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Henry Every

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Pirate

The Resume

    Born in Devon, England, United Kingdom
    Last name also spelled Evory and Avery
    Born in August, 1659
    Served in the Royal Navy (1689-90)
    First mate on the privateer Charles II (1693-94)
    Led a crew mutiny (May 7, 1694)
    Became new captain of the ship, renamed the Fancy
    Plundered shipping in the Indian Ocean (1694-96)
    After sheltering in the Bahamas, crew adopted new aliases and broke up (June, 1696)
    No confirmed sightings of him after 1696

Why he might be annoying:

    He was a slave trader.
    After capturing the Indian ship Ganj-i-sawai (September 7, 1695), he and his crew tortured their captives to make them reveal where treasure was hidden.
    His crew also raped the women passengers on the ship.
    The attack on the Ganj-i-sawai so outraged the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb that he threatened to expel the British East India Company.
    The British crown and East India Company offered a £1,000 reward for his capture.
    He was explicitly exempted from all pardons and amnesties that the Crown offered to entice pirates to surrender.
    Stories of his fate ranged from the fanciful (he became king of a pirate utopia in Madagascar) to the moralistic (he was cheated out of his wealth while trying to convert his gems and foreign currency and died a pauper).
    His exploits inspired future pirates, such as Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet and Bartholomew Roberts, to hoist the skull and crossbones.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was described as ‘tall and powerfully built.’
    When he was in the Royal Navy, he ‘regularly consigned his pay to his family.’
    One of his crew who was captured and tried, Philip Middleton, said that Every was the only man from the Fancy not to rape the women captives from the Ganj-i-sawai.
    He may have been the most successful pirate in history in financial terms, with the plunder from just the Ganj-i-sawai estimated at between £325,000 and £600,000.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 87.50% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying