WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.879 Welcome to the Deep Dive. I am so glad you're 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:05.940 here today because we have a truly wild mission 00:00:05.940 --> 00:00:08.119 ahead of us. We really do. Yeah. I want you to 00:00:08.119 --> 00:00:11.080 picture the ultimate blockbuster action movie 00:00:11.080 --> 00:00:14.519 about a pirate. You've got high stakes duels. 00:00:15.039 --> 00:00:18.140 daring escapes from, you know, subterranean dungeons, 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:21.059 hidden treasure, and this redemption arc that 00:00:21.059 --> 00:00:23.739 just completely defies belief. Right. Today, 00:00:23.839 --> 00:00:26.379 we're looking at the life of a 1670s Scottish 00:00:26.379 --> 00:00:29.120 Barbadian buccaneer by the name of Redlegs Greaves. 00:00:29.559 --> 00:00:32.119 And our source material for this entire journey 00:00:32.119 --> 00:00:36.200 is a single, utterly fascinating encyclopedic 00:00:36.200 --> 00:00:38.840 entry detailing his life. Just the one entry. 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:41.420 Just the one. And it is packed with moments that 00:00:41.420 --> 00:00:43.420 will absolutely make your jaw drop. But as we're 00:00:43.420 --> 00:00:45.679 going to see, this isn't It isn't just a simple 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:48.520 biography. No, it really is a remarkable narrative. 00:00:48.619 --> 00:00:51.579 But our goal today isn't just to recount a swashbuckling 00:00:51.579 --> 00:00:54.719 adventure for the sake of entertainment as incredibly 00:00:54.719 --> 00:00:57.170 fun as that might be. Oh, absolutely. We're really 00:00:57.170 --> 00:01:00.390 here to dissect the anatomy of a legend. We want 00:01:00.390 --> 00:01:03.890 to explore what a story like the life of Redlegs 00:01:03.890 --> 00:01:07.109 Greaves actually reveals about history. You know, 00:01:07.129 --> 00:01:10.650 how historical records are kept and the incredible 00:01:10.650 --> 00:01:13.790 power of myth -making. Because the line between 00:01:13.790 --> 00:01:16.549 a rock -solid historical fact and a compelling 00:01:16.549 --> 00:01:19.549 piece of fiction is often a lot blurrier than 00:01:19.549 --> 00:01:22.549 you might think. Okay, let's unpack this. Because 00:01:22.549 --> 00:01:23.989 we really have to start at the very beginning. 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:26.680 which is the exceptionally harsh origins of a 00:01:26.680 --> 00:01:29.379 buccaneer. Right, in Barbados. Exactly. Kreese 00:01:29.379 --> 00:01:32.140 was born in Barbados in 1649. And right off the 00:01:32.140 --> 00:01:34.700 bat, I want to ask about that nickname, Redlegs. 00:01:35.239 --> 00:01:38.359 Yeah, it sounds pretty intense. Right. Because 00:01:38.359 --> 00:01:40.519 when you hear a pirate name like that, you immediately 00:01:40.519 --> 00:01:43.120 assume it's something gruesome. Like he earned 00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:44.859 it by wading through the blood of his enemies 00:01:44.859 --> 00:01:47.019 or something. But looking at our source material, 00:01:47.260 --> 00:01:50.140 that is not the case at all, is it? Not at all, 00:01:50.200 --> 00:01:52.420 actually. Redlegs was just a historical term 00:01:52.420 --> 00:01:55.200 used to refer to a specific class of poor white 00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:57.900 people living in colonial Barbados. Wow. OK. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:00.420 Yeah. And to understand how his family ended 00:02:00.420 --> 00:02:03.019 up in that specific social class in the Caribbean. 00:02:03.959 --> 00:02:06.379 We have to look back across the Atlantic at a 00:02:06.379 --> 00:02:09.000 deeply turbulent time in British history. The 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:12.300 English Civil War era. Precisely. Greaves' parents 00:02:12.300 --> 00:02:15.259 were sent into servitude in Barbados after being 00:02:15.259 --> 00:02:18.219 tried for treason. This happened during the Wars 00:02:18.219 --> 00:02:20.419 of the Three Kingdoms, which was this massive, 00:02:20.460 --> 00:02:24.039 incredibly bloody series of conflicts that tore 00:02:24.039 --> 00:02:27.080 through England, Scotland, and Ireland in the 00:02:27.080 --> 00:02:29.659 mid -17th century. I think a lot of people might 00:02:29.659 --> 00:02:32.060 be vaguely familiar with Oliver Cromwell and 00:02:32.060 --> 00:02:34.960 the English Civil War. But how did Greaves' parents 00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:38.479 