Some pirates entered the pirate game at the hands of other pirates. Others participated in a mutiny and ascended to the pirate captaincy by revealing some prowess in leadership, or exceptional navigational skill.
Stede Bonnet came to piracy in a very different way. Already well-established as a plantation owner in Barbados, Bonnet inexplicably decided one day to abandon his land, wife and family, buy a ship, recruit a crew and set to sea as a pirate.
The story of Stede Bonnet and his relationship with Edward “Blackbeard” Thatch is played for comedic effect in the television show ‘Our Flag Means Death’. In the show, Stede was raised by a cruel and detached father and trapped in a loveless marriage with a woman who did not like him. He maintained a long-held fantasy of pursuing what he thought was the adventurous world of piracy until one day he decided to do just that.
The explanation in Our Flag Means Death may be true, partly true, or completely fabricated. For the record, the show is surprisingly historically accurate. The reality is that nobody really knows why Stede Bonnet decided to become a pirate.
What is known is:
he was not particularly good at piracy;
he bought a ship already called Revenge and unusually, paid his crew a wage. This was a good idea because, well, see point one;
He was educated and bookish; and
He did sail with Blackbeard, although the power dynamic of their relationship was very open to interpretation/exploitation by both parties.
In 1717, Stede Bonnet in his ship Revenge appeared off the South Carolina coast and captured two ships. When the pardons from King George were announced in September, Thatch and Bonnet decided to acquire one. But both quickly returned to their piratical ways.
Governor Robert Johnson
The man tasked with hunting down Bonnet, Robert Johnson, was born in England, the eldest son of Nathaniel Johnson, a politician. The elder Johnson became governor in South Carolina but his religious leanings caused him to clash with local colonial leaders.
The unsettled nature of the colony and the dissatisfaction of the colonists only escalated when Robert Johnson arrived to take over from his father. Responsible for bringing the colony back under firmer British control, Johnson decided to deal with the common enemy of both the British and the colonists: the region’s pirates.
Meanwhile, Bonnet and Blackbeard’s alliance had imploded. Blackbeard plundered Revenge and the other two vessels of supplies and marooned Bonnet’s crew. He disappeared and the two never met again.
In frustration, Bonnet decided to defy his pardon and blockade Charles Town, enraging Governor Robert Johnson. So Johnson raised funds to send two ships out after Bonnet under the command of Colonel William Rhett. After a prolonged fight, Rhett captured Bonnet and his remaining men. Johnson is also credited with sending Captain John Cole to successfully capture the pirate Richard Worley.
Bonnet’s trial
Stede Bonnet, with his educated and cultured ways, elicited some public sympathy at his trial, especially from local women. In his own defense, Bonnet portrayed himself as coerced into piracy and exploited by Blackbeard. He attracted little sympathy from the overbearing judge, Nicholas Trott but his increasingly unhinged pleas for clemency elicited pity from the public. Despite Bonnet’s efforts to save himself, Trott convicted Bonnet. His execution took place on 10 December 1718.
A year later, Johnson was dismissed from office after South Carolina revolutionaries took control. He retired to his plantation. Then in 1721, Johnson, William Rhett and Nicholas Trott led an armed coup against the revolutionaries. This failed. Johnson returned to England and continued to be involved in South Carolina affairs from afar.
Once British control was restored, he returned as Governor in 1730. This time, he proved far more successful, encouraging diverse immigration under his township settlement plan.
Robert Johnson died in office in 1735, survived by his six children by wife Margaret.