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Echoes of History

Gangsters of the Sea

123

The Pioneer of the East: Thomas Tew

• Michelle Rodrigues: It's February, 1692, somewhere off the coast of the Bermuda Islands, adrift in the Atlantic. The Amity, a small 70-ton privateer sloop with eight guns, has just been ravaged by a storm. Its 40-odd sailors are still dazed and reeling.On the deck, Thomas Tew, the captain. He's had enough of their complaining. What is wrong with these sailors who can barely stand up?
  
  He steps forward and climbs onto a keg to address his men. He announces the plan that has been hatching for some time. Tew wants to abandon their official mission and become a true pirate.
  
  The governor of Bermuda sent them to the coast of Gambia, but Tew has other, greater ambitions beyond the Cape of Good Hope and the sprawling islands of Madagascar, onwards to unfamiliar seas, where almost no other Western pirate has sailed before. Rumor has it that unimaginable riches pass through these waters. Chests of gold and silver are ripe for the taking.
  
  Captain Tew's speech has the desired effect. The men gradually rise to their feet, their strength and ambitions restored. And when the captain lifts his cutlass to the skies and asks if they will follow his lead, they cry out in unison.
  
  With a gold chain or a wooden leg, we will follow you. It is at this point that Thomas Tew raises the Jolly Roger pirate flag for the very first time. A single arm brandishing a cutlass against a jet black background.
  
  To celebrate the release of the new Skull and Bones video game, discover the stories of some of the most infamous pirates of the Indian Ocean. The cruel, bloodthirsty privateers, buccaneers and sailors turned criminals terrorized and pillaged the seas. Pirates were not born, they were made.
  
  I'm Michelle Rodriguez, and you're listening to Gangsters of the Seas.
  
  We know very little about Thomas Tew's early years. Just that he was born around 1649, possibly in England or the American colonies around Newport perhaps, or in Rhode Island. In any case, this is where we find the first evidence of him.
  
  He was a merchant ship captain, a husband, and a father of two young daughters. But as the 1690s dawned and war raged between France and other countries in the Old World, Thomas Tew swapped his trading vessel for a warship, becoming a privateer with the mission of chasing French fleets out of the Atlantic. His home port was Bermuda, a small archipelago in the middle of the ocean between Europe and the New World.
  
  It was here that the sailor began playing fast and loose with the law, attacking ships he wasn't meant to approach. Some were already beginning to label him as a pirate. And justifiably so, as in the pubs and taverns of the archipelago, Thomas Tew would keep company with some of the most, let's just call him, untrustworthy thugs, including his friend, a certain Richard Want.
  
  There's no doubt that Want was a pirate, a cruel and bloodthirsty hulk of a man, who was as quick to draw his cutlass as his whiskey flask. The two men listened attentively to others' conversations and were hearing more and more about the seas to the east and the Indian Ocean. If the rumors were to be believed, the shipping routes to the east of the African continent could be the new pirate El Dorado.
  
  There, unlike the Atlantic or the Caribbean, there was practically zero risk of stumbling upon menacing French and Spanish warships. All that was to be found were occasional East India Company ships keeping watch. The trading posts were almost defenseless.
  
  The most important of all, the treasures that could be found there made anything they'd known previously look like pin money.
  
  The Mughal Empire that ruled most of India was incredibly wealthy, its territories stretching from Pakistan in the west to Bangladesh in the east. It was in conflict with the Maratha Confederacy, a warrior group of Hindu peasants on India's Malabar coast. The Mughals were one of the world's richest powers, their reach extending into Europe via Cape of Good Hope and to the Ottoman Empire via the Red Sea.
  
  As well as precious metals and gemstones, the Mughals' ships were laden with spices, ivory and luxury fabrics that all sold like hotcakes for a pretty penny. Enthralled by the promise of these exotic oceans, the two men, Tew and Want, resolved to take off on an adventure. But Thomas Tew was prudent.
  
