Under the Bloody Flag (53 page)

The Jolly Roger flying over Studland beach. It testifies to the modern fascination with pirates and piracy, though the subject is often perceived in a very romantic or nostalgic fashion. Flags such as this were not used until the later seventeenth century. Most pirates active during the earlier period rarely revealed their identities in such a public or threatening manner, though the use of the ‘bloody flag’ may have been proliferating. (Author’s collection)

Under these conditions the growth of piracy and other forms of maritime depredation was marked by an underlying shift in its range and vigour, which was accompanied by short-term upsurges in the incidence of local spoil and plunder. The revival of small-scale piracy around the British Isles during the 1520s and 1530s was powerfully reinforced by the spread of disorderly privateering during the 1540s. This created an opportunity for the growth of more organized, long-distance plunder, the success of which was strikingly demonstrated by Reneger’s raid off Cape St Vincent. A traditional form of indiscriminate, petty piracy and spoil thus became linked with more ambitious and increasingly anti-Iberian enterprise. During the 1550s and 1560s aggressive commercial venturing to Guinea, which blurred the boundary between trade and plunder, served as an outlet for this predatory force, attracting the interest of men such as Frobisher and Strangeways. In combination with an upsurge in piracy and sea roving within the Channel and along the coasts of Spain and Portugal, which were justified as legitimate, if irregular reprisals, these developments led to the pirate invasion of the Caribbean during the 1570s. Led by Drake, the spread of English piracy was encouraged and favoured by external forces. Exploiting the weaknesses of Spain and Portugal, it followed in the wake of French raiders, while it was most successful when undertaken in alliance with the cimaroons.

The tension between potentially contradictory and complementary forms of plunder, linked to its widening range, was acutely exposed during the 1570s and early 1580s. Under the leadership of captains such as Callice, Hicks and Piers, a large number of pirates and rovers made a living from organized, but essentially localized, piracy, while activity within the Caribbean appeared to falter. Nonetheless, Drake’s voyage from 1577 to 1580 revealed the rich rewards to be gained from preying upon vulnerable regions of the Spanish Empire. Oceanic plunder encouraged far-reaching predatory commercial schemes, while it also strengthened the appeal of anti-Spanish colonial and military projects. In these circumstances the outbreak of the war with Spain during 1585 was followed by the transformation of privateering into a large-scale business, especially in the hands of merchants and shipowners. Under the dubious legitimacy of reprisal venturing, the war provided an opportunity for the consolidation of previous practices and structures, while charting a new direction in the development of long-distance plunder. But the loose regulation of privateering on this scale produced widespread disorder and illegal depredation.

Against a crowded and confused background, therefore, the period from the 1520s to the 1590s was a crucial stage in the development of English piracy and privateering. While local, short-distance piracy flourished almost unchecked, it was during these years that organized, long-distance depredation emerged. As this study demonstrates, both were woven into the fabric of English seafaring enterprise. For thousands of seafarers and others, robbery and plunder at sea were a form of employment. For some, it was a way of life, the basis for an embryonic culture which was to develop during the second half of the seventeenth century. At a time when the early modern English state was compelled to compromise with unruly predatory forces, piracy, privateering and sea roving acquired an unusual significance. Maritime depredation served varied commercial and military purposes, occasionally providing the shock troops for an embattled and beleaguered regime, although it was impossible to control and regulate effectively. Consequently, the export of organized violence and criminality, which was under way at the close of the sixteenth century, inaugurated a new phase in the history of English piracy, culminating in the creation of a community of outcasts whose survival challenged the commercial and colonial interests of an expanding seaborne empire.
⁵

Notes

1.
  W.B. Rye (ed.),
England as seen by Foreigners in the Days of Elizabeth and James the First
(London, 1865), p. 110.

2.
  
HMC Salisbury
, XV, pp. 151, 168, 170, 202–3, 253; G.V. Scammell, ‘The Sinews of War: Manning and Provisioning English Fighting Ships, c. 1550–1650’,
Mariner’s Mirror
, 73 (1985), pp. 360–1 reprinted in
Ships, Oceans and Empire.

3.
  
HMC Salisbury
, XV, p. 151.

