The year 1717 was a high watermark for pirate activity. About two thousand pirates roamed the seas throughout America's thirteen colonies, the Caribbean, and South America. While their numbers seem small by today's standards, with eighty to one hundred pirates per ship, undermanned merchant ships had no chance.

Government officials complained bitterly. The governor of Bermuda said, "North and South Americas are infested with these rogues." The governor of Jamaica said, "There is hardly one ship or vessel coming in or going out of this island that is not plundered." Trade was almost paralyzed. Ships could only leave Jamaica in convoy under naval escort. Merchants' insurance rates were astronomical.

Authorities in London were well aware of the piracy problem. But naval ships were chronically undermanned as a result of sickness, desertion, and death. And the navy men in the Caribbean had...