Benjamin Hornigold helped to establish the "Republic of Pirates" in Nassau and by 1717 was the captain of one of the most heavily armed ships in the region, called the Ranger.
10 Facts About Benjamin Hornigold
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Mindful not to attack British-led ships during his career, his crew eventually grew tired of the tactic and Benjamin Hornigold was voted out as captain.
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Benjamin Hornigold was killed when his ship was wrecked on a reef near New Spain during the hurricane season of 1719.
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Benjamin Hornigold's early life is unrecorded, although sometimes people claim he was born in the English county of Norfolk, where the surname Benjamin Hornigold or Hornagold appears.
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When Benjamin Hornigold took command of the Ranger, he delegated the captaincy of his earlier sloop to Teach.
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The merchantman escaped by running itself aground on Cat Cay, and its captain later reported that Benjamin Hornigold's fleet had increased to five vessels, with a combined crew of around 350 pirates.
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Benjamin Hornigold is recorded as having attacked a sloop off the coast of Honduras; one of the passengers of the captured vessel recounted, "they did us no further injury than the taking most of our hats from us, having got drunk the night before, as they told us, and toss'd theirs overboard".
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Benjamin Hornigold opposed the decision and was replaced as captain of Marianne by Samuel Bellamy, whose friend Paulsgrave Williams was elected quartermaster.
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Benjamin Hornigold later became a pirate hunter for the new governor of the Bahamas, Woodes Rogers.
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Benjamin Hornigold stalked but could not apprehend Charles Vane, capturing Vane's associate Nicholas Woodall instead, followed by John Auger, both of whom had accepted the same pardon as Hornigold, but later slid back into piracy.