Bartholomew Roberts, born John Roberts, was a Welsh pirate who was, measured by vessels captured, the most successful pirate of the Golden Age of Piracy. During his piratical career, he took over 400 prize ships. Roberts raided ships off the Americas and the West African coast between 1719 and 1722; he is also noted for creating his own pirate code, and adopting an early variant of the Skull and Crossbones flag.
Bartholomew Roberts
Bart Roberts' memorial stone in Casnewydd Bach
The death of Captain Howell Davis in an ambush on PrÃncipe
Roberts at Ouidah with his ship and captured merchantmen in the background.
The Golden Age of Piracy is a common designation for the period between the 1650s and the 1730s, when maritime piracy was a significant factor in the histories of the North Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
A 1920 painting of Blackbeard's final battle against Robert Maynard in 1718
Amaro Pargo, a Spaniard who was one of the most famous corsairs of the Golden Age of Piracy
Henry Every is shown selling his loot in this engraving by Howard Pyle. Every's capture of the Grand Mughal ship Ganj-i-Sawai in 1695 stands as one of the most profitable pirate raids ever perpetrated.
Cornelis Hendricksz Vroom, Spanish Men-of-War Engaging Barbary Corsairs, 1615.