Benjamin Hornigold
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Captain Benjamin Hornigold (d. 1719?) was an English pirate for only a short time, between 1716 and 1717. However, his ship was the starting point for several better known pirates. Like many pirates, he had probably served previously on an English privateer during the War of Spanish Succession.
Captain Hornigold left New Providence Island in the Bahamas with Edward Teach (later known as Blackbeard) among his crew. He captured a sloop, which he placed under Teach's command. Together, they plundered six ships in 1717 off the American coast and raided in the Caribbean. By the year's end they had seized a French ship laden with gold, jewels, and other booty, after which they parted company.
Captain Hornigold was known for being less vicious than most other pirates. One of his victims recounts how his vessel was pursued by Hornigold's. Eventually the victim struck her colours and the pirates boarded. Hornigold then, somewhat apologetically, asked the captured crewmen for their hats. This was because the pirates had got drunk the night before and thrown their own hats overboard. Having taken the hats, Hornigold left the vessel in peace.
Teach went to America and Captain Hornigold to New Providence. When Woodes Rogers was appointed governor of the Bahamas, Captain Hornigold asked for and received a pardon. Rogers thought highly of Hornigold and commissioned him to hunt pirates. Hornigold pursued Stede Bonnet and Charles Vane, among others. Circa 1719, Hornigold was sent to Mexico on a trading voyage. Hornigold's ship struck a reef far from land, and the entire crew was presumed lost.
