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Title: The Pirates' Who's Who
Giving Particulars Of The Lives and Deaths Of The Pirates And Buccaneers
Author: Philip Gosse
Release Date: October 17, 2006 [EBook #19564]
Language: English
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Transcriber's note.
Many of the names in this book (even outside quoted passages) are
inconsistently spelt. I have chosen to retain the original spelling
treating these as author error rather than typographical carelessness.
THE PIRATES'
WHO'S WHO
_Giving Particulars of the Lives & Deaths of the Pirates & Buccaneers_
BY PHILIP GOSSE
ILLUSTRATED
BURT FRANKLIN: RESEARCH & SOURCE WORKS SERIES 119
Essays in History, Economics & Social Science 51
BURT FRANKLIN
NEW YORK
Published by BURT FRANKLIN
235 East 44th St., New York 10017
Originally Published: 1924
Printed in the U.S.A.
Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 68-56594
Burt Franklin: Research & Source Works Series 119
Essays in History, Economics & Social Science 51
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK
TO
MY FELLOW-MEMBERS OF
THE FOUNTAIN CLUB
WITH THE EARNEST HOPE THAT NOTHING
IT CONTAINS MAY INCITE THEM TO
EMULATE ITS HEROES
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
TO FACE PAGE
A PAGE FROM THE LOG-BOOK OF CAPTAIN DAMPIER 98
PRESSING A PIRATE TO PLEAD 140
A PIRATE BEING HANGED AT EXECUTION DOCK, WAPPING 182
ANNE BONNY AND MARY READ, CONVICTED OF
PIRACY NOVEMBER 28TH, 1720, IN JAMAICA 256
CAPTAIN BARTHOLOMEW ROBERTS 262
PREFACE
Let it be made clear at the very outset of this Preface that the pages
which follow do not pretend to be a history of piracy, but are simply an
attempt to gather together, from various sources, particulars of those
redoubtable pirates and buccaneers whose names have been handed down to us
in a desultory way.
I do not deal here with the children of fancy; I believe that every man,
or woman too--since certain of the gentler sex cut no small figure at the
game--mentioned in this volume actually existed.
A time has come when every form of learning, however preposterous it may
seem, is made as unlaborious as possible for the would-be student.
Knowledge, which is after all but a string of facts, is being arranged,
sorted, distilled, and set down in compact form, ready for rapid
assimilation. There is little fear that the student who may wish in the
future to become master of any subject will have to delve into the
original sources in his search after facts and dates.
Surely pirates, taking them in their broadest sense, are as much entitled
to a biographical dictionary of their own as are clergymen, race-horses,
or artists in ferro-concrete, who all, I am assured, have their own "Who's
Who"? Have not the medical men their Directory, the lawyers their List,
the peers their Peerage? There are books which record the names and the
particulars of musicians, schoolmasters, stockbrokers, saints and
bookmakers, and I dare say there is an average adjuster's almanac. A peer,
a horse, dog, cat, and even a white mouse, if of blood sufficiently blue,
has his pedigree recorded somewhere. Above all, there is that astounding
and entertaining volume, "Who's Who," found in every club smoking-room,
and which grows more bulky year by year, stuffed with information about
the careers, the hobbies, and the marriages of all the most distinguished
persons in every profession, including very full details about the lives
and doings of all our journalists. But on the club table where these books
of ready reference stand with "Whitaker," "ABC," and "Ruff's Guide to the
Turf," there is just one gap that the compiler of this work has for a long
while felt sorely needed filling. There has been until now no work that
gives immediate and trustworthy information about the lives, and--so sadly
important in their cases--the deaths of our pirates and buccaneers.
In delving in the volumes of the "Dictionary of National Biography," it
has been a sad disappointment to the writer to find so little space
devoted to the careers of these picturesque if, I must admit, often
unseemly persons. There are, of course, to be found a few pirates with
household names such as Kidd, Teach, and Avery. A few, too, of the
buccaneers, headed by the great Sir Henry Morgan, come in for their share.
But I compare with indignation the meagre show of pirates in that
monumental work with the rich profusion of divines! Even during the years
when piracy was at its height--say from 1680 until 1730--the pirates are
utterly swamped by the theologians. Can it be that these two professions
flourished most vigorously side by side, and that when one began to
languish, the other also began to fade?
Even so there can be no excuse for the past and present neglect of these
sea-adventurers. But a change is beginning to show itself. Increasing
evidence is to be found that the more intelligent portions of the
population of this country, and even more so the enlightened of the great
United States of America, are beginning to show a proper interest in the
lives of the pirates and buccaneers. That this should be so amongst the
Americans is quite natural, when it is remembered what a close intimacy
existed between their Puritan forefathers of New England and the pirates,
both by blood relation and by trade, since the pirates had no more
obliging and ready customers for their spoils of gold dust, stolen slaves,
or church ornaments, than the early settlers of New York, Massachusetts,
and Carolina.
In beginning to compile such a list as is to be found in this volume, a
difficulty is met at once. My original intention was that only pirates and
buccaneers should be included. To admit privateers, corsairs, and other
sea-rovers would have meant the addition of a vast number of names, and
would have made the work unwieldy, and the very object of this volume as a
book of ready reference would not have been achieved. But the difficulty
has been to define the exact meaning of a pirate and of a buccaneer. In
the dictionary a pirate is defined as "a sea-robber, marauder, one who
infringes another's copyright"; while a buccaneer is described as "a
sea-robber, a pirate, especially of the Spanish-American coasts." This
seems explicit, but a pirate was not a pirate from the cradle to the
gallows. He usually began his life at sea as an honest mariner in the
merchant service. He perhaps mutinied with other of the ship's crew,
killed or otherwise disposed of the captain, seized the ship, elected a
new commander, and sailed off "on the account." Many an honest seaman was
captured with the rest of his ship's crew by a pirate, and either
voluntarily joined the freebooters by signing their articles, or, being a
good navigator or "sea-artist," was compelled by the pirates to lend them
his services. Others, again, were in privateer ships, which carried on a
legitimate warfare against the shipping of hostile countries, under a
commission or letter of marque.
Often the very commission or letter of marque carried about so jealously
by some shady privateer was not worth the paper it was written on, nor the
handful of dubloons paid for it. One buccaneer sailed about the South
Seas, plundering Spanish ships and sacking churches and burning towns,
under a commission issued to him, for a consideration, by the Governor of
a Danish West India island, himself an ex-pirate. This precious document,
adorned with florid scrolls and a big, impressive seal, was written in
Danish. Someone with a knowledge of that language had an opportunity and
the curiosity to translate it, when he found that all it entitled the
bearer to do was to hunt for goats and pigs on the Island of Hispaniola,
and nothing more.
When, at the conclusion of hostilities, peace was declared, the crew of a
privateer found it exceedingly irksome to give up the roving life, and
were liable to drift into piracy. Often it happened that, after a long
naval war, crews were disbanded, ships laid up, and navies reduced, thus
flooding the countryside with idle mariners, and filling the roads with
begging and starving seamen. These were driven to go to sea if they could
find a berth, often half starved and brutally treated, and always
underpaid, and so easily yielded to the temptation of joining some vessel
bound vaguely for the "South Sea," where no questions were asked and no
wages paid, but every hand on board had a share in the adventure.
The buccaneers were a great source of piracy also. When a war was on hand
the English Government was only too glad to have the help of these daring
and skilful seamen; but when peace was declared these allies began to lead
to international complications, and means had to be taken to abolish them,
and to try and turn them into honest settlers in the islands. But when a
man has for years lived the free life, sailed out from Jamaica a pauper,
to return in six weeks or less with, perhaps, a bag of gold worth two,
three, or four thousand pounds, which he has prided himself on spending in
the taverns and gambling-hells of Port Royal in a week, how can he settle
down to humdrum uneventful toil, with its small profits? Thus he goes back
"on the account" and sails to some prearranged rendezvous of the "brethren
of the coast."
To write a whole history of piracy would be a great undertaking, but a
very interesting one. Piracy must have begun in the far, dim ages, and
perhaps when some naked savage, paddling himself across a tropical river,
met with another adventurer on a better tree-trunk, or carrying a bigger
bunch of bananas, the first act of piracy was committed. Indeed, piracy
must surely be the third oldest profession in the world, if we give the
honour of the second place to the ancient craft of healing. If such a
history were to include the whole of piracy, it would have to refer to the
Phoenicians, to the Mediterranean sea-rovers of the days of Rome, who, had
they but known it, held the future destiny of the world in their grasp
when they, a handful of pirates, took prisoner the young Julius Cæsar, to
ransom him and afterwards to be caught and crucified by him. The Arabs in
the Red Sea were for many years past-masters of the art of piracy, as were
the Barbary corsairs of Algiers and Tunis, who made the Mediterranean a
place of danger for many generations of seamen. All this while the Chinese
and Malays were active pirates, while the Pirate coast of the Persian Gulf
was feared by all mariners. Then arose the great period, beginning in the
reign of Henry VIII., advancing with rapid strides during the adventurous
years of Queen Elizabeth, when many West of England squires were wont to
sell their estates and invest all in a ship in which to go cruising on
the Spanish Main, in the hope of taking a rich Spanish galleon homeward
bound from Cartagena and Porto Bello, deep laden with the riches of Peru
and Mexico.
Out of these semi-pirate adventurers developed the buccaneers, a
ruffianly, dare-devil lot, who feared neither God, man, nor death.
By the middle of the eighteenth century piracy was on the wane, and
practically had died out by the beginning of the nineteenth, the final
thrust that destroyed it being given by the American and English Navies in
the North Atlantic and West Indian Seas. But by this time piracy had
degenerated to mere sea-robbing, the days of gallant and ruthless
sea-battles had passed, and the pirate of those decadent days was
generally a Spanish-American half-breed, with no courage, a mere robber
and murderer.
The advent of the telegraph and of steam-driven ships settled for ever the
account of the pirates, except in China, when even to this day accounts
reach us, through the Press, of piratical enterprises; but never again
will the black, rakish-looking craft of the pirate, with the Jolly Roger
flying, be liable to pounce down upon the unsuspecting and harmless
merchantman.
The books devoted to the lives and exploits of buccaneers and pirates are
few. Indeed, but two stand out prominently, both masterpieces of their
kind. One, "The Bucaniers of America, or a True Account of the Most
Remarkable Assaults Committed of Late Years upon the Coasts of the West
Indies," etc., was written by a sea-surgeon to the buccaneers, A.O.
Exquemelin, a Dutchman, and was published at Amsterdam in 1679.
Many translations were made, the first one in English being published in
1684 by William Crooke, at the Green Dragon, without Temple Bar, in
London. The publication of this book was the cause of a libel action
brought by Sir Henry Morgan against the publisher; the buccaneer commander
won his case and was granted £200 damages and a public apology. In this
book Morgan was held up as a perfect monster for his cruel treatment to
his prisoners, but although Morgan resented this very much, the statement
that annoyed him much more was that which told the reader that Morgan came
of very humble stock and was sold by his parents when a boy, to serve as a
labourer in Barbadoes.
The greatest work on pirates was written in 1726 by Captain Charles
Johnson. The original edition, now exceedingly rare, is called "A General
History of the Pyrates, from Their First Rise and Settlement in the Island
of Providence, to the Present Time," and is illustrated by interesting
engravings.
Another edition, in 1734, is a handsome folio called "A General History of
the Lives and Adventures of the Most Famous Highwaymen," etc., "To which
is added a Genuine Account of the Voyages and Plunders of the Most
Notorious Pyrates," and contains many full-page copperplates by J. Basire
and others. The pirates are given only a share in the pages of this book,
but it has some very fine engravings of such famous pirates as Avery,
Roberts, Low, Lowther, and "Blackbeard."
The third edition of the "History of Pirates," of 1725, has a quaint
frontispiece, showing the two women pirates, Anne Bonny and Mary Read, in
action with their swords drawn, upon the deck of a ship. While the fourth
edition, published in 1726, in two volumes, contains the stories of the
less well-known South-Sea Rovers.
After studying the subject of piracy at all closely, one cannot but be
struck by the number of pirates who came from Wales. Welshmen figure not
only amongst the rank and file, but amongst the leaders. Morgan, of
course, stands head and shoulders above the rest. It is curious how
certain races show particular adaptability for certain callings. Up to two
hundred years ago the chief pirates were Welshmen; to-day most of our
haberdashers hail from the same land of the leek. It would be interesting
to try and fathom the reason why these two callings, at first sight so
dissimilar, should call forth the qualities in a particular race. Perhaps
some of our leading haberdashers and linen drapers will be willing to
supply the answer.
I sometimes wonder what happens to the modern pirates; I mean the men who,
had they lived 200 years ago, would have been pirates. What do they find
to exercise their undoubted, if unsocial, talents and energies to-day?
Many, I think, find openings of an adventurous financial kind in the City.
Politics, again, surely has its buccaneers. One can imagine, for example,
some leading modern politician--let us say a Welshman--who, like Morgan,
being a brilliant public speaker, is able by his eloquence to sway vast
crowds of listeners, whether buccaneers or electors, a man of quick and
subtle mind, able to recognize and seize upon the main chance, perfectly
ruthless in his methods when necessity requires, and one who, having
achieved the goal on which he had set his ambition, discards his party or
followers, as Morgan did his buccaneers after the sacking of Panama. Nor
is Europe to-day without a counterpart to the ruffian crews who arrogantly
"defied the world and declared war on all nations."
One great difficulty which the author of this work is met with is to
decide who was, and who was not, a pirate.
Certain friends who have taken a kindly, if somewhat frivolous, interest
in the compilation of this work have inquired if Sir Francis Drake was to
be included; and it must be admitted that the question is not an easy one
to answer. The most fervent patriot must admit that the early voyages of
Drake were, to put it mildly, of a buccaneering kind, although his late
voyages were more nearly akin to privateering cruises than piracy. But if,
during the reign of King Philip, a Spaniard had been asked if Drake was a
pirate, he would certainly have answered, "Yes," and that without any
hesitation whatever. So much depends upon the point of view.
In the 1814 edition of Johnson's "History of Highwaymen and Pirates," the
famous Paul Jones holds a prominent place as a pirate, and is described in
no half measures as a traitor; yet I doubt if in the schools of America
to-day the rising young citizens of "God's Own Country" are told any such
thing, but are probably, and quite naturally, taught to look upon Paul
Jones as a true patriot and a brave sailor. Again, there is Christopher
Columbus, the greatest of all explorers, about whom no breath of scandal
in the piratical way was ever breathed, who only escaped being a pirate by
the fact that his was the first ship to sail in the Caribbean Sea; for
there is little doubt that had the great navigator found an English ship
lying at anchor when he first arrived at the Island of San Salvador, an
act of piracy would have immediately taken place.
For the student who is interested there are other writers who have dealt
with the subject of piracy, such as the buccaneers Ringrose, Cooke,
Funnell, Dampier, and Cowley; Woodes Rogers, with his "Voyage to the South
Seas"; Wafer, who wrote an amusing little book in 1699 describing his
hardships and adventures on the Isthmus of Darien. Of modern writers may
be recommended Mr. John Masefield's "Spanish Main," "The Buccaneers in the
West Indies," by C.H. Haring, and the latest publication of the Marine
Research Society of Massachusetts, entitled "The Pirates of the New
England Coast," and last, but far from least, the works of Mr. A. Hyatt
Verrill.
The conditions of life on a pirate ship appear to have been much the same
in all vessels. On procuring a craft by stealing or by mutiny of the crew,
the first thing to do was to elect a commander. This was done by vote
amongst the crew, who elected whoever they considered the most daring
amongst them, and the best navigator. The next officer chosen was the
quartermaster. The captain and quartermaster once elected, the former
could appoint any junior officers he chose, and the shares in any plunder
they took was divided according to the rank of each pirate. The crew were
then searched for a pirate who could write, and, when found, this scholar
would be taken down to the great cabin, given pen, ink, and paper, and
after the articles had been discussed and decided upon, they were written
down, to be signed by each member of the crew. As an example, the articles
drawn up by the crew of Captain John Phillips on board the _Revenge_ are
given below in full:
1.
Every man shall obey civil Command; the Captain shall have one
full Share and a half in all Prizes; the Master, Carpenter,
Boatswain and Gunner shall have one Share and quarter.
2.
If any Man shall offer to run away, or keep any Secret from
the Company, he shall be marroon'd with one Bottle of Powder,
one Bottle of Water, one small Arm, and Shot.
3.
If any Man shall steal any Thing in the Company, or game, to
the value of a Piece of Eight, he shall be Marroon'd or shot.
4.
If at any Time we should meet another Marrooner (that is,
Pyrate,) that Man that shall sign his Articles without the
Consent of our Company, shall suffer such Punishment as the
Captain and Company shall think fit.
5.
That Man that shall strike another whilst these Articles are
in force, shall receive Moses's Law (that is 40 Stripes
lacking one) on the bare Back.
6.
That Man that shall snap his Arms, or smoak Tobacco in the
Hold, without a cap to his Pipe, or carry a Candle lighted
without a Lanthorn, shall suffer the same Punishment as in the
former Article.
7.
That Man that shall not keep his Arms clean, fit for an
Engagement, or neglect his Business, shall be cut off from his
Share, and suffer such other Punishment as the Captain and the
Company shall think fit.
8.
If any Man shall lose a Joint in time of an Engagement, shall
have 400 Pieces of Eight; if a limb, 800.
9.
If at any time you meet with a prudent Woman, that Man that
offers to meddle with her, without her Consent, shall suffer
present Death.
These formalities took time and much argument and the drinking of many
bowls of punch, and, when once settled, the next business was to make a
flag. The Jolly Roger, consisting of a human skull and two crossed
thigh-bones, was generally portrayed in black and white. Some crews
preferred a study in red and white. More enterprising captains with
imagination and taste, such as Captain Bartholomew Roberts, who was a
truly remarkable man and the greatest pirate who ever "declared war upon
all the world," aimed at something more elaborate. Roberts flew several
flags, all made to his own design.
On one was depicted a "human anatomy," holding a rummer, or glass, of
punch in one bony hand, and a flaming sword in the other. Another
favourite flag of Roberts had a huge portrait of himself, sword in hand,
and two skulls.
Another had a "skellington" standing with either foot firmly placed on a
skull, and under one skull were embroidered the letters A.B.H., under the
other A.M.H., which letters stood for a Barbadian's head and a
Martinican's head, to warn any inhabitant of either of these islands what
to expect if he was so unfortunate as to be taken prisoner by Bartholomew,
who never forgot nor forgave two occasions on which he was very roughly
handled by ships from Barbadoes and Martinique.
The weak point in all pirate ships was the lack of discipline. Time and
again some successful enterprise, almost completed, was thrown away by
lack of discipline. No captain could be certain of his command or crew. If
he did anything they disapproved of, the crew would throw him in chains
into the hold, or as likely overboard, and elect another. It is on record
that one ship had elected thirteen different commanders in a few months.
Some of the big men retained their commands, Roberts holding the record,
for a pirate, of four years, until his death; while Bartholomew Sharp
holds the record for a buccaneer.
Having procured a vessel, perhaps little more than a fishing-boat,
sometimes only an open row-boat, the embryo pirates would paddle along
some coast until they came across an unsuspecting craft, one not too big
for the desperadoes to attack. Hiding their arms, they would row
alongside, and then suddenly, with shouts and curses, board the vessel,
kill any who resisted, and start a cruise in their new ship, their number
being increased by volunteers or forced men from amongst the prize's crew.
Cruising thus, the pirates would gradually get together a small fleet of
the fastest and best sailing vessels among their prizes and increase their
crew as they went along.
Both the buccaneers and the pirates had their favourite haunts and places
of rendezvous. These had to be within easy sailing distance of one or more
regular trade routes, and at the same time had to be in some quiet spot
unlikely to be visited by strange craft, and, besides being sheltered
from storms, must have a suitable beach on which their vessels could be
careened and the hulls scraped of barnacles and weeds. The greatest
stronghold of the buccaneers was at Tortuga, or Turtle Island, a small
island lying off the west coast of Hispaniola. Here in their most piping
days flourished a buccaneer republic, where the seamen made their own laws
and cultivated the land for sugar-cane and yams. Occasionally the
Spaniards or the French, without any warning, would swoop down on the
settlement and break up the small republic, but sooner or later the
buccaneers would be back once again in possession.
The favourite and most flourishing headquarters of the West India pirates
was at New Providence Island in the Bahama Islands, occupied to-day by the
flourishing town of Nassau, now the headquarters of those worthy
descendants of the pirates, the bootleggers, who from the old port carry
on their exciting and profitable smuggling of whisky into the United
States.
The numerous bays and islands lying off the coast of South Carolina were
very popular with the free booters in the late seventeenth and early
eighteenth centuries; while Port Royal, in Jamaica, was noted from early
days as the port from which the most famous buccaneers sailed for the
Spanish Main, and to which they returned with their plunder.
The French filibusters and pirates mostly used the Virgin Islands, while
the Dutch patronized their own islands of Curaçao, Saba, and St.
Eustatius. But the buccaneers did not allow the chance of nationality to
divide them, for Frenchmen, Englishmen, and Dutchmen, all "brethren of the
coast," sailed together and plundered the Spaniard in open and equal
friendship.
An entirely different group of pirates arose in the South Seas, with their
headquarters in Madagascar. Here the pirates went farther towards forming
a permanent society than at any other time during their history, with the
exception of the Barbary corsairs, who had their strongly fortified
settlements for many years at Algiers, Tunis, and Sallee.
The origin of the buccaneers is interesting, and I cannot do better than
quote the opening chapter of Clark Russell's "Life of William Dampier," in
the English Men of Action Series, published by Messrs. Macmillan in 1889.
He writes:
"In or about the middle of the seventeenth century, the Island of San
Domingo, or Hispaniola as it was then called, was haunted and overrun by a
singular community of savage, surly, fierce, and filthy men. They were
chiefly composed of French colonists, whose ranks had from time to time
been enlarged by liberal contributions from the slums and alleys of more
than one European city and town. These people went dressed in shirts and
pantaloons of coarse linen cloth, which they steeped in the blood of the
animals they slaughtered. They wore round caps, boots of hogskin drawn
over their naked feet, and belts of raw hide, in which they stuck their
sabres and knives. They also armed themselves with firelocks, which threw
a couple of balls, each weighing two ounces. The places where they dried
and salted their meat were called _boucans_, and from this term they came
to be styled bucaniers, or buccaneers, as we spell it. They were hunters
by trade, and savages in their habits. They chased and slaughtered horned
cattle and trafficked with the flesh, and their favourite food was raw
marrow from the bones of the beasts which they shot. They ate and slept on
the ground, their table was a stone, their bolster the trunk of a tree,
and their roof the hot and sparkling heavens of the Antilles."
The Spaniards, who were jealous of any other nation than their own having
a foothold in America, determined to get rid of these wild but hitherto
harmless buccaneers. This they accomplished, and in time drove the
cattle-hunters out of Hispaniola; and to make sure that the unwelcome
visitors should not return, they exterminated all the wild cattle. This
was the worst mistake the Spaniards could have made, for these wild men
had to look for other means of supporting themselves, and they joined the
freebooters and thus began the great period of piracy which was the cause
of the ultimate breaking-up of the Spanish power in the West Indies.
Of the life on board buccaneer and pirate ships a somewhat hazy and
incomplete picture reaches us. The crews were usually large compared with
the number of men carried in other ships, and a state of crowded
discomfort must have been the result, especially in some crazy old vessel
cruising in the tropics or rounding the Horn in winter. Of the
relationship between the sea-rovers and the fair sex it would be best,
perhaps, to draw a discreet veil. The pirates and the buccaneers looked
upon women simply as the spoils of war, and were as profligate with these
as with the rest of their plunder. I do not know if I am disclosing a
secret when I mention that my friend Mr. Hyatt Verrill, who is an
authority on the subject of the lives of the pirates, is about to publish
a book devoted to the love affairs of these gentry. I confess to looking
forward with pleasure and a certain degree of trepidation to reading his
book and to seeing how he will deal with so delicate a subject.
We know that Sir Henry Morgan was married and provided for his widow in
his will.
Captain Kidd, wife, and child, resided in New York, in the utmost conjugal
happiness and respectability, but then Kidd was a martyr and no pirate.
Captain Rackam, the dashing "Calico Jack," ran away to sea with the woman
pirate, Mrs. Anne Bonny, and they lived together happily on board ship
and on land, as did Captain and Mrs. Cobham. The only other pirate I know
of who took a "wife" to sea with him was Captain Pease, who flourished in
a half-hearted way--half-hearted in the piratical, but not the matrimonial
sense--in the middle of the nineteenth century.
A certain settler in New Zealand in the "early days" describes a visit he
paid to Captain Pease and his family on board that pirate's handy little
schooner, lying at anchor in a quiet cove at that island.
On stepping aboard, the guest was warmly welcomed by a short, red-faced
man, bald of head and rotund in figure, of about fifty-five years of age.
His appearance suggested a successful grocer rather than a pirate. On the
deck were seated two ladies, one nearing middle age, the other young and
undoubtedly pretty. At the feet of these ladies sprawled several small
children. Captain Pease proceeded to introduce his guest to these as Mrs.
Pease No. 1 and Mrs. Pease No. 2. The ladies continued their sewing while
a conversation took place on various subjects. Presently, taking out his
watch, the pirate turned to the younger lady, observing that it was
nearing teatime. Mrs. Pease No. 2, laying down her sewing, went to the
cabin, from which the rattle of teacups and the hiss of a boiling kettle
were soon heard. Tea being announced as ready, the party entered the
cabin, Mrs. Pease senior taking the place at the head of the table and
pouring out the tea while the younger Mrs. Pease very prettily handed
round the cups and bread and butter, the guest particularly noticing with
what respect and thoughtfulness she looked after the wants of the elder
Mrs. Pease.
As a pirate Captain Pease was second or even third rate, confining his
daring to seizing small unarmed native craft, or robbing the stores of
lonely white traders on out-of-the-way atolls. But as a married man he
showed himself to be a master; matrimony was his strong suit, domesticity
his trump card. He gave one valuable hint to his guest, which was this:
"Never take more than two wives with you on a voyage, _and choose 'em with
care_."
One is apt to disassociate serious matrimony, and still less responsible
paternity, with the calling of piracy, but with Captain Pease this was far
from being the case. Every one of his wives--for he had others on
shore--contributed her mite, or two, to the growing family, and the
Captain really could not say which of his offspring he was most proud of.
It seems at first strange that a man of Captain Pease's appearance,
figure, and settled habits, almost humdrum, should have been such an
undoubted success with the ladies; but that he was a success there can be
no doubt. Perhaps his calling had a good deal to do with this attraction
he had for them.
Before bringing this Preface to a conclusion, there is one other aspect of
piracy upon which I will touch.
Death, portrayed by a skeleton, was the device on the flag beneath which
they fought; and a skeleton was for ever threatening to emerge from its
cupboard aboard every pirate vessel.
The end of most of the pirates and a large proportion of the buccaneers
was a sudden and violent one, and few of them died in their beds. Many
were killed in battle, numbers of them were drowned. Not a few drank
themselves to death with strong Jamaica rum, while many of the buccaneers
died of malaria and yellow fever contracted in the jungles of Central
America, and most of the pirates who survived these perils lived only to
be hanged.
It is recorded of a certain ex-prizefighter and pirate, Dennis McCarthy,
who was about to be hanged at New Providence Island in 1718, that, as he
stood on the gallows, all bedecked with coloured ribbons, as became a
boxer, he told his admiring audience that his friends had often, in joke,
told him he would die in his shoes; and so, to prove them liars, he kicked
off his shoes amongst the crowd, and so died without them.
The trial of a pirate was usually a rough and ready business, and the
culprit seldom received the benefit of any doubt that might exist.
If he made any defence at all, it was usually to plead that he had been
forced to join the pirates against his wish, and that he had long been
waiting for an opportunity to escape.
Once condemned to death, and the date of execution decided, the prisoner,
if at Newgate, was handed over to the good offices of the prison Ordinary;
or, if in New England, to such vigorous apostles of Christianity as the
Rev. Cotton or the Rev. Increase Mather. The former of these two famous
theologians was pastor of the North Church in Boston, and the author of a
very rare work published in 1695, called "An History of Some Criminals
Executed in This Land." Cotton Mather preached many a "hanging" sermon to
condemned pirates, a few of which can still be read. One of these,
preached in 1704, is called "A Brief Discourse occasioned by a Tragical
Spectacle of a Number of Miserables under Sentence of Death for Piracy."
The Reverend Doctor made a speciality of these "hanging" sermons, and was
a thorough master of his subject, as is shown by the following passage
taken from the above "Brief Discourse":
"The Privateering Stroke so easily degenerates into the Piratical; and the
Privateering Trade is usually carried on with an Unchristian Temper, and
proves an Inlet unto so much Debauchery and Iniquity."
On the Sunday previous to an execution the condemned pirates were taken to
church to listen to a sermon while they were "exhibited" to the crowded
and gaping congregation. On the day of the execution a procession was
formed, which marched from the gaol to the gallows.
At the head was carried a silver oar, the emblem from very early days of a
pirate execution. Arrived at the gibbet, the prisoner, who always dressed
himself in his, or someone else's, best clothes, would doff his hat and
make a speech.
Sometimes the bolder spirits would speak in a defiant and unrepentant way;
but most of them professed a deep repentance for their sins and warned
their listeners to guard against the temptation of drink and avarice.
After the prisoner's death the bodies of the more notorious pirates were
taken down and hanged in chains at some prominent spot where ships passed,
in order to be a warning to any mariners who had piratical leanings.
The number of pirates or buccaneers who died in their beds must have been
very small, particularly amongst the former; and I have been able to trace
but a single example of a tombstone marking the burial-place of a pirate.
This is, or was until recently, to be found in the graveyard at Dartmouth,
and records the resting-place of the late Captain Thomas Goldsmith, who
commanded the _Snap Dragon_, of Dartmouth, in which vessel he amassed much
riches during the reign of Queen Anne, and died, apparently not regretted,
in 1714. Engraved upon his headstone are the following lines:
Men that are virtuous serve the Lord;
And the Devil's by his friends ador'd;
And as they merit get a place
Amidst the bless'd or hellish race;
Pray then ye learned clergy show
Where can this brute, Tom Goldsmith, go?
Whose life was one continual evil
Striving to cheat God, Man and Devil.
THE PIRATES' WHO'S WHO
AISA. Barbary corsair.
A famous Mediterranean pirate, and one of Dragut's admirals in the
sixteenth century.
ALCANTRA, CAPTAIN MANSEL.
A Spaniard. Commanded a pirate brig, the _Macrinarian_. Committed many
outrages. Took the Liverpool packet _Topaz_, from Calcutta to Boston, in
1829, near St. Helena, murdering the whole crew. In the same year he took
the _Candace_, from Marblehead, and plundered her. The supercargo of the
_Candace_ was an amateur actor, and had on board a priest's black gown and
broad brimmed hat. These he put on and sat in his cabin pretending to tell
his beads. On the pirates coming to rob him, they all crossed themselves
and left him, so that he alone of the whole company was not robbed.
ALEXANDER, JOHN.
A Scotch buccaneer; one of Captain Sharp's crew. Drowned on May 9th, 1681.
Captain Sharp, with a party of twenty-four men, had landed on the Island
of Chiva, off the coast of Peru, and taken several prisoners, amongst whom
was a shipwright and his man, who were actually at work building two great
ships for the Spaniards. Sharp, thinking these men would be very useful to
him, took them away, with all their tools and a quantity of ironwork, in a
dory, to convey them off to his ship. But the dory, being overladen,
sank, and Alexander was drowned. On the evening of May 12th his body was
found; which they took up, and next day "threw him overboard, giving him
three French vollies for his customary ceremony."
ALI BASHA.
Of Algiers. Barbary corsair.
Conquered the Kingdom of Tunis in the sixteenth century, and captured many
Maltese galleys. He brought the development of organized piracy to its
greatest perfection.
In 1571 Ali Basha commanded a fleet of no fewer than 250 Moslem galleys in
the battle of Lepanto, when he was severely defeated, but escaped with his
life.
ALLESTON, CAPTAIN.
Commanded a vessel of eighteen tons, no guns, and a crew of twenty-four.
In March, 1679, sailed in company with eight other vessels, under command
of Captain Harris, to the Coast of Darien, and marched on foot across the
isthmus, on his way attacking and sacking Santa Maria.
AMAND or ANNAND, ALEXANDER.
Of Jamaica.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew in the _Royal James_. Hanged on November
8th, 1718, at White Point, Charleston, South Carolina, and buried in the
marsh below low-water mark.
AMEER, IBRAHIM.
An admiral of an Arabian fleet of Red Sea pirates. In 1816 he captured
four British merchant vessels on their way to Surat.
ANDRESON, CAPTAIN CORNELIUS.
A Dutch pirate. Sailed from Boston in 1674 with Captain Roderigo to
plunder English ships along the coast of Maine, in a vessel called the
_Penobscot Shallop_.
Tried at Cambridge, Massachusetts, sentenced to death, but later on
pardoned. Afterwards fought very bravely for the English colonists against
the Indians.
ANDROEAS, CAPTAIN.
A Chief or Captain of the Darien Indians, who in 1679 conducted the
buccaneers under Coxon and Harris across the isthmus to attack Santa Maria
and afterwards to make an attempt on Panama.
Captain Androeas had a great esteem for the English, partly because the
buccaneers were kind to the Indians, and partly because of the Indians'
fear and hatred of the Spaniards. He afterwards led back a party of
malcontents under Captain Coxon from the Pacific side of the isthmus.
ANGORA, Sultan of Timor.
Refusing to allow the East India Company to station garrisons on Timor, he
was driven out of the whole of his island except the chief town, also
called Angora.
Deciding to take revenge, he turned pirate and went to sea in command of a
small fleet of five well-armed prows and several galleys. His first prize
was a packet brig carrying despatches from Calcutta to the English General
before Angora. Captain Hastings, the commander, a near relation of Warren
Hastings, and a gallant officer, had thrown the despatches overboard, for
which he was hanged, while the crew were sent to prison at Angora and
afterwards poisoned. His next prize was an East Indian ship, the _Edward_,
Captain Harford, the crew of which were also poisoned. Cruising off Bombay
he defeated a vessel sent out by the Government to attack him. After
taking other English vessels, Angora met with a richly laden ship from
Burmah, a country whose sovereign he was on friendly terms with, but the
Sultan-pirate took this ship and drowned every soul on board except one
woman, who, owing to her great beauty, he kept for himself. His next
victim was a well-armed Malay praam, which he captured after a severe
fight. The crew he shackled and threw overboard, while he burnt the
vessel. Paying another visit to Bombay, he caught the garrison unprepared,
blew up the fort, and sailed off with some sheep, cows, and pigs. A few
days later the pirate seized an English packet, _St. George_, and after he
had tortured to death the captain, the terrified crew joined his service.
Returning to Timor with his plunder, he was surprised by the arrival off
the port of H.M.S. _Victorious_, seventy-four guns, which had been sent to
take him. Slipping out of harbour unobserved in the night in his fastest
sailing praam, he escaped to Trincomalee in Ceylon, where the East India
Company decided to allow him to remain undisturbed.
ANGRIA.
Brother of a famous pirate, Angora, Sultan of Timor. When the Sultan
retired from practice to the Island of Ceylon he gave his brother his
praam, a fast vessel armed with thirty-eight guns.
Angria's brother Angora had been dethroned from the Island of Timor by the
English Government, and this had prevented the former from all hope of
succeeding as Sultan. Owing to this, Angria, a very vindictive man,
nursed against the English Government a very real grievance. Declaring
himself Sultan of another smaller island, Little Timor, he sailed out to
look for spoil. His first victim was the _Elphinston_, which he took some
eighty miles off Bombay. Putting the crew of forty-seven men into an open
boat, without water, and with scarcely room to move, he left them. It was
in the hottest month of the year, and only twenty-eight of them reached
Bombay alive.
Angria, being broad-minded on the subject of his new profession, did not
limit himself to taking only English vessels, for meeting with two Chinese
junks, laden with spices and riches, he plundered them both, and tying the
crew back to back threw them into the sea to drown. One of the Chinamen,
while watching his companions being drowned, managed to get a hand free
from his ropes, and, taking his dagger, stabbed Angria, but, missing his
heart, only wounded him in the shoulder. To punish him the pirate had the
skin cut off his back and then had him beaten with canes. Then lashing him
firmly down to a raft he was thrown overboard. After drifting about for
three days and nights he was picked up, still alive, by a fishing-boat and
carried to Bombay, where, fully recovered, he lived the rest of his days.
Angria continued his activities for three years, during which space he was
said to have murdered in cold blood over 500 Englishmen. He was eventually
chased by Commander Jones in H.M.S. _Asia_, sixty-four guns, into Timor,
and after a close siege of the town for twelve months, Angria was shot by
one of the mob while haranguing them from a balcony.
After Commander Jones's death his widow built a tower at Shooter's Hill,
by Woolwich Common, to perpetuate the memory of her husband who had rid
the Indian Ocean of the tyrant Angria.
The following lines are from the pen of Robert Bloomfield, and allude to
this monument:
Yon far-famed monumental tower
Records the achievements of the brave,
And Angria's subjugated power,
Who plunder'd on the Eastern Wave.
ANSTIS, CAPTAIN THOMAS.
The first mention of the name of this notorious pirate occurs in the year
1718, when we hear of him shipping himself at Providence in a sloop called
the _Buck_ in company with five other rascals who were conspiring together
to seize the vessel and with her go "a-pyrating."
Of these five, one was Howel Davis, who was afterwards killed in an affair
at the Island of Princes; another, Denman Topping, who was killed in the
taking of a rich Portuguese ship on the coast of Brazil; a third, Walter
Kennedy, was eventually hanged at Execution Dock, while the two others,
who escaped the usual end of pirates--that is, by hanging, shooting, or
drowning in saltwater or rum--disappeared into respectable obscurity in
employment of some sort in the City of London.
This party of six conspirators was the nucleus of a very powerful
combination of pirates, which eventually came under the command of the
famous Captain Roberts.
Anstis's pirate career began as did most others. They cruised about
amongst the West India Islands, seizing and plundering all merchant ships
they chanced upon, and, if we are to believe some of the stories that were
circulated at the time of their treatment of their prisoners, they appear
to have been an even rougher lot of scoundrels than was usual.
Before long they seized a very stout ship, the _Morning Star_, bound from
Guinea to Carolina, and fitted her up with thirty-two cannons taken from
another prize; manned her with a crew of one hundred men, and put Captain
John Fenn in command. Anstis, as the elder officer, could have had command
of this newer and larger ship, but he was so in love with his own vessel,
the _Good Fortune_, which was an excellent sailer, that he preferred to
remain in her.
The party now had two stout ships, but, as so often happened, trouble
began to ferment amongst the crew. A large number of these had been more
or less forced to "go a-pyrating," and were anxious to avoid the
consequences, so they decided to send a round-robin--that is, a
petition--signed by all with their names in a circle so that no rogue
could be held to be more prominent than any other, to ask for the King's
pardon.
This round-robin was addressed to "his most sacred Majesty George, by the
Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the
Faith," etc.
This petition was sent to England by a merchant vessel then sailing from
Jamaica, while the crews hid their ships amongst the mangrove swamps of a
small uninhabited island off the coast of Cuba. Here they waited for nine
months for an answer to their petition to the King, living on turtle,
fish, rice, and, of course, rum _ad lib._ as long as it lasted.
To pass the time various diversions were instigated, particularly
dancing--a pastime in great favour amongst pirates. We have a most amusing
account left us of a mock court of justice held by them to try one another
of piracy, and he who was on one day tried as the prisoner would next day
take his turn at being Judge.
This shows a grim sense of humour, as most of those who took part in these
mock trials were certain to end their careers before a real trial unless
they came to a sudden and violent end beforehand.
Here is an account of one such mock-trial as given to Captain Johnson, the
historian of the pirates, by an eyewitness:
"The Court and Criminals being both appointed, as also Council to plead,
the Judge got up in a Tree, and had a dirty Taurpaulin hung over his
shoulder; this was done by Way of Robe, with a Thrum Cap on his Head, and
a large Pair of Spectacles upon his Nose. Thus equipp'd, he settled
himself in his Place; and abundance of Officers attending him below, with
Crows, Handspikes, etc., instead of Wands, Tipstaves, and such like....
The Criminals were brought out, making a thousand sour Faces; and one who
acted as Attorney-General opened the Charge against them; their Speeches
were very laconick, and their whole Proceedings concise. We shall give it
by Way of Dialogue.
"Attor. Gen.: 'An't please your Lordship, and you Gentlemen of the Jury,
here is a Fellow before you that is a sad Dog, a sad sad Dog; and I humbly
hope your Lordship will order him to be hang'd out of the Way
immediately.... He has committed Pyracy upon the High Seas, and we shall
prove, an't please your Lordship, that this Fellow, this sad Dog before
you, has escaped a thousand Storms, nay, has got safe ashore when the Ship
has been cast away, which was a certain Sign he was not born to be
drown'd; yet not having the Fear of hanging before his Eyes, he went on
robbing and ravishing Man, Woman and Child, plundering Ships Cargoes fore
and aft, burning and sinking Ship, Bark and Boat, as if the Devil had been
in him. But this is not all, my Lord, he has committed worse Villanies
than all these, for we shall prove, that he has been guilty of drinking
Small-Beer; and your Lordship knows, there never was a sober Fellow but
what was a Rogue. My Lord, I should have spoke much finer than I do now,
but that as your Lordship knows our Rum is all out, and how should a Man
speak good Law that has not drank a Dram.... However, I hope, your
Lordship will order the Fellow to be hang'd.'
"Judge: '... Hearkee me, Sirrah ... you lousy, pittiful, ill-look'd Dog;
what have you to say why you should not be tuck'd up immediately, and set
a Sun-drying like a Scare-crow?... Are you guilty, or not guilty?'
"Pris.: 'Not guilty, an't please your Worship.'
"Judge: 'Not guilty! say so again, Sirrah, and I'll have you hang'd
without any Tryal.'
"Pris.: 'An't please your Worship's Honour, my Lord, I am as honest a poor
Fellow as ever went between Stem and Stern of a Ship, and can hand, reef,
steer, and clap two Ends of a Rope together, as well as e'er a He that
ever cross'd salt Water; but I was taken by one George Bradley' (the Name
of him that sat as Judge,) 'a notorious Pyrate, a sad Rogue as ever was
unhang'd, and he forc'd me, an't please your Honour.'
"Judge: 'Answer me, Sirrah.... How will you be try'd?'
"Pris.: 'By G---- and my Country.'
"Judge: 'The Devil you will.... Why then, Gentlemen of the Jury, I think
we have nothing to do but to proceed to Judgement.'
"Attor. Gen.: 'Right, my Lord; for if the Fellow should be suffered to
speak, he may clear himself, and that's an Affront to the Court.'
"Pris.: 'Pray, my Lord, I hope your Lordship will consider ...'
"Judge: 'Consider!... How dare you talk of considering?... Sirrah, Sirrah,
I never consider'd in all my Life.... I'll make it Treason to consider.'
"Pris.: 'But, I hope, your Lordship will hear some reason.'
"Judge: 'D'ye hear how the Scoundrel prates?... What have we to do with
the Reason?... I'd have you to know, Raskal, we don't sit here to hear
Reason ... we go according to Law.... Is our Dinner ready?'
"Attor. Gen.: 'Yes, my Lord.'
"Judge: 'Then heark'ee you Raskal at the Bar; hear me, Sirrah, hear me....
You must suffer, for three reasons; first, because it is not fit I should
sit here as Judge, and no Body be hanged.... Secondly, you must be hanged,
because you have a damn'd hanging Look.... And thirdly, you must be
hanged, because I am hungry; for, know, Sirrah, that 'tis a Custom, that
whenever the Judge's Dinner is ready before the Tryal is over, the
Prisoner is to be hanged of Course.... There's Law for you, ye Dog.... So
take him away Gaoler.'"
In August, 1722, the pirates sailed out from their hiding-place and
waylaid the ship which was returning to Jamaica with the answer to the
petition, but to their disappointment heard that no notice had been taken
of their round-robin by the Government at home.
No time was lost in returning to their old ways, for the very next day
both pirate ships left their hiding-place and sailed out on the "grand
account."
But now their luck deserted them, for the _Morning Star_ was run aground
on a reef by gross neglect on the part of the officers and wrecked. Most
of the crew escaped on to an island, where Captain Anstis found them next
day, and no sooner had he taken aboard Captain Fenn, Phillips, the
carpenter, and a few others, than all of a sudden down upon them came two
men-of-war, the _Hector_ and the _Adventure_, so that Anstis had barely
time to cut his cables and get away to sea, hotly pursued by the
_Adventure_. The latter, in a stiff breeze, was slowly gaining on the
brigantine when all of a sudden the wind dropped, the pirates got out the
sweeps, and thus managed, for the time being, to escape. In the meantime
the _Hector_ took prisoner the forty pirates remaining on the island.
Anstis soon got to work again, and captured several prizes. He then sailed
to the Island of Tobago to clean and refit his ship. Just when all the
guns and stores had been landed and the ship heeled, as ill-luck would
have it, the _Winchester_, man-of-war, put into the bay; and the pirates
had barely time to set their ship on fire and to escape into the woods.
Anstis had by now lost all authority over his discontented crew, and one
night was shot while asleep in his hammock.
ANTONIO.
Captain of the Darien Indians and friend to the English buccaneers.
ARCHER, JOHN ROSE.
He learnt his art as a pirate in the excellent school of the notorious
Blackbeard.
In 1723 he was, for the time being, in honest employment in a Newfoundland
fishing-boat, which was captured by Phillips and his crew. As Phillips was
only a beginner at piracy, he was very glad to get the aid of such an old
hand at the game as John Archer, whom he promptly appointed to the office
of quartermaster in the pirate ship. This quick promotion caused some
murmuring amongst Phillips's original crew, the carpenter, Fern, being
particularly outspoken against it.
Archer ended his days on the gallows at Boston on June 2nd, 1724, and we
read that he "dy'd very penitent, with the assistance of two grave Divines
to attend him."
ARGALL.
Licensed and titled buccaneer.
Believed to have buried a rich treasure in the Isles of Shoals, off
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in the seventeenth century.
ARMSTRONG.
Born in London. A deserter from the Royal Navy. One of Captain Roberts's
crew taken by H.M.S. _Swallow_, from which ship he had previously
deserted.
In an account of his execution on board H.M.S. _Weymouth_ we read: "Being
on board a Man of War there was no Body to press him to an Acknowledgement
of the Crime he died for, nor of sorrowing in particular for it, which
would have been exemplary, and made suitable Impressions on seamen; so
that his last Hour was spent in lamenting and bewailing his Sins in
general, exhorting the Spectators to an honest and good life, in which
alone they could find Satisfaction."
This painful scene ended by the condemned singing with the spectators a
few verses of the 140th Psalm: at the conclusion of which, at the firing
of a gun, "he was tric'd up at the Fore Yard."
Died at the age of 34.
ARNOLD, SION.
A Madagascar pirate, who was brought to New England by Captain Shelley in
1699.
ASHPLANT, VALENTINE.
Born in the Minories, London. He served with Captain Howell Davis, and
later with Bartholomew Roberts. He was one of the leading lights of
Roberts's crew, a member of the "House of Lords."
He took part in the capture and plundering of the _King Solomon_ at Cape
Apollonia, North-West Coast of Africa, in January, 1719, when the pirates,
in an open boat, attacked the ship while at anchor. Ashplant was taken
prisoner two years later by H.M.S. _Swallow_. Tried for piracy at Cape
Coast Castle and found guilty in March, 1722, and hanged in chains there
at the age of 32.
ATWELL.
A hand aboard the brig _Vineyard_ in 1830, he took part with Charles Gibbs
and others in a mutiny in which both the captain and mate was murdered.
AUGUR, CAPTAIN JOHN.
A pirate of New Providence, Bahama Islands. He accepted the royal pardon
in 1718, and impressed the Governor, Woodes Rogers, so favourably that he
was placed in command of a sloop to go and trade amongst the islands. A
few days out Augur met with two sloops, "the sight of which dispelled all
memory of their late good intention," and turning pirates once more, they
seized the two sloops and took out of them money and goods to the value of
£500.
The pirates now sailed for Hispaniola, but with bad luck, or owing to
retribution, a sudden hurricane arose which drove them back to the one
spot in the West Indies they must have been most anxious to avoid--that
is, the Bahama Islands. Here the sloop became a total wreck, but the crew
got ashore and for a while lay hidden in a wood. Rogers, hearing where
they were, sent an armed sloop to the island, and the captain by fair
promises induced the eleven marooned pirates to come aboard. Taking these
back to Providence, Rogers had them all tried before a court of lately
converted pirates, and they were condemned to be hanged. While standing
on the gallows platform the wretched culprits reproached the crowd of
spectators, so lately their fellow-brethren in piracy, for allowing their
old comrades to be hanged, and urging them to come to the rescue. But
virtue was still strong in these recent converts, and all the comfort the
criminals got was to be told "it was their Business to turn their Minds to
another World, and sincerely to repent of what Wickedness they had done in
this." "Yes," answered the now irritated and in no-wise abashed Augur, "I
_do_ heartily repent: I repent I have not done more Mischief, and that we
did not cut the Throats of them that took us, and I am extremely sorry
that you an't all hang'd as well as we."
AUSTIN, JAMES.
Captured with the rest of Captain John Quelch's crew in the brigantine
_Charles_. Escaped for a time, but was caught and secured in the gaol at
Piscataqua, and later on tried for piracy at the Star Tavern at Boston in
June, 1704.
AVERY, CAPTAIN JOHN, _alias_ HENRY EVERY, _alias_ CAPTAIN BRIDGEMAN.
Nicknamed "Long Ben," or the "Arch-Pirate."
In the year 1695, when at the height of his career, Avery caught the
public's fancy as no other pirate ever did, with the possible exception of
Captain Kidd. So much so that his achievements, or supposed achievements,
formed the plot of several popular novels and plays.
Charles Johnson wrote a play called "The Successful Pyrate," which work
ran into several editions, and was acted at the Theatre Royal in Drury
Lane.
The scene in this play was laid in the Island of Madagascar, and the hero
was modelled on Captain Avery.
This pirate was a Devonshire man, being born near Plymouth about the year
1665, and was bred to the sea. He sailed on several voyages as mate aboard
a merchantman. He was later appointed first officer in an armed privateer
_The Duke_, Commander Captain Gibson, which sailed from Bristol for Spain,
being hired by the Spaniards for service in the West Indies against the
French pirates.
Avery soon plotted a mutiny, which was carried out while _The Duke_ lay at
anchor in Cadiz Harbour; the ship was seized, and the captain put ashore.
Avery was elected captain, and he renamed the ship the _Charles the
Second_. For more than a year Avery sailed in this vessel, preying without
distinction upon persons of all nations and religions.
After leaving Spain he first sailed to the Isle of May, holding the
Portuguese governor for ransom till provisions were sent on board. He took
near here three English ships, then sailed to the coast of Guinea to
procure slaves. To catch these Avery would anchor off a village and hoist
English colours. The trusting negroes would then paddle off to the ship in
canoes, bringing gold to traffic with. At a given signal these natives
would be seized, clapped in irons, and thrown into the hold.
Avery next sailed to the Island of Princes, where he attacked two Danish
ships, and took them both. The next place the pirates touched at was
Madagascar, from there they sailed to the Red Sea to await the fleet
expected from Mocha. To pass the time and to earn an honest penny the
pirates called in at a town called Meat, there to sell to the natives some
of their stolen merchandise. But the cautious inhabitants refused to do
any business with these suspicious looking merchants, so in order to
punish them the pirates burnt down their town. They next visited Aden,
where they met two other English pirate ships, and were soon joined by
three others from America, all on the same enterprise.
Expecting the Mocha fleet to come along, they waited here, but the fleet
slipped past the pirates in the night. Avery was after them the next
morning, and catching them up, singled out the largest ship, fought her
for two hours, and took her. She proved to be the _Gunsway_, belonging to
the Great Mogul himself, and a very valuable prize, as out of her they
took 100,000 pieces of eight and a like number of chequins, as well as
several of the highest persons of the court who were passengers on a
pilgrimage to Mecca. It was rumoured that a daughter of the Great Mogul
was also on board. Accounts of this exploit eventually reached England,
and created great excitement, so that it soon became the talk of the town
that Captain Avery had taken the beautiful young princess to Madagascar,
where he had married her and was living in royal state, the proud father
of several small princes and princesses.
The Mogul was naturally infuriated at this outrage on his ship, and
threatened in retaliation to lay waste all the East India Company's
settlements.
Having got a vast booty, Avery and his friends sailed towards Madagascar,
and on the way there Avery, as admiral of the little fleet, signalled to
the captain of the other sloops to come aboard his vessel. When they
arrived Avery put before them the following ingenious scheme. He proposed
that the treasures in the two sloops should, for safety, be put into his
keeping till they all three arrived in Madagascar. This, being agreed to,
was done, but during the night, after Avery had explained matters to his
own men, he altered his course and left the sloops, and never saw them
again. He now sailed away with all the plunder to the West Indies,
arriving safely at New Providence Island in the Bahamas, where he offered
the Governor a bribe of twenty pieces of eight and two pieces of gold to
get him a pardon. Avery arrived in 1696 at Boston, where he appears to
have successfully bribed the Quaker Governor to let him and some of his
crew land with their spoils unmolested. But the pirate did not feel quite
safe, and also thought it would be wellnigh impossible to sell his
diamonds in the colony without being closely questioned as to how he came
by them. So, leaving America, he sailed to the North of Ireland, where he
sold the sloop. Here the crew finally dispersed, and Avery stopped some
time in Dublin, but was still unable to dispose of his stolen diamonds.
Thinking England would be a better place for this transaction, he went
there, and settled at Bideford in Devon. Here he lived very quietly under
a false name, and through a friend communicated with certain merchants in
Bristol. These came to see him, accepted his diamonds and some gold cups,
giving him a few pounds for his immediate wants, and took the valuables to
Bristol to sell, promising to send him the money procured for them. Time
dragged on, but nothing came from the Bristol merchants, and at last it
began to dawn on Avery that there were pirates on land as well as at sea.
His frequent letters to the merchants brought at the most but a few
occasional shillings, which were immediately swallowed up by the payment
of his debts for the bare necessities of life at Bideford. At length, when
matters were becoming desperate, Avery was taken ill and died "not being
worth as much as would buy him a coffin." Thus ended Avery, "the Grand
Pirate," whose name was known all over Europe, and who was supposed to be
reigning as a king in Madagascar when all the while he was hiding and
starving in a cottage at Bideford.
AYLETT, CAPTAIN.
This buccaneer was killed by an explosion of gunpowder on board the
_Oxford_ during a banquet of Morgan's captains off Hispaniola in 1669.
BAILY, JOB, or BAYLEY.
Of London.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew. Hanged at Charleston in 1718.
BAKER, CAPTAIN.
One of Gasparilla's gang up to 1822, when they were broken up by the
United States Navy. His favourite hunting-ground was the Gulf of Mexico.
BALL, ROGER.
One of Captain Bartholomew's crew in the _Royal Fortune_. Captured by
H.M.S. _Swallow_ off the West Coast of Africa. He had been terribly burnt
by an explosion of a barrel of gunpowder, and while seated "in a private
corner, with a look as sullen as winter," a surgeon of the king's ship
came up and asked him how he came to be blown up in that frightful manner.
