🏴‍☠️ The Pirate Battle Where Everybody Ran Aground

Stede Bonnet makes his last stand, Somali pirates strike again, and one of history’s richest pirate prizes changes hands... Issue #74 – Sept 25th 2026

This week, we're sailing from the Red Sea to Cape Fear and all the way into the modern Gulf of Aden.

Robert Culliford and Dirk Chivers capture a fortune. Jean Lafitte celebrates a birthday that may—or may not—actually be his birthday. And Stede Bonnet fights one of the strangest last stands of the Golden Age, when both sides run aground in the middle of the battle.

Then we're jumping forward three centuries for Modern Piracy Watch, where pirates are once again boarding merchant ships in some surprisingly familiar waters.

Hoist the colors. Issue 74 is underway. 🏴‍☠️

📜 THIS WEEK IN PIRATE HISTORY

💰 September 1698 — Culliford & Chivers Capture the Great Mahomet

The Red Sea was one of the richest hunting grounds a pirate could imagine.

Ships traveling between India and the Middle East carried fortunes in coin, precious goods and merchandise—and in September 1698, pirates Robert Culliford and Dirk Chivers went looking for exactly that kind of prize.

Culliford had only recently humiliated another famous pirate captain: William Kidd.

When Kidd encountered Culliford at Île Sainte-Marie off Madagascar, he intended to capture him. Instead, much of Kidd's disgruntled crew deserted and joined Culliford.

Culliford sailed away in June 1698 with his ranks considerably strengthened. He soon joined forces with Dutch pirate Dirk Chivers and other Pirate Rounders.

Then came the jackpot.

Their crews captured the Great Mahomet in the Red Sea.

The reported haul?

Around £130,000.

An extraordinary fortune in 1698. Chivers took command of the captured vessel, renamed it the New Soldado, and sailed it back toward the pirate haven of Sainte-Marie.

And there's a wonderful irony here.

Culliford would eventually be arrested and prosecuted for the capture of the Great Mahomet.

But the pirate who had sailed out to capture Culliford—Captain Kidd—would become the far more famous condemned pirate.

☠️ PIRATE REPUBLIC TAKE: Sometimes the Pirate Round produced treasure. Sometimes it produced legends.

This voyage produced both.

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🎂 September 25, 1780 — Jean Lafitte Is Born... Maybe

September 25, 1780 is traditionally given as the birthday of Jean Lafitte.

There's just one problem.

Nobody really knows when Jean Lafitte was born.

Or, for that matter, exactly where.

Even the National Park Service says Lafitte was probably born sometime in the early 1780s, either in France or the French colony of Saint-Domingue—modern-day Haiti.

Which somehow seems appropriate.

Lafitte would become one of America's most mysterious pirate figures: smuggler, privateer, outlaw, businessman—and eventually an unlikely American ally during the War of 1812.

By 1812, Lafitte headed the Baratarians from Grand Terre, near New Orleans, running a lucrative smuggling operation along the Louisiana coast.

His life became so tangled in legend that historians still debate pieces of it today.

So was Jean Lafitte actually born on September 25, 1780?

Maybe.

But if you're going to become one of history's most mysterious pirates...

having a mysterious birthday seems entirely appropriate.

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☠️ THE GENTLEMAN PIRATE'S LAST STAND

September 1718 — Stede Bonnet Is Cornered at Cape Fear

By September 1718, Stede Bonnet was running out of places to hide.

The wealthy Barbados plantation owner who had abandoned his comfortable life to become a pirate had survived illness, sailed alongside Blackbeard, lost control of his own ship to Blackbeard, accepted a pardon—and then returned to piracy.

Now Bonnet and his crew were hiding along the Cape Fear River in North Carolina, refitting their vessel, the Royal James.

Word reached Charleston that pirates were there.

South Carolina sent Colonel William Rhett to deal with them.

Interestingly, Rhett initially thought the pirate might be Charles Vane.

Instead, he found Stede Bonnet.

And then the battle became almost absurdly perfect pirate history.

⚔️ Everybody Ran Aground

As Rhett's vessels maneuvered toward Bonnet...

they ran onto a sandbar.

So did Bonnet.

Now both sides were stuck.

Neither could maneuver properly.

Neither could escape.

So they did the only thing left to do.

They opened fire.

For hours, the grounded ships blasted away at one another while the crews waited for the tide to decide their fate.

Eventually Rhett's vessels floated free.

Bonnet's didn't.

Rhett moved in.

After roughly six hours of fighting, Bonnet surrendered after Rhett promised to intercede with authorities on his behalf.

The Gentleman Pirate's career at sea was over.

But Bonnet wasn't quite finished.

Taken back to Charleston, he escaped custody, hid on Sullivan's Island—and was captured again by the same man who had just defeated him, William Rhett.

Bonnet's crew went to trial.

Twenty-nine were convicted.

Bonnet himself was sentenced to death and, on December 10, 1718, the Gentleman Pirate was hanged at White Point in Charleston.

☠️ THE PIRATE REPUBLIC TAKE

There is something strangely fitting about Stede Bonnet's final battle.

