These pirates seized the world’s richest booty

RJ Hamster

2 years ago

Tuesday, March 7, 2023

In today’s newsletter, we explore pirate Henry
Avery’s jaw-dropping haul, examine foods that may help you live longer, paint the return of indigo … and meet a Chinese town’s 1,300-year-old bard.

ILLUSTRATION VIA PETER NEWARK HISTORICAL PICTURES, BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

India’s royal treasure ship sailed carrying a haul of gold, silver, and jewels worth nine figures today. Who would dare attack the well-armed fleet of the Grand Mughal?

Henry Avery united pirate forces to do what legends like Blackbeard or Captain Kidd could not—carry off piracy’s biggest heist.

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PHOTOGRAPH BY JALVAREZG, ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES

Where did Henry Avery go? Some say he stopped at St. Mary’s Island, off the coast of Madagascar (pictured above, a pirate cemetery there). Legend has him retiring after his big score, possibly to England. Read more.

STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

PHOTOGRAPH BY JUSTIN JIN

Overheard: What do China’s women want—or don’t want? (Pictured above, babies at a private postnatal center in Hangzhou)

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These foods lower your risk of disease

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Will men soon be able to take a pill for birth control?

9 things to know about Holi, India’s most colorful festival

These grizzlies climb mountains for an odd feast—millions of fatty moths

Who were the Neanderthals—and why did they go extinct?

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

PHOTOGRAPH BY CAROLINE GUTMAN

Dyeing to know: Indigo is making a comeback in South Carolina, where it once thrived in the 17th and 18th centuries. Like its color, the dye-making plant has a dark past: It took about 180 pounds of leaves to make one pound of dye, and over 1 million pounds were harvested a year, playing a major role in making the coastal state the wealthiest of the 13 colonies, Nat Geo reports.

Then indigo disappeared for some 250 years.

Now, the plant is back. (Pictured above, Caroline Harper straightens out scarves dyed with indigo in Charleston.)

MOOD: INDIGO

PHOTO OF THE DAY

PHOTOGRAPH BY @BERTIEGREGORY

Shed some light: Lantern fish (pictured) are rarely seen—until now. Watch as these little creatures migrate from the depths of the sea to its surface at night. ”Occasionally, for reasons we don’t understand, they get caught at the surface and feeding frenzy develops,” says Nat Geo Explorer Bertie Gregory. He made this photograph for his adventure show on Disney+.

FEEDING FRENZY

LAST GLIMPSE

PHOTOGRAPH BY PAUL SALOPEK

Writing verse 1,300 years later: Poetry plays a part in all Chinese celebrations — marriages, births, deaths — and children memorize ancient verse in school, reports Nat Geo Explorer Paul Salopek.

Li Hong Bin (right), a 62-year-old man who’s given up his family, friends, and job to pursue poetry, believes he’s the reincarnated Li Bai, a famous classical Chinese poet born in 701. “We sacrifice ourselves for the people,” Bin tells Nat Geo.

A WALK THROUGH CHINA

We hope you liked today’s newsletter. This was edited and curated by Jen Tse, Hannah Farrow, and David Beard. Have an idea or a link for us? Write david.beard@natgeo.com. Happy trails!

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