The capture of John Rackham was a

single-ship action A single-ship action is a naval engagement fought between two warships of opposing sides, excluding submarine engagements; it is called so because there is a single ship on each side. The following is a list of notable single-ship actions. Sing ...

fought between English pirate

John Rackham John Rackham (hanged 18 November 1720), perhaps known as Calico Jack, was a pirate captain operating in the Bahamas and Jamaica during the early 18th century. Rackham was active in 1720, towards the end of the "Golden Age of Piracy". He is mos ...

and British privateer

Jonathan Barnet Jonathan Barnet (1677/78 – 1745)"Jonathan Barnet", ''Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery'' https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146662203 Retrieved 1 January 2022. was an English privateer in the Caribbean, best known for ...

. The engagement was fought in the vicinity of

Negril Negril is a small, widely dispersed beach resort and town located in Westmoreland and Hanover parishes at the far western part of Jamaica, southwest from Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay. Westmoreland is the westernmost paris ...

, Jamaica and ended with the capture of Rackham and his crew.

Background

Rackham commanded the ''William'', a small but fast twelve-ton sloop during the action. Her armament was light, consisting of four cannons and two

swivel guns A swivel gun (or simply swivel) is a small cannon mounted on a swiveling stand or fork which allows a very wide arc of movement. Another type of firearm referred to as a swivel gun was an early flintlock combination gun with two barrels that ro ...

. At the time of the engagement, the ''William'' carried a crew of fourteen including Rackham and the pirates

Mary Read Mary Read (died April 1721), was a pirate who served under John Rackham. She and Anne Bonny were among the few female pirates during the "Golden Age of Piracy". Much of Read's background is unknown. The first biography of Read comes from C ...

and

Anne Bonny Anne Bonny (disappeared after 28 November 1720) was a pirate who served under John Rackham. Amongst the few recorded female pirates in the Golden Age of Piracy, she has become one of the most recognized pirates of the era, as well as in the ...

. On August 22, 1720, Rackham and 8 other men plus the women stole the ''William'' from Nassau harbor. Governor

Woodes Rogers Woodes Rogers ( – 15 July 1732) was an English sea captain, privateer and colonial administrator who served as the List of governors of the Bahamas, governor of the Bahamas from 1718 to 1721 and again from 1728 to 1732. He is remembered ...

dispatched pirate hunters but to no avail - Rackham and his crew plundered vessels across the Caribbean for two months. Around mid October 1720, former privateer

set sail from Jamaica in a trading sloop alongside another sloop commanded by a captain Bonadvis. The encounter is remembered more for its participants than the actual combat.

Capture

On October 22 near Negril Point, Bonadvis spotted Rackham, who fired a cannon. Bonadvis retreated and reported the unknown ship's location to Barnet, but did not participate in the engagement. Rackham's sloop was laid at anchor and had recently brought onto the ship a group of turtlers who were having punch with Rackham and the crew. At around 10 PM, Rackham noticed Barnet's sloop and attempted to flee, but Barnet caught up to them. Barnet called out to the sloop and requested they identify themselves. The reply was "John Rackham from Cuba" and Barnet immediately ordered him to strike his colors. Someone (Barnet testified that because of it being so dark he could not identify who) replied that they would "strike no strike" and fired a swivel gun at Barnet's sloop. Barnet ordered a cannon broadside and a rifle volley, which destroyed the boom on Rackham's ship, after which the pirates called for quarter. Barnet had the pirates put ashore at Davis's Cove near Lucea where Major Richard James, a militia officer, placed them under arrest.''The Tryals of Captain John Rackham and other Pirates'' (Jamaica, 1721) pg 16.

Aftermath

Rackham and his crew were brought to

Spanish Town Spanish Town (Jamaican Patois: Spain) is the capital and the largest town in the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of St. Catherine, Jamaica, St. Catherine in the historic county of Middlesex, Jamaica, Middlesex, Jamaica. It was the Spanish and Briti ...

, Jamaica, in November 1720, where they were tried and convicted of piracy and sentenced to be hanged. Rackham was gibbeted on Rackham's Cay at the entrance of Port Royal. The remains of the other pirates were placed at various locations around the port. Mary Read and Anne Bonny avoided hanging by claiming that they were pregnant; Read died several months later in April 1721, while Bonny was never heard from again.

Notes

References

* ''

A General History of the Pyrates ''A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates'', or simply ''A General History of the Pyrates'', is a 1724 book published in Britain containing biographies of contemporary pirates,Captain Charles Johnson Captain Charles Johnson was the British author of the 1724 book ''A General History of the Pyrates, A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates'', whose identity remains a mystery. No record exists of a captain b ...

(1724) * Pringle, Peter, ''Jolly Roger: The Story of the Great Age of Piracy'', Dover Publishing Company (2004) *

Lord Archibald Hamilton Lord Archibald Hamilton (1673 – 5 April 1754) was a Royal Navy officer, nobleman and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain, House of Commons from 1708 to 1747. In the 1690's, he was ...

"An answer to an anonymous libel, entitled Articles exhibited against lord Archibald Hamilton, late governour of Jamaica" (1718) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rackham, Capture of Conflicts in 1720 Anti-piracy battles involving the United Kingdom Naval battles involving Great Britain