"Why," says he, "John Morris fired a pistol into the powder, and if he had
not done it, I would." The surgeon, with great kindness, offered to dress
the prisoner's wounds, but Ball, although in terrible pain, refused to
allow them to be touched. He died the same night.
BALLET, JOHN. Buccaneer.
Third mate on board Woodes Rogers's ship, the _Duke_, but was by
profession a surgeon, in which latter capacity he had sailed on a previous
voyage with Dampier.
BALTIZAR, CAPTAIN.
A terror to all shipping in the Gulf of Mexico in the early part of the
nineteenth century. Brought to Boston as a prisoner in 1823, taken thence
to Kingston, Jamaica, and there hanged. For some extraordinary reason the
American juries seldom would condemn a pirate to death, so that whenever
possible the pirate prisoners were handed over to the English, who made
short shift with them.
BANNISTER, CAPTAIN.
Ran away from Port Royal, Jamaica, in June, 1684, on a "privateering"
venture in a ship of thirty guns. Caught and brought back by the frigate
_Ruby_, and put on trial by the Lieutenant-Governor Molesworth, who was at
that time very active in his efforts to stamp out piracy in the West
Indies.
Bannister entirely escaped punishment, capital or otherwise, as he was
released by the grand jury on a technical point, surely most rare good
fortune for the captain in days when the law was elastic enough to fit
most crimes, and was far from lenient on piracy. Six months later the
indefatigable captain again eluded the forts, and for two years succeeded
in dodging the frigates sent out by Governor Molesworth to capture him.
Finally, in January, 1687, Captain Spragge sailed victoriously into Port
Royal with Bannister and three other buccaneers hanging at the yard-arm,
"a spectacle of great satisfaction to all good people, and of terror to
the favourers of pirates."
BARBAROSSA, or "REDBEARD" (his real name was URUJ). Barbary Corsair.
Son of a Turkish renegade and a Christian mother. Born in the Island of
Lesbon in the Ægean Sea, a stronghold of the Mediterranean pirates.
In 1504 Barbarossa made his headquarters at Tunis, in return for which he
paid the Sultan one-fifth of all the booty he took. One of his first and
boldest exploits was the capture of two richly laden galleys belonging to
Pope Julius II., on their way from Genoa to Civita Vecchia. Next year he
captured a Spanish ship with 500 soldiers on board. In 1512 he was invited
by the Moors to assist them in an attempt to retake the town and port of
Bujeya from the Spaniards. After eight days of fighting, Barbarossa lost
an arm, and the siege was given up, but he took away with him a large
Genoese ship. In 1516 Barbarossa changed his headquarters to Jijil, and
took command of an army of 6,000 men and sixteen galliots, with which he
attacked and captured the Spanish fortress of Algiers, of which he became
Sultan. Barbarossa was by now vastly rich and powerful, his fleets
bringing in prizes from Genoa, Naples, Venice, and Spain.
Eventually Charles V. of Spain sent an army of 10,000 troops to North
Africa, defeated the corsairs, and Barbarossa was slain in battle.
BARBE, CAPTAIN NICHOLAS.
Master of a Breton ship, the _Mychell_, of St. Malo, owned by Hayman
Gillard. Captured by an English ship in 1532. Her crew was made up of nine
Bretons and five Scots.
BARNARD, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.
In June, 1663, this buccaneer sailed from Port Royal to the Orinoco. He
took and plundered the town of Santo Tomas, and returned the following
March.
BARNES, CAPTAIN.
In 1677 several English privateers surprised and sacked the town of Santa
Marta in the Spanish Main. To save the town from being burnt, the
Governor and Bishop became hostages until a ransom had been paid. These
the pirates, under the command of Captains Barnes and Coxon, carried back
to Jamaica and delivered up to Lord Vaughan, the Governor of the island.
Vaughan treated the Bishop well, and hired a vessel specially to send him
back to Castagona, for which kindness "the good old man was exceedingly
pleased."
BARNES, HENRY.
Of Barbadoes.
Tried for piracy at Newport in 1723, but found to be not guilty.
BARROW, JAMES.
Taken by Captain Roberts out of the _Martha_ snow (Captain Lady). Turned
pirate and served in the _Ranger_ in 1721.
BELLAMY, CAPTAIN CHARLES. Pirate, Socialist, and orator. A famous West
Indian filibuster.
He began life as a wrecker in the West Indies, but this business being
uncertain in its profits, and Bellamy being an ambitious young man, he
decided with his partner, Paul Williams, to aim at higher things, and to
enter the profession of piracy. Bellamy had now chosen a calling that lent
itself to his undoubted talents, and his future career, while it lasted,
was a brilliant one.
Procuring a ship, he sailed up and down the coast of Carolina and New
England, taking and plundering numerous vessels; and when this
neighbourhood became too hot for him he would cruise for a while in the
cooler climate of Newfoundland.
Bellamy had considerable gifts for public speaking, and seldom missed an
opportunity of addressing the assembled officers and crews of the ships
he took, before liberating or otherwise disposing of them.
His views were distinctly Socialistic. On one occasion, in an address to a
Captain Beer, who had pleaded to have his sloop returned to him, Captain
Bellamy, after clearing his throat, began as follows: "I am sorry," he
said, "that you can't have your sloop again, for I scorn to do anyone any
mischief--when it is not to my advantage--though you are a sneaking puppy,
and so are all those who will submit to be governed by laws which rich men
have made for their own security, for the cowardly whelps have not the
courage otherwise to defend what they get by their knavery. But damn ye
altogether for a pack of crafty rascals, and you, who serve them, for a
parcel of hen-hearted numbskulls! They vilify us, the scoundrels do, when
there is the only difference that they rob the poor under cover of the
law, forsooth, and we plunder the rich under the protection of our own
courage. Had you not better make one of us than sneak after these villains
for employment?"
Bellamy's fall came at last at the hands of a whaler captain. At the time
he was in command of the _Whidaw_ and a small fleet of other pirate craft,
which was lying at anchor in the Bay of Placentia in Newfoundland. Sailing
from Placentia for Nantucket Shoals, he seized a whaling vessel, the _Mary
Anne_. As the skipper of the whaler knew the coast well, Bellamy made him
pilot of his small fleet. The cunning skipper one night ran his ship on to
a sand-bank near Eastman, Massachusetts, and the rest of the fleet
followed his stern light on to the rocks. Almost all the crews perished,
only seven of the pirates being saved. These were seized and brought to
trial, condemned, and hanged at Boston in 1726. The days spent between the
sentence and the hanging were not wasted, for we read in a contemporary
account that "by the indefatigable pains of a pious and learned divine,
who constantly attended them, they were at length, by the special grace of
God, made sensible of and truly penitent for the enormous crimes they had
been guilty of."
BELVIN, JAMES.
Bo'son to Captain Gow, the pirate. He had the reputation of being a good
sailor but a bloodthirsty fellow. Was hanged at Wapping in June, 1725.
BEME, FRANCIS.
In 1539 this Baltic pirate was cruising off Antwerp, waiting to waylay
English merchant vessels.
BENDALL, GEORGE, or BENDEALL.
A flourishing pirate, whose headquarters, in the early eighteenth century,
were in New Providence Island.
In the year 1717, King George offered a free pardon to all freebooters who
would come in and give themselves up. But the call of the brotherhood was
too strong for a few of the "old hands," and Bendall, amongst others, was
off once again to carry on piracy around the Bahama and Virgin Islands.
Within a few years these last "die-hards" were all killed, drowned,
caught, or hanged.
BENNETT, WILLIAM.
An English soldier, who deserted from Fort Loyal, Falmouth, Marne, in
1689, and joined the pirate Pounds. Was sent to prison at Boston, where he
died.
BILL, PHILIP.
Belonged to the Island of St. Thomas.
One of Captain Roberts's crew. Hanged at the age of 27.
BISHOP.
An Irishman. Chief mate to the pirate Captain Cobham.
BISHOP, CAPTAIN.
In 1613, Bishop and a few other English seamen set up as pirates at
Marmora on the Barbary Coast.
BISHOP, WILLIAM.
One of Avery's crew. Hanged at Execution Dock in 1691.
BLADS, WILLIAM.
Born in Rhode Island.
One of Captain Charles Harris's crew. Hanged at Newport on July 19th,
1723. Age 28.
BLAKE, BENJAMIN.
A Boston boy, taken prisoner with Captain Pounds's crew at Tarpaulin Cove.
BLAKE, JAMES.
One of Captain Teach's crew. Hanged in 1718 at Virginia.
BLEWFIELD, CAPTAIN, or BLAUVELT.
In 1649 this Dutch pirate brought a prize into Newport, Rhode Island. In
1663 was known to be living among the friendly Indians at Cape Gratia de
Dios on the Spanish Main. He commanded a barque carrying three guns and a
crew of fifty men. He was very active in the logwood cutting in Honduras.
Whether the town and river of Bluefield take their name from this pirate
is uncertain, but the captain must many a time have gone up the river into
the forests of Nicaragua on his logwood cutting raids.
BLOT, CAPTAIN. French filibuster.
In 1684 was in command of _La Quagone_, ninety men, eight guns.
BOLIVAR, LIEUTENANT.
This Portuguese pirate was first officer to Captain Jonnia. He was a
stout, well-built man of swarthy complexion and keen, ferocious eyes, huge
black whiskers and beard, and a tremendously loud voice. He took the
Boston schooner _Exertion_ at Twelve League Key on December 17th, 1821.
BOND, CAPTAIN.
Of Bristol.
In 1682 arrived at the Cape Verde Islands. Having procured leave to land
on Mayo Island, on the pretence of being an honest merchant in need of
provisions, particularly of beef and goats, Bond and his crew seized and
carried away some of the principal inhabitants. A year later John Cooke
and Cowley arrived at Mayo in the _Revenge_, but were prevented by the
inhabitants from landing owing to their recent treatment at the hands of
Bond.
BONNET, MAJOR STEDE, _alias_ CAPTAIN THOMAS, _alias_ EDWARDS.
The history of this pirate is both interesting and unique. He was not
brought up to the seafaring life; in fact, before he took to piracy, he
had already retired from the Army, with the rank of Major. He owned
substantial landed property in Barbadoes, lived in a fine house, was
married, and much respected by the quality and gentry of that island. His
turning pirate naturally greatly scandalized his neighbours, and they
found it difficult at first to imagine whatever had caused this sudden and
extraordinary resolution, particularly in a man of his position in
Society. But when the cause at last came to be known, he was more pitied
than blamed, for it was understood that the Major's mind had become
unbalanced owing to the unbridled nagging of Mrs. Bonnet. Referring to
this, the historian Captain Johnson writes as follows: "He was afterwards
rather pitty'd than condemned, by those that were acquainted with him,
believing that this Humour of going a-pyrating proceeded from a Disorder
in his Mind, which had been but too visible in him, some Time before this
wicked Undertaking; and which is said to have been occasioned by some
Discomforts he found in a married State; be that as it will, the Major was
but ill qualified for the Business, as not understanding maritime
Affairs." Whatever the cause of the Major's "disorder of mind," the fact
remains that at his own expense he fitted out a sloop armed with ten guns
and a crew of seventy men. The fact that he honestly paid in cash for this
ship is highly suspicious of a deranged mind, since no other pirate, to
the writer's knowledge, ever showed such a nicety of feeling, but always
stole the ship in which to embark "on the account." The Major, to satisfy
the curious, gave out that he intended to trade between the islands, but
one night, without a word of farewell to Mrs. Bonnet, he sailed out of
harbour in the _Revenge_, as he called his ship, and began to cruise off
the coast of Virginia. For a rank amateur, Bonnet met with wonderful
success, as is shown by a list of the prizes he took and plundered in this
first period of his piracy:
The _Anne_, of Glasgow (Captain Montgomery).
The _Turbet_, of Barbadoes, which, after plundering, he burnt, as he did
all prizes from Barbadoes.
The _Endeavour_ (Captain Scott).
The _Young_, of Leith.
The plunder out of these ships he sold at Gardiner Island, near New York.
Cruising next off the coast of Carolina, Bonnet took a brace of prizes,
but began to have trouble with his unruly crew, who, seeing that their
captain knew nothing whatever of sea affairs, took advantage of the fact
and commenced to get out of hand. Unluckily for Bonnet, he at this time
met with the famous Captain Teach, or Blackbeard, and the latter, quickly
appreciating how matters stood, ordered the Major to come aboard his own
ship, while he put his lieutenant, Richards, to command Bonnet's vessel.
The poor Major was most depressed by this undignified change in his
affairs, until Blackbeard lost his ship in Topsail Inlet, and finding
himself at a disadvantage, promptly surrendered to the King's proclamation
and allowed Bonnet to reassume command of his own sloop. But Major Bonnet
had been suffering from qualms of conscience latterly, so he sailed to
Bath Town in North Carolina, where he, too, surrendered to the Governor
and received his certificate of pardon. Almost at once news came of war
being declared between England and France with Spain, so Bonnet hurried
back to Topsail, and was granted permission to take back his sloop and
sail her to St. Thomas's Island, to receive a commission as a privateer
from the French Governor of that island. But in the meanwhile Teach had
robbed everything of any value out of Bonnet's ship, and had marooned
seventeen of the crew on a sandy island, but these were rescued by the
Major before they died of starvation. Just as the ship was ready to sail,
a bumboat came alongside to sell apples and cider to the sloop's crew, and
from these they got an interesting piece of news. They learnt that Teach,
with a crew of eighteen men, was at that moment lying at anchor in
Ocricock Inlet. The Major, longing to revenge the insult he had suffered
from Blackbeard, and his crew remembering how he had left them to die on a
desert island, went off in search of Teach, but failed to find him. Stede
Bonnet having received his pardon in his own name, now called himself
Captain Thomas and again took to piracy, and evidently had benefited by
his apprenticeship with Blackbeard, for he was now most successful, taking
many prizes off the coast of Virginia, and later in Delaware Bay.
Bonnet now sailed in a larger ship, the _Royal James_, so named from
feelings of loyalty to the Crown. But she proved to be very leaky, and the
pirates had to take her to the mouth of Cape Fear River for repairs. News
of this being carried to the Council of South Carolina, arrangements were
made to attempt to capture the pirate, and a Colonel William Rhet, at his
own expense, fitted out two armed sloops, the _Henry_ (eight guns and
seventy men) and the _Sea Nymph_ (eight guns and sixty men), both sailing
under the direct command of the gallant Colonel. On September 25th, 1718,
the sloops arrived at Cape Fear River, and there sure enough was the
_Royal James_, with three sloops lying at anchor behind the bar. The
pirate tried to escape by sailing out, but was followed by the Colonel's
two vessels until all three ran aground within gunshot of each other. A
brisk fight took place for five hours, when the Major struck his colours
and surrendered. There was great public rejoicing in Charleston when, on
October 3rd, Colonel Rhet sailed victoriously into the harbour with his
prisoners. But next day Bonnet managed to escape out of prison and sailed
to Swillivant's Island. The indefatigable Colonel Rhet again set out after
the Major, and again caught him and brought him back to Charleston.
The trial of Stede Bonnet and his crew began on October 28th, 1718, at
Charleston, and continued till November 12th, the Judge being Nicholas
Trot. Bonnet was found guilty and condemned to be hanged. Judge Trot made
a speech of overwhelming length to the condemned, full of Biblical
quotations, to each of which the learned magistrate gave chapter and
verse. In November, 1718, the gallant, if unfortunate, Major was hanged at
White Point, Charleston.
Apart from the unusual cause for his turning pirate, Bonnet is interesting
as being almost the only case known, otherwise than in books of romance,
of a pirate making his prisoners walk the plank.
BONNY, ANNE. Female pirate.
Anne was born in County Cork, and her father was an Attorney-at-Law, who
practised his profession in that city, her mother being lady's maid to the
attorney's lawful wife.
The story of the events which led to the existence of Anne may be read in
Johnson's "History of the Pyrates," where it is recounted in a style quite
suggestive of Fielding. In spite of its sad deficiency in moral tone, the
narrative is highly diverting. But as this work is strictly confined to
the history of the pirates and not to the amorous intrigues of their
forbears, we will skip these pre-natal episodes and come to the time when
the attorney, having lost a once flourishing legal practice, sailed from
Ireland to Carolina to seek a fortune there, taking his little daughter
Anne with him. In new surroundings fortune favoured the attorney, and he
soon owned a rich plantation, and his daughter kept house for him.
Anne was now grown up and a fine young woman, but had a "fierce and
courageous temper," which more than once led her into scrapes, as, on one
occasion, when in a sad fit of temper, she slew her English servant-maid
with a case-knife. But except for these occasional outbursts of passion
she was a good and dutiful girl. Her father now began to think of finding
a suitable young man to be a husband for Anne, which would not be hard to
do, since Anne, besides her good looks, was his heir and would be well
provided for by him. But Anne fell in love with a good-looking young
sailor who arrived one day at Charleston, and, knowing her father would
never consent to such a match, the lovers were secretly married, in the
expectation that, the deed being done, the father would soon become
reconciled to it. But on the contrary, the attorney, on being told the
news, turned his daughter out of doors and would have nothing more to do
with either of them. The bridegroom, finding his heiress worth not a
groat, did what other sailors have done before and since, and slipped away
to sea without so much as saying good-bye to his bride. But a more gallant
lover soon hove in sight, the handsome, rich, dare-devil pirate, Captain
John Rackam, known up and down the coast as "Calico Jack." Jack's methods
of courting and taking a ship were similar--no time wasted, straight up
alongside, every gun brought to play, and the prize seized. Anne was soon
swept off her feet by her picturesque and impetuous lover, and consented
to go to sea with him in his ship, but disguised herself in sailor's
clothes before going on board. The lovers sailed together on a piratical
honeymoon until certain news being conveyed to Captain Rackam by his
bride, he sailed to Cuba and put Anne ashore at a small cove, where he had
a house and also friends, who he knew would take good care of her. But
before long Anne was back in the pirate ship, as active as any of her male
shipmates with cutlass and marlinspike, always one of the leaders in
boarding a prize.
However, the day of retribution was at hand. While cruising near Jamaica
in October, 1720, the pirates were surprised by the sudden arrival of an
armed sloop, which had been sent out by the Governor of that island for
the express purpose of capturing Rackam and his crew. A fight followed, in
which the pirates behaved in a most cowardly way, and were soon driven
below decks, all but Anne Bonny and another woman pirate, Mary Read, who
fought gallantly till taken prisoners, all the while flaunting their male
companions on their cowardly conduct. The prisoners were carried to
Jamaica and tried for piracy at St. Jago de la Vega, and convicted on
November 28th, 1720. Anne pleaded to have her execution postponed for
reasons of her condition of health, and this was allowed, and she never
appears to have been hanged, though what her ultimate fate was is unknown.
On the day that her lover Rackam was hanged he obtained, by special
favour, permission to see Anne, but must have derived little comfort from
the farewell interview, for all he got in the way of sympathy from his
lady love were these words--that "she was sorry to see him there, but if
he had fought like a Man, he need not have been hang'd like a Dog."
BOON, JOHN.
Member of the Council of Carolina under Governor Colleton, and expelled
from it "for holding correspondence with pirates," 1687.
BOOTH, SAMUEL.
Of Charleston, Carolina.
One of Major Bonnet's crew. Hanged at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1718.
BOURNANO, CAPTAIN, or DE BERNANOS.
In 1679 this famous French filibuster commanded a ship of ninety tons,
armed with six guns, and manned by a crew of eighty-six French sailors.
Joined Captain Bartholomew Sharp when he was preparing his expedition to
assault the town of Santa Maria. Bournano was a useful ally, as he was
much liked by the Darien Indians, but his crew quarrelled with the English
buccaneers, and they left Sharp's company. In the year 1684, Bournano,
known by then as Le Sieur de Bernanos, commanded a ship, _La Schite_,
carrying a crew of sixty men and armed with eight guns.
LA BOUSE, CAPTAIN OLIVER, or DE LA BOUCHE.
French pirate.
When Captain Howel Davis had taken and sacked the fort at Gambia and with
his crew was spending a day in revelry, a ship was reported, bearing down
on them in full sail. The pirates prepared to fight her, when she ran up
the Black Flag and proved to be a French pirate ship of fourteen guns and
sixty-four hands, half French and half negroes, commanded by Captain La
Bouse. A great many civilities passed between the two captains, and they
agreed to sail down the coast together. Arriving at Sierra Leone, they
found a tall ship lying at anchor. This ship they attacked, firing a
broadside, when she also ran up the Black Flag, being the vessel of the
notorious Captain Cocklyn. For the next two days the three captains and
their crews "spent improving their acquaintance and friendship," which was
the pirate expression for getting gloriously drunk. On the third day they
attacked and took the African Company's Fort. Shortly afterwards the three
captains quarrelled, and each went his own way. In 1718 La Bouse was at
New Providence Island. In 1720 this pirate commanded the _Indian Queen_,
250 tons, armed with twenty-eight guns, and a crew of ninety men. Sailing
from the Guinea Coast to the East Indies, de la Bouche lost his ship on
the Island of Mayotta, near Madagascar.
The captain and forty men set about building a new vessel, while the
remainder went off in canoes to join Captain England's pirates at Johanna.
BOWEN.
A Bristol man. In 1537, when the Breton pirates were becoming very daring
along the south coast of England and Wales, Bowen contrived to capture
fourteen of these robbers, who had landed near Tenby, and had them put in
prison.
BOWEN, CAPTAIN JOHN.
The practice of this South Sea pirate extended from Madagascar to Bengal.
He commanded a good ship, the _Speaker_, a French vessel, owned by an
English company interested in the slave trade, which Bowen had captured by
a cunning ruse. He afterwards lost his ship off Mauritius, but was well
treated by the Dutch Governor, who supplied doctors, medicine, and food to
the shipwrecked pirates. After three months' hospitality on the island,
Bowen procured a sloop, and in March, 1701, sailed for Madagascar. As a
parting friendly gift to the Governor, he gave him 2,500 pieces of eight
and the wreck of the _Speaker_, with all the guns and stores. On arriving
at Madagascar, Bowen erected a fort and built a town. Shortly after this a
ship, the _Speedy Return_, and a brigantine were so very thoughtless as to
put into the port, and paid for this thoughtlessness by being promptly
seized by Bowen. With these two vessels Bowen and his merry men went
"a-pyrating" again, and with great success, for in a short time they had
gathered together over a million dollars in coin, as well as vast
quantities of valuable merchandise. The pirates then, most wisely,
considering that they had succeeded well enough, settled down amongst
their Dutch friends in the Island of Mauritius to a quiet and comfortable
life on shore.
BOWMAN, WILLIAM.
A seaman; one of the party which crossed the Isthmus of Darien on foot
with Dampier in 1681. Wafer records that Bowman, "a weakly Man, a Taylor
by trade," slipped while crossing a swollen river, and was carried off by
the swift current, and nearly drowned by the weight of a satchel he
carried containing 400 pieces of eight.
BOYD, ROBERT.
Of Bath Town, North Carolina.
Sailed with Major Stede Bonnet in the _Royal James_. Hanged on November
8th, 1718, at Charleston.
BOYZA.
A Columbian.
One of Captain Gilbert's crew in the _Panda_. Hanged at Boston in June,
1835.
BRADISH, CAPTAIN JOSEPH.
A notorious pirate. Born at Cambridge, Massachusetts, on November 28th,
1672. In March, 1689, was in London out of a berth, and shipped as mate in
the hake-boat _Adventure_, bound for Borneo on an interloping trade.
In September, 1698, when most of the officers and passengers were ashore
at the Island of Polonais, Bradish and the crew cut the cable and ran away
with the ship. The crew shared the money which was found in the
bread-room, and which filled nine chests, amounting to about 3,700 Spanish
dollars.
Bradish sailed the _Adventure_ to Long Island, arriving there on March
19th, 1699. After leaving their money and jewels on Nassau Island, they
sank their ship. Most of the crew bought horses at the neighbouring
farmhouses and disappeared. Bradish and a few others were rash enough to
go to Massachusetts, where they were promptly arrested and placed in the
Boston Gaol. But the gaolkeeper, one Caleb Ray, was a relation of Bradish,
and allowed him to escape. An offer of a reward of £200 brought the
escaped prisoner back, and he sailed in irons on H.M.S. _Advice_, with
Kidd and other pirates, to England, and was hanged in chains in London at
Hope Dock in 1700.
BRADLEY, GEORGE.
Master of Captain Fenn's ship, the _Morning Star_, wrecked on the Grand
Caymans in August, 1722. The crew got ashore on an island and hid in the
woods. Bradley and the other pirates afterwards surrendered themselves to
an English sloop, and were carried to Bermuda. Bradley escaped to England,
and was last heard of at Bristol.
BREAKES, CAPTAIN HIRAM.
This Dutch pirate was the second son of a well-to-do councillor of the
Island of Saba in the West Indies. Hiram was appointed in the year 1764 to
a ship which traded between that island and Amsterdam. In the latter port,
Hiram, who was now 19 years of age and a handsome fellow standing over six
feet in height, fell in love with a certain Mrs. Snyde.
Getting command of a small ship that traded between Schiedam, in Holland,
and Lisbon, Breakes for some time sailed between these ports. Returning to
Amsterdam, he and Mrs. Snyde murdered that lady's husband, but at the
trial managed to get acquitted.
Breakes's next exploit was to steal his employer's ship and cargo and go
out as a pirate, naming his vessel the _Adventure_. His first exploit was
a daring one. Sailing into Vigo Harbour in full view of the forts, he
seized a vessel, the _Acapulco_, lately come from Valparaiso, and took her
off. On plundering her they found 200,000 small bars of gold, each about
the size of a man's finger. The captain and crew of this Chilian vessel
were all murdered. Breakes preferred the _Acapulco_ to his own ship, so he
fitted her up and sailed in her to the Mediterranean.
Breakes was one of the religious variety of pirate, for after six days of
robbing and throat-slitting he would order his crew to clean themselves on
the Sabbath and gather on the quarter-deck, where he would read prayers to
them and would often preach a sermon "after the Lutheran style," thus
fortifying the brave fellows for another week of toil and bloodshed.
Gifted with unlimited boldness, Breakes called in at Gibraltar and
requested the Governor to grant him a British privateer's commission,
which the Governor did "for a consideration." Sailing in the neighbourhood
of the Balearic Islands, he took a few ships, when one day, spying a
nunnery by the sea-shore in Minorca, he proposed to his crew that they
should fit themselves out with a wife apiece.
This generous offer was eagerly accepted, and the crew, headed by Captain
Breakes, marched up to the nunnery unopposed, and were welcomed at the
door by the lady abbess. Having entered the peaceful cloister, each pirate
chose a nun and marched back to the ship with their spoils. Soon after
this Breakes decided to retire from piracy, and returned to Amsterdam to
claim Mrs. Snyde. But he found that she had but lately been hanged for
poisoning her little son, of which the pirate was father. This tragedy so
preyed upon the mind of Captain Breakes that he turned "melancholy mad"
and drowned himself in one of the many dykes with which that city abounds.
BRECK, JOHN.
One of the crew of the brigantine _Charles_ (Captain John Quelch). Tried
for piracy at Boston in 1704.
BREHA, CAPTAIN, _alias_ LANDRESSON.
BRENNINGHAM, CAPTAIN.
Of Jamaica and Tortuga.
In 1663 commanded a frigate of six guns and seventy men.
BRIERLY, JOHN, _alias_ TIMBERHEAD.
Of Bath Town in North Carolina.
One of the crew of the _Royal James_. Hanged at Charleston in November,
1718.
BRIGHT, JOHN.
Of St. Margaret's, Westminster.
One of the crew of Captain Charles Harris. Hanged at Newport, Rhode
Island, in July, 1723, at the age of 25.
BRINKLEY, JAMES.
Of Suffolk, England.
One of Captain Charles Harris's crew. Hanged for piracy at Newport, Rhode
Island, on July 19th, 1723. Age 28.
BRODLEY, CAPTAIN JOSEPH, or BRADLEY, sometimes called
"Lieutenant-Colonel." "An ancient and expert pirate."
Appointed Vice-Admiral by Morgan in his expedition up the Chagre River. He
was a tough old pirate, and had proved himself a terror to the Spaniards,
particularly when Mansvelt took the Isle of St. Catharine. In 1676 Brodley
was sent by Morgan to capture the Castle of Chagre, a very strongly
garrisoned fort. All day the pirates kept up a furious attack, but were
driven back. At last, when it seemed impossible for the pirates ever to
succeed in entering the castle, a remarkable accident happened which
altered the whole issue. One of the pirates was wounded by an arrow in his
back, which pierced his body and came out the opposite side. This he
instantly pulled out at the side of his breast; then, taking a little
cotton, he wound it about the arrow, and, putting it into his musket, he
shot it back into the castle. The cotton, kindled by the powder, set fire
to several houses within the castle, which, being thatched with
palm-leaves, took fire very easily. This fire at last reached the powder
magazine, and a great explosion occurred. Owing to this accident of the
arrow the pirates were eventually able to take the Castle of Chagre. This
was one of the finest and bravest defences ever made by the Spaniards. Out
of 314 Spanish soldiers in the castle, only thirty survived, all the rest,
including the Governor, being killed. Brodley was himself severely wounded
in this action and died as a consequence ten days later.
BROOKS, JOSEPH (senior).
One of Blackbeard's crew in the _Queen Ann's Revenge_. Killed on November
22nd, 1718, at North Carolina.
BROOKS, JOSEPH (junior).
One of Blackbeard's crew in the _Queen Ann's Revenge_. Taken prisoner by
Lieutenant Maynard on November 22nd, 1718. Carried to Virginia, where he
was tried and hanged.
BROWN, CAPTAIN.
A notorious latter-day pirate, who "worked" the east coast of Central
America in the early part of the nineteenth century.
BROWN, CAPTAIN.
On July 24th, 1702, sailed from Jamaica in command of the _Blessing_--ten
guns and crew of seventy-nine men, with the famous Edward Davis on
board--to attack the town of Tolu on the Spanish Main. The town was taken
and plundered, but Brown was killed, being shot through the head.
BROWN, CAPTAIN NICHOLAS.
Surrendered to the King's pardon for pirates at New Providence, Bahamas,
in 1718. Soon afterwards he surrendered to the Spanish Governor of Cuba,
embraced the Catholic faith, and turned pirate once more; and was very
active in attacking English ships off the Island of Jamaica.
BROWN, JOHN.
Of Durham, England.
One of Captain Charles Harris's crew. Hanged at the age of 29 years at
Newport, Rhode Island, in 1723.
BROWN, JOHN.
Of Liverpool.
One of Captain Harris's crew. Found guilty of piracy at Newport, Rhode
Island, in 1723, but recommended to the King's favour, perhaps in view of
his age, being but 17 years old.
BROWNE, CAPTAIN JAMES.
A Scotchman.
In 1677, when in command of a mixed crew of English, Dutch, and French
pirates, he took a Dutch ship trading in negroes off the coast of
Cartagena. The Dutch captain and several of his crew were killed, while
the cargo of 150 negroes was landed in a remote bay on the coast of
Jamaica.
Lord Vaughan sent a frigate, which captured about a hundred of the negro
slaves and also Browne and eight of his pirate crew. The captain and crew
were tried for piracy and condemned. The crew were pardoned, but Browne
was ordered to be executed. The captain appealed to the Assembly to have
the benefit of the Act of Privateers, and the House of Assembly twice sent
a committee to the Governor to beg a reprieve. Lord Vaughan refused this
and ordered the immediate execution of Browne. Half an hour after the
hanging the provost-marshal appeared with an order, signed by the Speaker,
to stop the execution.
BROWNE, EDWARD.
Of York River, Virginia.
One of Captain Pounds's crew. Wounded at Tarpaulin Cove in 1689.
BROWNE, JOHN, _alias_ MAMME.
An English sailor who joined the Barbary pirates at Algiers and turned
Mohammedan. Taken in the _Exchange_ in 1622 and carried a prisoner to
Plymouth.
BROWNE, RICHARD. Surgeon.
Surgeon-General in Morgan's fleet which carried the buccaneers to the
Spanish Main. He wrote an account of the disastrous explosion on board the
_Oxford_ during a banquet given to Morgan and the buccaneer commanders on
January 2nd, 1669, off Cow Island to the south of Hispaniola, at which the
details were being discussed for an attack on Cartagena.
Browne writes: "I was eating my dinner with the rest when the mainmasts
blew out and fell upon Captains Aylett and Bigford and others and knocked
them on the head. I saved myself by getting astride the mizzenmast." Only
Morgan and those who sat on his side of the dinner-table were saved.
Browne, who certainly was not biased towards Morgan in his accounts of his
exploits, is one of the few narrators who gives the buccaneer Admiral
credit for moderation towards his prisoners, particularly women.
BUCK, ELEAZER.
One of Captain Pounds's crew. Tried at Boston in 1689 for piracy and found
guilty, but pardoned on payment of a fine of twenty marks.
BUCKENHAM, CAPTAIN.
In 1679 sailed from England to the West Indies. He was taken by the
Spaniards off Campeachy and carried to Mexico. A seaman, Russel, also a
prisoner there, and who escaped afterwards, reported to Lionel Wafer that
he last saw Captain Buckenham with a log chained to his leg and a basket
on his back, crying bread about the streets of the city of Mexico for his
master, a baker.
BULL, CAPTAIN DIXEY.
Born in London of a respectable family, and in 1631 went to Boston, where
he received a grant of land at York on the coast of Maine. Became a
"trader for bever" in New England. In June, 1632, while in Penobscot Bay,
a French pinnace arrived and seized his shallop and stock of "coats,
ruggs, blanketts, bisketts, etc." Annoyed by this high-handed behaviour,
Bull collected together a small crew and turned pirate, thus being the
very first pirate on the New England coast. Bull took several small
vessels, and was not caught by the authorities, who sent out small armed
sloops to search for him, and nothing more was heard of this pioneer
pirate after 1633, although rumour said that he had reached England in
safety.
BULL, MR.
A member of the crew of Coxon's canoe, he was killed in the famous attack
by the buccaneers on the Spanish Fleet off Panama in 1680.
BULLOCK. Surgeon.
One of the crew at the second disastrous attack by Captain Sharp on the
town of Arica, when the buccaneers were driven out of the town. All
escaped who could, except the surgeons, who, in a most unprofessional way,
had been indulging somewhat freely in the wines of the country during the
battle, and consequently were in no condition to take their places with
the retreating force. The surgeons, after being taken prisoner, were
persuaded to disclose to the Spaniards the prearranged signals by smoke
from two fires, which was to be given in case of a successful taking of
the town, to bring up the boats that were hiding on the shore, ready to
take the buccaneers back to their ships. Fortunately the buccaneers on the
shore arrived just as the canoes were getting under way, otherwise the
whole remnant of them would have perished. The only one of these
disreputable surgeons whose name we know is Dr. Bullock. Some months
afterwards it was ascertained, through a prisoner, that the Spaniards
"civilly entertained these surgeons, more especially the women." Surgeons,
even such surgeons as these, were considered to be valuable in those days
in the out-of-the-way Spanish colonies.
BUNCE, CHARLES.
Born at Exeter; died at the age of 26.
Taken by Captain Roberts out of a Dutch galley in 1721, he joined the
pirates, to be eventually hanged in 1722. He made a moving speech from the
gallows, "disclaiming against the guilded Bates of Power, Liberty, and
Wealth that had ensnared him amongst the pirates," earnestly exhorting the
spectators to remember his youth, and ending by declaring that "he stood
there as a beacon upon a Rock" (the gallows standing on one) "to warn
erring Marriners of Danger."
BURDER, WILLIAM.
Mayor of Dover.
It may seem strange to accuse the mayor of so important a seaport as Dover
of being a pirate, but it is difficult to see how William Burder is to
escape the accusation when we learn that in the year 1563 he captured 600
French vessels and a large number of neutral craft, which he plundered,
and also no fewer than sixty-one Spanish ships, to the very natural
annoyance of the King of Spain, whose country was at this time at peace
with England.
BURGESS, CAPTAIN SAMUEL SOUTH.
Born and bred in New York, he was a man of good education, and began his
career on a privateer in the West Indies. Later on he was sent by a Mr.
Philips, owner and shipbuilder, to trade with the pirates in Madagascar.
This business Burgess augmented with a little piracy on his own account,
and after taking several prizes he returned to the West Indies, where he
disposed of his loot. He then proceeded to New York, and, purposely
wrecking his vessel at Sandy Hook, landed in the guise of an honest
shipwrecked mariner.
Burgess settled down for a time to a well-earned rest, and married a
relative of his employer, Mr. Philips.
Philips sent him on two further voyages, both of which were run on
perfectly honest lines, and were most successful both to owner and
captain. But a later voyage had an unhappy ending. After successfully
trading with the pirates in Madagascar, Burgess was returning home,
carrying several pirates as passengers, who were returning to settle in
America, having made their fortunes. The ship was captured off the Cape of
Good Hope by an East Indiaman, and taken to Madras. Here the captain and
passengers were put in irons and sent to England to be tried. The case
against Burgess fell through, and he was liberated. Instead of at once
getting away, he loitered about London until one unlucky day he ran across
an old pirate associate called Culliford, on whose evidence Burgess was
again arrested, tried, and condemned to death, but pardoned at the last
moment by the Queen, through the intercession of the Bishop of London.
After a while he procured the post of mate in the _Neptune_, a Scotch
vessel, which was to go to Madagascar to trade liquors with the pirates
who had their headquarters in that delectable island. On arrival at
Madagascar a sudden hurricane swept down, dismasted the _Neptune_, and
sank two pirate ships. The chief pirate, Halsey, as usual, proved himself
a man of resource. Seeing that without a ship his activities were severely
restricted, he promptly, with the help of his faithful and willing crew,
seized the _Neptune_, this satisfactory state of affairs being largely
facilitated by the knowledge that the mate, Burgess, was all ripe to go on
the main chance once more. The first venture of this newly formed crew was
most successful, as they seized a ship, the _Greyhound_, which lay in the
bay, the owners of which had but the previous day bought--and paid for--a
valuable loading of merchandise from the pirates. This was now taken back
by the pirates, who, having refitted the _Neptune_, set forth seeking
fresh adventures and prizes. The further history of Burgess is one of
constant change and disappointment.
While serving under a Captain North, he was accused of betraying some of
his associates, and was robbed of all his hard-earned savings. For several
years after this he lived ashore at a place in Madagascar called
Methalage, until captured by some Dutch rovers, who soon after were
themselves taken by French pirates. Burgess, with his former Dutch
captain, was put ashore at Johanna, where, under the former's expert
knowledge, a ship was built and sailed successfully to Youngoul, where
Burgess got a post as third mate on a ship bound to the West Indies.
Before sailing, Burgess was sent, on account of his knowledge of the
language, as ambassador to the local King. Burgess, unfortunately for
himself, had in the past said some rather unkind things about this
particular ruler, and the offended monarch, in revenge, gave Burgess some
poisoned liquor to drink, which quickly brought to an end an active if
chequered career.
BURGESS, CAPTAIN THOMAS.
One of the pirates of the Bahama Islands who surrendered to King George in
1718 and received the royal pardon. He was afterwards drowned at sea.
BURK, CAPTAIN.
An Irishman, who committed many piracies on the coast of Newfoundland.
Drowned in the Atlantic during a hurricane in 1699.
CACHEMARÉE, CAPTAIN. French filibuster.
Commanded the _St. Joseph_, of six guns and a crew of seventy men. In 1684
had his headquarters at San Domingo.
CÆSAR.
A negro. One of Teach's crew hanged at Virginia in 1718. Cæsar, who was
much liked and trusted by Blackbeard, had orders from him to blow up the
_Queen Ann's Revenge_ by dropping a lighted match into the powder magazine
in case the ship was taken by Lieutenant Maynard. Cæsar attempted to carry
out his instructions, but was prevented from doing so by two of the
surrendered pirates.
CÆSAR, CAPTAIN.
One of Gasparilla's gang of pirates who hunted in the Gulf of Mexico. His
headquarters were on Sanibel Island.
CALLES, CAPTAIN JOHN, or CALLIS.
A notorious Elizabethan pirate, whose activities were concentrated on the
coast of Wales.
We quote Captain John Smith, the founder of Virginia, who writes: "This
Ancient pirate Callis, who most refreshed himselfe upon the Coast of
Wales, who grew famous, till Queene Elizabeth of Blessed Memory, hanged
him at Wapping."
Calles did not die on the gallows without an attempt at getting let off.
He wrote a long and ingenious letter to Lord Walsyngham, bewailing his
former wicked life and promising, if spared, to assist in ridding the
coast of pirates by giving particulars of "their roads, haunts, creeks,
and maintainers." One of the chief of these "maintainers," or receivers of
stolen property, was Lord O'Sullivan, or the Sulivan Bere of Berehaven.
In spite of a long and very plausible plea for pity, this "ancient and
wicked pyrate" met his fate on the gibbet at Wapping.
CAMMOCK, WILLIAM.
A seaman under Captain Bartholomew Sharp. He died at sea on December 14th,
1679, off the coast of Chile. "His disease was occasioned by a sunfit,
gained by too much drinking on shore at La Serena; which produced in him a
_celenture_, or malignant fever and a hiccough." He was buried at sea with
the usual honours of "three French vollies."
CANDOR, RALPH.
Tried for piracy with the rest of Captain Lowther's crew at St. Kitts in
March, 1723, and acquitted.
CANNIS, _alias_ CANNIS MARCY.
A Dutch pirate who acted as interpreter to Captain Bartholomew Sharp's
South Sea Expedition. Captain Cox and Basil Ringmore took him with them
after the sacking of Hilo in 1679, to come to terms with the Spanish
cavalry over the ransoming of a sugar mill. On Friday, May 27th, 1680,
while ashore with a watering party in the Gulf of Nicoya, the interpreter,
having had, no doubt, his fill of buccaneering, ran away.
CARACCIOLI, SIGNOR, _alias_ D'AUBIGNY.
An Italian renegade priest, who became an atheist, Socialist, and
revolutionist, and was living at Naples when Captain Fourbin arrived there
in the French man-of-war _Victoire_.
Caraccioli met and made great friends with a young French apprentice in
the ship, called Misson, and a place was found for him on board. The
ex-priest proved himself to be a brave man in several engagements with
the Moors and with an English warship, and was quickly promoted to be a
petty officer.
Caraccioli, by his eloquence, soon converted most of the crew to believe
in his theories, and when Captain Fourbin was killed in an action off
Martinique with an English ship, Misson took command and appointed the
Italian to be his Lieutenant, and continued to fight the English ship to a
finish. The victorious crew then elected Misson to be their captain, and
decided to "bid defiance to all nations" and to settle on some
out-of-the-way island. Capturing another English ship off the Cape of Good
Hope, Caraccioli was put in command of her, and the whole of the English
crew voluntarily joined the pirates, and sailed to Madagascar. Here they
settled, and the Italian married the daughter of a black Island King; an
ideal republic was formed, and our hero was appointed Secretary of State.
Eventually Caraccioli died fighting during a sudden attack made on the
settlement by a neighbouring tribe.
CARMAN, THOMAS.
Of Maidstone in Kent.
Hanged at Charleston in 1718 with the rest of Major Bonnet's crew.
CARNES, JOHN.
One of Blackbeard's crew. Hanged at Virginia in 1718.
CARR, JOHN.
A Massachusetts pirate, one of Hore's crew, who was hiding in Rhode Island
in 1699.
CARTER, DENNIS.
Tried for piracy in June, 1704, at the Star Tavern in Boston. One of John
Quelch's crew.
CARTER, JOHN.
Captured by Major Sewall in the _Larimore_ galley, and brought into Salem.
One of Captain Quelch's crew. Tried at Boston in 1704.
CASTILLO.
A Columbian sailor in the schooner _Panda_. Hanged for piracy at Boston on
June 11th, 1835.
LA CATA.
A most blood-thirsty pirate and one of the last of the West Indian gangs.
In 1824, when La Cata was cruising off the Isle of Pines, his ship was
attacked by an English cutter only half his size. After a furious fight
the cutter was victorious, and returned in triumph to Jamaica with the
three survivors of the pirates as prisoners. One of these was found out at
the trial to be La Cata himself. Hanged at Kingston, Jamaica.
CHANDLER, HENRY, _alias_ RAMMETHAM RISE.
Born in Devonshire, his father kept a chandler's shop in Southwark. An
English _renegado_ at Algiers, who had turned Mohammedan and had become an
overseer in the pirates' shipyards. He was a man of some authority amongst
the Moors, and in 1621 he appointed a slave called Goodale to become
master of one of the pirate ships, the _Exchange_, in which one Rawlins
also sailed. Owing to the courage and ingenuity of the latter, the
European slaves afterwards seized the ship and brought her into Plymouth;
Chandler being thrown into gaol and afterwards hanged.
CHEESMAN, EDWARD.
Taken prisoner out of the _Dolphin_, on the Banks of Newfoundland, by the
Pirate Phillips in 1724. With the help of a fisherman called Fillmore, he
killed Phillips and ten other pirates and brought the ship into Boston
Harbour.
CHEVALLE, DANIEL.
One of Captain John Quelch's crew. Tried for piracy at Boston in 1704.
CHILD, THOMAS.
In the year 1723, at the age of 15, he was tried for piracy at Newport,
Rhode Island. This child must have seen scores of cold-blooded murders
committed while he sailed with Low and Harris. Found to be not guilty.
CHRISTIAN, CAPTAIN.
In 1702 the town of Tolu was sacked by Captain Brown of the _Blessing_.
Brown was killed, and Christian was elected to be captain in his stead.
Davis tells us that "Christian was an old experienced soldier and
privateer, very brave and just in all his actions." He had lived for a
long while amongst the Darien Indians, with whom he was on very friendly
terms.
CHULY, DANIEL.
Tried for piracy at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1706.
CHURCH, CHARLES.
Of St. Margaret's, Westminster.
One of Captain Charles Harris's crew. Hanged on July 19th, 1723, at
Newport, Rhode Island. Age
CHURCH, EDWARD.
In 1830 he served in the brig _Vineyard_, from New Orleans to
Philadelphia. Took part in the mutiny which was planned by the notorious
pirate Charles Gibbs.
CHURCH, WILLIAM.
Of the _Gertrwycht_ of Holland.
At the trial at West Africa in 1722 of the crew of Bartholomew Roberts's,
four of the prisoners--W. Church, Phil. Haak, James White, and Nicholas
Brattle--were proved to have "served as Musick on board the _Royal
Fortune_, being taken out of several merchant ships, having had an uneasy
life of it, having sometimes their Fiddles, and often their Heads broke,
only for excusing themselves, as saying they were tired, when any Fellow
took it in his Head to demand a Tune." Acquitted.
CHURCHILL, JOHN.
One of Captain George Lowther's crew. Captured by the _Eagle_ sloop at the
Island of Blanco, not far from Tortuga.
Hanged on March 11th, 1722, at St. Kitts.
CLARKE, JONATHAN.
Of Charleston, South Carolina.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew. Tried for piracy at Charleston in 1718,
and found to be not guilty.
CLARKE, RICHARD, _alias_ JAFAR.
A renegade English sailor, who turned "Turk"--that is, became a
Mohammedan--and was appointed chief gunner on one of the Barbary pirate
ships. Captured in the _Exchange_, and brought into Plymouth in 1622. He
was hanged.
CLARKE, ROBERT.
Governor of New Providence, Bahama Islands. Instead of trying to stamp out
the pirates, he did all he could to encourage them, by granting letters of
marque to such men as Coxon, to go privateering, these letters being quite
illegal. The proprietors of the Bahama Islands turned Clarke out and
appointed in his place Robert Lilburne in 1682.
CLIFFORD, JOHN.
One of Captain John Quelch's crew; tried at the Star Tavern at Boston in
1704 for piracy. All the accused pleaded "Not guilty" except Clifford and
two others who turned Queen's evidence.
CLINTON, CAPTAIN.
One of the notorious sixteenth century pirates "who grew famous until
Queene Elizabeth of blessed memory, hanged them at Wapping."
COBHAM, CAPTAIN.
Of Poole in Dorsetshire.
At the age of 18 he took to smuggling. His biographer tells us that even
at this comparatively early age Cobham "was cautious and prudent, and
though he intrigued with the ladies, he managed to keep it secret." Cobham
was very successful as a smuggler, on one occasion landing a cargo of ten
thousand gallons of brandy at Poole. But a little later on his vessel was
captured by a King's cutter. This annoyed the young captain, and he bought
a cutter at Bridport, mounted fourteen guns in her, and turned pirate.
Out of his very first prize, an Indiaman, which he boarded off the Mersey,
he took a sum of £40,000, and then scuttled the ship and drowned the crew.
Cobham, calling in at Plymouth, met a damsel called Maria, whom he took on
board with him, which at first caused some murmuring amongst his crew, who
were jealous because they themselves were not able to take lady companions
with them on their voyages, for, as the same biographer sagely remarks,
"where a man is married the case is altered, no man envies him his
happiness; but where he only keeps a girl, every man says, 'I have as much
right to one as he has.'" Nevertheless, Maria proved herself a great
success, for when any member of the crew was to be punished Maria would
use her influence with the captain to get him excused or his punishment
lessened, thus winning the affection of all on board. The English Channel
becoming too dangerous for Cobham, he sailed across the Atlantic and lay
in wait for vessels between Cape Breton and Prince Edward Isle, and took
several prizes. In one of these he placed all the crew in sacks and threw
them into the sea. Maria, too, took her part in these affairs, and once
stabbed to the heart, with her own little dirk, the captain of a Liverpool
brig, the _Lion_, and on another occasion, to indulge her whim, a captain
and his two mates were tied up to the windlass while Maria shot them with
her pistol. Maria always wore naval uniform, both at sea and when in port;
in fact, she entered thoroughly into the spirit of the enterprise.
Cobham now wished to retire from the sea, but Maria urged him to further
efforts, as she had set her heart on his buying her a beautiful place in
England called Mapleton Hall, near Poole.
Maria's last act at sea was to poison the whole crew of an Indiaman, who
were prisoners in irons aboard the pirate ship.
Cobham having made a vast fortune, at last decided to settle down, and he
bought a large estate near Havre from the Duc de Chartres. It was on the
coast, and had a snug little harbour of its own, where the retired pirate
kept a small pleasure yacht in which he and Maria used to go for fishing
expeditions. One day, when they were out on one of these picnics, a West
India brig lay becalmed near by, and Cobham and his crew went on board to
visit the captain of the merchant ship. But the temptation proved too
strong, and Cobham suddenly shooting the captain, Maria and the yacht's
crew quickly despatched the rest. Carrying the prize to Bordeaux, he sold
her for a good price. This was Cobham's last act of piracy, and soon
afterwards he was made a magistrate, and presided at the county courts.
Maria, it was thought, possibly owing to remorse, poisoned herself with
laudanum and died. Cobham lived to a good old age, and eventually passed
away, leaving many descendants, who, a hundred years ago, "were moving in
the first grade at Havre."
COBHAM, MRS. MARIA.
A bloodthirsty and ambitious woman pirate, the wife of Captain Cobham,
late of Poole in Dorset.
COCKLYN, CAPTAIN THOMAS.
In 1717 was in the Bahama Islands when Woodes Rogers arrived at New
Providence Island with King George's offer of pardon to those pirates who
came in and surrendered themselves. Cocklyn, like many others, after
surrendering, fell again into their wicked ways, and ended by being
hanged. Only a year after receiving the royal pardon we hear of him being
in company with Davis and La Bouse and several other notorious pirates at
Sierra Leone, when he was in command of a tall ship of twenty-four guns.
Cocklyn ended his life on the gallows.
COFRECINA, CAPTAIN.
A notorious Spanish-American pirate who was very troublesome in the South
Atlantic in the early part of the last century. Eventually captured by
Midshipman Hull Foot of the U.S. Navy in March, 1825, at St. Thomas Isle.
Executed in Porto Rico by the terrible Spanish method of the garotte.
COLE, CAPTAIN JOHN.
Commander of the _Eagle_, _alias_ the _New York Revenge's Revenge_. Tried,
condemned, and hanged in 1718 at Charleston. His was a brilliant career
while it lasted, but was cut short after a brief and meteoric spell.
COLE, SAMUEL.
One of Captain Fly's crew. Tried and condemned for piracy at Boston in
1726. On the way to the gallows the culprits were taken to church, where
they had to listen to a long sermon from Dr. Colman, bringing home to the
wretched creatures their dreadful sins and their awful future.
COLLIER, CAPTAIN EDWARD.
Commanded the _Oxford_, a King's ship, which was sent from England to
Jamaica at the earnest request of Governor Modyford, for a "nimble
frigate," to help keep control over the increasingly turbulent buccaneers.
Collier's first act was to seize a French man-of-war, a privateer called
the _Cour Volent_, of La Rochelle, commanded by M. la Vivon, his excuse
being that the Frenchmen had robbed an English vessel of provisions.
Collier was appointed to be Morgan's Vice-Admiral, and a few days later
the _Oxford_ was blown up accidentally while a conference of buccaneer
captains was taking place.
In 1670, with six ships and 400 men, the buccaneers sailed for the Spanish
Main and sacked the city of Rio de la Hacha. Collier led the left wing in
the famous and successful attack on Panama City with the rank of colonel.
Richard Brown reports that Collier could on occasions be very cruel, and
that he even executed a Spanish friar on the battlefield after quarter had
been given to the vanquished. On their return to the coast after the
sacking of Panama, Collier was accused, with Morgan and the other
commanders, of having cheated the seamen of their fair share of the
plunder, and of deserting them, and then sailing off in the ships with the
supplies of food as well as the plunder.
COLLINS, THOMAS.
This Madagascar pirate was a carpenter by trade, who had by 1716 retired
from the sea and lived in splendour in that island. Collins was made
Governor of the pirate colony, and built a small fort for its defence,
which the pirates armed with the guns taken out of their ship, which had
by long use grown old and crazy, and was of no further use to them.
COMRY, ADAM.
Surgeon to the ship _Elizabeth_, taken by Captain Bartholomew Roberts's
squadron. Gave evidence at the trial of George Wilson and another
sea-surgeon, Scudamore, that the former had borrowed from Comry a "clean
shirt and drawers, for his better appearance and reception." When visiting
Captain Bartholomew Roberts's ship, Comry was forced to serve as surgeon
on board one of Roberts's vessels.
CONDENT, CAPTAIN, _also_ CONGDON or CONDEN.
Born at Plymouth in Devonshire.
Condent was quartermaster in a New York sloop, at the Island of New
Providence, when Governor Woodes Rogers arrived there in 1718. The captain
of the sloop seems to have thought best to leave rather than wait to
welcome the new Governor. When only a few days out, one of the crew, an
Indian, who had been cruelly treated, attempted, in revenge, to blow up
the ship. This was prevented by Condent, who with great courage leapt into
the hold and shot the Indian, but not before the latter had fired at him
and broken his arm. The crew, to show the relief they felt at being saved
from a sudden death, hacked to pieces the body of the Indian, while the
gunner, ripping open the dead man's belly, tore out his heart, which he
boiled and ate.
Turning their attention from cannibalism to piracy, the pirates took a
prize, the _Duke of York_, but disputes arising, the captain and part of
the crew sailed in the prize, while Condent was elected captain of the
sloop, and headed across the Atlantic for the Cape Verde Islands, where he
found the salt fleet, of twenty small vessels, lying at anchor off the
Island of Mayo, all of which he took. Sailing next to the Island of St.
