drink up me hearties yo ho welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re counting
down our picks for the top 10 most
famous pirates in history for this list
we’re defining piracy as crimes and
violence at sea however we will also
include some historical figures that
were officially privateers that is they
were exactly the same as pirates but the
government sanctioned their actions
making them legitimate acts of war as
opposed to criminal offenses while
pirates and privateers were technically
different the line between them was
often blurred and what one country would
call an honorable privateer another
would call a bloodthirsty pirate ready
number 10 Sir Henry Morgan Florida
though he was actually a British
privateer Sir Henry Morgan was such a
fearsome and successful raider that the
Spanish called him a pirate throughout
his career he attacked ships all through
the Caribbean and eventually fought in
an epic battle to capture Panama City
commanding 1200 Buccaneers and 30 ships
nobody had the capacity except Morgan to
rally everybody in the Caribbean and say
we’re gonna go after not a little
village not a little town not a little
Perl boat we’re gonna go after the big
time the battle led Morgan to be
arrested and dragged back to England but
the British king reacted by knighting
him and making him deputy governor of
Jamaica
arise Sir Henry Morgan we are most
pleased you will be our
in Jamaica number 9 Mary read Mary read
to my mum and then I called friends but
not a word of it to anyone or all on
mine you as well at a time when women
were seen as little more than property
Mary read wasn’t gonna let that stop her
being used to dressing up as a boy for
various reasons throughout her childhood
read disguised herself as a male to join
the British military and built a
reputation for herself as fierce and
skilled in battle when peacetime stilted
her life in the military read quit and
became a pirate instead well more like
she was forced to after the ship she
boarded was captured you see no threat
not yeah you’re a woman I am but from
then on she sailed fought and drank as
hard as the male pirates pretty hardcore
for a 17th century girl
number 8 huzzah lulu-nee Jean David no
known as Francois la Luna was a true
pirate of the Caribbean vicious and
sadistic he didn’t limit himself to
raiding ships no he was most successful
at pillaging towns they say he ate a
Spanish soldiers heart straight from his
chest but what goes around comes around
and eventually he met a deaf even more
gruesome than the ones he dished out he
and his crew were captured and eaten by
a cannibalistic tribe in Panama number 7
Samuel Bellamy oh that’s right
pirate of the year again black Sam
Bellamy wasn’t just a pirate he was a
romantic he started out as a poor sailor
but when he fell in love with the
beautiful Maria Hallett he turned to
piracy in the hopes that riches would
win her parents over but Maria’s parents
were weary of Bellamy’s ability to earn
a decent living
so in Bellamy heard of sunken Spanish
treasure in Florida he set sail with
hopes of returning as a respected and
rich captain even when he crossed over
to the wrong side of the law he was
never a violent bloodthirsty Buccaneer
he once captured a slave ship and
proceeded to free the slaves giving them
the option to join his crew if they
wanted number six and Bonnie and Bonnie
was only around 16 when she ran away
with her pirate lover the infamous
Calico Jack while still married to
small-time pirate James Bonnie dressed
as a man she terrorized the Caribbean at
his side having divorced her husband and
married her new lover she was apparently
more bloodthirsty and better at holding
her liquor than most of the crew which
included the previously mentioned Mary
Reed though they were eventually
arrested and sentenced to hang it seems
that Anne managed to escape that fate no
one knows if she returned to her family
or if she took up a new identity and set
back out to sea it’s been well
speculated that her father pulled some
strings to smuggle her out
number five Henry every the man they
called long Ben was also known as the
king of the Pirates he started out in
the British Royal Navy then later staged
a mutiny while working on a warship and
became a pirate captain even though he
was a pirate for only two years he
amassed incredible wealth and was feared
all across the Red Sea and the Indian
Ocean after two years he was so rich he
retired and spent the rest of his life
in hiding probably living it up on an
island drinking rum out of a coconut or
perhaps a skull they say it started with
a man named Henry Avery sailed into the
port of Nassau
bribe the colonial governor to look past
the sins encounters crew upon the beach
thus began the pirate issue on New
Providence island number four Sir
Francis Drake Francis Drake was a
privateer under Queen Elizabeth the
first but that didn’t make him any less
violent or ferocious than illegal
pirates the English Merchant Marine was
basically under orders of the Queen to
