Adewale (1692-1758) was an escaped slave from Trinidad who became a pirate during the Golden Age of Piracy on Edward Kenway's ship Jackdaw, later having his own ship, the Victoire. In 1735, after the empires in the Caribbean Sea crushed piracy in the region, Adewale became involved with the Maroons in their uprising against France in Saint-Domingue, and he freed slaves from plantations and slave ships across the Caribbean. In 1758 he was murdered in French Canada during the Seven Years' War.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Born to enslaved Ogoni parents in Yoruba, Adewale was sold to the owner of a prosperous plantation before his teens. He remained on this plantation, working the fields, until his mid-teens, always scheming of ways to escape his predicament but uneasy with the prospect of living his life as a fugitive. Then fortune struck, giving Adewale the sign he needed. At some point near his 16th birthday, a group of buccaneers raided the plantation, robbing it of raw cane, refined sugar, and as many reales as they could find. Seeing in this an opportunity, Adewale grabbed a crate of sugar and hauled it aboard one of the longboats the buccaneers had rowed ashore - but not before killing his master. Surprised to see a slave among them, the buccaneers were nevertheless thankful for the aid, and welcomed Adewale among them.
Adewale meeting Kenway
Adewale sailed with this first group of men for many years, quickly learning the ways of a seaman, grateful for the chance to develop his own skills and chase his own passions. And though his life among buccaneers was not free of the usual bigotry of the era, Adewale found the prejudice to be more confrontational than restrictive. In 1715, misfortune struck a cruel blow when the ship Adewale was aboard, struck a shallow sandbar near the port of Havana. The buccaneers - mostly British at the time - tried desperately to free the trapped vessel, but after catching sight of an approaching Spanish galleon, abandoned ship only to be torn apart by schools of circling bull sharks. Adewale made peace with his fate, and stood his ground. Taken to Havana for questioning and inspection, Spanish authorities eventually decided to send Adewale to Spain, where they felt he would make an excellent interpreter, owing to his fluent command of Spanish, English, and French. Some weeks later, they loaded him into one of the galleons that made up their perennial treasure convoy, en route to Seville. Thanks in large part to a hurricane, however, that trip never took place. With the aid of a young Welsh pirate named Edward Kenway, Adewale escaped the bilboes that bound him. Freeing more prisoners as they went, Adewale and Edward commandeered a brigantine and set sail just in time to beat the worst of the storm. When the hurricane passed, Adewale was free once more.
1715 - Piracy with Kenway[]
Adewale and Kenway in 1715
From that point forward, Adewale sailed as the quartermaster aboard Captain Edward's ship, the Jackdaw. Operating out of Nassau for a time, they grew wealthy off their spoils and lived the lives they had always dreamed. But Adewale was a man who valued the democratic ideals of this pirate community far above the spoils they acquired while living it. And as he saw Edward Kenway fall deeper and deeper into a spiral of selfish greed and pointless glory, he wondered if there wasn't a better alternative, a more noble cause he might adopt to suit his ideals. In 1720, these very ideals were put to the test when Captain Kenway sailed to a meeting with the notorious Bartholomew Roberts. Adewale had never trusted Roberts, and had hoped Edward might come to the same conclusion before it was too late. Unfortunately, Adewale's instincts were correct. In Edward's absence, Roberts' enormous crew attacked the Jackdaw, hoping to subdue her. Adewale took command of the brig and sailed her and her crew to safety, regretting the loss of his captain, but confident he had made the right decision. Some months later, Adewale resolved to meet with Ah Tabai at the Assassin Order's village in Tulum. There he spoke at length with the old Mentor and asked him many questions about their order. After hearing answers that pleased him greatly, Adewale joined the Order, then set about devising a scheme to locate his old captain. Months later Adewale and the Assassins got word that Edward Kenway had been languishing for many months in a prison in Port Royal. They learned too that Mary Read and Anne Bonny had also been taken there. Adewale and Ah Tabai put a plan in motion to rescue them. After the escape - a tragic success - Adewale returned the Jackdaw intact to Captain Kenway, and bade him visit the Assassins as soon as he was able.
Adewale and Edward continued pirating for a while, and they captured several British and Spanish ships across the Caribbean Sea. They had adventures together, enjoying the freedom of the high seas and the plunder that came with their journeys. In October 1722, when Edward Kenway retired and returned home to England, Adewale sadly parted ways with him, and he gave up his pirating career at the insistence of the Assassins. However, he used the skills to help the Assassins on many occasions, and he gained a crew of escaped slaves on his ship Victoire.
1735 - Arrival in Saint-Domingue[]
In 1735, Adewale went to intercept an admiral loyal to the Templar Order, locating them just off the coast of Saint-Domingue, hoping to kill the errand boy and retrieve a parcel that he was carrying. Adewale found the admiral's ship Fougueux and three escort ships; he destroyed the smaller ships before sinking the largest one. After sinking it, Adewale used a diving bell and recovered the package, and he found out that Bastienne Josephe was due to receive the package. He was alerted to the presence of more French vessels following him, so Adewale decided to flee through the storm to prevent the Templars from recapturing the parcel. The ship braved the several damaging waves and tried to get past the storm, but it was eventually destroyed, leaving Adewale to wash up on the shores of Saint-Domingue after it capsized and was torn apart.
Arrival in Saint-Domingue[]
Adewale woke up on the shore of Saint-Domingue with the parcel, so he decided to find Bastienne Josephe. He saw a slave woman running from her overseer, who threatened to cut her ear off, so Adewale hurried to save her and killed the overseer after hitting him with two rope darts and then killing him with an acquired machete. The woman told him to ask any "gentleman" for her, as she was the head of a brothel. While heading there, he saw Nathanael Rigal with three slaves, so he killed him and freed the three slaves, bringing his slave rescues to 4. He proceeded to steal the key to a cage from a man and kill the two guards before freeing four more slaves, and he proceeded to look down on the colony from a viewpoint on top of a church. Adewale tailed a "gentleman" to the brothel and eavesdropped on Governor Pierre de Fayet speaking with Bastienne, hearing that he was going to launch reprisals against the Africans unless their uprisings could be controlled. He brought Bastienne the parcel, and she decided to help him in the rebellion against the Templars if he delivered the parcel to Augustin Dieufort's plantation contact and remembered the passcode, the musical lyrics, "If you don't go to sleep, the crab will eat you". They found common ground against De Fayet, so Adewale set out to meet Dieufort's contact.
Adewale headed to the plantation and killed all 20 overseers, freeing the 40 slaves; at this point, 49 slaves had been freed by him. He met the female contact and sung the few lyrics to her, and she told him that "the wise man" was down a nearby path. He found overseers fighting with some escaped slaves there, and he killed all of the overseers before cutting Dieufort free. He saw some slavers trying to escape in a rowboat, so he caught up to them and killed all of them before they could bring more overseers. Adewale returned to Dieufort, and Dieufort told him that a warrior like him would be a good man for his cause, so Adewale said that their needs might align for a time. Dieufort wanted him to bring him slaves for both warriors or people to build a community, and he said that he would reward him for every slave that he liberated. He gave Adewale a blunderbuss, and four Maroons joined Adewale's future crew. Freeing Maroons could allow him to send them to infiltrate plantations, join his crew, or give him ammunition, and it would build up the free community that lived in the cave.
Adewale proceeded to go around Port-au-Prince freeing several slaves, including attacking auctions, killing overseers that pursued their runaway slave, and ambushing a slave convoy. He killed overseer Leo Bureau and freed his slaves, freeing 20 at the end of his spree. Adewale met Dieufort on a rooftop, and he told him that with the right vessel he could intercept slave vessels before they could arrive. Adewale decided to seize the brigantine Experto Crede for his own after Dieufort pointed it out, and he lit a tower on fire to distract the crew. After that, he headed to the ship and signalled the Maroons from the mast, burning the flag down. The liberated Maroons boarded the ship and threw the bodies overboard, taking the weapons for themselves and becoming Adewale's new crew. The ship left harbor, and Adewale was no longer a pirate; he was now a freedom fighter. He boarded the Man O' War Conquerant and took it over, seizing lots of gold and using it to repair his ship.