fit into that massive conflict? The source notes 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:41.020 they were caught up in this as royalists and 00:02:41.020 --> 00:02:43.800 covenanters. OK. To put it simply for anyone 00:02:43.800 --> 00:02:46.340 who isn't a 17th century political historian, 00:02:46.680 --> 00:02:49.199 royalists were those loyal to the king, Charles 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:51.860 I. And Covenanters were essentially a Scottish 00:02:51.860 --> 00:02:54.039 Presbyterian movement fighting for their specific 00:02:54.039 --> 00:02:56.919 religious and political rights. Got it. Ultimately, 00:02:56.979 --> 00:02:59.180 they were up against Cromwell's parliamentarian 00:02:59.180 --> 00:03:01.060 forces. And when they ended up on the losing 00:03:01.060 --> 00:03:04.599 side, they faced the very brutal reality of the 00:03:04.599 --> 00:03:07.050 era. Like many others who were deemed rebels 00:03:07.050 --> 00:03:09.750 or traitors, they were exiled across the ocean 00:03:09.750 --> 00:03:12.650 and forced into indentured servitude in the Caribbean 00:03:12.650 --> 00:03:15.530 colonies. Imagine that transition. You're fighting 00:03:15.530 --> 00:03:18.090 a political and religious war in Scotland, and 00:03:18.090 --> 00:03:20.569 suddenly you are shipped off to the blistering 00:03:20.569 --> 00:03:23.370 heat of Barbados as an indentured servant. It's 00:03:23.370 --> 00:03:26.389 a staggering shift. So Greaves is born into this 00:03:26.389 --> 00:03:29.949 incredibly difficult situation in 1649, just 00:03:29.949 --> 00:03:32.879 a short time after his parents arrive. And the 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:34.800 tragedy really just compounds from there. It 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:37.599 does. As a boy, Greaves is the servant of a kindly 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:40.560 master. But then in a devastatingly short span 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:42.759 of time, both his parents and that kindly master 00:03:42.759 --> 00:03:45.650 die. Leaving him totally alone. Right. You have 00:03:45.650 --> 00:03:47.889 this newly orphaned teenager who is suddenly 00:03:47.889 --> 00:03:50.449 completely alone in the world, and he gets sold 00:03:50.449 --> 00:03:52.830 off to another master. Only this time, the man 00:03:52.830 --> 00:03:55.129 who buys him is notoriously violent. The guy 00:03:55.129 --> 00:03:57.629 frequently beats him. It is a completely brutal, 00:03:57.849 --> 00:04:00.310 hopeless adolescence. If we connect this to the 00:04:00.310 --> 00:04:02.889 bigger picture, you can see how perfectly this 00:04:02.889 --> 00:04:05.090 origin story functions on a psychological level. 00:04:05.729 --> 00:04:08.210 Think about how it frames Greaves for you, the 00:04:08.210 --> 00:04:11.629 audience. He isn't some greedy aristocrat who 00:04:11.629 --> 00:04:13.710 got bored and went looking for violent adventure. 00:04:14.050 --> 00:04:16.709 He isn't someone who chose a life of crime out 00:04:16.709 --> 00:04:19.009 of innate malice or a desire to hurt people. 00:04:19.490 --> 00:04:23.430 He is the ultimate, deeply sympathetic underdog. 00:04:23.529 --> 00:04:26.410 The victim of circumstance. Exactly. He's born 00:04:26.410 --> 00:04:28.810 into servitude because of distant political wars 00:04:28.810 --> 00:04:31.300 he had nothing to do with. orphaned at a young 00:04:31.300 --> 00:04:34.620 age, and then systematically abused. Psychologically, 00:04:34.779 --> 00:04:37.519 this primes you to completely root for him. When 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:39.600 he inevitably breaks the law just to survive, 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:43.259 you are already firmly on his side. You definitely 00:04:43.259 --> 00:04:46.040 are. Because his breaking point is just incredibly 00:04:46.040 --> 00:04:48.360 dramatic. Yeah. We are talking out of the frying 00:04:48.360 --> 00:04:50.839 pan and into the pirate ship. Literally. Greaves 00:04:50.839 --> 00:04:53.180 realizes he is simply not going to survive this 00:04:53.180 --> 00:04:55.360 violent master, so he makes a desperate run for 00:04:55.360 --> 00:04:58.540 it. He attempts to escape his servitude by swimming 00:04:58.540 --> 00:05:00.980 across Carlisle Bay. Which is no small feat. 00:05:01.139 --> 00:05:03.199 Right. I want you to just picture this young 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:06.899 guy, desperate, exhausted, swimming through the 00:05:06.899 --> 00:05:09.939 dark water, looking for absolutely any way out 00:05:09.939 --> 00:05:13.139 of a life of torture. He manages to reach a ship 00:05:13.139 --> 00:05:16.459 that is preparing to leave Barbados, and he stows 00:05:16.459 --> 00:05:20.060 away. He assumes, naturally, that this is a standard 00:05:20.060 --> 00:05:22.759 merchant vessel on its way to some far -off port 00:05:22.759 --> 00:05:25.500 where he can finally start a normal life. But 00:05:25.500 --> 00:05:27.620 in a narrative constructed like this one, things 00:05:27.620 --> 00:05:30.560 are never quite that simple. Exactly the opposite. 