- "At the end of the day, our men can count. Most of them can count."
- ―Augustus Featherstone in XIV.
The Colonial Dawn Crew was a pirate crew of Nassau during the Golden Age of Piracy. It was the first command of Captain Jack Rackham.
History[]
Season One[]
Captain Benjamin Hornigold sends lieutenants to call in favors from the crews of the Colonial Dawn and the Medusa in order to rally their men to retake Fort Nassau from Charles Vane’s men. However, Eleanor Guthrie allows Vane to remain in the fort and warns him about the tunnel entrances.[1]
Season Two[]
When Flint returns to Nassau, he allies with Benjamin Hornigold and the Crew of the Royal Lion in order to expel Vane from the fort. The crew of the Colonial Dawn is badly split over whether to back Flint or Vane. Augustus Featherstone, the crew’s Ship's Master, discloses all of this to Idelle, a prostitute he is enamored with. He adds that he thinks many of his men will follow his lead on account of his navigating skills. Idelle, Max and Jack Rackham plan to have Idelle seduce Featherstone to convince him to prop up Jack as captain in order. After spending three hours with Idelle, Featherstone agrees and says he thinks he can convince 28 men to follow him, more than half the crew.[2]
During the Assault on Fort Nassau, Jack and Featherstone work on finalizing their agreement, which includes granting Max a share of their profits in exchange for leads on prizes. However, as they go over the Articles, Featherstone tells Jack that the crew has an issue with granting both Max and Anne, two women, shares of the profits. He says that they can accept giving Max a share for leads, but they view Anne Bonny as responsible for the Massacre in the Wrecks that killed 8 members of their former crew. Jack is forced to tell Anne that she has to be temporarily excluded from the crew. He tries to explain that if he kept her on and not Max, the crew would think that he is prioritizing his relationship with Anne over acquiring leads. However, Anne storms away angrily.[3]
Shortly thereafter, the crew sets sail to capture the True North, not a particularly rich prize, but one guaranteed to surrender as it is heavily insured, thus providing a good start to Jack's captaincy. The merchantman is soon spotted right where it was supposed to be. However, another set of sails is spotted in the distance. Apparently another pirate ship is chasing the True North.
Rackham's crew successfully captures the True North, but the other pirate ship pulls up alongside and her crew boards the True North. The captain of the ship introduces himself to Rackham. His name is Linus Harcourt and his ship is named the Goliath. Harcourt explains to Rackham that one of three things is about to occur. First, the two crews can fight it out. Second, the two captains can fight it out. Third, the two captains can negotiate a reasonable split of the prize.
Harcourt offers Rackham a deal where the total tonnage is split fairly evenly, but Harcourt and his men get the tobacco and sugar, worth about four fifths of the value, while Rackham is left with the pots, pans and blankets. Rackham protests that they were supposed reach an equitable result, but Harcourt says that it was supposed to be a result based on reason. Harcourt says he is offering them a meaningful share of the profits just for having gotten to the prize first. Harcourt says it's the best he can offer Rackham, for his men know if they came to blows over the prize they would have won. Harcourt says his men know they have the advantage in numbers, and he needs to maintain their faith in him. He says that they can see Jack's crew, and they can see Jack.
Rackham goes over the deal with Featherstone in a sidebar. Featherstone believes that they should take the deal, for the men can see that they are outnumbered and outgunned. Rackham believes that he will be voted out if he takes the deal. Rackham decides to fight Harcourt man-to-man, albeit without due notice. Rackham comes out on top thanks to a lucky slash at Harcourt’s throat. He announces that Harcourt wanted to kill every member of the merchant crew, which Rackham could not abide, and orders his crew to free the merchant sailors and arm them. With overwhelming numbers on their side, Jack asks the Goliath's crew if anyone will negotiate with him. He then negotiates more reasonable terms with the Goliath's Quartermaster.[4]
Upon their return, they find that Anne has gone to Port Royal to find spies for Max, and that the Urca de Lima's crew has largely died of a plague, leaving the gold undefended. Furthermore, Flint has been told that the Spanish already recovered the gold, leaving it ripe for the taking. Max, Jack and Featherstone then prepare to launch a voyage to take the gold, but keep it secret from the crew. Featherstone gets upset that he must lie to his men about why they are clearing everything out of the hull of the Colonial Dawn. Rackham reminds him that he must keep it a secret if they are to ever achieve the goal of taking the Urca gold. Featherstone says he will tell the men that he is just trying to "reconfigure how she carries her weight."
