Pirates & Shipwrecks · Pirate captain, 1722
Black Bart
Cape Lopez, Gabon
What happened
In 1719 pirates led by Howell Davis captured the ship Roberts was serving on and forced him to join them. Within six weeks of his capture, after Davis died, the crew elected Roberts as their captain. Between 1719 and 1722 he took more than 400 ships off the Americas and West Africa, most of them small fishing boats.
Why it matters
Measured by ships captured, Roberts was the most successful pirate of the Golden Age of Piracy.
What came next
On 10 February 1722 Captain Chaloner Ogle of HMS Swallow attacked Roberts's ships at Cape Lopez, in what is now Gabon, and Roberts was killed. Ogle was knighted in 1723, the only naval officer knighted for an anti-piracy operation.
Did you know?
His nickname Black Bart was a later invention and was not used in his lifetime.
Timeline
- 1682John Roberts is born in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
- 1719Pirates capture his ship and force him to join them.
- 5 February 1722HMS Swallow finds Roberts's ships at Cape Lopez.
- 10 February 1722Roberts is killed in the battle at Cape Lopez.
- 1723Chaloner Ogle is knighted.