- Part of the pirate fantasy
is this idea of a life of total freedom at sea,
but how free were the pirates
who did not fit the historically-represented
European captain that we see at the center of most stories?
Let's take a look at freedom through the lens
of one of the most famous pirates ever, Black Caesar.
You may have heard of the adventures
of the larger-than-life African chieftain
who blundered alongside Blackbeard.
Even though there was an actual Black Caesar,
there were dozens of other pirates of African descent
referred to as Black Caesar.
Ahoy, mateys.
I'm Captain Joel Cook, yes, the Captain Joel Cook,
and this is Rogue History.
[whimsical music]
Very little of what historians know about Black Caesar
is concrete and grounded in evidence.
We know that Black Caesar was born somewhere in Africa,
most likely West Africa.
He was lured onto a slave ship,
where he established an alliance
with a sailor of unknown origins.
Together they took over the ship
and eventually joined Blackbeard's crew
aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge.
- 18th century vessels are incredibly complex
and it takes a lot of training
to be able to be skilled in knowing how to work a vessel.
He picked up the skills to be an adept
and well-known maritime man,
and I think that is a testament to his success.
- According to the "General History of Pyrates",
Blackbeard took Black Caesar under his wing
as a sort of mentor-mentee relationship,
sort of like Obiwan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker,
but instead of a spaceship, it was on a pirate ship.
And then in 1718, when Blackbeard's pirate ship ended up
in a final standoff against the British Royal Navy
off the coast of North Carolina,
Blackbeard, who was killed in that battle,
entrusted Black Caesar to blow up the Queen Anne's Revenge
so it would never be under English control.
- Nope, not you, Caesar.
[indistinct] war to happen.
I want you to stay here, ignite the powder.
It might take me, but a ship under my command?
Never!
- Knowing that your crew member
was willing to blow up a ship
and destroy not only himself,
but the vessel, all of the men, all of the booty,
in order to ensure that the ship does not get confiscated,
that is trust.
That is, indeed, I think, a strong bond.
- Before he could blow up the ship,
the injured Black Caesar, along with 17 other men,
was captured and tried for piracy in Virginia
and in December 1718, he was hanged.
It's tragic considering the circumstances
that led him to become a pirate.
At the same time, it's familiar ending
to a lot of pirate stories.
but if you were to look up Black Caesar on Google,
or maybe Ask Jeeves, if you're old school like me,
you'll notice repetitive and speculative language
around his story.
Vague and stereotypical references
to him being "a tribal chief in Africa"
and his "huge size", "immense strength",
and "keen intelligence",
a lot of "supposedly"s and "according to legend"s
and "it is said"s.
It is said by whom?
- The way pirates and privateers would write
about people of African descent
was to refer to them by their color
and they would refer to them interchangeably.
Rarely, if ever, did they identify them by name
and so often when we're kind of piecing together
the images of Black pirates and figures like Black Caesar,
we're kind of creating composites
or pulling from different sources of information
to create an image
that is often based on fragmentary details.
- Basically, most Black pirates were never seen worthy
of being named in the records,
so we don't know Black Caesar's birthdate,
birthplace, or birth name.
As a result, we don't know for sure
if the details that surround him belong to him
or a different unnamed Black pirate.
And, of course, this leads to the question of,
who are all these other Black Caesars?
There's a few we definitely know about,
like Henri Cesar.
Born into slavery on a French plantation in Haiti,
he was part of the Haitian Revolution.
In 1805, he captured a Spanish ship
and his pirating career began,
attacking small villages and lone vessels
near Cuba and The Bahamas.
Some say he was captured in Key West and burned to death
and some say he escaped with $6 million in treasure
that is still hidden around Florida.
Jeeves, book me a flight to Florida.
Then there's John Black Caesar,
an African-born man convicted of theft and piratical acts
in the late 18th century.
He was brought to Australia on a prison ship, but he escaped
and was known as one of the country's first bushrangers,
thieves hiding in the wilderness
and rebelling against European settlers.
But it makes me wonder, why the name Caesar?
Why is that the name
that was used to describe men of African ancestry?
- In Ancient Greece, they practiced slavery
as a form of socioeconomic setup.
So at the same time, it's both the name of royalty
but it's also at one time the name that marks
or identifies or associates that individual
with a system that has enslaved him.
What I find kind of interesting and almost a little sad
is the trial record of Blackbeard's crew,
Caesar is the only man who doesn't have a last name.
That's indicative of his identity
as a formerly enslaved man.
- Unfortunately, we don't have
many written firsthand accounts of history
from enslaved people.
Most of the historical records we have
are from the perspective of well off European men
who often wanted to make themselves the hero of the story.
- They're trying to bolster
or burnish their own reputations
and so a lot of that involves them talking about them
as the good guy, as the hero, as the brave one.
- "My Wondrous Journey: A Life At Sea"?
- Fan fiction.
Captain Bonnet, can't stop imagining him
in all different scenarios, all totally made up.
- And so they weren't really trying to give anyone credit,
but certainly they were not giving credit
to men of African descent,
no matter how much they relied on their expertise.
- So it stands to reason the Blackbeard's story
of taking Black Caesar on as a mentee
may have been an attempt to make himself sound better.
Looking deeper at the question of freedom,
how many Black pirates joined crews
out of their own free will and how many were captured?
How many saw that
as the only possible alternative to slavery?
Is that even being given a choice?
- Some of us thrive on danger, don't we?
- Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, but look, me and Jim,
we don't do this because we like it.
We do it because we don't have any other choice.
- It's a common feel good story,
an enslaved person against all odds
breaking the bonds of slavery
and escaping to an exciting, adventurous life
where their destiny is in their own hands.
But unfortunately, even at sea,
enslaved and freed Black people suffered
in many of the same ways that they did on land.
- So they had their reasons and piracy had its appeal,
but it also had its dangers and risks
that they wouldn't necessarily be able to live any freer
than they did on land.
Maybe they had some more mobility,
but did they necessarily have their freedom?
- Black Caesar isn't just a story of a famous pirate.
It's the story of many, many unknown men of African descent
who wanted a chance at freedom.
At the time, the man we referred to as Black Caesar
had no way of knowing how history would look back at him,
what he would represent,
and the countless people he would be a stand-in for,
but isn't that what makes legends?
Legends aren't born saying, "hello, I'm a legend!"
They often don't even know that they're going to be legends
as they're facing their fate.
So legends are made by how we tell their stories.
It's up to us to decide who is a legend
and what parts of history are legendary.
♪ Fifteen men on a dead man's chest ♪
♪ Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum ♪
♪ Drink and the devil had done for the rest. ♪
♪ Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum ♪