Benjamin Hornigold

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"We had here a rare opportunity; a chance to take something base and shape it into a government, made and maintained by men of vision. But in two years we pissed it away... I won't make that mistake again."

―Benjamin Hornigold to Charles Vane, on Nassau's failure, 1718.

Benjamin Hornigold (1680s – 1719) was an English privateer, pirate, and member of the Caribbean Templars in the early 18th century. He was most famous for mentoring Edward Thatch and Edward Kenway, and for co-founding the Republic of Pirates in Nassau.

By 1718, Hornigold became dissatisfied with the state of Nassau, viewing it as a lost cause, and secretly joined the Templars to restore order to the region. He became a pirate hunter, pursuing many of his former brethren, and sought to help the Templars locate the Observatory by capturing the Sage Bartholomew Roberts. However, his ambitions were cut short during a fateful encounter with his former protégé Edward Kenway, who killed Hornigold on the Swan Islands in 1719.

Biography

Early life

Hornigold was born in England in the 1680s, and at some point made his way across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean as a privateer. His first known act of piracy was in the winter of 1713 or 1714, when he used several small canoes and a sloop to raid ships and settlements in the Bahamas, eventually capturing a thirty-gun brig that he named the Ranger, which he would give to his fellow pirate Charles Vane.

During Hornigold's first years as a pirate, his second-in-command was the former privateer Edward Thatch. Soon, their fleet expanded to five warships, led by the flagship Benjamin, pirating everywhere from Nassau to the Honduran coast. However, Hornigold was known not to attack Royal Navy ships, leading some to believe that he was actually a privateer instead of a pirate. Some time during this period, he met Edward Kenway, whom Thatch had recruited in turn while still a privateer.

Leader of the Pirate Republic

"Jaysus, let that dream go, lad. Nassau is the place to be, not England."

―Hornigold convincing Edward to remain in Nassau, 1715.

Eventually, Hornigold helped establish a Pirate Republic called "the Brethren of the Coast" in Nassau, sharing the responsibilities of leadership with Thatch, Vane, and James Kidd. When Kenway made his way to Nassau in 1715, Hornigold taught him how to successfully plunder ships, upgrade the Jackdaw, and lower his notoriety. Hornigold also tried to persuade Edward to give up on his estranged wife, Caroline Scott, and settle in Nassau.

In July 1716, Hornigold was deposed as the captain of his ship and the Assassin Samuel Bellamy took his position as pirate leader. The young pirate Alonzo Batilla, seeking to gain favor with Bellamy, then arrived and volunteered to take Hornigold away, marooning him on an island. There, Hornigold told Batilla about Nassau and insisted that he visit the place.

Hornigold aboard the Benjamin

Over the next three years, word reached Nassau that a pardon was being offered by Governor Woodes Rogers to any pirate who would accept it. Hornigold kept the pardon in mind as Nassau was ravaged by disease without an available cure.

In December 1717, Hornigold sailed to Mayaguana for a meeting regarding the whereabouts of the French pirate Olivier Levasseur, who held an artifact called the Fragment of Eden. On his way, he unexpectedly met Alonzo Batilla again. Thinking Alonzo would interfere, Hornigold lured him to a narrow coastline with an artillery battery and had them open fire. While Alonzo fought to survive, Hornigold left to meet the English pirate Christopher Condent and the merchant John Barnes, whom they had assigned to track Levasseur. When Barnes had no useful information, Condent fatally shot him for his failure. Just then, a battered but alive Alonzo interrupted them by firing his guns at the Benjamin. Unwilling to waste time in battle, Hornigold retreated.

Returning to Nassau, Hornigold suggested that the pirates temporarily halt their activities until the British no longer deemed them a threat. This resulted in an argument between himself and Thatch, who wished to steal medicine from British warships, until Kenway proposed searching for medicines in old shipwrecks without attracting British attention.

