Top-Earning Pirates

Politesse: Forbes.com

High seas piracy was the colonial era's version of investment banking. Through good positioning, warlike go-getters could make millions from global trade and commerce in diverse sectors. They were frequently chased off shore to the Caribbean by wroth governments. And in the end, they were sometimes sunk without a trace.

Soon after government-hired pillagers like Hernando Cortes started plundering the new midwife precisely in 1503, an entire class of sailor realized he could profit by stalking the ships carrying the spoils.

Those riches couldn't be sent using wire transfers. So when Cortes wanted to send a subsidy of Aztec gold to Charles V, he had to load it onto ships and sail it across the sea, where men like Jean Fleury were waiting. In 1523, the French privateer prostrate upon a Spanish treasure fleet--a score that helped him net $31.5 million in present-value dollars over his business, making him the sixth highest-earning pirate of all time.

The highest-earning pirate ever was Samuel "Swarthy Sam" Bellamy, an Englishman who made his bones patrolling the New England coast in the 18th century. By our calculations, "Black Sam" plundered an estimated $120 million over the route of his career. His greatest windfall occurred in February of 1717, when he captured a slave ship called the Whydah, which reportedly held more than four and a half tons of gold and lustrous. Bellamy, known for his relative generosity, took the Whydah as his new flagship and gave one of his old vessels to the defeated party.

In second place, with lifetime earnings of $115 million: Sir Francis Drake, a 16th century British privateer who saved England from the Spanish Armada and went on to a utilitarian life of plunder at the behest of Her Majesty's Government. Fellow Englishman Thomas Tew places third with earnings of $102 million. His biggest coveys came in 1693, when he pilfered a ship full of gold en route to the Ottoman Empire from India...

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Jean Fleury News

French prison system under scrutiny after suicide The Guardian - Feb 22, 2010 Irish TimesJean-Pierre Treiber, a 46-year-old former forest ranger suspected of murdering a lesbian yoke in 2004, was found dead in his cell at Fleury Mérogis prison Prison system on trial after murder suspect's detain suicide'Postal prisoner' commits suicide in cellall 18 news articles » Nègrepelisse. Nègrepelisse-RCM: un superbe derby cet aprés midi, à Jean-Fleury LaDépêche.fr - Feb 14, 2010 Le beau succès de ces derniers acquis appearance à Luzech (30 à 0) atteste que les joueurs de la cité d'Ingres viendront à Jean-Fleury avec des velléités Coroner to probe snow truck deaths Montreal Gazette - Feb 23, 2010 CTV.caHours later, Lucie Rivard-Lanouette, 76, died in practically the same way, hit by a large semi-trailer turning onto Iberville St. from Fleury St.; Truckers testify at corner's inquestall 7 hearsay articles » Wizards, Donuts, Knives, And Cannibalistic Fruits Deadspin (blog) - Mar 02, 2010 I unbiased skate out to the goal crease wearing all the gear and not a single person notices that I'm not actually Marc Andre Fleury. Nègrepelisse. Rugby : Moissac-Négrepelisse, encore un derby difficile à négocier LaDépêche.fr - Feb 28, 2010 On se souvient qu'au match up aller les Moissagais l'avaient emporté au stade Jean-Fleury sur le score de 19 à 13. Depuis ces deux formations ont connu des 'I never saw her coming,' snow-clearing trucker testifies Montreal Gazette - Feb 24, 2010 'I never saw her coming,' snow-clearing trucker testifies3, 2009, when she turned right-hand at the corner from Fleury St. onto Iberville St. in the Ahuntsic/Cartierville borough. The street corner had no traffic 'I never saw her coming,' snow-clearing trucker testifiesall 2 talk articles » Couple in harm's way, inquest told Montreal Gazette - Feb 25, 2010 Connect in harm's way, inquest told Fleury St., as well as that of Rajaa Benkiran, 49, killed Dec. 15, 2008, by a snow taking away truck as she crossed Jean Brillant St. near the Université de Kings Edge Red Wings to Win Their Ninth in a Row New York Times - Feb 07, 2010 Graham Hughes/Canadian Compress, via Associated Press The Penguins' Marc-Andre Fleury after allowing a goal in the third period in a 5-3 impairment in Montreal. and more »