Survey Says: Top Pirate Selector results, History Survey Selectsmart.com
  
HistoryThe top 16 Pirate Selector results of 7193 participants. Percentages indicate the frequency of the self-selected participants' top results for Pirate Selector.      

#1 15.4%
 
Sam Bellamy (active 1715-17) English born, traveled to Cape Cod and Florida in search of Spanish treasure. Died in sea storm.
#2 11.0%
 
Sir Francis Drake (circa 1540-1596) Revered as a hero in the fight against the Armada and despised as an upstart by the old nobility, Drake epitomizes the self-made Elizabethan privateer, rapacious in the hunt for treasure (especially Spanish treasure) but daring and visionary in exploration.
#3 10.4%
 
Bartholomew Roberts (Black Bart) - (1682-1722) Welsh pirate captain, said to have seized 400 ships off east Africa and the Caribbean.
#4 9.9%
 
Jack Rackmam (Calico Jack) (died 1720) His ship was subjected to a hail of cannon fire from a royal English vessel, Rackham and his crew were easily captured as most of the crew including Calico Jack were languishing from an alcoholic binge. Only Anne Bonny and Mary Read attempted to resist the attack, the rest of the crew were below decks in a drunken stupor.
#5 9.9%
 
Anne Bonny (active 1719) Irish, Married to Jack Rackham. A fierce fighter. Arrested she escaped the gallows due to pregnancy.
#6 9.7%
 
Thomas Tew (died 1695) born in Rhode Island. Supposedly a licensed privateer, but everyone knew that he was actually a pirate. In the Red Sea he successfully plundered Arabian and Indian cargoes. During a sea battle, he was mortally wounded.
#7 8.0%
 
Stede Bonnet (died 1718) Respectable middle-aged man who suddenly took up crime. Blackbeard found his dandy manner amusing. Hung in Charleston, SC.
#8 7.3%
 
Mary Read (active 1719-1721) English, dressed as man. Fought as soldier in Flanders. While sailing the Caribbean, the ship she was on was captured, by Jack Rackham's crew. Joined the crew. Later arrested she escaped the gallows due to pregnancy.
#9 6.0%
 
Woodes Rogers (1679?--1732) English privateer who became governor of the Bahamas and one of the key figures in suppressing pirates in the Caribbean.
#10 3.4%
 
Charles Vane (died 1720) Had an uncanny ability to find rich treasures and he was also charismatic and a natural leader. Vane and his crew happened upon a French Man-O-War but Vane being the prudent man that he was, elected not to attack the well armed ship, figuring its plunder was not worth the risk. His crew was outraged by this act of cowardice and his position as captain was put to vote. Vane lost the vote and with his supporters was put in a small sloop and cast adrift. Later he assembled another crew. He was tried for piracy in 1720. Found guilty, Vane was hanged and his body hung in chains.
#11 3.1%
 
Henry Every or Avery (Long Ben) (Circa 1685-1728) English. Brutal and successful, he escaped punishment for his crimes.
#12 1.8%
 
Edward Teach (Blackbeard) (died 1718) Brutal pirate known for braids and beard. Terrorized North American coast. Killed in battle.
#13 1.8%
 
Edward England (died 1720) While an officer on a Jamaican sloop he was captured, after which he joined the pirates. For a period he was a pirate captain, he was removed as captain & put ashore on Mauritius with 3 others. England eventually made his way to Saint Augustine's Bay where he would die a pauper having lived off the charity of other pirates.
#14 1.3%
 
William Dampier (1652-1715), the explorer and sea captain, is one of the most highly regarded map-makers and navigators of all time. Dampier was born in Somersetshire, England and went to sea by age 16. Between 1675 and 1678 he became involved with buccaneers along the Spanish Main in Central America.
#15 1.0%
 
William Kidd (circa 1645-1701) Scottish sea captain. Lived in New York. Privateer who took up piracy. Hung in London.
#16 0.2%
 
Sir Henry Morgan (circa 1635-88) Welsh-born Morgan's raid on Panama had taken place after the conclusion of peace talks between England and Spain, he was arrested in Jamaica and extradited to London in April of 1672. Two years later the peace was broken and Spain became an enemy of England once more. Morgan paid out huge portions of his treasure to the crown for his freedom. King Charles II knighted Morgan, and returned him to Jamaica as Governor, where he lived as a wealthy and respected planter until his death on August 25, 1688, at the age of 52.

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