Commander or commoner In the merchant navy, Roberts' wage was less than £4 per month () and he had no chance of promotion to captaincy. A few weeks after Roberts' capture,
Royal James had to be abandoned because of
worm damage.
Royal Rover headed for the island of
Príncipe. Davis hoisted the flags of a British man-of-war and was allowed to enter the harbor. After a few days, Davis invited the governor to lunch on board his ship, intending to hold him hostage for a ransom. Davis had to send boats to collect the governor, and he was invited to call at the fort for a glass of wine first. The Portuguese had discovered that their visitors were pirates. They ambushed Davis' party on its way to the fort, shooting Davis dead. A new captain had to be elected. Davis' crew was divided into "Lords" and "Commons", and it was the "Lords" who had the right to propose a name to the remainder of the crew. Within six weeks of his capture, Roberts was elected captain. This was unusual, especially as he had objected to serving on the vessel. Historians believe he was elected for his navigational abilities and his personality, which history reflects was outspoken and opinionated. Roberts' first act as captain was to lead the crew back to Príncipe to avenge the death of Captain Davis. Roberts and his crew landed on the island in the darkness of night, killed a large portion of the male population, and stole all items of value that they could carry away. Soon afterwards, he captured a Dutch
Guineaman, then two days later a British ship called
Experiment. The pirate ship took on water and provisions at Anamboe, where a vote was taken on whether the next voyage should be to the
East Indies or to
Brazil. The vote was for Brazil. The combination of bravery and success that marked this adventure cemented most of the crew's loyalty to Roberts. They concluded that he was "pistol proof" and that they had much to gain by staying with him.
Brazil and the Caribbean (July 1719 – May 1720) Roberts and his crew crossed the Atlantic and watered and boot-topped their ship on the uninhabited island of Ferdinando. They spent about nine weeks off the Brazilian coast but saw no ships. They were about to leave for the
West Indies when they encountered a fleet of 42 Portuguese ships in the
Todos os Santos' Bay, waiting for two men-of-war of 70 guns each to escort them to
Lisbon. Roberts took one of the vessels and ordered her master to point out the richest ship in the fleet. He pointed out
Sagrada Familia, a ship of 40 guns and a crew of 170, which Roberts and his men boarded and captured.
Sagrada Familia contained 40,000 gold
moidores and jewellery designed for the King of Portugal, including a cross set with diamonds.
Rover next headed for
Devil's Island off the coast of Guiana to spend the booty. A few weeks later, they headed for the River Surinam where they captured a sloop. After they sighted a
brigantine, Roberts took 40 men to pursue it in the sloop, leaving
Walter Kennedy in command of
Rover. The sloop became wind-bound for eight days, and when Roberts and his crew finally returned to their ship, they discovered that Kennedy had sailed off with
Rover and what remained of the loot. Roberts and his crew renamed their sloop
Fortune and agreed on new articles, now known as a
pirate code, which they swore on a Bible to uphold. In late February 1720, they were joined by French pirate
Montigny la Palisse in another sloop,
Sea King. The inhabitants of
Barbados equipped two well-armed ships,
Summerset and
Philipa, to try to put an end to the pirate menace. On 26 February, they encountered the two pirate sloops.
Sea King quickly fled, and
Fortune broke off the engagement after sustaining considerable damage and was able to escape. Roberts headed for
Dominica to repair the sloop, with twenty of his crew dying of their wounds on the voyage. There were also two sloops from
Martinique out searching for the pirates, and Roberts swore vengeance against the inhabitants of Barbados and Martinique. He allegedly had a new flag made with a drawing of himself holding a flaming sword and standing upon 2 skulls, one labelled ABH (A Barbadian's Head) and the other AMH (A Martiniquian's Head), although this is not corroborated by period sources.
Newfoundland and the Caribbean (June 1720 – April 1721) Fortune next headed northwards towards
Newfoundland, raiding
Canso, Nova Scotia, and capturing a number of ships around
Cape Breton and the Newfoundland banks. Roberts also had a hidden shipyard for careening his fleet in the Mira River. Roberts raided the harbour of Ferryland, capturing a dozen vessels. On 21 June, he attacked the larger harbour of
Trepassey, sailing in with black flags flying. In the harbour he discovered 22 merchant ships and 150 fishing ships. All of these vessels were abandoned by their panic-stricken captains and crews, and the pirates were masters of Trepassey without any resistance being offered. Roberts had captured all 22 merchant ships, but was angered by the cowardice of the captains who had fled their ships. Every morning he had a gun fired and the captains were forced to attend Roberts on board his ship; they were told that anyone who was absent would have his ship burnt. One
brig from
Bristol was taken over by the pirates to replace the sloop
Fortune and fitted out with 16 guns. When the pirates left in late June, all the other vessels in the harbour were set on fire. During July, Roberts captured nine or ten French ships and commandeered one of them, fitting her with 26 cannons and changing her name to
Good Fortune. With this more powerful ship, the pirates captured many more vessels before heading south for the West Indies, accompanied by Montigny la Palisse's sloop, which had rejoined them. In September 1720,
Good Fortune was
careened and repaired at the island of
Carriacou before being renamed
Royal Fortune, the first of several ships to be given this name by Roberts. In late September,
Royal Fortune and
Fortune headed for the island of
St. Christopher's and entered Basse Terra Road, flying black flags and with their drummers and trumpeters playing. They sailed in among the ships in the Road, all of which promptly
struck their flags. The next landfall was at the island of
St. Bartholomew, where the French governor allowed the pirates to remain for several weeks to carouse. By 25 October, they were at sea again off
St. Lucia, where they captured up to 15 French and English ships in the next three days. Among the captured ships was
Greyhound, whose chief mate
James Skyrme joined the pirates. He later became captain of Roberts' consort,
Ranger. During this time, Roberts reportedly caught Florimond Hurault de Montigny, the
Governor of Martinique, who was sailing aboard a 52-gun French
warship. The Governor was caught and promptly hanged on the yardarm of his own ship, which the pirates converted into the new
Royal Fortune. According to Sanders as well as Konstam and Rickman, this reported capture was an embellishment by Captain Charles Johnson in his
A General History of the Pyrates. French sources confirm that while Roberts did capture and torture some French officials by pretending to hang them, he in fact released them, and Hurault was not among them. , now in
Benin, West Africa, with his ship and captured merchantmen in the background. By the spring of 1721, Roberts' depredations had almost brought seaborne trade to a standstill in the West Indies.
