The many inlets and sheltering coves of the Carolina coasts very early
made the "low country" seaboard a rendezvous for pirates and a shelter
to refit, and to bury their treasure.
As early as 1565 the French from Ribault's settlement succumbed to the
temptation to plunder their rich Spanish neighbors; and in the century
before the coming of the English, the lonely bays and estuaries saw
strange ships from time to time. There was a pirate settlement by 1664
at Cape Fear River, where Governor Sayle did not arrive until 1670 to
take formal possession for the Lords Proprietors of the colony.
The Peace of Utrecht turned many privateers into pirates, ships which
had been habitually preying upon Spanish commerce since Blake's victory
at Santa Cruz in 1657, and these gentlemen of fortune were at first
welcome in the Carolinas. Nearly all the coin in circulation then was at
first brought by such doubtful adventurers, and they were regarded as
the natural protectors of the Carolinas against their powerful enemy,
the Spaniard, to the south.
Gradually, however, this cordial attitude changed. It was a small step
from attacking Spanish to plundering English commerce, and with the
cultivation and export of rice and indigo, the demand for a safe sea
passage grew overwhelming, while the coasts continued to be ravaged. The
royal government was slow to act. In 1684 we learn that "the governor
will not in all probability always reside in Charles Town, which is so
near the sea as to be in danger of sudden attack by pirates;" nor was
this an idle thought, for the town was blockaded by pirate ships at the
harbor's mouth, and medicines and supplies demanded while citizens were
held as hostages.
In 1718 Governor Spotswood of Virginia sent an expedition to North
Carolina, which succeeded in surprising, capturing, and beheading the
notorious "Black Beard," who in company with one Stede Bonnet, had long
ravaged the coast with impunity.
In August of the same year word was brought to Charlestown that Bonnet
with his ship the _Royal James_ was refitting in the Cape Fear River.
Colonel William Rhett volunteered to attack him. With two sloops of
eight guns each, the _Henry_ and the _Nymph_, and about 130 men in all,
he set sail, and found Bonnet at anchor in the Cape Fear River. In
making the attack, and during the encounter, all three ships ran
aground. The fight raged desperately all day between the _Henry_ and the
_Royal James_, the _Nymph_ being unable to get off the shoal and come to
the help of her companion ship. Bonnet finally surrendered and was taken
prisoner to Charlestown. It is this adventure which the poem celebrates.
Bonnet escaped, but was afterwards recaptured by Colonel Rhett on
Sullivan's Island. He and about thirty of his crew were hanged about the
corner of Meeting and Water Streets. Bonnet, himself, was hanged later
than his crew, after a masterpiece of invective by the judge, who
painted hell vividly. This pirate leader was dragged fainting to the
gallows, and there was much sympathy for him, as it was said, "His humor
of going a-pirating proceeded from a disorder of the mind ... occasioned
by some discomforts he found in the married state."