The Ruthless Captain Charles Vane
Last week we ended our short series on Blackbeard and we mentioned a ruthless pirate who partied with him, that was Charles Vane. You can read our article about the events around that party here.
But Charles Vane wasn’t just ruthless, he was strategic and smart… but also stubborn and some may say he made some pretty stupid decisions despite being a strategist.
Was it his love for piracy, the way he treated others, or was it just dumb bad luck? By the end of this short series, you’ll have a pretty clear idea that it was pretty much all three.
Today we’re looking at the pirate Charles Vane who wasn’t shy about showing his displeasure with amnesty.
The Spanish Fleet
On July 17th, 1715 a Spanish fleet was making its way from Cuba back to Spain with special cargo, a common voyage usually carrying items for trade but sometimes tons of gold and silver. This was one of those times.
The Spanish fleet kept their gold and silver in chests. That’s like pirate crack
Now we all know that pirates were sailing the ocean blue looking for ships to plunder but we also know the sea is a harsh mistress no matter how well you treat her. The Spanish fleet was hit by a terrible hurricane off the coast of Florida dumping all of their treasure into the sea while the men tried to salvage what they could, including their lives.
But almost 15 hundred sailors died in the storm with many others making their way to the sandy beaches of Florida. Over the next several months they tried to salvage their gold and silver from the ocean, building small camps along the coast.
The Hunt for Treasure
What they didn’t realize is the moment their treasure hit the ocean it was as if a meal bell rang out to all the hungry pirates, one of which was Henry Jennings and his crew including Charles Vane.
Not much is known of Charles Vane prior to working with Jennings, he was possibly a privateer or part of the royal navy but what was known was his skill as a brilliant navigator and strategist on the high seas.
The crew reached the Florida camps and shipwreck, taking what they could and killing anyone who came in their way. In the end, they took off with 87,000 euros worth of gold, silver, and other items equivalent to over 5 million today.
The Ruthless Charles Vane
Charles Vane was learning a lot from Henry Jennings including being ruthless. How ruthless? Well, one story involving Jennings being betrayed by another pirate Sam Bellamy should explain.
In 1716 Bellamy took control of one of Jennings’s ships and escaped. Jennings took his anger out by sinking Bellamy’s other smaller ships and canoes, killing whatever men were on it, then killing 20 English and Frenchman around, and finally burning down an innocent Englishman’s merchant ship.
Some people might say that wasn’t a completely rational response. I would be one of those people but Charles Vane probably wasn’t one.
That would come in handy for Charles Vane when the following year in 1717, he was leading his own crew after Jennings was chosen to become the unofficial mayor of the Republic of Pirates.
The Pirate Republic
Yep, that’s right, the people who were opposing governments and stealing their ships decided to set up a loose government of their own in Nassau, Bahamas. Jennings and another famous pirate Benjamin Hornigold set up the republic.
Picture this but bigger, angrier, and drunker! PIRATES!
And you really can’t blame them. Many pirates started off as privateers, which were sort of like mercenaries loyal to a country but loyalty tends to fade real fast when there's money to be made. Once a privateer was officially declared a pirate, they were now wanted men and they needed a safe place.
Jennings was considered a pirate after his theft of silver and gold so he made camp in Nassau. Where there were once a couple of dozen pirates, soon there were a thousand following his lead. In a future article, we’ll go into more details about the haven but for now, Jennings had to take a step back from the sea and Charles Vane became captain.
Captain Without A Code
Soon reports came in about Vane stalking and capturing ships. Instead of letting the crew go free if they surrendered or letting them join like Blackbeard and other captains did, Vane would kill and torture the crews even if they joined him.
Vane was thought to have sailed without a pirate code which was usually expected on pirate ships. This allowed Vane to give less to his crew and would often keep most of the gold and silver for himself.
So what do you do if you have ruthless pirates roaming around the seas, especially in the Americas, they’ve stolen millions from the Spanish, they’ve created a Republic, overtaken the colony of Nassau, and are now attacking English ships without worry? Well if you’re King George, you offer a pardon.
Pirate Pardons… wait, what?
A smart move on his part. King George knew he couldn’t beat them, pirates were loyal to themselves, take out the republic and another would pop up, enforce more rules and more pirates would pop up. But they were wanted men, the only safe place for them was Nassau and even then they had to be on the lookout in case they were attacked by any Navy, so instead of fighting them; you exonerate them.
And plenty of pirates took the King up on his limited-time offer called the Act of Grace but Vane wasn’t one of them. Instead, he actively opposed it and led a crew of pirates defying the pardon, he now led a bigger fleet than ever before.
With the success of the first pardon, King George decided to announce another one, known as the King’s Pardon. In February 1718 the HMS Phoenix led by Captain Vincent Pearse arrived in Nassau to announce the pardon and convince the remaining pirates to surrender. When Vane didn’t, he was captured and put in jail, losing his ship, the Lark, while the pirates lost Nassau.
By not accepting the pardon, Vane was destined to death but several ex-pirates including Benjamin Horningold intervened, convincing Vane to take the pardon and Pearse to release Vane as an act of good faith.
Both parties agreed and Vane was set free but Pearse kept his ship, the Lark, and that didn’t sit right with Vane. Only a few weeks later Vane was back pirating but his target was set on Pearse and retrieving his ship.
The Return of Captain Charles Vane
Vane harassed Pearse daily with his stolen ships eventually driving him from Nassau and leaving the Lark behind. And the remaining pirates took Nassau back, reestablishing the Pirate Republic.
Vane recreated his fleet of ships and rebuilt his crew along with famed pirates Calico Jack and Edward England, continuing their name-brand type of cruelty to those they captured. Over the spring of 1718, they captured many ships including a large French ship with 20 cannons.
In July 1718, while docked in Nassau, Vane was surprised by the arrival of a British Fleet led by national hero and expert captain Woodes Roger. Roger was there to once again offer the King’s Pardon as time was running out to take the offer, he was also there to capture any pirates not willing to accept the pardon and take back Nassau.
Roger barricaded the entrances and exits to the docks preventing Vane from escaping but Vane proved himself to be more crafty than anticipated.
Vane set fire to the huge French ship and sent it unmanned toward the barricade. The large fireball approaching forced Rogers and his men to pull their ships off to the side while Vane and his men boarded a smaller ship and escaped through the opening.
Upon reaching the other side Vane shot at Roger, not enough to cause any damage but enough to make it clear, Captain Charles Vane surrenders to no King.
Woodes Roger watched Vane set off into the seas but enacted another plan, in order to catch a pirate, you need another pirate. After taking back Nassau, Rogers hired former pirate Captain Benjamin Horningold to capture Charles Vane, dead or alive.
But that’s a story for another time… or now. You can read our article here, Captain Charles Vane: The Lucky Pirate
