Choco

Pirate Black Soul, who later became known as Choco, is a Welsh pirate who suffered for his skin color when growing up in Wales, Great Britain as a child. Not always a pirate, there were few opportunities for a black boy to progress and he found himself employed in heavy labor and working long hours, just to make ends meet. Nevertheless, he saw every job as an opportunity to learn something new.

Life on the open seas

Despite always looking at the positive side of life, in the end the discrimination was just too much and he decided to leave Wales for Spain, where he was met with the same discrimination. Nevertheless, in Spain he began to learn the art of navigation under the guidance of his uncle who had already spent some time as a sailor in the South of Spain. Black Soul continued working as a blacksmith until he was accepted by a merchant ship to join its crew.

Hard work and sailing

Black soul’s first chance to sail was when he was employed by a local merchant who was in a rush to load his ship. He made a bet with the merchant that he could load his ship in three hours. If he was successful to load it so quickly, the merchant would have to make him part of his crew. The Merchant and the rest of his crew laughed at Black Soul as other workers in the past had taken more than 15 hours to load the ship. Even so, the merchant accepted the deal, making fun of the young man as Black Soul quickly began to load the ship using a simple system of pulleys that he had designed himself. When the work had been completed in the time agreed, there was nothing left for the merchant to do than to welcome Black Soul onto his crew.

A businessman and pirate

It didn’t take long for everyone on the ship and later throughout the ports to learn of Black Soul’s swift method of loading the ships. He began exchanging his services for primary materials to build his own vessel, and soon enough, he set sail in his own ship, turning to piracy. His success as a pirate came naturally to him and he was famed for carrying out more than 400 robberies during the height of the Golden Age of Pirate and was rumoured to have caused great disruption to a British fleet with his brave crew. He was famed for having excellent manners and for treating women with great respect.

From Black Soul to Choco

Unfortunately, it was Black Soul’s love for a woman that brought about his greatest misfortune; albeit in hindsight, it was one of the best things that happened to him. Betrayed by his lover, he lost his crew and his was arrested for piracy. However, when he arrived to London, he was received as a hero for all the Spanish ships he had plundered and was set free. He then headed to Jamaica where he changed his name to Choco and joined Captain Morgan, who was passing through on the Jolly Roger pirate ship. Due to his extensive knowledge of running a ship and ability to train the crew, Choco was given the role of the boss on deck.