“Black birds tend to like shiny things.” ~ The Bloody Raven
Upon first sighting of this Niue coin from the European mint, I said to myself, “I must have this shiny coin in my Pirate silver collection.” Then delving into the history of the flamboyant English born Captain ‘Calico Jack’ Rackham and his brief two-year career as a pirate. Only to find his exploits were as ‘minimal’ as the coin’s design style. Not much is documented of his naval career prior to piracy.
In 1718, then Quartermaster Jack Rackham succeeded Charles Vane as captain of the Ranger after a crew vote following his criticism of Vane for not taking on a French man-of-war. And Vane’s caution sounded reasonable since the French frigate would have twice the manpower and guns than the small pirate Sloop. A case where I think Jack over exaggerated the crew’s abilities and Vane’s cowardice thus leveraging himself the Captaincy. A smooth tongued man that would go far as a motivational speaker.
However, his is not what made Jack famous.
The Coin
2022 Niue 2 Dollars Calico Jack
Under Calico jack, the Ranger sailed southwards along the coast away from New York harbor and the man-o-war. There was some success in robbing small vessels and villages until they captured a rich merchant ship, The Kingston that was still within sight of the merchants of Port Royal and whom in short order dispatched a Privateer to pursue the pirate sloop and the captured Kingston.
This is not what made Jack famous.
Captain Jack Rackham under Public Domain
There are divergent accounts on how Jack Rackham and his remaining crew made the trip back to Nassau. One account had the everyone crowded into a row boat for the long trek, the other claimed that Captain Rackham and his crew took over the accompanying English sloop in the dead of night leaving the Privateer warship to destroy the Ranger as they slipped past.
But, this is not what made Jack famous either.
☠️
The Black Flag
Note of interest, there were no accounts that this Jolly Roger was ever flown by Calico Jack but by only a 1959 unsubstantiated reference in a publication by Hans Leip. Calico Jack’s Jolly Roger may just be a modern creation.
Nope. This flag is not what made Jack famous, more like Jack made this flag famous.
2022 Niue 2 Dollars Calico Jack
At Nassau Bermuda, before Governor Rogers, Calico Jack and his remaining crew plead for amnesty claiming that Captain Vane had forced them into piracy. Governor Rogers had a grudge against Captain Vane and granted Calico Jack and his men pardons to pursue a law-abiding life.
The lying backstabber that he is, this is not what made Jack famous.
So what made Jack famous?
Conclusions
Admittedly an unexciting and rather ordinary silver coin design. The only feature pertaining to the pirate Captain is his Jolly Roger that just may be Pop Culturally attributed to him. True or imaginary, are not pirate exploits built by bigger than life stories?
European Mint, just saying you have lots of room for improvement for the next one.
Adding Pirate Silver to my Stack for the coming Economic storm!
The #piratesunday tag is the scurvy scheme of Captain 
And, a special thanks to Nyssacat in helping me acquire this shiny specimen.💋
References
My own pictures shot with a Samsung SM-A530W
Sources
Numista; 2022 Niue 2 NZD Dollar Calico Jack Silver Coin.
European Mint; 2022 Niue 2 NZD Dollar Calico Jack Silver Coin.
Wiki; Pirate Captain, Calico Jack Rackham.
Image of Captain Jack Rackham under Public Domain image From "A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates" 1725.
The Golden Age of the pirate Boat called The Ranger
Beau Sterling Silver Galleon Broach from Schwartzy's Silver Arrrtifacts.
Cameo Raven Brooch from The Black Wardrobe
