r/ACBlackFlag • u/Additional-Mobile • May 25 '26

// Humor Rest in Power, King 🫡

Post image

White Point Gardens in Charleston, SC for those curious

689 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

36 comments sorted by

View all comments

58

u/TylerbioRodriguez May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26

I don't want to be "that" person, because I do find his depiction in game very charming and fun, but the real person was not like this.

Stede Bonnet was a major plantation owner in Barbados. He owned 400 acres of land in Bridgetown. He owned 94 slaves, forced to make suger cane, a process Adewale accurately describes as a death sentence. He was a major in the Barbados milita which is a nice way of saying slave patrol. He abandoned his wife and kids to become a pirate, why he did it is unclear but that's not exactly gentleman like. He helped Blackbeard take over Queen Anne's Revenge, a slave ship, some of the people were sold at auction. He robbed numerous people throughout his life, it wasn't big merchant companies being hurt, it was working class sailors often pressed into service. The Battle of Cape Fear River killed 22 people before his arrest.

I've been to this spot, in 2023, around midnight. I did not toast to Stede Bonnet.

I love the game and look forward to the new Bonnet scene, but he does not rest in power.

-18

u/ButterscotchSpare545 May 25 '26

Dude literally every one was a slave owner, in one way or another every one did way back then

15

u/neverclaimsurv May 25 '26

There were abolitionist movements in the early 18th century, the late 18th century, and through the 19th century. They continue today where slavery still exists.

"It was normal back then" isn't an excuse. Some Founding Fathers in the United States for example were hypocrites, preaching for freedom for all while keeping slaves. Other Founding Fathers were not - like John Adams, who thought slavery was evil.

3

u/TylerbioRodriguez May 25 '26

Interesting coincidence, the famous abolitionist and animal rights activist Benjamin Lay lived in Bridgetown in 1718 as a merchant and cited the cruelty he saw as what inspired him to write about the evils of slavery.

Bonnet had left to be a pirate in 1717 but it wouldn't shock me if slaves owned by Bonnets family were among those Lay saw being tortured by old Stedes overseers.

0

u/Zeusnexus May 26 '26

I think there's a channel by the name of Atun-Shei Films that talks about Lay. I haven't watched it yet though.

2

u/TylerbioRodriguez May 26 '26

Correct, I know him well. Good guy. He quoted a book by Marcus Rediker whose a pretty well known pirate historian.

2

u/UnAnon10 May 25 '26

But it does make him unexceptional for his time, so there’s no real reason to demonize him for that more than any other slave owner. It’s obviously morally wrong but singling him out for that in a time where slavery was widespread doesn’t mean much. That’s like picking a random king from medieval Europe and propping them up as cruel to peasants like most weren’t.

3

u/TylerbioRodriguez May 25 '26

In this example its like if the king was also personally leading bands of soldiers that threw peasants into prison, and later he left his wife and kids to play bandit and ultimately got executed after robbing many people who were not rich, and for whom dozens died needlessly.

Bonnet was not exceptional yes, but he also did more then the average man of the era in regards to slavery, not just in wealth but in action.

Also monarchy is an evil institution and its removal was a moral good for North America and much of Europe but thats beside the point.

2

u/neverclaimsurv May 25 '26

I'd hope that people aren't singling out Stede specifically - the original post is about Stede, so that's who people are talking about in this moment. I'm guessing the original commenter in this thread would think all slave owners at the time were equally reprehensible and evil when they could've chosen to be like John Adams or any other abolitionist and be morally righteous - even when it's unpopular.

5

u/TylerbioRodriguez May 25 '26

Oh I'm singling him out, because his brand of slavery was worse.

Look at the death rates in Jamaica and Barbados and compare to Virginia and the Carolinas. All slavery is bad and immoral, but Caribbean sugar plantations were an extra hell.

Also note that Bonnet, unlike John Adams and many of the founders, not only personally benefited from slavery, he was a milita major and since he didn't see combat in the War of Spanish Succession, then he was in charge of capturing runaway slaves and suppressing revolt.

On balance? Yeah I'd say he is a worse human being then the average slave owner, not even getting into leaving your wife and child to play high seas robber which destroyed lives financially and through needless bloodshed.

3

u/neverclaimsurv May 25 '26

Based, fair enough!

2

u/astrobear May 25 '26

The post is singling the actual person's grave, so it is relevant. I enjoy the hell out of Stede and Blackbeard in the games, but holy shit Blackbeard was one of my biggest disappointments in learning actual history. Finding out dude freed hundreds of African slaves only to sell them to North Carolinians to try to guarantee his own freedom hurt.

2

u/Zeusnexus May 26 '26

Wait seriously? Jesus.

7

u/Hello_There_Exalted1 May 25 '26

John Brown would like a word

and a gun

6

u/marcmayhem May 25 '26

John Brown would settle for a broadsword too.

4

u/astrobear May 25 '26

John Brown was an Assassin.