Pirates

Abduwali Muse was the sole surviving pirate involved in the April 2009 hijacking of the U.S.-flagged container ship Maersk Alabama, during which Captain Richard Phillips was held hostage in a…

Abraham Samuel was a pirate shipwrecked near Fort Dauphin, Madagascar, around 1697, where local Antanosy royalty identified birthmarks that led them to declare him a long-lost prince. Backed by armed…

Abshir Abdillahi, known as Boyah, was a Somali pirate leader based in the Puntland region, described by journalists as one of the earliest and most prominent figures in the resurgence…

Adam Baldridge was an English pirate merchant who, after fleeing Jamaica to escape a murder charge, established a fortified trading post on Île Sainte-Marie (St. Mary’s Island) off the coast…

Alwilda is a legendary pirate queen described in Saxo Grammaticus’s 13th-century Gesta Danorum, said to have disguised herself as a man and taken to piracy in the Baltic Sea to…

Amaro Pargo was a Spanish corsair from Tenerife in the Canary Islands who, under Spanish crown authorization, captured English and Dutch ships along the Cádiz-Caribbean trade route in the early…

Anne Bonny was an Irish-born pirate who sailed with Calico Jack Rackham in the Caribbean, alongside fellow female pirate Mary Read. Contemporary accounts describe her as an active fighter during…

Anne Dieu-le-Veut was a French colonist in Saint-Domingue and Tortuga who, according to historical accounts, married two prominent buccaneers, Pierre Lelong and later Laurens de Graaf, and reportedly took part…

Bartholomew Roberts, born John Roberts in Wales, is considered the most successful pirate of the Golden Age by number of ships captured, taking an estimated 400-plus vessels. He rose to…

Bartholomew Sharp was an English buccaneer who led a raiding expedition across the Isthmus of Panama and along the Pacific coast of South America in 1680-1681, capturing Spanish ships and,…

A Portuguese buccaneer whose escape from Spanish captivity — stabbing a guard, floating ashore on wine jars, and recapturing his own prison ship — became one of Exquemelin’s best-known stories.

Benito de Soto was a Spanish pirate who seized control of the slave ship Defensor de Pedro following a mutiny in 1827 and turned to piracy in the Atlantic, most…

Benjamin Hornigold was an English pirate based in Nassau, Bahamas, considered a mentor figure to Blackbeard and Samuel Bellamy, both of whom sailed under him early in their careers. He…

Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate who operated in the Caribbean and along the American East Coast. He commanded a flotilla including the captured French slave ship…

John ‘Calico Jack’ Rackham was an English pirate active in the Bahamas and Caribbean, known for his colorful calico clothing. He is most remembered for his crew, which included the…

Charles Gibbs, born James D. Jeffers in Rhode Island, was an American pirate active in the Caribbean and Atlantic in the 1820s, among the last people executed for piracy in…

Charles Vane was an English pirate active around New Providence, Bahamas, notorious for refusing the 1718 royal pardon offered by Governor Woodes Rogers and for openly defying Rogers’s fleet as…

Cheung Po Tsai was a Chinese pirate who, according to tradition, was captured as a boy and adopted by pirate leader Zheng Yi, later becoming a key commander within Zheng…

Christopher Condent was an English pirate who operated in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean, capturing a rich Arab trading vessel near Bombay in 1720 that reportedly made him and his…

Christopher Moody was an English pirate who sailed for a time as his own captain before joining Bartholomew Roberts’s fleet. He is notable for his early use of a red…

Christopher Myngs was an English naval officer and buccaneer who led fleets of privateers against Spanish colonial towns in the Caribbean during the 1650s and 1660s. He raided settlements including…

Chui A-poo was a Chinese pirate active around Bias Bay near Hong Kong, whose forces clashed repeatedly with British colonial shipping in the late 1840s, including the killing of two…

Cornelis Jol was a Dutch privateer and admiral for the Dutch West India Company during the Eighty Years’ War, raiding Spanish and Portuguese shipping and territory across the Atlantic, including…

Dominique You was a French-born artilleryman and Baratarian pirate captain who, alongside Jean and Pierre Lafitte, ran smuggling and privateering operations from Barataria Bay, Louisiana. He commanded the pirate vessel…

Turgut Reis, known as Dragut, was an Ottoman corsair and admiral who served under Hayreddin Barbarossa and later became Bey of Algiers and Pasha of Tripoli. Regarded by contemporaries as…

Edward England was an Irish pirate active in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean, notable for showing relative leniency toward captured crews, which contrasted with the norms of the era. His…

Edward Low was an English-born pirate notorious for extreme brutality toward captives, operating primarily in the Atlantic and Caribbean in the early 1720s. He commanded a small fleet at times…

Edward Mansvelt was a mid-17th-century buccaneer admiral of the Brethren of the Coast whose failed attempt to hold Santa Catalina Island as a permanent base preceded, and set up, the career of his protégé Henry Morgan.

