John Barnes
Barnes (unknown – December 1717) was a ship captain and a member of the Templar Order, active in the West Indies during the early 18th century.
Biography
In June 1716, Barnes' ship was attacked by the pirate La Buse, who was looking for new recruits. Having lost his crew in the attack, Barnes revealed that he had two prisoners aboard, a French deserter, Alonzo Batilla and an escaped slave, Jumao. La Buse freed the prisoners, taking them on board, and sank Barnes' ship, but the Templar managed to survive.
In January 1717, Batilla, now a pirate unknowingly working with the Assassins, was told by Samuel Bellamy that the slaver Laurens Prins carried a treasure of great value and that only one merchant knew the projected route that Prins' ship, the Whydah, was going to take. Heading for Havana, Batilla met Barnes again, who under intimidation gave him the map of the Whydah's route. Later, when La Buse and Batilla captured the slave ship with Bellamy, they discovered that the treasure was in fact a Piece of Eden, which belonged to Bellamy's enemies, the Templars.
Some months later, when the Templars heard that Bellamy had entrusted La Buse with the artifact, they put Barnes in charge of a Spanish fleet with the task of finding him and recovering the stolen artifact; soon, the rumor spread that La Buse had died, having sunk with his ship, Le Postillon, near the island of La Boca del Diablo. Seeking retribution, Batilla attacked the slaver fort in which the Templars were hiding and subsequently captured Barnes, only to learn that Levasseur was not dead and had in fact used the artifact against the Templars, killing most of his assailants and taking one of their ships to an unknown location. Having heard the story of La Buse's survival and receiving his journal, Batilla decided to spare Barnes, telling him that their next encounter would be their last.
In an ironic set of circumstances, in December 1717, when Barnes reunited in Mayaguana with two of his fellow Templars, Christopher Condent and Benjamin Hornigold, his associates shot him for his failures, regarding him as a loose end. But Batilla, arriving soon after Condent shot Barnes, routed the two Templars and recovered a severely injured Barnes, who told Alonzo in his dying breath where he thought the next destination of La Buse was.