4 Chapter 3 Captain!

Chapter 3 Captain! In the fall of 1717, Edward got a chance to move up in the pirate ranks. He and Hornigold met a man named Stede Bonnet. Bonnet was actually an English gentleman, not a roug-hand-tumble sailor. He had owned land on the Caribbean island of Barbados, where he grew sugarcane and had a family. He chose to leave that life behind, however, and become a pirate. Even though he had never been a sailor, he built a ship, found a crew, and headed toward the coast of the American colonies in search of ships to plunder.

Bonnet's pirating went well at first. He captured four ships in his first weeks as a pirate captain. When pirates captured a ship, they did one of three things. If they thought they could use the ship and add it to their pirate fleet, they kept it, usually after setting the people on the ship adrift in small boats. Then they moved a pirate crew aboard to run the ship. They sometimes just stole everything from the ship, including the passengers' possessions, and then let it continue its journey. If they did not want the ship, and they wanted to send a message to beware, they burned it. Most pirates let any passengers and sailors escape first, but a few simply killed them.

Though Bonnet had captured a few ships, he was not a great sailor. So Hornigold took control of Bonnet's ship, the Revenge. He then made Edward Teach captain of the Revenge. Bonnet remained on board, but only as an assistant to his new captain.

The Revenge carried twelve large cannons and had 150 sailors on her crew. In the fall, Edward left Hornigold behind and struck out on his own, taking the Revenge for himself. He headed north to find ships entering the big ports of the American colonies.

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Near Virginia, the Revenge stalked and captured a sloop called the Betty and stole all the wine that the ship was carrying. After putting the passengers into lifeboats, the crew sank the Betty. For the next several weeks, heading north along the Virginia and New Jersey coasts, Teach and the Revenge robbed ship after ship. They stole wheat, wine, sails, ropes for rigging their ships, barrels of meat, and other supplies. Many captains brought