Archibald Hamilton, The Piratemaker
Lord Archibald Hamilton was a strong Jacobite, a supporter of continuing the Stuart line of succession after the death of Queen Anne, as were many of his family members. He was also the Governor of Jamaica at the end of the War of Spanish Succession (Queen Anne's War), which put him in a prime position to develop naval support for the planned uprising to attempt to overthrow the Hanoverian King George and replace him with James Stuart. He recruited several sympathetic captains who had been privateers during the war and began to construct a Jacobite navy which was funded by piracy in the Caribbean.
After the failed Jacobite uprising in England in 1715 he was arrested and taken back to London in chains. The pirates he created were unable to return to Jamaica and instead settled in Nassau.
Calling upon his numerous political connections, Hamilton managed to be acquitted of the charges of treason against him and he was even allowed to keep his 40% of the pirate take. He went on to live the rest of his life as a gentleman in England.