MAY 17
1682 Bartholomew Roberts (17 May 1682 â 10 February 1722), born John Roberts, was a Welsh pirate and the most successful pirate of the Golden Age of Piracy (measured by vessels captured) taking over 400 prizes in his career. Roberts raided ships off the Americas and the West African coast between 1719 and 1722; he is also noted for creating his own Pirate Code, and adopting an early variant of the Skull and Crossbones flag. Roberts’ infamy and success saw him become known as The Great Pyrate and eventually as Black Bart (Welsh: Barti Ddu), and made him a popular subject for writers of both fiction and non-fiction. To this day, Roberts continues to feature in novels, films and video games (such as Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag) as well as inspire fictional characters (such as the Dread Pirate Roberts).
1768 Henry William Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, KG, GCB, GCH, PC (17 May 1768 â 29 April 1854), styled Lord Paget between 1784 and 1812 and known as the Earl of Uxbridge between 1812 and 1815, was a British Army officer and politician.
1812 Joseph Warren Revere (May 17, 1812 â April 20, 1880) was a career United States Navy and Army officer. Also serving in the Mexican Army, the grandson of Paul Revere is best known for being a Union Brigadier General during the American Civil War who was court-martialed after the Battle of Chancellorsville.
1891 Napoleon Zervas (May 17, 1891 â December 10, 1957) was a Greek general and resistance leader during World War II. He organized and led the National Republican Greek League (EDES), the second most significant (after EAM), in terms of size and activity, resistance organization against the Axis Occupation of Greece.
1919 Joseph Weber (May 17, 1919 â September 30, 2000) was an American physicist. He gave the earliest public lecture on the principles behind the laser and the maser and developed the first gravitational wave detectors (Weber bars). He served aboard US Navy ships during World War II, rising to the rank of lieutenant commander. A memorable experience was his service on the “Lady Lex” USS Lexington (CV-2). Weber was the Officer of the Deck on the Lexington when the ship received word of the attack on Pearl Harbor. In the Battle of the Coral Sea his carrier sank the Japanese aircraft carrier ShÅhÅ and was in turn mortally damaged on May 8, 1942. Weber often regaled his students with the story of how LEXINGTON glowed incandescent as she slipped beneath the waves. Later, he commanded the sub-chaser SC-690, first in the Caribbean, and later in the Mediterranean Sea. In that role, he took part in the invasion of Sicily at Gela Beach, in July, 1943.
1924 Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Henry Eustace Baird KCB DL (born 17 May 1924) is a retired British Royal Navy officer who served as Flag Officer, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
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