I will admit that some of this is coming from my frustration at having a recent post in /r/HistoryWhatIf go unanswered, but I'm still very interested in knowing the actual background.
This is a subject that is pretty much impossible to answer with any degree of certainty. Most of the famous pirates of the Golden Age did well to ensure that their past lives remained a mystery. So any attempt to identify their political stances would be based on nothing but speculation.
However, in the case of Blackbeard, the idea that he could have been a pro-Stuart isn't entirely without basis. While little is known about Blackbeard's life prior to becoming a pirate, what is known is that he was born in Bristol, England, and that he served as a seamen for the British Royal Navy during Queen Anne's War. It's also speculated that Blackbeard came from a well-to-do family due to his ability to read and write. It also wasn't until 1717 when Blackbeard first started becoming well known as a pirate, two years after the death of Queen Anne.
The only other instance that could point to Blackbeard possibly being a pro Stuart would be that Benjamin Hornigold, Blackbeard's captain at the time, was often criticized by his lieutenants for not attacking British ships, which would've been sailing under King George I. Whether or not Blackbeard was among those who criticized Hornigold for this is unfounded, however.
Though this can paint a picture of someone who might've been a pro-Stuart, there isn't any definitive evidence that points one way or the other, and its doubtful that there ever will be.
Let’s look at this in a few stages first.
Jacobitism was not limited to the nobility or governing class. The supporters of the Stuarts came from every class of society going as low as the criminal class.1 Jacobitism was, through the 1680s-1740s, expressed at times by a series of rebellions. It is also during this time that the ‘golden age’ of piracy existed. We can see from Paul Monod that there was attached to Jacobitism a sense of a “movement” or “ideology” associated with it by the supporters. Monod goes as far as labeling it a subculture. Let’s keep in mind how movements, ideologies, and subcultures, can be used by various people, not necessarily adherent to the ‘cause’. They can be used to spawn different causes, but use the subculture accouterments to help with a feeling of unity. E.T Fox points out the various uses of Jacobitism mentioned above stating: “within the pirate community there were different levels of loyalty to the Stuarts, from those who actively sought an agreement with the Stuart court to those whose Jacobitism consisted of no more than drinking Stuart toasts”.2 What will be looked at momentarily is how it can be difficult to place our subjects within this scale. One last note on the various uses, or interpretations of Jacobitism. Monod links plebeian Jacobites use of the idea to represent a maintaining of traditional values, along with upholding “the rights of the people against injustice”.3 This is going to be very important to keep in mind once we move into pirates.
Now let's take a glance at the piracy we are talking about in the ‘golden age’, or more precisely how this piracy came about. What was it that caused sailors to turn to piracy? David Starkey, links this piracy to economic hardships. When the labor markets for sailors became flooded, and there was a large supply or sailors, especially a taste for the better economy of a privateer, an increase in piracy could be seen.4 These causes for Starkey are specific to the form of piracy which we see in the ‘golden age’ and is not a general statement about all piracy.Rediker connects pirates to Hobsbawm’s ‘ social bandits’ but specifies that they were not looking to create a new and perfect world, which Hobsbawm attaches to the term, but instead Rediker claims that pirates sought a traditional world where men were justly dealt with. This fits nicely into the plebeian use of Jacobitism seen in the previous paragraph.
How about we jump into the pirates now. Rediker’s research into pirate crew genealogical descent, found in his article “Life Under the Jolly Rogers, and Villains of All Nations, will be used as a base for this section . One of the primary ‘roots’ of the genealogical tree is found in the ‘flying gang’ who I will begin with. Lord Archibald Hamilton, yes not a pirate but we will get back to them, was governor of Jamaica (1711-1716) whose Jacobite connections and beliefs need to be laid out as well as his connections to pirates. Some of his privateers eventually turned to piracy, and he maintained most likely a financial connection to them. Hamilton himself was accused of being a Jacobite, but never had an official mention about it made. His brother, however, was a Scottish politician with Jacobite leanings, and a family member, Maj-Gen George Hamilton was a military leader of Jacobite forces in 1715. Hamilton had other accusations made against him, that he removed those under him and replaced them with people loyal to him who were papists and Jacobites. While all of this could be coincidence, and Hamilton not being Jacobite might true, I don’t think this is the case.He had connections Jacobites and found himself financing the building and arming of privateers at the same time his brother was raising an army for the Jacobite cause. If indeed he was a Jacobite, those privateers would have had captains of the same following would have brought with them to the New Providence pirates these ideas when they turned pirate.
