2. Black Bart
Mentions – 7
Wealth – 6 ($32 million)
Total – 13 points
Bartholomew Roberts ranks second in our list of most successful pirates in history. He was a Welsh pirate born in 1682 who was known for raiding ship near the Americas the West Africa. While his “career” as a pirate didn’t last very long, he managed to amass a wealth of some $32 million in today’s money, by Forbes’ calculations.
While the moniker of Black Bart is often used to refer to him, it was never actually used during his lifetime, especially since there was another pirate going by that name. Bartholomew Roberts sailed for much of his life, before ending up as a pirate, raiding ships going back and forth between Africa and the Americas. Whether it was in his crew’s pockets or at the bottom of the ocean, his wealth vanished after his death in 1722 during a battle with one of the Royal Navy’s ships.
