The slightest trace of gold and red flickered in the trees,

marking the end of summer and the impending close of another year.

Richard Warley and eight other men loaded a handful of meager provisions of biscuits, water,

and dried tongue onto the small open boat.

They had six aging muskets and whatever ammunition they could find between them. What they lacked in food and weapons that day,

though, in late September of 1717, the would-be pirates made up for in spirit. Inspired by

Blackbeard's raid on ships to the south a year earlier, the men set sail 150 miles

to the Delaware River. If the legendary pirate found the hunting grounds there good enough,

well then so would they. Lofty aspirations aside, they were well aware their meager ship

never stood a chance at plundering ships on the high seas. Instead, they hugged the coastline,

searching for more suitable prey. When they reached the Delaware River without a single raid,

Worley suggested hunting upriver. Seventy miles later, near Newcastle, they happened upon a

shallow, a light sailboat belonging to George Grant. After taking what they wanted, the pirates set Grant

and his boat free. The men might have felt proud of their first act of piracy, although technically

since the theft occurred on a river instead of the high seas, most considered the raid more

a simple robbery. The crew headed downriver to hunt again, capturing a sloop. Warley kept

the ship, along with half the crew, and gave the rest his small boat in exchange. He upgraded

ships once more on the next raid. Now with a worthy vessel, the pirates headed out to sea.

Meanwhile, Grant had raised the alarm. New York's governor sent out the HMS Phoenix to

search for the crew's original small boat along the coastline, leaving Worley to slip out to sea and head

south. By late October, the crew of nine had grown to 25. They had a ship with six guns aboard,

and fashioned a black flag with a white death's head.

...