  Before setting sail, he managed to acquire a letter of mark from the governor of Bermuda. An official document that gave him cart lunch to roam freely without English authorities on his back.
  
  The captain borrowed money from several of the archipelago's notables to buy and arm a ship. The Amity was a 70-ton war sloop equipped with four starboard-side guns and four port-side guns. Two and his ship's mate, Richard Watt, recruited 40 sailors, all believing they were headed to Gambia, where the Amity and another ship were meant to attack and pillage French-controlled Goray in Senegal.
  
  At least those were the terms of the letter of mark that Tew had obtained. But our captain had other plans.
  
  The ship set sail early 1692. It was then that the violent storm struck the Amity, and Thomas Tew convinced his men to abandon the governor's orders and sail to the Indian Ocean. The crew didn't need much persuading.
  
  The sailors on privateer ships were poorly paid, and the promise of a treasure was enticing. The pirates celebrated the change of plan by drinking rum through the night.
  
  At dawn, the ocean now still in calm. The Amity set course for South Africa. A few months later, Captain Thomas Tew steered them around the Cape of Good Hope and headed northwards.
  
  In the early summer of 1692, he entered the Mozambique Channel. To his left was the eastern coast of Africa. To his right, the vast island of Madagascar.
  
  He had reached his destination.
  
  Tew had heard talk of an Adam Baldridge, an Englishman like himself. This sea dog had arrived two years earlier and was said to have set up a pirate hideout in the small island of Saint Marie to the northeast of Madagascar. Highwaymen of the waves could find everything their hearts desired there.
  
  Not just provisions, but pleasures too. It made the ideal pit stop before pushing northwards.
  
  In St. Marie, Tew replenished his stores and recruited an extra dozen or so sailors. At the pirate hideout, the captain took counsel from a rare few seasoned sailors of these eastern seas, who warned him to avoid certain places and to keep out of the way of the East India Company's powerful ships. He also picked up a few helpful leads, learning how to identify the most lucrative targets by the shapes of their sails and hauls.
  
  Recognizing them was easy. Array's stern was typical of the ganjas, merchant vessels that sailed in their dozens along the shipping routes towards the Ottoman Empire. These ships were laden with riches, but the power of their guns and the valor of their crews were not to be underestimated.
  
  The little pirate ship weighed anchor and left Madagascar, heading north.
  
  They sailed along the coast and rounded the Horn of Africa, taking Thomas Tew and his crew into the waters of the Red Sea. The men decided to set their sights on Param Island off the coast of Yemen. It was a perfect place to hide and ambush the ships as they entered and left the Red Sea.
  
  And it didn't take long for Thomas Tew to snare his first prey. After just a few days, one of the Amity's lookouts saw in his spyglass one of those raised hulls they'd been told about in St. Marie. The captain sprang into action.
  
  The anchor was raised, the mainsail hoisted, and the pirate ship raced towards its target.
  
  As they approached the ship, Two ordered the black flag to be raised. He positioned his men at the guns and ordered them to fire warning shots. But the enemy ship didn't retaliate or submit.
  
  The Amity drew nearer. When the two vessels were side by side, Thomas Tew launched the attack.
  
  Dozens of grapple hooks were flung onto the deck and pirates hoisted themselves onto the ship. Hurling threats and insults. Primed for a fight, they brandished their cutlasses and aimed their muskets at the enemy's side.
  
  The pirates may have gone in a little strong. They had been warned of formidable crews, but instead they discovered a bunch of terrified sailors. Only a handful fought back, and a couple of minutes was all it took to slaughter them.
  
  Their heads cut off, or their bodies blasted overboard by the impact of gunfire. Having witnessed the carnage, the others all surrendered without a fight.
  
  Thomas Tew was now the first Western pirate to have taken a ship in the Red Sea without losing a single one of his men. Quite a feat. This first victory exceeded the Amity crew's wildest dreams.
  