Esther, a prostitute at the Inn, notices the closed meetings going on between the three and reports it to Mrs. Mapleton, who in turn brings the news to Eleanor Guthrie, and they realize that Jack and Max are planning on taking the Spanish gold, which would derail her and Flint's plan to reconcile Nassau with the British Empire.
Later, Featherstone, Rackham, and Max are trying to figure out what they are going to do once they actually get the gold back to Nassau. They are brainstorming where they are going to hide it. The best Featherstone can do is suggest that they bury it in a hole. Rackham then comes up with the idea of storing the gold in the fortress.
In Eleanor's tavern, Frasier approaches Eleanor and tells her that the Colonial Dawn is most certainly emptying her hold, giving further credence to the theory Mrs. Mapleton had proposed. Frasier tells Eleanor about the damage that could be done were the gold ever to reach the shores of Nassau. He states that pirates with that much gold will only be more empowered than ever and that it would surely kill any hopes of reconciliation with England. Eleanor tells him that the only way to actually stop the plan is to have everyone killed, including Max and Rackham. She declares that is something that she absolutely will not do.
Rackham and Featherstone stand outside the fortress knocking on the door. They hear no noise and can see crows flying over head. When it becomes apparent that no one is inside, Rackham and his men batter the wall down. Inside they find the fort abandoned, save for the crucified corpse of Richard Guthrie. When Eleanor arrives to see the body, she is given a note from Charles Vane which was pinned to her father's corpse.[5]
Max leaves her meeting with Eleanor after offering condolences and encounters Jack Rackham on the street outside of Eleanor's tavern. Max feels Eleanor is up to something and wishes Rackham to launch his ship as soon as possible in order to retrieve the Urca gold. As they are speaking, Max notices Eleanor is watching them from her window.
That night, two assassins are sent by Eleanor to kill anyone with the knowledge of the gold's location in order to stop the voyage before it can begin. In Rackham's tent, Anne Bonny appears, having been away for some time. Rackham is overjoyed to see her, stating that he truly never thought he was going to see her again. Bonny states that she thought about leaving for good but before she can say why she returned, Eleanor's men enter the tent and attack Featherstone and then Rackham. Bonny quickly disposes of both the men, killing them. They seek refuge in the brothel. Max states that they must leave immediately. Along with Anne, Featherstone and Rackham go to their ship to begin the voyage.[6]
As the Colonial Dawn sails to Florida, Featherstone begins to tell the crew about what their mission actually is, which is to retrieve the Urca gold. Rackham approaches Anne Bonny and asks her what kept her from leaving him behind and pursuing a new life. Bonny tells him that she realized that they were two halves of the same person and that she can never exist away from him. She tells him that they will be together until they are both dead.
The crew successfully attacks the Spanish camp at the wreck of the Urca. While there were still healthy Spanish soldiers who fought fiercely to defend the gold, the pirates win the day. They find the wreck of the Walrus nearby and repair and refit her because they need the hold space to transport all the gold back to Nassau. When they return, they summon Max to the beach where she finds Rackham and Bonny looking a bit beat up, but alive. Rackham tells her that the Spanish men on the beach put up an admirable fight, but that they won the day. Rackham's crew also had to salvage the Walrus in order to carry it all back to Nassau. Rackham asks Max if she would like to see "something shiny" and takes her into the hold of one of the ships, revealing the long-desired Urca gold. Max smiles in the light of the glittering gold.[7]
Season Three[]
When Flint returns from Charles Town, he, Jack and Vane work out a deal over the gold. Jack's crew remains in possession of it, but they pay stipends to the crews on the beach in exchange for a pledge to defend Nassau if it is attacked. Furthermore, Jack tries to pay several crews to work on repairing the fort, but they are lazy and demand higher and higher wages, stalling progress.