It was New Providence that these new pirates sailed to, and it was here that they joined a large pirate fleet under Capt. Hornigold. They became known as ‘the flying gang’, styled so by themselves. Blackbeard was one those pirates who was part of the ‘flying gang’. Jennings and Hornigold eventually took the pardon that was offered at the time, and those remaining pirates fell under the command of Charles Vane. It was they who we evidence of direct communication with Jacobites in England. Nothing ever came of these communications due to changing circumstances, but there was talk of them uniting with a naval officer of James III.5 E.T Fox in “Jacobitism and the ‘Golden Age’ of Piracy’ claims that among the Flying Gang there was a strong streak of Jacobitism that came from the influence of Hamilton’s privateers turned pirates. This would have come from the splintering of pirate crews that Rediker discusses. Splintering could happen when a prize was taken and a crew was broken up to sail the new vessel, it could also happen because of disagreements between the election of a new captain. This saw pirate crews built of sailors from many different ‘original’ crews forming. Fox is linking the Jacobite ideas that would have been held by Hamilton’s privateer pirates, as having spread to other ships by way of this processes. There correspondence with George Camocke (naval officer for James III) which Fox sees as pointing to Jacobites among at least some of the pirates. Let’s now look at pirates, and how they acted.
The question now left is, how can we see if Jacobitism spread to other ships, and to which ships? Pirates were very democratic in their organization. Captains were voted into their position and a ‘second in command’ position was given to the quartermaster who dealt with day to day needs where the captain took full control only in combat. These figures get could be voted in and out as they were not permanent. What has been seen also, is that when it came to naming vessels, there was a high degree of crew agreement in what their ship was to be called. While we can’t look at what individual crew members thought about, we can use pirate captains and ships names to begin to put together a full pirate community.
Pirate ship names do show some connects to Jacobitism. Teach had Queen Anne’s Revenge a name that was also used for Capt. Lane. Howell Davis took the name King James and sailed with consorts by the names New King and James. Bonnet named his ship the Royal James. Rediker’s research shows only about 18% of 44 studied pirate ships had this theme for names.6 There are also the claims made against pirates at trials, however, these need to be taken with a big pinch of salt. Nicholas Roger points out that it was a “classic frame-up of the early eighteenth century” to attribute a pirate to Jacobitism.7 To quickly point out, these statements when made were ones claiming of toasts, or being forced into service due to not being Catholic or to serve the ‘pretender’. The former of the two claims is where Fox gets his levels of Jacobitism from most likely.
Jacobitism began to decline in popularly by the 1720s. It was during this period that E.T Fox sees a possible connection to the increase of forced conscripts of pirates. Before the 1720s it is Fox’s claim that there was little forced going on account by pirates. Instead, pirates saw a stream of volunteers during the early years of the golden age. Fox sees these two phenomena as denoting a connection at some level between pirates of the golden age and Jacobitism. This is where the use of a cause for the sake of unity or some other reason comes in. There are more accusations of pirates being Jacobites in trials, and more ships with Jacobite names than can be accurately acknowledged as Jacobites. This is still ignoring the fact that Rediker saw pirates as existing in their own world, one made by them away from the harsh and unfair life they left behind. Even if more of these pirates held Jacobite leanings, were they actively engaged with the cause?
To what degree, and where was there a deep connection to Jacobitism and pirates can not be with certainty understood. Rediker’s statements about pirates desire of an old a traditional word connects well with the Plebeian understandings of Jacobitism. Pirate’s further placement within Social Banditry connects them again to plebeian Jacobitism. The naming of vessels is hard to ignore, but were those pirates attaching their actions to a large subculture for some form of convenient? There seems to have been some pirates who more likely than not Jacobites, those who came from Hamilton, and those who contacted George Camocke.
I have never replied to anything before here. Hopefully, this gives you something.