Jago, he took a Dutch ship. This proving a better ship than the sloop,
Condent transferred himself and crew into her, and named her the _Flying
Dragon_, presenting the sloop to the mate of an English prize, who he had
forced to go with him. From thence Condent sailed away for the coast of
Brazil, taking several Portuguese ships which, after plundering, he let
go. After cleaning the _Flying Dragon_ on Ferdinando Island, the pirates
took several more prizes, and then one day met with a Portuguese
man-of-war of seventy guns. Coming up with her, the Portuguese hailed the
pirates, and they answered "from London bound for Buenos Ayres." The
man-of-war, to pay a compliment to the ship of her English ally, manned
the shrouds and cheered him, and while this amicable demonstration of
marine brotherly feeling was taking place, Captain Condent came up
alongside and suddenly fired a broadside and a volley of small arms into
the man-of-war, and a smart engagement followed, in which the pirates were
worsted, and were lucky to escape.
Sailing away round the Cape of Good Hope, Condent arrived at the pirate
stronghold at the Island of Johanna, where he took on board some of
Captain Halsey's crew, and, reinforced by these skilled masters in the
craft of piracy, took several rich East Indiamen off the Malabar coast.
Calling in at the Isle of St. Mary, one of the Mascerenas group, he met
with another Portuguese ship of seventy guns, which he was fortunate
enough to make a prize of. In this ship they found amongst the passengers
the Viceroy of Goa. Carrying this rich prize to Zanzibar, they plundered
her of a large amount of money.
Having now gathered a vast fortune, they thought it time to give up
piracy, so they returned to the Island of St. Mary, where they made a
share of their plunder, and the company broke up, many of them settling
down amongst the natives. Captain Condent and some others sent from here a
petition to the Governor of Mauritius asking for a pardon, and received
answer that he would take them into his protection if they would destroy
their ships. Having done this, they sailed to Mauritius, where they
settled down, and Captain Condent married the Governor's sister-in-law.
A few years later the captain and his wife left the island and sailed to
France, settling at St. Malo, where Condent drove a considerable trade as
a merchant.
COOK, CAPTAIN EDWARD, or EDMUND.
Was on the Pacific coast with Captains Sharp and Sawkins, 1680. Being
unable to keep order amongst his unruly crew, he resigned his ship and
command to Captain John Cox, a New Englander. He commanded a barque in the
successful sacking of Porto Bello in the same year in company with Sharp,
Coxon, and others.
On land engagements his flag was a red one striped with yellow, on which
was a device of a hand and sword.
COOK, GEORGE, _alias_ RAMEDAM.
An English renegade amongst the Barbary pirates of Algiers. Was gunner's
mate when captured in the _Exchange_ in 1622. Brought to Plymouth and
hanged.
COOK, WILLIAM.
Servant to Captain Edmund Cook, and was found, on being searched, to have
on him a paper with the names of all his fellow pirates written on it, and
was suspected of having prepared it to give to some of the Spanish
prisoners. For this, Captain Walters put him in irons on January 7th,
1681.
He died on board ship on Monday, February 14th, 1681, off the coast of
Chile.
COOKE, CAPTAIN JOHN.
This buccaneer was born in the Island of St. Christopher. "A brisk, bold
man," he was promoted to the rank of quartermaster by Captain Yankey. On
taking a Spanish ship, Cooke claimed the command of her, which he was
entitled to, and would have gone in her with an English crew had not the
French members of the crew, through jealousy, sacked the ship and marooned
the Englishmen on the Island of Avache. Cooke and his men were rescued by
another French buccaneer, Captain Tristram, and taken to the Island of
Dominica. Here the English managed to get away with the ship, leaving
Tristram and his Frenchmen behind on land. Cooke, now with a ship of his
own, took two French ships loaded with wine. With this valuable cargo he
steered northward, and reached Virginia in April, 1683. He had no
difficulty in selling his wine for a good price to the New Englanders, and
with the profits prepared for a long voyage in his ship, the _Revenge_. He
took on board with him several famous buccaneers, including Dampier and
Cowley, the latter as sailing master. They first sailed to Sierra Leone,
then round the Horn to the Island of Juan Fernandez. Here Cooke was taken
ill. His next stop was at the Galapagos Islands. Eventually Cooke died a
mile or two off the coast of Cape Blanco in Mexico. His body was rowed
ashore to be buried, accompanied by an armed guard of twelve seamen. While
his grave was being dug three Spanish Indians came up, and asked so many
questions as to rouse the suspicions of the pirates, who seized them as
spies, but one escaping, he raised the whole countryside.
COOPER, CAPTAIN.
Commanded a pirate sloop, the _Night Rambler_. On November 14th, 1725, he
took the _Perry_ galley (Captain King, commander), three days out from
Barbadoes, and the following day a French sloop, and carried both prizes
to a small island called Aruba, near Curaçao, where they plundered them
and divided the spoil amongst the crew. The crews of the two prizes were
kept on the island by Cooper for seventeen days, and would have starved if
the pirate's doctor had not taken compassion on them and procured them
food.
Upton, boatswain in the _Perry_, joined the pirates, and was afterwards
tried and hanged in England.
COOPER, CAPTAIN.
On October 19th, 1663, he brought into Port Royal, Jamaica, two Spanish
prizes, one the _Maria of Seville_, a royal azogue carrying 1,000 quintals
of quicksilver for the King of Spain's mines in Mexico, besides oil, wine,
and olives. Also a number of prisoners were taken, including several
friars on their way to Campeachy and Vera Cruz. The buccaneers always
rejoiced at capturing a priest or a friar, and these holy men generally
experienced very rough treatment at the hands of the pirates.
Cooper's ship was a frigate of ten guns, and a crew of eighty men.
CORBET, CAPTAIN.
Sailed with Captain Heidon from Bantry Bay in the _John of Sandwich_ in
1564 to search for a good prize in which he might go a-pirating on his own
account. The ship was wrecked on the Island of Alderney, and all the crew
arrested. Corbett and several others escaped in a small boat.
CORNELIUS, CAPTAIN.
A contemporary of Howard Burgess North and other Madagascar pirates.
DE COSSEY, STEPHEN JAMES.
With three other pirates was tried and convicted in June, 1717, before the
Vice-Admiralty Court at Charleston. The President of the Court was Judge
Trot, a terror to all pirates, as he never failed to hang a guilty one. De
Cossey and the other prisoners were found guilty of piratically taking the
vessels _Turtle Dove_, _Penelope_, and the _Virgin Queen_.
COWARD, WILLIAM.
In November, 1689, with three men and a boy he rowed out to the ketch
_Elinor_ (William Shortrigs, master), lying at anchor in Boston Harbour,
and seized the vessel and took her to Cape Cod. The crew of the ketch
could make no resistance as they were all down with the smallpox. The
pirates were caught and locked up in the new stone gaol in Boston. Hanged
on January 27th, 1690.
COWLEY, CAPTAIN C.
M.A. Cantab.
A man of high intelligence and an able navigator. In the year 1683 he
sailed from Achamach or Cape Charles in Virginia for Dominica as sailing
master of a privateer, the _Revenge_ (eight guns and fifty-two men), in
company with Dampier and Captain John Cooke. As soon as they were away
from the land, they turned buccaneers or pirates, and sailed to Sierra
Leone in West Africa. Thence to the coast of Brazil, round the Horn, where
Cowley mentions that owing to the intense cold weather the crew were able,
each man, to drink three quarts of burnt brandy a day without becoming
drunk.
On February 14th the buccaneers were abreast of Cape Horn, and in his
diary Cowley writes: "We were choosing valentines and discoursing on the
Intrigues of Woman, when there arose a prodigious storm," which lasted
till the end of the month, driving them farther south than any ship had
ever been before; "so that we concluded the discoursing of Women at sea
was very unlucky and occasioned the storm." Cowley, who was addicted to
giving new names to islands, not only named one Pepys Island, but when he
arrived at the Galapagos Islands, he rechristened them most thoroughly,
naming one King Charles Island, while others he named after the Dukes of
York, Norfolk, and Albemarle, and Sir John Narborough. Feeling, no doubt,
that he had done enough to honour the great, and perhaps to have insured
himself against any future trouble with the authorities when he returned
home, he named one small island "Cowley's Enchanted Isle."
The Earl of Alington, Lord Culpepper, Lord Wenman, all had islands in this
group christened with their names and titles.
In September, 1684, Cowley, now in the _Nicholas_, separated from Davis,
and sailed from Ampalla for San Francisco, and then started west to cross
the Pacific Ocean. On March 14th, 1685, at seven o'clock in the morning,
after a voyage of 7,646 miles, land was at last seen, which proved to be
the Island of Guan.
The Spanish Governor was most friendly to the visitors, and when complaint
was made to him that the buccaneers had killed some of his Indian subjects
he "gave us a Toleration to kill them all if we would." Presents were
exchanged, Cowley giving the Governor a valuable diamond ring, one, no
doubt, taken off the hand of some other loyal subject of the King of
Spain. Here the pirates committed several atrocious cruelties on the
Indians, who wished to be friends with the foreigners.
In April they arrived at Canton to refit, and while there, thirteen Tartar
ships arrived laden with Chinese merchandise, chiefly valuable silks.
Cowley wanted to attack and plunder them, but his crew refused to do so,
saying "they came for gold and silver, and not to be made pedlars, to
carry packs on their backs," to Cowley's disgust, for he complains, "had
Reason but ruled them, we might all have made our Fortunes and have done
no Christian Prince nor their subjects any harm at all." Thence they
sailed to Borneo, the animals and birds of which island Cowley describes.
Sailing next to Timor, the crew mutinied, and Cowley and eighteen others
bought a boat and sailed in her to Java, some 300 leagues. Here they heard
of the death of King Charles II., which caused Cowley to get out his map
of the Galapagos Islands, and to change the name of Duke of York Island to
King James Island. At Batavia Cowley procured a passage in a Dutch ship to
Cape Town. In June, 1686, he sailed for Holland after much health drinking
and salutes of 300 guns, arriving in that country in September, and
reaching London, "through the infinite Mercy of God," on October 12th,
1686.
COX, CAPTAIN JOHN. Buccaneer.
Born in New England, and considered by some of his fellow buccaneers "to
have forced kindred upon Captain Sharp"--the leader of the fleet--"out of
old acquaintance, only to advance himself." Thus he was made Vice-Admiral
to Captain Sharp, in place of Captain Cook, whose crew had mutinied and
refused to sail any longer under his command. Cox began his captaincy by
getting lost, but after a fortnight rejoined the fleet off the Island of
Plate, on the coast of Peru, "to the great joy of us all." This island
received its name from the fact that Sir Francis Drake had here made a
division of his spoils, distributing to each man of his company sixteen
bowlfuls of doubloons and pieces of eight. The buccaneers rechristened it
Drake's Island.
Cox took part in the attack on the town of Hilo in October, 1679, sacked
the town and burnt down the large sugar factory outside. He led a mutiny
against his relative and benefactor, Captain Sharp, on New Year's Day,
1681, being the "main promoter of their design" to turn him out. Sharp
afterwards described his old friend as a "true-hearted dissembling
New-England Man," who he had promoted captain "merely for old
acquaintance-sake."
COXON, CAPTAIN JOHN. Buccaneer.
One of the most famous of the "Brethren of the Coast."
In the spring of 1677, in company of other English buccaneers, he
surprised and plundered the town of Santa Marta on the Spanish Main,
carrying away the Governor and the Bishop to Jamaica.
In 1679 Coxon, with Sharp and others, was fitting out an expedition in
Jamaica to make a raid in the Gulf of Honduras, which proved very
successful, as they brought back 500 chests of indigo, besides cocoa,
cochineal, tortoiseshell, money, and plate.
Coxon was soon out again upon a much bolder design, for in December, 1679,
he met Sharp, Essex, Allinson, Row, and other buccaneer chiefs at Point
Morant, and in January set sail for Porto Bello. Landing some twenty
leagues from the town, they marched for four days, arriving in sight of
the town on February 17th, "many of them being weak, being three days
without any food, and their feet cut with the rocks for want of shoes."
They quickly took and plundered the town, hurrying off with their spoils
before the arrival of strong Spanish reinforcements. The share of each man
in this enterprise came to one hundred pieces of eight. A warrant was
issued by Lord Carlisle, the Governor of Jamaica, for the apprehension of
Coxon for plundering Porto Bello, and another was issued soon after by
Morgan, when acting as Governor, but nothing seems to have resulted from
these. Sailing north to Boca del Toro, they careened their ships, and were
joined by Sawkins and Harris. From this place the buccaneers began, in
April, 1680, to land and cross the Isthmus of Darien, taking the town of
Santa Maria on the way. Quarrels took place between Coxon, who was, no
doubt, a hot-tempered man, and Harris, which led to blows. Coxon was also
jealous of the popular young Captain Sawkins, and refused to go further
unless he was allowed to lead one of the companies. After sacking the town
of Santa Maria, the adventurers proceeded in canoes down the river to the
Pacific. Seizing two small vessels they found there, and accompanied by a
flotilla of canoes, they steered for Panama, and, with the utmost daring,
attacked, and eventually took, the Spanish fleet of men-of-war--one of the
most remarkable achievements in the history of the buccaneers.
Coxon now quarrelled again with his brother leaders, and began a march
back across the isthmus; his party of seventy malcontents including
Dampier and Wafer, who each published accounts of their journey. By 1682
Coxon seems to have so ingratiated himself with the Jamaican authorities
as to be sent in quest of a troublesome French pirate, Jean Hamlin, who
was playing havoc with the English shipping in his vessel, _La Trompeuse_.
Later in the same year Coxon procured letters of marque from Robert
Clarke, the Governor of New Providence Island, himself nothing better than
a pirate, to go cruising as a "privateer." Coxon was continually being
arrested and tried for piracy, but each time he managed to escape the
gallows. We do not know the name of the ship Coxon commanded at this date,
but it was a vessel of eighty tons, armed with eight guns, and carrying a
crew of ninety-seven men.
COYLE, CAPTAIN RICHARD.
Born at Exeter in Devonshire.
An honest seafaring man until, when sailing as mate with Captain Benjamin
Hartley, they arrived at Ancona with a cargo of pilchards. Here the
captain took on board a new carpenter, called Richardson, who soon became
a close friend of the mate's. These two brought about a mutiny, attacked
the captain, and threw him, still alive, over the side to drown. Coyle was
elected captain, and they sailed as pirates, in which capacity they were a
disgrace to an ancient calling. After a visit to Minorca, which ended with
ignominy, they sailed to Tunis, where Coyle told such a plausible yarn as
to deceive the Governor into believing that he had been the master of a
vessel lost in a storm off the coast of Sardinia. The pirates were
supplied with money by the British Consul in Tunis; but Coyle, while in
his cups, talked too freely, so that the true story of his doings got to
the Consul's ears, who had him arrested and sent to London to be lodged in
the Marshalsea Prison. Tried at the Old Bailey, he was sentenced to death,
and was hanged at Execution Dock on January 25th, 1738.
CRACKERS, CAPTAIN.
A retired pirate who settled at Sierra Leone, and was living there in
1721. He had been famous in his day, having robbed and plundered many a
ship. He owned the best house in the settlement, and was distinguished by
having three cannons placed before his door, which he was accustomed to
fire salutes from whenever a pirate ship arrived or left the port. He was
the soul of hospitality and good fellowship, and kept open-house for all
pirates, buccaneers, and privateersmen.
CRISS, CAPTAIN JOHN, _alias_ "JACK THE BACHELOR."
A native of Lorne in the North of Ireland.
His father was a fisherman, and little Jack used to go out with him, and
then help him sell his fish at Londonderry. The lad grew up into a bold
and handsome young fellow, "and many a girl cocked cap at him and he had
great success amongst the ladies, and intrigued with every woman that gave
him any encouragement."
Tiring of the monotony and low profits of a fisherman's calling, Jack
turned smuggler, carrying cargoes of contraband goods from Guernsey to
Ireland. Making a tidy sum at this, he bought himself a French galliot,
and sailing from Cork, he began to take vessels off the coast of France,
selling them at Cherbourg. The young pirate took no risks of information
leaking out, for he drowned all his prisoners. Cruising in the
Mediterranean, Criss met with his usual success, and, not content with
taking ships, he plundered the seaport of Amalfi on the coast of Calabria.
Calling at Naples, Criss put up at the Ferdinand Hotel, where one morning
he was found dead in his bed. It was discovered afterwards that, in spite
of his nickname, he was married to three wives.
CULLEN, ANDREW.
Of Cork in Ireland.
Brother of Pierce Cullen. One of the crew of Captain Roche's ship. After
the crew had mutinied and turned pirate he posed as the supercargo.
CULLEN, PIERCE.
Of Cork in Ireland.
One of Captain Philip Roche's gang.
CULLIFORD, CAPTAIN, of the _Mocha_.
A Madagascar pirate.
Little is known of him except that one day in the streets of London he
recognized and denounced another pirate called Burgess.
CUMBERLAND, GEORGE, THIRD EARL OF, 1558-1605.
M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge.
After taking his degree at Cambridge he migrated to Oxford for the purpose
of studying geography.
So many books have been written about this picturesque and daring
adventurer that it is not necessary to do more than mention his name here,
as being perhaps the finest example of a buccaneer that ever sacked a
Spanish town.
He led twelve voyages to the Spanish Main, fitting them out at his own
expense, and encountering the same dangers and hardships as his meanest
seaman.
He married in 1577 at the age of nineteen, and sailed on his first voyage
in 1586. Cumberland was greatly esteemed by Queen Elizabeth, and always
wore in his hat a glove which she had given him.
There is sufficient evidence to show that the Earl was not prompted to
spend his life and fortune on buccaneering voyages merely by greed of
plunder, but was chiefly inspired by intense love of his country, loyalty
to his Queen, and bitter hatred of the Spaniards.
CUNNINGHAM, CAPTAIN WILLIAM.
Had his headquarters at New Providence Island, in the Bahamas. Refused the
royal offer of pardon to the pirates in 1717, and was later caught and
hanged.
CUNNINGHAM, PATRICK.
Found guilty at Newport in 1723, but reprieved.
CURTICE, JOSEPH.
One of Captain Teach's crew in the _Queen Ann's Revenge_. Killed on
November 22nd, 1718, off the coast of North Carolina.
DAMPIER, CAPTAIN WILLIAM. Buccaneer, explorer, and naturalist.
Born at East Coker in the year 1652.
Brought up at first to be a shopkeeper, a life he detested, he was in 1669
apprenticed to a ship belonging to Weymouth, and his first voyage was to
France. In the same year he sailed to Newfoundland, but finding the bitter
cold unbearable, he returned to England. His next voyage, which he called
"a warm one," was to the East Indies, in the _John and Martha_, and suited
him better.
Many books have been written recounting the voyages of Dampier, but none
of these are better reading than his own narrative, published by James and
John Knapton in London. This popular book ran into many editions, the best
being the fourth, published in 1729, in four volumes. These volumes are
profusely illustrated by maps and rough charts, and also with crude cuts,
which are intended to portray the more interesting and strange animals,
birds, fishes, and insects met with in his voyages round the globe.
In 1673 Dampier enlisted as a seaman in the _Royal Prince_, commanded by
the famous Sir Edward Spragge, and fought in the Dutch war.
A year later he sailed to Jamaica in the _Content_, to take up a post as
manager of a plantation belonging to a Colonel Hellier. His restless
spirit soon revolted against this humdrum life on a plantation, and
Dampier again went to sea, sailing in a small trading vessel amongst the
islands.
Dampier's first step towards buccaneering was taken when he shipped
himself on a small ketch which was sailing from Port Royal to load logwood
at the Bay of Campeachy. This was an illegal business, as the Spanish
Government claimed the ownership of all that coast, and did their best to
prevent the trade. Dampier found some 250 Englishmen engaged in cutting
the wood, which they exchanged for rum. Most of these men were buccaneers
or privateers, who made a living in this way when out of a job afloat.
When a ship came into the coast, these men would think nothing of coming
aboard and spending thirty and forty pounds on rum and punch at a single
drinking bout.
Dampier returned afterwards to take up logwood cutting himself, but met
with little success, and went off to Beef Island. He had by this time
begun to take down notes of all that appeared to him of interest,
particularly objects of natural history. For example, he described, in his
own quaint style, an animal he found in this island.
"The Squash is a four-footed Beast, bigger than a Cat. Its Head is much
like a Foxes, with short Ears and a long Nose. It has pretty short Legs
and sharp Claws, by which it will run up trees like a Cat. The flesh is
good, sweet, wholesome Meat. We commonly skin and roast it; and then we
call it pig; and I think it eats as well. It feeds on nothing but good
Fruit; therefore we find them most among the Sapadillo-Trees. This
Creature never rambles very far, and being taken young, will become as
tame as a Dog, and be as roguish as a Monkey."
Dampier's first act of actual piracy was when he joined in an attack on
the Spanish fort of Alvarado, but although the fort was taken, the
townspeople had time to escape with all their valuables before the pirates
could reach them. Returning to England in 1678, he did not remain long at
home, for in the beginning of 1679 he sailed for Jamaica in a vessel named
the _Loyal Merchant_. Shortly after reaching the West Indies, he chanced
to meet with several well-known buccaneers, including Captains Coxon,
Sawkins, and Sharp. Joining with these, he sailed on March 25th, 1679, for
the Province of Darien, "to pillage and plunder these parts." Dampier says
strangely little about his adventures for the next two years, but a full
description of them is given by Ringrose in his "Dangerous Voyage and Bold
Adventures of Captain Sharp and Others in the South Sea," published as an
addition to the "History of the Buccaneers of America" in 1684.
This narrative tells how the buccaneers crossed the isthmus and attacked
and defeated the Spanish Fleet off Panama City. After the death of their
leader, Sawkins, the party split up, and Dampier followed Captain Sharp on
his "dangerous and bold voyage" in May, 1680.
In April, 1681, after various adventures up and down the coast of Peru and
Chile, further quarrels arose amongst the buccaneers, and a party of
malcontents, of which number Dampier was one, went off on their own
account in a launch and two canoes from the Island of Plate, made famous
by Drake, and landed on the mainland near Cape San Lorenzo. The march
across the Isthmus of Darien has been amusingly recounted by the surgeon
of the party, Lionel Wafer, in his book entitled "A New Voyage and
Description of the Isthmus of America," published in London in 1699.
[Illustration: A PAGE FROM THE LOG-BOOK OF CAPTAIN DAMPIER.
To face p. 98.]
On reaching the Atlantic, Dampier found some buccaneer ships and joined
them, arriving at Virginia in July, 1682. In this country he resided for a
year, but tells little about it beyond hinting that great troubles befell
him. In April, 1683, he joined a privateer vessel, the _Revenge_, but
directly she was out of sight of land the crew turned pirates, which had
been their intention all along. Two good narratives have been written of
this voyage, one by Dampier, and the other by Cowley, the sailing-master.
This venture ended in the famous circumnavigation of the world, and
Dampier described every object of interest he met with, including the
country and natives of the north coast of Australia, which had never been
visited before by Europeans. Dampier must have found it very difficult to
keep his journal so carefully and regularly, particularly in his early
voyages, when he was merely a seaman before the mast or a petty officer.
He tells us that he carried about with him a long piece of hollow bamboo,
in which he placed his manuscript for safe keeping, waxing the ends to
keep out the sea water.
After almost endless adventures and hardships, he arrived back in England
in September, 1691, after a voyage of eight years, and an absence from
England of twelve, without a penny piece in his pocket, nor any other
property except his unfortunate friend Prince Jeoly, whom he sold on his
arrival in the Thames, to supply his own immediate wants. Dampier's next
voyage was in the year 1699, when he was appointed to command H.M.S.
_Roebuck_, of twelve guns and a crew of fifty men and boys, and victualled
for twenty months' cruise. The object of this voyage was to explore and
map the new continent to the south of the East Indies which Dampier had
discovered on his previous voyage. Had he in this next voyage taken the
westward course, as he originally intended, and sailed to Australia round
the Horn, it is possible that Dampier would have made many of the
discoveries for which James Cook afterwards became so famous, and by
striking the east coast of Australia would very likely have antedated the
civilisation of that continent by fifty years. But he was persuaded,
partly by his timid crew, and perhaps in some measure by his own dislike
of cold temperatures, to sail by the eastward route and to double the Cape
of Good Hope. The story of this voyage is given by Dampier in his book,
published in 1709, "A Voyage to New Holland, etc., in the Year 1699."
After spending some unprofitable weeks on the north coast of Australia,
failing to find water or to make friends with the aboriginals, scurvy
broke out amongst his somewhat mutinous crew, and he sailed to New Guinea,
the coast of which he saw on New Year's Day, 1700.
By this time the _Roebuck_ was falling to pieces, her wood rotten, her
hull covered with barnacles. Eventually, using the pumps day and night,
they arrived, on February 21st, 1701, at Ascension Island, where the old
ship sank at her anchors. Getting ashore with their belongings, they
waited on this desolate island until April 3rd, when four ships arrived,
three of them English men-of-war.
I was told, only the other day, by a friend who lives in the Island of St.
Helena, and whose duties take him at least once each year to Ascension
Island, that a story still survives amongst the inhabitants of these
islands that there is hidden somewhere in the sandhills a treasure, which
Dampier is believed to have put there for safe keeping, but for some
reason never removed. But poor Dampier never came by a treasure in this or
any other of his voyages, and though the legend is a pleasant one, it is a
legend and nothing more. Dampier went on board one of the men-of-war, the
_Anglesea_, with thirty-five of his crew. Taken to Barbadoes, he there
procured a berth in another vessel, the _Canterbury_, in which he sailed
to England.
Dampier had now made so great a name for himself by his two voyages round
the globe that he was granted a commission by Prince George of Denmark to
sail as a privateer in the _St. George_, to prey on French and Spanish
ships, the terms being: "No purchase, no pay." Sailing as his consort was
the _Cinque Ports_, whose master was Alexander Selkirk, the original of
Robinson Crusoe. This voyage, fully recounted in Dampier's book, is a long
tale of adventure, hardship, and disaster, and the explorer eventually
returned to England a beggar. However, his travels made a great stir, and
he was allowed to kiss the Queen's hand and to have the honour of relating
his adventures to her.
Dampier's last voyage was in the capacity of pilot or navigating officer
to Captain Woodes Rogers in the _Duke_, which sailed with another Bristol
privateer, the _Duchess_, in 1708. The interesting narrative of this
successful voyage is told by Rogers in his book, "A Cruising Voyage Round
the World," etc., published in 1712. Another account was written by the
captain of the _Duchess_, Edward Cooke, and published in the same year.
This last voyage round the world ended at Erith on October 14th, 1711, and
was the only one in which Dampier returned with any profit other than to
his reputation as an explorer and navigator.
Dampier was now fifty-nine years of age, and apparently never went to sea
again. In fact, he henceforth disappears from the stage altogether, and is
supposed to have died in Colman Street in London, in the year 1715. Of
Dampier's early life in England little is known, except that he owned, at
one time, a small estate in Somersetshire, and that in 1678 he married "a
young woman out of the family of the Duchess of Grafton." There is an
interesting picture of Dampier in the National Portrait Gallery, painted
by T. Murray, and I take this opportunity to thank the directors for
their kind permission to reproduce this portrait.
One other book Dampier wrote, called a "Discourse of Winds," an
interesting work, and one which added to the author's reputation as a
hydrographer. There is little doubt that Defoe was inspired by the
experiences and writings of Dampier, not only in his greatest work,
"Robinson Crusoe," but also in "Captain Singleton," "Colonel Jack," "A New
Voyage Round the World," and many of the maritime incidents in "Roxana"
and "Moll Flanders."
DAN, JOSEPH.
One of Avery's crew. Turned King's witness at his trial in 1696, and was
not hanged.
DANIEL, CAPTAIN. A French filibuster.
The name of this bloodthirsty pirate will go down to fame as well as
notoriety by his habit of combining piracy with strict Church discipline.
Harling recounts an example of this as follows, the original account of
the affair being written by a priest, M. Labat, who seems to have had
rather a weak spot in his heart for the buccaneer fraternity:
"Captain Daniel, in need of provisions, anchored one night off one of the
'Saintes,' small islands near Dominica, and landing without opposition,
took possession of the house of the curé and of some other inhabitants of
the neighbourhood. He carried the curé and his people on board his ship
without offering them the least violence, and told them that he merely
wished to buy some wine, brandy and fowls. While these were being
gathered, Daniel requested the curé to celebrate Mass, which the poor
priest dared not refuse. So the necessary sacred vessels were sent for and
an altar improvised on the deck for the service, which they chanted to the
best of their ability. As at Martinique, the Mass was begun by a
discharge of artillery, and after the Exaudiat and prayer for the King,
was closed by a loud 'Vive la Roi!' from the throats of the buccaneers. A
single incident, however, somewhat disturbed the devotions. One of the
buccaneers, remaining in an indecent attitude during the Elevation, was
rebuked by the captain, and instead of heeding the correction, replied
with an impertinence and a fearful oath. Quick as a flash Daniel whipped
out his pistol and shot the buccaneer through the head, adjuring God that
he would do as much to the first who failed in his respect to the Holy
Sacrifice. The shot was fired close by the priest, who, as we can readily
imagine, was considerably agitated. 'Do not be troubled, my father,' said
Daniel; 'he is a rascal lacking in his duty and I have punished him to
teach him better.'" A very efficacious means, remarks Labat, of preventing
his falling into another like mistake. After the Mass the body of the dead
man was thrown into the sea, and the curé was recompensed for his pains by
some goods out of their stock and the present of a negro slave.
DANIEL, STEPHEN.
One of Captain Teach's crew. Hanged for piracy in Virginia in 1718.
DANSKER, CAPTAIN.
A Dutch pirate who cruised in the Mediterranean in the sixteenth century,
using the North African coast as his base. He joined the Moors and turned
Mohammedan. In 1671 Admiral Sir Edward Spragge was with a fleet at Bougie
Bay, near Algiers, where, after a sharp fight, he burnt and destroyed a
big fleet of the Moorish pirates, amongst those killed being the renegade
Dansker.
DARBY, JOHN.
A Marblehead fisherman, one of the crew of the ketch _Mary_, of Salem,
captured by Captain Pound. He joined the pirates, and was killed at
Tarpaulin Cove.
DAVIS, CAPTAIN EDWARD. Buccaneer and pirate.
Flourished from 1683-1702. According to Esquemiling, who knew Davis
personally, his name was John, but some authorities call him Edward, the
name he is given in the "Dictionary of National Biography."
In 1683 Davis was quartermaster to Captain Cook when he took the ship of
Captain Tristian, a French buccaneer, of Petit Guave in the West Indies.
Sailed north to cruise off the coast of Virginia. From there he sailed
across the Atlantic to West Africa, and at Sierra Leone came upon a Danish
ship of thirty-six guns, which he attacked and took. The pirates shifted
their crew into this ship, christening her the _Bachelor's Delight_, and
sailed for Juan Fernandez in the South Pacific, arriving there in March,
1684. Here they met with Captain Brown, in the _Nicholas_, and together
sailed to the Galapagos Islands. About this time Captain Cook died, and
Davis was elected captain in his place. Cruising along the coasts of Chile
and Peru, they sacked towns and captured Spanish ships. On November 3rd
Davis landed, and burnt the town of Paita. Their principal plan was to
waylay the Spanish Fleet on its voyage to Panama. This fleet arrived off
the Bay of Panama on May 28th, 1685, but the buccaneers were beaten and
were lucky to escape with their lives. At the Gulf of Ampalla, Davis had
to put his sick on shore, as spotted fever raged amongst the crew. Davis
then cruised for a while with the buccaneer Knight, sacking several
towns.
Deciding to return to the West Indies with their plunder, several of the
crew, who had lost all their share by gambling, were left, at their own
request, on the Island of Juan Fernandez. Davis then sailed round the
Horn, arriving safely at Jamaica with a booty of more than 50,000 pieces
of eight, besides quantities of plate and jewels.
At Port Royal, after he had accepted the offer of pardon of King James
II., Davis sailed to Virginia and settled down at Point Comfort. We hear
no more of him for the next fourteen years, until July 24th, 1702, when he
sailed from Jamaica in the _Blessing_ (Captain Brown; twenty guns,
seventy-nine men), to attack the town of Tolu on the Spanish Main, which
was plundered and burnt. Davis next sailed to the Samballoes, and, guided
by the Indians, who were friendly to the buccaneers, but hated the
Spaniards, they attacked the gold-mines, where, in spite of most cruel
tortures, they got but little gold. The crew next attacked Porto Bello,
but found little worth stealing in that much harassed town.
Davis is chiefly remarkable for having commanded his gang of ruffians in
the Pacific for nearly four years. To do this he must have been a man of
extraordinary personality and bravery, for no other buccaneer or pirate
captain ever remained in uninterrupted power for so long a while, with the
exception of Captain Bartholomew Roberts.
DAVIS, CAPTAIN HOWEL.
This Welsh pirate was born at Milford in Monmouthshire. He went to sea as
a boy, and eventually sailed as chief mate in the _Cadogan_ snow, of
Bristol, to the Guinea Coast. His ship was taken off Sierra Leone by the
pirate England, and the captain murdered. Davis turned pirate, and was
given command of this old vessel, the _Cadogan_, in which to go "on the
account." But the crew refused to turn pirate, and sailed the ship to
Barbadoes, and there handed Davis over to the Governor, who imprisoned him
for three months and then liberated him. As no one on the island would
offer him employment, Davis went to New Providence Island, the stronghold
of the West India pirates.
Arrived there, he found that Captain Woodes Rogers had only lately come
from England with an offer of a royal pardon, which most of the pirates
had availed themselves of. Davis got employment under the Governor, on
board the sloop, the _Buck_, to trade goods with the French and Spanish
settlements. The crew was composed of the very recently reformed pirates,
and no sooner was the sloop out of sight of land than they mutinied and
seized the vessel, Davis being voted captain, on which occasion, over a
bowl of punch in the great cabin, the new captain made an eloquent speech,
finishing by declaring war against the whole world. Davis proved himself
an enterprising and successful pirate chief, but preferred, whenever
possible, to use strategy and cunning rather than force to gain his ends.
His first prize was a big French ship, which, although Davis had only a
small sloop and a crew of but thirty-five men, he managed to take by a
bold and clever trick. After taking a few more ships in the West Indies,
Davies sailed across the Atlantic to the Island of St. Nicholas in the
Cape Verde Islands. Here he and his crew were a great social success,
spending weeks on shore as the guests of the Governor and chief
inhabitants. When Davis reluctantly left this delightful spot, five of his
crew were missing, "being so charmed with the Luxuries of the Place, and
the Conversation of some Women, that they stayed behind."
Davis now went cruising and took a number of vessels, and arrived
eventually at St. Jago. The Portuguese Governor of this island did not
take at all kindly to his bold visitor, and was blunt enough to say he
suspected Davis of being a pirate. This suspicion his crew took exception
to, and they decided they could not let such an insult pass, so that very
night they made a sudden attack on the fort, taking and plundering it.
Davis sailed away next morning to the coast and anchored off the Castle of
Gambia, which was strongly held for the African Company by the Governor
and a garrison of English soldiers. Davis, nothing daunted, proposed to
his merry men a bold and ingenious stratagem by which they could take the
castle, and, the crew agreeing, it was carried out with so much success
that they soon had the castle, Governor, and soldiers in their possession,
as well as a rich spoil of bars of gold; and all these without a solitary
casualty on either side. After this brilliant coup, many of the soldiers
joined the pirates. The pirates were attacked shortly afterwards by a
French ship commanded by Captain La Bouse, but on both ships hoisting
their colours, the Jolly Roger, they understood each other and
fraternized, and then sailed together to Sierra Leone, where they attacked
a tall ship they found lying there at anchor. This ship also proved to be
a pirate, commanded by one Captain Cocklyn, so the three joined forces and
assaulted the fort, which, after a sharp bombardment, surrendered. Davis
was then elected commander of the pirate fleet, but one night, when
entertaining the other captains in his cabin, all having drunk freely of
punch, they started to quarrel, and blows were threatened, when Davis,
with true Celtic eloquence, hiccupped out the following speech:
"Hearke ye, you Cocklyn and La Bouse. I find by strengthening you I have
put a rod into your Hands to whip myself, but I'm still able to deal with
you both; but since we met in Love, let us part in Love, for I find that
three of a Trade can never agree." Alone once more, Davis had prodigious
success, taking prize after prize, amongst others the _Princess_, the
second mate in which was one Roberts, soon to become a most famous pirate.
Off Anamaboe he took a very rich prize, a Hollander ship, on board of
which was the Governor of Accra and his retinue, as well as £15,000
sterling and rich merchandise. Arriving next at the Portuguese Island of
Princes, Davis posed as an English man-of-war in search of pirates, and
was most warmly welcomed by the Governor, who received him in person with
a guard of honour and entertained him most hospitably. Davis heard that
the Governor and the chief persons of the island had sent their wives to a
village a few miles away, so the pirate and a few chosen spirits decided
to pay a surprise visit on these ladies. However, the ladies, on
perceiving their gallant callers, shrieked and ran into the woods and, in
fact, made such a hullabaloo that the English Don Juans were glad to slink
away, and "the Thing made some noise, but not being known was passed
over."
Davis, ever a cunning rogue, now formed a pretty scheme to take the
Governor and chief inhabitants prisoners and to hold them for a big
ransom. This plan was spoilt by a Portuguese slave swimming to shore and
telling the Governor all about it, and worse, telling him about the little
affair of Davis and his visit to the ladies in the wood. The Governor now
laid his plans, and with such success that Davis walked unsuspecting into
the trap, and was "shot in the bowels," but it is some consolation to know
that he "dyed like a game Cock," as he shot two of the Portuguese with his
pistols as he fell.
Thus died a man noted during his lifetime by his contemporaries for his
"affability and good nature," which only goes to show how one's point of
view is apt to be influenced by circumstances.
DAVIS, GABRIEL.
Tried for piracy at the Star Tavern in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1704.
DAVIS, WILLIAM.
A Welshman.
Arrived at Sierra Leone in honest employ in the _Ann_ galley. Quarrelling
with the mate, whom he beat, he deserted his ship and went to live ashore
with the negroes, one of whom he married, with whom he settled down. One
evening, the weather being hot, and Davis being very thirsty, he sold his
bride for some punch. His wife's relations, being indignant, seized Davis,
who told them, being, perhaps, still a little under the influence of the
punch, that he did not care if they took his head off. But his "in-laws"
knew a more profitable way of being revenged than that, and sold him to
Seignior Joffee, a Christian black. Soon afterwards Captain Roberts, in
the _Royal Fortune_, arrived in the bay, and Davis ran away and joined the
pirates.
Hanged at the age of 23.
DAWES. Corsair.
An English renegade.
When Roberts was cast away on June 12th, 1692, in Nio, a small island in
the Grecian Archipelago, in His Majesty's hired ship the _Arcana_ galley,
most of the crew escaped in a French prize they had taken. Roberts
remained behind, hoping to save some of his valuables, which were in the
_Arcana_. But on June 15th a crusal, or corsair, appeared in the harbour,
which Roberts's five companions went on board of. Various designs were
made by the corsair captain to induce Roberts to come aboard. Eventually
an Englishman named Dawes (a native of Saltash in Cornwall) was sent
ashore. He had served for eight years in the corsair until taken out of
her a short time previously by the _Arcana_. Roberts writes, in his frank
style: "But Dawes, like a Dog returning to his Vomit, went on Board
again." Eventually a party of the corsair's landed under the leadership of
Dawes, and captured Roberts and carried him on board the pirate craft,
where for many years he worked as a slave.
DAWES, ROBERT.
One of the mutineers on the brig _Vineyard_ in 1830. It was the full
confession of Dawes that brought about the conviction and execution of the
ringleader, Charles Gibbs.
DAWSON, JOSEPH.
One of Captain Avery's crew of the _Charles the Second_. Tried at the Old
Bailey in 1696 for piracy, and convicted. He pleaded to be spared and to
be sent to servitude in India, but was hanged at Execution Dock.
DEAL, CAPTAIN ROBERT.
Mate to Captain Vane in 1718. He was very active off the coast of Carolina
and New England, taking many prizes. In November, 1718, when cruising
between Cape Meise and Cape Nicholas, on the lookout for ships, he met
with and fired on a vessel that appeared to be a merchantman, at the same
time running up the Jolly Roger. The apparently peaceful merchantman
replied with a broadside, and proved to be a French man-of-war. A quarrel
took place amongst the pirates, Vane and some of the crew, including
Deal, being for running away for safety, while the rest, headed by Rackam,
were in favour of fighting it out. Vane insisted on their escaping, which
they did, but next day he, Deal, and some others were turned out of the
ship and sent away on their own in a small sloop. Deal was put in command
of this sloop, but was soon afterwards captured by an English man-of-war
and brought to Jamaica, where he was tried, convicted, and hanged.
DEANE, CAPTAIN JOHN. Buccaneer.
Commanded the _St. David_. He was accused by the Governor of Jamaica in
1676 of having held up a ship called the _John Adventure_ and of taking
out of her several pipes of wine and a cable worth £100, and of forcibly
carrying the vessel to Jamaica. Deane was also reported for wearing Dutch,
French, and Spanish colours without commission, and was tried and
condemned to suffer death as a pirate. Owing to various legal, or illegal,
quibbles, Deane was reprieved.
DEDRAN, LE CAPITAINE. A French filibuster of French Domingo.
Commanded, in 1684, the _Chasseur_ (120 men, 20 guns).
DEIGLE, RICHARD.
An Elizabethan pirate. Wrecked in the _John of Sandwich_ at Alderney in
1564, when he was arrested, but escaped in a small boat.
DELANDER, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.
Commanded a _chatas_, or small coasting craft. He was sent by Morgan ahead
of the main body when, in January, 1671, he marched from San Lorenzo on
his great assault on Panama.
DELIZUFF. Barbary corsair.
In 1553, while Barbarossa was sailing from Algiers to Constantinople, he
was joined by Delizuff with a fleet of eighteen pirate vessels.
Delizuff was killed in an affair at the Island of Biba, and, the crews of
the two corsairs quarrelling, the ships of Delizuff stole away one dark
night.
DELVE, JONATHAN.
One of Captain Lowther's crew in the _Happy Delivery_. Was hanged at St.
Kitts in 1722.
DEMPSTER, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.
In 1668 he was in command of several vessels and 300 men, blockading
Havana.
DENNIS, HENRY.
Of Bideford in Devonshire.
At first a pirate with Captain Davis, he afterwards joined Captain
Roberts's crew. Was tried for piracy at Cape Coast Castle in 1722, and
found guilty, but for some reason was reprieved and sold for seven years
to serve the Royal African Company on their plantations.
DERDRAKE, CAPTAIN JOHN, _alias_ JACK OF THE BALTIC. A Danish pirate, of
Copenhagen.
When a carpenter in the King's Dockyard at Copenhagen he was dismissed for
drunkenness. After making a few voyages to London as a ship's carpenter,
his parents died and left their son a fortune of 10,000 rix-dollars. With
this money Derdrake built himself a fast sailing brig sheathed with
copper, and for a while traded in wood between Norway and London. Becoming
impatient of the smallness of the profits in this trade, he offered his
services and ship to Peter the Great. This monarch, as was his custom,
examined the ship in person, and, approving of her, bought her, and at the
same time appointed Derdrake to be a master shipwright in the royal
dockyards on the Neva. The carpenter, always a man of violent temper, one
day quarrelled with one of his superiors, seized an axe, and slew him. His
ship then happening to be in the roads, Derdrake hurried on board her and
made sail, and went off with the cargo, which he sold in London. Arming
his vessel with twelve guns, he sailed for Norway, but on the way he was
attacked by a big Russian man-of-war. The Russian was defeated and
surrendered, and Derdrake went into her in place of his own smaller ship,
giving his new craft the ominous name of the _Sudden Death_. With a fine,
well-armed ship and a crew of seventy desperadoes, one-half English, and
the rest Norwegian and Danish, he now definitely turned pirate. Lying in
wait for English and Russian ships carrying goods to Peter the Great, the
pirates took many valuable prizes, with cargoes consisting of fittings for
ships, arms, and warm woollen clothing. For these he found a ready market
in Sweden, where no questions were asked and "cash on delivery" was the
rule.
Derdrake drowned all his prisoners, and was one of the very few pirates,
other than those found in works of fiction, who forced his victims to
"walk the plank." Not long afterwards the pirates met with and fought an
armed Swedish vessel, which was defeated, but the captain and crew escaped
in the long-boat, and, getting to shore, spread the tidings of the
pirates' doings. On hearing the news, the Governor of St. Petersburg,
General Shevelling, sent out two ships to search for and take the pirates,
offering a reward of 4,000 rix-dollars for Derdrake's head. The pirates
had just heard of this when they happened to take a Russian vessel bound
for Cronstadt, on board of which was a passenger, a sister of the very
General Shevelling. This poor lady, after being reproached by the pirates
for her brother's doings, was stabbed to death in the back by Derdrake. At
this time there was aboard the _Sudden Death_ a Danish sailor, who, having
been severely flogged for being drunk at sea, shammed sickness and
pretended to have lost the use of his limbs. The captain was deceived, and
sent the sailor, well supplied with money, to a country house at Drontheim
in Sweden, to recover. No sooner had Jack of the Baltic left than the
Danish sailor set off post-haste for St. Petersburg, where he saw the
Governor and told him of his sister's murder, and also that the pirates
were to be found at Strothing in Sweden. Two well-armed vessels were
immediately despatched, which, finding the _Sudden Death_ at anchor,
fought and sunk her, though unfortunately Derdrake was on shore and so
escaped; but the whole crew were hung up alive by hooks fixed in their
ribs and sent to drift down the Volga. Derdrake, who had a large sum of
money with him, bought an estate near Stralsund, and lived there in luxury
for fourteen years, until one day, a servant having robbed him of a sum of
money, Derdrake followed him to Stockholm, where he was recognized by the
captain of the Swedish ship who had first given information against him,
and the pirate was at once arrested, tried, and hanged.
DEW, CAPTAIN GEORGE.
Of Bermuda.
He commanded a Bermuda ship and sailed in company with Captain Tew, when
they were caught in a storm off that island, and Captain Dew, having
sprung his mast, was compelled to put back to the island for repairs.
Captain Tew continued his journey to Africa, but what became of Captain
Dew is not known.
DIABOLITO.
A Central American pirate who became very famous in the early part of the
last century. Commanded the _Catalina_ in 1823 off the coast of Cuba.
DIEGO, or DIEGO GRILLO.
A mulatto of Havana.
After the general amnesty to pirates, given in 1670, Diego, Thurston, and
others continued to attack Spanish ships and to carry their prizes to
their lair at Tortuga Island. Diego commanded a vessel carrying fifteen
guns. He succeeded in defeating three armed ships in the Bahama Channel,
which had been sent to take him, and he massacred all the Spaniards of
European birth that he found among the crews. He was caught in 1673 and
hanged.
DIPPER, HENRY.
One of the English soldiers who deserted from the Fort Loyal, Falmouth,
Maine, and joined Captain Pound, the pirate. Killed in the fight at
Tarpaulin Cove in 1689.
DOLE, FRANCIS.
Was one of Hore's crew. Lived with his wife, when not "on the account," at
his house at Charleston, near Boston. The pirate Gillam was found hiding
there by the Governor's search-party on the night of November 11th, 1699.
Dole was committed to gaol at Boston.
DOROTHY, JOHN.
One of Captain John Quelch's crew. Tried for piracy at Boston in June,
1704.
DOVER, DOCTOR THOMAS.
Born 1660; died 1742.
This many-sided character was educated at Caius College, Cambridge, where
he took the degree of Bachelor of Medicine. Many years afterwards, in
1721, the Royal College of Physicians made him a licentiate. For many
years Dover practised as a physician at Bristol, until the year 1708, when
he sailed from Bristol as "second captain" to Captain Woodes Rogers, with
the _Duke_ and the _Duchess_, two privateer ships fitted out for a South
Sea cruise by some Bristol merchants. Dover had no knowledge whatever of
navigation, but, having a considerable share in the adventure, he insisted
on being given a command. Sailing round the Horn, the two ships arrived,
on the night of February 1st, 1709, off the Island of Juan Fernandez,
where they observed a light. Next morning Dover went ashore in a boat, to
find and rescue the solitary inhabitant of the island, Alexander Selkirk,
the original of Robinson Crusoe. Sailing north, a Spanish ship was taken
and rechristened the _Bachelor_, and Dover was put in command of her. He
sacked Guayaquil in April, 1709, many of the crew contracting plague from
sleeping in a church where some bodies had recently been buried. Dover
undertook to treat the sick with most heroic measures, bleeding each sick
man and drawing off 100 ounces of blood.
He also took the famous _Acapulco_ ship, with a booty worth more than a
million pounds sterling. Dover returned to Bristol in October, 1711, with
a prize of great value, after sailing round the world.
Giving up piracy, he settled in practice in London, seeing his patients
daily at the Jerusalem Coffee-house in Cecil Street, Strand. He wrote a
book called "The Ancient Physician's Legacy to His Country," which ran
into seven or eight editions, in which he strongly recommended the
administration of large doses of quicksilver for almost every malady that
man is subject to. This book won him the nickname of the "Quicksilver
Doctor." He invented a diaphoretic powder containing ipecacuanha and
opium, which is used to this day, and is still known as Dover's powder.
Dover died at the age of 82, in the year 1742, and should always be
remembered for having invented Dover's powders, commanded a company of
Marines, rescued Alexander Selkirk, written a most extraordinary medical
book, and for having been a successful pirate captain.
DOWLING, CAPTAIN WILLIAM.
Of New Providence, Bahamas.
Hanged for piracy in the early part of the eighteenth century.
DRAGUT. Barbary corsair.
Started life as a pirate, and was eventually put in command of twelve
large galleys by Kheyr-ed-din. Pillaged and burnt many towns on the
Italian coast, and destroyed ships without number. Was taken prisoner by
the younger Doria, and condemned to row in the galleys for four years
until ransomed for 3,000 ducats by Kheyr-ed-din. Appointed Admiral of the
Ottoman Fleet. Ended a bloodthirsty but very successful career in 1565 by
being killed at the Siege of Malta.
DRAKE, SIR FRANCIS.
Born about 1540.
The life of the famous Admiral is too well known to require more than a
bare notice in these pages. Although the Spaniards called him "the
Pirate," he was more strictly a buccaneer in his early voyages, when he
sailed with the sole object of spoiling the Spaniards. His first command
was the _Judith_, in John Hawkins's unfortunate expedition in 1567. Drake
made several voyages from Plymouth to the West Indies and the Spanish
Main.
In 1572 he burnt Porto Bello, and a year later sacked Vera Cruz. He served
with the English Army in Ireland under Lord Essex in 1574 and 1575. In
1578 he sailed through the Straits of Magellan, plundered Valparaiso, and
also captured a great treasure ship from Acapulco. Sailing from America,
he crossed the Pacific Ocean, passed through the Indian Archipelago,
rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived at Deptford in England in 1581.
At the conclusion of this voyage he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth, being
the first Englishman to sail round the world. Drake's voyages after this
were sailed under commission and letters of marque, and so lose any stigma
of being buccaneering adventures.
Drake died at Porto Bello in the year 1596.
DROMYOWE, PETER. A Breton pirate.
One of the crew of Captain du Laerquerac, who in 1537 took several English
ships in the Bristol Channel.
DRUMMOND, _alias_ TEACH, THATCH, or BLACKBEARD.
DUNBAR, NICHOLAS. Pirate.
One of the crew of the brigantine _Charles_ (Captain Quelch). Tried for
piracy at Boston in 1704.
DUNKIN, GEORGE.
Of Glasgow.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew. Hanged at Charleston, South Carolina, in
November, 1718. Buried in the marsh below low-water mark.
DUNN, WILLIAM.
One of Captain Pound's crew.
DUNTON, CAPTAIN.
A citizen of London, taken prisoner by the Sallee pirates in 1636. Being a
good navigator and seaman, and the Moorish pirates being as yet
inexperienced in the management of sailing ships, Dunton was put into a
Sallee ship as pilot and master, with a crew of twenty-one Moors and five
Flemish renegadoes. He was ordered to go to the English coast to capture
Christian prisoners. When off Hurst Castle, near the Needles in the Isle
of Wight, his ship was seized and the crew carried to Winchester to stand
their trial for piracy. Dunton was acquitted, but he never saw his little
son of 10 years old, as he was still a slave in Algiers.
EASTON, CAPTAIN.
Joined the Barbary pirates in the sixteenth century, succeeding so well as
to become, according to John Smith, the Virginian, a "Marquesse in Savoy,"
whatever that may have been.
EASTON, CAPTAIN PETER.
One of the most notorious of the English pirates during the reign of James
I.
In the year 1611 he had forty vessels under his command. The next year he
was on the Newfoundland coast, where he plundered the shipping and fishing
settlements, stealing provisions and munitions, as well as inducing one
hundred men to join his fleet.
A year later, in 1613, he appears to have joined the English pirates who
had established themselves at Mamora on the Barbary coast.
EATON, EDWARD.
Of Wrexham in Wales.
One of Captain Harris's crew. Hanged at Newport, Rhode Island, on July
19th, 1723. Age 38.
ECHLIN.
An English pirate, of the _Two Brothers_, a Rhode Island built vessel,
commanded in 1730 by a one-armed English pirate called Captain Johnson.
EDDY, WILLIAM.
Of Aberdeen.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew. Hanged at White Point, Charleston, South
Carolina, on November 8th, 1718, and buried in the marsh below low-water
mark.
ENGLAND, CAPTAIN.
Sailing in 1718 as mate in a sloop from Jamaica, he was taken prisoner by
the pirate Captain Winter. England joined the pirates, and was given the
command of a vessel. In this ship he sailed to the coast of West Africa,
and the first prize he took was the _Cadogan_ snow (Captain Skinner), at
Sierra Leone. Some of England's crew knew Skinner, having served in his
ship, and, owing to some quarrel, had been handed over to a man-of-war,
and deprived of the wages due to them. These men afterwards deserted the
man-of-war and joined the pirates. On Captain Skinner coming aboard
England's ship, these men took him and bound him to the windlass, and then
pelted him with glass bottles, after which they whipped him up and down
the deck, eventually one of them shooting him through the head. This
brutal treatment was none of England's doing, who was generally kind to
his prisoners.
England's next prize was the _Pearl_, which he exchanged for his own
sloop; fitted her up for the "pyratical Account," and christened her the
_Royal James_. Captain England was most successful, taking a number of
prizes, which he plundered. One ship he captured so took the eye of
England that he fitted her up and changed into her, naming her the
_Victory_. This he did in the harbour at Whydah, where he met with another
pirate, called la Bouche. The two pirates and their crews spent a holiday
at this place where, according to the well-informed Captain Johnson, "they
liv'd very wantonly for several Weeks, making free with the Negroe Women
and committing such outrageous Acts, that they came to an open Rupture
with the Natives, several of whom they kill'd and one of their Towns they
set on Fire." Leaving here, no doubt to the great relief of the negroes,
it was put to the vote of the crew to decide where they should go, and the
majority were for visiting the East Indies. Rounding the Cape of Good
Hope, they arrived at Madagascar early in 1720, where they only stopped
for water and provisions, and then sailed to the coast of Malabar in
India. Here they took several country ships, and one Dutch one, but soon
returned to Madagascar, where they went on shore, living in tents, and
hunting hogs and deer. While on this island they looked for Captain
Avery's crew, but failed to discover them. While the pirates were here
they managed to take a ship commanded by a Captain Mackra, but not without
a desperate fight. The pirates were for killing Mackra, but, owing to the
efforts of Captain England, he managed to escape.
