Bartholomew Roberts (1682-1722) born John Roberts and nicknamed Black Barty, is a historic pirate-captain who was planned to have appeared in the Haunted Mansion and its backstory.
Origins[]
Captain Bartholomew Roberts is a welsh pirate from the 18th century who is often considered to have been the most successful pirate to have operated during the golden-age of piracy.
He was originally a sailor who worked aboard a slaving-ship until the vessel was captured by the pirate Howell Davis. As Roberts spoke Davis' mother-tongue of Welsh and was a trained navigator, he was forced into the crew of the pirate to serve under Howell.
Following Davis' death at the hands of the British, the crew elected Roberts to serve as their new captain with Roberts accepting for the benefits despite having apparently hated pirates and piracy. In his career he is noted to have captured 400 ships for his fleet and named most of them The Royal Fortune, including his own flag-ship.
Bartholomew Roberts died in 1722 when his ship was ambushed by the Royal Navy in South Africa during breakfast. He died when emerging from his cabin and getting shot in the neck by a small cannonball.
History[]
Gore Mansion[]
Captain Gore and his bride, Priscilla
In certain story-drafts by Ken Anderson, Bartholomew Roberts would have been the secret identity of Captain Gore or Gideon Gorelieu in old drafts for the Haunted Mansion. Depending on the story-incarnation, he would have either died at sea and returned to his estate to haunt it, or have been driven to suicide by the ghost of his bride Priscilla after she learned of his true identity and he killed her for it.
Pirate's Museum[]
Artwork showing imagineer Bruce Bushman's more historically-accurate portrayal of Black Barty for Pirates of the Caribbean alongside pirates such as Jean Laffite, Anne Bonny and Blackbeard. Barty being the pirate most located near the top-right corner of the illustration, holding a cup of tea.
This variant of the story would have worked to tie-in with the plans for the Pirates of the Caribbean at the time, which was then being developed as a walk-through wax-museum type attraction. The designs, story and character of the historic Bartholomew Roberts in the ride would have apparently matched up with the fictional story of Roberts in the mansion.
He would have also been shown in the attraction alongside other famous pirates like Anne Bonny, Mary Read, Blackbeard (later adapted into the original Captain of the Wicked Wench) and Jean Lafitte.[1]
Legacy[]
The Haunted Mansion[]
In 2011, a tombstone was added to the Haunted Mansion in Walt Disney World which read Bartholomew Gore. As Gore's character was most frequently named Gideon in the original scripts, this is likely a nod to the history of the historic pirate.
Pirates of the Caribbean[]
Ride[]
The beached shipwreck seen in the attraction is referred to as The Royal Fortune in removed audio for the ride performed by Paul Frees, clearly being named for the ships of Roberts' fleet.
Films[]
In the film Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl and its sequels, the pirate's code is said to have been written by the pirate lords, "Morgan and Bartholomew". Morgan here refers to 17th century buccaneer and governor of Jamaica, Sir Henry Morgan while Bartholomew seems to be referring to Bartholomew Roberts who himself installed strict codes amongst his crew.
Comics[]
In the retconned comic book, "The Buccaneer's Heart!", William Turner wears an enchanted item known as the Buccaneer's Heart which summons the ghost of Bartholomew Roberts in-addition to those of Blackbeard, Sir Henry Morgan, and Mary Reade.
Video-Games[]
Roberts appears as a boss fight in the video-game version of At World's End, being found in Davy Jones' Locker.
In the video-game Kinect Disneyland Adventures, the pirate protagonist of Pirates of the Caribbean who can also be met as a meet 'n' greet character in New Orleans Square is named Black Barty. There is no indication as to if this is intended to be analogous to the historic figure and instead seems to be the game's counterpart to Captain Jack Sparrow from the film series.
Trivia[]
- Marc Davis' design of Bartholomew was repurposed for the design of the Auctioneer in the ride. In-turn, this design would be used for one of the duelists and for the sea-captain in the ballroom.
- This is true of many historic pirates designed by Davis for the ride. The design for the Pooped pirate was originally made for Henry "Long Ben" Every, the original captain of The Wicked Wench was designed as Blackbeard, and Redd's design was originally made for Anne Bonny.
- A character known as Black Bart used to be a walk-around character in Disneyland's Frontierland during the 1950s/1960s. This Black Bart however was however based on the historic Charles Earl "Black Bart" Boles (1829-1888). The character was a western outlaw who was defeated by other performers such as Sheriff Lucky.
See Also[]
- Captain Gore
- Sea Captain
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Bartholomew Roberts on the Pirates of the Caribbean wiki