Fortune

Every statement above that rests on a checked claim carries a small number; the numbers lead here. Each entry gives what is claimed, how far the record supports it, and where it comes from.

1. The register entity 'Fortune' (FOR) is best identified as a vessel of Bartholomew Roberts' 1720 career; the bare name 'the Fortune' is used, among the sources read, only by Johnson, who applies it to a French ship taken on the Newfoundland Banks in the summer of 1720 Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative; Statute: A General History of the Pyrates (the chapter on Captain Bartholomew Roberts, and the reproduced trial of Bonnet's crew); Governor Walter Hamilton to the Council of Trade and Plantations, with enclosures: the deposition of Moyse Renos of Dartmouth (sworn St Christophers, 26 Sept 1720) and a letter of Bartholomew Roberts to Lt. General Mathew (27 Sept 1720)
2. On the Newfoundland Banks in the summer of 1720 Roberts' company took several French bankers and kept one for their own use; Johnson calls it a ship 'of 26 Guns' which 'they christ'ned the Fortune', and the Renos deposition calls it 'the ship they are now in' Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Statute; Period narrative: Governor Walter Hamilton to the Council of Trade and Plantations, with enclosures: the deposition of Moyse Renos of Dartmouth (sworn St Christophers, 26 Sept 1720) and a letter of Bartholomew Roberts to Lt. General Mathew (27 Sept 1720); A General History of the Pyrates (the chapter on Captain Bartholomew Roberts, and the reproduced trial of Bonnet's crew)
3. The armament of the vessel is uncertain: Johnson gives the French ship named Fortune '26 Guns' and the Bristol galley taken at Trepassey '16 Guns'; the Renos deposition says a ship was 'fitted out with 18 guns' Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative; Statute: A General History of the Pyrates (the chapter on Captain Bartholomew Roberts, and the reproduced trial of Bonnet's crew); Governor Walter Hamilton to the Council of Trade and Plantations, with enclosures: the deposition of Moyse Renos of Dartmouth (sworn St Christophers, 26 Sept 1720) and a letter of Bartholomew Roberts to Lt. General Mathew (27 Sept 1720)
4. Roberts raided Trepassey, Newfoundland, at the latter end of June 1720, finding about twenty-two vessels in the harbour and destroying shipping and fishery Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Statute; Period narrative: Governor Walter Hamilton to the Council of Trade and Plantations, with enclosures: the deposition of Moyse Renos of Dartmouth (sworn St Christophers, 26 Sept 1720) and a letter of Bartholomew Roberts to Lt. General Mathew (27 Sept 1720); A General History of the Pyrates (the chapter on Captain Bartholomew Roberts, and the reproduced trial of Bonnet's crew)
5. Cruising from the Banks in July 1720 the company took the Richard of Bideford, the Willing Mind of Poole, the Expectation of Topsham and the Samuel of London, and on 16 July the Little York and the Love of Liverpool, and the next day (17 July) the Phoenix snow of Bristol, a brigantine and the sloop Sadbury Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (the chapter on Captain Bartholomew Roberts, and the reproduced trial of Bonnet's crew)
6. Johnson has the bare 'Fortune' superseded when Roberts took a French Martinico ship, 'their first Royal Fortune'; the ultimate fate of the vessel named Fortune is not stated in the sources read Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (the chapter on Captain Bartholomew Roberts, and the reproduced trial of Bonnet's crew)
7. This Fortune must be kept distinct from the Good Fortune, a brigantine (Norton's) that Roberts' company christened later, after burning their own sloop; the Good Fortune is a separate register entity Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (the chapter on Captain Bartholomew Roberts, and the reproduced trial of Bonnet's crew)
8. The name Fortune is very common in this period; Johnson's reproduced Bonnet indictment names an unrelated merchant 'Sloop Fortune, Thomas Read Commander', a victim vessel, which is not Roberts' ship Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (the chapter on Captain Bartholomew Roberts, and the reproduced trial of Bonnet's crew)
9. The curators' lead that this Fortune was 'a Rhode Island sloop renamed the Fortune early in his career' is not supported by any source read: Johnson's Rhode Island vessels are brigantines (one chased and lost off Surinam, one taken near Deseada), and neither is named Fortune Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (the chapter on Captain Bartholomew Roberts, and the reproduced trial of Bonnet's crew)