May 17

Bartholomew Roberts, a Welshman, was born on the 17th in 1682. His name at birth was John Robert. Why he assumed the name Bartholomew is puzzling. Perhaps he felt that John Robert didn’t have enough zing to it. In any event, as children tend to do, he grew up and as an adult made a career choice to become a pirate. His motto appears to have been ‘Better being a commander than a common man’. He even managed to secure an appropriate nickname for his chosen life’s work, though I’m uncertain as to why he chose Black Bart, which somehow strikes me as more appropriate a sobriquet for a 19th century American Old West bandit than it does for an 18th century British maritime outlaw.