The Enemy of All Mankind: A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History's First Global Manhunt, Johnson - B+

    The pirate principal of this story, Henry Every, was born near Devon in the middle of the 17th century, and likely joined the Royal Navy as a teenager. He came of age in an era when there were conflicting examples of piracy. The Barbary pirates were universally condemned as enslavers and tyrants, while men like Drake were knighted and enriched for their roles as privateers. Every first appears in the historical record in the 1690's as a slave trader working for the Governor of Bermuda. In 1693, he shipped out as first mate on a ship that was part of a small squadron seeking to salvage sunken treasure in the Caribbean.  The following May, after the ship was stranded in Spain for over half-a-year, Every led a mutiny, re-named the ship the 'Fancy' and sailed south around the Cape of Good Hope and headed to the pirates' den of Madagascar. 

     Across the Indian Ocean, the Grand Mughal Aurangzeb, the Moslem ruler of India and easily the richest person in the world, was preparing his ship, the 'Ganj-I-Sawai' for sea. It was 1500 tons, one of, if not the largest ship in the world. It was carrying 800 dignitaries and 400 hands to Mecca for the hajj. It was also loaded with jewels, gold, spices and cotton.

     Every headed to the Gulf of Aden that summer and was met there by half-a-dozen other ships in his line of business. The pirates agreed on a concerted effort and selected Every as their leader. The 'Fancy' was so fast that a report was sent to the East India Company saying she sails "so hard now, that she fears not who follows her." On Sept. 7th, the 'Fancy' captured the 'Fath Mahmamadi' and  £60,000  of gold. The next day, they approached the much larger and better armed 'Ganj-I-Sawai' and were met with propitious fortune. The Indian treasure ship experienced an explosion on her gun deck and the 'Fancy's' first broadside dismasted her. The fortune the 'Fancy' absconded with was estimated as somewhere between 200-600,000. To  locate all of the treasure, they tortured the Muslim crew. They were surprised to find dozens of women including princesses, maids, and concubines aboard and proceeded in an orgy of rapine. Some of the  women threw themselves overboard. The  addition of  sexual violence to a heist that may have been the largest ever meant that soon, the 'Fancy', Every,  and the crew achieved international ignominy. 

     The sacrilege of the British pirates cast doubt upon the members of the East India Company leading to the incarceration of the entire garrison in Bombay. All realized that Every's actions put the company at risk and a writ was issued from London calling all Englishmen to pursue and capture the pirates. Every sailed for Reunion, purchased slaves, and then sailed to the Bahamas. The crew dispersed and Every and about twenty men sailed for Ireland in a small schooner. Soon thereafter, eight of his men were captured. Two turned state's evidence and the rest were hung at Execution Dock in London after a trial. As for Henry Every, he disappeared from the historical record. "He snuck back into the shadows." The lasting historical consequence of these events was an alliance between the Grand Mughal and the East India Company, tasking the English with the responsibility to protect ocean- going traffic in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.