During the Golden Age of Pirates there was a famous African pirate known to his victims and fellow pirates as “Black Caesar”. Pirate Black Caesar served on the Edward Teach’s (alias “Blackbeard”) pirate ship the Queen Anne’s Revenge and was a long lasting pirate, surviving past many of his contemporaries.
Slavery and Piracy
During the Golden Age of pirates, some of the merchandise that was being shipped across the seas was human trafficking. The slave trade was reaching its peak and many Africans were being stolen and sold as slaves. Some of the lucky ones would manage to escape, which is why it wasn’t uncommon to see African pirates among the crew of the best pirate ships. Black Caesar was destined to work on a plantation as a slave, but he managed to escape and turn his fate around becoming one of the wealthiest pirates in the New World.
A Tribal War Chief
Pirate Black Caesar was once a powerful leader and tribal war chief in his home terrain, where he was both feared and respected. Despite avoiding capture on many occasions, he was eventually tricked into stepping foot on a slave ship under the promise of riches and treasures. He was quickly sold as a slave. Besides being very bright and intelligent Pirate Black Caesar was renowned for having an amazing physical stature.
From slave to pirate
Black Caesar’s destiny changed with a hurricane. He made friends with a sailor who was on board the slave ship. The sailor could probably see that Black Caesar was different from the rest. During a storm, the story goes that the sailor freed Black Caesar and together they took the crew and captain hostage, escaping in a longboat that was packed with a lot of ammunition and other added supplies. The sailor and Black Caesar survived as the ship sunk in the storm and all of the crewmembers lost their lives.
The start of a beautiful relationship
Black Caesar and the sailor were on a longboat in the West Indies and the two started pirating, and they were able to do this by acting like they were shipwrecked. The passing ships on the coast were lured in, and when the passing ships got close Black Caesar and the sailor would rob the merchants of all their riches and supplies. If the captain would refuse to give up his riches and supplies, then Black Caesar and the sailor would threaten the captain by sinking the ship. The two were able to continue this scheme for several years until the two had many treasures and a lot of stockpile, which was in the Florida Keys.
For the love of a woman
The downfall of this unusual duo was a woman. On one occasion, the sailor and Black Caesar brought back a woman as a prize from one of the ships that they robbed and the two had a falling out over this woman. The falling out went into a duel and Black Caesar killed the sailor (his friend), then took the woman as his own. After that he put together his own pirate crew, then they started attacking all the ships on the shipping lanes of West Indies. Eventually he joined Blackbeard on the Queen Anne’s Revenge ship where he ended up being captured and tried for piracy along with the rest of Blackbeard’s crew. They were all found guilty, then in 1718 they were all hung, which was the end of Black Caesar’s pirating career, although he remains to be the longest surviving pirate of the Golden Age of Pirates.
