Ned Low & Black Bart Roberts: True Tales of Pirate Horror and Plunder

Sail into the brutal world of 18th-century piracy with Ned Low, the pirate madman who turned hunger into a blood-soaked rampage, and Black Bart Roberts, the Golden Age pirate who ruled the seas with ruthless precision. These aren’t just legends. In truth, they’re raw history, carved from the screams of survivors and the ink of period logs. From mutiny to mass plunder, here’s the unvarnished truth of two pirates who left their mark in gore and bounty.

Ned Low: The Pirate Who Bled the Seas

 

 

On May 28, 1722, per the John Wickstead Deposition, Massachusetts Court Archives, June 1722, the Bay of Honduras simmered. The air hung thick with heat and the sour stink of fresh-cut mahogany. Ned Low, a lean, sunburned mate on Captain Charles Russell’s logging sloop, staggered under the day’s load. He hauled timber since dawn with a dozen cursing crewmen. Their throats burned from rum, likely stolen as Wickstead hints at “disorder,” swigged from a flask to dull hunger’s bite. By late afternoon, their guts churned empty. Low, hardened by a thief’s life in London and a wife’s death around 1719 (Boston Town Records), lurched to Russell with sweat-streaked face, barking for food. Russell, twitchy and eyeing the horizon for Spanish sails since Honduras logging violated Spanish claim, shoved a bottle at him. “Drink and work,” he snarled (Wickstead).

The crew downed the rum, fumes stoking their haze. Dusk bled red over the bay as Low stumbled back, words slurring but sharp. Russell refused again, offering no rations, only orders. Rage snapped. Low snatched a flintlock from a mate’s belt, cocked it with a shaky hand, and fired at Russell’s head. The shot missed and slammed through Thomas Powell’s skull. Blood sprayed the deck, and his body dropped limp, per Wickstead: “shot Powell through the head.”

Chaos broke loose. Several loyalists, perhaps eight or ten since crew size remains unclear, lunged with boots slipping in Powell’s blood. Low’s dozen, rum-fueled and feral, met them with fists and knives. The brawl ended quickly amid shouts, grunts, and steel slashing flesh. Low’s pack overpowered them, as Wickstead notes: “we overpowered them soon.” Russell and his men fled in a boat, oars slapping water, fearing Spanish justice more than Low. The mutineers ditched the sloop for a nearby schooner, its hull low and swift. They raised a black flag, which Charles Johnson, A General History of the Pyrates, 1724, claims they named Mary, turning killers by night. Wickstead doesn’t confirm the name.

Ned Low’s Bloody Trail of Pirate Horror

Weeks later, around mid-June 1722, Low’s schooner cut through waves off Grand Cayman. The crew, still raw from mutiny, met Captain George Lowther on the Happy Delivery, a sloop with 20 guns (Johnson, 1724). Lowther, a Londoner turned pirate in 1721 after his own mutiny, took Low as lieutenant, per Johnson. They hunted Nova Scotia’s coast together, as the Boston News-Letter, June 29, 1722, reports. Lowther taught Low the pirate’s craft: boarding with a yell, firing cannons, looting holds. On June 10, 1722, per Johnson, off Port Roseway, they hit a brigantine. Guns pounded as Low’s blade drew blood, leaving decks slick with it. Lowther handed over the prize, the Rebecca with 8 guns and 44 men. By June 15, Low split off ( News-Letter).

On June 15, 1722 (Boston News-Letter, June 29, 1722) at Port Roseway, Nova Scotia, Low’s Rebecca roared in with cannon smoke rolling. Now solo, he burned 13 fishing boats after they surrendered. Crews begged as flames ate wood and flesh. On August 9, 1722 (New-England Courant, August 14, 1722) off Nantucket, the Rose Pink rocked under his guns. Survivor Thomas Gwatkins saw Low fire his pistol. John Harris fell, skull split and blood pooling as he begged. Low reloaded and shot Samuel Todd dead. He sneered “No noise now” (Johnson, though Courant doesn’t record it) as fire took the wreck.

On April 15, 1723 (New-England Courant, April 20, 1723 and Rhode Island Court Affidavit) off Rhode Island, the whaler Charles met Low’s wrath. Captain James Stone begged mercy. Low bound him to the mast and cut his lips off with a cutlass. Blood streamed as he burned them before Stone’s eyes, according to the Affidavit, “cut his lips off and burned them.” Mate Robert Willis gagged as Low forced the charred flesh into his mouth, saying “Swallow it, dog” (Affidavit). Low reloaded his flintlock and shot a crewman dead, chest torn open. Two more fell to crew blades or shots. Eleven of thirteen were gone by dawn with oil barrels looted (Courant).

