The famous pirate Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard, has been quoted as saying, “when a pirate slept he did not dream that he had died and gone to heaven, but instead that he had returned to New Providence”. Regardless of whether this is a factual statement or not, it definitely expressed what the dominant sentiment was regarding the island of New Providence, and its capital Nassau, during what we now call the Golden Age of Piracy.

And while the truth of piracy is anything but glorious, few things capture the imagination more. From Captain Hook and Captain Jack Sparrow to Long John Silver, fictional pirates live in our collective thoughts side by side with Blackbeard, Charles Vane, Black Bart Roberts, and the rest, a huge number of whom called this place their home, or at least their home base. Understanding Nassau begins with understanding its role in piracy, and the crashing end to that period.

In 1696, Nassau was established as a haven for piracy when privateer Henry Avery brought his ship Fancy, full of plunder from questionably legal raids on shipping, to the city and bribed then-governor Nicholas Trott to look the other way. But it wasn’t until a French and Spanish attack on the city in 1706 caused the majority of English colonists and their leaders to flee the island that piracy would truly take off. After those forces burned the city to the ground (not for the first time; it had happened a few years earlier, in 1703), English privateers were really all that was left. For the next twelve years, until 1718, those privateers – and their less legal brethren, pirates – established what became known as the Republic of Pirates, based here in Nassau.

This wasn’t an official entity; rather, this “republic” was a set of agreements made by the estimated 1000 or more privateers and pirates living here during this period. There was a somewhat standardized code of conduct, one of the main items of which was that captains of ships would be elected, hence the slight truth to the republic term. Women were allowed to serve and to be captains, as were blacks, and basically anyone willing to commit to the life. But what was that life? For that, I visit Pirates of Nassau, a museum downtown.

If you like Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland, you’ll be right at home at Pirates of Nassau, where a $14 entry will allow you to walk a one-way path through several rather detailed and immersive displays of piracy. You’ll walk the outside of a ship, enter its hold, and even meet some of the real pirates (and other characters) from the history of Nassau during the era. Dotted in between are some trivia questions based on popular stereotypes of pirates, displays sharing stories, and a few surviving artifacts (mostly weapons) from the period. An hour is enough time to read everything, and to admire the depth of some of the life-sized dioramas.

The average privateer or pirate – the difference is merely that a privateer had an agreement with a country to only attack the shipping of its enemies, while a pirate wasn’t predisposed to being picky – spent most of his or her time drinking or gambling, with a few brief periods of intense action when attacking a ship. Spoils were divided relatively evenly, with some of the officers getting an extra half or full share, so a successful crew would all make it reasonably big. Funds were set up for those who were severely injured, with higher pensions for loss of limb. Conduct was strictly enforced, with punishments for violations being, shall we say, a rather strong deterrent.

One exhibit has a set of codes for the Revenge, the ship of Captain John Philips, from 1723, which is after the period mentioned above, but still illustrates the point. Those are below.

One room contains a sort of Pirates Hall of Fame, with brief synopses of some of the most famous pirates, along with their flags in the corner. The “traditional” skull and crossed cutlasses was the actual flag of Calico Jack Rackham, apparently.

The Republic of Pirates went so far as to elect their own magistrate. And would you believe it, Blackbeard himself was chosen, ready to mete out punishment in Nassau to those who violated the codes of conduct. (On board, the captain was responsible for this, although the crew could vote to remove the captain under certain circumstances.)

In 1713, the War of the Spanish Succession ended in Europe, and the English were no longer at war with France and Spain, meaning their privateers had to stop raiding that shipping. It is possible news was slow to get to Nassau, but it is more likely that those here had no intention of stopping. So after this point, basically all were pirates. And since they were also all now free, as pirates rather than privateers, to raid English shipping, the damage being done was rising. George I gave in to public pressure, and in 1718, sent a new governor to the Bahamas, a man named Woodes Rogers.

Rogers was a former privateer himself, and allied with “retired” privateer/pirate Benjamin Hornigold in Nassau. He declared that all pirates who turned themselves in would be given full pardons, as long as they stopped all acts of piracy. Failure to do so, or accepting a pardon and reverting to piracy, would incur a death sentence. Between the men Rogers brought with him and the crews of Hornigold and the others who accepted pardons, order (according to the English government, at least) was restored in Nassau, and the Golden Age of Piracy came to a swift end, although some pirates would continue to operate for another decade or so, just based elsewhere.

Sadly for tourists, little remains in Nassau from the Golden Age of Piracy. After all, wooden buildings don’t hold up well to centuries, and Fort Nassau, which did date to 1697, only exists as a single arch downtown. But the legacy in popular culture remains as strong as ever.

As for the historical legacy? It’s complicated. On the one hand, pirates did actually pillage and plunder (and rifle and loot… drink up me hearties YO HO!) and much worse. On the other hand, they ran a semi-democratic society with relative racial and gender equality. Blackbeard killed a lot of people – including some of his own men – and also blockaded Charleston harbor for a ransom of… medicine for his sick crew.

Regardless of what one actually thinks of pirates, there is no question that they a) have a cultural significance that extends well beyond their briefest of periods of actual importance and b) made Nassau relevant on the world stage. Combine those two and one gets the pirate legacy here today: one where history meets imagination.

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