A wealthy gentleman abandons his comfortable life to become a pirate.

He loses his ship to Blackbeard.

Gets it back.

Accepts a pardon.

Returns to piracy.

Gets cornered by pirate hunters.

And in his last major battle...

everybody runs aground.

Then he escapes from jail...

and gets caught again.

Stede Bonnet may never have been the greatest pirate of the Golden Age.

But few pirates had a story quite like The Gentleman Pirate

🚨🏴‍☠️ MODERN PIRACY WATCH

Somali Pirates Are Back

If you think piracy ended with men like Bonnet, Culliford and Lafitte...

not even close.

Piracy off Somalia has returned dramatically in 2026.

According to the latest U.S. Maritime Administration advisory, since March there have been four reported hijackings and 17 boarding or armed-robbery incidents across the Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean. MARAD says the overall piracy threat in the region has increased this year. Maritime Administration

And earlier this month, we got a remarkable example of what a pirate attack looks like in 2026.

🚢 Six Pirates Board the Glamor

On September 10, six suspected pirates boarded the merchant vessel Glamor approximately 38 nautical miles southwest of Balhaf, Yemen.

But today's merchant crews have something Golden Age sailors didn't:

A citadel.

Before the pirates could take control, the crew stopped the ship, shut down its systems and retreated into the vessel's fortified safe area.

The pirates had boarded the ship.

But they couldn't control it.

International naval forces responded. A Japanese reconnaissance aircraft conducted show-of-force flights over the vessel as naval assets headed toward the scene.

The message was clear.

Company was coming.

The pirates abandoned the Glamor.

Every member of the crew was reported safe, and the vessel resumed its voyage.

But this wasn't an isolated incident.

A new analysis published September 23 by the Royal United Services Institute says six commercial vessels have been seized off the Horn of Africa since late April, compared with only three over nearly the previous fourteen years. At the time of its report, four ships and more than 60 seafarers remained in pirate hands.

☠️ MODERN PIRATE REPUBLIC TAKE

Three hundred years ago, pirates watched shipping lanes for vulnerable merchant vessels while governments fought wars around them.

Today the ships have radar.

The pirates have speedboats and modern weapons.

Merchant crews retreat into fortified citadels.

And warships arrive with helicopters.

But underneath all that technology is something Robert Culliford would understand immediately:

Find valuable ships.

Find vulnerable waters.

Wait for an opportunity.

The ships have changed.

The opportunity hasn't. 🏴‍☠️

🎉🏴‍☠️ PIRATE EVENT OF THE WEEK

Cavern City Renaissance Festival — Carlsbad, New Mexico

September 25–26, 2026📍 Lake Carlsbad Beach Park — Carlsbad, New Mexico

Pirates are dropping anchor in the New Mexico desert this weekend for the 5th Annual Cavern City Renaissance Festival.

And this faire has an entire Pirate Stage devoted to music, merriment and comedy.

Look for the Brethren of the Sunken Skull causing trouble at Shipwreck Cove, pirate and Celtic music from Grog Blossom, roaming performers, mermaids, more than 110 artisan vendors, armored combat, food, drink and plenty of opportunities to break out the pirate garb.

Friday: 4 PM–8 PMSaturday: 10 AM–8 PM

🏴‍☠️ Find the festival, schedule & tickets:Cavern City Renaissance Festival

A pirate festival in the middle of the New Mexico desert?

Captain Blackquill approves. 🏴‍☠️

🥃🏴‍☠️ PLUNDER OF THE WEEK

Drink Like a Pirate Captain

After a week of pirate battles, enormous treasure hauls and modern-day hijackings, a drink may be in order.

This Pirate Ship Whiskey Decanter Set features a detailed ship-shaped decanter with pirate insignia, plus two matching barrel-shaped glasses.

The decanter holds about 36 ounces of your favorite rum, whiskey, bourbon or tequila—though aboard The Pirate Republic, we know what belongs in it.

Rum, obviously.

🏴‍☠️ Claim Yer Plunder:Pirate Ship Whiskey Decanter Set on Amazon

☠️ Captain’s Log

Another voyage through pirate history is in the books, mates.

From Culliford and Chivers hunting treasure ships in 1698 to modern pirates boarding merchant vessels more than three centuries later, this week's issue is a reminder that piracy never completely disappeared.

It just traded wooden ships and cutlasses for speedboats and modern weapons.

Until next week, keep yer powder dry, yer rum close, and if your ship runs aground during a cannon battle...

try to make sure the other fellow's does too.

Until next tide, me hearties—

Captain Blackquill ⚓🏴‍☠️

"For the sea keeps no legends... only those bold enough to become them."

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🎖️ THANKS FOR SAILING WITH THE CREW

We set sail every Friday, storm or shine — delivering pirate history, legends, and lore from across the seas.

Keep yer spyglass trained on the horizon, rest when the winds allow, and may your course be steady, your hold full, and your tales worth telling.

If ye stumble upon treasure, tall tales, or pirate lore worth sharing, send word to:📧 captainblackquill@gmail.com

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