The pirate republic of Nassau

About The pirate republic of Nassau

By the ULTIMATE The Bahamas Editorial Team

Site Editor: Tara de la Motte

For a few wild decades around 1700, the shallow waters and hidden coves of The Bahamas belonged to pirates. Here is the story as the official history tells it, and where you can still feel it in Nassau today.

A port without law

Nassau was established around 1670 as a commercial port, and it quickly drew lawless, seafaring men. The town was destroyed twice in the years that followed, once by Spanish troops and once by French and Spanish navies, and in the vacuum the pirates moved in.

The pirates

From the late 1600s to the early 1700s, privateers and pirates flocked to The Bahamas. The official history names the most famous of them, Blackbeard and Calico Jack, and the female pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read, who sailed disguised as men.

Three hundred pirates surrendered. The rest, Blackbeard among them, fled.

Why here?

Geography made the islands perfect. Seven hundred islands and miles of shallow water gave endless places to hide a ship or a hoard, and the busy shipping lanes ran close by, full of heavily laden merchant ships to plunder.

1718: Woodes Rogers

By 1718 the King of England had appointed Woodes Rogers Royal Governor, with orders to restore order. He offered an amnesty to every pirate who surrendered and the gallows to those who refused. Three hundred pirates surrendered; the rest, Blackbeard among them, fled.

Buried treasure?

Tales of treasure have never gone away. The official history repeats the old belief that the British pirate William Catt buried loot on Cat Island, and that the privateer Sir Henry Morgan hid treasure across the islands. Nobody has proved it either way.

Pirate Nassau today

Start at the Pirates of Nassau Museum on King and George Streets, which brings the era to life in about 30 minutes with recreated scenes. Then walk down to the British Colonial on Bay Street, where a statue of Woodes Rogers stands outside and the Woodes Rogers Tavern pours martinis under vaulted ceilings. Fort Fincastle and the Queen’s Staircase came later, in 1793–94, but they are a short climb away and complete the story of old Nassau.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with The pirate republic of Nassau before you go.