Emanuel Wynn was a French pirate operating around 1700, cited in British naval records as one of the earliest pirates documented to fly a black flag bearing a skull and…

Eustace the Monk (c. 1170–1217) was a nobleman from the county of Boulogne who abandoned a Benedictine monastery for a career as an outlaw and, by 1205, a mercenary sea…

Sir Francis Drake was an English privateer and explorer who raided Spanish colonial shipping and settlements under the sanction of Queen Elizabeth I, and became the first Englishman to circumnavigate…

An English gentleman who lost his inheritance, sold his estate, and became one of the most feared Barbary corsairs operating out of Algiers.

François l’Olonnais was a French buccaneer operating from Tortuga and Hispaniola, notorious in contemporary accounts for extreme brutality toward Spanish captives, including the sack of Maracaibo and Gibraltar (Venezuela) in…

George Lowther was an English pirate active in the Caribbean and off West Africa, whose crew included Edward Low before Low broke away to command his own ship. Lowther preyed…

Godeke Michels was, alongside Klaus Störtebeker, one of the principal captains of the Victual Brothers, a North Sea and Baltic pirate fraternity that preyed on Hanseatic League shipping in the…

Grace O’Malley was an Irish clan chieftain and seafarer who commanded ships and led raids along the western Irish coast, taxing and sometimes plundering passing vessels, while also engaging in…

Hayreddin Barbarossa was an Ottoman corsair and admiral who, with his brother Oruç, seized control of Algiers and later placed it under Ottoman sovereignty, becoming Kapudan Pasha (Grand Admiral) of…

Henry Every was an English pirate best known for capturing the Mughal treasure ship Ganj-i-Sawai in the Indian Ocean in 1695, one of the most lucrative pirate raids in history.…

Henry Mainwaring was an English pirate who began his career hunting other pirates. In 1610 the Lord High Admiral commissioned him to capture Peter Easton; that mission failed, and Mainwaring…

Henry Morgan was a Welsh privateer who led major English raids against Spanish colonial holdings in the Caribbean, including the sack of Panama City in 1671, under commissions from English…

Howell Davis was a Welsh pirate known for capturing ships through deception and impersonation, including posing as a legitimate merchant captain to seize forts and vessels off West Africa. Bartholomew…

Ingela Gathenhielm was a Swedish privateer who ran privateering operations alongside, and later after the death of, her husband Lars Gathenhielm, who held a royal license to raid enemy shipping…

Israel Hands served as a lieutenant and reputed pilot under Blackbeard aboard the Queen Anne’s Revenge. According to contemporary accounts, Blackbeard shot him in the knee during a drunken shipboard…

Jacquotte Delahaye is a figure said to have been a female pirate of mixed French and Haitian descent in 17th-century Saint-Domingue, reputedly faking her own death to evade capture. However,…

John (James) Plantain was a pirate who, after raiding shipping in the Indian Ocean with Edward England’s crew, settled at Ranter Bay in Madagascar and established himself as a local…

Jan Janszoon was a Dutch sailor captured by Barbary corsairs in 1618, after which he converted to Islam, adopted the name Murat Reis, and became a leading figure among the…

French privateer who captured part of Cortes’s Aztec treasure fleet off Cape St. Vincent in 1523, before being hanged as a pirate by Spain in 1527.

Jean Lafitte was a French privateer and smuggler who led a base of operations at Barataria Bay, Louisiana, and later Galveston Island, Texas, running privateers against Spanish shipping and smuggling…

Jeanne de Clisson (c. 1300–1359) was a Breton noblewoman who turned privateer against the French crown after her husband, Olivier IV de Clisson, was beheaded in Paris on August 2,…

John Bowen was a pirate active in the Indian Ocean during the early years of the ‘Pirate Round,’ commanding the ship Speaker and raiding shipping around Mauritius, the Comoros, and…

John Cockram was a pirate and trader associated with Benjamin Hornigold’s group operating out of Nassau in the Bahamas. After accepting the 1718 royal pardon, he helped Governor Woodes Rogers…

John Coxon was an English buccaneer active in the Caribbean in the late 1670s and early 1680s. In January 1680 he led an attack on the Spanish town of Portobelo…

John Gow was a Scottish sailor who led a mutiny aboard the merchant ship George off Spain in 1724, renaming it Revenge and turning to piracy. He sailed to his…

John Halsey was a Boston-born pirate active in the Indian Ocean, raiding shipping including vessels belonging to the Great Mughal. He was notable for reportedly refusing to attack English or…

Sir John Hawkins was an English naval commander and one of the pioneers of the English transatlantic slave trade, later serving as treasurer of the Royal Navy. He led early…

John Martel was a pirate captain active in the Caribbean from about 1713 to 1717, whose growing squadron was broken up by the Royal Navy off St. Croix in 1717.