4.
  For a recent study of Ward see G. Bak,
Barbary Pirate: The Life and Crimes of John Ward
(Stroud, 2006), and on Jacobean piracy see C.M. Senior,
A Nation of Pirates: English Piracy in its Heyday
(Newton Abbot, 1976).

5.
  Rediker,
Villains of All Nations
, pp. 19–37.

Abbreviations

APC
:
J.R. Dasent (ed.),
Acts of the Privy Council 1542
–
1604
, 31 vols. (London, 1890–1907)

BL: British Library

Calendar
: J.C. Appleby (ed.),
A Calendar of Material relating to Ireland from the High Court of Admiralty Examinations 1536
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1641
(Dublin, 1992)

CSPD
: R. Lemon et al. (eds.),
Calendar of State Papers Domestic 1547
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1603 and Addenda
, 7 vols. (London, 1856–71)

CSPD Edward
: C.S. Knighton (ed.),
Calendar of State Papers Domestic Series of the Reign of Edward VI 1547
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1553
(London, 1992)

CSPD Mary
: C.S. Knighton (ed.),
Calendar of State Papers Domestic Series of the Reign of Mary I 1553
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1558
(London, 1998)

CSPF
: W.B. Turnbull et al. (eds.),
Calendar of State Papers, Foreign Series, 1547
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89
, 23 vols. (London, 1861–1950)

CSPI
: H.C. Hamilton et al. (eds.),
Calendar of State Papers relating to Ireland 1509
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1603
, 11 vols. (London, 1860–1912)

CPR
:
Calendar of Patent Rolls preserved in the Public Record Office 1461
–
1582
, 24 vols. (London, 1897–1986)

CSPS
: M. Hume et al. (eds.),
Calendar of Letters and State Papers relating to English Affairs, preserved principally in the Archives of Simancas 1558
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89
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CSPV
: R. Brown et al. (eds.),
Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts, relating to English Affairs, existing in the Archives and Collections of Venice 1558
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1603
, 9 vols. (London, 1890–97)

EHR
:
English Historical Review

EPV
: K.R. Andrews (ed.),
English Privateering Voyages to the West Indies 1588
–
1595
(Hakluyt Society, Second Series, 111, 1959)

HCA: High Court of Admiralty, The National Archives

HMC Salisbury
:
Calendar of the Manuscripts of the Most Hon. the Marquis of Salisbury
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Law and Custom
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List and Analysis
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LP
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MM
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NAW
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ODNB
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Pays
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Bas
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PN
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edition, Glasgow, 1903–5, repr. New York, 1969)

Select Pleas
: R.G. Marsden (ed.),
Select Pleas in the Court of Admiralty
, 2 vols. (Selden Society, 6 & 11, 1894–97)

SP: State Papers, The National Archives

Tudor Proclamations
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, 3 vols. (New Haven, 1964–69)

Manuscript Sources

The National Archives, Kew

    SP 12 (State Papers, Elizabeth I)

    SP 63 (State Papers, Ireland)

    HCA 1/33, 34, 37, 38, 40, 44, 45, 48 (High Court of Admiralty, oyer and terminer records)

    HCA 13/2-36 (High Court of Admiralty, examinations)

    HCA 14/9 (High Court of Admiralty, exemplifications)

The British Library, London

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    Lansdowne MS 26, 33, 142, 162

    Cotton MS Nero B III

    Cotton MS Otho E VIII, IX

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J.S. Brewer et al. (eds.),
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J.S. Brewer et al. (eds.),
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R. Brown et al. (eds.),
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, 9 vols. (London, 1890-1603)

J.H. Burton (ed.),
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M. St Clair Byrne (ed.),
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J. Payne Collier (ed.),
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J.S. Corbett (ed.),
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, 31 vols. (London, 1890-1907)

E.S. Donno (ed.),
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eds. D.B and A.M. Quinn (Hakluyt Society, Extra Series, 45, 1993)

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, 11 vols. (London, 1860-1912)

R.K. Hannay (ed.),
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Camden Miscellany V
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P.L. Hughes and J.F. Larkin (eds.),
Tudor Royal Proclamations
, 3 vols. (New Haven, 1964-69)