![]() Vane triumphantly re-entered Nassau, essentially taking over the town. In June and July of 1718, he seized many more small merchant vessels, more than enough to keep his men happy. He soon took a 20-gun French ship and made it his flagship. Vane decided that his position in Nassau was too weak, so he set out to capture a proper pirate ship. Vane knew that Woodes Rogers, the new governor, would be arriving soon. Vane was able to traded up ships by first capturing a Barbados sloop and then a large 12-gun brigantine, each of which he named the Ranger in turn. Vane and his men treated the sailors and merchants cruelly in spite of the fact that they had surrendered instead of fought. By April of 1718, Vane had captured twelve merchant ships. He also showed scant respect for the pirate code, cheating his own crews out of their fair share of plunder and killing surrendered sailors after promising them mercy. Vane was infamous for his cruelty toward the crews of captured vessels. Soon he had recruited forty of Nassau's worst cuthroats, including seasoned buccaneer Edward England and "Calico Jack" Rackham, who would himself become a notorious pirate captain. Vane and a handful of pirates outfitted a small sloop "the Lark" for service as a pirate vessel. Vane, however, scoffed at the notion of retirement from piracy and soon became the leader of those who refused the pardon. In 1718, the King of England issued a blanket pardon for all pirates who wished to return to an honest life. Jennings (with Vane on board) was one of the first to reach the site, and his buccaneers raided the Spanish camp on shore, making off with some 87,000 in recovered gold and silver. As the surviving Spanish sailors salvaged what they could, pirates were quick to try and take advantage of the wreck site. In late July of 1715, a Spanish treasure fleet was hit by a hurricane off the coast of Florida, dumping tons of Spanish gold and silver not far from shore. ![]() ![]() In 1716, he began serving under the infamous pirate Henry Jennings. He arrived in Port Royal sometime during the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714). There is little documentation of Charles Vane's early career. ![]()
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