  The loot was unimaginable. Dozens of chests brimming with gold ingots and coins, coffers overflowing with silver and ivory, and dozens and dozens of pounds of rare, valuable spices, not to mention all the precious gemstones and rolls of silk. In total, 250,000 pounds of loot, equivalent to $520 million in today's money.
  
  Intoxicated by this extraordinary haul, Captain Tew planned more attacks. He told his men that he wanted to pursue the convoy that the captured ship had been following. They could catch up with it, and if their holds were as full as the one they had just taken, the booty would be nothing short of legendary.
  
  But astonishingly, the crew refused to go. And the ship's mate, Richard Watt, talked the captain out of his plan, saying that they had already seized enough and that they shouldn't take risk of losing it. So the Amity set sail south, the Mughal ganja following in its wake.
  
  The ships dropped anchor at St. Marie. The pirate hideout in Madagascar. It was time to count the spoils and pay his men.
  
  Thanks to their epic haul, each pirate received 1,200 pounds, more than the average sailor could hope to make in several lifetimes of labor. Today, that would be around $250,000 per head. Not forgetting the captain, who pays himself 8,000 pounds, which would be the equivalent of $1.7 million in today's money.
  
  Tew might have been a pirate, but he was not entirely disloyal, setting aside 45,000 pounds to pay his creditors in Bermuda. After a few weeks of indulgence in St. Marie's taverns, Thomas Tew headed home to America's English colonies. The Amity docked in Newport, Rhode Island in early 1694.
  
  Now he was a wealthy man. Thomas Tew intended to live life to the fullest. He moved to New York with his wife and two daughters, where he knew he'd be safe.
  
  Local governor, Benjamin Fletcher, was known to turn a blind eye to the acts of pirates and ocean bandits, even welcoming them with open arms.
  
  Thomas Tew led an extravagant life. He spent his days with the upper echelons of society and attended lavish parties in the evenings. His daughters dazzled everyone with their fine jewelry and clothes, each outfit more luxurious than the last.
  
  The pirate captain shared his tales of his Red Sea exploits with anyone who would listen. He recounted how easy it had been to take the enemy ship and spoke of the incredible treasure seized from the Mughal ganja. His stories spread like wildfire through North America's underworld.
  
  Many of them were bored with the Caribbean and the Atlantic and decided to take adventure into the Indian Ocean. Thomas Tew's tale became legendary. He had paved the way for a route that would come to be known as the Pirate Round.
  
  Swept up in the euphoria, Tew's men announced that they too wanted to return to the sea and undertake one last campaign. It didn't take the captain long to agree. The lore of the treasure was insatiable.
  
  Thomas Tew assembled another crew. By this stage, his former right-hand man, Richard Want, was captain of his own ship and had already set off to the east. So Captain Tew hired another seasoned sea dog by the name of John Ireland.
  
  But before they set sail once again, Thomas Tew needed to make sure that the English wouldn't cause him any problems. He bribed Governor Fletcher with 300 pounds for a letter of mark. Officially, he was being sent to chase off French ships.
  
  He weighed anchor and set off for the Indian Ocean in November 1694.
  
  After stopping for supplies and to pick up extra crew in Madagascar, the Amity headed for the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. But just as he entered the Red Sea, the captain realized he was not alone. Through his spyglass, he could see five other pirate ships docked behind Param Island at the very spot where he had hidden two years earlier.
  
  Richard Watt was there, among others. Aboard his formidable 46-gun frigate was Henry Avery with a 150-strong crew. The sailor had a solid reputation and appeared to be leading this fleet of pirate ships.
  
  With his little sloop, two didn't stand a chance against them. He had no choice but to join the little armada. It was no coincidence that they were here.
  
  They had all heard of the Amitys exploits two years earlier. So he now found himself forced to share the waves with a host of ferocious pirates. Just a few weeks earlier, a Dutch captain had made a name for himself by cutting off the lips of one of his captives and roasting him on the deck and then eating him.
  