On June 10, 1723, at Delaware Capes, Low’s Fancy with 10 guns hit the Unity. Cannonballs splintered her deck (Philadelphia Weekly Mercury, June 18, 1723). Captain Edward Finch pleaded that he had a family. Low spared him but tortured the crew. Pitch-soaked matches burned under their nails, and ears were cut off of Thomas Bell and Henry Cole, blood pooling, per the Finch Testimony, Delaware Court. On June 19, HMS Greyhound cornered him off Long Island. Low abandoned the Ranger and Charles Harris with 43 men. Twenty-five hanged in Newport by July 19, 1723 (Newport Court Records).

 

In late 1723, on the Guinea Coast, a French sloop reeked of sugar and fear. Low tied cook Pierre Dubois over a galley fire. His flesh blackened as he screamed (London Weekly Journal, January 11, 1724). Earlier that year, off the Azores, a friar hung from the yardarm before Low shot his chest open and slashed crew noses (Johnson, 1724, though no other record backs this). Around late 1723 or early 1724 (Johnson) in Brazil, Low shot a sleeping crewman in the head over a slight, the unfortunate crewman’s blood flecking the bunk. His crew mutinied, casting him adrift with two men. Over 100 ships were taken and 50 to 70 dead across his run. His end remains unconfirmed, the waves likely claiming him, per Charles Ellms, The Pirates Own Book, 1837, and Johnson. The Brazil mutiny lacks primary support beyond Johnson, though Ellms echoes it later.

Black Bart Roberts: The Pirate of Precision

 

In early June 1719, exact date uncertain per Charles Johnson, A General History of the Pyrates, 1724, the Gold Coast sweltered as third mate John Roberts, a lean Welshman of 37, paced the Princess’s deck (Lloyd’s Shipping Register). Howell Davis’ pirates struck. Cutlasses rang and blood streaked planks as Roberts was hauled aboard, wrists raw (Johnson). Davis valued his navigation. Roberts hated it. On June 26, 1719, Davis died to Portuguese fire off Príncipe, with his guts torn out (Johnson). On July 2, 1719 (Johnson), 80 men voted Roberts captain. “A merry life and a short one” he said, (Johnson alone with no verification) raising a black flag with an hourglass.

Black Bart Roberts’ Golden Age Piracy Haul

 

In July 1719, in Virginia, Roberts’ Fortune with 10 guns took 11 sloops in a week. Most burned and loot piled high (Virginia Gazette, August 8, 1719). In September 1719, at Chesapeake, two merchant ships fell. Throats were slit if they fought and tobacco taken (Johnson, 1724). In December 1719, off Bahia, Brazil, a Portuguese brigantine lost 20 men to blades. Blood pooled as sugar and hides were looted, per Johnson with no other record.

In February 1720, at Barbados, 20 French ships crumpled. A captain hanged with neck snapping, and the Royal Fortune with 26 guns was claimed (London Gazette, March 20, 1720). On June 21, 1720, in Trepassey, Newfoundland, 22 ships were hit at dawn. Hulls splintered and blood stained the water as crew swelled to 300, per the Boston News-Letter, July 12, 1720. In August 1720, off South Carolina, a sloop’s captain hung with guts spilling, rice and indigo taken (Johnson, 1724).

In October 1720, off St. Kitts, a Dutch trader’s 15 crew were beheaded. Cloth and coin were seized as a skeleton flag flew (Johnson with no backing elsewhere). In April 1721, at Martinique, 15 French sloops bled under the Royal Fortune’s 40 guns. A priest was spared (Weekly Journal, May 6, 1721). In June 1721, off Sierra Leone, the Royal Africa Company’s Greyhound fought and lost. Gold dust and ivory were taken (Admiralty Records, PRO). In July 1721, in Senegal, the Onslow became Great Ranger with 30 guns, the slaves kept (PRO). In September 1721, off Guinea, the Experiment’s captain took a musket ball through the jaw. Silks were looted (Johnson). On January 11, 1722, in Whydah, 11 sloops including the Porcupine burned. Eighty chained men were lost (Johnson).

His code banned gambling and set lights out at 8 pm. Deserters’ throats were slit. A thief’s back bled under the lash. He prayed Sundays with a fiddler playing. Johnson and the Weekly Journal, February 1722, note piety, but the fiddler is Johnson’s flair.

The Fall of Black Bart Roberts at Cape Lopez