Black Jack Anderson

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Black Jack Anderson (* 19th century ; † 1835 on Middle Island, Recherche Archipelago off Western Australia , Australia ) was a Black American who was a pirate on the south coast of Australia in the 1820 / 1830s . As he was the only documented pirate in Australia, he is very well known in Australia.

Life

Recherche Archipelago at Cape Le Grand National Park

Black Jack Anderson was a whalers from Massachusetts , the 1826 King George Sound , now Albany , on the whaling ship Vigilant came to Australia. At that time there was only one trading shop in this area on King George Sound that also sold spirits. There there was an argument between the drunken crew of the vigilante and other seamen, as a result of which a seaman was killed. There is no evidence that Anderson was the killer, but he stole a boat and fled with four other men to the islands of the Recherche Archipelago.

At that time, all ships that sailed from Europe to Australia and anchored in the sound passed this archipelago, so it was an ideal starting point for pirates. The pirate's nest on the Middle Island of the Recherche Archipelago , off the coast of Western Australia , lay in a limestone cave system . At that time the island was uninhabited, densely overgrown and it had drinking water as one of the 105 islands in the archipelago.

Black Jack Anderson is described as a charismatic, cruel and murderous pirate who carried two pistols in his waistband and a long knife by his side.

An Albany court found that Anderson caught ships, robbed seafarers of money and threatened them that if they did not give it to him, he would kill them. It was reported in the Perth Gazette in October 1835 that Andersen and his crew killed Aboriginal people and abducted their wives on their boats that were to serve them.

It is believed that in 1835 members of his crew killed him in a dispute and buried him on Middle Island.

archeology

The Middle Island cave system, formed at sea level, has been dumped with sand over time, and Australian archeology suggests the remains of seals and whalers, including pirates, can be found in the sands. It is also believed that there are also artifacts from Aboriginal people who have lived there for millennia. Excavations are planned on Middle Island in 2013.

literature

  • Elaine Forrestal: Black Jack Anderson. Australia's most notorious pirate . Penguin, Camberwell, Vict. 2008. ISBN 978-0-14-300594-0 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b members.iinet.net.au (PDF file; 137 kB): Mandurah Coastal Times: Plundering WA history , June 18, 2008, accessed April 1, 2012
  2. ↑ perthnow.au January Hallam: Pirates of Esperance . In: The Sunday Times, June 14, 2008, in English, accessed April 1, 2012
  3. ↑ a b au.news : Angela Pownall: In search of pirate Black . In: The West Australian, March 26th, in English, accessed April 1, 2012
  4. ↑ spiegel.de : Australian archaeologists in the pirate's nest . In: Spiegel-Online , April 1, 2012, accessed April 1, 2012
personal data
SURNAME Anderson, blackjack
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Black jack
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian pirate
DATE OF BIRTH 19th century
PLACE OF BIRTH Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH 1835
Place of death Middle Island, Recherche Archipelago off Western Australia , Australia