Lost Chapters
Bartholomew Roberts: Garnet Character
Bartholomew Roberts, often called Black Bart, was a Welsh pirate of the early 1700s who is credited with capturing hundreds of ships. Taken by pirates around 1719, he was elected their captain within weeks and raided both sides of the Atlantic until he was killed off West Africa in February 1722.
- Cost
- 4 crystals
- Type
- Character · Rebel
- Power / Health
- 3 / 3
- Color
- Garnet (Rebels, Pirates & War)
- Rarity
- Rare
- Set
- Liberty & Lightning (Set 1)
On play: if a character of yours charged this turn, your opponent discards a random card.
When this hits a Leader: draw a card.
Reluctant pirate who became history's most successful buccaneer while maintaining impeccable fashion standards.
The real history
Roberts was born in Pembrokeshire, Wales, around 1682, and his parents named him John. He went to sea and became a mate on the Princess, a ship in the Atlantic slave trade. Off West Africa the Princess was captured by Howell Davis, a fellow Welsh pirate, and Roberts was taken into his crew. Most accounts date this to 1719, though sources range from 1718 to 1720, and whether he was forced or joined willingly is debated.
Davis was killed soon afterward, and the crew chose Roberts, who had been aboard only about six weeks, as their new captain. He proved bold and skilled. In June 1720 he sailed into the harbor at Trepassey, Newfoundland, where a fleet of 22 fishing ships gave in to intimidation rather than a fight. He raided from the Caribbean and North America to the waters off South America and Africa. He is usually credited with more than 400 captured ships, though counts like that are hard to check.
His crew sailed under written articles, a set of rules for life aboard. They gave every man a vote in important decisions and a fair share of fresh food and drink, and they banned gambling at cards or dice for money. Accounts also describe Roberts dressed in a rich crimson waistcoat and preferring tea to alcohol.
On February 10, 1722, the Royal Navy ship HMS Swallow, commanded by Captain Chaloner Ogle, caught him off Cape Lopez, in what is now Gabon. Grapeshot hit Roberts in the throat and killed him. His crew threw his body overboard, as he had asked, and 52 of his men were later hanged.
Sources
- Bartholomew Roberts (Black Bart), The Canadian Encyclopedia
- Roberts, Bartholomew (originally John) (1682? to 1722), pirate, Dictionary of Welsh Biography, National Library of Wales
- Bartholomew Roberts, World History Encyclopedia
In the game's story
In the game's invented story, Roberts runs the most orderly operation on the Errata Harbor waterfront, hunting Echo ships, splitting the spoils by his written articles and paying the Bridgecrew's tolls on time. He wears fine crimson clothes, drinks tea and has banned gambling on his ship. He and Blackbeard keep up a tense, courteous rivalry, and when the Echo of Nassau attacks the harbor they fight side by side, then argue for hours about who did more.
How the card plays
Bartholomew Roberts costs 4 crystals (3 under the Blackbeard Leader, since he is one of that Leader's Signature cards) and is a 3/3 Garnet Rebel. When he arrives, if a character of yours has already charged this turn, your opponent discards a random card. When he hits a Leader, you draw a card.
Order matters. Charge with a character first, then play Roberts in the same turn to make the rival discard. From the next turn on, he is an attacker that refills your hand each time he reaches the enemy Leader.
Rebel, Two Sided Hound is a cheap Swift Rebel that can charge on the turn it lands, setting up the discard. Spoils of War also rewards an early charge with a discard and two cards, and Edward Teach "Blackbeard" keeps the hand pressure coming.
- Playable in decks led by Edward Teach "Blackbeard".
- A Signature card of Edward Teach "Blackbeard": it costs 1 less while Blackbeard leads your deck.
- In the Blackbeard starter deck (2 copies). Deck code:
LC2-Aj4BPwFAAUEBQgFDAUQCRQFGAkcBSAFJAkoBSwFMAU0BTgFPAlACUQFSAVMCVAFVAVYBVwFYAVkBWgFbAVwBXQJeAW9C - A deck holds up to 3 copies of this card.
Questions about Roberts
Did Bartholomew Roberts have a pirate code?
Yes. His crew lived by written articles that gave each man a vote in important decisions and banned gambling at cards or dice for money.
How did Bartholomew Roberts die?
He was killed by grapeshot to the throat during a fight with the Royal Navy ship HMS Swallow off Cape Lopez, in present-day Gabon, on February 10, 1722.
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