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- [00:00]
Carter Roy
In the final years of the 17th century, Henry Avery was the most wanted man on the planet. Henry was a pirate, and not just any swashbuckler. He's been called the Pirate King. In 1695, he led a fleet of men in pulling off what was at the time the largest ocean heist ever. It left the English monarchy and the powerful East India Company in a terrible position. The whole world was starting to believe they endorsed piracy and on top of that, Henry had stolen from one of their key allies. So they placed a bounty on his head and ignited a global manhunt. They were hell bent on making an example out of the so called Pirate King. Only they never found him. After a single lucrative run, Henry disappeared with his treasure and became a living legend. It's said he directly inspired many of the golden age pirates, from Blackbeard to Ned Lowe to Calico Jack to follow in his career path. Henry's fate remains one of the biggest question marks in the history of piracy. Some say he died penniless back home in England. Others think he lived out his days on the sunny pirate haven of Madagascar. Or maybe he went undercover as a spy working for the English government. The very same establishment that had promised the world it would find Henry Avery and make him pay. Welcome to Conspiracy Theories, a Spotify podcast. I'm Carter Roy. You can find us here every Wednesday. You can watch our episodes and more on our new YouTube channel, onspiracytheories podcast and check us out on Instagram @the conspiracypod. And we would love to hear from you. So if you're listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and give us your thoughts. This summer, we're jet setting through history on a world tour of mystery and motives. Today, we're splashing into international waters as we ride along with Henry Avery and his dastardly crew. From the actual conspiracies exposed in their wake to the theory that the English monarchy secretly employed the pirate king they had sworn to capture. The episode includes discussions of violence, sexual assault, kidnapping and death. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. Stay with us.
- [02:56]
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- [04:28]
Carter Roy
Henry Avery has been called the Pirate King, a celebrity, one of the most successful pirates of his time, the most wanted man in the world and an enemy of all mankind. But if you know nothing about him, you'd be forgiven. Historians aren't even sure whether his last name was really Avery with an A, which appears in some birth records that could refer to him, or if it's Avery with an E, the name commonly used in official documents. Like any good pirate, he also used pseudonyms, including John Avery, Benjamin Bridgman and Long Ben. It may not be surprising then, that we don't have a ton of details about his early life. The books that claim to paint a clear picture of Henry's background are probably somewhat fictional, and many are over 300 years old, so they're hard to verify. Here's what most of them agree on. Henry is born around 1659 in southwest England, and by the 1670s he's serving in the Royal Navy. What happens in those years is pretty foggy, though we do know he makes money trading enslaved people. Make no mistake, Henry Avery is no hero. It's August of 1693 when he sets sail on a new venture, the Spanish Expedition. It's backed by a group of wealthy investors, the led by James Houblin and promises decent wages for its crew, at least compared to the Royal Navy. About 200 men sign on, taking advantage of Houblin's offer of steady pay and a one month advance, including Henry Avery. Now in his 30s and with a good deal of experience under his belt, he becomes the first mate of the Charles ii. In their fleet of four ships, the Charles II is by far the fastest and sleekest, which might come in handy if you have valuables on board and need to outrun another ship. See, the Spanish expedition is supposed to sail to the West Indies and trade guns to the Spanish. But there's a secondary mission too, one that's probably a lot more exciting for everyone involved. As a side hustle, Houblin instructs the crew to locate shipwrecks out in the Caribbean and loot them for treasure. It kinda sounds like piracy. But since the Spanish expedition is all technically above board, with proper documentation and government approval, the crew is classified as privateers. Granted, the line between private privateers and pirates is notoriously blurry, especially at this time. Privateers often take very piratey actions and because of their status, the law tends to look the other way. It's basically piracy. With permission. However, this expedition never gets the chance to plunder sunken ships. They never even get anywhere near the West Indies. Before the ships cross the Atlantic Ocean, they sail south to the Spanish port city of Okarunya, known by the crew at this time as the Groyne G R O Y N E. It's supposed to be a quick pit stop for provisions and paperwork. That plan falls apart. The documents take forever to come through and the crew has no choice but to wait around. But it's not just a few days or weeks. We're talking a months long delay in cramped quarters and none of those enticing regular paychecks Hoobland offered get paid out. When the crew and their families appeal to him for the money, he brushes them away like annoying insects. For most, it's a nightmare. For Henry Avery, it's an opportunity. Biding their time in Ocarunia, the crew grows restless, angry, even a little paranoid about what's going to happen to the expedition. They have nothing better to do than hang around in the local taverns where they drink and talk. According to the book Enemy of All Mankind by Steven Johnson, rumors circulate that Houblun might sell the crew into slavery to get them off his back. Henry sees a group who is ready for adventure out to find treasures beyond what they had ever dreamed of. So he hatches a Plan. He tells some of the men he can get them their treasure and cut Hooblin out of the deal. All they have to do is stage a mutiny. On May 7, 1694, Henry and his co conspirators gather on the Charles II, that's the fast ship and sail it out into the harbor. The commotion wakes their sleeping captain Gibson, who demands answers his first mate. Henry calmly informs him there's a mutiny. I'm the captain now and you're in my room. Then he directs Gibson out to a smaller boat and tells him to row to shore. And Gibson complies. It's a surprisingly swift and non violent event. Now there is some historical debate about whether all of the men on board had a choice to go with Gibson or stay with their new captain Henry. Whatever the case, Henry sets out with an initial crew of about 80. In that very moment, Henry Avery becomes a pirate. So how does he become the pirate king? Some of that has to do with his super fast ship which he renames the Fancy. It's already outfitted with 46 guns, as in cannons and plenty of muskets. But his enduring legacy comes down to where he sails the Fancy. Instead of continuing on to the Caribbean like the Spanish expedition planned, Henry sets his sights on an entirely different part of the world. The Indian Ocean. Henry thinks that's where the real money is preying on ships en route to and from Mecca, where the Muslims of the world travel to perform Hajj. He's heard tales of vessels traveling across the ocean from the Mughal Empire, loaded with money, jewels and goods to trade on the pilgrimage. But first things first. The journey from Europe to the Indian Ocean is a long one. From Okarunya they sail south along the African coast. Then they have to head west to catch a strong current which helps propel them around Africa's Cape of Good Hope. The Fancy is months into her mission when it finally heads back north along the African coast and reaches the Indian Ocean. Before they go in search of their intended targets, the ships carrying riches to and from Mecca, the pirates have a stop to make. One that Henry and his men have probably been dreaming about all these long months at sea. Madagascar. It's a tropical pirate's haven where the men can rest and prepare for what's to come. Meanwhile, news of the mutiny has gotten back to England and beyond. Henry has no way of knowing it yet, but he's becoming a full blown celebrity. His popularity starts with a ballad, in this case a poem distributed on broadsides and sung to a popular tune of the day it begins. Come all ye brave boys whose courage is bold and will you venture with me? I'll glut you with gold. Pirate songs are big at this time, but something about Henry really captures people's imaginations. The catchy tune spreads through the streets and taverns. Presented as an exciting tale of swashbuckling, his ballad is the equivalent of a modern day blockbuster movie. Even before he makes his fortune, Henry Avery has become a living legend and the target of English authorities. Houblon, the brains behind the Spanish expedition, now faces the wrath of his unpaid crew in court. And to deflect the blame, he points the finger at Henry. The pirates and their famous captain officially become wanted men.
- [13:54]
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- [14:04]
Carter Roy
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- [14:05]
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- [14:25]
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- [14:56]
Carter Roy
It's early 1695 when Henry and his crew reach Madagascar, off the eastern coast of Africa. It's known as a safe spot for pirates to rest and refuel before sailing deep into the Indian Ocean. They use the time to clean the fancy. As one of the fastest ships around, she's going to be their upper hand in any skirmish, so she has to be in fighting shape. The stop in Madagascar gives the men a much needed break. Before too long, though, they get anxious. Being a pirate offers certain freedoms, sure, but let's be honest, the crew is in it for the riches Henry promised them. One issue that's been holding them back is manpower. If you'll recall, the original crew that mutinied was only about 80 men strong. Not enough hands to work all of the cannons on board the Fancy. Henry has been adding to his numbers throughout their journey. He entices a few Englishmen here, some Dutch privateers there, and, well, he kidnaps people off the coast of guinea and enslaves them. Remember, Henry may be our main character, but he's not a hero. By the spring of 1695, he's almost double the size of his crew. And they all board the Fancy once again setting off into the Indian Ocean. They're heading for the Red Sea. Anybody making the pilgrimage to Mecca by water will almost certainly pull into the port city of of Jeddah along the coast of the Red Sea. To get there, they'll have to travel into the Gulf of Aden and then through a narrow passage called the Babel Mendeb Strait. The pirates call it Bob's Key, but the name translates to something like Gate of tears. At just 20 miles wide, the strait can be dangerous with strong winds, currents and hidden reefs. The pirates see it as the perfect place to lie in wait for their target. It turns out Henry's not the only one who has this brilliant idea. The Fancy encounters two privateer ships on the way there. Both hail from the American colonies. With about 60 men on board each, they decide to join forces and sail on to Perim, a tiny island situated right inside the strait. At Parim, three more ships full of pirates and privateers arrive. One of them is the Amity, commanded by Thomas Tew. He's already made a fortune in the Red Sea. Most of the men on board the Fancy have probably heard about him. He might even be the reason they wanted to become pirates. And now he's joining their team. All six crews gather and appoint Henry as their leader. Over 400 men now look to the pirate king for their next move. And he blows it. They wait on Purim for weeks, melting in the late summer heat. When a convoy of 25 merchant ships finally makes its way through the strait. The exact prize Henry has been working toward all this time. Time. The pirates completely miss them. The merchants pass by in the night. It's not until the next day that Henry realizes what happened. He wastes no time deciding they're going after those ships. Henry orders the slowest of the pirate vessels to be abandoned and burned. He climbs aboard the Fancy, sure that its speed will make up for lost time, and aims for Suret, a port city on the west central coast of India. The Fancy is fast. So fast that only one of the other pirate ships can keep up. Thomas Tew lags far behind. But Henry doesn't dare slow down. Days pass with nothing but the waves in sight. Then, in early September, they spot it. A six gun merchant ship. The Fat Mohammadi, the Indian ship, fires three times on the pirate fleet and misses. The pirates with far more men and guns are luckier. They hit the Fat Mohammadi once and it surrenders. On board, the pirates find 50 to 60,000 English pounds worth of silver and gold. Somewhere between 5 and 10 million dollars. By today's standards. That would have been more than enough to make the crew happy. But just a couple of days later, one of the pirate lookout spots another set of sails from a huge ship traveling home to India from Mecca. This one dwarfs the Fat Mohammadi and the Fancy, too. It was built to transport as many as 1,000 people, and one pirate later estimates it has a force of about 800 when they encounter it. But they aren't all merchants. This ship, the Ganji Sawai, AKA the Gunsway, was built to provide a more luxurious trip to dignitaries and royal members of the Mughal Empire. At this time, much of India is under the rule of the Mughal Empire, and at its helm is Emperor Aurangzeb, who very well may be the richest person alive. His father famously commissioned the Taj Mahal. After he got sick, Aurangzeb imprisoned him, killed his rival brother, and has been in power ever since. Even though India is predominantly Hindu, Aurangzeb is Muslim. He's also devoutly religious, imposing a much stricter Sharia law than his empire has seen in a long time. To Aurangzeb, it's extremely important that Muslims make the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca. That's why he commissioned the construction of the Gange Sawai, meaning exceeding treasure. So the ship that's now in Henry's crosshairs belongs to one of the most powerful men on the planet. As the Fancy pulls closer to its target, flanked by two other pirate ships, it's clear that the Gun Sway is about twice their size. And since Henry left some of his fleet behind in the chase, the pirates are outnumbered roughly 4 to 1. But with some water between them, it all comes down to the cannons. One on board the Mughal ship malfunctions and exploding and killing several men. Then the Fancy launches a direct hit to the Gun Sway's largest mast, which crumples to the deck below. That allows the pirates to surge onto its decks and fight for control of the ship. The whole encounter takes about three hours, from the first cannon blast to the Gun Sway's surrender. After that, the pirates locate their treasure. Silver, gold, jewels, and valuables like spices and ivory. It's hard to know exactly how much it's all worth. Sources vary from about 200,000 English pounds on the low end to 325,000 or even 600,000 pounds today. That would be worth somewhere between 20 and 60 million US dollars. Even with so many pirates getting their fair share, there's plenty to go around. Henry as captain gets twice as much as each of his men. Once the loot is divvied up, the pirates know they've got to part ways fast. A couple ships in their fleet have already fallen behind. In the process. The famed Thomas Tew met a grisly fate. While Henry was going after the gun sway, Tew's ship ran up against the fat Mohammady, the first Indian merchant ship Henry had overpowered. Only Tew wasn't so lucky. He caught a cannonball to the gut and died moments later. Now Henry and the men on board the Fancy depart from their fleet and strike out toward the Bahamas. They don't know how long they've got, but they do know the authorities will be coming for them. See, Emperor Aurangzeb, the owner of the treasure they just stole isn't just rich and powerful. He's also one of England's most important business allies. You might have heard of the East India Company at this point. It's been around for nearly 100 years and is one of the most influential businesses in the world. It essentially established a monopoly on trade between the Indian subcontinent and the Western world. The company is a huge moneymaker for Aurangzeb, but their relationship has been growing more and more tense over the past few years. That tends to happen when one side is basically exploiting your country's resources and the other side occasionally imprisons your company's representatives. The locals in Suret actually have a conspiracy theory about the East India Company. They think the company is in cahoots with the pirates and that the business gets a cut of any treasure stolen from Indian merchant ships. At any rate, the attack on the gunsway is the final straw for Aurangzeb. It's not even the money he's angry about. It's the report that the pirates raped the women on board his ship that really fuels his rage. Over in Europe, a very different version of the story spreads. One that's blatantly candy coated. In this tale, there's no sexual assault. And when Henry finds himself face to face with a Mughal princess hiding in the gunsway, well, it's love at first sight. The truth is, the version Aurangzeb hears is almost certainly more accurate. The Emperor decides his partnership with the East India Company is all but over and has the company's representatives in Suret arrested. His decision could spell disaster for the East India Company. They need Aurangzeb. Without access to his empire, their business will cease to exist. And they're a massive company with shareholders to keep happy. The company appeals to their government for help. King William III signs a proclamation calling for the capture of Henry Avery and his crew and placing a bounty on their heads. A global manhunt is on, one they hope will appease Aurangzeb and get him to change his mind. The East India Company offers to pay the Emperor back in full for everything the pirates stole. And the English government promises to crack down on piracy full stop, starting with Henry. But according to authors Sean Kingsley and Rex Cowan, the monarchy actually ends up putting Henry on the payroll. By the time the English government puts a price on his head, Henry Avery's already gone into hiding. Seven months after the heist, Henry and his men reach the Bahamas. Nassau, the capital, is still a few years away from becoming the home base of the Republic of Pirates. For now, there are very few people living there. It turns out to be the perfect hideout, at least temporarily. The pirates pool some of their money to bribe the governor, so he asks no questions when they abandon the fancy there and lay low. Eventually, everyone goes their separate ways. A few stay in the Bahamas. Most head north to the Carolinas and presumably disperse throughout the American colonies. Henry and about 20 others buy a sloop and head back across the Atlantic, landing at a small, uncrowded fishing port in Ireland one month before the king signs that proclamation calling for their capture. The authorities never track Henry down, not officially anyway. But they do apprehend eight of his men. Two agree to testify against their former crewmates, and the other six are put on trial for the heist they pulled off in the Indian Ocean. There's a lot riding on the outcome of this case. And even though we all know the defendants are guilty of piracy, they don't really get a fair trial. For instance, the pirates are expected to represent themselves, but they clearly don't know what they're doing. The government seems to think they're about to use this court ruling as proof to the entire world that England is not a nation that endorses pirates. They even put Henry on trial, even though nobody knows where he is. Remember, though, people are still singing about him in the streets. The public loves him, and, by extension, his fellow pirates. After all is said and done, the jury finds the whole lot not guilty. It is a catastrophe for the English government. So what do the justices do? They bring the pirates back to court two days later and hit them with new charges. This time, they're going on trial for the mutiny back in Okaruna. Brilliant. Yes. Fair? Doesn't seem like it, but it works. Six of Henry's men are convicted and sentenced to death by hanging. According to author Steven Johnson. In his book Enemy of All Mankind, the executioners intentionally use short ropes to ensure a slow and agonizing death. Over in India, Aurangzeb has had time to think through the pros and cons of his deal with the East India Company. He releases the representatives he's been holding captive and agrees to continue doing business, even though Henry Avery still hasn't been brought to justice. Henry's last known whereabouts come from John Dan, one of the captured pirates, who testified at the trials. John and Henry had sailed together from the Bahamas to Ireland and parted ways after making landfall. He never saw his captain again after that. But he did have a story for the authorities. The Fancy's quartermaster had married a woman in Nassau and brought her with them to Europe. She and John ran into each other on the street one day in London, and for whatever reason, she said she was going to see Henry. When John asked where Henry was, she wouldn't say. After that, there are no further confirmed reports of the pirate king, but there are theories about where he ended up. A general history of the pirates, published in 1724, suggests Henry went back to England, searching for a way to launder his jewels. He needed money, but didn't want to draw attention to himself. An old friend offered to help and wound up double crossing him, keeping the treasure while threatening to rat Henry out if he protested. Flat broke, he was forced to walk partway across the country and died of illness. A more hopeful ending places Henry back in Madagascar, where he lived out his days on a tropical island. Whatever you believe, there's not much evidence for any theory until 1978, when a new lead surfaces. While digging through an archive in Scotland, historian Zahleid Cowan came across a strange document that grabs her attention. It's dated December 1700, about three and a half years after Henry vanished from the records. And yet, this paper is supposedly a copy of a letter from, quote, Avery the Pirate. It's addressed to a reverend in London, and notably, parts of the letter are written in code. For example, one line reads, I am not the least concerned for tank 29 FB 26 being out of the T92 11,597 it signed, whilst 2, which sounds like an obvious pseudonym. Zaleide brings the letter to her husband, Rex. And they both already know about Henry Avery. She specializes in maritime history, and Rex scours the world for lost shipwrecks. So they know if this really is written by the pirate king, it's a major discovery. In between work and their everyday lives, the Cowans make special trips to archives all over England, hunting for more clues. They think they locate information on the letter's intended recipient, the Reverend, as well as the library he ran. They even find promising research pointing to who provided the archives with a copy of that letter. With each new morsel of information, they're more and more convinced that the letter is authentic. But they still can't crack the code. They go through old code books trying to decrypt the full message. They reach out to code breaking experts, including some who've worked for the CIA. Nobody can decode the full letter. Years tick by. Zaleed sadly passes away. Then in 2020, a historian and marine archaeologist named Sean Kingsley gets to talking with Rex. One thing leads to another. The letter falls in Sean's lap, the men fall down a rabbit hole, and a conspiracy falls