1717 in piracy

See also: 1716 in piracy, other events in 1717, 1718 in piracy, and Timeline of piracy.

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Events

Caribbean Sea

• January - HMS Scarborough bombards and destroys several pirate vessels careening on St. Croix, stranding the pirate crew.
• Late February - Black Sam Bellamy in the Sultana takes the Whydah Gally near Jamaica and keeps it for his own use.
• November 28 - Benjamin Hornigold captures the French slave ship La Concorde near Martinique.
• December - Hornigold gives La Concorde to his first mate, Edward Teach, who renames the ship Queen Anne's Revenge.

North America

• Spring - Edward Teach and Benjamin Hornigold take two sloops to Virginia, robbing three vessels en route, then return to Nassau, Bahamas.
• April - Bellamy seizes a merchant vessel off South Carolina.
• April 26 - The Whydah Gally wrecks in a nor'easter off Cape Cod, Massachusetts; Bellamy and 143 men are drowned. Over 4 tons of treasure is lost under just 14 feet (4.3 m) of water – it would elude discovery for over 260 years.
• July - Stede Bonnet's pirates in the Revenge plunder the Anne, Turbet, Endeavour, and Young off the coast of Virginia, burning the Turbet.
• August - Bonnet raids two vessels off South Carolina, firing one.
• October - Edward Teach and Stede Bonnet raid shipping in the mouth of Delaware Bay.

Europe

• September 5 - King George I of Great Britain issues a royal decree, known as the Act of Grace pardoning all pirates who surrender to the appointed authorities by September 5, 1718.

Deaths

• April 27 - Black Sam Bellamy, pirate captain (born February 23, 1689, aged 28), along with 143 of his crew.