Bermuda Pirates and Privateers: The Island’s Hidden Maritime History

Bermuda Pirates and Privateers: The Island’s Hidden Maritime History

When most people think of the Golden Age of Piracy, places like Nassau, Port Royal and Tortuga usually come to mind. Bermuda rarely appears on that list. Yet the island played a remarkable role in the world of pirates, privateers and fast sailing ships.

Bermuda’s treacherous coral reefs and extensive network of fortifications discouraged famous pirates such as Blackbeard from making the island a permanent base. However, Bermudians themselves became some of the era’s most accomplished seafarers. Unable to rely on plantation agriculture, they turned to shipbuilding, creating the legendary Bermuda sloop from native cedar. Fast, maneuverable and capable of sailing close to the wind, these vessels became prized by merchants, naval officers, privateers—and pirates alike.

Among the island’s most famous sea rovers were Nathaniel North and John Bowen, two Bermudians who achieved notoriety in the Indian Ocean around the turn of the eighteenth century. Operating from Madagascar, they captured richly laden merchant ships and amassed fortunes that rivalled those of far better-known pirates.

Bermuda also played an important role in King George I’s Royal Pardon of 1717–1718. One of the first British colonies to implement the proclamation, the island became a destination for pirates willing to surrender in exchange for a fresh start. Henry Jennings – a famous Bermudian pirate, and the creator of what is now known as Jennings Land in Smith’s Parish – was one of the leaders of the Nassau pirate community – accepted the King’s Pardon in Bermuda, and many of his followers did the same before either returning to privateering or settling into respectable civilian life.

Piracy eventually gave way to privateering—a legal form of wartime commerce raiding authorized by the Crown through Letters of Marque. During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Bermudian captains such as Hezekiah Frith captured enemy merchant vessels during Britain’s wars with France and the United States. To Britain they were patriots serving the Empire. To those whose ships they seized, they looked very much like pirates operating under official license.

Today the reefs that once protected Bermuda remain one of its defining features. But beyond those reefs lies another story—one of master shipbuilders, daring escapades, treasure and intrigue.

• See Bermuda’s South Shore come to Life: South Shore Bermuda
• Learn More About Touring Bermuda: https://bermudaheritagetours.com/best-bermuda-shore-excursions/
• More Bermuda Stories: https://bermudianhistory.com/exploring-the-gibraltar-of-the-west/