- "A new captain has come to Nassau, & I do not like him. Abel Bramah is his name, & he has the look of a scoundrel about him. I understand the humour what may be found in myself using that term. It is, as they say, the pot calling the kettle black."
- ―Edward Thatch, chronicling his opinion of Bramah in his personal journal, 5 January 1714.[src]
Duncan Walpole assassinating Bramah
Abel Bramah (unknown – June 1715) was a pirate captain of a brig known as the Jacobite, operating in the Caribbean by 1714.
Abel arrived in Nassau around January 1714. He was immediately disliked by the pirate Edward Thatch.[1] In June 1715, his vessel was traveling past Cape Bonavista, in western Cuba, when it was attacked by a Royal Navy frigate, HMS Intrigue. Bramah's crew managed to demast the attacking vessel, but the victory was short-lived as it was discovered the magazine had caught fire. Bramah immediately shouted for the crew to douse the flames, unaware of a hooded, shadowy figure behind him. Before Kenway could shout a warning, the figure, an Assassin named Duncan Walpole who had been a passenger aboard the British warship, leaped down and stabbed the captain in the back, killing him.[2]
Personality and characteristics
- "Nobody but his own mother was going to mourn our captain's passing."
- ―Edward Kenway regarding Bramah's death.[src]
Abel was a harsh and cruel man, fond of personally flogging his crew members and marooning them, which he referred to as "making a man a governor of his own island". For this, he was hated by his crew.[3]
Other pirates such as Edward Thatch also disliked him,[1] advising his fellow pirate Edward Kenway not to join his crew.[3]