00:05:30.660 --> 00:05:32.879 The twist is that it wasn't a merchant ship at 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:35.439 all. He had accidentally stowed away on a pirate 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:37.439 ship. Of course he did. And not just any run 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:40.199 -of -the -mill pirate ship. This vessel was commanded 00:05:40.199 --> 00:05:43.379 by the notorious Captain Hawkins. Tell us a bit 00:05:43.379 --> 00:05:45.459 about Hawkins, because he sounds absolutely terrifying. 00:05:46.009 --> 00:05:48.290 He really is the ultimate antagonist. If you 00:05:48.290 --> 00:05:50.170 look at the accounts of Captain Hawkins, they 00:05:50.170 --> 00:05:52.269 paint a picture of a guy who didn't just steal. 00:05:52.449 --> 00:05:55.110 He went out of his way to inflict pain. Right. 00:05:55.250 --> 00:05:57.649 He was known throughout the Caribbean as an unusually 00:05:57.649 --> 00:06:01.009 cruel pirate. He was highly successful in capturing 00:06:01.009 --> 00:06:03.410 rich prizes, which is really the only reason 00:06:03.410 --> 00:06:06.170 his crew followed him. But they also deeply feared 00:06:06.170 --> 00:06:08.610 him. He tortured people, right? He regularly 00:06:08.610 --> 00:06:12.110 tortured his captives. Yes. With a horrific and 00:06:12.110 --> 00:06:14.430 specific emphasis on torturing women, actually. 00:06:21.750 --> 00:06:26.029 So our sympathetic underdog, Greaves, is discovered 00:06:26.029 --> 00:06:28.990 hiding on board this floating nightmare. He is 00:06:28.990 --> 00:06:31.629 dragged out and thrown in front of this terrifying, 00:06:31.930 --> 00:06:34.610 bloodthirsty captain. And the choice he is given 00:06:34.610 --> 00:06:37.310 is just so incredibly cinematic. It really is. 00:06:37.550 --> 00:06:39.310 Our source material has this highly specific 00:06:39.310 --> 00:06:41.689 quote about the moment. It says, Greaves was 00:06:41.689 --> 00:06:43.949 offered the ship's articles on a platter along 00:06:43.949 --> 00:06:46.199 with a pistol. Basically, sign away your soul 00:06:46.199 --> 00:06:48.720 to my pirate crew or I blow your brains out right 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:51.240 here on the deck. It is the ultimate coerced 00:06:51.240 --> 00:06:54.040 choice. He's forced into piracy under the direct 00:06:54.040 --> 00:06:56.220 and immediate threat of death. He has absolutely 00:06:56.220 --> 00:06:59.000 no agency in becoming a criminal. So he signs. 00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:02.769 And it turns out. Greaves actually shows a lot 00:07:02.769 --> 00:07:05.470 of promise. He quickly gains a reputation among 00:07:05.470 --> 00:07:08.629 the crew as a very capable, efficient sailor. 00:07:08.629 --> 00:07:11.230 True. But he absolutely despises Captain Hawkins. 00:07:11.389 --> 00:07:13.589 Understandably. He hates that he was forced into 00:07:13.589 --> 00:07:16.350 this life. And more than anything, he vehemently 00:07:16.350 --> 00:07:19.649 hates Hawkins' sheer brutality toward the prisoners 00:07:19.649 --> 00:07:23.779 they capture. It is a ticking time bomb. How 00:07:23.779 --> 00:07:26.459 does a guy who hates violence survive under a 00:07:26.459 --> 00:07:28.920 captain who thrives on it? Well, that tension 00:07:28.920 --> 00:07:32.000 inevitably boils over into a massive clash between 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:34.540 the two men. Now, the popular legend likes to 00:07:34.540 --> 00:07:36.740 claim that they finally dueled because Greaves 00:07:36.740 --> 00:07:39.800 bravely stepped in to physically stop the torture 00:07:39.800 --> 00:07:42.160 of a prisoner. The classic hero moment. Right. 00:07:42.259 --> 00:07:44.819 It makes for a great story. However, the encyclopedia 00:07:44.819 --> 00:07:47.220 entry points out that realistically, it was more 00:07:47.220 --> 00:07:49.899 likely because Greaves simply disobeyed orders 00:07:49.899 --> 00:07:52.639 and Hawkins attacked him for the insubordinate. 