the hands of
Bond.

BONNET, MAJOR STEDE, _alias_ CAPTAIN THOMAS, _alias_ EDWARDS.

The history of this pirate is both interesting and unique. He was not
brought up to the seafaring life; in fact, before he took to piracy, he
had already retired from the Army, with the rank of Major. He owned
substantial landed property in Barbadoes, lived in a fine house, was
married, and much respected by the quality and gentry of that island. His
turning pirate naturally greatly scandalized his neighbours, and they
found it difficult at first to imagine whatever had caused this sudden and
extraordinary resolution, particularly in a man of his position in
Society. But when the cause at last came to be known, he was more pitied
than blamed, for it was understood that the Major's mind had become
unbalanced owing to the unbridled nagging of Mrs. Bonnet. Referring to
this, the historian Captain Johnson writes as follows: "He was afterwards
rather pitty'd than condemned, by those that were acquainted with him,
believing that this Humour of going a-pyrating proceeded from a Disorder
in his Mind, which had been but too visible in him, some Time before this
wicked Undertaking; and which is said to have been occasioned by some
Discomforts he found in a married State; be that as it will, the Major was
but ill qualified for the Business, as not understanding maritime
Affairs." Whatever the cause of the Major's "disorder of mind," the fact
remains that at his own expense he fitted out a sloop armed with ten guns
and a crew of seventy men. The fact that he honestly paid in cash for this
ship is highly suspicious of a deranged mind, since no other pirate, to
the writer's knowledge, ever showed such a nicety of feeling, but always
stole the ship in which to embark "on the account." The Major, to satisfy
the curious, gave out that he intended to trade between the islands, but
one night, without a word of farewell to Mrs. Bonnet, he sailed out of
harbour in the _Revenge_, as he called his ship, and began to cruise off
the coast of Virginia. For a rank amateur, Bonnet met with wonderful
success, as is shown by a list of the prizes he took and plundered in this
first period of his piracy:

The _Anne_, of Glasgow (Captain Montgomery).

The _Turbet_, of Barbadoes, which, after plundering, he burnt, as he did
all prizes from Barbadoes.

The _Endeavour_ (Captain Scott).

The _Young_, of Leith.

The plunder out of these ships he sold at Gardiner Isl