go out and disrupt Spanish shipping he
was in fact seen as a role model for the
Pirates of the later Golden Age and was
one of the only pirates known to have
actually buried treasure his particular
enemy was Spain and he fought the
Spanish so viciously that they dubbed
him el dragging the Spanish had almost
won without effort now the English began
to Harris them number three Blackbeard
what be your name gal no i’ii be back
beard edward teach better known as
Blackbeard wasn’t just a pirate he
commanded a pirate army and he was known
to charge into battle with a sword in
each hand several loaded pistols and lit
fuses under his hat no wonder he was
feared and admired throughout the West
Indies his ship Queen Anne’s Revenge is
one of the most famous pirate ships in
history legend has it that when he was
finally defeated and beheaded his
headless body swam around the ship
several times before sinking you
wouldn’t believe it if it wasn’t there
in a book that this guy did what he did
it’s his fantastic stuff and he can’t he
can’t make that stuff up number two
Ching she Ching she wasn’t just a
powerful pirate captain she was also one
of the most badass women in history
mistress Ching with her adopted son
turned husband Cheung Potts I she had
control over 1,500 ships and 80,000
pirates which makes her pirate army one
of the biggest naval armies in history
together they plundered ships and towns
all through the South China Sea
shipwreck coal is a fortress a well
supplied fortress eventually the
desperate government offered her amnesty
in exchange for peace so she retired
from piracy and started running a casino
instead before we unveil our number one
pick here are some honorable mentions
Captain William Kidd a pirate so
villainous that he almost destroyed the
British Empire number one Bartholomew
Roberts Bartholomew Roberts or Black
Bart as he posthumously became known
sail during the Golden Age of piracy and
he was the most successful pirate of his
time though not terribly bloodthirsty he
was cold-blooded calculating and
shrewdly practical and he plundered over
four hundred and seventy ships during
his reign an all-time record for pirates
that was crew called him pistol proof he
did eventually die in battle and his
death is set to mark the end of the
Golden Age you honor a promise to ensure
that Roberts body would never be put on
display do you agree with our list
prepare to set sail who’s your favorite
historical pirate for more swashbuckling
top 10s published every day be sure to
subscribe to watchmojo.com
you
watchmojo.com and today we’re counting
down our picks for the top 10 most
famous pirates in history for this list
we’re defining piracy as crimes and
violence at sea however we will also
include some historical figures that
were officially privateers that is they
were exactly the same as pirates but the
government sanctioned their actions
making them legitimate acts of war as
opposed to criminal offenses while
pirates and privateers were technically
different the line between them was
often blurred and what one country would
call an honorable privateer another
would call a bloodthirsty pirate ready
number 10 Sir Henry Morgan Florida
though he was actually a British
privateer Sir Henry Morgan was such a
fearsome and successful raider that the
Spanish called him a pirate throughout
his career he attacked ships all through
the Caribbean and eventually fought in
an epic battle to capture Panama City
commanding 1200 Buccaneers and 30 ships
nobody had the capacity except Morgan to
rally everybody in the Caribbean and say
we’re gonna go after not a little
village not a little town not a little
Perl boat we’re gonna go after the big
time the battle led Morgan to be
arrested and dragged back to England but
the British king reacted by knighting
him and making him deputy governor of
Jamaica
arise Sir Henry Morgan we are most
pleased you will be our
in Jamaica number 9 Mary read Mary read
to my mum and then I called friends but
not a word of it to anyone or all on
mine you as well at a time when women
were seen as little more than property
Mary read wasn’t gonna let that stop her
being used to dressing up as a boy for
various reasons throughout her childhood
read disguised herself as a male to join
the British military and built a
reputation for herself as fierce and
skilled in battle when peacetime stilted
her life in the military read quit and
became a pirate instead well more like
she was forced to after the ship she
boarded was captured you see no threat
not yeah you’re a woman I am but from
then on she sailed fought and drank as
hard as the male pirates pretty hardcore
for a 17th century girl
number 8 huzzah lulu-nee Jean David no
known as Francois la Luna was a true
pirate of the Caribbean vicious and
sadistic he didn’t limit himself to
raiding ships no he was most successful
at pillaging towns they say he ate a
Spanish soldiers heart straight from his
chest but what goes around comes around
and eventually he met a deaf even more
gruesome than the ones he dished out he