  European pirates were now feared and the ships of the East were better prepared as a result. On September 8th, 1695, the pirate fleet spied a Mughal convoy attempting to cross the sea in the distance. From his deck, Henry Every gave the signal and Thomas Tew ordered his men to sail toward the first ship.
  
  The pirate vessels encircled a large warship named the Fateh Muhammad, loading their cannons and lighting their fuses. Cannonballs and flames rained down on the Indian ship as it fought tooth and nail against the onslaught. By some miracle, it hit its target, striking the amity with a cannonball and causing considerable damage.
  
  A second cannon was fired, headed straight for the command post where Thomas Tew was standing. The captain had no time to react. The cannonball tore into his body, killing him instantly.
  
  Devastated, his men laid down their arms, and with the help of the other pirate ships, the crew was saved. They traveled to Madagascar to find a new ship before heading back to America, minus their captain, whose body doubtless lay at the bottom of the sea. In his brief career, Thomas Tew led just two pirate campaigns, but he went down in history as the man who opened a new pirate route and inspired a host of new sea bandits.
  
  He was a pioneer of the Eastern seas and his life story has become legendary. He left a legacy even greater than the treasure he captured.
  
  I'm Michelle Rodriguez and this has been an Ubisoft podcast produced by Paradiso Media. Thanks for listening.

The King of Pirates: Henry Every

• Michelle Rodriguez: On the morning of May 7th, 1694, Henry Every, an experienced navigator and first mate to Captain Gibson, sat at a table with several sailors aboard the ship Charles II. They were moored in the Spanish harbor of Coruna, on the coast of Galicia. The Charles II was part of a small fleet of English ships that had been hired out to the Spanish for a mission against the French in the Caribbean.
  
  The men had been waiting for weeks for an official document from Madrid that would allow them to raise anchor. But despite promises made when they left London, they hadn't been paid for several months. A few days earlier, squadron leader Admiral Obern had once again refused to pay his sailors, probably fearing they would desert as soon as they were paid.
  
  But for Henry Every and 20 other seamen, the situation had gone on long enough. They decided to mutiny. Every had spent the past few days going from boat to boat, quietly trying to put together a plan.
  
  That day, the Admiral was ashore, and Captain Gibson, who commanded the Charles II, was asleep in his cabin, drunk. In the late afternoon, Every and the men he had convinced to join him took the helm of the ship. After giving the signal, they cast off and left the Spanish coast behind.
  
  The guards on land had no time to react. All they could do was watch the sails as they disappeared over the horizon.
  
  After sailing for a few hours, Every went to Captain Gibson's cabin. He gave him two choices. Join him and the other brave men seeking their fortune, or take a little rowboat back to dry land.
  
  The captain chose to flee, along with a few other sailors. After a vote on the main deck, Henry Every was elected captain. His charisma had convinced the rest of the crew to put him in command.
  
  At 40 years old, the seafarer embraced the life of a pirate.
  
  To celebrate the release of the new Skull and Bones video game, discover the stories of some of the most infamous pirates of the Indian Ocean. The cruel, bloodthirsty privateers, buccaneers and sailors turned criminals terrorized and pillaged the seas. Pirates were not born, they were made.
  
  I'm Michelle Rodriguez, and you're listening to Gangsters of the Seas.
  
  Henry Every was likely born in August 20th, 1659, in the small village of Newton Farers in southwest England. Legend has it, his father, an officer of the Royal Navy, introduced him to the sea. And quickly, he developed a taste for it.
  
  He also joined the Royal Navy. In the late 1680s, he was a midshipman aboard a 64-gun warship. Every quickly stood out from the crowd.
  
  When his commander was transferred to the HMS Alba Marla, a larger 90-gun ship, he invited Every to join him. Together, they fought the French and helped capture the convoy from Brest, their port city in northwestern France.
  