The pirates had several times complained of the weakness, or humanity, of
their commander towards his prisoners, and they now turned him out and
elected a new captain, and marooned England and three others on the
Island of Mauritius. The captain and his companions set about building a
small boat of some old staves and pieces of deal they found washed up on
the beach. When finished they sailed to Madagascar, where, when last heard
of, they were living on the charity of some other pirates.
ERNADOS, EMANUEL.
A Carolina pirate who was hanged at Charleston in 1717.
ESMIT, ADOLF.
A Danish buccaneer, who afterwards became Governor of the Danish island of
St. Thomas, one of the Virgin Islands. The population of this island
consisted of some 350 persons, most of whom were English. Esmit did all he
could to assist the pirates, paid to fit out their ships for them, gave
sanctuary to runaway servants, seamen, and debtors, and refused to restore
captured vessels. Adolf had taken advantage of his popularity with the
inhabitants to turn out his brother, who was the rightful Governor
appointed by the Danish Government.
ESSEX, CAPTAIN CORNELIUS. Buccaneer.
In December, 1679, he met with several other well-known buccaneers in four
barques and two sloops at Point Morant, and on January 7th set sail for
Porto Bello. The fleet was scattered by a terrible storm, but eventually
they all arrived at the rendezvous. Some 300 men went in canoes and landed
about twenty leagues from the town of Porto Bello, and marched for four
days along the sea-coast.
The buccaneers, "many of them were weak, being three days without any
food, and their feet cut with the rocks for want of shoes," entered the
town on February 17th, 1680. The buccaneers, with prisoners and spoil,
left the town just in time, for a party of 700 Spanish soldiers was near
at hand coming to the rescue. The share to each man came to one hundred
pieces of eight. In 1679 Essex was brought a prisoner by a frigate, the
_Hunter_, to Port Royal, and tried with some twenty of his crew for
plundering on the Jamaican coast. Essex was acquitted, but two of his crew
were hanged.
EUCALLA, DOMINGO.
A negro. Hanged at Kingston, Jamaica, on February 7th, 1823. Made a moving
harangue to the spectators from the gallows, ending with a prayer. Of the
ten pirates executed this day, Eucalla showed the greatest courage.
EVANS, CAPTAIN JOHN. Welsh pirate.
Was master of a sloop belonging to the Island of Nevis. Afterwards being
in Jamaica and out of employment, and berths being scarce, he decided to
go "on the account," and in September, 1722, rowed out of Port Royal in a
canoe with a few chosen companions. They began piracy in a small way, by
paddling along the coast and landing at night to break into a house or two
and robbing these of anything they could carry away.
At last at Dun's Hole they found what they were looking for, a small
Bermuda sloop lying at anchor. Evans stepped aboard and informed the crew
of the sloop that he was captain of their vessel, "which was a piece of
news they knew not before." Going on shore, Evans stood treat to his crew
at the village inn, spending three pistols on liquid refreshment. He so
took the fancy of the publican by his open-handed ways that he was invited
to call again. This Evans and his companions did, in the middle of the
same night, and rifled the house and took away all they could carry
aboard their sloop.
Mounting four guns and christening their little vessel the _Scowerer_,
they set sail for Hispaniola. Good luck immediately followed, as on the
very next day they took their first prize, a Spanish sloop, an
extraordinarily rich prize for her size, for the crew were able to share a
sum of £150 a man. For a while all was _coleur de rose_, prize after prize
simply falling into their hands. But an unhappy accident was soon to bring
an end to Evans's career. The boatswain was a noisy, surly fellow, and on
several occasions the captain had words with him about his disrespectful
behaviour. The boatswain on one of these occasions so far forgot himself
as not only to use ill language to his captain but to challenge him to a
fight on the next shore they came to with pistol and sword. On reaching
land the cowardly boatswain refused to go ashore or to fight, whereupon
the captain took his cane and gave him a hearty drubbing, when the
boatswain, all of a sudden drawing a pistol, shot Evans through the head,
so that he fell down dead. Thus was brought to a tragic and sudden end a
career that showed early signs of great promise. The boatswain jumped
overboard and swam for the shore, but a boat put off and brought him back
to the vessel. A trial was at once held, but the chief gunner, unable to
bear with the slow legal procedure any further, stepped forward and shot
the prisoner dead.
The crew of thirty men now shared their plunder of some £9,000 and broke
up, each going his own way.
EVERSON, CAPTAIN JACOB, _alias_ JACOBS.
In January, 1681, Sir Henry Morgan, then Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica,
received information that a famous Dutch buccaneer, Everson, was anchored
off the coast in an armed sloop, in company with a brigantine which he had
lately captured. This was more than the ex-pirate Governor could tolerate,
so he at once set out in a small vessel with fifty picked men. The sloop
was boarded at midnight, but Everson and a few others escaped by leaping
overboard and swimming to the shore. Most of the prisoners were
Englishmen, and were convicted of piracy and hanged.
EXQUEMELIN, ALEXANDER OLIVIER, or ESQUEMELING in English, OEXMELIN in
French. Buccaneer.
A surgeon with the most famous buccaneers, Exquemelin will always be known
as the historian who recorded the deeds of the buccaneers in his classic
book, "Bucaniers of America, or a true account of the assaults committed
upon the coasts of the West Indies, etc.," published by W. Cooke, London,
1684. This book was first published in Dutch at Amsterdam in 1678, then in
German in 1679, in Spanish in 1681. Since then almost innumerable editions
and reprints have appeared.
The author was a Fleming, who arrived at Tortuga Island in 1666 as an
engagé of the French West India Company. After serving for three years
under an inhuman master he became so ill that he was sold cheaply to a
surgeon. By the kind treatment of his new master Exquemelin soon regained
his health, and at the same time picked up the rudiments of the craft of
barber surgeon. He was in all the great exploits of the buccaneers, and
writes a clear, entertaining, and apparently perfectly accurate first-hand
account of these adventures. He returned to Europe in 1674, and shortly
afterwards published his book.
FALL, JOHN.
This buccaneer was one of Captain Sharp's crew. On the death of John
Hilliard, the ship's master, Fall was promoted to the larboard watch.
Nothing further is known of this man.
FARRINGTON, THOMAS.
One of John Quelch's crew on the brigantine _Charles_. Tried for piracy at
Boston in June, 1704, at the Star Tavern.
FENN, CAPTAIN JOHN.
In the year 1721 Captain Anstis took prize a stout ship, the _Morning
Star_, bound from Guiney to Carolina. This ship the pirates armed with
thirty-two pieces of cannon, manned her with a crew of one hundred men,
and placed Fenn in command, who had until then been gunner in Anstis's
ship, the _Good Fortune_. Fenn was a one-handed man. By carelessness, or
perhaps because of Fenn only having one hand, the _Morning Star_ was run
on to a reef in the Grand Caymans and lost. Fenn and a few others had just
been taken on board by his consort when two King's ships arrived, and the
_Good Fortune_ barely escaped capture.
Fenn was soon given another ship, one armed with twenty-four guns. In
April, 1723, while cleaning their ship at the Island of Tobago, they were
suddenly surprised by the arrival of a man-of-war, the _Winchelsea_.
Setting fire to their ship, the crew ran to hide in the woods. Fenn was
caught a few days later struggling through the jungle with his gunner.
FERDINANDO, LEWIS.
In 1699 he captured a sloop belonging to Samuel Salters, of Bermuda.
FERN, THOMAS.
A Newfoundland fish-splitter.
In August, 1723, joined with John Phillips in stealing a small vessel,
which they called the _Revenge_, and went "on the account." Fern was
appointed carpenter. Fern gave trouble afterwards over the promotion of a
prisoner, an old pirate called Rose Archer, to the rank of quartermaster.
Later on Fern headed a mutiny and attempted to sail off on his own in one
of the prize vessels. He was caught, brought back, and forgiven, but on
attempting to run away a second time, Captain Phillips killed him,
"pursuant to the pirates articles."
FERNON, WILLIAM.
A Somersetshire man.
Taken from a Newfoundland ship, he became a seaman aboard Bartholomew
Roberts's _Royal Fortune_. Died at the age of 22.
FIFE, CAPTAIN JAMES.
Surrendered to Governor Woodes Rogers at New Providence Island, Bahamas,
in June, 1718, and received the royal pardon to pirates. Was afterwards
killed by his own crew.
FILLMORE, JOHN.
A fisherman of Ipswich.
Taken out of the _Dolphin_ when fishing for cod off the Banks of
Newfoundland in 1724 by the pirate Captain Phillips, and forced to join
the pirates. Having no other means of escape he, with two others, suddenly
killed Phillips and two more pirates and brought the vessel into Boston
Harbour. Millard Fillmore, thirteenth President of the United States, was
the great grandson of John Fillmore.
FITZERRALD, JOHN.
Of Limerick.
This Irish pirate was hanged at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1723, at the age
of 21.
FLEMING, CAPTAIN. Pirate.
This notorious Elizabethan pirate did his country a great service by
bringing to Plymouth the first tidings of the approach of the Spanish
Armada in 1585.
To quote John Smith, the great Elizabethan traveller and the founder of
the colony of Virginia, "Fleming was an expert and as much sought for as
any pirate of the Queen's reign, yet such a friend to his Country, that
discovering the Spanish Armada, he voluntarily came to Plymouth, yielded
himself freely to my Lord Admirall, and gave him notice of the Spaniards
coming: which good warning came so happily and unexpectedly, that he had
his pardon, and a good reward."
FLETCHER, JOHN.
Of Edinburgh.
Tried at Newport, Rhode Island, for piracy in 1723, found "not guilty."
His age was only 17 years.
FLY, CAPTAIN WILLIAM. Pirate and prizefighter.
He was boatswain in the _Elizabeth_, of Bristol, in 1726, bound for
Guinea. Heading a mutiny on May 27th, he tossed the captain over the
ship's side, and slaughtered all the officers except the ship's surgeon.
Fly was unanimously elected captain by the crew. His first prize was the
_John and Hannah_ off the coast of North Carolina. The next the _John and
Betty_, Captain Gale, from Bardadoes to Guinea. After taking several other
vessels, he cruised off the coast of Newfoundland where he took a whaler.
Fly was caught by a piece of strategy on the part of the whaler captain,
who carried him and his crew in chains in their own ship to Great
Brewster, Massachusetts, in June, 1726. On July 4th Fly and the other
pirates were brought to trial at Boston, and on the 16th were executed. On
the day of execution Fly refused to go to church before the hanging to
listen to a sermon by Dr. Coleman. On the way to the gallows he bore
himself with great bravado, jumping briskly into the cart with a nosegay
in his hands bedecked with coloured ribbons like a prizefighter, smiling
and bowing to the spectators. He was hanged in chains at Nix's Mate, a
small island in Boston Harbour, and thus was brought to a close a brief
though brilliant piratical career of just one month.
FORREST, WILLIAM.
One of the mutinous crew of the _Antonio_ hanged at Boston in 1672.
FORSEITH, EDWARD.
One of Captain Avery's crew. Hanged at Execution Dock, 1696.
FOSTER. Buccaneer and poet.
Only two facts are known about this adventurer. One is that he was
reproved on a certain occasion by Morgan (who thought nothing of torturing
his captives) for "harshness" to his prisoners, and the other that he
wrote sentimental verse, particularly one work entitled "Sonneyettes of
Love."
FRANKLYN, CHARLES.
This Welsh pirate was a Monmouthshire man, and one of Captain Howel
Davis's crew. While at the Cape Verde Islands, Franklyn "was so charmed
with the luxuries of the place and the free conversation of the Women,"
that he married and settled down there.
FREEBARN, MATTHEW.
One of Captain Lowther's crew. Hanged at St. Kitts on March 11th, 1722.
FROGGE, WILLIAM. Buccaneer.
Was with Morgan in his attacks on Porto Bello and Panama in 1670. He kept
a diary of the chief events of these exploits, and distinctly states that
the Spaniards, and not Morgan, set fire to the city. But he was greatly
enraged against Morgan for cheating the buccaneers out of their plunder,
and giving each man only about £10 as his share.
FULWORTH, MRS. ANNE.
This lady accompanied Anne Bonny to New Providence Island from Carolina in
the guise of her mother. When Captain Rackam and Anne Bonny were
intriguing to run away from the latter's husband, "a pardoned pirate, a
likely young fellow and of a sober life," Mrs. Fulworth offered sympathy
and advice to the lovers. The scandal being brought to the ears of
Governor Woodes Rogers by a pirate called Richard Turnley, he sent for the
two ladies, "and examining them both upon it, and finding they could not
deny it, he threaten'd, if they proceeded further in it, to commit them
both to Prison, and order them to be whipp'd, and that Rackam, himself,
should be their Executioner."
GARCIA.
One of Gilbert's crew in the _Panda_. Hanged at Boston in June, 1835.
GARDINER.
Although at one time a pirate, by some means or other he became appointed
to the office of Deputy Collector at Boston in 1699. Accepted a bribe of
stolen gold from the pirate Gillam, which caused some gossip in the town.
GASPAR, CAPTAIN JOSÉ, _alias_ "GASPARILLA" or "RICHARD COEUR DE LION."
Was an officer of high rank in the Spanish Navy till 1782, when, having
been detected in stealing some jewels belonging to the Crown, he stole a
ship and turned pirate. Settling at Charlotte Harbour, he built a fort,
where he kept his female prisoners, all the male ones being killed. Here
he lived in regal state as king of the pirates, on Gasparilla Island. In
1801 he took a big Spanish ship forty miles from Boca Grande, killed the
crew, and took a quantity of gold and twelve young ladies. One of these
was a Spanish princess, whom he kept for himself; the eleven Mexican girls
he gave to his crew.
Gaspar was described as having polished manners and a great love of
fashionable clothes, and being fearless in fight; but in spite of all
these attractive qualities, the little Spanish princess would have none of
him, and was murdered.
By the year 1821 the United States Government had made matters so hot for
Gaspar that the pirate kingdom was broken up and their booty of 30,000,000
dollars divided.
As he was about to sail away, a big ship came into the bay, apparently an
English merchantman. Gaspar at once prepared to attack her, when she ran
up the Stars and Stripes, proving herself to be a heavily armed American
man-of-war. The pirate ship was defeated, and Gaspar, winding a piece of
anchor chain round his waist, jumped overboard and was drowned, his age
being 65.
GATES, THOMAS.
Hanged in Virginia in 1718 with the rest of Captain Edward Teach's crew.
GAUTIER, FRANÇOIS, or GAUTIEZ, _alias_ GEORGE SADWELL.
Native of Havre.
Cook on board the _Jane_ schooner, commanded by Captain Thomas Johnson.
While on a voyage from Gibraltar to Brazil with a valuable cargo, Gautier
and the mate killed the captain and the helmsman and steered the vessel to
Scotland, sinking her near Stornoway. Caught and tried at Edinburgh in
November, 1821, found guilty, and hanged in January on the sands of Leith,
his body being publicly dissected afterwards by the Professor of Anatomy
to Edinburgh University. The age of this French pirate at his death was
23.
GAYNY, GEORGE, or GAINY.
One of Wafer's little party lost in the jungle of Darien in 1681. In
attempting to swim across a swollen river with a line, he got into
difficulties, became entangled in the line which was tied round his neck,
and having also a bag containing 300 Spanish silver dollars on his back,
he sank and was swept away. Some time afterwards Wafer found Gayny lying
dead in a creek with the rope twisted about him and his money at his neck.
GENNINGS, CAPTAIN.
A renegade English pirate who joined the Barbary corsairs, turned
Mohammedan, and commanded a Moorish pirate vessel. Taken prisoner off the
Irish coast, he was brought to London and hanged at Wapping.
GERRARD, THOMAS.
Of the Island of Antigua.
One of Major Bonnet's crew of the _Royal James_. Tried for piracy at
Charleston in 1718, but found "not guilty."
GIBBENS, GARRAT.
Boatswain on board the _Queen Ann's Revenge_. Was killed at the same time
as Captain Teach.
GIBBS, CHARLES.
Born at Rhode Island in 1794, he was brought up on a farm there. Ran away
to sea in the United States sloop-of-war _Harriet_. Was in action off
Pernambuco against H.M.S. _Peacock_, afterwards serving with credit on
board the _Chesapeake_ in her famous fight with the _Shannon_; but after
his release from Dartmoor as a prisoner of war he opened a grocery shop in
Ann Street, called the "Tin Pot," "a place full of abandoned women and
dissolute fellows." Drinking up all the profits, he was compelled to go to
sea again, and got a berth on a South American privateer. Gibbs led a
mutiny, seized the ship and turned her into a pirate, and cruised about in
the neighbourhood of Havana, plundering merchant vessels along the coast
of Cuba. He slaughtered the crews of all the ships he took. In 1819
returned to private life in New York with 30,000 dollars in gold. Taking a
pleasure trip to Liverpool, he was entrapped by a designing female and
lost all his money.
In 1830 he took to piracy once more and shipped as a seaman in the brig
_Vineyard_ (Captain W. Thornby), New Orleans to Philadelphia, with a cargo
of cotton, molasses, and 54,000 dollars in specie.
Gibbs again brought about a mutiny, murdering the captain and mate. After
setting fire to and scuttling the ship, the crew took to their boats,
landing at Barrow Island, where they buried their money in the sand.
He was hanged at New York as recently as 1831.
GIDDENS, PAUL.
One of Captain Quelch's crew. Tried at Boston in 1704.
GIDDINGS, JOHN.
Of York River, Virginia.
One of Captain Pound's crew. Wounded and taken prisoner at Tarpaulin Cove
in 1689.
GILBERT, CAPTAIN.
Commanded the schooner _Panda_. On September 20th, 1832, he took and
plundered a Salem brig, the _Mexican_, on her way from Salem to Rio de
Janeiro. A few months later Gilbert and his crew were captured by Captain
Trotter, of H.M. brig-of-war _Curlew_, and taken as prisoners to Salem and
handed over to the United States authorities. Tried at Boston in December,
1834. Hanged at the same place on June 11th, 1835. This was the last act
of piracy committed upon the Atlantic Ocean.
GILLAM, CAPTAIN JAMES, _alias_ KELLY.
A notorious pirate. When serving on board the East Indiaman _Mocha_, he
led a mutiny, and with his own hands murdered the commander, Captain
Edgecomb, in his sleep. He came back to America with Captain Kidd, and was
hiding, under the name of Kelly, when caught in 1699 at Charleston,
opposite Boston, by the Governor of Massachusetts, who described him as
"the most impudent, hardened villain I ever saw." It was said that Gillam
had entered the service of the Mogul, turned Mohammedan, and been
circumcised. To settle this last point, the prisoner was examined by a
surgeon and a Jew, who both declared, on oath, that it was so.
GILLS, JOHN.
One of Captain Teach's crew. Hanged in Virginia in 1718.
GLASBY, HARRY.
Sailed as mate in the _Samuel_, of London (Captain Cary), which was taken
in 1720 by Roberts, who made Glasby master on board the _Royal Fortune_.
Tried for piracy on the Guinea Coast in April and acquitted. Evidence was
brought at his trial to show that Glasby was forced to serve with the
pirates, for, being a "sea-artist" or sail-master, he was most useful to
them. Twice he tried to escape in the West Indies, on one occasion being
tried with two others by a drunken jury of pirates. The other deserters
were shot, but Glasby was saved by one of his judges threatening to shoot
anyone who made any attempt on him. Glasby befriended other prisoners and
gave away his share of the plunder to them. When the _Royal Fortune_ was
taken by the _Swallow_, several of the most desperate pirates,
particularly one James Philips, took lighted matches with which to ignite
the powder magazine and blow up the ship. Glasby prevented this by placing
trusted sentinels below.
GODEKINS, MASTER.
This notorious Hanseatic pirate, with another called Stertebeker, did
fearful damage to English and other merchant shipping in the North Sea in
the latter part of the fourteenth century.
On June 1st, 1395, he seized an English ship laden with salt fish off the
coast of Denmark, her value being reckoned at £170. The master and crew of
twenty-five men they slew, the only mariner saved being a boy, whom the
pirates took with them to Wismar.
These same men took another English ship, the _Dogger_ (Captain Gervase
Cat). The _Dogger_ was at anchor, and the crew fishing, when the pirates
attacked them. The captain and crew were wounded, and damage was done to
the tune of 200 nobles.
Another vessel taken was a Yarmouth barque, _Michael_ (master, Robert
Rigweys), while off Plymouth, the owner, Hugh ap Fen, losing 800 nobles.
In 1394 these Hanseatic pirates, with a large fleet, attacked the town of
Norbern in Norway, plundering the town and taking away all they could
carry, as well as the merchants, who they held for ransom. The houses they
burnt.
GOFFE, CHRISTOPHER.
Originally one of Captain Woollery's crew of Rhode Island pirates. In
November, 1687, he surrendered himself at Boston, and was pardoned. In
August, 1691, was commissioned by the Governor to cruise with his ship,
the _Swan_, between Cape Cod and Cape Ann, to protect the coast from
pirates.
GOLDSMITH, CAPTAIN THOMAS.
Of Dartmouth in Devon.
During the reign of Queen Anne, Goldsmith commanded a privateer vessel,
the _Snap Dragon_, of Dartmouth. He turned pirate and amassed great
riches.
This pirate would have been forgotten by now were it not that he died in
his bed at Dartmouth, and was buried in the churchyard there. The lines
engraved on his tombstone have been quoted in the Preface, but may be
repeated here:
Men that are virtuous serve the Lord;
And the Devil's by his friends ador'd;
And as they merit get a place
Amidst the bless'd or hellish race;
Pray then, ye learned clergy show
Where can this brute, Tom Goldsmith, go?
Whose life was one continual evil,
Striving to cheat God, Man, and Devil.
GOMEZ, JOHN, _alias_ PANTHER KEY JOHN.
Brother-in-law of the famous pirate Gasparilla.
Died, credited with the great age of 120 years, at Panther Key in Florida
in 1900.
GOODALE, JOHN.
A Devonshire man.
Goodale, who was a renegade and had turned Mohammedan, held a position of
importance and wealth amongst the Moors of Algiers. In the year 1621 he
bought from the Moors a British prize called the _Exchange_, and also, for
the sum of £7 10s., an English slave, lately captain of an English
merchant ship, whom he got cheap owing to his having a deformed hand.
GOODLY, CAPTAIN.
An English buccaneer of Jamaica, who in the year 1663 was in command of a
"junk" armed with six guns and carrying a crew of sixty men.
GORDON, CAPTAIN NATHANIEL.
Of Portland, Maine.
Commanded and owned the _Evie_, a small, full-rigged ship, which was
fitted up as a "slaver." Made four voyages to West Africa for slaves. On
his last voyage he was captured by the United States sloop _Mohican_, with
967 negroes on board. Tried in New York for piracy and found guilty and
condemned to death. Great pressure was brought on President Lincoln to
reprieve him, but without success, and Gordon was hanged at New York on
February 22nd, 1862.
GOSS, CUTHBERT.
Born at Topsham in Devon.
The compiler of these biographies regrets to have to record that this
pirate was hanged, at the comparatively tender age of 21, outside the
gates of Cape Coast Castle, within the flood-marks, in 1722. He was one of
Captain Roberts's crew, having been taken prisoner by Roberts at Calabar
in a prize called the _Mercy_ galley, of Bristol, in 1721.
GOW, CAPTAIN JOHN, _alias_ SMITH, _alias_ GOFFE. A Scotch pirate, born at
Thurso.
Although the short career of this pirate made a great noise at the time,
he did little to merit the fame which he achieved. He had the honour of
having an account of his piratical activities written by Defoe, and ninety
years later was made the hero in a novel by Walter Scott, as Captain
Cleveland.
Gow sailed from Amsterdam as a foremast hand in the _George_ galley,
commanded by Captain Ferneau, a Guernsey man. Being a brisk and
intelligent man, he was soon promoted to be second mate. They called at
Santa Cruz in Barbary to take in a cargo of beeswax to deliver at Genoa.
Sailing from Santa Cruz on November 3rd, 1724, Gow and a few others
conspired to mutiny and then to go "upon the account." The captain, as was
his custom, had all hands, except the helmsman, into his cabin at eight
o'clock each night for prayers. This particular night, after it was dark,
the conspirators went below to the hammocks of the chief mate, the
supercargo, and the surgeon and cut all their throats. They did the same
to the captain, who was then thrown overboard though still alive.
Gow being now elected captain and one Williams, a thorough rogue, mate,
they renamed the vessel the _Revenge_, armed her with eighteen guns, and
cruised off the coast of Spain, taking an English sloop with a cargo of
fish from Newfoundland, commanded by Captain Thomas Wise of Poole. Their
second prize was a Glasgow ship loaded with herrings and salmon.
They next sailed to Madeira, where Gow presented the Governor with a box
of Scotch herrings. About this time Williams, the first mate, insulted Gow
by accusing him of cowardice because he had refused to attack a big French
ship, and snapped his pistol at him. Two seamen standing near shot
Williams, wounding him severely, and to get rid of him they put him aboard
one of their prizes. Discussions now took place as to where to sail, and
Gow, who was in love with a lass in the Orkney Islands, suggested sailing
thither, as being a good place to traffic their stolen goods.
On arriving at Carristown they sold most of their cargo, and one of the
crew, going on shore, bought a horse for three pieces of eight and rode
to Kirkwall and surrendered himself. Next day ten more men deserted,
setting out in the long-boat for the mainland of Scotland, but were taken
prisoners in the _Forth_, of Edinburgh. By now the whole countryside was
alarmed. Gow's next move was to land his men and plunder the houses of the
gentry. They visited a Mrs. Honnyman and her daughter, but these ladies
managed to get their money and jewellery away in safety. Gow's crew
marched back to their ship with a bagpiper playing at their head.
They now sailed to Calfsound, seized three girls and took them aboard.
Then to the Island of Eda to plunder the house of Mr. Fea, an old
schoolmate of Gow's. Arriving there on February 13th, by bad management
they ran their vessel on the rocks. The bo'son and five men went ashore
and met Mr. Fea, who entertained them at the local public-house. By a
simple stratagem, Mr. Fea seized first the bo'son and afterwards the five
men. Soon after this, Fea trapped Gow and all the rest of his crew of
twenty-eight men. Help was sent for, and eventually the _Greyhound_
frigate arrived and took Gow and his crew to London, arriving off Woolwich
on March 26th, 1725. The prisoners were taken to the Marshalsea Prison in
Southwark, and there found their old companion, Lieutenant Williams. Four
men turned King's evidence--viz., George Dobson, Job Phinnies, Tim Murphy,
and William Booth.
The trial at Newgate began on May 8th, when Gow was sullen and reserved
and refused to plead. He was ordered to be pressed to death, which was the
only form of torture still allowed by the law. At the last moment Gow
yielded, and pleaded "not guilty." Gow was found guilty, and hanged on
June 11th, 1725, but "as he was turned off, he fell down from the Gibbit,
the rope breaking by the weight of some that pulled his leg. Although
he had been hanging for four minutes, he was able to climb up the ladder a
second time, which seemed to concern him very little, and he was hanged
again."
[Illustration: PRESSING A PIRATE TO PLEAD.
To face p. 140.]
His body was then taken to Greenwich and there hanged in chains, to be a
warning to others.
GRAFF, LE CAPITAINE LAURENS DE. Filibuster.
Commanded _Le Neptune_, a ship armed with fifty-four guns and a crew of
210 men, in the West Indies in the seventeenth century.
GRAHAM, CAPTAIN.
Commanded a shallop, with a crew of fourteen men, in 1685. Sailed in
company with Captain Veale up and down the coast of Virginia and New
England.
GRAMBO.
Was "boss" of Barataria, the smugglers' stronghold off the Island of
Grande Terre, near Louisiana, until shot by Jean Lafitte in 1811.
GRAMMONT, SIEUR DE. French filibuster.
One of the great buccaneers. Born in Paris, he entered the Royal Marines,
in which he distinguished himself in several naval engagements.
He commanded a frigate in the West Indies, and captured near Martinique a
Dutch ship with a cargo worth £400,000, which he carried to Hispaniola,
but there lost all of it through gambling, and, not daring to return to
France, he joined the buccaneers.
He sailed to Curaçoa in 1678 with the Count d'Estrees' fleet, which was
wrecked on a coral reef off the Isle d'Aves. De Grammont was left behind
to salve what he could from the wreck. After this, with 700 men he sailed
to Maracaibo, spending six months on the lake, seizing the shipping and
plundering all the settlements in the neighbourhood.
In June, 1680, de Grammont, with an obsolete commission and a small party
of men, made a brilliant night assault on La Guayra, the seaport of
Caracas. Only forty-seven men took part in the actual attack on the town,
which was guarded by two forts and by cannon upon the walls. The pirates
were attacked next day by 2,000 Spaniards from Caracas, but with the
greatest skill and bravery de Grammont got almost all his party away,
though wounded himself in the throat. He carried away with him amongst his
prisoners the Governor of the town.
He retired to the Isle d'Aves to nurse his wound, and later went to Petit
Goave.
In 1683 took part in the successful English and French attack on Vera
Cruz, and afterwards, when Vanhorn died of gangrene, de Grammont, his
lieutenant, carried his ship back to Petit Goave. In 1685 he received a
fresh commission from de Cossey, the Governor of Dominica, and joined
forces with the famous buccaneer Laurens de Graff at the Isle of Vache,
and sailed with 11,000 men for Campeachy. Taking the town, he reduced it
to ashes and blew up the fortress, returning with the plunder to
Hispaniola. Before leaving, however, to celebrate the Festival of St.
Louis, they burnt a huge bonfire, using 200,000 crowns worth of logwood.
Grammont at this time commanded a fine ship, _Le Hardy_ (fifty guns and a
crew of 300 men).
In 1686 de Grammont was granted a commission of "Lieutenant du Roi," in
order to keep him from harassing the Spaniards, and yet not to lose his
valuable services to his country.
In order to have one last fling at the old free buccaneering life before
settling down to the more sedate and respectable calling of an officer in
the French King's navy, de Grammont sailed off with a party of 180
desperadoes, but was never heard of again.
GRAND, PIERRE LE.
A native of Dieppe in Normandy.
Le Grand was the man who, having made one great and successful exploit,
had the good sense to retire. He was the first pirate to take up his
quarters at Tortuga Island, and was known amongst the English as "Peter
the Great." His name will go down to posterity for his "bold and insolent"
action when in a small open boat with a handful of men he seized a great
Spanish galleon.
Pierre had been out on the "grand account" for a long while, meeting with
no success. When almost starving and in despair, a great Spanish fleet
hove in sight, and one ship, bigger than the rest, was observed sailing at
some little distance behind the other vessels. The mad idea entered the
head of the now desperate pirate to take this ship. The pirates all took
an oath to their captain to fight without fear and never to surrender. It
was dusk, and in these tropical latitudes night follows day very quickly.
Before the attack, orders were given to the surgeon to bore a hole in the
bottom of the boat so that it would quickly sink, thus taking away any
hope of escape should the enterprise fail. This was done, and the boat was
paddled quietly alongside the great warship, when the crew, armed only
with a pistol and a sword a-piece, clambered up the sides and jumped
aboard. Quickly and silently the sleeping helmsman was killed, while
Pierre and a party of his men ran down into the great cabin, where they
surprised the Spanish admiral playing cards with his officers. The
admiral, suddenly confronted by a band of bearded desperadoes in his cabin
with a pistol aimed at his head, ejaculated "Jesus bless us! are these
devils or what are they?" While this was going on others of the pirates
had hurried to the gun-room, seized the arms, killing every Spaniard who
withstood them. Pierre knew, as scarcely any other successful pirate or
gambler ever did, the right moment to stop. He at once put ashore all the
prisoners he did not want for working the ship, and sailed straight back
to France; where he lived the rest of his life in comfortable obscurity,
and never again returned to piracy.
The news of this exploit spread rapidly over the West Indies, and caused
the greatest excitement amongst the pirate fraternity of Tortuga and
Hispaniola.
Men left their work of killing and drying beef, while others deserted
their plantations to go a-pirating on the Spaniards, in much the same way
as men went to a gold rush years after. Those who had no boat would
venture forth in canoes looking for rich Spanish treasure ships.
It was this wild deed of Pierre le Grand that was the beginning of piracy
in the West Indies, towards the latter half of the seventeenth century.
GRANGE, ROGER.
One of Captain Lowther's crew of the _Happy Delivery_. Tried for piracy at
St. Kitts in 1722, but acquitted.
DE GRAVES, CAPTAIN HERBERT.
This Dutch pirate sailed as captain of his own merchant vessel during the
reign of King Charles II. He took to landing his crew on the south coast
of England and raiding gentlemen's houses. The first he ever pillaged was
that of a Mr. Sturt, in Sussex. In those days, when banks were almost
unknown, the houses of the rich often contained great sums of money. De
Graves was wont to sail along the Devonshire coast, sometimes landing and
robbing a house, sometimes taking a ship, which he would carry to
Rotterdam and sell. He made several daring raids into Cowes and Lowestoft,
getting off with valuable plunder.
In the war between England and the Dutch, Graves was given command of a
fire-ship. This vessel he handled very capably, and in the action off the
Downs he ran her on board the _Sandwich_, setting her on fire. James, Duke
of York, escaped from the _Sandwich_ with great difficulty, while the Earl
of Albemarle and most of the crew perished. At the conclusion of the war,
De Graves returned to piracy, but his ship was wrecked in a storm close to
Walmer Castle. The captain and a few of his crew were saved, and, being
made prisoners, were hanged on a tree.
GREAVES, CAPTAIN, _alias_ "RED LEGS." West Indian pirate.
Born in Barbadoes of prisoners who had been sent there as slaves by
Cromwell. Most of these slaves were natives of Scotland and Ireland, and,
owing to their bare knees, generally went by the name of Red Legs. Young
Greaves was left an orphan, but had a kind master and a good education.
His master dying, the lad was sold to another and a cruel one. The boy ran
away, swam across Carlisle Bay, but by mistake clambered on to the wrong
ship, a pirate vessel, commanded by a notoriously cruel pirate called
Captain Hawkins. Finding himself driven to the calling of piracy, Greaves
became very efficient, and quickly rose to eminence. He was remarkable for
his dislike of unnecessary bloodshed, torture of prisoners, and killing of
non-combatants. These extraordinary views brought about a duel between
himself and his captain, in which the former was victorious, and he was at
once elected commander.
Greaves now entered a period of the highest piratical success, but always
preserved very strictly his reputation for humanity and morality. He never
tortured his prisoners, nor ever robbed the poor, nor maltreated women.
His greatest success of all was his capture of the Island of Margarita,
off the coast of Venezuela.
On this occasion, after capturing the Spanish Fleet, he turned the guns of
their warships against the forts, which he then stormed, and was rewarded
by a huge booty of pearls and gold.
Red Legs then retired to the respectable life of a planter in the Island
of Nevis, but was one day denounced as a pirate by an old seaman. He was
cast into a dungeon to await execution, when the great earthquake came
which destroyed and submerged the town in 1680, and one of the few
survivors was Greaves. He was picked up by a whaler, on board of which he
served with success, and later on, for his assistance in capturing a gang
of pirates, he received pardon for his earlier crimes.
He again retired to a plantation, and was noted for his many acts of piety
and for his generous gifts to charities and public institutions,
eventually dying universally respected and sorrowed.
GREENSAIL, RICHARD.
One of Blackbeard's crew in the _Queen Ann's Revenge_. Hanged in Virginia
in 1718.
GREENVILLE, HENRY.
Hanged at Boston in 1726 with Captain Fly and Samuel Cole.
GRIFFIN, JACK.
Chief mate of a Bristol vessel. One of the chief mutineers on board the
_Bird_ galley in 1718, off Sierra Leone, when he befriended the captain of
the _Bird_, with whom he had been at school. Took part in a feast to
celebrate the success of the mutiny, the meal being cooked in a huge
caldron in which the slaves' food was prepared. In this caldron were
boiled, on this occasion, fowls, ducks, geese, and turkeys, which were
unplucked; several Westphalian hams were added, and a "large sow with
young embowled." The health of King James III., the Pretender, was drunk
with full honours.
GRIFFIN, JOHN.
Of Blackwall, Middlesex.
Taken out of the _Mercy_ galley and appointed carpenter on board the
_Royal Fortune_ by Captain Roberts. Condemned to be hanged at Cape Coast
Castle, but pardoned and sold to the Royal African Company as a slave for
seven years.
GRIFFIN, RICHARD.
A gunsmith of Boston.
Sailed with Captain Pound. Wounded in a fight at Tarpaulin Cove, a bullet
entering his ear and coming out through his eye.
GROGNIET, CAPTAIN.
A French buccaneer who in 1683 was in company with Captain L'Escayer, with
a crew of some 200 French and 80 English freebooters. He joined Davis and
Swan during the blockade of Panama in 1685, and was in the unsuccessful
attempt in May, 1685, on the Spanish treasure fleet from Lima. In July of
the same year Grogniet, with 340 French buccaneers, parted company from
Davis at Quibo, plundered several towns, and then, foolishly, revisited
Quibo, where they were discovered by a Spanish squadron in January, 1686,
and their ship was burnt while the crew was on shore. They were rescued
by Townley, with whom they went north to Nicaragua, and sacked Granada. In
May, 1686, Grogniet and half the Frenchmen crossed the isthmus. In the
January following, Grogniet reappeared, and, joining with the English,
again plundered Guayaquil, where he was severely wounded, and died soon
afterwards.
GULLIMILLIT, BRETI.
Taken with other South American pirates by H.M. sloop _Tyne_, and hanged
at Kingston, Jamaica, in 1823.
GUTTEREZ, JUAN.
Hanged at Kingston, Jamaica, on February 7th, 1823.
GUY, CAPTAIN.
Commanded the frigate _James_ (fourteen guns, ninety men). Belonged to
Tortuga Island and Jamaica in 1663.
HAINS, RICHARD.
One of Captain Low's crew. When Low took a Portuguese ship at St.
Michael's in the Azores in 1723, he, with unusual kindness, simply burnt
the ship and let the crew go to shore in a boat. While the prisoners were
getting out the boat, Richard Hains happened to be drinking punch out of a
silver tankard at one of the open ports, and took the opportunity to drop
into the boat among the Portuguese and lie down in the bottom, so as to
escape with them. Suddenly remembering his silver tankard, he climbed
back, seized the tankard, and hid again in the boat, somehow, by great
good fortune, being unobserved by those on the ship, and so escaped almost
certain death both for himself and the Portuguese sailors.
HALSEY, CAPTAIN JOHN.
This famous South Sea pirate was born on March 1st, 1670, at Boston, and
received a commission from the Governor of Massachusetts to cruise as a
privateer on the Banks. No sooner was he out of sight of land than Halsey
turned pirate. Taking a ship or two, he sailed to the Canary Islands,
picking up a rich Spanish ship there. He next doubled the Cape of Good
Hope, and paid a call on the "brethren" at Madagascar. He then sailed to
the Red Sea, another happy hunting ground of the pirates, and met a big
Dutch ship armed with sixty guns. Halsey astounded his men by announcing
his sudden determination to attack only Moorish ships in the future. The
indignant crew mutinied, threw Captain Halsey and his chief gunner in
irons, and proceeded to attack the Dutchman. The mutinous pirates got the
worst of the encounter, and released Halsey, who only just managed to get
his ship away. Luck seems to have deserted Halsey for a while, for not a
Moorish ship could he meet with, so much so that his scruples against
taking Christian ships eased enough to permit him to bag a brace of
English ships, the _Essex_ and the _Rising Eagle_.
The captain of the former proved to be a very old and dear friend of
Halsey's quartermaster, and to show a friendly feeling, Halsey allowed the
captain to keep all his personal belongings. Nevertheless, they took a
comfortable booty, comprising some fifty thousand pounds in English gold,
out of the _Essex_, and another ten thousand out of the _Rising Eagle_.
The pirates, being strict business men, produced invoices and sold the two
ships back to their legal owners for cash, and having settled this affair
to everybody's satisfaction, Halsey and his consort returned to
Madagascar. Here they were visited by the captain of a Scotch ship, the
_Neptune_, which had come to trade liquor, probably rum, but possibly
whisky, with the pirates. A sudden hurricane arose, destroying both the
pirate ships and damaging the _Neptune_. Halsey, ever a man of resource,
thereupon seized the Scotch ship, and, with even greater enterprise, at
once attacked a ship, the _Greyhound_, which lay at anchor, which was
loaded with stolen merchandise which the pirates had only just sold to the
captain of the _Greyhound_, and for which they had been paid.
The end was now drawing near, for in 1716 Captain Halsey was taken ill of
some tropical fever and died. He was a popular commander, respected, ever
loved by his men, for he was a humane man, never killing his prisoners
unless necessity compelled. A contemporary eyewitness of his funeral rites
leaves the following account of his burial:
"With great solemnity, the prayers of the Church of England being read
over him and his sword and pistols laid on his coffin, which was covered
with a ship's Jack. As many minute guns were fired as he was old--viz.,
46--and three English vollies and one French volley of small arms." The
chronicler continues: "His grave was made in a garden of watermelons and
fenced in to prevent his being rooted up by wild pigs."
This last a truly touching thought on the part of the bereaved.
HAMAN, CAPTAIN JOHN.
He lived all alone with his wife and family on a small and otherwise
uninhabited island in the Bahamas.
About the year 1720, he sailed into New Providence Harbour in his 40-ton
sloop, intending to settle there. Captain Rackam and Anne Bonny stole this
vessel and eloped in her.
Writing of Captain Haman, Johnson tells us "his Livelihood and constant
Employment was to plunder and pillage the Spaniards, whose Sloops and
Launces he had often surprised about Cuba and Hispaniola, and sometimes
brought off a considerable Booty, always escaping by a good Pair of Heels,
insomuch that it became a Bye-Word to say, 'There goes John Haman, catch
him if you can.' His Business to Providence now was to bring his Family
there, in order to live and settle, being weary, perhaps, of living in
that Solitude, or else apprehensive if any of the Spaniards should
discover his Habitation, they might land, and be revenged of him for all
his Pranks."
HAMLIN, CAPTAIN JEAN.
A famous French filibuster who turned pirate.
Set out in 1682 from Jamaica in a sloop with 120 other desperadoes in
pursuit of a French ship that was "wanted" by the Jamaican Governor.
Having overtaken the ship, _La Trompeuse_, he seized her, fitted her up as
a man-of-war, and then started out on a wild piratical cruise, taking
eighteen Jamaican vessels, barbarously ill-treating the crews, and
completely demoralizing the trade of the island. Two other ships were now
sent to find and destroy the new _La Trompeuse_, but Hamlin escaped and
sailed to the Virgin Islands, and was most hospitably received by the
Governor of the Danish Island of St. Thomas, one Adolf Esmit, who was
himself a retired pirate. Using this island as his headquarters Hamlin
cruised about and took several English ships.
In May, 1683, he appeared on the West Coast of Africa disguised as an
English man-of-war. Off the coast of Sierra Leone, he took seventeen Dutch
and English ships, returning to Dominica in July, 1683, finally reaching
the friendly St. Thomas Island, being warmly welcomed back by the pirate
Governor. Three days afterwards, H.M.S. _Francis_ arrived on the lookout
for pirates, and attacked and burnt Hamlin's ship. Hamlin, with the help
of the Governor, managed to escape with his life.
HANDS, ISRAEL, also known as BASILICA HANDS.
Sailing-master with the famous Teach or Blackbeard. One day when Teach was
entertaining a pilot and Hands in his cabin, after they had been drinking
and chatting awhile seated round the cabin table, on which stood a lighted
candle, Blackbeard suddenly drew his pistols, blew out the candle, and
crossing his arms, fired both his pistols under the table. Hands was shot
in the knee, and crippled for life. Teach's explanation to the angry
demands of his guests as to the reason for this extraordinary conduct
produced the reply that "if he did not shoot one or two of them now and
then, they'd forget who he was." Hands after this deserted, but was
captured at Bath in Carolina by Brand. Hands, probably in revenge for
being wantonly shot by Teach, turned King's evidence at the inquiry held
at Charleston, and brought very serious accusations against one of the
most prominent men in the colony, Knight, who was secretary to the Chief
Justice, and a deputy collector of Customs.
Hands was tried for piracy in Virginia in December, 1718, but pardoned.
When last heard of was seen begging his bread in London.
HANSEL, CAPTAIN.
He behaved himself so courageously at the taking of Porto Bello in 1669,
that a party of some 400 men, in four ships, chose Hansel to be their
admiral in an attempt on the town of Comana, near Caracas. This attack was
a most complete failure, the pirates being driven off "with great loss
and in great confusion." When Hansel's party arrived back at Jamaica, they
found the rest of Morgan's men had returned before them, who "ceased not
to mock and jeer at them for their ill success at Comana, after telling
them, 'Let us see what money you brought from Comana, and if it be as good
silver as that which we bring from Maracaibo.'"
HARDING, CAPTAIN THOMAS.
In 1653 he captured a rich prize, a Barbadoes vessel. For this he was
tried for piracy at Boston.
HARDY, RICHARD.
One of Captain Bartholomew Roberts's crew. Hanged at Cape Coast Castle,
West Coast of Africa, on April 6th, 1722, at the age of 25 years.
It is recorded that, owing to the lack of expert knowledge in the niceties
of carrying out executions, Hardy was led to the scaffold with his hands
tied behind him. This annoyed Hardy very much, and it is mentioned in the
official account of his execution that the prisoner indignantly declared
"that he had seen many a Man hang'd, but this Way of the Hands being ty'd
behind them, he was a Stranger to, and never saw before in his Life."
HARPER, ABRAHAM.
Born at Bristol.
He was cooper on board Captain Roberts's _Royal Fortune_. When the pirates
took a prize, it was Harper's duty to see that all the casks and coopers'
tools were removed from the prize to the pirate craft.
Hanged at the age of 23, with the rest of the crew, in 1722.
HARRIS, CAPTAIN.
Joined the Barbary corsairs during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, turned
Mohammedan, and rose to command a Moorish pirate vessel. Cruised off the
coast of Ireland, was taken prisoner by an English ship, and hanged at
Wapping.
HARRIS, HUGH.
Of Corfe Castle, Dorsetshire.
One of Roberts's crew; tried and condemned to be hanged in 1722, but
reprieved and sold to the Royal African Company to serve for seven years
in their plantations.
HARRIS, JAMES.
One of Roberts's crew.
HARRIS, PETER.
Born in Kent.
This buccaneer was known amongst the brethren of the coast as "a brave and
Stout Soldier."
In 1680 he took a leading part in the march of the buccaneers across the
Isthmus of Darien, but during the attack on the Spanish Fleet off Panama
he was shot in both legs, and died of his wounds.
HARRIS, RICHARD.
A Cornishman.
One of Captain Roberts's crew and the oldest, being 45 years of age when
he was hanged, an unusually advanced age to reach in this most "unhealthy"
profession.
HARRISON, CAPTAIN.
Sailed in October, 1670, in company with Captains Prince and Ludbury, into
Port Royal, after a successful expedition with 170 men up the San Juan
River in Nicaragua, when they plundered the unfortunate city of Granada.
This city had suffered so much from previous attacks from the buccaneers
that the plunder came to only some £20 per man on this occasion.
Modyford, the Governor of Jamaica, "reproved the captains for acting
without commissions, but did not deem it prudent to press the matter too
far"; in fact, instead of arresting Harrison and his crew, he sent them to
join Morgan the Buccaneer, who was then gathering together a great fleet
of buccaneers at the Isle of Vache.
HARVEY, CAPTAIN.
Arrived at New London in 1685 in company with another pirate, Captain
Veale; posed as an honest merchant, but, being recognized, left in great
haste.
HARVEY, WILLIAM.
Tried for piracy with the rest of Gow's crew at Newgate in 1725, and
acquitted.
HARWOOD, JOHN.
Tried for piracy at Boston in 1704. One of the crew of the brigantine
_Charles_ (Captain John Quelch, Commander).
HATTSELL, CAPTAIN.
This buccaneer served as an officer with Mansfield in his successful and
daring night attack on the Island of Providence, when, with only 200 men,
the fort was captured and the Spanish Governor taken prisoner. Captain
Hattsell was left behind with thirty-five men to hold the island, while
Mansfield sailed to the mainland with his prisoners, who had surrendered
on condition that they should be safely conducted there.
HAWKINS, CAPTAIN.
A seventeenth-century Barbadoes pirate. Notorious for his cruelty, which
led to his fighting a duel with one of his crew, Greaves, _alias_ Red
Legs, by whom he was defeated, his victor being elected captain in his
place.
HAWKINS, SIR JOHN.
Born in 1532.
This famous Elizabethan seaman sailed in 1561 to the Canary Islands, and
traded in negro slaves between Africa and Hispaniola. Afterwards became an
officer in the Royal Navy. Died at sea off Porto Bello, in 1595, when
serving with Drake in the West Indies.
HAWKINS, CAPTAIN THOMAS.
In the year 1689 cruised off the coast of New England, burning and
plundering the shipping. The Bay colony sent out an armed sloop, the
_Mary_ (Samuel Pease, commander), in October of that year, to attempt to
capture Hawkins. Pease found the pirate in Buzzard's Bay. Hawkins ran up a
red flag and a furious engagement began. The crew of the _Mary_ at last
boarded the pirates, and the captain, Pease, was so severely wounded that
he died.
HAWKINS, THOMAS.
Born at Boston.
Turned pirate and cruised with Captain Pound. Tried for piracy at Boston
in 1690, but reprieved. Sent to England, but on the voyage was killed in a
fight with a French privateer.
HAYES, CAPTAIN, nicknamed "Bully Hayes." A South Sea pirate.
In 1870 was arrested by the English Consul at Samoa for piracy. There
being no prison in this delightful island, the Consul ran Hayes's ship on
shore, and waited for a man-of-war to call and take his prisoner away.
Hayes spent his time, while under open arrest, attending native picnic
parties, at which he was the life and soul, being, when off duty, a man of
great charm of manner and a favourite with the ladies. Presently another
pirate arrived, one Captain Pease, in an armed ship with a Malay crew.
Hayes and Pease quarrelled violently, and the Consul had great trouble to
keep the two pirates from coming to blows. This animosity was all a sham
to throw dust in the Consul's eyes, for one night Pease sailed away with
Hayes, whom he had smuggled on board his ship.
HAZEL, THOMAS.
Of Westminster.
Hanged in Rhode Island in 1723 at the advanced age, for a pirate, of 50.
This is one of the longest lived pirates we have been able to hear of.
HEAMAN, PETER, _alias_ ROGERS.
A French pirate, born in 1787.
Sailed from Gibraltar in May, 1821, as mate on board the schooner _Jane_
(Captain Thomas Johnson), bound for Bahia, Brazil, with a very rich cargo
of beeswax, silk, olives, and other goods, as well as eight barrels of
Spanish dollars.
When about seventeen days out, in the middle of the night, Heaman attacked
one of the crew, James Paterson, and beat him to death. On the captain
coming up on deck to find out what all the noise was about, Heaman beat
him to death with a musket, being assisted by the cook, Francis Gautier,
also a Frenchman. The two conspirators then proceeded to imprison the rest
of the crew in the forecastle, and threw the dead bodies of the captain
and the sailor overboard. For two days the murderers tried to suffocate
the crew by burning pitch and blowing the smoke into the forecastle.
Failing to accomplish this they let the crew out after each had sworn on
the Bible not to inform on them. The course was now altered, and they
sailed towards Scotland. The barrels of dollars were broken open and the
coins placed in bags. In June they reached the Island of Barra, where
Gautier went ashore, wearing the late captain's green coat, and bought a
large boat. Next, they sailed to Stornoway, where they arrived in July,
and here they sank their schooner. The crew rowed ashore in the long-boat,
sharing out the dollars as they went, using an old tin as a measure, each
man getting 6,300 dollars as his share. Their boat was smashed on the
rocks when landing, but they got their plunder safely ashore and hid it
amongst the stones on the beach. Early next morning the mutineers were
visited by the Customs officer. After he had left, the cabin boy, a
Maltese, ran after him and told him the true story of the murders and
robbery. A party of islanders was got together, the mutineers arrested and
taken to Edinburgh, where Heaman and Gautier were tried for piracy and
murder, and on November 27th found guilty and condemned to death. They
were both hanged on January 9th, 1822, on the sands of Leith, within the
flood mark, and afterwards their bodies were delivered to Dr. Alexander
Munro, Professor of Anatomy in the University of Edinburgh, to be publicly
dissected by him.
HEATH, PELEG.
One of William Coward's crew. Condemned to be hanged at Boston in 1690,
but afterwards reprieved.
HEIDON, CAPTAIN.
Arrested for piracy in 1564 for having captured a Flemish ship. This
vessel he manned with thirteen Scotchmen in addition to his own crew, and
sailed off the coast of Spain. Here he took a prize containing a cargo of
wine, which he carried to the Island of Bere in Bantry Bay. The wine was
sold to Lord O'Sullivan. Heidon now fitted up another ship, the _John of
Sandwich_. Was wrecked in her on the Island of Alderney and Heidon was
arrested, but managed to escape in a small boat with some others of the
pirates.
HENLEY, CAPTAIN.
In 1683 sailed from Boston "bound for the Rack," afterwards going to the
Red Sea, where he plundered Arab and Malabar ships.
HERDUE, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.
Commanded a frigate of four guns, crew of forty men, at Tortuga Island, in
1663.
HERNANDEZ, AUGUSTUS.
Hanged at Kingston, Jamaica, in 1823.
HERNANDEZ, JUAN.
Captured with nine other pirates by H.M. sloop-of-war _Tyne_ and taken to
Jamaica. Hanged on February 7th, 1823, at Kingston.
HERRIOTT, DAVID.
Master of the _Adventure_, from Jamaica, taken by Teach in 1718. He joined
the pirates, and later, when Major Stede Bonnet separated from Teach, he
took Herriott to be his sailing-master. Taken prisoner with Bonnet and his
crew of the _Royal James_ by Colonel Rhet, at Cape Fear, North Carolina,
September 27th, 1718. Herriott and the boatswain, Ignatius Pell, turned
King's evidence at the trial of the pirates held at Charleston. On October
25th, Bonnet and Herriott escaped from prison, in spite of the fact that
the latter had turned King's evidence. Herriott was shot on Sullivan
Island a few days later.
HEWETT, WILLIAM, or HEWET, or HEWIT.
Of Jamaica.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew. Tried for piracy at Charleston in 1718,
and hanged at White Point on November 8th, and buried in the marsh below
low-water mark.
HIDE, DANIEL.
Of Virginia.
One of the crew of Captain Charles Harris, who, with Captain Low, played
havoc on the shipping off the American coast from New York to Charleston.
Hanged at Newport, Rhode Island, in July, 1723, at the age of 23.
HILL, CORPORAL JOHN.
In charge of the guard at Fort Royal, Falmouth, Maine, which all deserted
one night, and went to sea with the pirate Captain Pound. Killed at
Tarpaulin Cove in 1689.
HILLIARD, JOHN.
Was "chief man" of the company of Captain Bartholomew Sharp on his
"dangerous voyage" to the South Seas. Died on January 2nd, 1681, of
dropsy; buried at sea with the usual buccaneers' honours.
HINCHER, DR. JOHN.
Of Edinburgh University.
