Never caught
1694–1696 · India
Henry Every
In 1695 Henry Every's pirates plundered the Mughal emperor's greatest ship. A worldwide manhunt followed. Six of his men hanged; Every vanished.
Kind of crime
Piracy
The golden age of piracy as the trial records tell it, not as the films do.
6 cases6 solved0 unsolved1694–1721
Never caught
Executed
1696–1701 · United Kingdom
Captain Kidd
Sent by powerful backers to hunt pirates, William Kidd came home accused of being one, and was hanged twice at Execution Dock in 1701.
Killed before trial
1716–1719 · North Carolina
Blackbeard
Edward Teach held Charles Town to ransom for a chest of medicine, took a royal pardon, went back to sea and died on a sloop's deck at Ocracoke in 1718.
Executed
1717–1718 · South Carolina
Stede Bonnet
A rich Barbados planter bought a ship, hired a crew and went pirating in 1717. Eighteen months later Charles Town hanged him, despite his pleas.
Killed before trial
1719–1722 · Gabon
Bartholomew Roberts
A Welsh mate forced into piracy took hundreds of ships in under three years. A broadside off Gabon in 1722 ended him, and 52 of his men were hanged.
Convicted
1720–1721 · Jamaica
Anne Bonny and Mary Read
Two women sailed with John Rackham for barely two months in 1720. Their trial in Jamaica is the solid record; almost everything else is later legend.