[narrator] The 12-year war against England leaves Spain broke.
[man] Thousands of privateers lost their livelihood.
-This is a time of horrendous suffering. -[cries out]
[narrator] The Spanish fleet, laden with gold and silver, is wrecked,
scattering a fortune.
This is like discovering oil.
I see no act against the Spanish in that.
[narrator] And so, the golden age of piracy begins.
This is just the latest report sent back from Jamaica.
-The pirates are getting bolder. -Cut the lines! Cut the lines!
[narrator] These swashbuckling outlaws bring murder and mayhem to the high seas.
The brutality and the bullying and the predation
of many of the captains that are known.
You can't speak at length about Charles Vane
without the word "psychopath."
Identify yourself.
You don't know me?
[yells] My name is Blackbeard!
For the first time, pirates actively engaged English shipping.
King George. [spits]
[man] They don't care about us out here.
The pirate menace was becoming an existential threat to the empire.
We have all lost to these heathen pirates.
It appears they are favoring slaving vessels.
You are now subject to the laws of piracy!
White men consorting with savages? You must stamp this cancer out.
Anne Bonny. Men take what they want when they want.
If it were me, I'd pirate for the rest of my days.
Hoist the black flag.
Nassau, the new Pirate Republic!
[indistinct yelling]