Francois L’Olonnais
He was a French buccaneer, pirate and privateer who attacked Spanish ships and towns in the 1660’s. His hatred for the Spanish was legendary and he was known as a particularly bloodthirsty and ruthless pirate. After two or three expeditions, the Governor of Tortuga gave him his own ship. L’Olonnais, now a captain, continued attacking Spanish shipping and acquired a reputation for cruelty so great that the Spanish often preferred to die fighting than to suffer torture as one of his captives.
Madame Cheng
She challenged the empires of the time, such as the British, Portuguese and the Qing dynasty. Undefeated, she would become one of China and Asia’s strongest pirates, and one of world history’s most powerful pirates. She was also one of the few pirate captains to retire from piracy. Ching Shih went back to Canton with her young son and opened a gambling house.
“Red Legs” Greaves
When he was a boy, his parents died in slavery the master shortly after, and the orphaned boy was sold to another man who was claimed to have been violent and to have often beaten Greaves as a teenager. He escapes his servitude and successfully managed to swim across a bay stowing away on a what he thought was a merchant ship ship preparing to leave Barbados, it was a pirate ship. He signed up.Eventually became Captain, fought and beat the other captain.Greaves rewrote the Ship’s Articles, specifically prohibiting the mistreatment of prisoners and allowing the surrender of merchant captains during battle. Throughout the decade, Greaves found great success as well as gaining a reputation as an honorable captain widely known for his humane treatment of prisoners and never participating in the raiding of poor coastal villages. Greaves was able to retire from piracy and settled down to the life of a gentleman farmer.
Cutty Sark
A British Clipper ship she was one of the last tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest, coming at the end of a long period of design development which halted as sailing ships gave way to steam propulsion. The Cutty Sark was destined for the tea trade, then an intensely competitive race across the globe from China to London. Cutty Sark was ordered by shipping magnate John Willis, who operated a shipping company founded by his father.This was a highly competitive price for an experimental, state-of-the-art vessel, and for a customer requiring the highest standards. Payment would be made in seven installments as the ship progressed, but with a penalty of £5 for every day the ship was late.
*by elizabethober
