- Rogers' campaign begins with the offer of a pardon, which Hornigold and Jennings accept; but not all Nassau pirates agree.
- Nassau, 1718. The British crown had offered to pardon the pirates. Suddenly there was a choice. Pirates could come back to civilization and keep their loot, while being absolved of their past crimes. Charles Vane meets Jack Rackham (Jack Waldouck) at Nassau.
Jennings tells Hornigold that he is taking the pardon and returning to Port Royal. He had plantation in Port Royal and the pardon was in his interests. Charles Vane saw this as a betrayal as Jennings was his mentor. Jennings sails to Bermuda and retires from a life of piracy. Hornigold meanwhile wanted to negotiate with the Crown as a sovereign. He didn't want the full might of the Royal Navy to bombard the port with cannons. The British sent an expedition led by Captain Vincent Pearce (Luke Ireland) to follow up on the British offer of Pardon. This is the first time that a Royal Navy ship is entering the Nassau harbor.
Edward receives the news of the pardon while on the high seas. He plans strategically and wants to the use the pardon to his advantage. Vane is emerging as the leader of the pirates against the pardon. Vane's actions are violently defiant. Vane argues that the pirates are being asked to give up the Republic for nothing. Vincent arrests Vane and Vane blames this on Hornigold. Charles Vane becomes a rallying point for all pirates against a pardon. Rackham confronts Hornigold for conspiring with Vincent to arrest Vane. Anne argues that Charles Vane's arrest undermines the value of the pardon itself and undermines the King's word.
Edward continues to hunt for salve trade ships off the coast off Boston. Edward continues to free the slaves and to offer them a new life as free pirates. Governor of Virginia, Alexander Spotswood decides to take on the Edward menace by himself. He is not convinced that a pardon is the right way to deal with pirates. He had asked for gunships.
Hornigold finds that his influence is waning as the younger pirates like Rackham and Anne are openly questioning him. Hornigold confronts Vincent and says that he is betraying the King's word by arresting Vane. He says that military help from England is months away and if the pirates see injustice, they will act now. Hornigold convinces Vincent that he will get Vane to take a public declaration of villainy and a promise for a lawful future. Hornigold wants to convert Nassau into a trading post for the Empire. His entire future depends on it. Hornigold tells Vane to take the pardon and encourage others to follow him. Vane refuses and says that he would rather be hanged as Captain Kidd. Now Captain Kidd was an early pirate legend and was related to Paulsgrave. Vane says that he had seen Kidd being executed publicly.
Paulsgrave has a shared history with Vane and convinces him that he is the leader of the "anti-pardon" faction. He tells Vane to accept the pardon and live to fight another day by biding his time. Resisting the pardon will only give Vincent what he wants, an excuse to kill the pirates. Vane accepts the pardon, but Anne and Rackham are still against it. Anne loved Rackham from the moment she met him.
Edward is still sailing the seas with 700 men at his command. He heads to Charleston to find a medicine for Syphilis. Syphilis was being treated with mercury which was injected with a large syringe into the penis and through the penis into the bladder. It was a brutal procedure and yet Edward was desperate enough to sail to Charleston for a chance to find more mercury.
Vane escapes Nassau with a ship and Vincent's trust in Hornigold vanishes. Vane starts plundering the ships sailing towards Nassau to punch the new regime in the face. Vane is a brutal Captain and starts sadistically torturing the captives. Vincent flees to safety of New York and his mission is in tatters.
In London, 1718, Woodes is preparing to bring Nassau to heel. Woodes leads the largest military force unleashed against the pirates. Meanwhile Vane has taken over Nassau and Hornigold has gone into hiding as he knows what Vane is capable of. Edward returns to Nassau. Vane knew that with Edward in his fleet he could hold on to Nassau indefinitely. Edward refuses the offer and sails out of Nassau. Paulsgrave also sails away to Madagascar and never returns to Nassau. Edward sees his future in North America.
Edward plans to sail to North Carolina, take the pardon, and carry on his piracy. North Carolina is not a Crown colony; it is a proprietary colony under control of a group of investors. They are less interested in law and order and more interested in profit. Most of the men that Edward took with him were freed slaves.
Edward delivers the former slaves back into slavery in exchange for the pardon. Edward goes from liberating slaves to selling them. Woodes arrives in Nassau with his armada.
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