Benjamin Hornigold

He who increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow. This article contains spoilers, meaning it has information and facts concerning recent or upcoming releases from the Assassin's Creed series. If you do not want to know about these events, it is recommended to read on with caution, or not at all. This template should be removed from the article three months after release.

This article is a stub. You can help Assassin's Creed Wiki by expanding it.

Benjamin Hornigold (1680s – 1719) was an English pirate from 1715 to 1718, and a member of the Templar Order. He was most famous for mentoring Edward Thatch and for being one of the founders of the Pirate Republic at Nassau.

Biography

Early life

Although his early life is largely unrecorded, it is known that Hornigold was born in England in the 1680s, and at some point made his way across the ocean to the West Indies as a privateer. His first known act of piracy was in the winter of 1713-1714, when he used several small canoes and a sloop to raid ships and settlements in the Bahamas, eventually capturing a thirty-gun schooner that he named the Ranger. This ship would eventually be given to his fellow pirate Charles Vane. 

During Hornigold's first years as a pirate, his second-in-command was 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 British ships, leading some to believe that he was actually a privateer instead of a pirate. Sometime during this period he met Edward Kenway.

Leader of the Pirate Republic

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. 

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. While Thatch wished to steal the medicines from British warships, Hornigold claimed Nassau was no longer worth fighting for, and that accepting the pardon was the only way to survive in a changing world. Kenway proposed a third solution: search for medicines in old wrecks without attracting British attention. 

Meeting with Woodes Rogers and Commodore Chamberlaine

Although Kenway and Thatch were eventually able to recover medicines for the colony, 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.

Joining the Templars

In 1718, Hornigold became a member of the Templar Order. He later met with Templar Grand Master Laureano de Torres y Ayala in Kingston, telling him that Burgess and Cockram were close to locating the Sage Bartholomew Roberts in Principe. He was eavesdropped on by Kenway, but managed to escape.

Hornigold later followed Kenway and Roberts to the Yucatan Peninsula, but was detected by the pirates and sailed into a rocky, fog-covered formation known as "the Devil's Backbone". Lost in the fog, the Ranger ran aground on the deserted island of Santanillas. Hornigold climbed to the top of an abandoned Mayan temple on the island, but Kenway was able to scale the building and air assassinate his former friend. 

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 if he kept his present course.

Final words

• Hornigold: You could have been a man who stood for something. But you've a killer's heart now. With nothing but mettle to show for all your blunders.
• Edward: A damn sight better than you have, Ben. The heart of a traitor, who thinks himself better than his mates!
• Hornigold: Aye, and proven true! What have you done since Nassau fell? Nothing but murder and mayhem!
• Edward: You threw in with the very kind we once hated!
• Hornigold: No! 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.

Trivia

• Hornigold is one of the pirates featured in the forthcoming Abstergo Entertainment movie Devils of the Caribbean.

Gallery

• 
  Concept art of Hornigold
• Hornigold as he appears in the "Devils of the Caribbean" trailer
  Hornigold as he appears in the "Devils of the Caribbean" trailer
• Hornigold, Kenway, and Calico Jack Rackam at Salt Key
  Hornigold, Kenway, and Calico Jack Rackam at Salt Key
• 
  Thatch, Kenway, and Hornigold on a Nassau beach
• 
  Hornigold with Thatch and Kenway
• 
  Hornigold among other pirates
• 
  Hornigold and Kenway capturing a Spanish ship
• 
  Hornigold, Kenway and Thatch in Salt Key
• 
  Hornigold aboard the Benjamin
• 
  Hornigold arguing with Charles Vane

Reference

• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag