Bartholomew Roberts

Welsh pirate Bartholomew Roberts, sometimes known as "Black Bart," was a tall, dashing man who wore colorful clothing in the 18th century. According to the Royal Museums Greenwich in London, he started off working on commercial ships before switching careers to become a pirate and eventually becoming elected captain of his own ship and crew.

Throughout his life, Roberts boarded almost 400 ships, some of which sailed in the Caribbean and off the coast of Africa. He frequently captured slave ships and forced the captains to return them in exchange for cash. According to the World History Encyclopedia, when one such slave captain objected, Roberts allegedly set fire to their ship, trapping 80 slaves within.

According to the Royal Museums Greenwich, Black Bart's misdeeds came to an end in 1722 when he was murdered by the British Royal Navy off the coast of Gabon in West Central Africa while his crew mates were too inebriated to defend the ship. The largest pirate trial ever held resulted in the hanging of 52 members of his crew, according to the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.