Tried for piracy in July, 1723, at Newport, Rhode Island, but acquitted.
This young doctor, his age was only 22, was taken off a prize by Captain
Low against his will, to act as ship's surgeon with the pirates.
HIND, ISRAEL, or HYNDE.
Of Bristol.
One of Captain Roberts's crew. Hanged at Cape Coast Castle in 1722, at the
age of 30.
HINGSON, JOHN.
One of Wafer's party left behind and lost in the forest when Dampier
crossed the Isthmus of Darien on foot in 1681.
HITCHENS, ROBERT.
A Devonshire man, born in the year 1515.
Took to piracy early in life. Sailed with the pirate Captain Heidon, and
was wrecked on Alderney in the year 1564. Arrested and tried for piracy,
and was hanged in chains at low-water mark at St. Martin's Point,
Guernsey, in 1564, at the age of 50.
HOLDING, ANTHONY.
One of John Quelch's crew of the brigantine _Charles_. Tried for piracy at
Boston in 1704.
HOLFORD, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.
Of Jamaica.
An old friend of the notorious pirate Vane. In 1718 he happened to arrive
in his ship at a small uninhabited island in the Bay of Honduras to find
Vane on shore and destitute. Vane thought he would be saved by Holford,
but the latter was quite frank in refusing, saying: "I shan't trust you
aboard my ship unless I carry you a prisoner, for I shall have you
caballing with my men, knock me on the head, and run away with my ship
a-pyrating." It was owing to Holford that Vane was eventually taken a
prisoner to Jamaica and there hanged.
HOLLAND, CAPTAIN RICHARD.
An Irishman.
Commanded a Spanish pirate vessel in the West Indies in 1724. The crew
consisted of sixty Spaniards, eighteen French, and eighteen English
sailors. Holland had originally belonged to the Royal Navy, but deserted
from the _Suffolk_ at Naples, and took shelter in a convent in that city.
In August, 1724, Holland's ship took as prizes the _John and Mary_, the
_Prudent Hannah of Boston_, and the _Dolphin_, of Topsham, all on their
way to Virginia. From out of the _John and Mary_ he took thirty-six men
slaves, some gold dust, the captain's clothes, four great guns and small
arms, and 400 gallons of rum.
HOPKINS, MR. Buccaneer and apothecary.
First lieutenant to Captain Dover (a doctor of physic) on board the
_Duchess_ privateer, of Bristol. Mr. Hopkins was an apothecary by
profession, not a sailor, but being a kinsman to the captain, no doubt was
given promotion. He sailed from Bristol on August 2nd, 1708.
HORE, CAPTAIN.
About 1650 Hore turned from a privateer into a pirate, and was very active
and successful in taking prizes between New York and Newport, occasionally
sailing to Madagascar to waylay ships of the East India Company.
HORNIGOLD, CAPTAIN BENJAMIN.
Commanded a sloop in 1716 and cruised off the Guinea coast with Teach,
taking a big French Guinea ship. He then sailed to the Bahama Islands,
where, in 1718, Woodes Rogers had just arrived with the offer of a pardon
to all pirates who surrendered themselves. Teach went off again "on the
account," but Hornigold surrendered. Shortly afterwards Hornigold was
wrecked on a reef and drowned.
HOW, THOMAS.
A native of Barnstaple in Devon.
One of Captain Bartholomew Roberts's crew. Condemned to death for piracy,
but reprieved and sold to the Royal African Company to work on their
plantations for seven years.
HOWARD, THOMAS.
Born in London, the son of a Thames lighterman. Sailing to Jamaica, he
deserted his ship and, with some companions of a like mind, stole a canoe
and set off to the Grand Cayman Islands, and there met with some 200
buccaneers and pirates. Joining with these, they took several vessels,
lastly a well-armed Spanish ship. In her they cruised off the coast of
Virginia, taking a large New England brigantine, of which Howard was
appointed quartermaster. Their next prize was a fine Virginian galley,
twenty-four guns, crowded with convicts being transplanted to America.
These passengers were only too willing to join the pirates.
Next, they sailed away to Guinea, where they took numerous prizes. Here
they were attacked by a big Portuguese ship of thirty-six guns, which they
defeated. Having by now got together a well appointed pirate fleet, they
sailed round the Cape of Good Hope to Madagascar, the happy home of the
South Sea pirates. Their ship, the _Alexander_, was wrecked and lost on a
reef, and Howard, together with the English and Dutch members of the crew,
seized the treasure, and drove off the Portuguese and Spanish sailors and
also the captain, and got to shore in a boat. They then broke up their
ship, and lived for a while by fishing and hunting. On one of these
hunting parties, the men ran away and left Howard behind.
Howard was found by the King of Anquala, who took care of him until he was
picked up by a ship. Later on, Howard became captain of a fine vessel, the
_Prosperous_, thirty-six guns, which he and some other pirates had seized
at Madagascar. In her, Howard went cruising, eventually in company with
Captain Bowen, attacking a Moorish fleet off St. John's Island. Howard
followed the Moorish ships up a river, and, after a fierce fight, seized
the largest and richest prize, a ship containing upward of a million
dollars worth of goods. Howard, having now made a considerable fortune,
retired from the piratical life and went to India, and there married a
native woman and settled down. Howard, who was a morose, sour kind of man,
ill-treated his wife, and he was at length murdered by some of her
relations.
HUGGIT, THOMAS.
Of London.
Hanged at Newport, Rhode Island, in July, 1723. Age 30.
HULL, CAPTAIN EDWARD.
Commanded the _Swallow_ "frigott" in which he sailed from Boston in 1653,
and captured several French and Dutch ships. He afterwards sold his
vessels and went with his share of the plunder to England, where he
settled down.
HUNTER, ANDREW.
One of Captain Lowther's crew. Hanged at St. Kitts on March 11th, 1722.
HUSK, JOHN.
One of Blackbeard's crew in the _Queen Ann's Revenge_. Killed off North
Carolina in 1718.
HUTNOT, JOSEPH.
One of the crew of the notorious brigantine _Charles_, commanded by
Captain Quelch. Tried for piracy at the Star Tavern, Boston, in 1704.
HUTT, CAPTAIN GEORGE, or HOUT. Buccaneer.
An Englishman who succeeded Captain Townley when the latter was killed
during a gallant fight with three Spanish galleons in 1686 near Panama.
INGRAM, GUNNER WILLIAM.
Was one of Captain Anstis's crew in the _Good Fortune_ when that pirate
took the _Morning Star_. After the prize had been converted to the
pirates' use, Ingram was appointed gunner. Later, when Ingram came to be
tried for piracy, evidence was produced to prove that he had joined the
pirates of his own free will, and, in fact, had on all occasions been one
of the forwardest in any action, and altogether "a very resolute hardened
Fellow." He was hanged.
IRELAND, JOHN. Pirate.
"A wicked and ill-disposed person," according to the royal warrant of King
William III. granted to "our truly and dearly beloved Captain William
Kidd" to go in the year 1695 to seize this and other pirates who were
doing great mischief to the ships trading off the coast of North America.
IRVINE, CAPTAIN.
One of the last pirates in the Atlantic. Very active in the early part of
the nineteenth century.
JACKMAN, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.
In 1665 took part with Morris and Morgan in a very successful raid on
Central America, ascending the river Tabasco in the province of Campeachy
with only 107 men. Led by Indians by a detour of 300 miles, they surprised
and sacked the town of Villa de Mosa. Dampier describes this small town as
"standing on the starboard side of the river, inhabited chiefly by
Indians, with some Spaniards." On their return to the mouth of the river,
Jackman's party found the Spaniards had seized their ship, and some three
hundred of them attacked the pirates, but the Spaniards were easily beaten
off.
The freebooters next attacked Rio Garta, and took it with only thirty men,
crossed the Gulf of Honduras to rest on the Island of Roatan, and then
proceeded to the Port of Truxillo, which they plundered. They next sailed
down the Mosquito coast, burning and pillaging as they went.
Anchoring in Monkey Bay, they ascended the San Juan River in canoes one
hundred miles to Lake Nicaragua. The pirates described the Lake of
Nicaragua as being a veritable paradise, which, indeed, it must have been
prior to their visit. Hiding by day amongst the many islands and rowing by
night, on the fifth night they landed near the city of Granada, just one
year after Mansfield's visit. The buccaneers marched right into the
central square of the city without being observed by the Spaniards, who
were taken completely by surprise, so that the English were soon masters
of the city, and for sixteen hours they plundered it. Some 1,000 Indians,
driven to rebellion by the cruelty and oppression of the Spaniards,
accompanied the marauders and wanted to massacre the prisoners,
particularly "the religious," but when they understood that the buccaneers
were not remaining in Granada, they thought better of it, having, no
doubt, a shrewd inkling of what to expect in the future when their
rescuers had left.
JACKSON, CAPTAIN WILLIAM. Buccaneer.
In 1642 he gathered together a crew of more than a thousand buccaneers in
the Islands of St. Kitts and Barbadoes, and sailed with these in three
ships to the Spanish Main, plundering Maracaibo and Truxillo.
On March 25th, 1643, Jackson's little fleet dropped anchor in the harbour,
what was afterwards to be known as Kingston, in the Island of Jamaica,
which was then still in the possession of Spain. Landing 500 of his men,
he attacked the town of St. Jago de la Vega, which he took after a hard
fight and with the loss of some forty of his men. For sparing the town
from fire he received ransom from the Spaniards of 200 beeves, 10,000
pounds of cassava bread, and 7,000 pieces of eight. The English sailors
were so delighted by the beauty of the island that in one night
twenty-three of them deserted to the Spaniards.
JACKSON, NATHANIEL.
One of Captain Edward Teach's crew. Killed at North Carolina in 1718.
JAMES, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.
Belonged to Jamaica and Tortuga. In 1663 was in command of a frigate, the
_American_ (six guns, crew of seventy men).
JAMES, CAPTAIN.
A buccaneer captain who was in 1640 temporarily appointed "President" of
Tortuga Island by the Providence Company, while their regular Governor,
Captain Flood, was in London, clearing himself of charges preferred
against him by the planters.
JAMES, CAPTAIN.
About 1709 commanded a pirate brigantine off Madagascar. Sailed for some
time in company with a New York pirate called Ort Van Tyle.
JAMES, CHARLES.
One of Captain John Quelch's crew taken in the _Larimore_ galley at Salem.
Tried for piracy at Boston in 1704.
JAMISON, _alias_ MONACRE NICKOLA.
Born at Greenock in Scotland, the son of a rich cloth merchant, he
received a polite education, spoke several languages, and was described as
being of gentlemanly deportment.
He served as sailing-master to Captain Jonnia when he took the schooner
_Exertion_. The captain and crew were eventually saved by Nickola. Years
afterwards Nickola went to Boston, and lived with Captain Lincoln of the
_Exertion_, and made a living by fishing for mackerel in the warm season,
and during the winter by teaching navigation to young gentlemen.
JANQUAIS, CAPTAIN.
A French filibuster of San Domingo.
His ship, _La Dauphine_, carried thirty guns and a crew of 180 men.
JEFFERYS, BENJAMIN.
Of Bristol.
Taken by Roberts in the _Norman_ galley in April, 1721. Roberts allowed
those of the crew who did not wish to join the pirates to return to the
_Norman_, but Jefferys had made such friends on the pirate ship that he
was too drunk to go, and also was abusive in his cups, telling his hosts
there was not one man amongst them. For this he received six lashes with
the cat-o'-nine-tails from every member of the crew, "which disordered him
for some weeks." But Jefferys eventually proved himself a brisk and
willing lad, and was made bos'on's mate. He was hanged a year later at the
age of 21.
JENNINGS.
A Welshman who in 1613 was settled on the Barbary coast with some thirty
other British pirates.
JENNINGS, CAPTAIN.
This Welsh pirate had been a man of good position, education, and property
before he took to piracy, which he did for the love of the life and not
from necessity. He was held in high esteem by his fellow-pirates at their
stronghold in the Bahamas. When notice was brought of King George's pardon
in 1717, a meeting was held of all the pirates at which Jennings presided.
After much discussion, Jennings boldly gave out that he himself meant to
surrender, whereupon some hundred and fifty other pirates declared their
intention of doing likewise. On the new Governor's arrival from England
they received their certificates, though the greater part of them soon
went back to piracy, or, to quote the expressive Captain Johnson,
"returned again like the Dog to the Vomit."
JOBSON, RICHARD, or COBSON or GOPSON.
His original calling was that of a druggist's assistant in London. He
combined piracy with the study of divinity. He was one of Dampier's party
which crossed the Isthmus of Darien in 1681, and was left behind with
Wafer, who tells us in his book that Gopson "was an ingenious man and a
good scholar, and had with him a Greek testament which he frequently read
and would translate extempore into English to such of the company as were
disposed to hear him."
After great sufferings in the tropical jungle in the wet season, Jobson
and his friends reached the "North Sea" to find an English buccaneer
vessel lying at anchor off the shore. On rowing out to the ship the canoe
upset, and Jobson and his gun were thrown overboard, but the former was
rescued, though he died a few days later on board the vessel owing to the
exposure he had been subjected to. He was buried in the sand at Le Sounds
Cay with full honours--that is, a volley of guns and colours flown at
half-mast.
JOCARD, LE CAPITAINE.
A French filibuster who in 1684 had his headquarters in San Domingo.
He commanded the _Irondelle_, a ship armed with eighteen guns and a crew
of 120 men.
JOHNSON, CAPTAIN. A successful and very bloody pirate.
Of Jamaica.
Immediately after the publication of peace by Sir Thomas Lynch, Governor
of Jamaica in 1670, which included a general pardon to all privateers,
Johnson fled from Port Royal with some ten followers, and shortly after,
meeting with a Spanish ship of eighteen guns, managed to take her and kill
the captain and fourteen of the crew. Gradually collecting together a
party of a hundred or more English and French desperadoes he plundered
many ships round the Cuban coast. Tiring of his quarrelsome French
companions he sailed to Jamaica to make terms with the Governor, and
anchored in Morant Bay, but his ship was blown ashore by a hurricane.
Johnson was immediately arrested by Governor Lynch, who ordered Colonel
Modyford to assemble the justices and to proceed to trial and immediate
execution. Lynch had had bitter experiences of trying pirates, and knew
that the sooner they were hanged the better. But Modyford, like many other
Jamaicans, felt a strong sympathy for the pirates, and he managed to get
Johnson acquitted in spite of the fact that Johnson "confessed enough to
hang a hundred honester persons." It is interesting to read that half an
hour after the dismissal of the court Johnson "came to drink with his
judges." Governor Lynch, now thoroughly roused, took the matter into his
own hands. He again placed Johnson under arrest, called a meeting of the
council, from which he dismissed Colonel Modyford, and managed to have the
former judgment reversed. The pirate was again tried, and in order that no
mistake might happen, Lynch himself presided over the court. Johnson, as
before, made a full confession, but was condemned and immediately
executed, and was, writes Lynch, "as much regretted as if he had been as
pious and as innocent as one of the primitive martyrs." This second trial
was absolutely illegal, and Lynch was reproved by the King for his rash
and high-handed conduct.
JOHNSON, CAPTAIN BEN.
When a lad he had served as a midshipman in an East Indiaman, the _Asia_,
but having been caught red-handed robbing the purser of brandy and wine,
he was flogged and sent to serve as a sailor before the mast. In 1750,
while in the Red Sea, he deserted his ship and entered the service of the
Sultan of Ormus. Finding Johnson to be a clever sailor, the Sultan
appointed him admiral of his pirate fleet of fourteen vessels. The young
admiral became a convert to Brahminism, and was ceremoniously blessed by
the arch-priests of the Temple. Amongst his crew Johnson had some two
hundred other Englishmen, who also became followers of Brahmin, each of
whom was allowed, when in port, a dancing girl from the Temple.
Johnson proved a most capable and bloodthirsty pirate, playing havoc with
the shipping of the Red Sea, taking also several towns on the coast, and
putting to death his prisoners, often after cruel tortures. His boldest
exploit was to attack the fortified town of Busrah. This he did, putting
the Sheik and most of the inhabitants to death, and taking back to his
master, the Sultan, vast plunder of diamonds, pearls, and gold.
On another occasion Johnson landed his crews on the Island of Omalee, at
the entrance to the Persian Gulf, a favourite place of pilgrimage, and
raided the temples of the Indian God Buddha. Putting to death all the two
thousand priests, he cut off the noses and slit the upper lips of seven
hundred dancing girls, only sparing a few of the best looking ones, whom
he carried away with him along with plunder worth half a million rupees.
On their way back to the Red Sea the pirates met with an English East
Indiaman, which they took and plundered, and Johnson, remembering his
previous sufferings in the same service, murdered the whole crew.
Shortly afterwards Johnson and ten of his English officers contrived to
run away from their master, the Sultan, in his best and fastest lateen
vessel, with an enormous booty. Sailing up to the head of the Persian
Gulf, Johnson managed to reach Constantinople with his share of the
plunder, worth £800,000. With this as an introduction, he was hospitably
received, and was made a bashaw, and at the end of a long life of
splendour died a natural death.
JOHNSON, CAPTAIN HENRY, _alias_ "HENRIQUES THE ENGLISHMAN."
A West Indian pirate, born in the North of Ireland.
Commanded the _Two Brothers_, a Rhode Island-built sloop, eighteen guns,
crew of ninety, mostly Spaniards. On March 20th, 1730, he took the _John
and Jane_ (Edward Burt, master), from Jamaica, off Swan Island. The _John
and Jane_ was armed with eight carriage and ten swivel guns, and a crew of
only twenty-five men. After a gallant resistance for five hours the
pirates boarded and took the English ship. The few survivors were stripped
naked, and preparations made to hang them in pairs. This was prevented by
Captain Johnson and an English pirate called Echlin. There was a Mrs.
Groves, a passenger, in the _John and Jane_, whose husband and the English
surgeon had both been killed at the first onslaught of the pirates. This
poor lady was hidden in the hold of the ship during the action, and was
only informed afterwards of the death of her husband. The pirates now
dragged her on deck, "stript her in a manner naked," and carried her as a
prize to the Spanish captain, Pedro Poleas, who immediately took her to
the "great cabin and there with horrible oaths and curses insolently
assaulted her Chastity." Her loud cries of distress brought Captain
Johnson into the cabin, who, seeing what was on hand, drew his pistol and
threatened to blow out the brains of any man who attempted the least
violence upon her. He next commanded everything belonging to Mrs. Groves
to be returned to her, which was done--including her clothing. The gallant
conduct of Johnson is the more surprising and pleasing since he had the
reputation of being as bloody and ruthless a pirate as ever took a ship or
cut an innocent throat. He only had one hand, and used to fire his piece
with great skill, laying the barrel on his stump, and drawing the trigger
with his right hand.
In all the American "plantations" there were rewards offered for him alive
or dead.
The end of this "penny-dreadful" pirate is unrecorded, but was probably a
violent one, as this type of pirate seldom, if ever, died in his bed.
JOHNSON, ISAAC.
One of Captain Quelch's crew. Tried for piracy at the Star Tavern at
Boston in 1704.
JOHNSON, JACOB.
Taken prisoner by Captain Roberts out of the _King Solomon_, he joined the
pirates.
JOHNSON, JOHN, or JAYNSON.
Born "nigh Lancaster."
Taken out of the _King Solomon_. One of Roberts's crew. Hanged in 1722 at
the age of 22.
JOHNSON, MARCUS.
One of Captain Roberts's crew. Hanged in 1722. Stated in his death warrant
to be a native of Smyrna. Died at the age of 21.
JOHNSON, ROBERT.
From Whydah in West Africa.
Tried for piracy with the rest of Captain Roberts's crew, and hanged in
1722 at the age of 32. At his trial he pleaded that he did not enter with
the pirates of his own free will, and called witnesses to prove that at
the time he was captured he was so very drunk that he had to be hoisted
out of his own ship, the _Jeremiah and Ann_, into the pirate ship in
tackles.
JOHNSTON, THOMAS.
Of Boston.
Known as "the limping privateer." Sailed with Captain Pound. Wounded in
the jaw in the fight at Tarpaulin Cove. Tried for piracy at Boston, and
hanged on January 27th, 1690.
JONES, CAPTAIN PAUL.
Probably few persons, even in Great Britain, would to-day call Paul Jones
a pirate, but this was not always the case. In all books on pirates
written shortly after the American war, Paul Jones figured as a notorious
character.
This famous privateer, let us call him, was born at Kirkcudbright in
Scotland in 1728, the son of Mr. Paul, head gardener to Lord Selkirk, and
was christened John Paul. So much has been written about this man in
books, easily procurable for reference, that little need be said about him
here.
Starting life as a sailor before the mast, he quickly showed abilities
which led to his promotion to the rank of mate in an English ship trading
in the West India Islands, and later he was made master. On the
declaration of war with America, Jones joined the rebels, and was given
command of a privateer, and from 1777 he became a terror to English
shipping around the British Isles.
One of his most startling exploits was his surprise visit in his ship, the
_Ranger_, to his old home with the object of kidnapping his former
employer, Lord Selkirk.
On September 23rd, 1779, he fought his famous action off Scarborough
against a British convoy from the Baltic under the command of Captain
Pearson, in the _Serapis_, and Captain Piercy in the _Countess of
Scarborough_. Jones had left the _Ranger_ for a frigate called the _Bonne
Homme Richard_ of forty guns and a crew of three hundred and seventy men,
and had also under his command four other ships of war. A furious
engagement took place, the utmost bravery being shown on either side; the
English ships at last being compelled to surrender, but not until the
enemy had themselves suffered fearful damage to both their crews and
ships. After the conclusion of peace, Paul Jones, once the darling of two
continents, faded into obscurity and even poverty, and died in Paris in
the year 1792 at the age of 64.
JONES. SEAMAN.
A mariner. "A brisk young fellow" who served with Captain Bartholomew
Roberts's crew. On one occasion Captain Roberts had reason to think that
one of his men had spoken disrespectfully to him, so, as a warning to the
rest, he killed him. The dead man's greatest friend was Jones, who,
hearing what had happened, had a fierce fight with Roberts. This severe
breach of discipline was punished by Jones receiving two lashes on the
back from every man on board. Jones after this sailed with Captain Anstis
in the _Good Fortune_.
JONES, THOMAS.
Found to be "not guilty" at a trial for piracy at Newport, Rhode Island,
in 1723. One of Captain Charles Harris's crew. Age 17.
JONES, WILLIAM.
Tried for piracy at Boston, 1704.
JONES, WILLIAM.
Of London.
Age 28. Hanged at Rhode Island, 1723.
JONNIA, CAPTAIN.
A Spaniard.
Commanded in 1821 a fast schooner, carrying a crew of forty men, armed
with muskets, cutlasses, blunderbusses, long knives, dirks, two
carronades--one a twelve, the other a six-pounder. They had aboard with
them three Mexican negresses. The pirates took and plundered the Boston
schooner _Exertion_, on December 17th, 1821, the crew being considerably
drunk at the time. The plunder they took to Principe in the Island of
Cuba. The pirates took everything from their prisoners, even their
clothes, but as a parting gift sent the captain a copy of the "Family
Prayer Book" by the Rev. Mr. Brooks. The prisoners were marooned on a
small mangrove quay, but they eventually escaped. Jonnia and some of his
crew were afterwards captured by an English ship and taken to Kingston,
Jamaica, and there hanged.
JOSE, MIGUEL.
Hanged at Kingston, Jamaica, in February, 1823. This old man's last words
on the scaffold were: "No he robado, no he matado ningune, muero
innocente."
JUDSON, RANDALL.
One of Captain Roderigo's crew. Tried for piracy at Cambridge,
Massachusetts, in June, 1675, and sentenced to be hanged; "presently after
the lecture," which was delivered by the Rev. Increase Mather. Afterwards
pardoned, but fined and banished from the colony.
KELLWANTON.
A notorious pirate in the sixteenth century. Was captured in the Isle of
Man in 1531.
KENNEDY, CAPTAIN.
Began life as a pickpocket and housebreaker in London. He was Captain
Roberts's lieutenant, and was afterwards given command of a prize, the
_Rover_.
Kennedy could never, even when a captain, forget his old trade. It is
recorded that he stole a black suit of clothes from the captain of the
_Bird_ at Sierra Leone in 1718. These he put on with the captain's best
wig and sword. He then swaggered about on board in these till his
fellow-pirates drenched him with buckets of claret, so that he had to
disrobe and throw the garments overboard.
Owing to a quarrel with Captain Roberts, Kennedy went off in his ship, the
_Rover_, and sailed to Barbadoes. His first prize, a Boston ship, was a
distinct novelty, being commanded by one Captain Knot, a Quaker, who lived
up to the principles of his sect by allowing no pistol, sword, or cutlass,
or other weapon aboard his vessel. The crew, finding Kennedy had no
knowledge whatever of navigation, threatened to throw him overboard, but
because he was a man of great personal courage they did not in the end
carry out their threat. The crew next decided to give over piracy and to
set sail for Ireland. This island they altogether missed through bad
navigation, and they ran the ship ashore on the north of Scotland. The
crew landed and passed themselves off as shipwrecked mariners, but owing
to their drinking and rioting in each village they came to, the whole
countryside was soon roused. Kennedy slipped away and reached Ireland.
Having soon spent all his ill-gotten gains in Dublin, he came to Deptford
and set up a house of ill-fame, adding occasionally to his income from
this source by a little highwaymanry. One of the ladies of his house at
Deptford, to be revenged for some slight or other, gave information to the
watch, and Kennedy was imprisoned at Marshalsea and afterwards tried for
robbery and piracy. Kennedy turned King's evidence against some of his old
associates, but this did not save his neck, for he was condemned and
hanged at Execution Dock.
KHEYR-ED-DIN. Corsair.
Brother of the famous Barbarossa. When the latter was defeated and killed
by the Spaniards, Kheyr-ed-din sent an ambassador to Constantinople,
begging for help to protect Algiers. He was appointed Governor of Algiers
by the Sultan of Turkey in 1519. Now greatly increased both in ships and
power, he scoured the whole Mediterranean for Italian and Spanish prizes.
He raided the Spanish coast and carried off slaves from the Balearic
Islands. He next took and destroyed the fortress of Algiers, and employed
7,000 Christian slaves to build a new one and also a great mole to protect
the harbour. Invited by Solyman the Magnificent to help him against the
Christian Admiral Andria Doria, in August, 1533, he sailed from Algiers
with his fleet, being joined on the way by another noted corsair,
Delizuff.
A year afterwards, at the age of 73, Kheyr-ed-din set out from
Constantinople with a vast fleet, sacking towns and burning all Christian
ships that were so unfortunate as to fall in his way. He returned to the
Bosphorus with huge spoil and 11,000 prisoners. He sacked Sardinia, then
sailed to Tunis, which he vanquished.
Charles V. of Spain now began to collect a large fleet and an army of
25,000 men and sailed to Tunis. A fierce fight followed; the Christians
broke into the town, massacred the inhabitants and rescued some 20,000
Christian slaves. Kheyr-ed-din escaped with a few followers, but soon was
in command of a fleet of pirate galleys once more. A terrific but
undecisive naval battle took place off Prevesa between the Mohammedans and
the Christians, the fleet of the latter being under the command of Andrea
Doria; and Kheyr-ed-din died shortly afterwards at Constantinople at a
great age.
KIDD, CAPTAIN WILLIAM, sometimes ROBERT KIDD or KID.
In the whole history of piracy there is no name that has so taken the
world's fancy than has that of William Kidd. And yet, if he be judged by
his actions as a pirate, he must be placed amongst the second- or even
third-rate masters of that craft. He took but two or three ships, and
these have been, after two hundred years, proved to be lawful prizes taken
in his legal capacity as a privateer.
Kidd was born at Greenock in Scotland about the year 1655, and was the son
of the Rev. John Kidd. Of his early life little record is left, but we
know that in August, 1689, he arrived at St. Nevis in the West Indies, in
command of a privateer of sixteen guns. In 1691, while Kidd was on shore,
his crew ran away with his ship, which was not surprising, as most of his
crew were old pirates. But that Kidd was an efficient seaman and a capable
captain is shown by the number of times he was given the command of
different privateer vessels, both by the Government of New York and by
privateer owners.
In 1695 Kidd was in London, and on October 10th signed the articles which
were to prove so fatal for him. In January, 1696, King William III. issued
to his "beloved friend William Kidd" a commission to apprehend certain
pirates, particularly Thomas Tew, of Rhode Island, Thomas Wake, and
William Maze, of New York, John Ireland, and "all other Pirates,
Free-booters, and Sea Rovers of what Nature soever."
This privateer enterprise was financed chiefly by Lord Bellomont, but the
other adventurers (on shore and in safety) were the Lord Chancellor; the
Earl of Orford, the First Lord of the Admiralty; the Earl of Romney and
the Duke of Shrewsbury, Secretaries of State; Robert Livingston, Esq., of
New York; and lastly, Captain Kidd himself.
The ship the _Adventure_ galley was bought and fitted up, and Kidd sailed
away in her to suppress piracy, particularly on the coast of America.
Nothing was heard of him till August, 1698, when ugly rumours began to get
about of piracies committed by Kidd in the Indian Ocean. In December of
the same year a general pardon was offered to all pirates who should
surrender themselves, with two exceptions--namely, Captain Avery and
Captain Kidd. In May, 1699, Kidd suddenly appeared in a small vessel at
New York, with rich booty. His chief patron, Lord Bellomont, was now
Governor, and was placed in the most awkward position of having to carry
out his orders and arrest Kidd for piracy and send him in chains to
England in H.M.S. _Advice_, which ship had been sent specially to New York
to carry back Kidd, Bradish, and other pirates to England.
The trial of Kidd proved a scandal, for someone had to suffer as scapegoat
for the aristocratic company privateers, and the lot fell to the luckless
Kidd. Kidd was charged with piracy and with murder. The first charge of
seizing two ships of the Great Mogul could have been met by the production
of two documents which Kidd had taken out of these ships, and which, he
claimed, proved that the ships were sailing under commissions issued by
the French East India Company, and made them perfectly lawful prizes.
These commissions Kidd had most foolishly handed over to Lord Bellomont,
and they could not be produced at the trial, although they had been
exhibited before the House of Commons a little while previously.
It is an extraordinary and tragic fact that these two documents, so vital
to Kidd, were discovered only lately in the Public Records Office--too
late, by some 200 years, to save an innocent man's life.
As it happened, the charge of which Kidd was hanged for was murder, and
ran thus: "Being moved and seduced by the instigations of the Devil he did
make an assault in and upon William Moore upon the high seas with a
certain wooden bucket, bound with iron hoops, of the value of eight pence,
giving the said William Moore one mortal bruise of which the aforesaid
William Moore did languish and die." This aforesaid William Moore was
gunner in the _Adventure_ galley, and was mutinous, and Kidd, as captain,
was perfectly justified in knocking him down and even of killing him; but
as the court meant Kidd to "swing," this was quite good enough for finding
him guilty. The unfortunate prisoner was executed at Wapping on May 23rd,
1701, and his body afterwards hanged in chains at Tilbury.
[Illustration: A PIRATE BEING HANGED AT EXECUTION DOCK, WAPPING.
To face p. 182.]
A popular ballad was sung to commemorate the life and death of Kidd, who,
for some reason, was always called Robert Kidd by the populace. It
consists of no less than twenty-four verses, and we here give fifteen of
them:
THE BALLAD OF CAPTAIN KIDD
My name was Robert Kidd, when I sailed, when I sailed,
My name was Robert Kidd, when I sailed,
My name was Robert Kidd,
God's laws I did forbid,
And so wickedly I did, when I sailed.
My parents taught me well, when I sailed, when I sailed,
My parents taught me well, when I sailed,
My parents taught me well,
To shun the gates of hell,
But 'gainst them I rebelled, when I sailed.
I'd a Bible in my hand, when I sailed, when I sailed,
I'd a Bible in my hand, when I sailed,
I'd a Bible in my hand,
By my father's great command,
And sunk it in the sand, when I sailed.
I murdered William Moore, as I sailed, as I sailed,
I murdered William Moore, as I sailed,
I murdered William Moore,
And laid him in his gore,
Not many leagues from shore, as I sailed.
I was sick and nigh to death, when I sailed, when I sailed,
I was sick and nigh to death, when I sailed,
I was sick and nigh to death,
And I vowed at every breath,
To walk in wisdom's ways, as I sailed.
I thought I was undone, as I sailed, as I sailed,
I thought I was undone, as I sailed,
I thought I was undone,
And my wicked glass had run,
But health did soon return, as I sailed.
My repentance lasted not, as I sailed, as I sailed,
My repentance lasted not, as I sailed,
My repentance lasted not,
My vows I soon forgot,
Damnation was my lot, as I sailed.
I spyed the ships from France, as I sailed, as I sailed,
I spyed the ships of France, as I sailed,
I spyed the ships from France,
To them I did advance,
And took them all by chance, as I sailed.
I spyed the ships of Spain, as I sailed, as I sailed,
I spyed the ships of Spain, as I sailed,
I spyed the ships of Spain,
I fired on them amain,
'Till most of them was slain, as I sailed.
I'd ninety bars of gold, as I sailed, as I sailed,
I'd ninety bars of gold, as I sailed,
I'd ninety bars of gold,
And dollars manifold,
With riches uncontrolled, as I sailed.
Thus being o'er-taken at last, I must die, I must die,
Thus being o'er-taken at last, I must die,
Thus being o'er-taken at last,
And into prison cast,
And sentence being passed, I must die.
Farewell, the raging main, I must die, I must die,
Farewell, the raging main, I must die,
Farewell, the raging main,
To Turkey, France and Spain,
I shall n'er see you again, I must die.
To Execution Dock I must go, I must go,
To Execution Dock I must go,
To Execution Dock,
Will many thousands flock,
But I must bear the shock, and must die.
Come all ye young and old, see me die, see me die,
Come all ye young and old, see me die,
Come all ye young and old,
You're welcome to my gold,
For by it I've lost my soul, and must die.
Take warning now by me, for I must die, for I must die,
Take warning now by me, for I must die,
Take warning now by me,
And shun bad company,
Lest you come to hell with me, for I die.
KILLING, JAMES.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew, who gave evidence against him at his
trial at Charleston in 1718.
KING, CHARLES.
Attempted to escape in the _Larimore_ galley, but was captured and brought
into Salem. Tried at Boston with the rest of Quelch's crew in June, 1704.
KING, FRANCIS.
One of Captain Quelch's crew captured in the _Larimore_ galley by Major
Sewall, and brought into Salem Harbour on June 11th, 1704. Tried at Boston
and condemned to be hanged. Was reprieved while standing on the gallows.
KING, JOHN.
One of Captain Quelch's crew taken out of the _Larimore_ galley. Tried at
Boston in June, 1704.
KING, MATTHEW.
Of Jamaica.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew. Was hanged at Charleston, South
Carolina, on November 8th, 1718, and buried in the marsh below low-water
mark.
KNEEVES, PETER.
Of Exeter in Devon.
Sailed with Captain Charles Harris, and was tried for piracy with the rest
of his crew at Rhode Island in 1723. Hanged at Newport at the age of 32.
KNIGHT, CAPTAIN W. Buccaneer.
In 1686 Knight was cruising off the coast of Peru and Chile with Swan,
Townley, and Davis. At the end of that year, having got a fair quantity of
plunder, he sailed round the Horn to the West Indies.
KNIGHT, CHRISTOPHER.
One of Captain Coward's crew. Tried for piracy at Boston in January, 1690,
and found guilty, but afterwards reprieved.
KNOT, CAPTAIN.
An old Massachusetts pirate who retired from the sea and was settled in
Boston in 1699. His wife gave information to the Governor, the Earl of
Bellomont, of the whereabouts of a pirate called Gillam, who was "wanted."
KOXINGA. His real name was Kuo-hsing Yeh, Koxinga being the Portuguese
version.
The son of a Chinese pirate, Cheng Chih-lung, by a Japanese mother, he was
born in 1623.
From early youth Koxinga was inspired with a hatred of the Manchus, who
had imprisoned his father.
The young pirate soon became so successful in his raids along the coast of
China that the Emperor resorted to the extraordinary expedient of ordering
the inhabitants of more than eighty seaboard towns to migrate ten miles
inland, after destroying their homes.
There can be no doubt that Koxinga was a thorough-going cut-throat pirate,
worked solely for his own ambitious ends and to satisfy his revengeful
feelings, but the fact that he fought against the alien conquerors, the
Dutch in Formosa, and defeated them, caused him to be regarded as a hero
pirate.
His father was executed at Peking, which only increased his bitterness
against the reigning house. Koxinga made himself what was, to all intents
and purposes, the ruler of Formosa, and the island became, through him,
part of the Chinese Empire.
After his death, which took place in 1662, he received official
canonization.
The direct descendant of Koxinga, the pirate, is one of the very few
hereditary nobles in China.
LACY, ABRAHAM.
Of Devonshire.
Hanged at the age of 21 at Rhode Island in 1723.
DU LAERQUERAC, CAPTAIN JOHN.
This Breton pirate was captured in 1537 by a Bristol seaman called John
Wynter. Du Laerquerac, with other pirates from Brittany, had been holding
up ships on their way to the great fair of St. James at Bristol. On being
arrested, he denied that he had "spoiled" any English ships, but on being
further pressed to confess, admitted that he had taken a few odds and
ends, such as ropes, sailors' clothes, some wine, fish, a gold crown in
money and eleven silver halfpence, as well as four daggers and a
"couverture."
LAFITTE, CAPTAIN JEAN.
Jean and his brother first appeared in New Orleans in the year 1809.
Though blacksmiths by profession, they soon took to smuggling goods
brought by privateersmen and pirates. The headquarters of this trade was
on the Island of Grande Terre in Barataria Bay. This island was inhabited
and governed by ex-pirates; one Grambo being the acknowledged chief, until
he was shot by Jean Lafitte.
In 1813, the Baratarians were denounced by the Governor of Louisiana as
pirates. This made no difference to the pirate smugglers, who grew more
and more rich and insolent. The Governor then secured an indictment
against Jean and his brother, Pierre, who retained the very best and most
expensive lawyers in the State to defend them, and they were acquitted. In
1814, war was declared with England, and Jean was invited by the English
to fight on their side, with the offer of a commission in the navy and a
large sum of money. He refused this, and eventually General Jackson
accepted his offer of the services of himself and his Baratarians, who
proved invaluable in the Battle of Orleans, serving the guns. He
disappeared completely after the war until 1823, when a British sloop of
war captured a pirate ship with a crew of sixty men under the command of
the famous Lafitte, who was amongst those who fell fighting.
LAGARDE, LE CAPITAINE.
A French filibuster of San Domingo, who in 1684 commanded a small ship,
_La Subtille_ (crew of thirty men and two guns).
LAMBERT, JOHN.
One of Captain John Quelch's crew. Hanged on Charles River, Boston Side,
on Friday, June 30th, 1704. In a broadside published at Boston in July of
the same year, Lambert's conduct on the gallows is described thus: "He
appeared much hardened and pleaded much on his Innocency. He desired all
men to beware of Bad Company and seemed to be in great Agony near his
Execution."
LANDER, DANIEL.
One of Captain Pound's crew.
LANDRESSON, CAPTAIN MICHEL, _alias_ BREHA.
Filibuster.
Accompanied Pain in his expedition against St. Augustine in 1683. He was a
constant source of annoyance to the Jamaicans. His ship was called _La
Trompeuse_, but must not be confused with the famous ship of that name
belonging to Hamlin. Landresson, when he had got a good booty of gold,
jewels, cocoa, etc., would go to Boston to dispose of it to the godly
merchants of New England. In 1684 a Royal proclamation was published in
Massachusetts, warning all Governors that no succour or aid was to be
given to any of the outlaws, but, in spite of this, Landresson was
received with open arms and the proclamations in the streets torn down.
In 1684 he was at San Domingo, in command of _La Fortune_ (crew of 100
men and fourteen guns). At this time the filibuster was disguised under
the _alias_ of Le Capitaine Breha.
Captured in 1686 by the Armada de Barlorento, and hanged with several of
his companions.
LANE, CAPTAIN.
In 1720 Lane was one of Captain England's crew when he took the _Mercury_
off the coast of West Africa. The _Mercury_ was fitted up as a pirate
ship, named the _Queen Ann's Revenge_, and Lane was voted captain of her.
Lane left Captain England and sailed to Brazil, where he took several
Portuguese ships and did a great deal of mischief.
LARIMORE, CAPTAIN THOMAS, or LARRAMORE.
Commanded the _Larimore_ galley. In 1704 was with the pirate Quelch and
several other pirates, and, among other prizes, seized a Portuguese ship,
the _Portugal_, from which they took gold dust, bar and coined gold, and
other treasure, and at the same time "acted divers villainous Murders."
For these Larimore was tried, condemned and hanged at Boston, June 11th,
1704.
LAWRENCE, NICHOLAS.
Tried for piracy with the rest of Quelch's crew at Boston in 1704.
LAWRENCE, RICHARD.
One of Captain John Quelch's crew. Tried for piracy at Boston in 1704.
LAWSON, EDWARD.
Born in the Isle of Man.
One of Captain Harris's crew. Hanged at Newport, Rhode Island, in July,
1723, at the age of 20.
L'ESCAYER. A French filibuster.
In 1685, in company with Grogniet, Davis, and Swan, sacked Paita and
Guayaquil and blockaded Panama. Afterwards sailed with Townley and his
English pirates and again plundered Guayaquil. Suffered a severe defeat at
the hands of the Spaniards at Quibo, afterwards being rescued by Townley,
with whom he and his crew of buccaneers sacked Granada in Nicaragua.
LESSONE, CAPTAIN. French filibuster.
In 1680 he joined Sharp, Coxon, and other English buccaneers in an attack
on Porto Bello. Putting 300 men into canoes, they landed some sixty miles
from the city and marched for four days, arriving in a weak state through
hardship and lack of food, but in spite of this they took the city on
February 17th, 1680.
LEVERCOTT, SAM.
Hanged in 1722 at the Island of St. Kitts, with the rest of Captain
Lowther's crew.
LEVIT, JOHN.
Of North Carolina.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew. Hanged at White Point, Charleston, South
Carolina, on November 8th, 1723.
LEWIS, JAMES.
After being a prisoner in France, he managed to reach Spain, and was with
Avery when he seized the ship _Charles the Second_. Tried for piracy at
the Old Bailey in 1696 and hanged.
LEWIS, NICHOLAS.
One of Captain George Lowther's crew. Hanged at St. Kitts on March 11th,
1722.
LEWIS, WILLIAM.
The greatest triumph and most important exploit of this pirate was the
attacking, and eventually taking, of a powerful French ship of twenty-four
guns.
Lewis enjoyed a longer career than most of the brethren, and by 1717 he
was already one of the leading piratical lights of Nassau, and his end did
not come till ten years later. In 1726, he spent several months on the
coast of South Carolina and Virginia, trading with the inhabitants the
spoils he had taken from vessels in the Atlantic. He learnt his trade
under the daring pirate Bannister, who was brought into Port Royal,
hanging dead from his own yard-arm. On this occasion, Lewis and another
boy were triced up to the corvette's mizzen-peak like "two living flags."
Lewis, amongst other accomplishments, was a born linguist, and could speak
with fluency in several languages, even the dialect of the Mosquito
Indians. He was once captured by the Spaniards, and taken to Havana, but
escaped with a few other prisoners in a canoe, seized a piragua, and with
this captured a sloop employed in the turtle trade, and by gradually
taking larger and larger prizes, Lewis soon found himself master of a fine
ship and a crew of more than fifty men. He renamed her the _Morning Star_,
and made her his flagship.
On one occasion when chasing a vessel off the Carolina coast, his fore and
main topmasts were carried away. Lewis, in a frenzy of excitement,
clambered up the main top, tore out a handful of his hair, which he tossed
into the wind, crying: "Good devil, take this till I come." The ship, in
spite of her damaged rigging, gained on the other ship, which they took.
Lewis's sailors, superstitious at the best of times, considered this
intimacy of their captain with Satan a little too much, and soon
afterwards one of the Frenchmen aboard murdered Lewis in his sleep.
LEYTON, FRANCIS.
One of Captain Charles Harris's crew. Hanged for piracy at Newport, Rhode
Island, on July 19th, 1723. Age 39.
LIMA, MANUEL.
Taken by H.M. sloop _Tyne_, and hanged at Kingston, Jamaica, in February,
1823.
LINCH, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.
Of Port Royal, Jamaica.
In 1680 Lionel Wafer, tiring of the life of a civil surgeon at Port Royal,
left Jamaica to go on a voyage with Captains Linch and Cook to the Spanish
Main.
LING, CAPTAIN WILLIAM.
A notorious pirate of New Providence. Captured and hanged shortly after
accepting King George's pardon of 1718.
LINISLER, THOMAS.
Of Lancashire.
One of Captain Charles Harris's crew. Hanged at Rhode Island in 1723 at
the age of 21.
LITHGOW, CAPTAIN.
Famous in his day for his activities in the West Indies, this pirate had
his headquarters at New Providence in the Bahamas.
LIVER, WILLIAM, _alias_ EVIS.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew. Hanged for piracy at Charleston, South
Carolina, in 1718.
LO, MRS. HON-CHO.
This Chinese woman pirate was the widow of another noted pirate who was
killed in 1921. She took command after the death of her husband, and soon
became a terror to the countryside about Pakhoi, carrying on the work in
the best traditions of the craft, being the Admiral of some sixty
ocean-going junks. Although both young and pretty, she won a reputation
for being a thorough-going murderess and pirate.
During the late revolution, Mrs. Lo joined General Wong Min-Tong's forces,
and received the rank of full Colonel. After the war, she resumed her
piracies, occasionally for the sake of variety, surprising and sacking a
village or two, and from these she usually carried away some fifty or
sixty girls to sell as slaves.
Her career ended quite suddenly in October, 1922.
LODGE, THOMAS. Poet, buccaneer, and physician.
Born about 1557, he was the son of Sir Thomas Lodge, grocer, and Lord
Mayor of London in 1563. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and
Trinity College, Oxford. The poet engaged in more than one freebooting
expedition to Spanish waters between 1584 and 1590, and he tells us that
he accompanied Captain Clarke in an attack on the Azores and the Canaries.
"Having," he tells his friend Lord Hunsdon, "with Captain Clarke made a
voyage to the Islands of Terceras and the Canaries, to beguile the time
with labour, I writ this book, rough, as hatched in the storms of the
ocean, and feathered in the surges of many perilous seas." On August 26th,
1591, Lodge sailed from Plymouth with Sir Thomas Cavendish in the
_Desire_, a galleon of 140 tons. The freebooters sailed to Brazil and
attacked the town of Santa, while the people were at Mass. They remained
there from December 15th until January 22nd, 1592. Some of the Englishmen,
of whom Lodge was one, took up their quarters in the College of the
Jesuits, and this literary buccaneer spent his time amongst the books in
the library of the Fathers.
Leaving Brazil, the small fleet sailed south to the Straits of Magellan.
While storm-bound amongst the icy cliffs of Patagonia, Lodge wrote his
Arcadian romance "Margarite of America."
From the point of view of plunder, this expedition was a dismal failure,
and the _Desire_ returned and reached the coast of Ireland on June 11th,
1593. The crew had been reduced to sixteen, and of these only five were
even in tolerable health.
At the age of 40, Lodge deserted literature and studied medicine, taking
his degree of Doctor of Physics at Avignon in 1600. His last original work
was a "Treatise on the Plague," published in 1603. After practising
medicine with great success for many years, Thomas Lodge died, it is said,
of the plague, in the year 1625, at the age of 68.
LONG, ZACHARIAH.
Of the Province of Holland.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew. Hanged at White Point, Charleston, in
1718, and buried in the marsh below low-water mark.
LOPEZ, JOHN.
Of Oporto.
This Portuguese pirate sailed in the _Royal James_, and was hanged with
the rest of the crew at Charleston, South Carolina, on November 8th,
1718.
LORD, JOHN.
A soldier. Deserted from Fort Loyal, Falmouth, Maine. Killed at Tarpaulin
Cove in 1689.
LOW, CAPTAIN EDWARD, or LOE.
Born in Westminster, he began in very early life to plunder the boys of
their farthings, and as he grew bigger used to gamble with the footmen who
waited in the lobby of the House of Commons. While still quite small one
of his elder brothers used to carry little Edward hidden in a basket on
his back, and when in a crowd the future pirate would, from above, snatch
the hats and even the wigs off the heads of passing citizens and secret
them in the basket and so get away with them. The Low family were the
originators of this ingenious and fascinating trick, and for a time it was
most successful, until the people of the city took to tying on their hats
and wigs with bands to prevent their sudden removal. When he grew up, Ned
went to Boston and earned an honest living as a rigger, but after a while
he tired of this and sailed in a sloop to Honduras to steal log-wood. Here
Low quarrelled with his captain, tried to shoot him, and then went off in
an open boat with twelve other men, and the very next day they took a
small vessel, in which they began their "war against all the world." Low
soon happened to meet with Captain Lowther, the pirate, and the two agreed
to sail in company. This partnership lasted until May 28th, 1722, when
they took a prize, a brigantine from Boston, which Low went into with a
crew of forty-four men. This vessel they armed with two guns, four
swivels, and six quarter-casks of powder, and saying good-bye to Lowther,
sailed off on their own account. A week later a prize fell into their
hands, which was the first of several. Things soon became too hot for Low
along the American coast and the West Indies, as several men-of-war were
searching for him; so he sailed to the Azores, taking on his way a big
French ship of thirty-four guns, and later, in the harbour of St. Michael,
he seized several vessels which he found at anchor there. Here they burnt
the French ship, but let the crew all go, except the cook, who, they said,
"being a greasy fellow would fry well in the fire, so the poor man was
bound to the main mast and burnt in the ship to the no small derision of
Low and his Mirmidons."
Low and his crew now began to treat their prisoners with great brutality.
However, on one occasion the biter was bitten. It happened that one of the
drunken crew, playfully cutting at a prisoner, missed his mark and
accidentally slashed Captain Low across his lower jaw, the sword opening
his cheek and laying bare his teeth. The surgeon was called, who at once
stitched up the wound, but Low found some fault with the operation, as
well he might, seeing that "the surgeon was tollerably drunk" at the time.
The surgeon's professional pride was outraged by this criticism of his
skill by a layman, and he showed his annoyance in a ready, if
unprofessional, manner, by striking "Low such a blow with his Fists, that
broke out all the Stitches, and then bid him sew up his Chops himself and
be damned, so that the captain made a very pitiful Figure for some time
after." Low took a large number of prizes, but he was not a sympathetic
figure, and the list of his prizes and brutalities soon becomes irksome
reading. Low, still in the _Fancy_, and accompanied by Captain Harris in
the _Ranger_, then sailed back to the West Indies, and later to South
Carolina, where he took several prizes, one the _Amsterdam Merchant_
(Captain Willard), belonging to New England, and as Low never missed an
opportunity of showing his dislike of all New Englanders, he sent the
captain away with both his ears cut off and with various other wounds
about his body.
Low and Harris now made a most unfortunate mistake in giving chase to a
ship which on close quarters proved to be not a merchant vessel, but
H.M.S. _Greyhound_. After a short fight, the coward Low slipped away, and
left his consort, Harris, to carry on an unequal contest until he was
compelled to surrender his ship.
Low's cruelties became more and more disgusting, and there can be little
doubt that he was really by this time a lunatic.
In July, 1723, Low took a new ship for himself, naming himself Admiral,
and sporting a new black flag with a red skeleton upon it. He again
cruised off the Azores, the Canaries, and the Guinea coast, but what the
end was of this repulsive, uninteresting, and bloody pirate has never been
known.
LOWTHER, CAPTAIN GEORGE.
Sailed as second mate from the Thames in the _Gambia Castle_, a ship
belonging to the African Company, sixteen guns and a crew of thirty men.
On board as passengers were Captain Massey and a number of soldiers.
Arriving at their destination, Massey quarrelled with the merchants on
shore, and, a few days later, with Lowther, seized the ship, which he
renamed the _Delivery_. They now went a-pirating, their first prize being
a Boston ship, and cruising about off the Island of Hispaniola, several
more were taken, but nothing very rich. Lowther quarrelled with Captain
Massey, who, being a soldier, wished to land on some island to plunder the
French settlements, but this was not agreed to, and Massey and his
followers were sent away in a sloop. Life for Lowther now became a series
of successes, prizes being taken, and visits to land being occasionally
made for the crew to enjoy a drunken revel.
Having met with Captain Low, for a while the two sailed together, and
took the _Greyhound_, a merchantman, and several more rich prizes. Lowther
now commanded a small pirate fleet, and styled himself Admiral, his
flagship being the _Happy Delivery_. While careening their ships in the
Gulf of Matigue, they were suddenly attacked by the natives, and the
pirates barely escaped in a sloop with their lives. Lowther soon improved
himself by seizing a brigantine, and in her shaped his course to the coast
of South Carolina, a favourite resort for the pirates. Here he attacked an
English ship, but was so roughly handled that he was glad to run his ship
ashore and escape.
In 1723 he steered for Newfoundland, taking many small vessels there, and
returning to the West Indies. While cleaning his ship at the Isle of
Blanco, he was suddenly attacked by a South Sea Company's ship, the
_Eagle_, and the pirates were compelled to surrender. Lowther and a dozen
of his crew escaped by climbing out of the cabin window, and, reaching the
island, hid themselves in the woods. All were caught except Lowther and
three men and a boy. He was shortly afterwards found lying dead with a
pistol by his side, and was supposed to have shot himself. Three of his
crew who were caught were carried to St. Christopher's, and there tried
for piracy and hanged.
LUDBURY, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.
Sailed in company with Captains Prince and Harrison in October, 1670,
ascended the San Juan River in Nicaragua with a party of 170 men, and
surprised and plundered the city of Granada.
LUKE, CAPTAIN MATTHEW.
This Italian pirate had his headquarters at Porto Rico, and specialized in
attacking English ships. In 1718 he took four of these and murdered all
the crews. In May, 1722, Luke made a terrible mistake. Perceiving what he
thought to be a merchant ship, he attacked her, to find out all too late
that she was an English man-of-war, the _Lauceston_. Luke and his crew
were taken to Jamaica and hanged. One of his crew confessed to having
killed twenty English sailors with his own hands.
LUSHINGHAM, CAPTAIN.
In 1564 this pirate was at Berehaven in the South of Ireland, having just
sold a cargo of wine out of a Spanish prize to the Lord O'Sullivan, when
some of Queen Elizabeth's ships arrived in the bay in search of pirates.
By Lord O'Sullivan's help the pirates escaped, but Lushingham was killed
"by a piece of ordnance" as he was in the act of waving his cap towards
the Queen's ships.
LUSSAN, LE SIEUR RAVENEAU DE.
This French filibuster was a man of much better birth and education than
the usual buccaneer. Also, he was the author of a most entertaining book
recording his adventures and exploits as a buccaneer, called "Journal du
Voyage fait a la Mer de sud avec les Flibustiers de l'Amerique en 1684."
Pressure from his creditors drove de Lussan into buccaneering, as being a
rapid method of gaining enough money to satisfy them and to enable him to
return to the fashionable life he loved so well in Paris. De Lussan was,
according to his own account, a man of the highest principles, and very
religious. He never allowed his crew to molest priests, nuns, or churches.
After taking a Spanish town, the fighting being over, he would lead his
crew of pirates to attend Mass in the church, and when this was done--and
not until then--would he allow the plundering and looting to begin.
De Lussan was surprised and grieved to find that his Spanish prisoners had
a most exaggerated idea of the brutality of the buccaneers, and on one
occasion when he was conducting a fair young Spanish lady, a prisoner, to
a place of safety, he was overwhelmed when he discovered that the reason
of her terror was that she believed she was shortly to be eaten by him and
his crew. To remedy this erroneous impression, it was the custom of the
French commander to gather together all his prisoners into the church or
the plaza, and there to give them a lecture on the true life and character
of the buccaneers.
The student who wishes to learn more about the adventures of de Lussan can
do so in his book. There he will read, amongst other interesting events,
particulars about the filibuster's surprising and romantic affair with the
beautiful and wealthy Spanish widow who fell so violently in love with
him.
It happened on one occasion that Raveneau and his crew, having taken a
town on the West Coast of South America after a somewhat bloody battle,
had, as usual, attended Mass in the Cathedral, before setting out to
plunder the place.
Entering one of the chief houses in the town, de Lussan discovered the
widow of the late town treasurer dissolved in tears, upon which the tender
buccaneer hastened, with profound apologies, discreetly to withdraw, but
calling again next day to offer his sympathy he found the widow had
forgotten all about the late treasurer, for she had fallen violently in
love with her gallant, handsome, and fashionably dressed visitor.
After various adventures, de Lussan arrived safely back in Paris with
ample means in his possession not only to satisfy his creditors, but also
to enable him to live there as a gentleman of fortune and fashion.
MACHAULY, DANIEL, or MACCAWLY, or MCCAWLEY.
A Scotch pirate. One of Captain Gow's crew. Hanged at Execution Dock at
Wapping on June 11th, 1725.
MACKDONALD, EDWARD.
One of Captain George Lowther's crew in the _Happy Delivery_. Hanged at
St. Kitts on March 11th, 1722.
MACKET, CAPTAIN, or MAGGOTT.
On March 23rd, 1679, Macket, who commanded a small vessel of fourteen
tons, with a crew of twenty men, was at Boca del Toro with Coxon, Hawkins,
and other famous buccaneers, having just returned from the sacking of
Porto Bello.
Shortly afterwards the fleet sailed to Golden Island, off the coast of
Darien, and from thence set out to attack Santa Maria and Panama.
MACKINTOSH, WILLIAM.
Of Canterbury in Kent.
One of Captain Roberts's crew. Hanged at Cape Coast Castle in 1722 at the
age of 21.
MAGNES, WILLIAM, or MAGNUS.
Born at Minehead in Somersetshire in 1687. Quartermaster of the _Royal
Fortune_ (Captain Bartholomew Roberts). Tried for piracy at Cape Coast
Castle, and hanged in chains in 1718, for taking and plundering the _King
Solomon_.
MAIN, WILLIAM.
One of Captain Roberts's crew. Hanged in April, 1722, at the age of 28
years.
MAIN, WILLIAM.
Boatswain to Captain Bartholomew Roberts in the _Royal Fortune_. Was blown
up, the explosion being caused by one of the crew firing his pistol into
some gunpowder when the ship was taken by H.M.S. _Swallow_ in 1722.
MAINTENON, MARQUIS DE.
Arrived in the West Indies from France in 1676. In 1678 commanded _La
Sorcière_, a frigate, and, in company with other French filibusters from
Tortuga Island, cruised off the coast of Caracas. He ravaged the islands
of Margarita and Trinidad. He met with but little success, and soon
afterwards his fleet scattered.
MAINWARING, CAPTAIN HENRY.
A notorious Newfoundland pirate.
On June 4th, 1614, when off the coast of that island, in command of eight
vessels, he plundered the fishing fleet, stealing what provisions and
stores he was in need of, also taking away with him all the carpenters and
mariners he wanted for his own fleet.
It was his custom, when taking seamen, to pick one out of every six. In
all he took 400 men, some of whom joined him willingly, while others were
"perforstmen." Sailing across the Atlantic to the coast of Spain,
Mainwaring took a Portuguese ship and stole from out of her a good store
of wine, and out of a French prize 10,000 dried fish. A few years later
this pirate was pardoned and placed in command of a squadron and sent to
the Barbary coast in an unsuccessful attempt to drive out the pirates who
were settled there. Here he may well have met with his old friend Captain
Peter Easton, who had also been a Newfoundland pirate, but in 1613 had
joined the Barbary corsairs.
EL MAJORCAM, CAPTAIN ANTONIO.
At one time an officer in the Spanish Navy. Became a notorious West Indian
pirate, but about 1824 he retired from the sea to become a highwayman on
shore.
MANSFIELD, JO.
One of Captain Bartholomew Roberts's men. Must not be confused with Edward
Mansfield, the famous buccaneer.
A native of the Orkney Islands. At one time was a highwayman. Later on
deserted from the _Rose_, man-of-war. Volunteered to join the pirates at
the island of Dominica, and was always keen to do any mischief. He was a
bully and a drunkard.
When Roberts's ship was attacked by H.M.S. _Swallow_ and had surrendered
after a sharp fight, Mansfield, who had been below all the while, very
drunk, came staggering and swearing up on deck, with a drawn cutlass in
his hand, crying out to know who would go on board the prize with him, and
it was some time before his friends could persuade him of the true
condition of things.
At his trial at Cape Coast Castle he said little in his defence, but
pleaded that the cause of his backsliding was drunkenness. Hanged in the
year 1722 at the age of 30.
MANSFIELD, CAPTAIN EDWARD, or MANSVELT.
A Dutchman born in the Island of Curacao.
He was the chief of the buccaneers, and at his death was succeeded by
Henry Morgan. He was the first buccaneer to cross the Isthmus of Darien to
the Pacific Ocean. Noted for his charm of manner, he was very popular with
the buccaneers of all nationalities. In 1663 he commanded a brigantine
carrying four guns and a crew of sixty men. Was chosen admiral of the
fleet of buccaneers that gathered at Bleufields Bay in Jamaica in
November, 1665, at the invitation of Modyford, the Governor, when he
appointed young Henry Morgan to be his vice-admiral. This fleet was to
sail and attempt to seize the Island of Curacao, and consisted of fifteen
ships and a mixed crew of 500 buccaneers. On the way there they landed in
Cuba, although England was at peace with Spain, and marched forty miles
inland, to surprise and sack the town of Sancti Spiritus, from which they
took a rich booty.
Mansfield, "being resolved never to face the Governor of Jamaica until he
had done some service to the King," next made a very daring attack on the
Island of Old Providence, which the Spaniards had fortified and used as a
penal settlement. This was successful, and Mansfield, with great humanity,
landed all the prisoners on the mainland of America. For a long while it
had been Mansfield's dream to make this island a permanent home of the
buccaneers, as it was close to the Spanish Main, with the towns of Porto
Bello and Vera Cruz, and on the trade route of the Spanish galleons,
taking their rich cargoes to Spain.
Mansfield's next exploit was to ascend the San Juan River and to sack
Granada, the capital of Nicaragua. From there he coasted south along Costa
Rica, burning plantations, smashing the images in the churches,
ham-stringing cows and mules, and cutting down fruit-trees.
He returned in June, 1665, to Port Royal, with a rich booty. For this
inexcusable attack on a country at peace with England, Governor Modyford
mildly reproved him!
Mansfield, now an old man, died suddenly at the Island of Tortuga, off
Hispaniola, when on a visit to the French pirates there. Another account
says that he was captured by the Spaniards and taken by them to Porto
Bello, and there put to death.
MARTEEN, CAPTAIN DAVID. Buccaneer.
In 1665 he had his headquarters in Jamaica.
MARTEL, CAPTAIN JOHN.
An old Jamaican privateer. After the Peace of Utrecht, being out of
employment, he took to piracy. His career as a pirate was very successful
so long as it lasted. Cruising off Jamaica, Cuba, and other islands, he
continued taking ship after ship, with one particularly rich prize, a West
African ship containing gold-dust, elephants' teeth, and slaves. His
original command was a sloop of eight guns and a crew of eighty men, but
after a short while he commanded a small fleet consisting of two ships
(each armed with twenty guns), three sloops, and several armed prizes.
With these Martel entered a bay in a small island called Santa Cruz, near
Porto Rico, to careen and refit. This was in December, 1716, but news had
leaked out of the pirate's whereabouts, and soon there arrived on the
scene Captain Hume, of H.M.S. _Scarborough_. Martel tried to escape, but
his ship ran aground, and many of the pirates were killed, but a few, with
Martel, got ashore and hid on the island. None of them were heard of again
except Martel, and it was supposed that they had died of hunger. In the
space of three months Martel took and plundered thirteen vessels, all of
considerable size. Two years later he was back in New Providence Island,
when Governor Rogers arrived with King George's offer of pardon to the
pirates, and Martel was one of those who surrendered.
MARTIN, JOHN.
Hanged in Virginia in 1718 with the rest of Blackbeard's crew.
MASSEY, CAPTAIN JOHN.
As a lieutenant, he "served with great applause" in the army in Flanders,
under the command of the Duke of Marlborough.
He afterwards sailed from the Thames in the _Gambia Castle_, a ship of the
African Company, in command of a company of soldiers which was being sent
to garrison the fort. The merchants of Gambia were supposed to victual
this garrison, but the rations supplied were considered by Massey to be
quite insufficient. He quarrelled with the Governor and merchants, and
took his soldiers back on board the ship, and with Lowther, the second
mate, seized the ship and turned pirate. Lowther and Massey eventually
quarrelled, for the latter, being a soldier, "was solicitous to move in
his own sphere"--that is, he wanted to land his troops and plunder the
French West Indian settlements. In the end Massey and a few followers were
permitted to go off in a captured sloop, and in this sailed for Port
Royal, Jamaica. Arrived there, "with a bold countenance he went to the
Governor" and told a long and plausible tale of how he had managed to
escape from the pirates at the first opportunity. He deceived the
sympathetic Governor, and was sent with Captain Laws to hunt for Lowther.
Returning to Jamaica without finding Lowther, he was granted a
"certificate of his surrender," and came to England as a passenger.
On reaching London, he wrote a narrative of the whole affair--or as much
as he deemed wise--to the African Company, who, receiving the story with
far less credulity than the Governor of Jamaica, returned him answer "that
he should be fairly hanged," and very shortly afterwards he was, at
Tyburn on July 26th, 1723.
MAY, WILLIAM.
A London mariner. One of Captain Avery's crew, left behind in Madagascar
very sick. A negro, hearing that an Englishman was there, came to him and
nursed and fed him. This negro spoke good English, having lived at Bethnal
Green.
May was promoted afterwards to be captain of a ship in the Red Sea. He was
described by a shipmate as being "a true cock of the Game and an old
sportsman." Hanged at London in 1696.
MAZE, CAPTAIN WILLIAM, or MACE, or MAISE.
A notorious pirate; particularly mentioned in the royal warrant
authorizing Captain Kidd to go and capture certain "wicked and
ill-disposed persons."
Arrived in command of a big ship at New York in 1699, loaded with booty
taken in the Red Sea.
McCARTHY, CAPTAIN DENNIS.
Of New Providence, Bahama Islands.
This pirate and prize-fighter was one of those who refused King George's
pardon in 1717, and was eventually hanged by his late fellow-pirates. On
the gallows he made the following dying speech:
"Some friends of mine have often said I should die in my shoes, but I
would rather make them liars." And so, kicking off his shoes, he was
hanged.
MEGHLYN, HANS VAN.
A pirate of Antwerp, who owned a vessel of forty-five tons, painted black
with pitch, and carried a crew of thirty. In 1539 he was cruising off
Whitstable, on the lookout for vessels entering or leaving the Thames.
Cromwell had been warned by Vaughan to look out for this pirate ship.
DE MELTON.
A well-known pirate in the sixteenth century. Was with Kellwanton when he
was captured in the Isle of Man in 1531, but de Melton managed to escape
with some of the crew and get away in their ship to Grimsby.
MELVIN, WILLIAM.
This Scotch pirate was hanged, with other members of Gow's crew, at
Wapping in June, 1725.
MENDOZA, ANTONIO.
A Spaniard from San Domingo.
Mention is made of this unlucky mariner in a very interesting document
which Mr. A. Hyatt Verrill was fortunate enough to acquire quite recently
in the island of St. Kitts. It runs as follows:
"An assize and generall Gaole delivrie held at St. Christophers Colonie
from ye nineteenthe daye of Maye to ye 22n. daye off ye same Monthe 1701
Captaine Josias Pendringhame Magustrate &c. The Jurye of our Soveraigne
Lord the Kinge Doe presente Antonio Mendoza of Hispaniola and a subjecte
of ye Kinge of Spain for that ye said on or about ye 11 Daye of Apryl 1701
feloneousely delibyrately and malliciousley and encontrarye to ye laws off
Almightie God and our Soveraigne Lord the Kinge did in his cuppes saucely
and arrogantyly speak of the Governour and Lord the Kinge and bye force
and armies into ye tavernne of John Wilkes Esq. did entre and there did
Horrible sware and cursse and did felonoslye use threatteninge words and
did strike and cutte most murtherouslye severalle subjects of our
Soveraigne Lord the Kinge. Of w'h Indictment he pleadeth not Guiltie
butte onne presente Master Samuel Dunscombe mariner did sware that said
Antonio Mendoza was of his knowenge a Blood-thirste piratte and Guiltie of
diabolicalle practises & ye Grande Inquest findinge yt a trewe bill to be
tryd by God and ye Countrye w'h beinge a Jurie of 12 men sworne finde him
Guiltie & for the same he be adjuged to be carryd to ye Fort Prison to
have both his earres cutt close by his head and be burnet throughe ye
tongue with an Hot iron and to be caste chained in ye Dungon to awaitte ye
plesyure of God and Our Soveraigne Lord the Kinge."
MEYEURS.
A South Sea pirate, killed when taking part with Captain Williams in a
raid against an Arab settlement at Bayu.
MICHEL, CAPITAINE. Filibuster.
His ship, _La Mutine_, was armed with forty-four guns and carried a crew
of 200 men.
MICHEL LE BASQUE. A French filibuster.
In company with the butcher L'Onnais and 650 other buccaneers, he pillaged
the town of Maracaibo in Venezuela, in the year 1667. A very successful
but ruthless buccaneer.
DON MIGUEL.
In 1830 commanded a squadron of small pirate vessels off the Azores. After
seizing a Sardinian brig off St. Michael's, was himself captured by a
British frigate.
MIGUEL, FRANCESCO.
Hanged at Kingston, Jamaica, in 1823.
MILLER, JOHN.
One of Captain John Quelch's crew. Hanged at Boston on June 30th, 1704. A
broadsheet published at the time, describing the scenes at the execution,
tells us that Miller "seemed much concerned, and complained of a great
Burden of Sins to answer for, expressing often: 'Lord, what shall I do to
be Saved?'"
MILLER, THOMAS.
Quartermaster on the pirate ship _Queen Ann's Revenge_, and killed on
November 22nd, 1718.
MISNIL, SIEUR DU.
A French filibuster who commanded a ship, _La Trompeuse_ (one hundred men
and fourteen guns).
MISSON, CAPTAIN.
This unique pirate came of an ancient French family of Provence. He was
the youngest of a large family, and received a good education. At the age
of 15 he had already shown unusual distinction in the subjects of humanity
and logic, and had passed quite tolerably in mathematics. Deciding to
carve a fortune for himself with his sword, he was sent to the Academy at
Angiers for a year, and at the conclusion of his military studies his
father would have bought him a commission in a regiment of musketeers. But
young Misson had been reading books of travel, and begged so earnestly to
be allowed to go to sea that his father got him admitted as a volunteer on
the French man-of-war _Victoire_, commanded by Monsieur Fourbin. Joining
his ship at Marseilles, they cruised in the Mediterranean, and the young
volunteer soon showed great keenness in his duties, and lost no
opportunity of learning all he could about navigation and the
construction of ships, even parting with his pocket-money to the boatswain
and the carpenter to receive special instruction from them.
Arriving one day at Naples, Misson obtained permission from the captain to
visit Rome, a visit that eventually changed his whole career.
It happened that while in Rome the young sailor met a priest, a Signor
Caraccioli, a Dominican, who held most unclerical views about the
priesthood; and, indeed, his ideas on life in general were, to say the
least, unorthodox. A great friendship was struck up between these two,
which at length led the priest to throw off his habit and join the crew of
the _Victoire_. Two days out from port they met and fought a desperate
hand-to-hand engagement with a Sallee pirate, in which the ex-priest and
Misson both distinguished themselves by their bravery. Misson's next
voyage was in a privateer, the _Triumph_, and, meeting one day an English
ship, the _Mayflower_, between Guernsey and Start Point, the merchantman
was defeated after a gallant resistance.
Rejoining the _Victoire_, Misson sailed from Rochelle to the West Indies,
and Caraccioli lost no opportunity of preaching to young Misson the gospel
of atheism and communism, and with such success that the willing convert
soon held views as extreme as those of his teacher. These two apostles now
began to talk to the crew, and their views, particularly on the rights of
private property, were soon held by almost all on board. A fortunate event
happened just then to help the new "cause." Meeting with an English
man-of-war, the _Winchester_, off the island of Martinique, a smart
engagement took place between the two ships, at the very commencement of
which Captain Fourbin and three of the officers on the French ship were
killed. The fight ended by the English ship blowing up, and an era of
speech-making may be said to have now begun.
Firstly, Signor Caraccioli, stepping forward, made a long and eloquent
address to Misson, inviting him to become captain of the _Victoire_, and
calling upon him to follow the example of Alexander the Great with the
Persians, and that of the Kings Henry IV. and VII. of England, reminding
him how Mahomet, with but a few camel-drivers, founded the Ottoman Empire,
also how Darius, with a handful of companions, got possession of Persia.
Inflamed by this speech, young Misson showed what he could do, when,
calling all hands up on deck, he made his first, but, as events proved, by
far from last, speech. The result was a triumph of oratory, the excited
French sailors crying out: "Vive le Capitaine Misson et son Lieutenant le
Scavant Caraccioli!" Misson, returning thanks in a few graceful words,
promised to do his utmost as their commander for their new marine
republic. The newly elected officers retiring to the great cabin, a
friendly discussion began as to their future arrangements. The first
question that arose was to choose what colours they should sail under. The
newly elected boatswain, Mathew le Tondu, a brave but simple mariner,
advised a black one, as being the most terrifying. This brought down a
full blast of eloquence from Caraccioli, the new lieutenant, who objected
that "they were no pirates, but men who were resolved to affect the
Liberty which God and Nature gave them," with a great deal about
"guardians of the Peoples Rights and Liberties," etc., and, gradually
becoming worked up, gave the wretched boatswain, who must have regretted
his unfortunate remark, a heated lecture on the soul, on shaking "the Yoak
of Tyranny" off their necks, on "Oppression and Poverty" and the miseries
of life under these conditions as compared to those of "Pomp and
Dignity." In the end he showed that their policy was not to be one of
piracy, for pirates were men of no principle and led dissolute lives; but
_their_ lives were to be brave, just, and innocent, and their cause the
cause of Liberty; and therefore, instead of a black flag, they should live
under a white ensign, with the motto "For God and Liberty" embroidered
upon it.
The simple sailors, debarred from these councils, had gathered outside the
cabin, but were able to overhear this speech, and at its conclusion,
carried away by enthusiasm, loud cries went up of "Liberty! Liberty! We
are free men! Vive the brave Captain Misson and the noble Lieutenant
Caraccioli!" Alas! it is impossible in the space of this work to do
justice to the perfectly wonderful and idealistic conditions of this
pirate crew. Their speeches and their kind acts follow each other in
fascinating profusion. We can only recommend those who feel disposed to
follow more closely the history of these delightful pirates, to read the
account printed in English in 1726, if they are fortunate enough to come
by a copy.
The first prize taken by these pirates under the white flag was an English
sloop commanded by one Captain Thomas Butler, only a day's sail out from
St. Kitts. After helping themselves to a couple of puncheons of rum and a
few other articles which the pirates needed, but without doing any
unkindness to the crew, nor stripping them, as was the usual custom of
pirates on such occasions, they let them go, greatly to the surprise of
Captain Butler, who handsomely admitted that he had never before met with
so much "candour" in any similar situation, and to further express his
gratitude he ordered his crew to man ship, and at parting called for three
rousing British cheers for the good pirate and his men, which were
enthusiastically given.
Sailing to the coast of Africa, Misson took a Dutch ship, the
_Nieuwstadt_, of Amsterdam. The cargo was found to consist of gold dust
and seventeen slaves. In the latter Captain Misson recognized a good text
for one of his little sermons to his crew, so, calling all hands on deck,
he made the following observations on the vile trade of slavery, telling
his men:
"That the Trading for those of our own Species, cou'd never be agreeable
to the Eyes of divine Justice. That no Man had Power of the Liberty of
another; and while those who profess a more enlightened Knowledge of the
Deity, sold Men like Beasts; they prov'd that their Religion was no more
than Grimace, and that they differ'd from the Barbarians in Name only,
since their Practice was in nothing more humane. For his Part, and he
hop'd he spoke the Sentiments of all his brave Companions, he had not
exempted his Neck from the galling Yoak of Slavery, and asserted his own
Liberty, to enslave others. That however, these Men, were distinguished
from the Europeans by their Colour, Customs, or religious Rites, they were
the Work of the same omnipotent Being, and endued with equal Reason.
Wherefore, he desired they might be treated like Freemen (for he wou'd
banish even the Name of Slavery from among them) and be divided into
Messes among them, to the end they might the sooner learn their language,
be sensible of the Obligations they had to them, and more capable and
zealous to defend that Liberty they owed to their Justice and Humanity."
This speech was met with general applause, and once again the good ship
_Victoire_ rang with cries of "Vive le Capitaine Misson!" The negroes were
freed of their irons, dressed up in the clothes of their late Dutch
masters, and it is gratifying to read that "by their Gesticulations, they
shew'd they were gratefully sensible of their being delivered from their
Chains." But alas! a sad cloud was creeping insidiously over the fair
reputation of these super-pirates. Out of the last slave ship they had
taken, a number of Dutch sailors had volunteered to serve with Misson and
had come aboard as members of his crew. Hitherto no swearword was ever
heard, no loose or profane expression had pained the ears of Captain
Misson or his ex-priestly lieutenant. But the Dutch mariners began to lead
the crew into ways of swearing and drunkenness, which, coming to the
captain's notice, he thought best to nip these weeds in the bud; so,
calling both French and Dutch upon deck, and desiring the Dutch captain to
translate his remarks into the Dutch language, he told them that--
"Before he had the Misfortune of having them on Board, his Ears were never
grated with hearing the Name of the great Creator profaned, tho' he, to
his Sorrow, had often since heard his own Men guilty of that Sin, which
administer'd neither Profit nor Pleasure, and might draw upon them a
severe Punishment: That if they had a just Idea of that great Being, they
wou'd never mention him, but they wou'd immediately reflect on his Purity,
and their own Vileness. That we so easily took Impression from our
Company, that the Spanish Proverb says: 'Let a Hermit and a Thief live
together, the Thief wou'd become Hermit, or the Hermit thief': That he saw
this verified in his ship, for he cou'd attribute the Oaths and Curses he
had heard among his brave Companions, to nothing but the odious Example of
the Dutch: That this was not the only Vice they had introduced, for before
they were on Board, his Men were Men, but he found by their beastly
Pattern they were degenerated into Brutes, by drowning that only Faculty,
which distinguishes between Man and Beast, Reason. That as he had the
Honour to command them, he could not see them run into these odious Vices
without a sincere Concern, as he had a paternal Affection for them, and he
should reproach himself as neglectful of the common Good, if he did not
admonish them; and as by the Post which they had honour'd him, he was
obliged to have a watchful Eye over their general Interest; he was obliged
to tell them his Sentiments were, that the Dutch allured them to a
dissolute Way of Life, that they might take some Advantage over them:
Wherefore, as his brave Companions, he was assured, wou'd be guided by
reason, he gave the Dutch Notice, that the first whom he catch'd either
with an Oath in his Mouth or Liquor in his Head, should be brought to the
Geers, whipped and pickled, for an Example to the rest of his Nation: As
to his Friends, his Companions, his Children, those gallant, those
generous, noble and heroick Souls he had the Honour to command, he
entreated them to allow a small Time for Reflection, and to consider how
little Pleasure, and how much Danger, might flow from imitating the Vices
of their Enemies; and that they would among themselves, make a Law for the
Suppression of what would otherwise estrange them from the Source of Life,
and consequently leave them destitute of his Protection."
This speech had the desired effect, and ever afterwards, when any one of
the crew had reason to mention the name of his captain, he never failed to
add the epithet "Good" before it.
These chaste pirates soon took and plundered many rich merchant ships, but
always in the most gentlemanly manner, so that none failed to be "not a
little surprised at the Regularity, Tranquillity and Humanity of these
new-fashioned Pyrates." From out of one of these, an English vessel, they
took a sum of £60,000, but during the engagement the captain was killed.
Poor Captain Misson was broken-hearted over this unfortunate mishap, and
to show as best he could his regret, he buried the body on shore, and,
finding that one of his men was by trade a stonecutter, raised a monument
over the grave with, engraved upon it, the words: "Here lies a gallant
English-Man." And at the conclusion of a very moving burial service he
paid a final tribute by "a triple Discharge of 50 small Arms and fired
Minute Guns."
Misson now sailed to the Island of Johanna in the Indian Ocean, which
became his future home. Misson married the sister of the local dusky
queen, and his lieutenant led to the altar her niece, while many of the
crew also were joined in holy wedlock to one or more ladies of more humble
social standing.
Already Misson has received more space than he is entitled to in a work of
reference of this kind, but his career is so full of charming incidents
that one is tempted to continue to unseemly length. Let it suffice to say
that for some years Misson made speeches, robbed ships, and now and again,
when unavoidably driven to it, would reluctantly slaughter his enemies.
Finally, Misson took his followers to a sheltered bay in Madagascar, and
on landing there made a little speech, telling them that here they could
settle down, build a town, that here, in fact, "they might have some Place
to call their own; and a Receptacle, when Age or Wounds had render'd them
incapable of Hardship, where they might enjoy the Fruits of their Labour,
and go to their Graves in Peace."
This ideal colony was called Libertatia, and was run on strictly
Socialistic lines, for no one owned any individual property; all money was
kept in a common treasury, and no hedges bounded any man's particular plot
of land. Docks were made and fortifications set up. Soon Misson had two
ships built, called the _Childhood_ and the _Liberty_, and these were sent
for a voyage round the island, to map and chart the coast, and to train
the released slaves to be efficient sailors. A Session House was built,
and a form of Government arranged. At the first meeting Misson was elected
Lord Conservator, as they called the President, for a term of three years,
and during that period he was to have "all the Ensigns of Royalty to
attend him." Captain Tew, the English pirate, was elected Admiral of the
Fleet of Libertatia, Caraccioli became Secretary of State, while the
Council was formed of the ablest amongst the pirates, without distinction
of nation or colour. The difficulty of language, as French, English,
Portuguese, and Dutch were equally spoken, was overcome by the invention
of a new language, a kind of Esperanto, which was built up of words from
all four. For many years this ideally successful and happy pirate Utopia
flourished; but at length misfortunes came, one on top of the other, and a
sudden and unexpected attack by the hitherto friendly natives finally
drove Misson and a few other survivors to seek safety at sea, but,
overtaken by a hurricane, their vessel foundered, and Misson and all his
crew were drowned; and thus ended the era of what may be called "piracy
without tears."
He was the mildest-manner'd man
That ever scuttled ship or cut a throat.
BYRON.
MITCHELL, CAPTAIN.
An English buccaneer of Jamaica, who flourished in 1663.
MITCHELL, JOHN.
Of Shadwell Parish, London.
One of the crew of the _Ranger_. Condemned to death, but reprieved and
sold to the Royal African Company.
M'KINLIE, PETER. Irish pirate.
Boatswain in a merchant ship which sailed from the Canaries to England in
the year 1765. On board were three passengers, the adventurous Captain
Glass and his wife and daughter. One night M'Kinlie and four other
mutineers murdered the commander of the vessel, Captain Cockeran, and
Captain Glass and his family, as well as all the crew except two
cabin-boys. After throwing their bodies overboard, M'Kinlie steered for
the coast of Ireland, and on December 3rd arrived in the neighbourhood of
the harbour of Ross. Filling the long-boat with dollars, weighing some two
tons, they rowed ashore, after killing the two boys and scuttling the
ship. On landing, the pirates found they had much more booty than they
could carry, so they buried 250 bags of dollars in the sand, and took what
they could with them to a village called Fishertown. Here they regaled
themselves, while one of the villagers relieved them of a bag containing
1,200 dollars. Next day they walked into Ross, and there sold another bag
of dollars, and with the proceeds each man bought a pair of pistols and a
horse and rode to Dublin. In the meanwhile the ship, instead of sinking,
was washed up on the shore. Strong suspicion being roused in the
countryside, messengers were sent post-haste to inform the Lords of the
Regency at Dublin that the supposed pirates were in the city. Three of
them were arrested in the Black Bull Inn in Thomas Street, but M'Kinlie
and another pirate, who had already taken a post-chaise for Cork,
intending to embark there on a vessel for England, were arrested on the
way.
The five pirates were tried in Dublin, condemned and executed, their
bodies being hung in chains, on December 19th, 1765.
MONTBARS, THE EXTERMINATOR.
A native of Languedoc. He joined the buccaneers after reading a book which
recorded the cruelty of the Spaniards to the American natives, and this
story inspired him with such a hatred of all Spaniards that he determined
to go to the West Indies, throw in his lot with the buccaneers, and to
devote his whole life and energies to punishing the Spaniards. He carried
out his resolve most thoroughly, and treated all Spaniards who came into
his power with such cruelty that he became known all up and down the
Spanish Main as the Exterminator. Eventually Montbars became a notorious
and successful buccaneer or pirate chief, having his headquarters at St.
Bartholomew, one of the Virgin Islands, to which he used to bring all his
prisoners and spoils taken out of Spanish ships and towns.
MONTENEGRO.
A Columbian. One of Captain Gilbert's crew in the pirate schooner _Panda_.
Hanged at Boston in 1835.
DE MONT, FRANCIS.
Captured in South Carolina in 1717. Tried at Charleston, and convicted of
taking the _Turtle Dove_ and other vessels in the previous July. Hanged in
June, 1717.
MOODY, CAPTAIN CHRISTOPHER.
A notorious pirate. Very active off the coast of Carolina, 1717, with two
ships under his command. In 1722 was with Roberts on board the _Royal
Fortune_, being one of his chief men or "Lords." Taken prisoner, and tried
at Cape Coast Castle, and hanged in chains at the age of 28.
MOORE. Gunner.
A gunner aboard Captain Kidd's ship the _Adventure_. When Kidd's mutinous
crew were all for attacking a Dutch ship, Kidd refused to allow them to,
and Moore threatened the captain, who seized a bucket and struck Moore on
the head with it, the blow killing him. Kidd was perfectly justified in
killing this mutinous sailor, but eventually it was for this act that he
was hanged in London.
MORGAN, CAPTAIN.
This pirate must not be confused with the buccaneer, Sir Henry Morgan.
Little is known about him except that he was with Hamlin, the French
pirate, in 1683, off the coast of West Africa, and helped to take several
Danish and English ships. Soon the pirates quarrelled over the division of
their plunder and separated into two companies, the English following
Captain Morgan in one of the prizes.
MORGAN, COLONEL BLODRE, or BLEDRY.
This buccaneer was probably a relation of Sir Henry Morgan. He was an
important person in Jamaica between 1660 and 1670. At the taking of Panama
by Henry Morgan in 1670 the Colonel commanded the rearguard of 300 men. In
May, 1671, he was appointed to act as Deputy Governor of Providence Island
by Sir James Modyford.
MORGAN, LIEUT.-COLONEL EDWARD. Buccaneer.
Uncle and father-in-law of Sir Henry Morgan.
In 1665, when war had been declared on Holland, the Governor of Jamaica
issued commissions to several pirates and buccaneers to sail to and attack
the Dutch islands of St. Eustatius, Saba, and Curacao. Morgan was put in
command of ten ships and some 500 men; most of them were "reformed
prisoners," while some were condemned pirates who had been pardoned in
order to let them join the expedition.
Before leaving Jamaica the crews mutinied, but were pacified by the
promise of an equal share of all the spoils that should be taken. Three
ships out of the fleet slipped away on the voyage, but the rest arrived at
St. Kitts, landed, and took the fort. Colonel Morgan, who was an old and
corpulent man, died of the heat and exertion during the campaign.
MORGAN, LIEUT.-COLONEL THOMAS.
Sailed with Colonel Edward Morgan to attack St. Eustatius and Saba
Islands, and after these were surrendered by the Dutch, Thomas Morgan was
left in charge.
In 1686 he sailed in command of a company of buccaneers to assist Governor
Wells, of St. Kitts, against the French. The defence of the island was
disgraceful, and Morgan's company was the only one which displayed any
courage or discipline, and most of them were killed or wounded, Colonel
Morgan himself being shot in both legs.
Often these buccaneer leaders altered their titles from colonel to
captain, to suit the particular enterprise on which they were engaged,
according if it took place on sea or land.
MORGAN, SIR HENRY. Buccaneer.
This, the greatest of all the "brethren of the coast," was a Welshman,
born at Llanrhymmy in Monmouthshire in the year 1635. The son of a
well-to-do farmer, Robert Morgan, he early took to the seafaring life.
When quite a young man Morgan went to Barbadoes, but afterwards he
settled at Jamaica, which was his home for the rest of his life.
Morgan may have been induced to go to the West Indies by his uncle,
Colonel Morgan, who was for a time Deputy Governor of Jamaica, a post Sir
Henry Morgan afterwards held.
Morgan was a man of great energy, and must have possessed great power of
winning his own way with people. That he could be absolutely unscrupulous
when it suited his ends there can be little doubt. He was cruel at times,
but was not the inhuman monster that he is made out to be by Esquemeling
in his "History of the Bucaniers." This was largely proved by the evidence
given in the suit for libel brought and won by Morgan against the
publishers, although Morgan was, if possible, more indignant over the
statement in the same book that he had been kidnapped in Wales and sold,
as a boy, and sent to be a slave in Barbadoes. That he could descend to
rank dishonesty was shown when, returning from his extraordinary and
successful assault on the city of Panama in 1670, to Chagres, he left most
of his faithful followers behind, without ships or food, while he slipped
off in the night with most of the booty to Jamaica. No doubt, young Morgan
came to Jamaica with good credentials from his uncle, the Colonel, for the
latter was held in high esteem by Modyford, then Governor of Barbadoes,
who describes Colonel Morgan as "that honest privateer."
Colonel Morgan did not live to see his nephew reach the pinnacle of his
success, for in the year 1665 he was sent at the head of an expedition to
attack the Dutch stronghold at St. Eustatius Island, but he was too old to
stand the hardships of such an expedition and died shortly afterwards.
By this time Morgan had made his name as a successful and resolute
buccaneer by returning to Port Royal from a raiding expedition in Central
America with a huge booty.
In 1665 Morgan, with two other buccaneers, Jackman and Morris, plundered
the province of Campeachy, and then, acting as Vice-Admiral to the most
famous buccaneer of the day, Captain Mansfield, plundered Cuba, captured
Providence Island, sacked Granada, burnt and plundered the coast of Costa
Rica, bringing back another booty of almost fabulous wealth to Jamaica. In
this year Morgan married a daughter of his uncle, Colonel Morgan.
In 1668, when 33 years of age, Morgan was commissioned by the Jamaican
Government to collect together the privateers, and by 1669 he was in
command of a big fleet, when he was almost killed by a great explosion in
the _Oxford_, which happened while Morgan was giving a banquet to his
captains. About this time Morgan calmly took a fine ship, the _Cour
Volant_, from a French pirate, and made her his own flagship, christening
her the _Satisfaction_.
In 1670 the greatest event of Morgan's life took place--the sacking of
Panama. First landing a party which took the Castle of San Lorenzo at the
mouth of the Chagres River, Morgan left a strong garrison there to cover
his retreat and pushed on with 1,400 men in a fleet of canoes up the river
on January 9th, 1671. The journey across the isthmus, through the tropical
jungle, was very hard on the men, particularly as they had depended on
finding provisions to supply their wants on the way, and carried no food
with them. They practically starved until the sixth day, when they found a
barn full of maize, which the fleeing Spaniards had neglected to destroy.
On the evening of the ninth day a scout reported he had seen the steeple
of a church in Panama. Morgan, with that touch of genius which so often
brought him success, attacked the city from a direction the Spaniards had
not thought possible, so that their guns were all placed where they were
useless, and they were compelled to do just what the buccaneer leader
wanted them to do--namely, to come out of their fortifications and fight
him in the open. The battle raged fiercely for two hours between the brave
Spanish defenders and the equally brave but almost exhausted buccaneers.
When at last the Spaniards turned and ran, the buccaneers were too tired
to immediately follow up their success, but after resting they advanced,
and at the end of three hours' street fighting the city was theirs. The
first thing Morgan now did was to assemble all his men and strictly forbid
them to drink any wine, telling them that he had secret information that
the wine had been poisoned by the Spaniards before they left the city.
This was, of course, a scheme of Morgan's to stop his men from becoming
drunk, when they would be at the mercy of the enemy, as had happened in
many a previous buccaneer assault.
Morgan now set about plundering the city, a large part of which was burnt
to the ground, though whether this was done by his orders or by the
Spanish Governor has never been decided. After three weeks the buccaneers
started back on their journey to San Lorenzo, with a troop of 200
pack-mules laden with gold, silver, and goods of all sorts, together with
a large number of prisoners. The rearguard on the march was under the
command of a kinsman of the Admiral, Colonel Bledry Morgan.
On their arrival at Chagres the spoils were divided, amidst a great deal
of quarrelling, and in March, 1671, Morgan sailed off to Port Royal with a
few friends and the greater part of the plunder, leaving his faithful
followers behind without ships or provisions, and with but £10 apiece as
their share of the spoils.
On May 31st, 1671, the Council of Jamaica passed a vote of thanks to
Morgan for his successful expedition, and this in spite of the fact that
in July, a year before, a treaty had been concluded at Madrid between
Spain and England for "restraining depredations and establishing peace" in
the New World.
In April, 1672, Morgan was carried to England as a prisoner in the
_Welcome_ frigate. But he was too popular to be convicted, and after being
acquitted was appointed Deputy Governor of Jamaica, and in November, 1674,
he was knighted and returned to the West Indies. In 1672 Major-General
Banister, who was Commander-in-Chief of the troops in Jamaica, writing to
Lord Arlington about Morgan, said: "He (Morgan) is a well deserving
person, and one of great courage and conduct, who may, with His Majesty's
pleasure, perform good public service at home, or be very advantageous to
this island if war should again break forth with the Spaniards."
While Morgan was in England he brought an action for libel against William
Crooke, the publisher of the "History of the Bucaniers of America." The
result of this trial was that Crooke paid £200 damages to Morgan and
published a long and grovelling apology.
Morgan was essentially a man of action, and a regular life on shore proved
irksome to him, for we learn from a report sent home by Lord Vaughan in
1674 that Morgan "frequented the taverns of Port Royal, drinking and
gambling in unseemly fashion," but nevertheless the Jamaican Assembly had
voted the Lieutenant-Governor a sum of £600 special salary. In 1676
Vaughan brought definite charges against Morgan and another member of the
Council, Robert Byndloss, of giving aid to certain Jamaica pirates.
Morgan made a spirited defence and, no doubt largely owing to his
popularity, got off, and in 1678 was granted a commission to be a captain
of a company of 100 men.
The Governor to succeed Vaughan was Lord Carlisle, who seems to have liked
Morgan, in spite of his jovial "goings on" with his old buccaneer friends
in the taverns of Port Royal, and in some of his letters speaks of
Morgan's "generous manner," and hints that whatever allowances are made to
him "he will be a beggar."
In 1681 Sir Thomas Lynch was appointed to be Governor, and trouble at once
began between him and his deputy. Amongst the charges the former brought
against Morgan was one of his having been overheard to say, "God damn the
Assembly!" for which he was suspended from that body.
In April, 1688, the King, at the urgent request of the Duke of Albemarle,
ordered Morgan to be reinstated in the Assembly, but Morgan did not live
long to enjoy his restored honours, for he died on August 25th, 1688.
An extract from the journal of Captain Lawrence Wright, commander of
H.M.S. _Assistance_, dated August, 1688, describes the ceremonies held at
Port Royal at the burial of Morgan, and shows how important and popular a
man he was thought to be. It runs:
"Saturday 25. This day about eleven hours noone Sir Henry Morgan died, &
the 26th was brought over from Passage-fort to the King's house at Port
Royall, from thence to the Church, & after a sermon was carried to the
Pallisadoes & there buried. All the forts fired an equal number of guns,
wee fired two & twenty & after wee & the Drake had fired, all the merchant
men fired."
Morgan was buried in Jamaica, and his will, which was filed in the Record
Office at Spanish Town, makes provision for his wife and near relations.
MORRICE, HUMPHREY.
Of New Providence, Bahama Islands.
Hanged at New Providence in 1718 by his lately reformed fellow-pirates,
and on the gallows taxed them with "pusillanimity and cowardice" because
they did not rescue him and his fellow-sufferers.
MORRIS, CAPTAIN JOHN.
Of Jamaica.
A privateer until 1665, he afterwards became a buccaneer with Mansfield.
Took part in successful raids in Central America, plundering Vildemo in
the Bay of Campeachy; he also sacked Truxillo, and then, after a journey
by canoe up the San Juan River to take Nicaragua, surprised and plundered
the city of Granada in March, 1666.
MORRIS, CAPTAIN THOMAS.
One of the pirates of New Providence, Bahamas, who, on pardon being
offered by King George in 1717, escaped, and for a while carried on piracy
in the West Indian Islands. Caught and hanged a few years afterwards.
MORRIS, JOHN.
One of Captain Bartholomew Roberts's crew. When the _Royal Fortune_
surrendered to H.M.S. _Swallow_, Morris fired his pistol into the
gunpowder in the steerage and caused an explosion that killed or maimed
many of the pirates.
MORRISON, CAPTAIN.
A Scotch pirate, who lived on Prince Edward Island.
For an account of his career, see Captain NELSON.
MORRISON, WILLIAM.
Of Jamaica.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew. Hanged at White Point, Charleston, South
Carolina, on November 8th, 1718, and buried in the marsh below low-water
mark.
MORTON, PHILIP.
Gunner on board "Blackbeard's" ship, the _Queen Ann's Revenge_. Killed on
November 22nd, 1718, in North Carolina, during the fight with Lieutenant
Maynard.
MULLET, JAMES, _alias_ MILLET.
Of London.
One of the crew of the _Royal James_, in which vessel Major Stede Bonnet
played havoc with the shipping along the coasts of South Carolina and New
England. Hanged at Charleston in 1718.
MULLINS, DARBY.
This Irish pirate was born in the north of Ireland, not many miles from
Londonderry. Being left an orphan at the age of 18, he was sold to a
planter in the West Indies for a term of four years.
After the great earthquake at Jamaica in 1691, Mullins built himself a
house at Kingston and ran it as a punch-house--often a very profitable
business when the buccaneers returned to Port Royal with good plunder.
This business failing, he went to New York, where he met Captain Kidd, and
was, according to his own story, persuaded to engage in piracy, it being
urged that the robbing only of infidels, the enemies of Christianity, was
an act, not only lawful, but one highly meritorious.
At his trial later on in London his judges did not agree with this view of
the rights of property, and Mullins was hanged at Execution Dock on May
23rd, 1701.
MUMPER, THOMAS.
An Indian of Mather's Vineyard, New England.
Tried for piracy with Captain Charles Harris and his men, but found to be
"not guilty."
MUNDON, STEPHEN.
Of London.
Hanged for piracy at Newport, Rhode Island, on July 19th, 1723, at the age
of 20.
MUSTAPHA. Turkish pirate.
In 1558 he sailed, with a fleet of 140 vessels, to the Island of Minorca.
Landed, and besieged the fortified town of Ciudadda, which at length
surrendered. The Turks slew great numbers of the inhabitants, taking the
rest away as slaves.
NAU, CAPTAIN JEAN DAVID, _alias_ FRANCIS L'OLLONAIS.
A Frenchman born at Les Sables d'Ollone.
In his youth he was transported as an indented labourer to the French
Island of Dominica in the West Indies. Having served his time L'Ollonais
went to the Island of Hispaniola, and joined the buccaneers there, living
by hunting wild cattle and drying the flesh or boucan.
He then sailed for a few voyages as a sailor before the mast, and acted
with such ability and courage that the Governor of Tortuga Island,
Monsieur de la Place, gave him the command of a vessel and sent him out
to seek his fortune.
At first the young buccaneer was very successful, and he took many Spanish
ships, but owing to his ferocious treatment of his prisoners he soon won a
name for cruelty which has never been surpassed. But at the height of this
success his ship was wrecked in a storm, and, although most of the pirates
got ashore, they were at once attacked by a party of Spaniards, and all
but L'Ollonais were killed. The captain escaped, after being wounded, by
smearing blood and sand over his face and hiding himself amongst his dead
companions. Disguised as a Spaniard he entered the city of Campeachy,
where bonfires and other manifestations of public relief were being held,
to express the joy of the citizens at the news of the death of their
terror, L'Ollonais.
Meeting with some French slaves, the fugitive planned with them to escape
in the night in a canoe, this being successfully carried out, they
eventually arrived back at Tortuga, the pirate stronghold. Here the
enterprising captain stole a small vessel, and again started off "on the
account," plundering a village called De los Cagos in Cuba. The Governor
of Havana receiving word of the notorious and apparently resurrected
pirate's arrival sent a well-armed ship to take him, adding to the ship's
company a negro executioner, with orders to hang all the pirate crew with
the exception of L'Ollonais, who was to be brought back to Havana alive
and in chains.
Instead of the Spaniards taking the Frenchman, the opposite happened, and
everyone of them was murdered, including the negro hangman, with the
exception of one man, who was sent with a written message to the Governor
to tell him that in future L'Ollonais would kill every Spaniard he met
with.
Joining with a famous filibuster, Michael de Basco, L'Ollonais soon
organized a more important expedition, consisting of a fleet of eight
vessels and 400 men. Sailing to the Gulf of Venezuela in 1667, they
entered the lake, destroying the fort that stood to guard the entrance.
Thence sailing to the city of Maracaibo they found all the inhabitants had
fled in terror. The filibusters caught many of the inhabitants hiding in
the neighbouring woods, and killed numbers of them in their attempts to
force from the rest the hiding-places of their treasure. They next marched
upon and attacked the town of Gibraltar, which was valiantly defended by
the Spaniards, until the evening, when, having lost 500 men killed, they
surrendered. For four weeks this town was pillaged, the inhabitants
murdered, while torture and rape were daily occurrences. At last, to the
relief of the wretched inhabitants, the buccaneers, with a huge booty,
sailed away to Corso Island, a place of rendezvous of the French
buccaneers. Here they divided their spoil, which totalled the great sum of
260,000 pieces of eight, which, when divided amongst them, gave each man
above one hundred pieces of eight, as well as his share of plate, silk,
and jewels.
Also, a share was allotted for the next-of-kin of each man killed, and
extra rewards for those pirates who had lost a limb or an eye. L'Ollonais
had now become most famous amongst the "Brethren of the Coast," and began
to make arrangements for an even more daring expedition to attack and
plunder the coast of Nicaragua. Here he burnt and pillaged ruthlessly,
committing the most revolting cruelties on the Spanish inhabitants. One
example of this monster's inhuman deeds will more than suffice to tell of.
It happened that during an attack on the town of San Pedros the buccaneers
had been caught in an ambuscade and many of them killed, although the
Spaniards had at last turned and fled. The pirates killed most of their
prisoners, but kept a few to be questioned by L'Ollonais so as to find
some other way to the town. As he could get no information out of these
men, the Frenchman drew his cutlass and with it cut open the breast of one
of the Spaniards, and pulling out his still beating heart he began to bite
and gnaw it with his teeth like a ravenous wolf, saying to the other
prisoners, "I will serve you all alike, if you show me not another way."
Shortly after this, many of the buccaneers broke away from L'Ollonais and
sailed under the command of Moses van Vin, the second in command.
L'Ollonais, in his big ship, sailed to the coast of Honduras, but ran his
vessel on a sand-bank and lost her. While building a new but small craft
on one of the Las Pertas Islands, they cultivated beans and other
vegetables, and also wheat, for which they baked bread in portable ovens
which these French buccaneers carried about with them. It took them six
months to build their long-boat, and when it was finished it would not
carry more than half the number of buccaneers. Lots were drawn to settle
who should sail and who remain behind. L'Ollonais steered the boat towards
Cartagena, but was caught by the Indians, as described by Esquemeling.
"Here suddenly his ill-fortune assailed him, which of a long time had been
reserved for him as a punishment due to the multitude of horrible crimes,
which in his licentious and wicked life he had committed. For God
Almighty, the time of His divine justice being now already come, had
appointed the Indians of Darien to be the instruments and executioners
thereof."
These "instruments of God," having caught L'Ollonais, tore him in pieces
alive, throwing his body limb by limb into the fire and his ashes into the
air, to the intent "no trace nor memory might remain of such an infamous
inhuman creature."
Thus died a monster of cruelty, who would, had he lived to-day, have been
confined in an asylum for lunatics.
NEAL.
A fisherman of Cork.
Mutinied in a French ship sailing from Cork to Nantes in 1721, and, under
the leadership of Philip Roche, murdered the captain and many of the crew
and became a pirate.
NEFF, WILLIAM.
Born at Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1667.
A soldier, one of the guard at Fort Loyal, Falmouth, Maine. Deserted in
1689 and went to sea with the pirate Captain Pound.
NELSON, CAPTAIN.
Born on Prince Edward Island, where his father had a grant of land for
services rendered in the American war. He was a wealthy man, a member of
the Council and a Colonel of the Militia. In order to set his son up in
life he bought him a captaincy in the Militia and a fine farm, where young
Nelson married and settled down. Buying a schooner, he used to sail to
Halifax with cargoes of potatoes and fruit. He seems to have liked these
trips in which he combined business with pleasure, for we learn that on
these visits to Halifax he "was very wild, and drank and intrigued with
the girls in an extravagant manner." Getting into disgrace on Prince
Edward Island, and losing his commission, he went to live near Halifax,
and became a lieutenant in the Nova Scotia Fencibles, while his wife
remained on the island to look after his estates, which brought him in
£300 a year. Meeting with a Scotchman called Morrison, together they
bought a "pretty little New York battleship," mounting ten guns. Manning
this dangerous toy with a crew of ninety desperate characters, the
partners went "on the account," and began well by taking a brig belonging
to Mr. Hill, of Rotherhithe, which they took to New York, and there sold
both ship and cargo.
They next cruised in the West Indies, taking several English and Dutch
ships, the crews of which they treated with the greatest brutality.
Landing on St. Kitts Island, they burnt and plundered two Dutch
plantations, murdering the owners and slaves. Sailing north to
Newfoundland they took ten more vessels, which they sold in New York.
After further successful voyages in the West Indies and off the coast of
Brazil, Nelson felt the call of home ties becoming so strong that he
ventured to return to Prince Edward Island to visit his wife and family,
where no one dared to molest him.
By this time Nelson had been a pirate for three years and had, by his
industry, won for himself a fortune worth £150,000, but his Scotch
partner, Morrison, being a frugal soul, had in the meantime saved an even
larger sum. Eventually their ship was wrecked in a fog on a small barren
island near Prince Edward Island, and Morrison and most of the crew were
drowned, but Nelson and a few others were saved. At last he reached New
York, where he lived the rest of his life in peaceful happiness with his
wife and family.
NICHOLLS, THOMAS, _alias_ NICHOLAS.
Of London.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew in the _Royal James_. Tried for piracy at
Charleston on November 8th, 1718, and found "not guilty."
NONDRE, PEDRO.
Hanged at Kingston, Jamaica, in February, 1823. At the time of execution
it was observed that he was covered with the marks of deep wounds. On the
scaffold he wept bitterly. An immensely heavy man, he broke the rope, and
had to be hanged a second time.
NORMAN, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.
Served under Morgan in 1670, and after the fall of Chagres Fort, Norman
was left in charge with 500 men to hold it, while Morgan crossed the
isthmus to attack Panama. Norman soon "sent forth to sea two boats to
exercise piracy." These hoisted Spanish colours and met a big Spanish
merchant ship on the same day. They chased the ship, which fled for safety
into the Chagres River, only to be caught there by Norman. She proved a
valuable prize, being loaded with all kinds of provisions, of which the
garrison was in sore need.
NORTH, CAPTAIN NATHANIEL.
Born in Bermuda, and by profession a lawyer, Captain North was a man of
remarkable ability, and in his later calling of piracy he gained great
notoriety, and was a born leader of men. His history has been written
fully, and is well worth reading. He had many ups and downs in his early
seafaring life in the West Indies; being no less than three times taken by
the pressgang, each time escaping. He served in Dutch and Spanish
privateers, and eventually rose to being a pirate captain, making his
headquarters in Madagascar. From here he sailed out to the East Indies,
and preyed on the ships of the East India Company. Several times he was
wrecked, once he was the only survivor, and swam ashore at Madagascar
stark naked. The unusual sight of a naked Englishman spread terror amongst
the natives who were on the beach, and they all fled into the jungle
except one, a woman, who from previous personal experience knew that this
was but a human being and not a sea devil. She supplied him with clothes,
of a sort, and led him to the nearest pirate settlement, some six miles
away. On another occasion when the pirates were having a jollification
ashore, having left their Moorish prisoners on the ship at anchor, North
gave the prisoners a hint to clear off in the night with the ship,
otherwise they would all be made slaves. This friendly hint was acted
upon, and in the morning both ship and prisoners had vanished. The pirates
having lost their ship took to the peaceful and harmless life of planters,
with North as their ruler. He won the confidence of the natives, who
abided by his decision in all quarrels and misunderstandings. Occasionally
North and his men would join forces with a neighbouring friendly tribe and
go to war, North leading the combined army, and victory always resulted.
The call of piracy was too strong in his bones to resist, and after three
years planting he was back to sea and the Jolly Roger once more. On one
occasion he seized the opportunity, when in the neighbourhood of the
Mascarenhas Islands, to go ashore and visit the Catholic priest and
confess, and at the same time made suitable arrangements for his children
to be educated by the Church. North evidently truly repented his former
sins, for he returned to resume his simple life on his plantation. On
arriving home he found the settlement in an uproar. He soon settled all
the disputes, appeased the natives, and before long had this garden-city
of pirates back in its previous peaceful and happy state. Beyond an
occasional little voyage, taking a ship or two, or burning an Arab
village, North's career as a pirate may be considered to have terminated,
as, indeed, his life was shortly afterwards, being murdered in his bed by
a treacherous native. North's friends the pirates, shocked at this
cold-blooded murder, waged a ruthless war on the natives for seven years:
thus in their simple way thinking to revenge the loss of this estimable
man, who had always been the natives' best friend.
NORTON, GEORGE.
One of Captain John Quelch's crew. Tried for piracy in June, 1704, at the
Star Tavern at Boston.
NUTT, JOHN.
One of Captain John Phillip's original crew of five pirates in the
_Revenge_ in 1723. Nutt was made master or navigator.
OCHALI. Barbary renegade.
In 1511 he sailed from Algiers with a fleet of twenty-two vessels and
1,700 men to raid Majorca. The Moors landed at Soller and pillaged it.
Before they could get back to their ship, the pirates were attacked by the
Majorcans, headed by Miguel Angelats, and completely routed, 500 of them
being killed.
ODELL, SAMUEL.
Taken prisoner by the pirate Captain Teach on November 21st, 1718, and on
the very next day retaken by Lieutenant Maynard. Odell received no less
than seventy wounds in the fight, but recovered, and was carried to
Virginia to stand his trial for piracy, and was acquitted.
OUGHTERLAUNEY, THOMAS.
Acted as pilot in the _Royal Fortune_. Took an active part in taking and
plundering the _King Solomon_ on the West Coast of Africa in 1721.
Was tried for piracy with the rest of Roberts's crew, when one witness,
Captain Trahern, deposed that the prisoner dressed himself up in the
captain's best suit of clothes, his new tye wig, and called loudly for a
bottle of wine, and then, very arrogantly, gave orders as to the steering
of the captured ship.
Hanged at Cape Coast Castle in 1722.
PAIN, CAPTAIN.
A Bahaman privateer who in 1683 turned pirate and attacked St. Augustine
in Florida under French colours. Being driven off by the Spaniards, he had
to content himself with looting some neighbouring settlements. On
returning to New Providence, the Governor attempted, but without success,
to arrest Pain and his crew. Pain afterwards appeared in Rhode Island, and
when the authorities tried to seize him and his ship, he got off by
exhibiting an old commission to hunt for pirates given him a long while
before by Sir Thomas Lynch. When the West Indies became too hot for him,
Pain made the coast of Carolina his headquarters.
PAINE, CAPTAIN PETER, _alias_ LE PAIN. A French buccaneer.
He brought into Port Royal in 1684 a merchant ship, _La Trompeuse_.
Pretending to be the owner, he sold both ship and cargo, which brought
about great trouble afterwards between the French and English Governments,
because he had stolen the ship on the high seas. He was sent from Jamaica
under arrest to France the same year, to answer for his crimes.
PAINTER, PETER.
This Carolina pirate retired and lived at Charleston. In August, 1710, he
was recommended for the position of public powder-receiver, but was
rejected by the Upper House. "Mr. Painter Having committed Piracy, and
not having his Majesties Pardon for the same, Its resolved he is not fit
for that Trust." Which only goes to show how hard it was for a man to live
down a thing like piracy.
PARDAL, CAPTAIN MANUEL RIVERO.
Known to the Jamaicans as "the vapouring admiral of St. Jago," because in
July, 1670, he had nailed a piece of canvas to a tree on the Jamaican
coast with this curious challenge written both in English and Spanish:
"I, Captain Manuel Rivero Pardal, to the chief of the squadron of
privateers in Jamaica. I am he who this year have done that which follows.
I went on shore at Caimanos, and burnt 20 houses and fought with Captain
Ary, and took from him a catch laden with provisions and a canoe. And I am
he who took Captain Baines and did carry the prize to Cartagena, and now
am arrived to this coast, and have burnt it. And I come to seek General
Morgan, with 2 ships of 20 guns, and having seen this, I crave he would
come out upon the coast and seek me, that he might see the valour of the
Spaniards. And because I had no time I did not come to the mouth of Port
Royal to speak by word of mouth in the name of my king, whom God preserve.
Dated the 5th of July, 1670."
PARKER, CAPTAIN WILLIAM. Buccaneer.
Just after the city of Porto Bello had been made, as the Spanish thought,
impregnable, by the building of the massive stone fort of San Jerome, the
daring Parker, with but 200 English desperadoes, took the place by storm,
burning part of the town and getting quickly and safely away with a huge
amount of booty.
PARKINS, BENJAMIN.
One of Captain John Quelch's crew in the brigantine _Charles_. Tried at
Boston for piracy in 1704.
PARROT, JAMES.
One of Quelch's crew, who turned King's evidence at the trial at Boston in
1704, and thus escaped hanging.
PATTERSON, NEAL.
Of Aberdeen.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew in the _Royal James_. Hanged at
Charleston, South Carolina, on November 8th, 1718, and buried in the
marsh.
PATTISON, JAMES.
Tried for piracy at Boston in 1704.
PEASE, CAPTAIN.
A low down, latter-day South Sea pirate. Arrived in an armed ship with a
Malay crew at Apia in Samoa in June, 1870, and rescued the pirate Bully
Hayes, who was under arrest of the English Consul. He pleased the British
inhabitants of the island by his display of loyalty to Queen Victoria by
firing a salute of twenty-one guns on her Majesty's birthday.
PELL, IGNATIUS.
Boatswain of the _Royal James_, Major Stede Bonnet's ship. Turned King's
evidence at trial of Bonnet and his crew at Charleston, Carolina, in 1718.
PENNER, MAJOR.
We have been able to find out nothing of this pirate except that he was at
New Providence Island in 1718 and took the King's pardon for pirates. He
seems to have returned to the old life and was killed soon after, though
how this came about is not recorded.
PERKINS, BENJAMIN.
One of Quelch's crew. Captured at Marblehead in 1704.
PERRY, DANIEL.
Of Guernsey.
Tried for piracy in 1718 at Charleston, South Carolina, and found guilty.
Hanged on November 8th at White Point. Buried in the marsh below low-water
mark.
PETERSON, CAPTAIN.
Of Newport, Rhode Island.
In 1688 he arrived at Newport in a "barkalonga" armed with ten guns and
seventy men. The Governor prosecuted him for piracy, but the grand jury,
which consisted of friends and neighbours of Peterson, threw out the bill.
Among other charges, Peterson was accused of selling some hides and
elephants' teeth to a Boston merchant for £57, being part of the booty he
had previously taken out of prizes in the West Indies.
PETERSON, ERASMUS.
Tried for piracy with the rest of Captain Quelch's crew at Boston. Was
hanged there on June 30th, 1704. When standing on the gallows "He cryed of
injustice done him and said, 'It is very hard for so many lives to be
taken away for a little Gold.' He said his peace was made with God, yet he
found it extremely hard to forgive those who had wronged him. He told the
Executioner 'he was a strong man and Prayed to be put out of his misery
as soon as possible.'"
PETERSON, JOHN.
A Swedish pirate, one of Gow's crew. He was hanged at Wapping in June,
1725.
PETIT, CAPTAIN. French filibuster.
Of San Domingo.
In 1634 was in command of _Le Ruze_, crew of forty men and four guns.
PETTY, WILLIAM.
Born at Deptford.
A sailmaker in Captain Roberts's _Royal Fortune_ when the _King Solomon_
was taken and plundered in West Africa. Petty, as sailmaker, had to see
that all the sails and canvas aboard the prizes were removed to the pirate
ship. Hanged at the age of 30.
PHELIPP, CAPTAIN WILLIAM.
In 1533 a Portuguese merchant, Peter Alves, engaged Phelipp to pilot his
ship, the _Santa Maria Desaie_, from Tenby to Bastabill Haven. Off the
Welsh coast the ship was attacked by a pirate vessel called the
_Furtuskewys_, with a crew of thirty-five pirates. Alves was put ashore on
the Welsh coast, and the two ships then sailed to Cork, where the ship and
her cargo were sold to the mayor for 1,524 crowns.
Alves complained to the King of England, and orders were sent to the Mayor
of Cork, Richard Gowllys, to give up the ship, which he refused to do, but
by way of excusing his actions he explained that he thought the ship was a
Scotch one and not a Portuguese.
PHILLIPS, CAPTAIN.
In 1723 this noted pirate took a sloop, the _Dolphin_, of Cape Ann, on the
Banks of Newfoundland. The crew of the _Dolphin_ were compelled by
Phillips to join the pirates. Amongst the prisoners was a fisherman, John
Fillmore. Finding no opportunity to escape, Fillmore with another sailor,
Edward Cheesman, and an Indian, suddenly seized and killed Phillips and
the two other chief pirates. The rest of the crew agreeing, the ship was
taken to Boston.
PHILIPS, JAMES.
Of the Island of Antigua.
Formerly of the _Revenge_, and afterwards in the _Royal Fortune_ (Captain
Roberts). When the _Royal Fortune_ surrendered in 1722 to H.M.S.
_Swallow_, Philips seized a lighted match and attempted to blow up the
ship, swearing he would "send them all to Hell together," but was
prevented by the master, Glasby. Hanged at the age of 35.
PHILLIPS, JOHN.
A carpenter by trade, he sailed from the West Country for Newfoundland in
a ship that was captured by the pirate Anstis in the _Good Fortune_.
Phillips soon became reconciled to the life of a pirate, and, being a
brisk fellow, he was appointed carpenter to the ship. Returning to England
he soon found it necessary to quit the country again, and he shipped
himself on board a vessel at Topsham for Newfoundland. On arriving at
Peter Harbour he ran away, and hired himself as a splitter to the
Newfoundland cod fishery.
On the night of August 29th, 1723, with four others, he stole a vessel in
the harbour and sailed away. Phillips was chosen captain. Articles were
now drawn up and were sworn to upon a hatchet, because no Bible could be
found on board. Amongst other laws was the punishment of "40 stripes
lacking one, known as Moses's law, to be afflicted for striking a
fellow-pirate." The last law of the nine casts a curious light on these
murderers; it runs: "If at any time you meet with a prudent Woman, that
Man that offers to meddle with her, without her Consent, shall suffer
present Death." The pirates, fortified by these laws, met with instant
success, taking several fishing vessels, from which they augmented their
small crew by the addition of several likely and brisk seamen. Amongst
these they had the good fortune to take prisoner an old pirate called John
Rose Archer, who had served his pirate apprenticeship under the able
tuition of the famous Blackbeard, and who they at once promoted to be
quartermaster. This quick promotion caused trouble afterwards, for some of
the original crew, particularly carpenter Fern, resented it. The pirates
next sailed to Barbadoes, that happy hunting ground, but for three months
never a sail did they meet with, so that they were almost starving for
want of provisions, being reduced to a pound of dried meat a day amongst
ten of them.
At last they met with a French vessel, a Martinico ship, of twelve guns,
and hunger drove them to attack even so big a ship as this, but the sight
of the Black flag so terrified the French crew that they surrendered
without firing a shot. After this, they took several vessels, and matters
began to look much brighter. Phillips quickly developed into a most
accomplished and bloody pirate, butchering his prisoners on very little or
on no provocation whatever. But even this desperate pirate had an
occasional "qualm of conscience come athwart his stomach," for when he
captured a Newfoundland vessel and was about to scuttle her, he found out
that she was the property of a Mr. Minors of that island, from whom they
stole the original vessel in which they went a-pirating, so Phillips,
telling his companions "We have done him enough injury already," ordered
the vessel to be repaired and returned to the owner. On another occasion,
they took a ship, the master of which was a "Saint" of New England, by
name Dependance Ellery, who gave them a pretty chase before being
overhauled, and so, as a punishment, the "Saint" was compelled to dance
the deck until he fell down exhausted.
This pirate's career ended with a mutiny of his unruly crew, Phillips
being tripped up and then thrown overboard to drown off Newfoundland in
April, 1724.
During the nine months of Phillips's command as a pirate captain, he
accounted for more than thirty ships.
PHILLIPS, JOSEPH.
One of Teach's crew. Hanged in Virginia in 1718.
PHILLIPS, WILLIAM.
Born at Lower Shadwell.
Boatswain in the _King Solomon_, a Guinea merchant ship. This ship, while
lying at anchor in January, 1721, was attacked by a boatful of pirates
from Bartholomew Roberts's ship, the _Royal Fortune_. The captain of the
_King Solomon_ fired a musket at the approaching boat, and called upon his
crew to do the same, but Phillips called for quarter and persuaded the
rest of the crew to lay down their arms and surrender the ship. Phillips
eagerly joined the pirates and signed the articles, and was "very forward
and brisk" in helping to rob his own ship of provisions and stores.
At his trial at Cape Coast Castle, he pleaded, as nearly all the prisoners
did, that he was compelled to sign the pirates' articles, which were
offered to him on a dish, on which lay a loaded pistol beside the copy of
the articles.
Found guilty and hanged in April, 1722, within the flood marks at Cape
Coast Castle, in his 29th year.
PHIPS, RICHARD.
An English soldier who deserted from Fort Loyal, Falmouth, Maine, in 1689.
Wounded by a bullet in the head at Tarpaulin Cove. Taken to Boston Prison,
where he died.
PICKERING, CAPTAIN CHARLES.
Commanded the _Cinque Ports_ galley, sixteen guns, crew of sixty-three
men, and accompanied Dampier on his voyage in 1703. Died off the coast of
Brazil in the same year.
PIERSE, GEORGE.
Tried for piracy along with the rest of the crew of the brigantine
_Charles_, at Boston, in 1704.
PITMAN, JOHN.
One of Captain Quelch's crew. Tried for piracy at Boston in 1704.
POLEAS, PEDRO. Spanish pirate.
Co-commander with Captain Johnson of a pirate sloop, the _Two Brothers_.
In March, 1731, took a ship, the _John and Jane_ (Edward Burt, master),
south of Jamaica, on board of which was a passenger, John Cockburn, who
afterwards wrote a book relating his adventures on a journey on foot of
240 miles on the mainland of America.
PORTER, CAPTAIN.
A West Indian pirate, who commanded a sloop, and, in company with a
Captain Tuckerman in another sloop, came one day into Bennet's Key in
Hispaniola. The two captains were but beginners at piracy, and finding
the great Bartholomew Roberts in the bay, paid him a polite visit, hoping
to pick up a few wrinkles from the "master." This scene is described by
Captain Johnson, in his "Lives of the Pirates," when Porter and his friend
"addressed the Pyrate, as the Queen of Sheba did Solomon, to wit, That
having heard of his Fame and Achievements, they had put in there to learn
his Art and Wisdom in the Business of pyrating, being Vessels on the same
honourable Design with himself; and hoped with the Communication of his
Knowledge, they should also receive his Charity, being in want of
Necessaries for such Adventures. Roberts was won upon by the Peculiarity
and Bluntness of these two Men and gave them Powder, Arms, and what ever
else they had Occasion for, spent two or three merry Nights with them, and
at parting, said, he hoped the L---- would Prosper their handy Works."
POUND, CAPTAIN THOMAS.
On August 8th, 1689, this pirate, with five men and a boy, sailed out of
Boston Harbour as passengers in a small vessel. When off Lovell's Island,
five other armed men joined them. Pound now seized the craft and took
command, and declared his intention of going on a piratical cruise. The
first vessel they met with they decided to take. It was a fishing boat.
Pound ran his craft alongside, but at the last moment his heart failed
him, and he merely bought eight penn'o'th of mackerel from the surprised
fishermen.
He then sailed to Falmouth, Maine, where the corporal and soldiers of the
guard at the fort deserted in the night and sailed off with Pound and his
crew. Fortified by this addition to his crew, the pirate attacked a sloop,
the _Good Speed_, off Cape Cod, and a brigantine, the _Merrimack_, and
several other prizes. By this time, the Governor at Boston had heard of
Pound's escapades, and sent an armed sloop, the _Mary_, to search for him.
The pirate was discovered in Tarpaulin Cove, and a fierce and bloody fight
took place before the pirates struck their "Red flagg." The prisoners were
cast into Boston Gaol to await their trial. Pound had been wounded, being
shot in the arm and side. The trial took place on January 13th, 1690.
Pound was found guilty, but reprieved, and was sent to England, but was
later on liberated. Afterwards he got command of a ship. He died in
England in 1703.
POWELL, THOMAS.
Of Connecticut, New England.
One of Captain Charles Harris's crew. Hanged at Newport, Rhode Island, on
July 19th, 1723, at the age of 21.
POWER, JOHN.
Born in the West of England.
Served in a slave vessel, the _Polly_ (Captain Fox, commander), on a
voyage to the coast of West Africa. While the captain was on shore, the
crew ran away with the ship, turned pirates, called their vessel the
_Bravo_, and elected Power to be captain and sailed to the West Indies.
Arrived there, he tried to sell his cargo of slaves, but being suspected
of having stolen them, he thought it best to sail to New York. Here the
pirates got ashore, but the ship's surgeon informed the authorities, and
Power was arrested and sent to England, where he was tried, and hanged at
Execution Dock on March 10th, 1768.
PRICE, THOMAS.
Of Bristol.
Hanged at Charleston, South Carolina, on November 8th, 1718. One of Major
Stede Bonnet's crew.
PRIMER, MATTHEW.
One of Captain Quelch's crew. Turned King's evidence at the trial for
piracy held at the Star Tavern, Boston, in June, 1704.
PRINCE, CAPTAIN LAWRENCE.
In 1760 this buccaneer sacked the city of Granada in company with Captains
Harris and Ludbury. Late in the same year, Prince, with the rank of
Lieut.-Colonel, led the vanguard in the attack on Panama.
PRO, CAPTAIN.
This Dutch South Sea pirate owned a small plantation in Madagascar, and
was joined there by the pirate Williams after he had escaped from slavery.
Both were taken prisoner by an English frigate. In a fight with the
natives, the pirate crew was defeated, but Pro and Williams managed to
escape and to reach some friendly natives. Procuring a boat, they sailed
away to join some other pirates at Methulage in Madagascar.
PROWSE, CAPTAIN LAWRENCE.
A Devon man, a noted sea captain, and a terror to the Spaniards. Was
imprisoned by King James I. at the instance of the King of Spain for
piracy and was to have been executed, but English public feeling ran so
high that Prowse was discharged.
PULLING, CAPTAIN JOHN.
Commanded the _Fame_, which set out in 1703 in company with Dampier in the
_St. George_ on a plundering expedition to the South Seas. Their
commissions were to attack only Spanish and French ships. The two
captains quarrelled at the very beginning of the voyage, while lying off
the Downs, and Pulling slipped away by himself to go a-pirating amongst
the Canary Islands.
PURSSER, CAPTAIN.
In the sixteenth century this pirate became notorious for his piracies off
the coast of Wales, and with Calles and Clinton, two other pirates, "grew
famous, till Queene Elizabeth of blessed memory, hanged them at Wapping."
QUELCH, CAPTAIN JOHN.
A native of Massachusetts Colony.
In 1703 was one of the crew of the brigantine _Charles_, eighty tons,
owned by some leading citizens of Boston, and fitted out to go
privateering off the coasts of Arcadia and Newfoundland. On leaving
Marblehead the crew mutinied, locked the captain in his cabin, and elected
Quelch their commander. They sailed to the south, and shortly afterwards
threw the captain overboard. They hoisted a flag, the "Old Roger,"
described as having "in the middle of it an Anatomy with an Hourglars in
one hand and a dart in the Heart with three drops of Blood proceeding from
it in the other." They took nine Portuguese vessels off the coast of
Brazil, out of which they took plunder of very great value.
Quelch now had the audacity to sail back to Marblehead, where his crew
landed and quickly scattered with their plunder. Within a week Quelch was
in gaol, and was taken to Boston, where his trial began on June 17th,
1704, and he was found guilty. The days between the sentence and the
execution must have, indeed, been trying for the prisoner. We read in a
pamphlet published at the time: "The Ministers of the Town used more than
ordinary Endeavours to Instruct the Prisoners and bring them to
Repentance. There were Sermons Preached in their hearing Every Day, and
Prayer daily made with them. And they were Catechised, and they had many
occasional Exhortations. And nothing was left that could be done for their
Good."
On Friday, June 30th, 1704, Quelch and his companions marched on foot
through the town of Boston to Scarlil's Wharf with a strong armed guard of
musketeers, accompanied by various officials and two ministers, while in
front was carried a silver oar, the emblem of a pirate's execution. Before
the last act the minister gave a long and fervent harangue to the wretched
culprits, in all of whom were observed suitable signs of repentance except
Quelch, who, stepping forward on the platform, his hat in his hand, and
bowing left and right to the spectators, gave a short address, in which he
warned them "They should take care how they brought Money into New England
to be Hanged for it."
QUITTANCE, JOHN.
One of Captain Quelch's crew of the brigantine _Charles_. Tried with the
rest of that crew at the Star Tavern at Boston in June, 1704.
RACKAM, CAPTAIN JOHN, _alias_ CALICO JACK.
Served as quartermaster in Captain Vane's company. On one occasion Vane
refused to fight a big French ship, and in consequence was dismissed his
ship and marooned on an uninhabited island off the coast of America, while
the crew elected Rackam to be their captain in his place. This was on
November 24th, 1718, and on the very first day of his command he had the
good fortune to take and plunder several small vessels.
Off the Island of Jamaica they took a Madeira ship, and found an old
friend on board as a passenger--a Mr. Hosea Tisdell, who kept a tavern in
the island, and they treated him with great respect.
Christmas Day coming, the pirates landed on a small island to celebrate
this festival in a thorough manner, carousing and drinking as long as the
liquor lasted, when they sailed away to seek more. Their next prize was a
strange one. On coming alongside a ship, she surrendered, and the pirates
boarding her to examine her cargo, found it to consist of thieves from
Newgate on their way to the plantations. Taking two more vessels, Rackam
sailed to the Bahama Islands, but the Governor, Captain Woodes Rogers,
sent a sloop, which took away their prizes.
Rackam now sailed his ship to a snug little cove he knew of in Cuba, where
he had more than one lady acquaintance. Here the pirates were very happy
until all their provisions and money was spent. Just as they were about to
sail, in comes a Spanish Guarda del Costa with a small English sloop which
they had recently taken. Rackam was now in a very awkward position, being
unable to get past the Spaniard, and all he could do was to hide behind a
small island. Night came on, and when it was dark Rackam put all his crew
into a boat, rowed quietly up to the sloop, clambered aboard, threatening
instant death to the Spanish guards if they cried out, then cut the cables
and sailed out of the bay. As soon as it was light the Spanish ship
commenced a furious bombardment of Rackam's empty vessel, thinking he was
still aboard her.
In the summer of 1720 he took numbers of small vessels and fishing boats,
but nothing very rich, and was not above stealing the fishermen's nets and
landing and taking cattle. In October Rackam was chased near Nigril Bay by
a Government sloop commanded by a Captain Barret. After a short fight
Rackam surrendered, and was carried a prisoner to Port Royal.
On November 16th Rackam and his crew were tried at St. Jago de la Vega,
convicted and sentenced to death. Amongst the crew were two women dressed
as men, Anne Bonny and Mary Read. The former was married, in pirate
fashion, to Rackam.
On the morning of his execution Rackam was allowed, as a special favour,
to visit his Anne, but all the comfort he got from her was "that she was
sorry to see him there, but if he had fought like a man, he need not have
been hanged like a Dog."
Rackam was hanged on November 17th, 1720, at Gallows Point, at Port Royal,
Jamaica.
RAPHAELINA, CAPTAIN.
Much dreaded by the merchant sailors navigating the South Atlantic. In
1822 he controlled a fleet of pirate vessels in the vicinity of Cape
Antonio.
RAYNER, CAPTAIN.
In a letter to the Lords of Trade, dated from Philadelphia, February 28th,
1701, William Penn mentions that several of Captain Kidd's men had settled
as planters in Carolina with Rayner as their captain.
RAYNOR, WILLIAM.
One of Captain John Quelch's crew. Tried at Boston in 1704.
READ, CAPTAIN.
Commanded a brigantine which had its headquarters at Madagascar. Rescued
the pirate Thomas White. Read died at sea.
READ, MARY. Woman pirate.
Born in London of obscure parentage; all that is known for certain is that
her mother was a "young and airy widow." Mary was brought up as a boy, and
at the age of 13 was engaged as a footboy to wait on a French lady. Having
a roving spirit, Mary ran away and entered herself on board a man-of-war.
Deserting a few years later, she enlisted in a regiment of foot and fought
in Flanders, showing on all occasions great bravery, but quitted the
service to enlist in a regiment of horse. Her particular comrade in this
regiment was a Fleming, with whom she fell in love and disclosed to him
the secret of her sex. She now dressed as a woman, and the two troopers
were married, "which made a great noise," and several of her officers
attended the nuptials. She and her husband got their discharge and kept an
eating house or ordinary, the Three Horseshoes, near the Castle of Breda.
The husband died, and Mary once again donned male attire and enlisted in a
regiment in Holland. Soon tiring of this, she deserted, and shipped
herself aboard a vessel bound for the West Indies. This ship was taken by
an English pirate, Captain Rackam, and Mary joined his crew as a seaman.
She was at New Providence Island, Bahama, when Woodes Rogers came there
with the royal pardon to all pirates, and she shipped herself aboard a
privateer sent out by Rogers to cruise against the Spaniards. The crew
mutinied and again became pirates. She now sailed under Captain Rackam,
who had with him another woman pirate, Anne Bonny. They took a large
number of ships belonging to Jamaica, and out of one of these took
prisoner "a young fellow of engaging behaviour" with whom Mary fell deeply
in love. This young fellow had a quarrel with one of the pirates, and as
the ship lay at anchor they were to go to fight it out on shore according
to pirate law. Mary, to save her lover, picked a quarrel with the same
pirate, and managed to have her duel at once, and fighting with sword and
pistol killed him on the spot.
She now married the young man "of engaging behaviour," and not long after
was taken prisoner with Captain Rackam and the rest of the crew to
Jamaica. She was tried at St. Jago de la Vega in Jamaica, and on November
28th, 1720, was convicted, but died in prison soon after of a violent
fever.
That Mary Read was a woman of great spirit is shown by her reply to
Captain Rackam, who had asked her (thinking she was a young man) what
pleasure she could find in a life continually in danger of death by fire,
sword, or else by hanging; to which Mary replied "that as to hanging, she
thought it no great Hardship, for were it not for that, every cowardly
Fellow would turn Pirate and so unfit the Seas, that Men of Courage must
starve."
READ, ROBERT.
Tried for piracy with Gow's crew at Newgate in 1725, and acquitted.
READ, WILLIAM.
Of Londonderry, Ireland.
One of Captain Harris's crew. Was hanged at Newport, Rhode Island, in
1723, at the age of 35.
READHEAD, PHILIP.
One of Captain Heidon's crew of the pirate ship _John of Sandwich_,
wrecked on Alderney Island in 1564. Was arrested and hanged at St.
Martin's Point, Guernsey, in the same year.
[Illustration: ANN BONNY AND MARY READ, CONVICTED OF PIRACY, NOVEMBER 28,
1720, AT A COURT OF VICE-ADMIRALTY HELD AT ST. JAGO DE LA VEGA IN THE
ISLAND OF JAMAICA.
To face p. 256.]
RHOADE, CAPTAIN JOHN.
A Dutch coasting pilot of Boston.
In 1674 appointed chief pilot to the Curacao privateer _Flying Horse_, and
sailed along the coast of Maine and as far north as the St. John River.
Afterwards attacked and plundered several small English craft occupied in
bartering furs with the Indians. Condemned to be hanged at Cambridge,
Massachusetts, in June, 1675.
RICE, DAVID. Welsh pirate.
Of Bristol.
Taken out of the Cornwall galley by Captain Roberts, he served in the
_Royal Fortune_. Tried and found guilty of piracy and condemned to death,
but was reprieved and sold to the Royal African Company to serve for seven
years in their plantations.
RICE, OWEN. Welsh pirate.
Of South Wales.
Hanged at the age of 27 at Rhode Island in 1723. One of Captain Charles
Harris's crew.
RICHARDS, LIEUTENANT.
Lieutenant to Blackbeard on board the _Queen Ann's Revenge_. Cruised in
the West Indies and along the coast of Carolina and Virginia.
In 1717 Teach blockaded the harbour at Charleston and sent Richards with a
party of pirates to the Governor to demand a medicine chest and all
necessary medical supplies, with a threat that if these were not
forthcoming he would cut the throats of all his prisoners, many of them
the leading merchants of the town. While waiting for the Governor's reply,
Richards and his companions scandalized the towns-folk of Charleston by
their outrageous and swaggering conduct.
RICHARDSON, JOHN.
His father was a goldsmith at New York. John, tiring of the trade of
cooper, to which he was apprenticed, ran away to sea. For many years he
served both in men-of-war and in merchant ships. Although an unmitigated
blackguard, he did not commit piracy nor murder until some years later,
when, being at Ancona, he met a Captain Benjamin Hartley, who had come
there with a loading of pilchards. Richardson was taken on board to serve
as ship's carpenter, and sailed for Leghorn. With another sailor called
Coyle, Richardson concocted a mutiny, murdered the captain in the most
brutal manner, and was appointed mate in the pirate ship. As a pirate
Richardson was beneath contempt. His life ended on the gallows at
Execution Dock on January 25th, 1738.
RICHARDSON, NICHOLAS.
One of Captain Quelch's crew. Taken out of the brigantine _Charles_, and
tried for piracy at Boston in 1704.
RIDGE, JOHN.
Of London.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew. Hanged in 1718 at Charleston, South
Carolina.
RINGROSE, BASIL. Buccaneer, pirate, and author.
Sailed in 1679 to the West Indies. A year later Ringrose had joined the
buccaneers at their rendezvous in the Gulf of Darien, where they were
preparing for a bold enterprise on the Spanish Main. They landed and
marched to the town of Santa Maria, which they plundered and burnt.
Thence they travelled in canoes down the river to the Bay of Panama. After
attacking the Spanish fleet and laying siege to the city, the buccaneers
cruised up and down the West Coast of South America for eighteen months,
sacking towns and attacking Spanish ships. All this while Ringrose kept a
very full and graphic journal, in which he recorded not only their
exploits, but also their hardships and quarrels, and gave descriptions as
well of the various natives and their customs, and drew charts and
sketches.
In 1681 Ringrose was still with Captain Sharp, and sailed through the
Straits of Magellan, and on January 30th of the same year anchored off
Antigua. Here he got a passage in a ship to England, landing safely at
Dartmouth on March 26th.
A year later he published an account of his voyage, as a second volume to
Esquemeling's, "Bucaniers of America." In 1684 he went to sea again in the
_Cygnet_ (Captain Swan), to traffic with the Spanish colonies. But the
Spaniards refused to trade with them. In October, 1684, they met the
famous Captain Edward Davis at that favourite haunt of the buccaneers, the
Isle of Plate. The two captains agreed to join forces and to go together
"on the account," so all the cargo was thrown overboard the _Cygnet_, and
the ships set out to make war on any Spanish ships they might meet with.
In February, 1686, Ringrose with one hundred men took the town of Santiago
in Mexico, but while returning with the plunder to their ship were caught
by the Spaniards in an ambush, and Ringrose was killed.
Ringrose never attained any rank among the buccaneers beyond occasionally
being put in charge of a boat or a small company on shore, but as a
recorder of the doings of his companions he proved both careful and
painstaking. Dampier had a great regard for him, and in his book he
writes: "My ingenious friend Ringrose had no mind to this voyage, but was
necessitated to engage in it or starve."
The title of Ringrose's book, first published in 1685, is "The Dangerous
Voyage and Bold Assaults of Captain Bartholomew Sharp and Others."
Written by Mr. Basil Ringrose.
Printed for William Crooke, 1685.
ROACH, PETER.
When Captain Quelch was captured with his crew, Roach escaped near the
Cape by Snake Island. He was afterwards captured and thrown into the gaol
at Salem. Tried for piracy at the Star Tavern at Boston, and on June 30th,
1704, was hanged. At the place of execution Roach disappointed the
onlooking crowd, as, instead of the expected and hoped-for repentant
speech, "he seemed little concerned, and said but little or nothing at
all."
ROB, ALEXANDER.
One of Captain Gow's crew. Hanged at Execution Dock, Wapping, in June,
1724. He was not one of the original crew of the _George_ galley, but was
taken out of a prize and joined the pirates of his own free-will.
ROBBINS, JAMES.
Hanged in Virginia in 1718 along with the rest of Captain Teach's crew.
ROBBINS, JAMES.
Of London.
One of the crew of the _Royal James_. Hanged in 1718 at Charleston, South
Carolina.
ROBERTS, CAPTAIN BARTHOLOMEW. Welsh pirate.
Born 1682. Died 1722.
If a pirate is to be reckoned by the amount of damage he does and the
number of ships he takes there can be no doubt that Captain Roberts should
be placed at the very head of his profession, for he is said to have taken
over 400 vessels. The only man who can be said to rival him is Sir Henry
Morgan, but Morgan, although in some ways an unmitigated blackguard, was a
man of much greater breadth of outlook than Roberts ever was, and,
moreover, was a buccaneer rather than a pirate.
Roberts, like many other successful pirates, was born in Wales, not far
from Haverfordwest. He is described as being "a tall black man," and was
about 40 years of age at the time of his death. He was remarkable, even
among his remarkable companions, for several things. First of all, he only
drank tea--thus being the only total abstainer known to the fraternity.
Also he was a strict disciplinarian, and on board his ships all lights had
to be extinguished by 8 p.m., any of the crew who wished to continue
drinking after that hour had to do so on the open deck. But try as he
would this ardent apostle of abstemiousness was unable to put down
drinking. If Roberts had lived to-day, no doubt he would have been on the
council of the local vigilance committee. He would allow no women aboard
his ships, in fact he made it a law that any man who brought a woman on
board disguised as a man was to suffer death. Roberts allowed no games at
cards or dice to be played for money, as he strongly disapproved of
gambling. He was a strict Sabbatarian, and allowed the musicians to have a
rest on the seventh day. This was as well, for the post of musician on a
pirate ship was no sinecure, as every pirate had the right to demand a
tune at any hour of the day or night. He used to place a guard to protect
all his women prisoners, and it is sadly suspicious that there was always
the greatest competition amongst the worst characters in the ship to be
appointed sentinel over a good-looking woman prisoner. All quarrels had to
be settled on shore, pirate fashion, the duellists standing back to back
armed with pistol and cutlass. Roberts would have no fighting among the
crew on board his ship.
Bartholomew must have looked the very part of a pirate when dressed for
action. A tall, dark man, he used to wear a rich damask waistcoat and
breeches, a red feather in his cap, a gold chain round his neck with a
large diamond cross dangling from it, a sword in his hand, and two pairs
of pistols hanging at the end of a silk sling flung over his shoulders.
We first hear of Roberts as sailing, in honest employ, as master of the
_Princess_ (Captain Plumb), from London in November, 1719, bound for the
coast of Guinea to pick up a cargo of "black ivory" at Anamaboe. Here his
ship was taken by the Welsh pirate Howel Davis. At first Roberts was
disinclined for the pirate life, but soon changed his mind.
On the death of Davis there were several candidates for the post of
commander, all brisk and lively men, distinguished by the title of
"Lords," such as Sympson, Ashplant, Anstis, and others. One of these
"Lords," Dennis, concluded an eloquent harangue over a bowl of punch with
a strong appeal for Roberts to be the new chief. This proposal was
acclaimed with but one dissenting voice, that of "Lord" Sympson, who had
hopes of being elected himself, and who sullenly left the meeting swearing
"he did not care who they chose captain so it was not a papist." So
Roberts was elected after being a pirate only six weeks; thus was true
merit quickly appreciated and rewarded amongst them.
[Illustration: CAPTAIN BARTHOLOMEW ROBERTS.
To face p. 262.]
Roberts's speech to his fellow-pirates was short but to the point, saying
"that since he had dipped his hands in muddy water, and must be a pyrate,
it was better being a commander than a common man," not perhaps a graceful
nor grateful way of expressing his thanks, but one which was no doubt
understood by his audience.
Roberts began his career in a bright manner, for to revenge the perfectly
justifiable death of their late captain he seized and razed the fort,
bombarded the town, and setting on fire two Portuguese ships so as to act
as torches, sailed away the same night. Sailing to Brazil they found in
the Bay of Bahia a fleet of forty-two Portuguese ships ready laden and on
the point of leaving for Lisbon, and Roberts, with the most astounding
boldness, sailed right in amongst them until he found the deepest laden,
which he attacked and boarded, although his was a much smaller ship. He
sailed away with his prize from the harbour. This prize, amongst the
merchandise, contained 40,000 moidors and a cross of diamonds designed for
the King of Portugal.
He then took a Dutch ship, and two days later an English one, and sailed
back to Brazil, refitting and cleaning at the Island of Ferdinando.
In a work such as this is, it is impossible to recount all, or even a few,
of the daring adventures, or the piratical ups and downs of one pirate.
Roberts sailed to the West Indies devastating the commerce of Jamaica and
Barbadoes. When things grew too hot there, he went north to Newfoundland,
and played the very devil with the English and French fishing fleets and
settlements.
His first ship he called the _Fortune_, his next, a bigger ship, the
_Royal Fortune_, another the _Good Fortune_.
On two occasions Roberts had been very roughly handled, once by a ship
from Barbadoes and once by the inhabitants of Martinica, so when he
designed his new flag, he portrayed on it a huge figure of himself
standing sword in hand upon two skulls, and under these were the letters
A.B.H. and A.M.H., signifying a Barbadian's and a Martinican's head.
In April, 1721, Roberts was back again on the Guinea Coast, burning and
plundering. Amongst the prisoners he took out of one of his prizes was a
clergyman. The captain dearly wished to have a chaplain on board his ship
to administer to the spiritual welfare of his crew, and tried all he could
to persuade the parson to sign on, promising him that his only duties
should be to say prayers and make punch. But the prelate begged to be
excused, and was at length allowed to go with all his belongings, except
three prayer-books and a corkscrew--articles which were sorely needed
aboard the _Royal Fortune_.
The end of Roberts's career was now in sight. A King's ship, the _Swallow_
(Captain Chaloner Ogle), discovered Roberts's ships at Parrot Island, and,
pretending to fly from them, was followed out to sea by one of the
pirates. A fight took place, and after two hours the pirates struck,
flinging overboard their black flag "that it might not rise in Judgement
over them." The _Swallow_ returned in a few days to Parrot Island to look
for Roberts in the _Royal Fortune_. Roberts being at breakfast, enjoying a
savoury dish of solomongundy, was informed of the approach of the ship,
but refused to take any notice of it. At last, thoroughly alarmed, he cut
his cables and sailed out, but most of his crew being drunk, even at this
early hour, the pirates did not make as good a resistance as if they had
been sober. Early in the engagement Roberts was hit in the throat by a
grape-shot and killed; this being on February 10th, 1722. His body, fully
dressed, with his arms and ornaments, was thrown overboard according to
his repeated request made during his lifetime. Thus the arch-pirate died,
as he always said he wished to die, fighting. His motto had always been "A
short life and a merry one." One good word can be said for Roberts, that
he never forced a man to become a pirate against his wish.
ROBERTS, OWEN. Welsh pirate.
Carpenter in the _Queen Ann's Revenge_, and killed on November 22nd, 1718,
off the North Carolina Coast.
ROBINSON, EDWARD.
Of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Hanged at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1718.
ROCHE, CAPTAIN PHILIP, _alias_ JOHN EUSTACE.
In company with three other mariners--Cullen, Wife, and Neale--this Irish
pirate shipped himself on board a French snow at Cork in November, 1721,
for a passage to Nantes. Owing to Roche's briskness, genteel manners, and
knowledge of navigation, the master used occasionally to place him in
charge of the vessel. One night a few days out a pre-arranged mutiny took
place, the French crew being butchered and thrown overboard. The captain,
who pleaded for mercy, was also thrown into the sea. Driven by bad weather
to Dartmouth, the new captain, Roche, had the ship repainted and
disguised, and renamed her the _Mary_. Then sailing to Rotterdam he sold
the cargo of beef and took on a fresh cargo with the owner, Mr. Annesly.
The first night out of port they threw Mr. Annesly overboard, and he swam
alongside for some while pleading to be taken in. On going into a French
port, and hearing that an enquiry was being made about his ship, Roche ran
away. The crew took the ship to Scotland, and there landed and
disappeared, and the ship was seized and taken to the Thames.
Later on Roche was arrested in London and committed to Newgate Prison,
found guilty of piracy, and hanged on August 5th, 1723, at Execution Dock,
at the age of 30. The hanging was not, from the public spectators point of
view, a complete success, for the culprit "was so ill at the time that he
could not make any public declaration of his abhorrence of the crime for
which he suffered."
RODERIGO, PETER.
A "Flanderkin."
Commanded a Dutch vessel, the _Edward and Thomas_, that sailed from Boston
in 1674, and took several small English vessels along the coast of Maine.
Tried for piracy at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and condemned to be hanged,
but was afterwards pardoned.
ROGERS, CAPTAIN THOMAS.
Commanded a ship, the _Forlorn_. Routed the Spaniards at Venta Cruz in
1671. One of Morgan's captains in his attack on Panama.
ROGERS, CAPTAIN WOODES.
As the life of this famous navigator and privateer is, very justly,
treated fully in the "Dictionary of National Biography" it is unnecessary
to mention more than a few incidents in his adventurous career. Woodes
Rogers was not only a good navigator, for on many occasions he showed a
remarkable gift for commanding mutinous crews in spite of having many
officers on whom he could place little reliance. On leaving Cork in 1708,
after an incompetent pilot had almost run his ship on two rocks off
Kinsale called "The Sovereigne's Bollacks," Rogers describes his crew
thus: "A third were foreigners, while of Her Majestie's subjects many were
taylors, tinkers, pedlars, fiddlers, and hay-makers, with ten boys and one
negro." It was with crews such as these that many of the boldest and most
remarkable early voyages were made, and they required a man of Woodes
Rogers stamp to knock them into sailors. Rogers had a gift for inspiring
friendship wherever he went. On arriving at the coast of Brazil, his boat
was fired on when trying to land at Angre de Reys. This settlement had but
lately received several hostile visitors in the way of French pirates. But
before a week was passed Woodes Rogers had so won the hearts of the
Portuguese Governor and the settlers that he and his "musick" were invited
to take part in an important religious function, or "entertainment," as
Rogers calls it, "where," he says, "we waited on the Governour, Signior
Raphael de Silva Lagos, in a body, being ten of us, with two trumpets and
a hautboy, which he desir'd might play us to church, where our musick did
the office of an organ, but separate from the singing, which was by the
fathers well perform'd. Our musick played 'Hey, boys, up go we!' and all
manner of noisy paltry tunes. And after service, our musicians, who were
by that time more than half drunk, march'd at the head of the company;
next to them an old father and two fryars carrying lamps of incense, then
an image dressed with flowers and wax candles, then about forty priests,
fryars, etc., followed by the Governor of the town, myself, and Capt.
Courtney, with each of us a long wax candle lighted. The ceremony held
about two hours; after which we were splendidly entertained by the
fathers of the Convent, and then by the Governour. They unanimously told
us they expected nothing from us but our Company, and they had no more but
our musick."
What a delightful picture this calls to the mind--the little Brazilian
town, the tropical foliage, the Holy Procession, "wax figure" and priests,
followed by the Governor with an English buccaneer on either side, and
headed by a crew of drunken Protestant English sailors playing "Hey, boys,
up go we!"
Rogers, not to be outdone in hospitality, next day entertained the
Governor and fathers on board the _Duke_, "when," he says, "they were very
merry, and in their cups propos'd the Pope's health to us. But we were
quits with 'em by toasting the Archbishop of Canterbury; and to keep up
the humour, we also proposed William Pen's health, and they liked the
liquor so well, that they refused neither." Alas! the good Governor and
the fathers were not in a fit state to leave the ship when the end came to
the entertainment, so slept on board, being put ashore in the morning,
"when we saluted 'em with a huzza from each ship, because," as Rogers
says, "we were not overstocked with powder."
It was in March, 1710, that Rogers brought his little fleet into the
harbour of Guam, one of the Ladrone Islands. Although at war with Spain,
the captain soon became on his usual friendly terms with the Governor of
this Spanish colony, and gave an entertainment on board his ship to him
and four other Spanish gentlemen, making them "as welcome as time and
place would afford, with musick and our sailors dancing." The Governor
gave a return party on shore, to which Rogers and all his brother officers
were invited, partaking of "sixty dishes of various sorts." After this
feast Rogers gave his host a present, consisting of "two negro boys
dress'd in liveries." One other instance of Woodes Rogers adaptability
must suffice. In the year 1717 he was appointed Governor to the Bahama
Islands, at New Providence, now called Nassau. His chief duty was to stamp
out the West India pirates who had made this island their headquarters for
many years, and were in complete power there, and numbered more than 2,000
desperadoes, including such famous men as Vane and Teach. Rogers's only
weapon, besides the man-of-war he arrived in, was a royal proclamation
from King George offering free pardon to all pirates or buccaneers who
would surrender at once to the new Governor. At first the pirates were
inclined to resist his landing, but in the end the tactful Rogers got his
own way, and not only landed, but was received by an armed guard of
honour, and passed between two lines of pirates who fired salutes with
their muskets.
Most of the pirates surrendered and received their pardons, but some, who
reverted shortly afterwards to piracy and were captured and brought back
to New Providence, were tried and actually hanged by Rogers's late
buccaneer subjects.
Woodes Rogers eventually died in Nassau in the year 1729.
He was the author of a delightful book entitled "A Cruising Voyage Round
the World, begun in 1708 and finish'd in 1711, by Captain Woodes Rogers,
Commander-in-Chief on this Expedition, with the ships _Duke_ and _Duchess_
of Bristol."
This was published in London in 1712.
ROLLSON, PETER.
Captain Gow's gunner in the _Revenge_. Hanged at Execution Dock, Wapping,
in June, 1725.
ROSS, GEORGE, or ROSE.
Of Glasgow.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew of the _Royal James_. Was hanged at
Charleston, South Carolina, on November 8th, 1718, and buried in the marsh
below low-water mark.
ROSSOE, FRANCIS.
In June, 1717, in company with four other Carolina pirates, was placed on
trial for his life. Convicted with De Cossey, De Mont, and Ernandos, of
piratically taking the vessels the _Turtle Dove_, the _Penelope_, and the
_Virgin Queen_ in July of the previous year, and, after being sentenced to
death by Judge Trott, Rossoe and his fellow-pirates were promptly
executed.
ROUNDSIVEL, CAPTAIN GEORGE.
Of the Bahama Islands.
He refused to avail himself of King George's pardon to all pirates in
1717, and went off again on the "main chance" till captured.
ROW, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.
In 1679, at the Boca del Toro, was with the buccaneer fleet that attacked
and sacked Santa Maria. Row commanded a small vessel of twenty tons, a
crew of twenty-five men, and no guns.
RUIZ.
One of Captain Gilbert's crew in the pirate schooner _Panda_, which
plundered the Salem brig _Mexican_ in 1834. Tried in Boston and condemned
to be hanged. Pleading insanity, he was respited for sixty days and then
hanged on September 12th, 1835.
RUPERT. Prince of the Rhine.
After an adventurous life as a soldier on the Continent, he sailed from
Ireland in 1648 with seven ships. His own ship was the _Swallow_. He was a
man of boundless energy, who was never happy if not engaged in some
enterprise, and as legitimate warfare gave him few opportunities he turned
pirate. He spent five years at sea, largely in the West Indies, meeting
with every kind of adventure.
In 1653 he was caught in a storm in the Virgin Islands, and his fleet was
wrecked. His brother, Prince Maurice, was lost with his ship, the
_Defiance_, the only ship saved being the _Swallow_. Prince Rupert
returned in the _Swallow_ to France in the same year. Hitherto the prince
had been a restless, clever man, "very sparkish in his dress," but this
catastrophe to his fleet and the loss of his brother broke his spirit, and
he retired to England, where he died in his bed in 1682 at Spring Gardens.
LE SAGE, CAPTAIN. French filibuster.
In 1684 was at San Domingo, in command of the _Tigre_, carrying thirty
guns and a crew of 130 men.
SALTER, EDWARD.
Hanged in Virginia in 1718 with the rest of Captain Teach's crew.
SAMPLE, CAPTAIN RICHARD. Buccaneer.
Was at New Providence Island in 1718, and received the royal pardon from
King George, offered to those pirates who surrendered themselves to
Governor Woodes Rogers. Like many another, he fell again into his former
wicked ways, and ended his life by being hanged.
SAMPLE, CAPTAIN ROBERT.
One of England's crew in the _Royal James_. In 1720 they took a prize, the
_Elizabeth and Katherine_, off the coast of West Africa. Fitting her out
for a pirate, they named her the _Flying King_, and Sample was put in
command. In company with Captain Low, he sailed to Brazil and did much
mischief amongst the Portuguese shipping. In November of the same year the
two pirate ships were attacked by a very powerful man-of-war. Lane got
away, but Sample was compelled to run his ship ashore on the coast. Of his
crew of seventy men, twelve were killed and the rest taken prisoners, of
whom the Portuguese hanged thirty-eight. Of these, thirty-two were
English, three Dutch, two French, and one Portuguese.
SANDERS, THOMAS.
An Elizabethan mariner who was taken prisoner by the Moors. He wrote a
narrative of his life as a slave on a Barbary pirate galley.
"I and sixe more of my fellowes," he wrote, "together with four-score
Italians and Spaniards, were sent foorth in a Galeot to take a Greekish
Carmosell, which came into Africa to steale Negroes. We were chained three
and three to an oare, and we rowed naked above the girdle, and the
Boteswaine of the Galley walked abaft the masts, and his Mate afore the
maste ... and when their develish choller rose, they would strike the
Christians for no cause. And they allowed us but halfe a pound of bread a
man in a day without any other kind of sustenance, water excepted.... We
were then so cruelly manackled in such sort, that we could not put our
hands the length of one foote asunder the one from the other, and every
night they searched our chains three times, to see if they were fast
riveted."
SAWKINS, CAPTAIN RICHARD. Buccaneer.
We know little of the early career of this remarkable buccaneer. He was
loved by his crew, and had great influence over them. It is recorded that
one Sunday morning, finding some of his men gambling, he threw the dice
overboard, saying "he would have no gambling aboard his ship."
We know that on one occasion he was caught in his vessel by H.M.S.
_Success_ and brought to Port Royal, Jamaica, and that on December 1st,
1679, he was in prison awaiting trial for piracy. Apparently he got off,
for this brilliant young buccaneer is soon afterwards heard of as
commanding a small vessel of sixteen tons, armed with but one gun and a
crew of thirty-five men. He was one of a party of 330 buccaneers who,
under the leadership of Coxon and Sharp, landed on the coast of Darien and
marched through the jungle to attack and plunder the town of Santa Maria.
The remainder of the journey across the isthmus was done in canoes, in
which the pirates travelled down the Santa Maria River until they found
themselves in the Pacific. On this expedition each captain had his company
and had his own colours, Sawkins's flag being a red one with yellow
stripes. Arrived at the sea, they captured two small Spanish vessels, and,
the rest of the company being in the canoes, they boldly sailed towards
Panama City. Meeting with the Spanish fleet of eight ships, the buccaneers
attacked it, and, after a most furious battle, came off victorious. This
was one of the most gallant episodes in the whole history of the "brethren
of the coast," and was afterwards known as the Battle of Perico. Sawkins
fought in the most brave and desperate manner, and took a large share in
the successful enterprise. After this action some quarrelling took place,
which ended by Captain Coxon going off with some seventy men, to return
across the isthmus on foot. The company that remained in the Pacific
elected Sawkins to be their leader, as Captain Sharp, a much older man,
was away in his ship.
The buccaneers, ever since they defeated the Spanish fleet, had blockaded
the harbour, and a correspondence took place between the Governor of
Panama and Sawkins, the former wishing to know what the pirates had come
there for. To this message Sawkins sent back answer "that we came to
assist the King of Darien, who was the true Lord of Panama and all the
country thereabouts. And that since we were come so far, there was no
reason but that we should have some satisfaction. So that if he pleased to
send us five hundred pieces of eight for each man, and one thousand for
each commander, and not any farther to annoy the Indians, but suffer them
to use their own power and liberty, as became the true and natural lords
of the country, that then we would desist from all further hostilities,
and go away peaceably; otherwise that we should stay there, and get what
we could, causing to them what damage was possible."
This message was just bluff on Sawkins's part, but having heard that the
Bishop of Santa Martha was in the city, Sawkins sent him two loaves of
sugar as a present, and reminded the prelate that he had been his prisoner
five years before, when Sawkins took that town. Further messengers
returned from Panama next day, bringing a gold ring for Sawkins from the
well-disposed Bishop, and a message from the Governor, in which he
inquired "from whom we had our commission and to whom he ought to complain
for the damage we had already done them?" To this Sawkins sent back answer
"that as yet all his company were not come together; but that when they
were come up we would come and visit him at Panama, and bring our
commissions on the muzzles of our guns, at which time he should read them
as plain as the flame of gunpowder could make them."
After lying off Panama for some while without meeting with any plunder,
and their victuals running short, the crews began to grumble, and
persuaded Sawkins to sail south along the coast. This he did, and,
arriving off the town of Puebla Nueva on May 22nd, 1679, Sawkins landed a
party of sixty men and led them against the town. But the Spaniards had
been warned in time, and had built up three strong breastworks.
Sawkins, who never knew what fear meant, stormed the town at the head of
his men, but was killed by a musket-ball.
Basil Ringrose, the buccaneer who wrote the narrative of this voyage,
describes Sawkins as being "a man who was as valiant and courageous as any
man could be, and the best beloved of all our company"; and on another
occasion he speaks of him as "a man whom nothing on earth could terrifie."
SAWNEY, CAPTAIN.
A pirate of New Providence Island in the Bahamas. In this pirate republic
this old man lived in the best hut, and was playfully known as "Governor
Sawney."
DE SAYAS, FRANCISCO.
A Spanish pirate hanged at Kingston, Jamaica, in 1823.
SCOT, LEWIS.
Distinguished as being the first pirate to carry on the trade on land as
well as at sea. Before this time pirates were never known to be anything
but harmless drunkards when on shore, whatever they might be on board
their ships. Scot changed all this when he sacked and pillaged the city of
Campeachy. So successful was he that his example was quickly followed by
Mansfield, John Davis, and other pirates.
SCOT, ROGER.
Born at Bristol.
One of Captain Roberts's crew. Tried for piracy in April, 1722, at Cape
Coast Castle, West Africa, after the great defeat of the pirates by H.M.S.
_Swallow_. On this occasion no less than 267 pirates were accounted for.
The finding of the Honourable the President and Judges of the Court of
Admiralty for trying of pirates was as follows:
Acquitted 74
Executed 52
Respited 2
To Servitude 20
To the Marshallsea 17 for tryal
The rest were accounted for as follows:
Killed { In the _Ranger_ 10
{ In the _Fortune_ 3
Dy'd { In the passage to Cape Corso 15
{ Afterwards in the castle 4
Negroes in both ships 70
----
267
----
A number of the prisoners signed a "humble petition" begging that, as
they, being "unhappily and unwisely drawn into that wretched and
detestable Crime of Piracy," they might be permitted to serve in the Royal
African Company in the country for seven years, in remission of their
crimes. This clemency was granted to twenty of the prisoners, of which
Scot was one.
A very impressive indenture was drawn up, according to which the prisoners
were to become the slaves of the Company for seven years, and this was
signed by the prisoners and by the President.
SCOTT, WILLIAM.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew in the _Royal James_. Tried for piracy in
1718 at Charleston, South Carolina, and hanged at White Point on November
8th.
SCUDAMORE, CHRISTOPHER.
One of Captain John Quelch's crew. Tried for piracy at the Star Tavern in
Hanover Street, Boston, in 1704, and hanged on Charles River, Boston Side,
on June 30th. A report of the trial and execution of these pirates,
describing Scudamore's conduct on the gallows, says: "He appeared very
Penitent since his Condemnation, was very diligent to improve his time
going to, and at the place of Execution."
SCUDAMORE, PETER.
Belonging to Bristol.