00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:55.079 That makes more sense. But whatever the exact 00:07:55.079 --> 00:07:57.899 spark was that day, they fight. And Greaves ends 00:07:57.899 --> 00:08:00.759 up killing Captain Hawkins. The crew, who we 00:08:00.759 --> 00:08:02.660 already established lived in absolute terror 00:08:02.660 --> 00:08:05.839 of Hawkins, doesn't avenge their captain. Instead, 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:08.540 they immediately elect Greaves to succeed him. 00:08:08.699 --> 00:08:11.540 Here's where it gets really interesting. Greaves 00:08:11.540 --> 00:08:13.680 doesn't just take over the ship and keep doing 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:16.639 business as usual. He completely rewrites the 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:19.420 ship's articles. the absolute code of conduct 00:08:19.420 --> 00:08:22.360 for the crew. He essentially institutes a pirate 00:08:22.360 --> 00:08:24.839 HR department. That is a great way to put it. 00:08:24.920 --> 00:08:28.660 He institutes a radically reformed ethical version 00:08:28.660 --> 00:08:32.960 of piracy. What? The new code he creates specifically 00:08:32.960 --> 00:08:36.480 prohibits the mistreatment of prisoners. It explicitly 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:39.179 allows merchant captains to surrender peacefully 00:08:39.179 --> 00:08:41.679 during a battle without any fear of being slaughtered 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:44.220 or tortured. And he completely bans his crew 00:08:44.220 --> 00:08:47.200 from participating in any raids on poor coastal 00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:49.659 villages. So he's an honorable thief. Exactly. 00:08:49.659 --> 00:08:52.360 He sets himself up as an honorable captain stealing 00:08:52.360 --> 00:08:54.480 only from those who can afford it and refusing 00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:56.919 to shed unnecessary blood. I have to push back 00:08:56.919 --> 00:08:59.259 on this a little bit, though. Wait, so he takes 00:08:59.259 --> 00:09:01.919 over a ship full of hardened criminals, tells 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:04.139 them they can't torture people or raid vulnerable 00:09:04.139 --> 00:09:06.759 towns anymore, and they just go along with it. 00:09:06.840 --> 00:09:09.419 Does he actually pull off a successful raid under 00:09:09.419 --> 00:09:11.919 these new rules without his crew turning on him? 00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:14.720 He does, and it leads to what is arguably his 00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:17.799 greatest success. The Margarita Island Raid around 00:09:17.799 --> 00:09:21.500 1675. Off the coast of Venezuela. Right. Greaves 00:09:21.500 --> 00:09:24.080 doesn't just attack a random lonely ship. He 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:26.740 goes after the local Spanish fleet. And the tactics 00:09:26.740 --> 00:09:29.220 he uses are brilliant. He captures the Spanish 00:09:29.220 --> 00:09:31.879 fleet, and then he turns the captured fleet's 00:09:31.879 --> 00:09:34.440 own guns against the island's coastal defenses. 00:09:34.840 --> 00:09:38.139 He successfully storms the town, takes a massive 00:09:38.139 --> 00:09:40.789 haul of pearls and gold, and then... This is 00:09:40.789 --> 00:09:42.549 the part that sounds completely contradictory 00:09:42.549 --> 00:09:44.769 to every pirate story I've ever heard. The noble 00:09:44.769 --> 00:09:47.990 pirate part. Yes. In true noble pirate fashion, 00:09:48.149 --> 00:09:50.429 he just leaves. He doesn't burn the town down, 00:09:50.549 --> 00:09:52.710 he doesn't harm the inhabitants, and he completely 00:09:52.710 --> 00:09:55.169 forbids his crew from any further looting. He 00:09:55.169 --> 00:09:57.049 gets his prize and sails away into the sunset. 