Henry Every

Henry Avery, also Evory or Every, (baptised 23 August 1659 – after 1699), sometimes erroneously given as John Avery, was an English pirate who operated in the Atlantic and Indian oceans in the mid-1690s. He probably used several aliases throughout his career, including Benjamin Bridgeman, and was known as Long Ben to his crewmen and associates.

Dubbed "The Arch Pirate" and "The King of Pirates" by contemporaries, Avery was notorious. He earned his infamy by becoming one of few major pirate captains to retire with his loot without being arrested or killed in battle, and for being the perpetrator of what has been called the most profitable pirate raid in history. Although Avery's career as a pirate lasted only two years, his exploits captured the public's imagination, inspired others to take up piracy, and spawned works of literature.

Avery was born in Newton Ferrers in the south west of England and likely a member of the local Every family. He served in the Royal Navy from 1689 to 1690. Following his discharge from the navy, he began slave trading along Africa's Slave Coast. In 1693, he was again employed as a mariner, this time as first mate aboard the warship Charles II. After leaving London in August 1693, the Charles II anchored in the northern Spanish harbor of Corunna. The crew grew discontent as Spain failed to deliver a letter of marque and Charles II's owners failed to pay their wages. On 7 May 1694, the restless sailors mutinied; Charles II was renamed the Fancy and Avery elected as the new captain, the Fancy sailed south to the Indian Ocean, soon plundering five ships off the West African coast.

In early 1695 the Fancy had reached the Comoros Islands, where Avery's crew raided a French vessel and narrowly escaped capture by three East Indiamen. The Fancy then sailed north to the Arabian Sea, where a 25-ship convoy of Grand Mughal vessels was making the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, including the treasure-laden Ghanjah dhow Gunsway and its escort, the Fateh Muhammed. Joining forces with several pirate vessels, Avery found himself in command of a small pirate squadron. As the pirates gave chase, the smaller vessels in the squadron gradually fell behind, and at some point Tew was killed in an engagement with a Mughal ship. Avery had more success, however, capturing the Fateh Muhammed and later overtaking the Gunsway, snapping its mainmast in a cannonball volley. Following several hours of ferocious hand-to-hand combat on deck, the pirates emerged victorious. Although many pirates were reportedly killed,[10] the payoff was astonishing: Avery had captured up to £600,000 in precious metals and jewels, making him the richest pirate in the world, equivalent to around £52m in 2010 prices. After this raid, Avery and his crew tortured and killed a great number of the passengers and raped women of all ages. Some women stabbed themselves with daggers or jumped overboard, committing suicide to escape this fate.

The plunder of Gunsway caused considerable damage to England's fragile relations with the Mughals. In response to Avery's attack, a combined bounty of £1,000—an immense sum at the time—was offered for his capture by the Privy Council and the East India Company, leading to the first worldwide manhunt in recorded history. Avery and his crew fled to the Bahamas, briefly sheltering in New Providence, a known pirate haven. After adopting aliases, the crew broke company, most choosing to sail home to the British Isles and the rest remaining in the British West Indies or taking to the North American colonies. 24 of the pirates were eventually captured, and 6 were tried, convicted, and hanged in London in November 1696. Yet Avery eluded capture, vanishing from all records in 1696; his whereabouts and activities after this period are unknown. Unconfirmed accounts state he may have changed his name and retired, quietly living out the rest of his life in either Britain or an unidentified tropical island, dying sometime after 1696. Colin Woodard stated that Avery, in trying to launder his riches to currency, had been outsmarted by wealthy landowners and "died a poor beggar not being able to afford his own coffin." Many still believe that Avery's treasure is still out there.

Background
Modern scholarship suggests Every was born on 20 August 1659 in the village of Newton Ferrers, about 9.7 kilometres (6 mi) southeast of Plymouth. Parish records indicate that he may have been the son of John Avery and his wife, Anne (maiden name unknown); the Every family of Devonshire was quite established at the time, and it is likely he was a kinsman of the Everys of Wycroft Castle. According to the deposition of William Phillips, a member of Every's crew who gave a "voluntary confession" after his capture, in August 1696 Every was "aged about 40 years," his mother lived "near Plymouth," and his wife was a periwig seller who lived "in Ratcliffe Highway." Every was married and records indicate that he may have wed one Dorothy Arther at St James Duke's Place in London on 11 September 1690, though there is no evidence that he had any children.