The Brief Career of Major Stede Bonnet

Stede Bonnet was a gentleman of good reputation from the island of Barbados who was said to have taken up piracy on account of a nagging wife. If he intended to escape her tongue he most assuredly succeeded for he will never hear her or anyone else's voice again. It must be allowed, however, that there are less drastic measures than to go "a pirating on the account", as they say.

Bonnet fitted out a sloop, the Revenge, with ten guns and a crew of seventy. He took several ships off Virginia.

After cruising up and down the coast he came across the notorious Blackbeard who seeing that the Major was a gentle soul, unfit for this roguish life, took his crew away from him.

Bonnet was chastened by this experience but decided to try his hand at piracy once more. After some success, he was waylaid by Colonel William Rhet and a small naval force. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valour, the Major and his crew willingly surrendered.