# A General History of the Pirates — Character guide

> Key figures in A General History of the Pirates by Captain Charles Johnson.

- [Howel Davis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/howel_davis.md): Davis rises through the pirate ranks by wit and persuasion rather than sheer brutality, holding a crew together along the Guinea coast where discipline frays and fortunes shift. His authority rests on performance as much
- [Edward Teach](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/edward_teach.md): Teach joins forces with the gentleman-pirate Bonnet, then quietly takes over the man's own sloop, exposing the gap between reputation and real power aboard a pirate ship. He is bold, cruel, and calculating, a commander w
- [Bartholomew Roberts](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/bartholomew_roberts.md): Roberts dominates the History as its longest and most consequential life, a commander whose success at sea forced the author to organize the whole narrative around him. His story carries the tension between a disciplined
- [Edward Low](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/edward_low.md): Low commands in the Caribbean and Atlantic with a reputation for savagery that outstrips his tactical skill, ruling through fear rather than the rough consent that holds most pirate crews together. His brutality creates 
- [Charles Vane](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/charles_vane.md): Vane commands with a stubborn independence that sets him against both the Royal Navy and any compromise with authority, making him a test case for what piracy actually demanded of its leaders. His refusal to accept the p
- [John Rackam](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/john_rackam.md): Rackam sails the Caribbean with a crew that includes two women disguised as men, a fact that scandalized and fascinated the public and made his ship a curiosity in its own right. His command is shaped by his relationship
- [Mary Read](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/mary_read.md): Mary Read moves through the pirate world as a man, earning trust and friendship before revealing herself to a chosen few. Her love for a fellow pirate inspires one of the most generous acts in the book: she deliberately 
- [Anne Bonny](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/anne_bonny.md): Anne Bonny enters the world as an attorney's bastard daughter, a beginning that seems to set her outside ordinary rules from the start. She takes to piracy with a ferocity that surprises even hardened crewmates, and her 
- [Stede Bonnet](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/stede_bonnet.md): Stede Bonnet gives up a settled estate and respectable marriage to command a pirate ship, a decision that puzzles his crew and delights the reading public. He lacks the brutal instincts of his peers, yet his stubbornness
- [George Lowther](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/george_lowther.md): George Lowther builds his reputation through a mix of bold captures and careful alliances, operating in the Caribbean and South American waters where Spanish treasure and English merchants both offered targets. He is a l
- [John Massey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/john_massey.md): John Massey learns the pirate trade under Howel Davis, absorbing lessons about leadership, discipline, and the fine line between courage and recklessness. When he eventually leads his own crew, he must decide whether to 
- [Avery](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/avery.md): Avery's name circulates through Europe as a byword for fabulous wealth and royal ambition, with plays written about him and schemes proposed to capture him. The reality is far stranger: he is a former merchant mate from 
- [Edward England](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/edward_england.md): England commands a pirate ship in the Indian Ocean, where his habit of sparing prisoners and treating them humanely sets him apart from the flinty captains around him. That very decency breeds tension aboard his vessel, 
- [John Phillips](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/john_phillips.md): Phillips commands a small pirate sloop largely manned by men pressed into service against their will, ruling through threats and violence rather than loyalty. When he boards a Virginia vessel and its master, Captain Mort
- [Spriggs](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/spriggs.md): Spriggs belongs to the second generation of Atlantic pirates, learning the trade under George Lowther before striking out with a ship and crew of his own. His career unfolds alongside the great names of the era, and the 
- [Worley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/worley.md): Worley operates in the waters off the American colonies, where pirate crews preyed on merchant shipping and risked the gallows at every port. His story belongs to the broader pattern the narrator traces, of bold adventur
- [Anstis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/anstis.md): Anstis sailed under the formidable Bartholomew Roberts before breaking away with a faction of the crew to command his own ship. His career illustrates the constant fracturing of pirate companies, where ambition and disag
- [John Evans](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/john_evans.md): Evans commands a pirate vessel in the same turbulent Atlantic world as Roberts and Lowther, chasing prizes and recruiting reluctant men. His death in a drunken brawl with his own crew captures the volatile, alcohol-soake
- [Philip Roche](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/philip_roche.md): Roche begins as an ordinary seaman who, with his confederates, murders a ship's company, drinks their rum, and elects himself captain over a vessel he rechristens the Mary Snow. His cunning runs to forgery and disguise —
- [Kennedy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/kennedy.md): Kennedy belongs to the crowded ranks of men who learned their trade under Roberts, the most prolific pirate of the age, and then struck out for themselves. His story sits within the book's larger argument that these were
- [Mackra](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/mackra.md): Mackra commands a Company ship in the Indian Ocean, where the line between merchant, privateer, and pirate was often a matter of paperwork. His account places him inside the violent economy of the East Indies, where a ca
- [Edward Cheeseman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/edward_cheeseman.md): A pirate who served under Bartholomew Roberts and was killed in action.
- [James Skyrm](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/james_skyrm.md): A pirate captain who served under Howel Davis and later commanded his own ship.
- [William Rhet](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/william_rhet.md): Rhet sails out of Carolina with a commission to hunt Stede Bonnet, only to have his pursuit thrown off course by speaking a ship that sends him the wrong way. The narrator calls this the most unlucky thing that could hav
- [Woodes Rogers](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/woodes_rogers.md): Rogers arrives in the West Indies with royal authority and a pardon in hand, tasked with clearing the islands of the men who had made them a pirate haven. The book's preface defends its own truthfulness by invoking the t
- [Peter Scudamore](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/peter_scudamore.md): A pirate who served under Bartholomew Roberts and was executed.
- [Holford](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/holford.md): A pirate captain who captured and executed other pirates.
- [Robert Maynard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/robert_maynard.md): Maynard commands a small force dispatched specifically to run down Edward Teach, a mission that required patience, nerve, and a willingness to close with a man others fled. His pursuit belongs to the book's later chapter
- [George Yeats](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/george_yeats.md): A pirate who betrayed his captain and escaped with a ship.
- [Thomas Tew](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/thomas_tew.md): Tew belongs to the first wave of pirates whose successes made the trade look less like crime and more like a career. His story carries the tension between the pirate's dream of easy riches and the violent end that waits 
- [Rowry](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/rowry.md): A pirate who served under Bartholomew Roberts.
- [Taylor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/taylor.md): A pirate captain who operated in the Indian Ocean.
- [Skinner](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/skinner.md): A pirate captain who was executed.
- [Benjamin Hornigold](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/benjamin_hornigold.md): Hornigold moves through the pirate world as both a leader of men and, later, a servant of the very authority he once defied. His career exposes the tension between loyalty to the brethren and the pardon that buys surviva
- [Barnet](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/barnet.md): A captain who captured the pirate John Rackam.
- [Richards](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/richards.md): A pirate captain who operated in the Caribbean.
- [Martel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/martel.md): A pirate captain who operated in the Caribbean.
- [Chaloner Ogle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/chaloner_ogle.md): Ogle stands on the side of law and empire, a naval officer whose duty places him directly in the path of the pirates readers have followed for hundreds of pages. His presence sharpens the stakes: the hunters are not face
- [Charles Harris](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/charles_harris.md): A pirate who served under Edward Low and was executed.
- [John Filmore](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters/john_filmore.md): A pirate who was executed for piracy.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_general_history_of_the_pirates_se/characters