Battle of Cape Fear River (1718)

Battle of Cape Fear River

A map of the Cape Fear River.

Date	September 26–27, 1718
Location	Cape Fear River, Province of Carolina
Result	British victory

Belligerents

Kingdom of Great Britain

Stede Bonnet's Pirates

Commanders and leaders

William Rhett

Stede Bonnet

Strength

2 sloops-of-war

3 sloops-of-war
3 canoes

Casualties and losses

12 killed
18 wounded
2 sloops-of-war damaged

12 killed or wounded
~40 captured
3 sloops-of-war captured
3 canoes captured

Golden Age of Piracy

Turkish Abductions Lake Nicaragua Maracaibo 1st Porto Bello Panama 2nd Porto Bello Mandab Strait Chepo 17 November 1717 Charleston Cape Fear River 23 November 1718 Ocracoke Inlet Capture of the William 5 February 1722 Cape Lopez Capture of the Fancy

The Battle of Cape Fear River, or the Battle of the Sandbars, was fought in September 1718 between a British naval expedition from South Carolina against the pirate ships of Stede Bonnet. British forces defeated the pirates in the Cape Fear River estuary which led to Bonnet's death by hanging in Charleston.

Background

During the end of the Golden Age of Piracy, the Royal Navy was constantly in campaign against pirates in the Caribbean and off North America. Stede Bonnet was a very successful pirate, having captured several merchant ships and assembled his own squadron of pirate ships. In August 1718, Bonnet was sailing from the Delaware Bay to the Cape Fear River. He commanded his sloop-of-war flagship Royal James and two other armed sloops, Francis and Fortune. Royal James was a former flagship of Blackbeard which was armed with eight cannon. The other two sloops were similarly armed. All together, 46 pirates crewed them. Royal James was in need of careening and the hurricane season was soon to come so Bonnet chose the Cape Fear estuary as a reliable shelter against storms. For the next few weeks, Bonnet's crew repaired the Royal James with material salvaged from a captured shallop.

In late August, reports of Bonnet's sloops in the Cape Fear River reached Governor Robert Johnson of South Carolina. Johnson ordered Militia Colonel William Rhett to command an operation to destroy the pirate threat. He did not have regular Royal Navy Sailors under his command, but probably volunteer militiamen and sailors from Charleston. At the colonel's disposal were two eight-gun sloops with a combined 130 men.

Battle

Colonel Rhett reached the Cape Fear River estuary on the night of September 26, 1718, and was sighted by Bonnet and his men. Believing the sloops to be that of merchants, the pirates boarded three canoes and headed for the unrecognized South Carolinian expedition. It was at this time that Rhett's flagship, Henry, ran aground on a sandbar. This allowed the canoes to approach close enough to discover the identity of the grounded vessel. Once they did they turned about and paddled back to their ships unharmed.

Instead of fleeing up the small river in darkness, Bonnet decided that he would fight his way back to the sea, so the next morning at daylight, the pirates prepared to pass the two British sloops, which were now free of the sandbar. They dispersed amongst Royal James, Fortune and Francis and loaded their arms. At daylight the following morning, Bonnet raised his flag and attacked. They sailed for a few minutes until they came within range of the enemy ships, then opened fire with cannon and muskets. The British sloops returned fire and split up, but Henry ran aground again along with the other ship. To avoid enemy fire, Stede Bonnet steered his vessels close to the western shore of the river, and they ran aground on sand.

A memorial in Charleston commemorating the hanging of Stede Bonnet at White Point.

At this point, only Henry and Royal James were within range of each other. For five to six hours, the two sides dueled, each unable to move. Henry was grounded in a position which left her crew with minimal cover from incoming fire. The opposite was true for Royal James, whose hull provided a bulwark against enemy fire. During the fighting, Bonnet stayed on deck with his pistol in hand and warned that he would shoot any man who showed cowardice. The pirates' morale was good though; they cheered each other on and dared the South Carolinians to board. After five hours of fighting the South Carolinians had suffered 30 casualties, with nine pirates also killed or injured.^[1]

The British sloops were downstream, and when the water began to rise in the early afternoon, Rhett's sloops were freed, while Bonnet's remained stranded. The British repaired their rigging and raised their sails. Soon after, Henry was in a position to fire its starboard guns directly onto the deck of Bonnet's Royal James.^[1] Bonnet ordered his gunner George Ross to light the powder magazine and scuttle Royal James, but he was persuaded not to by his surviving crewmen who had already surrendered. After another few moments of conflict, Royal James was boarded and its crew captured.^[1]

Aftermath

The South Carolinians suffered twelve killed and eighteen wounded, while the pirates sustained twelve casualties and all the survivors were captured.^[1] Bonnet was taken to Charleston, arriving on October 3 to await trial on charges of piracy. Bonnet was separated from the majority of his crew and held for almost a month at the home of a Charleston provost marshal. With him was his boatswain, Ignatius Pell, and the sailing master, David Herriott, all of whom escaped with the help of two slaves and a Native American and possibly local merchant Richard Tookerman. Governor Robert Johnson immediately ordered a £700 bounty to be awarded to any man who could kill or capture the pirates. Herriott was shot and killed on Sullivan Island a few days later^[2] and Bonnet, the gentleman pirate, was soon recaptured after a skirmish on Sullivan's Island and hanged on December 10, 1718.