and his crew were captured and eaten by
a cannibalistic tribe in Panama number 7
Samuel Bellamy oh that’s right
pirate of the year again black Sam
Bellamy wasn’t just a pirate he was a
romantic he started out as a poor sailor
but when he fell in love with the
beautiful Maria Hallett he turned to
piracy in the hopes that riches would
win her parents over but Maria’s parents
were weary of Bellamy’s ability to earn
a decent living
so in Bellamy heard of sunken Spanish
treasure in Florida he set sail with
hopes of returning as a respected and
rich captain even when he crossed over
to the wrong side of the law he was
never a violent bloodthirsty Buccaneer
he once captured a slave ship and
proceeded to free the slaves giving them
the option to join his crew if they
wanted number six and Bonnie and Bonnie
was only around 16 when she ran away
with her pirate lover the infamous
Calico Jack while still married to
small-time pirate James Bonnie dressed
as a man she terrorized the Caribbean at
his side having divorced her husband and
married her new lover she was apparently
more bloodthirsty and better at holding
her liquor than most of the crew which
included the previously mentioned Mary
Reed though they were eventually
arrested and sentenced to hang it seems
that Anne managed to escape that fate no
one knows if she returned to her family
or if she took up a new identity and set
back out to sea it’s been well
speculated that her father pulled some
strings to smuggle her out
number five Henry every the man they
called long Ben was also known as the
king of the Pirates he started out in
the British Royal Navy then later staged
a mutiny while working on a warship and
became a pirate captain even though he
was a pirate for only two years he
amassed incredible wealth and was feared
all across the Red Sea and the Indian
Ocean after two years he was so rich he
retired and spent the rest of his life
in hiding probably living it up on an
island drinking rum out of a coconut or
perhaps a skull they say it started with
a man named Henry Avery sailed into the
port of Nassau
bribe the colonial governor to look past
the sins encounters crew upon the beach
thus began the pirate issue on New
Providence island number four Sir
Francis Drake Francis Drake was a
privateer under Queen Elizabeth the
first but that didn’t make him any less
violent or ferocious than illegal
pirates the English Merchant Marine was
basically under orders of the Queen to
go out and disrupt Spanish shipping he
was in fact seen as a role model for the
Pirates of the later Golden Age and was
one of the only pirates known to have
actually buried treasure his particular
enemy was Spain and he fought the
Spanish so viciously that they dubbed
him el dragging the Spanish had almost
won without effort now the English began
to Harris them number three Blackbeard
what be your name gal no i’ii be back
beard edward teach better known as
Blackbeard wasn’t just a pirate he
commanded a pirate army and he was known
to charge into battle with a sword in
each hand several loaded pistols and lit
fuses under his hat no wonder he was
feared and admired throughout the West
Indies his ship Queen Anne’s Revenge is
one of the most famous pirate ships in
history legend has it that when he was
finally defeated and beheaded his
headless body swam around the ship
several times before sinking you
wouldn’t believe it if it wasn’t there
in a book that this guy did what he did
it’s his fantastic stuff and he can’t he
can’t make that stuff up number two
Ching she Ching she wasn’t just a
powerful pirate captain she was also one
of the most badass women in history
mistress Ching with her adopted son
turned husband Cheung Potts I she had
control over 1,500 ships and 80,000
pirates which makes her pirate army one
of the biggest naval armies in history
together they plundered ships and towns
all through the South China Sea
shipwreck coal is a fortress a well
supplied fortress eventually the
desperate government offered her amnesty
in exchange for peace so she retired
from piracy and started running a casino
instead before we unveil our number one
pick here are some honorable mentions
Captain William Kidd a pirate so
villainous that he almost destroyed the
British Empire number one Bartholomew
Roberts Bartholomew Roberts or Black
Bart as he posthumously became known
sail during the Golden Age of piracy and
he was the most successful pirate of his
time though not terribly bloodthirsty he
was cold-blooded calculating and
shrewdly practical and he plundered over
four hundred and seventy ships during
his reign an all-time record for pirates
that was crew called him pistol proof he
did eventually die in battle and his
death is set to mark the end of the
Golden Age you honor a promise to ensure
that Roberts body would never be put on
display do you agree with our list
prepare to set sail who’s your favorite
historical pirate for more swashbuckling
top 10s published every day be sure to
subscribe to watchmojo.com
you
Please follow and like us: