What nickname was given to Stede Bonnet, the Barbados planter who became a pirate captain?

Stede Bonnet was nicknamed the Gentleman Pirate after leaving his Barbados plantation to command a pirate vessel.

Bonnet was unusual among early eighteenth-century pirates because he was a wealthy landowner with no known seafaring background before turning pirate. His decision has often been linked to personal difficulties, although the surviving evidence does not provide a single certain motive.

He purchased and equipped the sloop Revenge in 1717, beginning a short and troubled career. Bonnet later encountered Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, and for a time sailed under Teach’s influence.

The nickname refers to Bonnet’s status as a gentleman planter, not to a reputation for unusually polite conduct. He was captured in 1718 and executed in Charleston, South Carolina, in December of that year.