References

1 2 3 4 Konstam, Angus (2006). Blackbeard. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 194–195. ISBN 9780471758853.
↑ "Other Early Herriotts in America" (PDF). Herriottheritage.org. Retrieved 10 March 2016.

External links

Queen Anne's Revenge: Archaeological Site, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
Piracy worries in pirate pursuit Blackbeard, Baltimore Sun
Out to Sea, Elite Magazine
National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service
Scientists Show Relics From Ship Fit For Pirate, Possibly Blackbeard, Chicago Tribune

Piracy

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Types of pirate	Pirates Privateers Buccaneers Corsairs Sindhi corsairs Timber pirate River pirate Brethren of the Coast Barbary pirates Moro pirates Wōkòu Vikings Ushkuiniks Narentines Cilician pirates Confederate privateer Baltic Slavic pirates Uskoks Cossack pirates Sea Beggars Sea Dogs Freebooters

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Noted pirates	Bartholomew Roberts Hendrick Lucifer Hayreddin Barbarossa Blackbeard Stede Bonnet Anne Bonny Abshir Boyah Laurens de Graaf Michel de Grammont Calico Jack Alexandre Exquemelin William Kidd Edward Low Redbeard William Dampier Black Caesar Henri Caesar Roberto Cofresí Jean Lafitte Henry Morgan Lawrence Prince François l'Olonnais Henry Strangways Charles Gibbs Benito de Soto Diabolito Pedro Gilbert Mansel Alcantra Hippolyte Bouchard Samuel Hall Lord Nathaniel Gordon Albert W. Hicks Eli Boggs Bully Hayes Rahmah ibn Jabir al-Jalahimah Louis-Michel Aury Shirahama Kenki John Newland Maffitt Joseph Baker Joseph Barss Jørgen Jørgensen Vincenzo Gambi Dominique You Pierre Lafitte John Hawkins Peter Easton Nicholas van Hoorn Moses Cohen Henriques Piet Pieterszoon Hein Charlotte de Berry Samuel Bellamy Benjamin Hornigold Samuel Mason Henry Every Roche Braziliano Gan Ning Liang Daoming Wang Zhi Limahong Zheng Zhilong Zheng Jing Cai Qian Cheung Po Tsai Ching Shih Shap Ng-tsai Chui A-poo Lai Choi San Fūma Kotarō Olivier Levasseur

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Pirate battles and incidents	Jiajing wokou raids Turkish Abductions Chepo Expedition Battle of Mandab Strait Blockade of Charleston Battle of Cape Fear River Battle of Ocracoke Inlet Capture of the William Sack of Campeche Attack on Veracruz Raid on Cartagena Battle of Cape Lopez Capture of the Fancy Persian Gulf Campaign Battle of New Orleans Anti-Piracy in the Aegean Anti-piracy in the West Indies Capture of the Bravo Action of 9 November 1822 Capture of the El Mosquito Battle of Doro Passage Falklands Expedition Great Lakes Patrol Balanguingui Expedition Battle of Tysami Battle of Tonkin River Battle of Nam Quan Battle of Ty-ho Bay Battle of the Leotung Antelope incident North Star affair Battle off Mukah Salvador Pirates Battle of Boca Teacapan Capture of the Ambrose Light Irene incident 1985 Lahad Datu ambush Operation Enduring Freedom – HOA Action of 18 March 2006 Action of 3 June 2007 Action of 28 October 2007 Operation Atalanta Carré d'As IV incident Action of 11 November 2008 Action of 9 April 2009 Maersk Alabama hijacking Operation Ocean Shield Action of 23 March 2010 Action of 1 April 2010 Action of 30 March 2010 Action of 5 April 2010 MV Moscow University hijacking Operation Dawn of Gulf of Aden Operation Dawn 8: Gulf of Aden Beluga Nomination incident Battle off Minicoy Island Quest incident MT Zafirah hijacking MT Orkim Harmony hijacking

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Fictional pirates	Tom Ayrton Barbe Rouge Hector Barbossa Captain Blood Captain Crook Captain Flint José Gaspar Captain Hook Don Karnage Monkey D. Luffy Roronoa Zoro One Piece Captain Nemo Captain Pugwash Red Rackham Captain Sabertooth Captain Stingaree Sandokan Long John Silver Jack Sparrow

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Literature	Treasure Island Facing the Flag On Stranger Tides Castaways of the Flying Dutchman The Angel's Command Voyage of Slaves Pirate Latitudes

Coordinates: 33°53′8″N 78°0′46″W / 33.88556°N 78.01278°W / 33.88556; -78.01278

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