After several months, Anne Bonny confronts Rackham about his lack of oversight concerning the restoration of the fortress. Rackham is then confronted by Vane, who has returned from his last expedition. Vane suggests that Rackham purposely had Vane attack a ship that had slaves on it so that the slaves could be used to rebuild the fort. Vane is averse to using slaves for the fort's restoration, likely stemming from his experience as a forced laborer under Albinus, but Rackham's convinces him that it is the only way to rebuild the fort.[8]
Rackham's quartermaster, Featherstone, is forced to disperse more of a Warren's share after he explains that he misplaced and lost his previous dispersement. They are interrupted by Max, who wishes to speak alone to Rackham. Max tries to persuade Rackham to exchange all of their gold, which sits perilously inside an unprotected fort, for commodities that are easier to transport should they need to abandon the island. Idelle later returns both of Warren's lost sacks of gold to Rackham.
Teach and Vane enter the Governor's Mansion, where Vane and Jack explain their plans to defend Nassau. Flint would command the fleet, while Vane would lead the militia to defend the beach. Teach is less than impressed at Rackham's status as a partner, because he remembers Rackham as a scrawny crew member. Vane tries to defend Rackham, relating how he rose through the ranks. But, Teach sees it as a sign that Nassau has become weak. He demonstrates his ruthlessness, by having two potential crewmates fight to the death to join his crew. This convinces Rackham that Blackbeard is a volcano building towards its inevitable eruption, and to agree to Max's plan - as long as it's done quietly.
Max and Anne Bonny are arranging the exchange of 46,121 pieces of eight for 316 black pearls, with the son of the wealthiest man in Saint Kitts, a notorious backstabber. Fortunately, these people also spill secrets. In the middle of insulting Max, he spills the beans about the approach of Woodes Rogers and his fleet.
Max and Anne raise the alarm. Jack Rackham insists they must rally the pirates for the defense of Nassau. However, with the fort not yet finished, the other pirate captains unreliable, and their only true naval strategist James Flint missing, some of them are resigned to defeat. However, Rackham believes that if they gather their ships in the bay and assemble an army to defend the beach, he and Vane agree that the massive show of force would likely dissuade the British from invading.[9]
Jack Rackham holds a meeting of all the pirate captains in Nassau in order to rouse the, to defend the port against the imminent arrival of Governor Rogers and his Royal Navy fleet. Throckmorton expresses strong reservations, believing that it would be impossible to mount a successful defense against a fleet of six ships, especially because the fort only has six guns. He is even further dismayed when Rackham tells him that there are eight ships. However, he is shut down by Rackham, who threatens to turn his crew against him and any other captain who expresses hesitation in fighting for Nassau out of a fear of losing. Throckmorton brings up the point that Flint is still missing, and he was to lead the pirates' naval forces in battle. Edward Teach then arrives with the news that Flint is dead, but offers himself as a replacement, which appeases the pirate captains.
When the British fleet arrives, Jack and Charles lead the Colonial Dawn Crew in manning the mostly rebuilt Fort Nassau. Teach leads the armada in defending the mouth of the harbor, while Throckmorton and Jacob Garrett lead the pirates on the beach. However, Benjamin Hornigold, now a privateer in the service of the Crown, is sent ashore under a White Flag to read Rogers' address. Hornigold promises the pirates a Royal Pardon if they surrender, and a £10,000 bounty on the head of Charles Vane. Throckmorton leads the pirates on the beach in surrendering, leaving Teach's fleet and the crew in the fort as the only holdouts.[10]
After the address, a few pirates knock on the door asking for Vane, who is in the fort. One pirate asks for Rackham to not be greedy and to give Vane over. Rackham then orders the door to be opened and shoots the shouting pirate in the face. Featherstone then informs him that the crew voted to kick Vane out. They think turning Vane over will convince the British commander to allow them to keep both the fort and the gold. Rackham then rigs the powder magazine to explode, bringing a wall of the fort down with it, hoping the explosion will create enough of a diversion to allow Vane to escape. While they wait for it to explode, Warren shouts at Jack to kick Vane out while Jack, Charles and Anne share their final goodbye. The magazine then explodes, and the three escape while the crew surrenders to Captain Hornigold, and officially disbands.[11]
Members[]
- Captain Jack Rackham
- Quartermaster Augustus Featherstone (formerly Ship's Master)
- Anne Bonny
- Max
- Stayton †
- Atz †
- Warren
- Haines
- Lookout (Colonial Dawn)
- Colonial Dawn Helmsman