While Hornigold and Thatch were both initially satisfied with this approach, it was soon revealed that medicines found in the shipwrecks were in unusable condition. Frustrated by their lack of success, Thatch used the Queen Anne's Revenge to assault a British Man O' War, which left Hornigold's ship damaged. While his crew repaired the ship, Hornigold met with Kenway and informed him of Thatch's decision. Before Kenway sailed off to look for Thatch, Hornigold told him to leave Thatch be, saying the man should take responsibility for his actions.

Although Kenway and Thatch were eventually able to recover medicines for the colony after laying siege to Charlestown, South Carolina, the British arrived months later and blockaded Nassau. After meeting with Woodes Rogers and Commodore Peter Chamberlaine to discuss the King's pardon, Hornigold, Josiah Burgess, and John Cockram accepted the offer and became pirate hunters for the British, tasked with bringing their former allies to justice. This led to many pirates, Kenway included, deeming them traitors and cursing their very names.

Joining the Templars

Edward: "A pox on you, traitor! You sold us down river!"

Hornigold: "Because I found a better path! The Templars know order. Discipline. Structure. But you never could fathom these subtleties."

—Hornigold to Edward Kenway, defending the Templar cause, 1719.

As a newly appointed pirate hunter, Hornigold became more notorious than he had ever been before, capturing several pirates who refused to take the pardon. Under Roger's command, Hornigold grew to respect his superior, and soon was an initiated Templar along with Burgess and Cockram.

Torres, Hornigold and Rogers in Kingston

In May 1719, Hornigold and Rogers met in Kingston. Hornigold questioned the purpose of collecting blood samples and Roger's tactics when dealing with pirates in Madagascar. Upon hearing that the blood would be used for the purposes of spying, Hornigold expressed some concern, as he had given a sample of his blood as well. However, Rogers assured Hornigold that his sample would not be used in this manner; rather, it would act as a display of trust.

They later met with Grand Master Laureano de Torres y Ayala, telling him that Burgess and Cockram were close to locating the Sage Bartholomew Roberts in Príncipe. In the midst of their conversation, Hornigold spotted the Jackdaw anchored in the harbor, and realized that Kenway was spying on them.

Forced out of hiding, Kenway admonished Hornigold for his betrayal; Hornigold defended himself by claiming that the Templars' actions were just, and that Kenway could never understand their cause. He then made his escape with the other Templars, leaving Kenway to deal with his men.

Death

"Some mighty piss-poor sailing back there, lads! And if we live out this day, by God, I'm flaying every last bitch of you! Steady up! And keep your backs together, lads! This fight ain't over!"

―Benjamin Hornigold, making his last stand, 1719.

The Benjamin running aground

Hornigold later followed Kenway and Roberts to the Yucatán Peninsula, but was detected by the pirates and sailed into a rocky, fog-covered formation known as "the Devil's Backbone". Kenway's Jackdaw avoided the British ships looking for him and traded blows with the Benjamin, forcing the schooner to retreat.

Lost in the fog and badly damaged, the Benjamin ran aground on the deserted island of Santanillas. Hornigold climbed to the top of an abandoned Maya temple on the island, creating a makeshift perimeter with his soldiers, but Kenway was able to scale the building and assassinate his former friend.

Collapsing, Hornigold berated Kenway for how far he had fallen, disregarding the man's retort that Hornigold was no better than he was. With his dying words, Hornigold expressed regret that Kenway was too enamored with glory and bloodshed to see the wisdom of the Templars, and told Kenway that he would die alone and disgraced if he kept his present course.

Legacy

Hornigold: "These Templars are different. I wish you could see that. But if you continue on your present course, you'll find you're the only one walking it! With the gallows at its end."

Edward: "It may be. But now the world has one less snake in it. And that's enough for me."

—Hornigold and Edward during the former's final moments, 1719.

Hornigold among Edward's fallen comrades

Despite Hornigold's betrayal of the pirate way, Edward still felt remorse for killing him and, when fondly recalling old friends prior to his return to England in 1722, Hornigold appeared amongst them.