John Phillips was an English pirate who escaped indentured servitude in Newfoundland to begin a short piracy career off the Atlantic coast of Canada and New England in 1723-1724. He…

John Quelch was an English sailor who led a mutiny aboard the privateering ship Charles and turned to piracy off the coast of Brazil in 1703, attacking Portuguese shipping despite…

John Taylor was an English pirate active in the Indian Ocean, best known for co-commanding, with Olivier Levasseur, the 1721 capture of the Portuguese carrack Nossa Senhora do Cabo off…

John Ward was an English privateer-turned-Barbary corsair who, after being refused a pardon by King James I, settled in Tunis, converted to Islam, and took the name Yusuf Reis, commanding…

Kemal Reis was an Ottoman corsair and admiral, born around 1451, who began his career raiding Christian shipping in the western Mediterranean before entering Ottoman state service. Starting in 1487…

Klaus Störtebeker was the best-known leader of the Victual Brothers (Vitalienbrüder), a fraternity of privateers-turned-pirates that raided Hanseatic League shipping in the North and Baltic Seas in the late 14th…

Zheng Chenggong, known in the West as Koxinga, was a Ming loyalist military leader and son of the pirate-merchant Zheng Zhilong, who inherited and expanded his father’s maritime forces to…

Lai Choi San was reported to be a female pirate commanding a fleet of junks in the South China Sea during the 1920s-1930s, described in journalist Aleko Lilius’s 1931 book…

Laurens de Graaf was a Dutch-born buccaneer who became one of the most feared raiders of Spanish shipping and settlements in the Caribbean, including participating in the sack of Veracruz…

Louis-Michel Aury was a French privateer who fought for Latin American independence movements against Spain, establishing a short-lived privateer base at Galveston Island, Texas, in 1816-1817, before Jean Lafitte took…

Mary Read was an English pirate who, according to contemporary accounts, spent parts of her early life disguised as a man, including service in the military, before joining piracy in…

Michel de Grammont was a French buccaneer active in the Caribbean, participating in major raids on Spanish colonial towns including Maracaibo and Veracruz alongside other buccaneer captains such as Laurens…

Mohamed Abdi Hassan, known as Afweyne, was described by the United Nations as one of the most notorious leaders of Somali piracy networks during the height of Gulf of Aden…

Moses Cohen Henriques was a Sephardic Jewish privateer of Dutch-Portuguese descent who sailed for the Dutch West India Company during the Eighty Years’ War. In 1628 he served under Admiral…

Nathaniel North was an American-born pirate whose long career in the Indian Ocean was marked by repeated cycles of piracy, capture, pardon, and return to piracy over roughly two decades.…

Olivier Levasseur, nicknamed La Buse for his ferocity in attack, was a French pirate active in the Caribbean and later the Indian Ocean around Madagascar. He is credited, alongside John…

Oruç Reis was an Ottoman corsair and the elder brother of Hayreddin Barbarossa, with whom he seized control of Algiers from local rulers in the early 16th century, establishing a…

Paulsgrave Williams was a Rhode Island-born goldsmith who became a pirate, sailing as quartermaster and consort captain alongside Samuel Bellamy. After Bellamy’s ship Whydah wrecked in 1717, Williams continued limited…

An English privateer who turned pirate, briefly controlled the seas off Newfoundland with a fleet of ten ships, and retired a wealthy nobleman in Savoy.

Philip Lyne was a pirate active in the Caribbean and Atlantic in the mid-1720s, reportedly claiming to have killed dozens of captives during his short career. He was captured by…

Grutte Pier: a Frisian farmer turned rebel and pirate whose real campaign against Habsburg rule in the 1510s was later inflated into tales of a seven-foot giant.

Pierre le Grand was a French buccaneer said to have captured a Spanish galleon near Hispaniola in the mid-17th century with a crew of 28 men in a small boat, in a raid often cited as an early, defining episode of Caribbean buccaneering.

Piet Pieterszoon Hein was a Dutch naval officer and admiral of the Dutch West India Company, famous for capturing an entire Spanish treasure fleet near Cuba in 1628, the only…

Piri Reis was an Ottoman corsair who began raiding Mediterranean shipping in the 1480s alongside his uncle, the corsair captain Kemal Reis, before turning to naval cartography after Kemal’s death…

Rachel Wall is generally described as the first American-born woman to be tried for piracy. With her husband George Wall, she reportedly staged fake shipwrecks off the New England coast…

Richard Worley was an English pirate who began his brief career with a small open boat and a handful of men off New York in 1718, quickly escalating to larger…

An English pirate of the Pirate Round who mutinied against William Kidd not once but twice, took a fortune in the Red Sea, and outlasted the more famous man he betrayed.