  On August 29, 1690, Henry Every left the Royal Navy, but he didn't give up the sea. In Bermuda, he met the local governor who convinced him to get involved in the slave trade. As a result, he traveled to the Guinea Coast, transporting hundreds of Africans to the West Indies.
  
  He gained a reputation as a vicious slave trader, robbing competing ships. In 1693, Henry Every was recalled to the Navy to join an Anglo-Spanish mission aboard the Charles II. This 46-gun, three-masted frigate was part of a squadron of four ships commanded by Admiral Auburn.
  
  The fleet's mission was to travel to the Caribbean to provide Spanish ships with supplies and sink any French ships they encountered. Henry Every was promoted to First Mate, but he was mainly motivated by the promise of a handsome salary. The fleet left London in August 1693, but before heading to the Caribbean, it had to go to Coruna on the Galician coast.
  
  The mission got off to a bad start. The journey should have taken two weeks, but it took the Charles II and three other ships five months in all. No one really knows why they were delayed, but one thing is certain.
  
  The sailors were already on edge. They still hadn't received any of their wages and they were starting to lose patience. The rest is history.
  
  Henry Every led a crew of mutineers and set sail aboard the Charles II. After cutting Captain Gibson loose off the coast of Africa, Henry Every gathered the crew and shared his plan with them. Originally, the plan had been to set sail to the West Indies, but he suggested the Indian Ocean instead.
  
  Ships on those maritime routes had holds bursting with immense treasures, spices, valuable fabrics, precious metals and gemstones. He then told them the legend of Thomas Two, an English pirate said to have seized an enormous haul of treasure in that region a year earlier. If they wanted to get rich, that's where they should go.
  
  Described by everyone as ruthless and incredibly charismatic, Every didn't need to say anymore. His men were ready to follow him. The Charles II was renamed The Fancy, and the pirate crew headed for the Cape of Good Hope.
  
  On the journey south, The Fancy pillaged five ships, enabling her to stock up plenty of provisions, ammunition and take on new men. She now had a crew of 95. The ship rounded the Cape of Good Hope in early 1695.
  
  After stopping in Madagascar, a necessary stop for any good pirate, Henry Every dropped anchor off the coast of Anjouan Island in the Comoros. He had recruited 50 French pirates, all ready to follow him in his quest. Captain Every wanted to go to the Red Sea.
  
  His plan was simple, to intercept the ships transporting pilgrims from Mecca with holds bursting with goods. But before setting out, the pirate captain gave a warning to the English ship commanders in the Indian Ocean. If an English ship crossed paths with the fancy's red flag, with its black skull and crossbones, they should raise an English flag and allow the pirates to inspect their holds.
  
  This would ensure that they would be allowed to go free, unharmed. This was patriotic, but not completely a selfless act. Every hoped it would save his skin once he was done with the pirate life.
  
  In the spring of 1695, the fancy raised anchor and left the Comoros Archipelago.
  
  She sailed north towards the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the entrance to the Red Sea, where present-day Yemen faces the Horn of Africa. Every knew that if he was patient, he would cross paths with ships belonging to the Mughal Empire that were guaranteed to hold great treasures.
  
  The Mughal Empire was a major and wealthy power, even richer than the Ottoman Empire, the other power of the Muslim world. Its territory extended from Afghanistan to Bangladesh. The Mughals were wealthy merchants who spread their flamboyant culture around the world.
  
  Their wealth was symbolized by the magnificent Taj Mahal, which was finished 40 years earlier. The Empire was ruled by the Grand Mughal, who was one of the richest men on the planet.
  
  So it seems Henry Every had no shortage of ambition, but his real gift was his ability to inspire all those he met to join him. To such an extent that when he encountered other pirate ships in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, he convinced them to join his venture too. Before he arrived at his destination, he had already relied on two other ships to his cause.
  
  Once he arrived, three other pirate ships joined them. One of them was even captained by Thomas Too, the famous pirate Every had told his men about off the coast of Coruna. The insatiable Henry Every now led a bona fide squadron of pirate ships.
  
