“Great Pirate Roberts”, or Bartholomew Roberts as his friends knew him, was a pirate of the 18th century.
Trawling up and down the coasts of North and South America, he built such a reputation for himself that guard ships in the West indies would sail away as soon as they spotted him rather than risk a confrontation.
Bartholomew Roberts was known to be tall, dark and handsome and he had a penchant for the outrageous - he could usually be found wearing a rich crimson waistcoat along with a hat with a red feather in it. He also wore a heavy gold chain from which hung a large diamond cross. most strikingly, perhaps, he wore a silk sling over his shoulder from which he hung two pairs of pistols.
Roberts employed variable tactics to his advantage, ranging from the bold to the clever or even to the downright unusual. On one occassion he sailed straight into the harbour of Trepassey in Newfoundland with his men playing trumpets and drums. He also boldly flew his black colours whilst on approach. In response, the twenty-two ships anchored there promptly fled!
The black flag that Bartholomew flew was quite unique - it depicted him standing on two human skulls, one initialled A.S.H. and the other A.M.H, This stood for ‘A Barbadian’s Head’ and ‘A Marinician’s Head’ and reflected upon the hatred that Roberts had for these two sets of people. Also on his flag, he was depicted with a dagger in one hand and a flaming sword in the other.
Robert’s pirate days came to an end off the coast of Africa when he perished in a sea conflict.
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