The “King of the Corsairs,” a French privateer whose capture of the East Indiaman Kent in 1800 made him a national hero and a wealthy man.

Roberto Cofresí was a Puerto Rican pirate who raided merchant shipping in the Caribbean during the early 19th century, becoming a folk hero to some for allegedly sharing plunder with…

Rock Brasiliano was a Dutch buccaneer based at Port Royal, Jamaica, and Tortuga, known from contemporary accounts, particularly Alexandre Exquemelin’s Buccaneers of America, for extreme cruelty toward Spanish captives. He…

A Viking raider on the Seine who became, by treaty in 911, the first ruler of Normandy and ancestor of William the Conqueror.

Sadie the Goat is a figure described in Herbert Asbury’s 1928 book The Gangs of New York as a Manhattan street criminal and gang member who later led river piracy…

Samuel Bellamy was an English-born pirate who commanded the Whydah Gally, a captured slave ship, making him briefly one of the wealthiest pirates of the era. He is reputed to…

Sayyida al-Hurra (a title meaning roughly “the noble lady who answers to no one”) was a Moroccan ruler and privateer who governed the city of Tétouan from around 1515 until…

Shap-ng-tsai was a 19th-century Chinese pirate commander who led a fleet of roughly 70 junks based near Dianbai, extorting protection payments from coastal traders and villages in the South China…

Sinan Reis was a Barbary corsair of Sephardic Jewish descent who served as a chief lieutenant and naval commander under Hayreddin Barbarossa, playing a role in Ottoman naval strategy at…

Stede Bonnet was a wealthy Barbadian plantation owner who, unusually for a pirate captain, purchased his own ship, the Revenge, and turned to piracy in 1717 with no prior maritime…

Sugule Ali acted as the spokesperson for the Somali pirate group that hijacked the Ukrainian-flagged cargo ship MV Faina, loaded with tanks and military equipment, off the Somali coast in…

Teuta, regent of the Illyrian Ardiaei kingdom, defended piracy as Illyrian custom and drew Rome into its first war across the Adriatic.

Thomas Anstis served under Bartholomew Roberts before breaking away to command his own pirate crew aboard the Good Fortune, raiding shipping in the Caribbean. Facing dwindling options as anti-piracy patrols…

Thomas Cavendish was an English privateer and the third person to complete a global circumnavigation (1586-1588), during which he raided Spanish shipping and settlements in the Pacific, including capturing the…

Thomas Tew was an English pirate credited with pioneering the ‘Pirate Round,’ a sailing route from the American colonies to the Indian Ocean to raid richly laden ships. His enormously…

Uluç Ali Reis was an Italian-born corsair captured and converted to Islam who rose to become Ottoman Beylerbey of Algiers and eventually Kapudan Pasha (Grand Admiral) of the Ottoman fleet.…

Walter Kennedy was an English pirate who served under Howell Davis and Bartholomew Roberts before absconding with a captured ship and its plunder. Largely illiterate and reportedly a poor navigator,…

Wang Zhi was a Chinese merchant-pirate who built a vast smuggling and piracy network along the southeastern China coast and in Japan during the Ming dynasty’s maritime trade ban, at…

William Dampier was an English buccaneer, explorer, and naturalist who circumnavigated the globe three times and was the first Englishman to explore parts of Australia. He sailed with buccaneer crews…

William Fly led a brief and violent mutiny aboard the slave ship Elizabeth in 1726, killing the captain and renaming the vessel Fame’s Revenge to pursue piracy. His piracy career…

William Kidd was a Scottish sailor originally commissioned as a privateer to hunt pirates and enemy French shipping in the Indian Ocean. His capture of the Quedagh Merchant in 1698…

Woodes Rogers was an English privateer captain who commanded a circumnavigation voyage (1708-1711) during which he rescued the marooned sailor Alexander Selkirk, the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe. He later became…

Xu Hai was a former Buddhist monk who became a leading commander among the wokou pirates raiding China’s southeastern coast during the mid-Ming dynasty, operating from bases in Japan’s Satsuma…

Zheng Yi was a Chinese pirate leader descended from a family with a piracy tradition, who unified various pirate fleets off the south China coast into a powerful confederation known…

Zheng Yi Sao, known as Ching Shih, was a Chinese pirate leader who took command of a massive pirate confederation, the Red Flag Fleet, following the death of her husband…

Zheng Zhilong was a Chinese merchant and pirate who built a powerful trading and piracy fleet based in Fujian and Taiwan, later gaining an official Ming naval commission to combat…

Zymen Danseker was a Dutch corsair among the early European renegades who joined the Barbary corsairs operating from Algiers and Tunis in the early 17th century, credited by some accounts…