He then set after a slave ship that was moving south of Jamaica and Haiti, intercepting Soleil-Royal after destroying its two escort ships. 89 slaves were rescued after the crew was killed, and 21 Maroons were recruited. He then returned to Port-au-Prince, rescuing four slaves before entering Josephe's brothel. He found out that Governor De Fayette stopped giving Josephe information, and Josephe had him change into a slave's clothes so that he could blend in with some slaves that were bringing chests of goods to the governor's mansion for a party. Adewale blended in with the slaves, and at night he decided to infiltrate the mansion and spy on the governor. Adewale heard that the governor was being asked by a scientist named Louis Godin for funds so that he could launch an expedition, and he decided to return to Bastienne. He killed the overseer who led the slaves, but he was too late to stop them from killing the slaves before he killed the guards. Adewale rushed back to the brothel and told Bastienne of Godin, and she told him that she needed to think.
After rescuing a runaway slave from his master, Adewale headed back to Bastienne later that night. Bastienne told him that the harbormaster saw everyone who came and went, and that he should have kept her informed. While Adewale was going to the docks to eavesdrop on the harbormaster, he killed Clovis Kaplan before he could torture his slaves, freeing them. This brought the number of slaves he freed to 155. He then headed to the harbor and eavesdropped on the harbormaster talking to a woman about the need for some literate slaves to help in the recording of the expedition, as the French scientists had to carry equipment. Adewale then did a favor for a man at the docks selling fish, freeing his rival's slaves to stop his growing fish business. Adewale later freed two more slaves from being punished, bringing the Maroon recruits to 34 and the freed slaves to 156. He then returned to the fisherman, who told him that the harbormaster was storing too much cargo but not enough cannons to protect it, meaning that he would engage in smuggling. He later investigated two French scientists' conversations about sharing knowledge with Spain about technological innovations in exchange for going to the territory of Quito to determine the shape of the world: egg, oval, or globe. He also heard that Antonio de Ulloa was quite the prodigy, hinting at his future involvement with the Templar Order in the 1760s. With three investigations done, Adewale headed to meet with Bastienne at her brothel, and he told Bastienne that the Maroons and Assassins could benefit off of the taking of the knowledge. However, Bastienne got angry, saying that he was as arrogant as the French and criticized his hopes of igniting a rebellion of the Maroons against the French. She sent him out of her place, angry at him. Adewale decided to liberate the Wellington Plantation, and he returned to his ship after freeing a few more slaves from the French.
Freeing the slaves[]
Adewale intercepted the French slave ship Bourbon just off Fort Matias on the island of Cuba (owned by Spain), and he destroyed the two frigates and brig accompanying the ship with a surprise attack of mortars as well as in traditional ship battle; he also destroyed a hunter ship. Adewale successfully took over the slave ship, liberating 90 slaves and recruiting one person to the Maroons. At this point, 254 slaves were liberated and 42 Maroons recruited. After upgrading his ship in his captain's cabin, Adewale boarded the Spanish brig Galera Victoria after disabling it, killing 10 crew members before he even boarded the ship. He set the crew free to decrease his wanted level, but he took the ship's supplies. Adewale engaged in piracy for fun, stealing goods for his ship and his crew. One of his targets was the French man o' war Admirable, which he managed to take down after a short fight. Adewale also boarded a French slave ship and rescued 90 slaves and 2 Maroon recruits, and he boarded hunter brig Calypso and used it to reset the wanted level. When he arrived at Wellington, Royal Navy man o' war HMS Speedwell blocked the restricted harbor, so Adewale disabled and boarded it with his crew, using it to repair the Experto Crede.