into Place. In 2024, they publish a book about it. The Pirate the Strange Adventures of Henry Avery and the Birth of the Golden Age of Piracy. According to the book, Henry never saw a trial because he secretly became a royal spy. There are a few clues in the mysterious coded letter about what Henry's job would have been. Its author asks that a reply be sent to the coastal town of Falmouth, which acted as a central hub for mail flowing into England. It would have been an advantageous place for a spy to screen and intercept correspondence. Then there's the addressee of the letter, the Reverend at the library in London. The researchers suggest the library was the location of a spy factory of sorts, where Henry could meet up with others in secret. Of course, it's hard to imagine how Henry could go from the pirate king to the king spy in just a few short years. It seems like a huge risk on the government's part. I mean, why hire the man who nearly caused the East India Company to implode? Sean and Rex's book suggests he first had to buy an unofficial pardon by turning over some of his treasure. The rest all hinged on another famous man, Daniel Defoe. He's most well known for writing Robinson Crusoe, published in 1719. But he was also heavily involved in politics. He wrote speeches and pamphlets. He was put in the pillory for a seditious libel. And it's a matter of historical fact that Defoe worked as a spy. The theory goes that Defoe needed a wingman and Henry was his pick. In 1720, Defoe released another novel, the King of Pirates, which is written like a memoir. It's a work of fiction, but it's not hard to imagine there might have been a real life connection between the author and his subject. Sean and Rex's research suggest that the connection was Dafoe's friendship with Henry Avery. And Dafoe, as much in awe of Henry as everybody else had been, pulled some strings with the King and hooked up the retired pirate with a new job as a spy. We do know for certain that Defoe helped facilitate the act of Union of 1707. That's when England and Scotland joined together to form Great Britain. Defoe felt strongly that the Union would help secure both countries against their enemies. But it wasn't a popular idea among the public, especially in Scotland. So Defoe was tasked with spending time in Edinburgh and Glasgow so he could keep tabs on public sentiment. He pretended he was doing research for a book and got chummy with anti unionists, all while he was secretly writing pro Union propaganda. It was actually a dangerous position to be in, hence Henry acting as Defoe's wingman. Now, there are those who don't think there's enough evidence to back up the spy theory. It's a nice story, and even a somewhat logical one, grounded in historical fact, like Defoe's espionage work. But detractors say the singular letter found in the archives back in 1978 might have nothing to do with Henry. We can't know for sure whether he really wrote it, and even if he did, its contents might not offer enough to base such a detailed theory on. However, if Sean and Rex's book does take some liberties, its authors would actually be joining a long standing tradition of adding to Henry Avery's legend. In the 30 years following the heist on the Indian Ocean, scores of new ballads and books were published about him, and a lot of them give contradictory and at least somewhat fictionalized versions of his biography. They can't all be true. Sean and Rex have a theory about these competing stories too. Perhaps they say it was all part of Henry and Dafoe's plan. They wanted the public to hear all of these different versions of Henry's life and death, so they could never know what was real. If the pirate King and his fellow spy Dafoe could control the narrative and concoct their own fictional tales about what happened, then Henry would be harder to track down. Like a turn of the 18th century, Kaiser Sosey, in his relatively short career as a pirate, Henry Avery was a living legend. It turns out maybe the legend allowed the man to go free and live undercover. Thank you for watching Conspiracy Theories. We're here with a new episode every Wednesday. Be sure to check us out on Instagram at the Conspiracy Pod. If you're watching on Spotify, swipe up and give us your thoughts. Amongst the many sources we used, we found Enemy of All A True Story of Piracy Power and History's First Global Manhunt by Stephen Johnson, as well as the Pirate the Strange Adventures of Henry Avery and the Birth of the Golden Age of Piracy by Sean Kingsley in 19. Rex Cowan. Extremely helpful to our research. Until next time. Remember, the truth isn't always the best story. And the official story isn't always the truth. This episode was researched and written by Mickey Taylor, edited by Maggie Admire, Fact Checked by Sophie Kemp, engineered by Sam Amezquah and video edited and sound designed by Ryan Contra. Special thanks to Nick Johnson, Paige Ransberry, Andrew Byrne and Jonathan Ratliff. I'm your host, Carter Roy.