Last updated on January 7th, 2023 at 12:28 am

Piracy became an increasingly common way of life for several people in the 16th century. The period between 1650 and 1730 is considered the Golden Age of Piracy. During this time, there were said to have been over 5000 pirates operating at sea.

Pirates may have been glamorized on screen in popular culture. Still, images of pirates charging down from ships, looting, killing, and engaging in different bouts of violence were not particularly picturesque for those who lived in the Golden Age of Piracy. 

A pirate’s life was fascinating, free-spirited, and shrouded in adventure and mystery. But it was also fierce and full of difficulties.

Here are 10 of the most famous pirates of all time.

Captain William Kidd

Captain Kidd was appointed by British authorities to help deal with pirates but ended up becoming one himself. Ironic!

He was born in Dundee, Scotland, and moved to New York early to work as an apprentice aboard a pirate ship. The Earl of Bellomont had commissioned Kidd as a privateer under the authority of the British Crown to help combat French forces and other pirates.

Corrupted by his crew, Kidd had gone on to capture and plunder a ship captained by an Englishman, making him a wanted pirate and a traitor to the Crown. Governor Bellomont engineered the arrest of Kidd by luring him back to New work under false promises of amnesty. 

He was placed in solitary confinement for a year, where it’s said that he was driven temporarily insane. Eventually, he was taken to England, where he was tried, convicted, and hanged.

It’s been said that Captain Kid secretly buried many of his treasures on an island before his death. For years, many treasure hunters have carried out expeditions intending to locate Kidd’s hidden treasures but to no avail. Kidd’s tales of hidden treasure even inspired the author Robert Louis Stevenson when he was writing his famous book Treasure Island.

Sir Francis Drake

One of the most renowned pirates in the Caribbean, Sir Francis Drake, lived from 1540 to 1596. He was well acquainted with the art of sailing and navigation and, in 1572, was granted a privateering commission by Queen Elizabeth I. 

Privateers were essentially the same as pirates, but with the government’s backing. 

With his great ship, The Golden Hind, Sir Francis led numerous successful attacks on the Spanish naval fleets while consistently raiding and pillaging many Spanish towns. He fought the Spanish so ferociously that he was nicknamed El Draque by the Spaniards, which means “The Dragon.”

Sir Francis Drake was among the first to make English power known at sea. He was the first Englishman to sail the Pacific and to circumnavigate the globe. Queen Elizabeth went aboard his ship, The Golden Hind, and Knighted him. He was seen as a role model for the later pirates of the Golden Age.