Henry Avery was one of the most influential pirates in history, even if you’ve never heard of him until now. This Englishman led a raid in 1695 that hauled in £600,000 of treasure from a Mughal Indian ship on its return voyage from the Hajj (worth about $122,169,000 in U.S. dollars today). But it enraged the powerful Indian ruler and threatened to undo lucrative trading relationships between England and the Mughal Empire in India. As a result, the English government teamed up with English corporations and the Mughal state to commence the biggest manhunt in history up to that time.
Henry Avery had not started his career as a pirate, but was a sailor in his 30s when he joined and then lead a mutiny against the captain of an English ship which had been unable to pay his crew. Avery’s personal magnetism must have been strong, because from there he turned to piracy and enticed the men on board to join him. Re-christening the English ship the _Fancy_, Avery only spent two years as a pirate, but after his surprising conquest of the Mughal Indian ships the _Fateh Muhammed_ and _Ganj-i-Sawai_/ the Gunsway, he had to flee because of the extraordinary bounty placed on his head.
Avery was never caught by the authorities, and his treasure was never found. In the English literary imagination, he was sometimes portrayed as a sort of Robin Hood, making the pirate code a more honorable way of setting up a society than England’s highly stratified class system. But Avery was a killer, and likely a rapist too, so this idea is wishful thinking. Pirates that followed Avery’s time, like Blackbeard, Bartholomew Roberts (the “Dread Pirate Roberts” of the _Princess Bride_ was based on him), and Calico Jack were likely inspired by tales of Avery’s successful leadership, looting, and escape from the law.
Sources: Steven Johnson, _Enemy of All Mankind: a True Story of Piracy, Power, and History’s First Global Manhunt, 2021, Riverhead Books
