Richard Worley

Worley's alternate flag design, described as “black Flagg with a humane Skelleton on it which so much terrified” Richard Worley (died 1718/19) was a pirate who was active in the Caribbean Sea and the East Coast of the American Colonies during the early 18th century.

Piracy He is first recorded leaving New York with a small boat and a crew of eight men hoping to make their fortune in the so-called Golden Age of Piracy. However, their first prize resulted in the capture of household goods from a shallop in the Delaware River near New Castle in September 1718. This attack was technically burglary rather than piracy, as according to British maritime law at the time the attack did not take place in international waters. Local authorities mistakenly attributed the attack to Worley's better-known counterpart Blackbeard, who had raided the same waterways earlier in the year. Vessels were armed and sent to intercept the robbers but, after cruising for several days without setting sight on Worley, returned empty-handed.

Two separate accounts of Worley's demise exist; one in Captain Charles Johnson's original book and a subsequent one sent to Johnson by an eyewitness.

Johnson's original account Worley soon prepared to make his return to the colonies, where others such as Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet were enjoying success off Virginia and the Carolinas. When Worley pulled into an inlet near Charleston, South Carolina to clean his ship, the Governor was informed of his presence and sent two provincial naval sloops against him, one fitted with eight guns and the other with six. The Governor and his council decided to commandeer the 30-gun King William galley, the 24-gun Mediterranean galley, the eight-gun Revenge sloop (formerly belonging to Stede Bonnet) and a six-gun sloop Sea Nymph to attack the pirate and offered a share of their cargo as incentive. The Governor disbanded his fleet and shared out the booty between his men.