Calico Jack in the Black Sails

TV show “Black Sails” has a very wide cast of historical personalities connected to the Golden Age of Piracy, with John “Calico Jack” Rackham serving the role of one of the most capable pirate captains that ever visited the port of New Providence, a pirate heaven where plunder could be sold, and treasure hunts can be planned. In this show, Rackham is portrayed as a poor tactician who prefers using politics and making alliances to solve problems than open warfare. He is a skilled fighter, but poor planning often brings him into trouble from which is often saved by his highly capable girlfriend Anne Bonny.

Even though he show strives to emulate many historical records about pirates that are featured in it, John Rackham is not completely presented in a historical way. In this show, he was born in Leeds England as a son of a tailor that specialized in working with calico. Jack fled from England to the New World due to debts of his father.

In 1715 he saved the life of 13-year-old Anne Bonny by killing her abusive husband, and eventually joined the crew of Captain Charles Wane where he served as a quartermaster on the ship Revenge. He eventually left Vane and became the captain of the pirate ship Colonial Dawn. Taking advantage of the knowledge of John Silver and Max, he managed to learn the location of the great Spanish galleon “Urca de Lima” that was rumored to carry in its hold gold in the worth of five million dollars.