Bartholomew Roberts: a company that crossed the Atlantic

Roberts’s story begins in the General History aboard a vessel engaged in the slave trade. Captured by Howell Davis’s company, he was then chosen to replace Davis after the captain was killed at Príncipe. The narrative emphasizes his rapid rise from newcomer to commander. ^[1]

The setting matters. This was an Atlantic network, not a career confined to the Caribbean. The account follows the company toward Brazil, back into the western Atlantic and again to West Africa. Shipping routes, water, repairs and the timing of trade linked those movements.

The book introduces Roberts’s articles after a destructive separation involving Walter Kennedy. Written rules appear as a response to mistrust: the company needed a way to govern itself and divide what it took. The printed clauses address voting, provisions, gambling, weapons, quarrels, compensation for injuries and shares of plunder. ^[1]

The author also says the signed original had been thrown overboard. What survives here is a printed version attributed to information from pirates. That distinction is central. A list on a modern poster is not a recovered original, and these clauses should not be described as the law of all pirates.

The account distinguishes the captain’s authority in a chase or battle from everyday life aboard. It gives the quartermaster substantial influence over routine discipline and distribution. A captain could command violence without controlling every aspect of the company’s common resources. ^[1]

That arrangement was not frictionless. A violent dispute involving Roberts and a man called Jones contributed to resentment, and Thomas Anstis later left with the brigantine Good Fortune. A code could organize a company; it could not make every member accept the same interpretation of authority.

One captured vessel, Onslow, was altered for the company’s use and renamed Royal Fortune. The narrative describes removing bulkheads and fitting guns. The ship was not a static symbol: the crew adapted a prize to its next purpose. ^[1]

The name Royal Fortune appears through Roberts’s changing command. Treating every mention as the same hull creates a false biography of the vessel. Conversely, counting every renaming as an extra ship inflates the story. Follow the capture, alteration and transfer, not just the familiar name.

Internal voting and injury payments can make the company look unusually attractive beside harsh merchant employment. They do not erase the coercion practiced against people outside it, including those caught in slave-trading traffic. A company’s arrangements for its own members are not a measure of universal freedom. ^[1]

The naval pursuit led by Chaloner Ogle aboard Swallow brought Roberts’s command to an end. Read his career through the articles, the division of plunder and the company that chose to leave, rather than through a ranking of successful captains.