Capture of the William

An 18th century woodcut of Calico Jack.

Date	October 20, 1720
Location	Dry Harbor Bay, Jamaica, Caribbean Sea
Result	British victory

Belligerents

Kingdom of Great Britain

Calico Jack's Pirates

Commanders and leaders

Jonathan Barnet

Jack Rackham

Strength

1 sloop-of-war

Casualties and losses

~3 wounded
1 sloop-of-war damaged

1 killed
13 captured
1 sloop-of-war captured

Golden Age of Piracy

Turkish Abductions Lake Nicaragua Maracaibo 1st Porto Bello Panama 2nd Porto Bello Mandab Strait Chepo 17 November 1717 Charleston Cape Fear River 23 November 1718 Ocracoke Inlet Capture of the William 5 February 1722 Cape Lopez Capture of the Fancy

The Capture of the William refers to a small single ship action fought between Calico Jack's pirate ship and a British sloop-of-war from Port Royal, Jamaica. The battle was fought in Dry Harbor Bay, and ended with the capture of the famed pirate and his small crew of which several were hanged later on as a warning to other brigands.

Background

Calico Jack commanded the William, a small but fast twelve ton sloop during the action. Her armament was light, consisting of at least four cannons and at the time of battle carried a crew of fourteen including Jack and the pirates Mary Read and Anne Bonny. Calico Jack was originally a pirate under Captain Charles Vane but soon after turned to piracy. In 1719, he sailed to New Providence to receive a pardon and a letter of marque from Governor of New Providence Captain Woodes Rogers. The War of the Quadruple Alliance had begun and England hoped to make privateers of Caribbean brigands to fight the Spanish. Captain Jack was capable of receiving a pardon, but he did not receive a commission to attack the Spanish fleet.

Calico settled in New Providence, where he met Anne Bonny, but when his money was gone he returned to his life of crime. On August 22, 1719, Jack and eight men others captured the William from Nassau harbor.

Governor of Jamaica, Nicholas Lawes, directed Captain Jonathan Barnet to take two privateer sloops on a mission to hunt him down. One, the Snow-Tyger, was heavily armed with several guns and carried about twenty Royal Navy sailors and some British Army troops; the other also carried about twenty men, but did not participate in the battle. The encounter is remembered more for its participants than the actual combat.

Capture

It was around 10:00 at night on October 20, 1720 when the Snow-Tyger discovered the William at anchor in Dry Harbor Bay near the shore. The William's crew was mostly drunk and sleeping, including Captain Rackham. Barnet ordered his men to extinguish all lights and to silently approach the resting pirates. Once his sloop was near the William, Barnet ordered the pirates to surrender. Captain Rackham awoke and the pirates on deck answered with a few shots from their swivel gun. Captain Barnet then order his ship to return a broadside and to close in and board the enemy.

The pirates immediately set sail, trying to flee, but most of the crew retreated into the cabins. The William made it only a few yards before the Snow-Tyger caught up with her and continued the boarding. Mary Read, Anne Bonny and another pirate remained on deck and attempted to fight off the attackers, but eventually surrendered. Angered by the cowardice displayed by her shipmates, Read killed one of her fellow pirates after witnessing the retreat into the cabin, which ultimately lost the battle. The boarding party stormed the cabins and the remaining pirates were captured along with the drunk Calico. A few British fighting men were wounded but none were killed in the quick action. The Snow-Tyger sustained light damage to her sails and rigging and the William suffered heavy damage to her poop.

Aftermath

Calico Jack and his crew were taken to Port Royal, where Jack and eleven others were tried on November 16 and hanged on November 19 and 20, 1720. Calico was disemboweled and his body placed in a cage and gibbeted on the small Deadman'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 before her scheduled execution, while Bonny was never heard from again. Some accounts say Bonny retired and settled in North America and others say she returned to piracy. Bonny spoke of Calico and reportedly said that "if he had fought like a man, he need not have been hanged like a dog", a now famous saying.

References

A General History of the Pyrates by Captain Charles Johnson (1724)
Pringle, Peter, Jolly Roger: The Story of the Great Age of Piracy, Dover Publishing Company (2004)
Lord Archibald Hamilton "An answer to an anonymous libel, entitled Articles exhibited against lord Archibald Hamilton, late governour of Jamaica" (1718)

Piracy

Periods	Ancient Mediterranean Golden Age Republic of Pirates Libertatia 21st century

Types of pirate	Privateers Buccaneers Corsairs Sindhi corsairs Timber pirate River pirate Brethren of the Coast Barbary pirates Moro pirates Wōkòu Vikings Ushkuiniks Narentines Cilician pirates Confederate privateer Baltic Slavic pirates Uskoks Cossack pirates Sea Beggars Sea Dogs Fillibusters

Areas	Caribbean Lake Nicaragua British Virgin Islands Strait of Malacca Somali Coast Sulu Sea Falcon Lake South China Coast Anglo-Turkish piracy Port Royal Tortuga Saint-Malo Barbary Coast Lundy Lagos Salé Spanish Main Gulf of Guinea Indonesia Barataria Bay Persian Gulf