00:09:57.309 --> 00:10:00.080 It is the absolute finical of his career. He 00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:02.659 achieves massive life -changing wealth without 00:10:02.659 --> 00:10:05.179 compromising his newly established moral code, 00:10:05.419 --> 00:10:08.080 which, naturally, gives him the means to retire 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:10.919 from the pirate life. Yes, the retirement. He 00:10:10.919 --> 00:10:12.980 takes his gold and pearls and settles down in 00:10:12.980 --> 00:10:14.919 Nevis to live out his days as a wealthy gentleman 00:10:14.919 --> 00:10:18.019 farmer. It is the perfect peaceful ending for 00:10:18.019 --> 00:10:20.279 our underdog. Until the past catches up with 00:10:20.279 --> 00:10:22.480 him. Exactly. Despite his supposedly honorable 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:25.700 reputation, one of his former victims actually 00:10:25.700 --> 00:10:28.509 recognizes him on the island. And this person 00:10:28.509 --> 00:10:31.110 turns Greaves over to the authorities just to 00:10:31.110 --> 00:10:33.309 collect the bounty reward. And you can imagine 00:10:33.309 --> 00:10:34.850 the colonial authorities were not particularly 00:10:34.850 --> 00:10:37.129 interested in his supposedly humane approach 00:10:37.129 --> 00:10:40.049 to piracy. A pirate is a pirate. Oh, they showed 00:10:40.049 --> 00:10:43.389 him absolutely zero leniency. He is put on trial, 00:10:43.490 --> 00:10:46.389 found guilty of piracy, and the sentence is brutal. 00:10:46.610 --> 00:10:49.289 He is condemned to hang in chains. A dark turn. 00:10:49.610 --> 00:10:53.659 Very dark. So here... is our hero, locked in 00:10:53.659 --> 00:10:56.460 a dark subterranean dungeon, just waiting for 00:10:56.460 --> 00:10:58.899 the day of his execution. Seems completely hopeless, 00:10:59.080 --> 00:11:02.379 but then an act of God. While he's in that dungeon, 00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:06.159 a massive earthquake strikes and literally submerges 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:08.779 the town. How on earth does that happen? It's 00:11:08.779 --> 00:11:11.019 an incredible, almost biblical intervention. 00:11:11.460 --> 00:11:13.240 Now, as an analyst looking at the source material, 00:11:13.480 --> 00:11:15.519 this is the moment where the variations in the 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:17.500 historical records start to really fracture. 00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:20.000 Or the legend, rather. They start to show their 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:23.039 seams. What do you mean? The text notes significant 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:25.659 conflicting accounts about this miraculous earthquake. 00:11:26.039 --> 00:11:29.700 Some stories claim this was the famous 1692 earthquake 00:11:29.700 --> 00:11:32.799 and tidal wave that famously destroyed Port Royal, 00:11:32.879 --> 00:11:35.399 Jamaica. Okay. But other accounts insist he was 00:11:35.399 --> 00:11:37.960 imprisoned on Nevis and that Nevis suffered its 00:11:37.960 --> 00:11:40.679 own earthquake and tidal wave in either 1680 00:11:40.679 --> 00:11:44.779 or 1690. The dates and the locations blur significantly 00:11:44.779 --> 00:11:48.139 depending on who is telling the story. But regardless 00:11:48.139 --> 00:11:50.500 of which specific earthquake it was, the redemption 00:11:50.500 --> 00:11:54.480 arc that follows is just beautiful. Greaves is 00:11:54.480 --> 00:11:56.440 miraculously one of the few survivors of this 00:11:56.440 --> 00:11:59.820 cataclysm. He manages to escape the ruined, flooded 00:11:59.820 --> 00:12:02.639 prison and is eventually rescued at sea by a 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:05.139 passing whaling ship. A stroke of pure luck. 00:12:05.379 --> 00:12:07.700 Out of pure gratitude for being saved, Greaves 00:12:07.700 --> 00:12:10.039 joins the crew of that whaling ship. He works 00:12:10.039 --> 00:12:12.139 his way up, and eventually he becomes a pirate 00:12:12.139 --> 00:12:14.889 hunter. He uses his inside knowledge of the pirate 00:12:14.889 --> 00:12:17.210 world to track down his former peers. He switches 00:12:17.210 --> 00:12:20.070 sides entirely. He does. He actually earns a 00:12:20.070 --> 00:12:23.230 full, official royal pardon for his efforts after 00:12:23.230 --> 00:12:25.590 he captures a pirate ship that had been terrorizing 00:12:25.590 --> 00:12:28.570 local whaling fleets. With his name finally cleared 00:12:28.570 --> 00:12:31.570 by the crown, he retires once again, this time 00:12:31.570 --> 00:12:34.509 to a plantation. He spends his later years known 00:12:34.509 --> 00:12:37.009 as a beloved philanthropist, donating huge amounts 00:12:37.009 --> 00:12:38.909 of his wealth to island charities and public 00:12:38.909 --> 00:12:41.330 works, and eventually dies quietly of natural 00:12:41.330 --> 00:12:45.379 causes. It is a flawless, deeply satisfying narrative. 