In 1718, Howell Davis was a mate aboard a slaver when captured by the Irish pirate Edward England off the West African coast. The Welshman decided to join the pirates and after prowling the West Indies, he journeyed east across the Atlantic to Africa. He was gifted with an innate ability to act and bluffed his way into capturing many a ship and ransoming at least one governor. One of his favorite ploys was to pretend he was a respectable pirate hunter. When Davis came across two French ships, he captured the first one then forced its crew to act like pirates by waving their swords while he hoisted the black flag from the main mast. Thus tricked, the second ship surrendered without a fight. Disguised as a gentleman, he garnered an invitation to dinner from a governor of the Royal African Company. Afterward, Davis absconded with £2000 in gold. Sometime later while he prowled the waters off the Gold Coast (Ghana), a fellow Welshman named Batholomew Roberts joined his crew. After capturing a Dutch ship, Davis sailed into the harbor of Principe Island, seized a French ship on the grounds that it traded with pirates, and then convinced the Portuguese governor that he commanded an English man-of-war assigned to chase pirates. The day before Davis was to embark, the governor - informed by another pirate that his kidnapping was imminent - staged an ambush in which the militia shot him five times and then slit his throat. Led by Roberts, the pirates burned the fort and shelled the town in retaliation for their captain's death.
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