Adewale docked at Wellington and freed all of the slaves after killing the British guards and finding the key to the slave pens, and he freed 30 slaves and 10 Maroons. With this task done, he travelled back to Port-au-Prince to meet with Bastienne Josephe. He found three literate recruits on the plantaton that could assist in the French Geodesic Mission of Godin, and a forged manifest was made by the recruits, Joachim Francois, Henri Marchand, and Fortunee Jean, so that they could join the expedition. Adewale located Godin and tailed him to the harbormaster, and he stole the manifest from Godin. The three literate slaves walked onto the ship to join the expedition, infiltrating the voyage. When he saw pirates heading out to attack Godin's departing ship, Adewale set out to assist the voyage, as they would be picked to the bone without his help. The Vautour was successfully protected, and the pirate flotilla was destroyed in a short amount of time.
After finishing this quest, he went to the Maroon cave and purchased ammunition before going after a slave ship, Capricieux. He destroyed the French man o' war and other ships defending it, and 86 slaves were liberated by the Experto Crede. After this, he went back to Port-au-Prince and freed three slaves before returning to Josephe's brothel. He found out that De Fayet was panicking, with stricter curfews, more frequent and harder punishments against slaves, and threatened retaliation being enacted by the French. Adewale headed out with Augustin to free another slave ship, and they sunk three French ships. They saw a French ship attempting to sink the slave ship Magnifique, so they destroyed the ship before they headed to rescue trapped slaves below the deck. He rescued as many as he could, but the ship began to sink rapidly and he barely escaped, with many slaves dying. Adewale was fortunate to survive, but he had to bear the grief of seeing so many killed by the French. He resolved to kill De Fayet, as his creed demanded him to see to it.
Revenge against De Fayet[]
Adewale headed to the Maroon hideout, and he met with Augustin. He acknowledged that if he stayed in Port-au-Prince after De Fayet's assassinations, neither the Maroons nor himself would be safe; he bade farewell to Augustin and told him that they would meet again to celebrate Maroon independence. Adewale saw De Fayette torturing a Maroon to find the location of the Maroons, and as he fled the mansion through the front gate after Adewale shot three brutes with a blunderbuss, Adewale charged him head-on and stabbed him with his machete. De Fayet called the slaves animals that would turn to rebellion and murder without the guidance of their masters, and Adewale brutally killed him with his machete and turned his body over. Adewale met with Bastienne at her brothel and told her that De Fayet suffered badly, and he gave Bastienne the Templar parcel before saying goodbye to her. He said that he would return to the Assassins, but he would devote his energy and conviction to help people in their struggle for freedom. Bastienne told Adewale that she would keep the box for memory because she had nobody else to sell it to, and they briefly held hands over the box before Adewale left Port-au-Prince.
1754 - French and Indian War[]
Eventually, he came into the service of Mentor Achilles Davenport, the leader of the Colonial Assassins. Adewale was now a veteran leader of the Assassin Order, and he continued to support the freeing of Maroon slaves from the French. Adewale left for the "Homestead" in Massachusetts in 1751 after the Port-au-Prince Earthquake, during which the Templar Order gained control of the Precursor Box (a strong artifact). Adewale assisted Achilles in the search for the item, and he made the acquaintance of Achilles' new recruit Shay Cormac in 1752. In 1756, however, Shay defected to the Templar Order after his use of the Precursor Box and the Voynich Manuscript led to an earthquake in Lisbon, Portugal. Adewale commanded Experto Crede in battle against Shay at the battle of Louisbourg in June 1758, but he failed to sink his ship Morrigan and was forced to retreat.
Shay tracked him down to Vieille Carriere, Canada soon after the battle. Adewale was supposed to be in Fort Blanc refitting his ship after the battle, and he moved to Ile Des Pins. Shay infiltrated the island as Adewale argued with Edward's son (and now Templar Grand Master, not having known that his father was an Assassin) Haytham Kenway. Adewale was ambushed when Shay, hiding in a bush, took a long shot and fired his pistol at Adewale's head. Adewale was mortally wounded, and he died after insulting Shay's betrayal of the Assassin Order.