  In the late summer of 1695, the six ships with hundreds of men on board moored near Peron, a small island off the coast of Yemen. They hid patiently awaiting their prey. Every had gotten wind that a convoy of Mughal ships had left Jeddah a few weeks earlier.
  
  Pilgrims leaving Mecca had to pass through this large port on the Arabian Peninsula. The convoy was made up of dozens of boats headed for Surat, an important trading post in northern India. But time passed, and they still hadn't spotted any sails.
  
  Henry Every learned from his informers that a convoy had slipped through their fingers sailing at night to escape the pirates. The captain immediately sounded the charge. The pirate squadron gave chase.
  
  The fancy was the largest and quickest of the six ships. She headed for the Mughal convoy with all her sails set, while the other pirate ships tried their best to keep up. On September 8, after four days of sailing, Henry Every faced the stern of the Fateh Muhammad, a merchant ship without cannons belonging to a wealthy Surat merchant.
  
  The Fateh Muhammad's crew tried to fight back, but couldn't defend themselves for long. The loot discovered in the holds was sizable, 60,000 pounds in gold coins, the equivalent of $12 million today. Despite this score, Captain Every didn't stop there.
  
  He rallied his men and set sail for the Mughal convoy, which now had a significant lead. But it took Every just two days to catch up to the first of the Mughal ships, and the vessel he saw before him was a promising prospect. He recognized the sail of the Ganji Sawai, which means exceeding treasure.
  
  But it was much harder for the pirates to take this ship. She was a far cry from the unarmed ship they had just taken, where men put up little resistance. She was a 64 gun, 165 foot long military ship manned by 400 musket armed soldiers determined to defend the ship's precious cargo and hundreds of passengers.
  
  One passenger was particularly important, the daughter of the Mughal emperor. She and her court were returning from Mecca and the riches she transported made her an incredibly lucrative target for the rampaging pirates. Captain Every wasn't intimidated and decided to launch an attack.
  
  He positioned the pirate boats at the front and the back of the Ganji Sawai to avoid cannon fire. Their position ensured that his men hit their mark. One of the pirates' cannons even managed to hit the main mast of the Mughal ship, causing extensive damage.
  
  The mast collapsed onto the deck with a deafening crash, killing dozens of sailors. A few minutes later, a cannon exploded aboard the Indian ship, leaving a gaping hole in the hull. It was a final blow that enabled the pirates to throw their grappling hooks and haul themselves aboard.
  
  A fierce battle ensued. The Mughal soldiers caused a lot of damage with their muskets, killing dozens of pirates. Swords clanged, arms were cut off, and several heads fell to the floor rolling on the deck.
  
  After two hours of heavy fighting, Every's men won the battle. The Mughals were defeated, and the captain was able to walk off with one of the greatest hauls ever stolen by a pirate. Some historians estimate that the loot was worth over 600,000 pounds at a time, the equivalent of more than $120 million today.
  
  Each pirate received about a thousand pounds, more than a sailor made in his entire career, and several handfuls of gemstones.
  
  But by attacking the Ganges Awai with the Grand Mughal's daughter on board, the pirate captain had angered the emperor, and the emperor became even angrier when the terrible tales of rape and violence against women on board reached him. Henry Every also put England in a rather delicate position. After this attack, the Mughal emperor imposed sanctions.
  
  65 employees of the East India Company stationed at Surat Trading Post were imprisoned for over a year. The emperor threatened to attack the town of Bombay, present-day Mumbai, which was under British control. Worse still, trade with the empire was on the brink of collapse.
  
  With a single attack, Captain Every had managed to disrupt the geopolitical balance of the entire region. Wanting to preserve their trade links with the Mughal empire at all cost, the English also imposed a strong sanction on Every. In July of 1696, the pirate was declared Ostisumani Genetis, or enemy of the human race.
  