00:12:46.090 --> 00:12:48.610 It hits every single beat of the classic hero's 00:12:48.610 --> 00:12:50.690 journey. It really does. It has everything you 00:12:50.690 --> 00:12:52.830 could possibly want. You've got the tragedy, 00:12:53.029 --> 00:12:55.830 the rise, the fall, the miraculous escape, and 00:12:55.830 --> 00:12:57.590 the final redemption. Which brings us to the 00:12:57.590 --> 00:13:00.549 ultimate bombshell for you, the listener. Because 00:13:00.549 --> 00:13:02.690 despite everything we have just meticulously 00:13:02.690 --> 00:13:05.529 discussed, the tragic origins in Barbados, the 00:13:05.529 --> 00:13:07.929 cruel Captain Hawkins, the honorable pirate code, 00:13:08.169 --> 00:13:11.149 the Margarita Island raid, the miraculous earthquake 00:13:11.149 --> 00:13:14.549 escape, the philanthropy, Redlegs grieves almost 00:13:14.549 --> 00:13:16.690 certainly now. never existed. Imagine finding 00:13:16.690 --> 00:13:18.850 out your favorite historical hero was basically 00:13:18.850 --> 00:13:21.029 just a movie character. That is the level of 00:13:21.029 --> 00:13:22.990 shock we are dealing with here. He's completely 00:13:22.990 --> 00:13:26.429 made up. Entirely fabricated. The encyclopedia 00:13:26.429 --> 00:13:28.850 entry we are using as our source is very clear 00:13:28.850 --> 00:13:31.929 on this. There are absolutely no period accounts 00:13:31.929 --> 00:13:34.909 from the 1670s mentioning a pirate named Greaves. 00:13:34.929 --> 00:13:37.769 None at all. None. There are no records of his 00:13:37.769 --> 00:13:40.230 supposedly brilliant raid on Margarita Island 00:13:40.230 --> 00:13:43.129 anywhere in the Spanish archives. His name does 00:13:43.129 --> 00:13:45.669 not appear in any pirate trial records, which 00:13:45.669 --> 00:13:47.909 were meticulously kept by colonial authorities. 00:13:48.370 --> 00:13:50.649 And there are absolutely no historical documents 00:13:50.649 --> 00:13:53.049 whatsoever confirming his birth in Barbados, 00:13:53.230 --> 00:13:56.129 his royal pardon, or his death as a wealthy philanthropist. 00:13:56.250 --> 00:13:59.769 Okay, wait. If there are zero primary sources, 00:14:00.090 --> 00:14:03.169 where on earth did this incredibly detailed story 00:14:03.169 --> 00:14:05.549 come from? How does a ghost get an encyclopedic 00:14:05.549 --> 00:14:07.720 entry? What's fascinating here is tracing the 00:14:07.720 --> 00:14:09.820 actual origin of the tale because it is a thoroughly 00:14:09.820 --> 00:14:12.480 modern invention. The story of Redlegs Greaves 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:14.779 makes its very first appearance in history in 00:14:14.779 --> 00:14:17.840 a 1923 book called In the Wake of the Buccaneers. 00:14:18.039 --> 00:14:20.679 It was written by an author named A. Hyatt Verrill. 00:14:20.779 --> 00:14:24.320 In that book, Verrill cites absolutely no sources 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:27.240 for the story. Now, Verrill did travel widely 00:14:27.240 --> 00:14:29.759 in the West Indies, so it is conceivable he picked 00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:32.820 up a highly embellished local folk tale. However, 00:14:33.100 --> 00:14:35.620 the text notes that Verrill had a very strong 00:14:35.620 --> 00:14:38.139 reputation among historians for fictionalizing 00:14:38.139 --> 00:14:40.799 and outright inventing material just to make 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:42.879 his travel and history books more exciting for 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:45.419 the general public. But Verrill wasn't the only 00:14:45.419 --> 00:14:47.919 one who wrote about Greaves, right? Because the 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:50.820 story doesn't become accepted history just from 00:14:50.820 --> 00:14:53.960 one unreliable travel writer. Exactly. The story 00:14:53.960 --> 00:14:55.779 spread because of what happened the very next 00:14:55.779 --> 00:15:00.200 year. In 1924, an author named Philip Goss published 00:15:00.200 --> 00:15:03.139 The Pirates Who's Who, which was a highly influential 00:15:03.139 --> 00:15:05.720 encyclopedia of pirates. The Who's Who book. 00:15:05.860 --> 00:15:08.200 Yes. And Goss simply repeated Verrill's story 00:15:08.200 --> 00:15:09.879 of Greaves as if it were established historical 00:15:09.879 --> 00:15:12.960 fact, completely failing to verify it. By putting 00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:15.200 it in a serious sounding reference book, Goss 00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:17.899 legitimized the myth for decades of future researchers. 00:15:18.100 --> 00:15:20.519 But the timing is the real smoking gun here. 