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In the early 1700s, a golden age of piracy<\/a> flourished throughout the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico and the eastern seaboard of Britain\u2019s American colonies.<\/p>\n It might be said that most of those who became pirates at this time did not choose to do so, and that instead piracy chose them. Major Stede Bonnet, however, was not your typical pirate.<\/p>\n From childhood, Bonnet lived a life of privileged luxury. He was provided a liberal education and enjoyed generational wealth as the heir to a bustling sugar plantation on the Caribbean island of Barbados. He married well and fathered four children.<\/p>\n Bonnet was also well respected in the community. He was a part of the Barbadian elite, a justice of the peace [a local magistrate] and member of the Barbadian militia (which was responsible for tracking down and returning escaped slaves), in which he was given the title of major.<\/p>\n In short, Bonnet had everything necessary for a life of respect, pomp and luxury. But even in the midst of such bounty, he did not adjust well to family life \u2013 and in 1717 he left it all behind. In what might easily be described as one of the worst mid-life crises of all time, Stede Bonnet decided to become a pirate.<\/p>\n The reason Bonnet left his comfortable island life is likely more complicated than the prevailing view that he suffered \u201cdiscomforts he found in a married state\u201d caused by a nagging wife.<\/p>\n In fact, there are many other plausible explanations \u2013 that Bonnet\u2019s early life as an orphan caused him to carry emotional baggage that was too much to sustain an already fragile marriage; that the emotional stresses of losing a young son created irreconcilable fissures for both Bonnet and his wife, Mary Allamby; that he possessed straightforward wanderlust, owing to a big imagination and access to all the voyage narratives of the time.<\/p>\n But, like much of pirate history, Bonnet\u2019s real motivations are forever lost, hidden from the historical record.<\/p>\n What we do know is that Bonnet is among the most unique figures in pirate history \u2013 which is saying something considering some of the other famous pirates<\/a> that we know of.<\/p>\n Stede Bonnet is the star of period comedy Our Flag Means Death, which follows the \u2018Gentleman Pirate\u2019 through his mid-life crisis, abandoning his life of plenty to become a pirate. It does not go well.<\/p>\n Our Flag Means Death<\/em> premieres on HBO Max in the US on 3 March 2022<\/p>\nWhy did Stede Bonnet become a pirate?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Stede Bonnet in Our Flag Means Death<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n