Slight misconception with this tweet here. He was not affiliated with the Caribbean pirates. His story revolves around North Africa and the Mediterranean. Lemme tell you lot about this fella. https://twitter.com/mhussa95/status/984802092941529088

It was right after the failed invasion of England by the Spanish Armada. Jack Ward was an English privateer who made a living off of plundering Spanish ships under the license—called the Letters of Marque—of Queen Elizabeth I.

After King James I ended the war with the Spaniards, many privateers chose to continue to plunder—because, you know, money Without new Letters of Marque, however, they officially became pirates Jack Ward was one of them.

Ward and his comrades sailed to the Mediterranean where they began plundering ships, most notably Venetian ships, using Tunisia as a base via an agreement with the Pasha (the Ottomans were always in our faces ).

Italy got real mad—rightfully so, tbh—and threatened to declare war on England England was pretty pissed off about this random Ward dude putting the entire country at risk.

When Ward asked for a royal pardon, King James I was like “nah, go away” So he went back to Tunisia, converted to Islam, and joined the Barbary Corsairs, a fleet of revered Moorish, Turkish, and North African “pirates” who sailed the Mediterranean. A pretty wild end ngl.

He changed his name to Yusuf Raīs, and is suspected to have inspired Jack Sparrow, because the dude was known to be really drunk, always. Literally. That’s it.

He’s not the most interesting fellow. He was just White. If you want to know about really cool Muslim “pirates”, await my long-overdue Barbary Corsair thread. Featuring a Moorish Pirate Queen, the one and only Barbarossa, and a whole lot of North Africa—for better or for worse.