The era of 

piracy in the Caribbean began in the 1500s and

phased out in the 1830s after the navies of the nations
of Western Europeand North America with colonies in the
Caribbean began combating pirates. The period during
which pirates were most successful was from the 1660s to
1730s. Piracy flourished in the Caribbean because of the
existence of pirate seaports such as Port
Royal in Jamaica, Tortuga in Haiti, and Nassau in the
Bahamas. Piracy in the Caribbean was part of a
larger historical phenomenon of piracy, as it existed close
to major trade and exploration routes in nearly all the
five oceans.
Profiles on 16th and 17th century English and French
Pirates/privateers/smugglers.
1. Francis Drake(1540 – 28 January 1596) (English)
Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540 – 28 January 1596) was an
English sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer
and explorer during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Drake
carried out the second circumnavigation of the world in a
single expedition, from 1577 to 1580. With his incursion
into the Pacific Ocean, he claimed what is now California for
the English and inaugurated an era of conflict with the
Spanish on the western coast of the Americas.

2. François l'Olonnais(1630-1669) (French)

Jean-David Nau, better known as François l'Olonnais, was
a French pirate active in the Caribbean during the 1660s.
3. Henry Morgan(1635- 25 August 1688) (English)
Sir Henry Morgan was a Welsh privateer and pirate,
landowner and, later, Lieutenant of Jamica. From his base
in Port Royal, Jamaica, he raided settlements and shipping
on the Spanish Main, becoming wealthy as he did so. With
the Prize money from the raids he purchased three
large sugar plantations on the island.

4. John Hawkins(1532-1595)(English)
Admiral Sir John Hawkins (also spelled as Hawkyns)
(1532 – 12 November 1595) was an English Slave Trader,
naval commander and administrator, merchant, ,
shipbuilder and privateer.

5. Jean Fleury (born in Normandy-died in 1527) (French)

Jean Fleury was a French naval officer and privateer. He
is best known for the capture of two out of the three
Spanish galleons carrying the Aztec treasure of Hernan
Cortes from Mexico to Spain and one ship from Santo
Domingo in 1522.

6.  Jean d’Ango(1480-1551) (French)

Jean Ango was a Norman ship-owner who provided ships
to king of France Francis I for exploration of the globe. A
native of Dieppe, Ango took over his father's import-export
business, and ventured into the spice
trade with Africa and India. He was one of the first French
to challenge the monopoly of Spain and Portugal, in
addition to trading with the eastern Mediterranean, the
British Isles, and the Low Countries.

7. Jacques de Sores (Born 16th century, died 16th

century).
Jacques de Sores was a French pirate who attacked and
burnt Havana, Cuba in 1555. Other than his attack on
Havana, little is known of de Sores. He was nicknamed
"The Exterminating Angel"

8. François le Clerc (born-Normandy, France, Died 1563)

(French)
François or Francis Le Clerc, known as "Jambe de
Bois", was a 16th-century French privateer, originally
from Normandy. He is credited as the first pirate in the
modern era to have a "peg leg"(wooden leg).

9. Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin (native of Honfleur,

France) (French)
 Born about 1645, he was engaged by the French West
India Company in 1666 and went to Tortuga, where he
worked as an indentured servant for three years. There he
enlisted with the buccaneers, in particular with the band
of Henry Morgan, and remained with them until 1674.

10. Calico Jack  (26 December 1682 – 18 November

1720)(English)
John Rackham (26 December 1682 – 18 November
1720), commonly known as Calico Jack, was an
English pirate captain operating in the Bahamas and in
Cuba during the early 18th century. His nickname was
derived from the calico clothing that he wore,
while Jack is a nickname for "John".

11. Henry Every (born 20 August 1659)(English)

Henry Avery, also Avery or Evory (20 August 1659 –
time of death uncertain, possibly 1699), sometimes
erroneously given as Jack Avery or John Avery, was an
English pirate who operated in
the Atlantic and Indian oceans in the mid-1690s. 

12. Michel de Grammont (French) (1645-1686)

Michel de Grammont was a French pirate. He was born in
Paris, Kingdom of France and was lost at sea in the north-
east Caribbean, April 1686. His pirate career lasted from
around 1670 to 1686 during which he commanded the
flagship Hardi.

13. Anne Dieu-Le-Veut (French)(died1710)

Anne Dieu-Le-Veut also called Marie-Anne or Marianne
was a French pirate. Alongside Jacquotte Delahaye, she
was one of very few female buccaneers.

14. Bartholomew Roberts (English)(1682-1722)

John Roberts was the most successful pirate of
the Golden Age of Piracy as measured by vessels
captured, taking over 400 prizes in his career.

15. William Kidd(1645-1701) (English)

William Kidd, also Captain William Kidd or simply
Captain Kidd, was a Scottish sailor who was tried and
executed for piracy after returning from a voyage to
the Indian Ocean.

16.  Peter Easton

Peter Easton(also known as Peter Eston) was an English
pirate that became known not only as one of the most
notorious pirates from this country but also as one of the
most successful pirates of all time. Born around 1570, he
became known to authorities as a sea pirate during his
plundering career that ranged between 1611 and 1614.
During that time, he managed to achieve a thing that few
pirates in history have managed to build in their lifetimes –
to create such a formidable pirate fleet around him that he
became more powerful than legitimate governments,
sovereigns or other private forces of his time. Even more
impressively, he managed to retire from piracy and live
enjoying the incredible wealth he collected on the sea.

17. William Dampier

William Dampier(died March 1715) was an English
explorer, privateer and navigator who became the first
Englishman to explore parts of what is today
Australia, and the first person to circumnavigate the
world three times. He has also been described as
Australia's first natural historian, as well as one of the
most important British explorers of the period between
Sir Walter Raleigh and James Cook.
18. James Alday (1516–1576?) was a 16th-century English navigator, explorer and
privateer. He participated in raids against the Spanish with fellow privateers James
Logan and William Cooke during the 1540s and is credited, along with Sebastian
Cabot and Henry Ostrich, of the start of regular trading between England and the Barbary coast.

19. Michel le Basque (French) (died in 1668)

Michel le Basque was a pirate
and flibustier(French buccaneer) from the Kingdom of
Navarre in the southwest of France.
20. Philippe Bequel (1650- 1669) (French)
Philippe Bequel was a 17th century French Privateer.
Philippe Bequel was a 17th-century French privateer. Possibly
born in La Rochelle, France, Bequel may have served under
privateers Mathurin Gabaret and François Beaulieu during the
1650s and, by the end of the decade, he had become captain
of his own ship. Operating from the port of Cagway, Bequel
was granted permission by Governor D' Oyley to attack
Spanish shipping on 13 December 1659.