Royal Fortune and
Good Fortune therefore set sail for West Africa. On 18 April,
Thomas Anstis, the commander of
Good Fortune, left Roberts in the night and continued to raid shipping in the Caribbean, with future captains
John Fenn and
Brigstock Weaver aboard. Roberts next headed for
Sierra Leone, arriving on 12 June. Here he was told by retired pirate
John "Old Crackers" Leadstone that two
Royal Navy ships, and , had left at the end of April, planning to return before Christmas. On 8 August, he captured two large ships at Point Cestos, now
River Cess in
Liberia. One of these was the frigate
Onslow, transporting soldiers bound for
Cape Coast (Cabo Corso) Castle. A number of the soldiers wished to join the pirates, and they were eventually accepted, however they only received a quarter of a pirates pay because they were not sailors most of their lives.
Onslow was converted to become the fourth
Royal Fortune. In November and December, the pirates careened their ships and relaxed at Cape Lopez and the island of
Annobón. Sutton was replaced by Skyrme as captain of
Ranger. They captured several vessels in January 1722, then sailed into
Ouidah (Whydah) harbour with black flags flying. The eleven ships at anchor there immediately struck their colours, but were restored to their owners after a ransom of eight pounds of gold dust per ship was paid.
Death in battle . Most of the crew were drunk when
Swallow appeared. On 5 February 1722, Captain
Chaloner Ogle of
HMS Swallow came upon the pirate ships
Royal Fortune,
Ranger, and
Little Ranger at
Cape Lopez.
Swallow veered away to avoid a
shoal, making the pirates think that she was a fleeing merchant ship; some sources claim Ogle spotted Roberts' ships and turned
Swallow as a ruse.
Ranger departed in pursuit, commanded by James Skyrme. Once out of earshot of the other pirates,
Swallow opened her gun ports and opened fire. Ten pirates were killed and Skyrme had his leg taken off by a cannonball, but he refused to leave the deck. Eventually,
Ranger was forced to strike her colors, and the surviving crew were captured. On 10 February,
Swallow returned to Cape Lopez and found
Royal Fortune still there. On the previous day, Roberts had captured
Neptune, and many of his crew were drunk and unfit for duty just when he needed them most. At first, the pirates thought that the approaching ship was
Ranger returning, but a deserter from
Swallow recognized her and informed Roberts while he was breakfasting with Captain Hill, the master of
Neptune. As he usually did before action, he dressed himself in his finest clothes: The pirates' plan was to sail past
Swallow, which meant exposing themselves to one broadside. Once past, they would have a good chance of escaping. However, the helmsman failed to keep
Royal Fortune on the right course, and
Swallow was able to approach to deliver a second broadside. Captain Roberts was killed by
grapeshot, which struck him in the throat while he stood on the deck. Before his body could be captured by Ogle, Roberts's wish to be buried at sea with all his arms and ornaments on (a request he had repeated in life) was fulfilled by his crew, who weighed his body down and threw it overboard after wrapping it in his ship's sail. It was never found.
Aftermath The battle continued for another two hours until
Royal Fortunes mainmast fell and the pirates signaled for quarter. One member of the crew, John Philips, tried to reach the magazine with a lighted match to blow up the ship, but was prevented by two men. Only three pirates had been killed in the battle, including Roberts. A total of 272 pirates serving under Roberts had been captured during the battle; of these, 65 were former African slaves that Roberts had emancipated, and they were sold back into slavery. The remainder were taken to
Cape Coast Castle, apart from those who died on the voyage back. 54 were condemned to death, of whom 52 were hanged and two reprieved. Another twenty were allowed to sign indentures with the
Royal African Company; Burl comments that they "exchanged an immediate death for a lingering one". Seventeen men were sent to the Marshalsea prison in London for trial, where some were acquitted and released. Of the captured pirates who told their place of birth, 42% were from
Cornwall,
Devon, and
Somerset, and another 19% from London. There were smaller numbers from northern England and from Wales, and another quarter from a variety of countries including Ireland, Scotland, the West Indies, the Netherlands, and Greece. Captain
Chaloner Ogle was rewarded with a knighthood, the only British naval officer to be honoured specifically for his actions against pirates. He also profited financially, taking gold dust from Roberts' cabin, and he eventually became an admiral. and many consider the death of Roberts to mark the end of the Golden Age of Piracy. == Roberts' pirate code ==