  They issued a 500-pound bounty on his head, which was doubled by the East India Company. The English government also promised the Grand Mughal that Every would never be pardoned, unlike many other pirates. A manhunt began across the oceans, and Henry Every knew it.
  
  He was wise and decided to put an end to his career.
  
  In just two years, he had become a legend. Better still, he had become the king of the pirates.
  
  In spring of 1696, Every, now going by the name of Benjamin Bridgman, stopped in Reunion Island, where he sold some of his loot and let the French and Danish sailors and his crew go. He also bought 90 African slaves, who he decided to take with him across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean. Every arrived at the end of 1696.
  
  The fancy moored by the small island of St. Thomas, which was under Danish control in the West Indies. He sold a large portion of his loot before setting sail for the Bahamas. He knew there was a corrupt governor who might let him stay despite the bounty on his head, in exchange for his silence.
  
  Every promised the governor a thousand pounds, more than three times his annual salary, as well as weapons, ammunition, and several tons of ivory. He also offered him the fancy. But the pirates got bored after a few months.
  
  The island had few people, and there weren't enough shops for them to spend their fortune. Fate pushed them to flee yet again. The governor was under pressure and ended up informing the English authorities that Every was on his island.
  
  In a final twist, he warned the pirate captain that the Royal Navy was coming. That's when the paths of the sailors diverged.
  
  Henry Every decided to return to England. With a dozen men, he set sail aboard a ship that was small enough to slip away unnoticed. This is where his trace was lost.
  
  Some say he managed to return to his village near Plymouth, where he lived a quiet life. Others say he ended up poor begging on the streets of London. Just 34 of the pirates who were part of Henry Every's expedition were arrested.
  
  Most were reckless, openly reselling large quantities of gemstones and Indian gold coins. Six ended up hanged in the public square. And as for the king of the pirates, he simply vanished into thin air.
  
  I'm Michelle Rodriguez, and this has been an Ubisoft podcast produced by Paradiso Media. Thanks for listening.

The Buzzard: Serial Looter

• Michelle Rodriguez: One morning, in March of 1716, off the coast of the island of New Providence in the Bahamas, pirate captain Olivier Levasseur gazes out to sea aboard his ship, the Postillon, a swift yet light craft equipped with only four guns. Nicknamed the buzzard and known for his hit and run attacks, the French pirate has been sailing the seas around the Caribbean and Antilles for several months now, his ships hold bursting at the seams with loot ready to spend. Over the course of his adventures and encounters, Olivier Levasseur has heard of a certain Captain Hornigold, an English pirate said to have set up an outlaw post on NASA, the biggest island in the Bahamas.
  
  When finally reaching dry land, the buzzard is met with a warm welcome in the sight of hundreds of men, pirates, every one of them, as well as shops and taverns where he might spend his booty. Most important of all, he meets other ambitious captains keen on sailing the seas as outlaws. While his men busy themselves with rum and women, Olivier Levasseur sits at a table with a few other pirate captains.
  
  Together they decide to form a brotherhood, a group of bandits roaming the high seas. They call themselves the Flying Gang. And for years on end, they would go on to pillage and plunder the Caribbean, sowing terror in their wake.
  
  The Buzzard is the only Frenchman among these pirates and will soon forge a name and reputation for himself. And so a legend is born.
  
  Little is known of Olivier Levasseur, other than the fact that he was born in Calais on November 5th, 1695. Raised by his mother, he grew up in the company of sailors. His grandfather passed his passion for the open sea down to him, teaching him the basics of sailing and telling him tales of the most renowned French seafarers.
  
  At the tender age of 14, Levasseur joined a privateer crew tasked with protecting Francis' coast from English and Dutch ships, an experience that plunged him straight into the heart of the action. His ship took part in the War of the Spanish Succession that saw Louis XIV of France take on the old world's greatest powers. Levasseur disappears from view during this period, but his name resurfaced after the war, this time on the other side of the Atlantic, in the Antilles.