to find a reference to him on Hatrack. Coincidence is a weird thing.
Posts: 1528 | Registered: Nov 2004
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I knew that! He was really clever, too, a most excellent pirate. Eventually, when he died and his ship was taken, his men were sentenced to death and the sentence said:
quote: Ye and each of ye are adjudged and sentenced to be carried back to the place from whence you came, from thence to the place of execution without the doors of this castle, and there within the flood marks to be hanged by the neck till you are dead, dead, dead. And the Lord have mercy upon your souls.
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How do you know it was the real Dread Pirate Roberts that was killed by the British? I thought the original had retired.
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I'm glad he changed his first name to "Dread Pirate" because "Bartholomew" doesn't sound very manacing.
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quote: I'm glad he changed his first name to "Dread Pirate" because "Bartholomew" doesn't sound very manacing.
He didn't. The guy who wrote Princess Bride, however, did take some liberty. As mentioned earlier, Bartholomew Roberts was known better as Black Bart.
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Actually Bartholomew is a very impressive Pirate name. I remember reading about the pirate Bartholomew, or Bart for short, who pillaged the high seas and was a terror to the Royal Govenor Charles Montgomery Burns, and his loyal toady Smithers.
No matter what Admiral Skinner would do, Pirate Bart always managed to get away. Although it is believed that Ensign Maggie was the one that finally sunk pirate Bart, it was really Bart's father, and one time navigator, Homer, who in a drunken fit accidently mistook the helm for a donut and ate it in the midst of battle.
Mmmmmm Donut.
Um. Maybe I better check my sources one more time before I post more.
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