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:23.860 Verrill's book came out in 1923 and Goss's in 00:15:23.860 --> 00:15:27.679 1924. Just two years prior, in 1922, the author 00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:30.000 Raphael Sabatini published a massively popular 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:32.720 novel called Captain Blood. And Captain Blood 00:15:32.720 --> 00:15:35.500 was pure, unadulterated fiction. It was a novel. 00:15:35.879 --> 00:15:37.860 Completely. And our source text points out the 00:15:37.860 --> 00:15:41.259 blatant, direct literary parallels. Let's look 00:15:41.259 --> 00:15:43.759 at the beats of Sabatini's novel. The protagonist, 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:46.840 Peter Blood, is an honorable man who is wrongly 00:15:46.840 --> 00:15:49.000 accused of treason during a rebellion. Sounding 00:15:49.000 --> 00:15:51.460 familiar. Right. He is sent into slavery in the 00:15:51.460 --> 00:15:53.620 Caribbean. He escapes his servitude during an 00:15:53.620 --> 00:15:56.100 attack. He becomes a pirate captain, but a noble 00:15:56.100 --> 00:15:58.179 one who treats prisoners humanely and refuses 00:15:58.179 --> 00:16:00.980 to be cruel. And eventually he gets a royal pardon 00:16:00.980 --> 00:16:03.559 and retires. That is just identical. Goss and 00:16:03.559 --> 00:16:05.240 Verrill's supposedly historical description. 00:16:18.200 --> 00:16:21.799 That is just wild. It's like a game of historical 00:16:21.799 --> 00:16:24.519 telephone where the original message was just 00:16:24.519 --> 00:16:28.019 a best -selling novel. What is crazy to me is 00:16:28.019 --> 00:16:30.240 how this fictional character born out of the 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:33.519 1920s, just kept bleeding into real historical 00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:36.419 texts all the way into the modern era. It really 00:16:36.419 --> 00:16:38.580 did. Our source material mentions a much more 00:16:38.580 --> 00:16:40.879 recent book by an author named Sean O 'Callaghan 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:45.179 called To Hell or Barbados. O 'Callaghan included 00:16:45.179 --> 00:16:47.440 the story of Grease in his book as part of an 00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:49.639 extensive nonfiction account of Scottish and 00:16:49.639 --> 00:16:52.600 Irish prisoners who were exiled by Oliver Cromwell. 00:16:52.860 --> 00:16:55.039 Yes. And we need to look at how that text was 00:16:55.039 --> 00:16:56.919 received by the broader historical community. 00:16:57.220 --> 00:16:59.440 Our source material notes that O 'Callaghan's 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:01.639 version of Greaves differs somewhat from the 00:17:01.639 --> 00:17:03.799 older popular accounts, showing how the legend 00:17:03.799 --> 00:17:06.559 continued to mutate. But more importantly, it 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:08.180 highlights that O 'Callaghan's book has been 00:17:08.180 --> 00:17:10.559 widely criticized by historians for being historically 00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:13.619 inaccurate. Specifically, the source references 00:17:13.619 --> 00:17:15.859 a New York Times article debunking the book's 00:17:15.859 --> 00:17:18.180 perpetuation of what is known as the Irish slave 00:17:18.180 --> 00:17:21.339 myth. And we should note. Regardless of the modern 00:17:21.339 --> 00:17:23.619 political debates surrounding that specific topic, 00:17:23.799 --> 00:17:26.559 which our sources just note the existence of 00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:29.400 rather than taking a stance on it, it is a textbook 00:17:29.400 --> 00:17:32.339 example of how a fictional pirate got weaponized. 00:17:32.460 --> 00:17:34.960 Exactly. It shows how it can support a broader 00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:37.500 historical argument. An author used a made -up 00:17:37.500 --> 00:17:39.900 character to add emotional weight to a historical 00:17:39.900 --> 00:17:42.460 narrative. It just shows how deep the roots of 00:17:42.460 --> 00:17:45.039 a good fake story can go. And Greaves wasn't 00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:47.549 even the only one. Our source briefly lists a 00:17:47.549 --> 00:17:49.549 whole crew of other likely fictional pirates 00:17:49.549 --> 00:17:51.750 that somehow made their way into established 00:17:51.750 --> 00:17:53.950 historical lore. Yes, there are quite a few. 00:17:54.109 --> 00:17:56.309 We're talking names like William Lewis, John 00:17:56.309 --> 00:17:59.470 Cornelius, Alexandra Bradaferrer, Charlotte de 00:17:59.470 --> 00:18:02.549 Berry, Maria Lindsay, and Louis Le Goliff. This 00:18:02.549 --> 00:18:04.829 wasn't just an isolated incident of one lazy 00:18:04.829 --> 00:18:07.089 author. There was practically a whole cottage 00:18:07.089 --> 00:18:09.990 industry in the early 20th century of injecting 00:18:09.990 --> 00:18:12.170 fictional noble pirates into the historical record. 