Noted pirates	Bartholomew Roberts Hendrick Lucifer Hayreddin Barbarossa Blackbeard Stede Bonnet Anne Bonny Abshir Boyah Laurens de Graaf Michel de Grammont Calico Jack Alexandre Exquemelin William Kidd Edward Low Redbeard William Dampier Black Caesar Henri Caesar Roberto Cofresí Jean Lafitte Henry Morgan Lawrence Prince François l'Olonnais Henry Strangways Charles Gibbs Benito de Soto Diabolito Pedro Gilbert Mansel Alcantra Hippolyte Bouchard Samuel Hall Lord Nathaniel Gordon Albert W. Hicks Eli Boggs Bully Hayes Rahmah ibn Jabir al-Jalahimah Louis-Michel Aury Shirahama Kenki John Newland Maffitt Joseph Baker Joseph Barss Jørgen Jørgensen Vincenzo Gambi Dominique You Pierre Lafitte John Hawkins Peter Easton Nicholas van Hoorn Moses Cohen Henriques Piet Pieterszoon Hein Charlotte de Berry Samuel Bellamy Benjamin Hornigold Samuel Mason Henry Every Roche Braziliano Gan Ning Liang Daoming Wang Zhi Limahong Zheng Zhilong Zheng Jing Cai Qian Cheung Po Tsai Ching Shih Shap Ng-tsai Chui A-poo Lai Choi San Fūma Kotarō Olivier Levasseur

Categories	Piracy Pirates By nationality Barbary pirates Female pirates Years in piracy Fictional pirates

Pirate ships	Adventure Galley Fancy Ganj-i-Sawai Queen Anne's Revenge Quedagh Merchant Saladin Whydah Gally Marquis of Havana Ambrose Light York

Pirate hunters	Pedro Menéndez de Avilés Angelo Emo Richard Avery Hornsby Robert Maynard Chaloner Ogle Pompey Woodes Rogers David Porter James Brooke Miguel Enríquez (privateer)

Pirate battles and incidents	Jiajing wokou raids Turkish Abductions Chepo Expedition Battle of Mandab Strait Blockade of Charleston Battle of Cape Fear River Battle of Ocracoke Inlet Capture of the William Sack of Campeche Attack on Veracruz Raid on Cartagena Battle of Cape Lopez Capture of the Fancy Persian Gulf Campaign Battle of New Orleans Anti-Piracy in the Aegean Anti-piracy in the West Indies Capture of the Bravo Action of 9 November 1822 Capture of the El Mosquito Battle of Doro Passage Falklands Expedition Great Lakes Patrol Pirate attacks in Borneo Balanguingui Expedition Battle of Tysami Battle of Tonkin River Battle of Nam Quan Battle of Ty-ho Bay Battle of the Leotung Antelope incident North Star affair Battle off Mukah Salvador Pirates Battle of Boca Teacapan Capture of the Ambrose Light Irene incident 1985 Lahad Datu ambush Operation Enduring Freedom – HOA Action of 18 March 2006 Action of 3 June 2007 Action of 28 October 2007 Dai Hong Dan incident Operation Atalanta Carré d'As IV incident Action of 11 November 2008 Action of 9 April 2009 Maersk Alabama hijacking Operation Ocean Shield Action of 23 March 2010 Action of 1 April 2010 Action of 30 March 2010 Action of 5 April 2010 MV Moscow University hijacking Operation Dawn of Gulf of Aden Operation Dawn 8: Gulf of Aden Beluga Nomination incident Battle off Minicoy Island Quest incident MT Zafirah hijacking MT Orkim Harmony hijacking

Slave trade	African slave trade Atlantic slave trade Arab slave trade Barbary slave trade Blockade of Africa African Slave Trade Patrol Capture of the Providentia Capture of the Presidente Capture of the El Almirante Capture of the Marinerito Capture of the Veloz Passagera Capture of the Brillante Amistad Incident Capture of the Emanuela

Fictional pirates	Tom Ayrton Barbe Rouge Hector Barbossa Captain Blood Captain Crook Captain Flint José Gaspar Captain Hook Don Karnage Monkey D. Luffy Roronoa Zoro One Piece Captain Nemo Captain Pugwash Red Rackham Captain Sabertooth Captain Stingaree Sandokan Long John Silver Jack Sparrow

Miscellaneous	Truce of Ratisbon Piracy Act 1698 Piracy Act 1717 Piracy Act 1837 Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law Child pirate Golden Age of Piracy Jolly Roger Walking the plank Treasure map Buried treasure Pirate booty No purchase, no pay Marooning Pirate code Pirate utopia Victual Brothers Pirate Round Libertatia Sack of Baltimore A General History of the Pyrates Mutiny Pegleg Eyepatch Letter of marque Davy Jones' Locker Air pirate Space pirate

Lists	Pirates Privateers Timeline of piracy Pirate films Women in piracy Fictional pirates Pirates in popular culture List of ships attacked by Somali pirates

Literature	Treasure Island Facing the Flag On Stranger Tides Castaways of the Flying Dutchman The Angel's Command Voyage of Slaves Pirate Latitudes

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