Assassin's Creed: Black Flag - 5 Awesome Pirate Details You Missed
5. Ben Hornigold's Sailing Lessons
Benjamin Hornigold is one of the most complex characters found within the game, standing as one of the main founding fathers of the republic of Nassau and one of the its most fierce pirates, but also one of the most ideologically opposed to the likes of Charles Vane or Edward Thatch.
Hornigold becomes disillusioned with Nassau as the 'republic' over the course of the main storyline, citing the failure to really capture the potential of a settlement away from the kings and empires of the time as the port fell increasingly into disrepair, and eventually hooked up with the Governor Torres and the Templars as a pirate hunter in the region.
He's eventually stopped from his pirate hunting by Edward, but remained steadfast in believing the Templars ideologies of order and control were still far better than the freer lifestyle enjoyed during his pirating days.
Hornigold's portrayal in the game is one of the most well handled and historically accurate to how the pirate turned pirate hunter was during his sailing days. Noted for never attacking ships flying the British flag and as more of a seasoned merchant than a bloodthirsty bandit, Hornigold is shown as being a far more cautious and collected individual than the likes of Vane, Thatch or even Edward for a time.
During his real life, there were plenty of records from both pirates and governors such as Woodes Rogers remarking about Hornigold's noticeably impressive skill at the captain's wheel, with even the fearsome Blackbeard learning his trade under his leadership.
It's fitting therefore that in the game it's Hornigold that Edward ends up sailing out Nassau with and learning the ins and outs of sailing on the seas and the best ways in collecting loot from other ships. It's also fitting that in that mission, sequence three's Prizes and Plunder, there's another nod to Hornigold's real life history that he helps pick out a Spanish ship rather than a British one to take, and chooses to incapacitate it and spare the crew rather than order their executions like someone like Vane would have presumably opted for.