00:18:12.509 --> 00:18:14.410 It really highlights a massive vulnerability 00:18:14.410 --> 00:18:17.089 in how history was compiled and consumed 100 00:18:17.089 --> 00:18:20.349 years ago. If a story sounded good enough and 00:18:20.349 --> 00:18:22.549 it was printed in an authoritative looking book 00:18:22.549 --> 00:18:25.890 like a who's who encyclopedia, subsequent historians 00:18:25.890 --> 00:18:27.910 would just blindly cite it. Because it looked 00:18:27.910 --> 00:18:30.509 official. Exactly. They wouldn't do the grueling 00:18:30.509 --> 00:18:32.529 work of digging for the primary source documents, 00:18:32.930 --> 00:18:35.589 which, in the case of Greaves, simply didn't 00:18:35.589 --> 00:18:38.710 exist. So what does this all mean? We started 00:18:38.710 --> 00:18:40.710 out today exploring what seemed to be one of 00:18:40.710 --> 00:18:42.970 the most thrilling true stories of the Caribbean. 00:18:43.829 --> 00:18:47.190 We followed an orphaned underdog born into servitude. 00:18:47.789 --> 00:18:50.190 who makes a desperate swim to escape a violent 00:18:50.190 --> 00:18:52.970 master, reluctantly joins a cruel pirate crew, 00:18:53.170 --> 00:18:56.029 leads a mutiny against a monster. Establishes 00:18:56.029 --> 00:18:58.710 a humane pirate code. Yes, establishes an incredibly 00:18:58.710 --> 00:19:01.130 progressive and humane pirate code, pulls off 00:19:01.130 --> 00:19:03.589 a brilliant and bloodless raid on a managed fleet, 00:19:03.910 --> 00:19:06.869 survives a catastrophic earthquake by sheer luck, 00:19:06.990 --> 00:19:09.529 and ultimately redeems himself as a pirate hunting 00:19:09.529 --> 00:19:12.619 philanthropist. And we end up realizing that 00:19:12.619 --> 00:19:15.539 it was almost entirely an early 20th century 00:19:15.539 --> 00:19:17.980 work of fiction. Heavily inspired by a novel. 00:19:18.119 --> 00:19:20.599 Passed off as fact to sell encyclopedias. Which 00:19:20.599 --> 00:19:22.980 is exactly why this deep dive matters so much. 00:19:23.079 --> 00:19:25.799 For anyone listening, this isn't just a fun debunking 00:19:25.799 --> 00:19:28.420 of a pirate story. It is a masterclass in media 00:19:28.420 --> 00:19:31.000 literacy, historiography, and critical thinking. 00:19:31.339 --> 00:19:34.400 It reveals a profound psychological truth about 00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:37.839 us. We love a good story. We do! We, as human 00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:40.859 beings, deeply crave the archetype of the noble 00:19:40.859 --> 00:19:43.839 rogue. We desperately want to believe that even 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:46.339 in the brutal, cutthroat, terrifying world of 00:19:46.339 --> 00:19:49.400 17th century piracy, there were individuals who 00:19:49.400 --> 00:20:04.880 op - Yeah, it makes perfect sense. And stay there 00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:06.900 for nearly a century, simply because it tells 00:20:06.900 --> 00:20:08.660 a story we so desperately want to believe is 00:20:08.660 --> 00:20:11.079 true. It is the power of a good story completely 00:20:11.079 --> 00:20:14.180 overriding the absence of facts. When the narrative 00:20:14.180 --> 00:20:16.119 is that satisfying, people stop checking the 00:20:16.119 --> 00:20:21.359 footnotes. Precisely. Next time you read a wildly 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:24.799 satisfying historical fact online, ask yourself, 00:20:25.059 --> 00:20:27.660 with the explosion of AI -generated content, 00:20:27.960 --> 00:20:30.339 deepfakes, and automated articles today, are 00:20:30.339 --> 00:20:32.380 we currently generating in the red -legs greaves 00:20:32.380 --> 00:20:35.180 of the 21st century? Are we seeding the internet 00:20:35.180 --> 00:20:37.839 with perfectly crafted, entirely fictional narratives 00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:40.039 that historians are going to have to painstakingly 00:20:40.039 --> 00:20:42.380 untangle 100 years from now? Keep digging, keep 00:20:42.380 --> 00:20:44.480 questioning those perfect stories, and we'll 00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:45.539 see you on the next deep dive.