In 1725, while inside a simulation of his past created by the Forgotten Temple, Edward was confronted by apparitions of several of his fallen comrades, including Hornigold. Edward's old companions were all recreated as mindless ghouls to torment him, but despite his disgust and anger, the Assassin prevailed and vanquished the apparitions.

In 2023, when Edward's descendant Noa Kim came into contact with a crescent-shaped Piece of Eden in the SS Ourang Medan's shipwreck, the artifact's powers, combined with the Bleeding Effect, caused Noa to experience several hallucinations of Edward's memories. One of these visions depicted Hornigold alongside Edward's other friends, including Charles Vane, Mary Read, and Edward Thatch.

Personality and traits

Edward: "Remember the pardon, Thatch. We're to be subtle."

Thatch: "Says Hornigold! A pirate now too proud to call himself one!"

Edward: "Ah, he prefers caution to cannons."

—Kenway and Thatch, regarding Hornigold's approach to the King's Pardon, 1718.

Though Hornigold's early ambitions did not include piracy, he was forced to take up the life due to privateers being rendered unnecessary after the War of Spanish Succession. A patriotic man, Hornigold chose not to attack any British ships, likely out of lingering loyalty toward his home country, though this unusual rule rankled his peers like Thatch, Levasseur, and Bellamy, amongst others. Hornigold had a military bearing, valuing order and behaving more like a British soldier than a pirate.

In spite of these factors, he was respected by his crew and peers and took to the pirate life enthusiastically, helping found the Pirate Republic in Nassau. For this, he had strong faith that the community would grow and thrive. However, after Nassau succumbed to disease, poor governance, and economic difficulties, Hornigold became disillusioned with the cause.

Hornigold and Edward capturing a Spanish ship

Hornigold stood out from his compatriots in his strong idealism. He had extremely high hopes for Nassau, believing the settlement provided a rare chance to put their societal ideals to practice and create a civilization without the corruption and bigotry of the old empires. Even from the beginning, Hornigold's idea of freedom was different to that of Kenway's, with Kenway only considering freedom to be a license to live without rules and rebel against authority, whereas Hornigold possessed far more lofty ideas of civilization.

It was this idealism that ultimately swayed him to join the Templars, to build a civilization and realize his ideals instead of living aimlessly as he thought was the case with Nassau's inhabitants. Hornigold was deeply embittered by how much Nassau had degraded and deviated from his dream and willingly joined the Templars out of disgust for that failure and the life of piracy in general. Hornigold was also a good friend to his compatriots, tutoring Kenway in the ways of captaincy, and even warning him of the dangerous path he was taking.

Behind the scenes

Historically, Hornigold died when his ship was was caught in a hurricane between New Providence and Mexico and struck an uncharted reef, the location of which remains unknown.

Gallery

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  Concept art of Hornigold
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  Assassin's Creed: Memories art of Hornigold
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  Memories art of Hornigold in battle
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  Hornigold as he appears in Assassin's Creed: Pirates
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  The sketch of Hornigold in Thatch's journal
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  Hornigold among other pirates
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  Hornigold with Thatch and Kenway
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  Thatch, Edward, and Hornigold at Nassau's beach
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  Vane telling Hornigold and Thatch about the King's pardon
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  Hornigold, Kenway and Thatch in Salt Key
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  Hornigold arguing with Charles Vane
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  Edward confronting Hornigold
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  Hornigold's final moments
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  Noa Kim seeing an apparition of Hornigold alongside Edward's other friends

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Black Flag
• Assassin's Creed: Initiates (mentioned in Database entry only)
• Assassin's Creed: Pirates
  • Quest for Eden (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag: Blackbeard – The Lost Journal
• Assassin's Creed: Memories
• Assassin's Creed: Rebellion (mentioned in Database entry only)
• Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple (apparition only)
• Echoes of History – Behind the Legends (mentioned only)
• Echoes of History – Black Flag Resynced (mentioned only)
• Animus Hub (mentioned in Database entry only)