He Robbed an Emperor and Vanished Forever

Subscribe to Powder Monkeys for the truth behind the legends of the age of sail — a new story every week. 🏴‍☠️ In September 1695, Henry Every took the richest prize any pirate ever took, from a treasure ship belonging to the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Then he walked out of history and never came back. One raid at the mouth of the Red Sea nearly cost England its entire position in India. Aurangzeb shut down East India Company factories, jailed its officers and threatened to expel the English outright. The Crown put £500 on Every's head, the Company doubled it, and wanted notices went to every port an empire could reach — the first worldwide manhunt on record. Six of his crew hanged at Execution Dock in 1696, though not for the crime the world was enraged about. Every himself was never caught, never confessed, and left no grave. Three centuries later, something belonging to that crew came out of the ground on the wrong side of the Atlantic. This is the sourced version — what the records actually prove, and the two "facts" everyone repeats about this raid that fall apart the moment you check them. Which ending do you believe: Every lived out his days free and comfortable in the colonies under a false name, or he was cheated, robbed and died broke? Make your case below. ⚓ 0:00 Intro 1:06 The Mutiny That Started Everything 3:57 The Ganj-i-Sawai And The Carnage 5:39 The Six Hundred Thousand Pound Claim 6:56 Aurangzeb's Fury On The Company 8:12 The First Worldwide Manhunt 10:38 The Crew Scatters And Falls 11:12 The Trial That Went Wrong 13:40 Every Walks Out Of History 14:25 The Princess And The Pirate King 16:34 Arabian Silver In American Soil 19:43 What The Record Actually Proves 20:35 Outro #MughalEmpire #Aurangzeb #EastIndiaCompany #IndianOcean #TreasureShip #ExecutionDock #MaritimeHistory