Surgeon in the _Mercy_ galley, and taken by Captain Roberts in 1721. It
was a rule on all pirate vessels for the surgeon to be excused from
signing the ship's articles. When the next prize was taken, if she carried
a surgeon, he was taken in place of their present one, if the latter
wished to leave. But when Scudamore came on board the _Royal Fortune_ he
insisted on signing the pirate articles and boasted that he was the first
surgeon that had ever done so, and he hoped, he said, to prove as great a
rogue as any of them.
When the African Company's Guinea ship, the _King Solomon_, was taken,
Scudamore came aboard and helped himself to their surgeon's instruments
and medicines. He also took a fancy for a backgammon board, but only kept
it after a violent quarrel with another pirate. It came out at his trial
that on a voyage from the Island of St. Thomas, in a prize, the _Fortune_,
in which was a cargo of slaves, Scudamore had tried to bring about a
mutiny of the blacks to kill the prize crew which was on board, and he was
detected in the night going about amongst the negroes, talking to them in
the Angolan language. He said that he knew enough about navigation to sail
the ship himself, and he was heard to say that "this were better than to
be taken to Cape Corso to be hanged and sun dried."
The same witness told how he had approached the prisoner when he was
trying to persuade a wounded pirate, one James Harris, to join him in his
scheme, but fearing to be overheard, Scudamore turned the conversation to
horse-racing.
Scudamore was condemned to death, but allowed three days' grace before
being hanged, which he spent in incessant prayers and reading of the
Scriptures. On the gallows he sang, solo, the Thirty-first Psalm. Died at
the age of 35.
SEARLES, CAPTAIN ROBERT.
In 1664 he brought in two Spanish prizes to Port Royal, but as orders had
only lately come from England to the Governor to do all in his power to
promote friendly relations with the Spanish islands, these prizes were
returned to their owners. To prevent Searle's doing such things again, he
was deprived of his ship's rudder and sails. In 1666, Searle, in company
with a Captain Stedman and a party of only eighty men, took the Island of
Tobago, near Trinidad, from the Dutch, destroying everything they could
not carry away.
SELKIRK, ALEXANDER. The original Robinson Crusoe.
Born in 1676 at Largo in Fifeshire, he was the seventh son of John
Selcraig, a shoemaker. In 1695 he was cited to appear before the Session
for "indecent conduct in church," but ran away to sea. In 1701 he was back
again in Largo, and was rebuked in the face of the congregation for
quarrelling with his brothers. A year later Selkirk sailed to England, and
in 1703 joined Dampier's expedition to the South Seas. Appointed
sailing-master to the _Cinque Ports_, commanded by Captain Stradling.
In September, 1704, he arrived at the uninhabited island of Juan
Fernandez, in the South Pacific. Selkirk, having quarrelled with the
captain, insisted on being landed on the island with all his belongings.
He lived alone here for nearly four years, building himself two cabins,
hunting the goats which abounded, and taming young goats and cats to be
his companions.
On the night of January 31st, 1709, seeing two ships, Selkirk lit a fire,
and a boat was sent ashore. These ships were the _Duke_ and _Duchess_ of
Bristol, under the command of Captain Woodes Rogers, while his old friend
Dampier was acting as pilot. Selkirk was at once appointed sailing-master
of the _Duchess_, and eventually arrived back in the Thames on October
14th, 1711, with booty worth £800, having been away from England for eight
years. While in England he met Steele, who described Selkirk as a "man of
good sense, with strong but cheerful expression." Whether Selkirk ever met
Defoe is uncertain, though the character of Robinson Crusoe was certainly
founded on his adventures in Juan Fernandez. In 1712 he returned to Largo,
living the life of a recluse, and we must be forgiven for suspecting that
he rather acted up to the part, since it is recorded that he made a cave
in his father's garden in which to meditate. This life of meditation in an
artificial cave was soon rudely interrupted by the appearance of a certain
Miss Sophia Bonce, with whom Selkirk fell violently in love, and they
eloped together to Bristol, which must have proved indeed a sad scandal to
the elders and other godly citizens of Largo. Beyond the fact that he was
charged at Bristol with assaulting one Richard Nettle, a shipwright, we
hear no more of Selkirk until his first will was drawn up in 1717, in
which he leaves his fortune and house to "my loving friend Sophia Bonce,
of the Pall Mall, London, Spinster." Shortly after this, Alexander basely
deserted his loving friend and married a widow, one Mrs. Francis Candis,
at Oarston in Devon.
In 1720 he was appointed mate to H.M.S. _Weymouth_, on board of which he
died a year later at the age of 45.
Selkirk is immortalized in literature, not only by Defoe, but by Cowper in
his "Lines on Solitude," beginning: "I am monarch of all I survey."
SHARP, ROWLAND.
Of Bath Town in North Carolina.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew. Tried for piracy at Charleston in 1718
and found "not guilty."
SHASTER, ROGER.
One of Captain Heidon's crew of the pirate ship _John of Sandwich_, which
was wrecked on the coast of Alderney. Shaster was arrested and hanged at
St. Martin's Point, Guernsey, in 1564.
SHAW, JOHN.
One of Captain Lowther's crew. Hanged at St. Kitts on March 11th, 1722.
SHERGALL, HENRY, or SHERRAL. Buccaneer.
A seaman with Captain Bartholomew Sharp in his South Sea voyage. One
October day he fell into the sea while going into the spritsail-top and
was drowned. "This incident several of our company interpreted as a bad
omen, which proved not so, through the providence of the Almighty."
SHIRLEY, SIR ANTHONY.
In January, 1597, headed an expedition to the Island of Jamaica. He met
with little opposition from the Spaniards, and seized and plundered St.
Jago de la Vega.
SHIVERS, CAPTAIN.
This South Sea pirate cruised in company with Culliford and Nathaniel
North in the Red Sea, preying principally on Moorish ships, and also
sailed about the Indian Ocean as far as the Malacca Islands. He accepted
the royal pardon to pirates, which was brought out to Madagascar by
Commodore Littleton, and apparently gave up his wicked ways thereafter.
SHUTFIELD, WILLIAM.
Of Lancaster.
Hanged at Rhode Island in July, 1723, at the age of 40.
SICCADAM, JOHN.
Of Boston.
One of Captain Pound's crew. Found guilty of piracy, but pardoned.
SIMMS, HENRY, _alias_ "GENTLEMAN HARRY." Pickpocket, highwayman, pirate,
and Old Etonian.
Born in 1716 at St. Martin's-in-the-Fields. Sent while quite young to
school at Eton, where he "shewed an early inclination to vice," and at the
age of 14 was taken from school and apprenticed to a breeches-maker. No
Old Etonian, either then or now, would stand that kind of treatment, so
Simms ran away, becoming a pickpocket and later a highwayman. After
numerous adventures and escapes from prison, he was pressed on board
H.M.S. _Rye_, but he deserted his ship at Leith. After an "affair" at
Croydon, Simms was transplanted with other convicts to Maryland, in the
_Italian Merchant_. On the voyage he attempted, but without success, to
raise a mutiny. On his arrival in America he was sold to the master of the
_Two Sisters_, which was taken a few days out from Maryland by a Bayonne
pirate. Carried to Spain, Simms got to Oporto, and there was pressed on
board H.M.S. _King Fisher_. Eventually he reached Bristol, where he
bought, with his share of booty, a horse and two pistols, with which to go
on the highway.
Hanged on June 17th, 1747, for stealing an old silver watch and 5s. from
Mr. Francis Sleep at Dunstable.
SKIPTON, CAPTAIN.
Commanded a pirate ship, in which he sailed in company with Captain
Spriggs. Being chased by H.M.S. _Diamond_ off the coast of Cuba, Skipton
ran his sloop on to the Florida Reef. Escaping with his crew to an island,
they were attacked by the Indians, and many of them were captured and
eaten. The survivors, embarking in a canoe, were caught by the man-of-war
and taken prisoner.
SKYRM, CAPTAIN JAMES. Welsh pirate.
Hanged at the advanced age--for a pirate--of 44.
Commanded the _Ranger_, one of Captain Roberts's ships that cruised in
1721 and 1722 off the West Coast of Africa. In the fight with the King's
ship that took him he was very active with a drawn sword in his hand, with
which he beat any of his crew who were at all backward. One of his legs
was shot away in this action, but he refused to leave the deck and go
below as long as the action lasted. He was condemned to death and hanged
in chains.
SMITH, GEORGE. Welsh pirate.
One of Captain Roberts's pirates. Hanged at the age of 25.
SMITH, JOHN.
One of the mutinous crew of the _Antonio_. Hanged at Boston in 1672.
SMITH, JOHN WILLIAMS.
Of Charleston, Carolina.
Hanged in 1718 for piracy, at Charleston.
SMITH, MAJOR SAMUEL. Buccaneer.
At one time a buccaneer with the famous Mansfield.
In 1641 he was sent, by the Governor of Jamaica, with a party to reinforce
the troops which under Mansfield had recaptured the New Providence Island
from the Spanish. In 1660 he was taken prisoner by the Spanish and carried
to Panama and there kept in chains in a dungeon for seventeen months.
DE SOTO, BERNADO.
One of the crew of the schooner _Panda_ that took and plundered the Salem
brig _Mexican_. The crew of the _Panda_ were captured by an English
man-of-war and taken to Boston. De Soto was condemned to death, but
eventually fully pardoned owing to his heroic conduct in rescuing the crew
of an American vessel some time previously.
DE SOTO, CAPTAIN BENITO.
A Portuguese.
A most notorious pirate in and about 1830.
In 1827 he shipped at Buenos Ayres as mate in a slaver, named the
_Defenser de Pedro_, and plotted to seize the ship off the African coast.
The pirates took the cargo of slaves to the West Indies, where they sold
them. De Soto plundered many vessels in the Caribbean Sea, then sailed to
the South Atlantic, naming his ship the _Black Joke_. The fear of the
_Black Joke_ became so great amongst the East Indiamen homeward bound that
they used to make up convoys at St. Helena before heading north.
In 1832 de Soto attacked the _Morning Star_, an East Indiaman, and took
her, when he plundered the ship and murdered the captain. After taking
several more ships, de Soto lost his own on the rocky coast of Spain, near
Cadiz. His crew, although pretending to be honest shipwrecked sailors,
were arrested, but de Soto managed to escape to Gibraltar. Here he was
recognized by a soldier who had seen de Soto when he took the _Morning
Star_, in which he had been a passenger. The pirate was arrested, and
tried before Sir George Don, the Governor of Gibraltar, and sentenced to
death. He was sent to Cadiz to be hanged with the rest of his crew. The
gallows was erected at the water's edge, and de Soto, with his coffin, was
conveyed there in a cart. He died bravely, arranging the noose around his
own neck, stepping up into his coffin to do so; then, crying out, "Adios
todos," he threw himself off the cart.
This man must not be confused with one Bernado de Soto, who was tried for
piracy at Boston in 1834.
SOUND, JOSEPH.
Of the city of Westminster.
Hanged, at the age of 28, at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1723.
SPARKS, JAMES.
A Newfoundland fisherman.
In August, 1723, with John Phillips and three others, ran away with a
vessel to go "on the account." Sparks was appointed gunner.
SPARKES, JOHN.
A member of Captain Avery's crew, and described by one of his shipmates as
being "a true cock of the game." A thief, he robbed his fellow-shipmates,
and from one, Philip Middleton, he stole 270 pieces of gold.
Hanged at Execution Dock in 1696.
SPRATLIN, ROBERT.
Was one of Dampier's party which in 1681 crossed the Isthmus of Darien,
when he was left behind in the jungle with Wafer. Spratlin was lost when
the little party attempted to ford the swollen Chagres River. He
afterwards rejoined Wafer.
SPRIGGS, CAPTAIN FRANCIS FARRINGTON.
An uninteresting and bloody pirate without one single redeeming character.
He learnt his art with the pirate Captain Lowther, afterwards serving as
quartermaster with Captain Low and taking an active part in all the
barbarities committed by the latter.
About 1720 Low took a prize, a man-of-war called the _Squirrel_. This he
handed over to some of the crew, who elected Spriggs their captain. The
ship they renamed the _Delight_, and in the night altered their course and
left Low. They made a flag, bearing upon it a white skeleton, holding in
one hand a dart striking a bleeding heart, and in the other an hourglass.
Sailing to the West Indies, Spriggs took several prizes, treating the
crews with abominable cruelty. On one occasion the pirates chased what
they believed to be a Spanish ship, and after a long while they came
alongside and fired a broadside into her. The ship immediately
surrendered, and turned out to be a vessel the pirate had plundered only a
few days previously. This infuriated Spriggs and his crew, who showed
their disappointment by half murdering the captain. After a narrow escape
from being captured by a French man-of-war near the Island of St. Kitts,
Spriggs sailed north to the Summer Isles, or Bermudas. Taking a ship
coming from Rhode Island, they found her cargo to consist of horses.
Several of the pirates mounted these and galloped up and down the deck
until they were thrown. While plundering several small vessels of their
cargo of logwood in the Bay of Honduras, Spriggs was surprised and
attacked by an English man-of-war, and the pirates only escaped by using
their sweeps. Spriggs now went for a cruise off the coast of South
Carolina, returning again to Honduras. This was a rash proceeding on
Spriggs's part, for as he was sailing off the west end of Cuba he again
met the man-of-war which had so nearly caught him before in the bay.
Spriggs clapped on all sail, but ran his ship on Rattan Island, where she
was burnt by the _Spence_, while Captain Spriggs and his crew escaped to
the woods.
SPRINGER, CAPTAIN.
He fought gallantly with Sawkins and Ringrose in the Battle of Perico off
Panama on St. George's Day in 1680. He gave his name to Springer's Cay,
one of the Samballoes Islands. This was the rendezvous chosen by the
pirates, where Dampier and his party found the French pirate ship that
rescued them after their famous trudge across the Isthmus of Darien.
STANLEY, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.
With a few other buccaneers in their stronghold at New Providence Island
in 1660, withstood an attack by a Spanish fleet for five days. The three
English captains, Stanley, Sir Thomas Whetstone, and Major Smith, were
carried to Panama and there cast into a dungeon and bound in irons for
seventeen months.
STEDMAN, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.
In 1666, with Captain Searle and a party of only eighty men, he took and
plundered the Dutch island of Tobago. Later on, after the outbreak of war
with France, he was captured by a French frigate off the Island of
Guadeloupe. Stedman had a small vessel and a crew of only 100 men, and
found himself becalmed and unable to escape, so he boldly boarded the
Frenchman and fought for two hours, being finally overcome.
STEPHENS, WILLIAM.
Died on January 14th, 1682, on board of Captain Sharp's ship a few days
before their return to the Barbadoes from the South Seas. His death was
supposed to have been caused by indulging too freely in mancanilla while
ashore at Golfo Dulce. "Next morning we threw overboard our dead man and
gave him two French vollies and one English one."
STEPHENSON, JOHN.
Sailed as an honest seaman in the _Onslow_ (Captain Gee) from Sestos.
Taken in May, 1721, by the pirate Captain Roberts, he willingly joined the
pirates. When Roberts was killed on board the _Royal Fortune_, Stephenson
burst into tears, and declared that he wished the next shot might kill
him. Hanged in 1722.
STILES, RICHARD.
Hanged in Virginia in 1718 with the rest of Captain Teach's crew.
STOREY, THOMAS.
One of William Coward's crew which stole the ketch _Elinor_ in Boston
Harbour. Condemned to be hanged on January 27th, 1690, but afterwards
reprieved.
ST. QUINTIN, RICHARD.
A native of Yorkshire.
One of M'Kinlie's crew that murdered Captain Glass and his family in the
Canary ship. Afterwards arrested at Cork and hanged in chains near Dublin
on March 19th, 1765.
STURGES, CAPTAIN.
An Elizabethan pirate, who had his headquarters at Rochelle. In company
with the notorious pirate Calles, he in one year pillaged two Portuguese,
one French, one Spanish, and also a Scotch ship. His end is not known.
O'SULLIVAN, LORD. Receiver of pirate plunder.
The Sulivan Bere, of Berehaven in Ireland.
A notorious friend of the English pirates, he bought their spoils, which
he stored in his castle. He helped to fit out pirate captains for their
cruises, and protected them when Queen Elizabeth sent ships to try and
arrest them.
SUTTON, THOMAS.
Born at Berwick in 1699.
Gunner in Roberts's ship the _Royal Fortune_. At his trial he was proved
to have been particularly active in helping to take a Dutch merchantman,
the _Gertruycht_. Hanged in chains at Cape Coast Castle in April, 1722, at
the age of 23.
SWAN, CAPTAIN.
Commanded the _Nicholas_, and met Dampier when in the _Batchelor's
Delight_ at the Island of Juan Fernandez in 1684. The two captains cruised
together off the west coast of South America, the _Nicholas_ leaving
Dampier, who returned to England by way of the East Indies.
SWAN, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.
Of the _Cygnet_. Left England as an honest trader. Rounded the Horn and
sailed up to the Bay of Nicoya, there taking on a crew of buccaneers who
had crossed the Isthmus of Darien on foot. Dampier was appointed pilot or
quartermaster to the _Cygnet_, a post analogous to that of a navigating
officer on a modern man-of-war, while Ringrose was appointed supercargo.
Swan had an adventurous and chequered voyage, sometimes meeting with
successes, but often with reverses. Eventually he sailed to the Philippine
Islands, where the crew mutinied and left Swan and thirty-six of the crew
behind. After various adventures the _Cygnet_, by now in a very crazy
state, just managed to reach Madagascar, where she sank at her anchorage.
SWITZER, JOSEPH.
Of Boston in New England.
Tried for piracy at Rhode Island in 1723, but found to be "not guilty."
SYMPSON, DAVID.
Born at North Berwick.
One of Roberts's crew. Tried and hanged at Cape Coast Castle in 1722. On
the day of execution Sympson was among the first six prisoners to be
brought up from the ship's hold to have their fetters knocked off and to
be fitted with halters, and it was observed that none of the culprits
appeared in the least dejected, except Sympson, who "spoke a little faint,
but this was rather imputed to a Flux that had seized him two or three
days before, than Fear." There being no clergyman in the colony, a kindly
surgeon tried to take on the duties of the ordinary, but with ill-success,
the hardened ruffians being quite unmoved by his attempts at exhortation.
In fact, the spectators were considerably shocked, as indeed they well
might be, by Sympson, suddenly recognizing among the crowd a woman whom he
knew, calling out "he had lain with that B----h three times, and now she
was come to see him hanged."
Sympson died at the age of 36, which was considerably above the average
age to which a pirate might expect to live.
TAYLOR, CAPTAIN.
This formidable South Sea pirate must indeed have looked, as well as
acted, the part, since his appearance is described by Captain Johnson as
follows: "A Fellow with a terrible pair of Whiskers, and a wooden Leg,
being stuck round with Pistols, like the Man in the Almanack with Darts."
This man Taylor it was who stirred up the crew of the _Victory_ to turn
out and maroon Captain England, and elect himself in his place. He was a
villain of the deepest dye, and burnt ships and houses and tortured his
prisoners.
The pirates sailed down the West Coast of India from Goa to Cochin, and
returned to Mauritius. Thence sailing to the Island of Mascarine they
found a big Portuguese ship, which they took. In her they discovered the
Conde de Eviceira, Viceroy of Goa, and, even better, four million dollars
worth of diamonds.
Taylor, now sailing in the _Cassandra_, heard that there were four
men-of-war on his tracks, so he sailed to Delagoa Bay and spent the
winter of the year 1722 there. It was now decided that as they had a huge
amount of plunder they had better give up piracy, so they sailed away to
the West Indies and surrendered themselves to the Governor of Porto Bello.
The crew broke up and each man, with a bag of diamonds, went whither he
would; but Captain Taylor joined the Spanish service, and was put in
command of a man-of-war, which was sent to attack the English logwood
cutters in the Bay of Honduras.
TAYLOR, WILLIAM.
One of Captain Phillips's crew. Wounded in the leg while attempting to
desert. There being no surgeon on board, a consultation was held over the
patient by the whole crew, and these learned men were unanimous in
agreeing that the leg should be amputated. Some dispute then arose as to
who should act the part of surgeon, and at length the carpenter was chosen
as the most proper person. "Upon which he fetch'd up the biggest saw, and
taking the limb under his Arm, fell to Work, and separated it from the
Body of the Patient in as little Time as he could have cut a Deal Board in
two." This surgeon-carpenter evidently appreciated the importance of
aseptics, for, "after that he had heated his Ax red hot in the Fire,
cauteriz'd the Wound but not with so much Art as he perform'd the other
Part for he so burnt the Flesh distant from the Place of Amputation that
it had like to have mortify'd." Taylor was tried and condemned to death at
Boston on May 12th, 1714, but for some reason not explained was reprieved.
TEACH, CAPTAIN EDWARD, or THATCH, or THACH, _alias_ DRUMMOND, _alias_
BLACKBEARD. Arch-pirate.
A Bristol man who settled in Jamaica, sailing in privateers, but not in
the capacity of an officer.
In 1716, Teach took to piracy, being put in command of a sloop by the
pirate Benjamin Hornigold. In 1717, Hornigold and Teach sailed together
from Providence towards the American coast, taking a billop from Havana
and several other prizes. After careening their vessels on the coast of
Virginia, the pirates took a fine French Guineaman bound to Martinico;
this ship they armed with forty guns, named her the _Queen Ann's Revenge_,
and Blackbeard went aboard as captain. Teach now had a ship that allowed
him to go for larger prizes, and he began by taking a big ship called the
_Great Allen_, which he plundered and then set fire to. A few days later,
Teach was attacked by H.M.S. _Scarborough_, of thirty guns, but after a
sharp engagement lasting some hours, the pirate was able to drive off the
King's ship.
The next ship he met with was the sloop of that amateur pirate and
landsman, Major Stede Bonnet. Teach and Bonnet became friends and sailed
together for a few days, when Teach, finding that Bonnet was quite
ignorant of maritime matters, ordered the Major, in the most high-handed
way, to come aboard his ship, while he put another officer in command of
Bonnet's vessel. Teach now took ship after ship, one of which, with the
curious name of the _Protestant Cæsar_, the pirates burnt out of spite,
not because of her name, but because she belonged to Boston, where there
had lately been a hanging of pirates.
Blackbeard now sailed north along the American coast, arriving off
Charleston, South Carolina. Here he lay off the bar for several days,
seizing every vessel that attempted to enter or leave the port, "striking
great Terror to the whole Province of Carolina," the more so since the
colony was scarcely recovered from a recent visit by another pirate, Vane.
Being in want of medicines, Teach sent his lieutenant, Richards, on shore
with a letter to the Governor demanding that he should instantly send off
a medicine chest, or else Teach would murder all his prisoners, and
threatening to send their heads to Government House; many of these
prisoners being the chief persons of the colony.
Teach, who was unprincipled, even for a pirate, now commanded three
vessels, and he wanted to get rid of his crews and keep all the booty for
himself and a few chosen friends. To do this, he contrived to wreck his
own vessel and one of his sloops. Then with his friends and all the booty
he sailed off, leaving the rest marooned on a small sandy island. Teach
next sailed to North Carolina, and with the greatest coolness surrendered
with twenty of his men to the Governor, Charles Eden, and received the
Royal pardon. The ex-pirate spent the next few weeks in cultivating an
intimate friendship with the Governor, who, no doubt, shared Teach's booty
with him.
A romantic episode took place at this time at Bath Town. The pirate fell
in love, not by any means for the first time, with a young lady of 16
years of age. To show his delight at this charming union, the Governor
himself married the happy pair, this being the captain's fourteenth wife;
though certain Bath Town gossips were heard to say that there were no
fewer than twelve Mrs. Teach still alive at different ports up and down
the West India Islands.
In June, 1718, the bridegroom felt that the call of duty must be obeyed,
so kissing good-bye to the new Mrs. Teach, he sailed away to the Bermudas,
meeting on his way half a dozen ships, which he plundered, and then
hurried back to share the spoils with the Governor of North Carolina and
his secretary, Mr. Knight.
For several months, Blackbeard remained in the river, exacting a toll from
all the shipping, often going ashore to make merry at the expense of the
planters. At length, things became so unbearable that the citizens and
planters sent a request to the Governor of the neighbouring colony of
Virginia for help to rid them of the presence of Teach. The Governor,
Spotswood, an energetic man, at once made plans for taking the pirate, and
commissioned a gallant young naval officer, Lieutenant Robert Maynard, of
H.M.S. _Pearl_, to go in a sloop, the _Ranger_, in search of him. On
November 17, 1718, the lieutenant sailed for Kicquetan in the James River,
and on the 21st arrived at the mouth of Okerecock Inlet, where he
discovered the pirate he was in search of. Blackbeard would have been
caught unprepared had not his friend, Mr. Secretary Knight, hearing what
was on foot, sent a letter warning him to be on his guard, and also any of
Teach's crew whom he could find in the taverns of Bath Town. Maynard lost
no time in attacking the pirate's ship, which had run aground. The fight
was furious, Teach boarding the sloop and a terrific hand-to-hand struggle
taking place, the lieutenant and Teach fighting with swords and pistols.
Teach was wounded in twenty-five places before he fell dead, while the
lieutenant escaped with nothing worse than a cut over the fingers.
Maynard now returned in triumph in his sloop to Bath Town, with the head
of Blackbeard hung up to the bolt-spit end, and received a tremendous
ovation from the inhabitants.
During his meteoric career as a pirate, the name of Blackbeard was one
that created terror up and down the coast of America from Newfoundland to
Trinidad. This was not only due to the number of ships Teach took, but in
no small measure to his alarming appearance. Teach was a tall, powerful
man, with a fierce expression, which was increased by a long, black beard
which grew from below his eyes and hung down to a great length. This he
plaited into many tails, each one tied with a coloured ribbon and turned
back over his ears. When going into action, Teach wore a sling on his
shoulders with three pairs of pistols, and struck lighted matches under
the brim of his hat. These so added to his fearful appearance as to strike
terror into all beholders. Teach had a peculiar sense of humour, and one
that could at times cause much uneasiness amongst his friends. Thus we are
told that one day on the deck of his ship, being at the time a little
flushed with wine, Blackbeard addressed his crew, saying: "Come let us
make a Hell of our own, and try how long we can bear it," whereupon Teach,
with several others, descended to the hold, shut themselves in, and then
set fire to several pots of brimstone. For a while they stood it, choking
and gasping, but at length had to escape to save themselves from being
asphyxiated, but the last to give up was the captain, who was wont to
boast afterwards that he had outlasted all the rest.
Then there was that little affair in the cabin, when Teach blew out the
candle and in the dark fired his pistols under the table, severely
wounding one of his guests in the knee, for no other reason, as he
explained to them afterwards, than "if he did not shoot one or two of them
now and then they'd forget who he was."
Teach kept a log or journal, which unfortunately is lost, but the entries
for two days have been preserved, and are worth giving, and seem to smack
of Robert Louis Stevenson in "Treasure Island." The entries, written in
Teach's handwriting, run as follows:
"1718. Rum all out--Our Company somewhat sober--A damn'd Confusion amongst
us!--Rogues a plotting--great Talk of Separation--so I look'd sharp for a
Prize.
"1718. Took one, with a great deal of Liquor on Board, so kept the Company
hot, damned hot, then all Things went well again."
TEAGUE, ROBERT.
A Scotch pirate, one of Captain Gow's crew. On May 26th, 1725, the crew
were tried in London and found guilty and sentenced to death, except
Teague and two others who were acquitted.
TEMPLETON, JOHN.
One of Captain John Quelch's crew of the ship _Charles_. Tried for piracy
at Boston in 1704, but, being discovered to be not yet 14 years of age and
only a servant on board the pirate ship, was acquitted.
TEW, Captain THOMAS, or Too.
A famous pirate, whose headquarters were at Madagascar. He was mentioned
by name in King William III.'s Royal Warrant to Captain Kidd to go hunting
for pirates, as a specially "wicked and ill-disposed person."
He sailed with Captain Dew from the Barbadoes with a Commission from the
Governor to join with the Royal African Company in an attack on the French
factory at Goori, at Gambia. Instead of going to West Africa, Tew and his
crew turned pirates, and sailed to the Red Sea. Here he met with a great
Indian ship, which he had the hardiness to attack, and soon took her, and
each of his men received as his share £3,000, and with this booty they
sailed to Madagascar. He was already held in high esteem by the pirates
who resided in that favourite stronghold. At one time he joined Misson,
the originator of "piracy-without-tears" at his garden city of Libertatia.
A quarrel arose between Misson's French followers and Tew's English
pirates. A duel was arranged between the two leaders, but by the tact of
another pirate--an unfrocked Italian priest--all was settled amicably, Tew
being appointed Admiral and the diplomatic ex-priest suitably chosen as
Secretary of State to the little republic. Such a reputation for kindness
had Tew that ships seldom resisted him, but on knowing who their assailant
was they gave themselves up freely. Some of Tew's men started a daughter
colony on their own account, and the Admiral sailed after them to try and
persuade them to return to the fold at Libertatia. The men refused, and
while Tew was arguing and trying to persuade them to change their minds,
his ship was lost in a sudden storm. Tew was soon rescued by the ship
_Bijoux_ with Misson on board, who, with a few men, had escaped being
massacred by the natives. Misson, giving Tew an equal share of his gold
and diamonds, sailed away, while Tew managed to return to Rhode Island in
New England, where he settled down for a while. To show the honesty of
this man, being now affluent, he kept a promise to the friends in Bermuda
who originally set him up with a ship, by sending them fourteen times the
original cost of the sloop as their just share of the profits.
At last, Tew found the call of the sea and the lure of the "grand account"
too great to resist, and he consented to take command of a pirate ship
which was to go on a cruise in the Red Sea. Arrived there, Tew attacked a
big ship belonging to the Great Mogul, and during the battle was mortally
wounded.
His historian tells us "a shot carried away the rim of Tew's belly, who
held his bowels with his hands for some space. When he dropped, it struck
such terror to his men that they suffered themselves to be taken without
further resistance." Thus fell fighting a fine sailor, a brave man, and a
successful pirate, and one who cheated the gallows awaiting him at
Execution Dock.
THOMAS, CAPTAIN, _alias_ STEDE BONNET.
THOMAS, JOHN.
Of Jamaica.
This Welsh pirate was one of Major Stede Bonnet's crew of the _Royal
James_. Hanged at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1718.
THOMPSON, CAPTAIN.
A renegade pirate who joined the Barbary corsairs, becoming a Mohammedan.
Commanded a pirate vessel, and was taken prisoner off the coast of Ireland
by an Elizabethan ship. Hanged at Wapping.
THURBAR, RICHARD.
Tried for piracy at Boston in 1704.
THURSTON, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.
Of Tortuga Island.
Refused to accept the Royal offer of pardon of 1670, when all commissions
to privateer on the Spanish were revoked. Thurston, with a mulatto, Diego,
using obsolete commissions issued by the late Governor of Jamaica,
Modyford, continued to prey upon Spanish shipping, carrying their prizes
to Tortuga.
THWAITES, CAPTAIN JOSEPH.
Coxswain to Captain Hood, he was promoted in 1763 to be a midshipman in
H.M.S. _Zealous_, cruising in the Mediterranean. Putting into Algiers,
Thwaites was sent ashore by the captain to buy some sheep, but did not
return to the boat and, it being supposed he had been assassinated, the
ship sailed without him. The fact was that young Thwaites, who spoke
Turkish and Greek, had accepted an invitation to enter the Ottoman
service. Embracing the Mohammedan religion, Thwaites was put in command of
a forty-four gun frigate.
His first engagement was with the flagship of the Tunisian Admiral, which
he took and carried to Algiers. He soon brought in another prize, and so
pleased the Dey that he presented him with a scimitar, the hilt of which
was set with diamonds.
Thwaites, having soiled his hands with blood, now became the pirate
indeed, taking vessels of any nation, and drowning all his prisoners by
tying a double-headed shot round their necks and throwing them overboard.
He stopped at no atrocity--even children were killed, and one prisoner, an
English lieutenant and an old shipmate of his, called Roberts, he murdered
without a second thought. When Thwaites happened to be near Gibraltar, he
would go ashore and through his agents, Messrs. Ross and Co., transmit
large sums of money to his wife and children in England. But Thwaites had
another home at Algiers fitted with every luxury, including three Armenian
girls.
For several years this successful pirate plundered ships of all nations
until such pressure was brought to bear on the Dey of Algiers that
Thwaites thought it best to collect what valuables he could carry away and
disappear.
Landing at Gibraltar in 1796, dressed in European clothes, he procured a
passage to New York in an American frigate, the _Constitution_. Arriving
in the United States, he purchased an estate not far from New York and
built himself a handsome mansion, but a year later retribution came from
an unlooked-for quarter, for he was bitten by a rattlesnake and died in
the most horrible agonies both of mind and body.
TOMKINS, JOHN.
Of Gloucestershire.
Hanged at the age of 23 at Rhode Island in 1723. One of Charles Harris's
crew.
TOPPING, DENNIS.
He shipped on board the sloop _Buck_ at Providence in 1718, in company
with Anstis and other famous pirates. Was killed at the taking of a rich
Portuguese ship off the coast of Brazil.
TOWNLEY, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.
A buccaneer who in the year 1684 was one of the mixed English and French
fleet blockading Panama. On this occasion, he commanded a ship with a crew
of 180 men. By the next year the quarrels between the English had reached
such a pitch that Townley and Swan left Davis and sailed in search of
their French friends. In May, 1685, Townley was amongst the company that
took and sacked Guayaquil. In January, 1686, Townley rescued the French
pirate Grogniet and some 350 Frenchmen who, when attacking the town of
Quibo, were surprised by a Spanish squadron, which burnt their vessels
while the crews were on shore. Townley then sailed north with his French
comrades and sacked Granada.
His next adventure was to take the town of Lavelia, near to Panama, where
he found a rich cargo which the Viceroy had placed on shore because he was
afraid to send it to sea when so many pirates were about.
In August of the same year, Townley's ship was attacked by three Spanish
men-of-war. A furious fight took place, which ended by two of the Spanish
ships being captured and the third burnt. In this action the gallant
Townley was gravely wounded, and died shortly afterwards.
TRISTRIAN, CAPTAIN. French buccaneer.
In the year 1681 Dampier, with other malcontents, broke away from Captain
Sharp and marched on foot across the Isthmus of Darien. After undergoing
terrible hardships for twenty-two days, the party arrived on the Atlantic
seaboard, to find Captain Tristrian with his ship lying in La Sounds Cay.
The buccaneers bought red, blue, and green beads, and knives, scissors,
and looking-glasses from the French pirates to give to their faithful
Indian guides as parting gifts.
TRYER, MATTHEW.
A Carolina pirate, accused and acquitted on a charge of having captured a
sloop belonging to Samuel Salters, of Bermuda, in 1699.
TUCKER, ROBERT.
Of the Island of Jamaica.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew. Tried, condemned, and hanged at
Charleston, South Carolina, on November 8th, 1718. The prisoners were not
defended by counsel, because the members of the South Carolina Bar still
deemed it "a base and vile thing to plead for money or reward." We
understand that the barristers of South Carolina have since persuaded
themselves to overcome this prejudice. The result was that, with the
famous Judge Trott, a veritable terror to pirates, being President of the
Court of Vice-Admiralty, the prisoners had short and ready justice, and
all but four of the thirty-five pirates tried were found guilty.
TUCKERMAN, CAPTAIN.
Sailed with Captain Porter in the West Indies. Captain Johnson gives an
account of the meeting between these two pirate novices and the great
Captain Roberts at Hispaniola.
TURNLEY, CAPTAIN RICHARD.
A New Providence pirate who received the general pardon from Captain
Woodes Rogers in 1718. When, a little later, the scandal of Captain
Rackam's infatuation for Anne Bonny was causing such gossip among the two
thousand ex-pirates who formed the population of the settlement, it was
Turnley who brought news of the affair to the notice of the Governor. In
revenge for this action, Rackam and his lady, one day hearing that Turnley
had sailed to a neighbouring island to catch turtles, followed him. It
happened that Turnley was on shore hunting wild pigs and so escaped, but
Rackam sank his sloop and took his crew away with him as prisoners.
TYLE, CAPTAIN ORT VAN.
A Dutchman from New York.
A successful pirate in the days of the Madagascan sea-rovers. For some
time he sailed in company with Captain James, taking several prizes in the
Indian Ocean.
Van Tyle had a plantation at Madagascar and used to put his prisoners to
work there as slaves, one in particular being the notorious Welsh pirate,
David Williams, who toiled with Van Tyles's other slaves for six months
before making his escape to a friendly tribe in the neighbourhood.
UPTON, BOATSWAIN JOHN.
Born in 1679 of honest parents at Deptford.
Apprenticed to a waterman, he afterwards went to sea, serving on different
men-of-war as a petty officer. Until July, 1723, when 40 years of age,
Upton lived a perfectly honest life, but his wife dying, Upton found she
had contracted various debts and that he was in danger of being arrested
by the creditors. Leaving his four orphans, Upton hurried to Poole in
Dorsetshire, and was taken on as boatswain in the _John and Elizabeth_
(Captain Hooper), bound for Bonavista in Newfoundland. He seems to have
continued to sail as an honest seaman until November 14th, 1725, when
serving as boatswain in the _Perry_ galley, on a voyage between Barbadoes
and Bristol, the vessel was taken by a pirate, Cooper, in the _Night
Rambler_. At his subsequent trial witnesses declared that Upton willingly
joined the pirates, signed their articles, and was afterwards one of their
most active and cruel men.
Upton kept a journal, which was his only witness for his defence, in which
he described how he was forced to sign the pirates' articles under threats
of instant death. If his journal is to be believed, Upton escaped from the
pirates at the first opportunity, landing on the Mosquito coast. After
being arrested by the Spaniards as a spy, he was sent from one prison to
another in Central America, at last being put on board a galleon at Porto
Bello, to be sent to Spain. Escaping, he got aboard a New York sloop and
arrived at Jamaica in December, 1726. While at Port Royal he was pressed
on board H.M.S. _Nottingham_, serving in her for more than two years as
quartermaster, until one day he was accused of having been a pirate. Under
this charge he was brought a prisoner to England in 1729, tried in London,
and hanged, protesting his innocence to the last.
URUJ. See BARBAROSSA.
VALLANUEVA, CAPTAIN.
A Dominican.
Commanded in 1831 a small gaff-topsail schooner, the _General Morazan_,
armed with a brass eight-pounder and carrying a mixed crew of forty-four
men, French, Italian, English, and Creoles of St. Domingo.
VANCLEIN, CAPTAIN MOSES. Dutch filibuster.
Was serving with L'Ollonais's fleet off the coast of Yucatan when a mutiny
broke out, of which Vanclein was the ringleader. He persuaded the
malcontents to sail with him along the coast till they came to Costa Rica.
There they landed and marched to the town of Veraguas, which they seized
and pillaged. The pirates got little booty, only eight pounds of gold, it
proving to be a poor place.
VANE, CAPTAIN CHARLES.
Famous for his piratical activities off the coast of North America,
specially the Carolinas.
In 1718, when Woodes Rogers was sent by the English Government to break up
the pirate stronghold in the Bahama Islands, all the pirates at New
Providence Island surrendered to Rogers and received the King's pardon
except Vane, who, after setting fire to a prize he had, slipped out of the
bay as Rogers with his two men-of-war entered. Vane sailed to the coast of
Carolina, as did other West Indian pirates who found their old haunts too
warm for them.
Vane is first heard of as being actively engaged in stealing from the
Spaniards the silver which they were salving from a wrecked galleon in the
Gulf of Florida. Tiring of this, Vane stole a vessel and ranged up and
down the coast from Florida to New York, taking ship after ship, until at
last the Governor of South Carolina sent out a Colonel Rhet in an armed
sloop to try and take him. On one occasion Vane met the famous Blackbeard,
whom he saluted with his great guns loaded with shot. This compliment of
one pirate chief to another was returned in like kind, and then "mutual
civilities" followed for several days between the two pirate captains and
their crews, these civilities taking the form of a glorious debauch in a
quiet creek on the coast.
Vane soon had a change of fortune, when, meeting with a French man-of-war,
he decided to decline an engagement and to seek safety in flight, greatly
to the anger of his crew. For this he was obliged to stand the test of the
vote of the whole crew, who passed a resolution against his honour and
dignity, and branded him a coward, deprived him of his command, and packed
him off with a few of his adherents in a small sloop. Vane, not
discouraged by this reverse of fortune, rose again from the bottom rung of
the ladder to success, and quickly increased in strength of ships and
crew, until one day, being overcome by a sudden tornado, he lost
everything but his life, being washed up on a small uninhabited island off
the Honduras coast. Here he managed to support life by begging food from
the fishermen who occasionally came there in their canoes.
At last a ship put in for water, commanded by one Captain Holford, who
happened to be an old friend of Vane's. Vane naturally was pleased at this
piece of good fortune, and asked his dear old friend to take him off the
island in his ship, to which Holford replied: "Charles, I shan't trust you
aboard my ship, unless I carry you as a prisoner, for I shall have you
caballing with my men, knock me on the head, and run away with my ship
a-pirating." No promises of good behaviour from Vane would prevail on his
friend to rescue him; in fact, Captain Holford's parting remark was that
he would be returning in a month, and that if he then found Vane still on
the island he would carry him to Jamaica to be hanged.
Soon after Holford's departure another ship put in for water, none of the
crew of which knew Vane by sight, and he was too crafty to let them find
out the notorious pirate he was. They consented to take off the
shipwrecked mariner, when, just as all seemed to be going well, back came
the ship of friend Holford. Holford, who seems to have been a sociable
kind of man, was well acquainted with the captain who was befriending
Vane, and Holford was invited to dine on board his ship. As the guest was
passing along the deck of his host's ship on his way to the great cabin he
chanced to glance down the open hold, and there who should he see but his
dear old friend Vane hard at work; for he had already won his new master's
good graces by being a "brisk hand." Holford at once informed his host
that he was entertaining a notorious pirate, and with his consent clapped
Vane in irons, and removed him to his own ship, and when he arrived in
Jamaica handed his old friend to the justices, who quickly tried,
convicted, and hanged him.
VANHORN, CAPTAIN NICHOLAS. A Dutch filibuster.
Of Hispaniola.
Sailed from England in 1681 in command of the _Mary and Martha_, _alias_
the _St. Nicholas_, a merchant ship. Vanhorn soon showed his hand by
putting two of his merchants ashore at Cadiz and stealing four Spanish
guns. Next he sailed to the Canary Islands, and then to the Guinea coast,
plundering ships and stealing negroes, until November, 1682, when he
arrived at the city of San Domingo. In April, 1683, he picked up some 300
buccaneers at Petit Goave, and joined the filibuster Laurens in the Gulf
of Honduras with six other buccaneer captains, who were planning an attack
on the rich city of Vera Cruz. The fleet arrived off the city in May, and
the pirates, hearing that the Spaniards were expecting the arrival of two
ships from Caracas, they crowded a landing party of 800 men into two
ships, and, displaying Spanish colours, stood in boldly for the city. The
inhabitants, imagining these were the ships they were expecting, actually
lit bonfires to pilot them into the harbour. Landing on May 17th two miles
away, they soon found themselves masters of the town and forts, all the
sentinels being asleep. For four days they plundered the churches,
convents, and houses, and threatened to burn the cathedral, in which they
had put all the prisoners, unless more booty was forthcoming. An
Englishman found the Governor hiding in some hay in a loft, and he was
ransomed for 70,000 pieces of eight. While this was taking place a Spanish
fleet of fourteen ships had arrived from Cadiz, and anchored just outside
the harbour, but would not venture to land nor to attack the buccaneer
ships. The buccaneers, feeling it was time to depart, sailed right past
the fleet without opposition to a cay not far off, and there divided the
spoils; each of the 1,000 sailors getting 800 pieces of eight as his
share, while Vanhorn's own share, was 24,000 pieces of eight. This
division of the spoil did not take place without some bickering, and the
two leaders, Vanhorn and Laurens, came to blows, and Vanhorn was wounded
in the wrist. Although the wound was little more than a scratch, he died
of gangrene a fortnight later.
It is significant that Vanhorn had originally been sent out by the
Governor of Hispaniola to hunt for pirates, but once out of sight of land
and away from authority the temptation to get rich quickly was too great
to resist, so that he joined the pirates in the expedition to sack Vera
Cruz.
VEALE, CAPTAIN.
On July 1st, 1685, he arrived at New London in a sloop, but was compelled
to hurry away, being recognized as a pirate by one of the crew of a ship
he had previously taken in Virginia.
VEALE, THOMAS.
One of four New England pirates who in the middle of the seventeenth
century rowed up the Saugus river and landed at a place called Lynn Woods.
The boat contained, besides the pirates, a quantity of plunder and a
beautiful young woman. They built a hut on Dungeon Rock, dug a well, and
lived there until the woman died. Three of the pirates were captured, and
ended their days on the gallows in England.
Thomas Veale escaped and went to live in a cave, where he is supposed to
have hidden his booty, but he continued to work as a cordwainer. In the
earthquake of 1658 the cave was blocked up by pieces of rock, and Veale
was never seen again.
VERPRE, CAPTAIN. French filibuster.
His ship _Le Postillion_ carried a crew of twenty-five men and was armed
with two guns.
VIGERON, CAPTAIN. French filibuster.
Of San Domingo.
Commanded a bark, _La Louse_, thirty men and four guns.
VILLA RISE.
In the year 1621 this Moorish pirate commanded a small squadron of five
vessels which took an English ship, the _George Bonaventure_ (Captain John
Rawlins, Plymouth), in the Straits of Gibraltar. One of the finest deeds
ever achieved by English sailors was the escape of Rawlins and some of his
crew from the Moors at Alexandria in a stolen ship.
VAN VIN, MOSES. Buccaneer.
One of L'Ollonais's officers. After burning Puerto Cavallo and torturing
and murdering the inhabitants, L'Ollonais marched away to attack the town
of San Pedro with 300 of his crew, leaving van Vin as his lieutenant to
govern the rest of his men during his absence.
VIRGIN, HENRY.
Of Bristol.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew of the _Royal James_. Hanged for piracy
at White Point, Charleston, South Carolina, on November 8th, 1718, and
buried in the marsh below low-water mark.
VIVON, CAPTAIN M. LA. French filibuster.
Commanded the _Cour Valant_ of La Rochelle. In December, 1668, his ship
was seized by Captain Collier for having robbed an English ship of
provisions.
WAFER, LIONEL. Surgeon, buccaneer, and author.
Believed to have been born about the year 1660.
He could speak Gaelic and also Erse, which languages he had learnt during
his childhood, which was spent partly in the Highlands of Scotland and
partly in Ireland.
In 1677 he sailed as mate to the surgeon of the _Great Ann_, of London
(Captain Zachary Browne), bound for Java.
Two years later, he again sailed as surgeon's mate on a voyage to the West
Indies. He deserted his ship at Jamaica and set himself up as a surgeon at
Port Royal, but one day meeting with two noted buccaneers, Captain Linch
and Captain Cook, he agreed to sail with them as ship's surgeon.
Wafer's subsequent adventures are recounted by Basil Ringrose in his
"Dangerous Voyage and Bold Assaults of Captain Bartholomew Sharp and
Others," and by William Dampier in his "New Voyage Round the World."
After taking part in 1679 in the futile expedition of the buccaneers to
Panama, Wafer joined the party of malcontents who left Captain Sharp and
returned on foot across the Isthmus of Darien. Wafer was accidentally
wounded in the knee by an explosion of gunpowder on May 5th, 1681, which
he recounts in his narrative as follows: "I was sitting on the ground near
one of our Men, who was drying of Gunpowder in a Silver Plate: But not
managing it as he should, it blew up and scorch'd my knee to that degree,
that the bone was left bare, the Flesh being torn away, and my Thigh burnt
for a great way above it. I applied to it immediately such Remedies as I
had in my knapsack: and being unwilling to be left behind by my
companions, I made hard shift to jog on."
The whole story of these adventures is told by Wafer in a book he wrote,
and which was published in London in 1699. It is called "A New Voyage and
Description of the Isthmus of America, giving an Account of the Author's
Abode there," and is illustrated by some quaint copperplates.
Wafer and his companions suffered extreme hardships as they struggled
through the dense tropical jungle during the wettest season of the year.
On one occasion when in danger of his life, Wafer was spared by the
Indians owing to his skill as a phlebotomist, after he had been allowed to
exhibit his skill to an Indian chief called Lacentra, when he bled one of
his wives so successfully that the chief made Wafer his inseparable
companion, to the no little discomfort of the buccaneer, who wished to
reach the Atlantic and rejoin his companions who had left him behind.
Wafer described the birds, animals, fishes, and insects with considerable
minuteness, although it is obvious that he had no special training in, or
great gift for, natural history. Wafer eventually reached Philadelphia,
where he availed himself of King James's general pardon to pirates.
WAKE, CAPTAIN THOMAS.
A notorious pirate, one of those particularly named in the Royal Warrant
issued in 1695 to Captain Kidd, authorizing him to go in search of the
American pirates.
WALDEN, JOHN, _alias_ "MISS NANNEY."
Born in Somersetshire.
Taken in the _Blessing_, of Lymington, by Roberts in Newfoundland, he
joined the pirates, and was later on hanged at the age of 24 in West
Africa. Walden was one of Captain Roberts's most active men. On taking
Captain Traher's ship, Walden carried a pole-axe with which he wrenched
open locked doors and boxes. He was a bold and daring man, of violent
temper, and was known amongst his shipmates by the nickname of Miss
Nanney. He lost a leg during the attack on the _Swallow_. After the
pirates took the _King Solomon_, Walden had to get up the anchor, but he
cut the cable, explaining to the captain that the weather was too hot to
go straining and crying "Yo Hope," and he could easily buy another anchor
when he got to London.
WANSLEY, THOMAS.
A negro steward on the brig _Vineyard_, he mutinied and assisted to murder
the captain and mate, afterwards becoming one of Captain Charles Gibbs's
crew. Hanged at New York in February, 1831.
WANT, CAPTAIN.
A Carolina pirate who was referred to at the trial of Captain Avery's crew
at London in 1696.
WARD.
One of the first English pirates to establish himself on the Barbary coast
in North Africa. By the year 1613 some thirty others had their
headquarters at the mouth of the Sebu River.
WARD, CAPTAIN.
As a poor English sailor he went to Barbary, turned Mohammedan, offered
his services to the Moors, and became captain of a galley. He grew to be
very rich, and "lived like a Bashaw in Barbary."
WARREN, WILLIAM.
Joined Captain Pound's crew from Lovell's Island.
WATERS, JOHN.
Of Devonshire.
Quartermaster to Captain Charles Harris. Tried and hanged at Newport,
Rhode Island, on July 19th, 1734. Aged 35.
WATKINS, JOHN.
An English soldier stationed at Fort Loyal, Falmouth, Maine. Deserted and
sailed with the pirate Pound. Killed at Tarpaulin Cove in 1689.
WATLING, CAPTAIN JOHN. Buccaneer.
When Bartholomew Sharp's crew mutinied on New Year's Day in 1681 on the
_Most Holy Trinity_, they clapped their captain in irons and put him down
below on the ballast, and elected an old pirate and a "stout seaman," John
Watling, in his place. One of the reasons for the revolt was said to be
the ungodliness of Captain Sharp.
Watling began his command by giving orders for the strict keeping of the
Sabbath Day, and on January 9th the buccaneers observed Sunday as a day
apart, the first for many months. One of the first acts of this godly
Captain Watling was to cruelly shoot an old man, a prisoner, whom he
suspected, quite wrongly, of not telling the truth.
On January 30th Watling headed a surprise attack on the town of Arica in
North Chile, but it turned out later that the Spaniards had three days'
warning of the intended attack, and had gathered together no less than
2,000 defenders. A furious attack was made, with great slaughter of the
Spanish defenders and considerable loss amongst the pirates. In one attack
Watling placed 100 of his prisoners in front of his storming party, hoping
this would prevent the enemy firing at them. After taking the town, the
buccaneers were driven out owing to the arrival of a number of Lima
soldiers. During the retreat from the town Watling was shot in the liver
and died. Perhaps he gave his name to Watling Island in the Bahama
Islands, the first spot of America that Christopher Columbus ever saw, and
a great resort of the buccaneers.
WATSON, HENRY.
One of Captain Lowther's crew in the _Happy Delivery_. Hanged at St. Kitts
on March 11th, 1722.
WATTS, EDWARD.
Born at Dunmore.
One of Captain Roberts's crew. Hanged in 1722 at the age of 22.
WATTS, SAMUEL.
Of Lovell's Island.
One of Captain Pound's crew.
WATTS, WILLIAM.
An Irishman.
Hanged, at the age of 23, along with the rest of Roberts's crew.
WAY, JOHN.
Tried at Boston in 1704 for piracy with the rest of the crew of the
_Charles_ brigantine.
WEAVER, CAPTAIN BRIGSTOCK.
Of Hereford, England.
One of Captain Anstis's crew in the _Good Fortune_ when he took the
_Morning Star_. After the prize had been converted for Anstis's use,
Weaver was given command of the _Good Fortune_. He proved himself to be a
capable pirate captain, taking between fifty and sixty sailing ships in
the West Indies and on the Banks of Newfoundland.
Here are particulars of a few of his prizes:
In August, 1722, he took a Dutch ship, and out of her got 100 pieces of
holland, value £800, and 1,000 pieces of eight. On November 20th in the
same year he plundered the _Dolphin_, of London (Captain William Haddock),
of 300 pieces of eight and forty gallons of rum.
Out of the _Don Carlos_ (Lot Neekins, master) he stole 400 ounces of
silver, fifty gallons of rum, 1,000 pieces of eight, 100 pistols, and
other valuable goods.
Out of the _Portland_, ten pipes of wine valued at £250.
This period of prosperity came to an end, for in May, 1723, Weaver,
dressed in rags, was begging charity at the door of a Mr. Thomas Smith in
Bristol, telling a plausible tale of how he had been taken and robbed by
some wicked pirates, but had lately managed to escape from them. The
kindly Mr. Smith, together with a Captain Edwards, gave Weaver £10 and
provided him with a lodging at the Griffin Inn. Being now dressed in good
clothes, Weaver enjoyed walking about the streets of Bristol, until one
day he met with a sea-captain who claimed former acquaintance and invited
him into a neighbouring tavern to share a bottle of wine with him. Over
this the captain reminded the pirate that he had been one of his victims,
and that Weaver had once stolen from him a considerable quantity of
liquor; but at the same time he had not forgotten that the pirate had used
him very civilly, and that therefore, if he would give him four hogsheads
of cider, nothing further would be said about the matter. Weaver would
not, or could not, produce these, and was apprehended, brought to London,
and there tried and sentenced to death, and hanged at Execution Dock.
WELLS, LIEUTENANT JOSEPH.
An officer on board Captain John Quelch's _Charles_ galley. Attempted to
escape at Gloucester, Massachusetts, in the _Larimore_, but was captured
by Major Sewell and brought to Salem, and there secured in the town gaol
until tried for piracy at Boston in June, 1704.
WEST, RICHARD.
One of Captain Lowther's crew. Hanged at St. Kitts in March, 1722.
WETHERLEY, TEE.
A Massachusetts pirate, with only one eye. Captured in 1699 with the
pirate Joseph Bradish and put in prison. They escaped two months later. A
reward of £200 was offered for the recapture of Wetherley, which was
gained by a Kennekeck Indian called Essacambuit, who brought him back to
prison. He was taken, in irons, to England in H.M.S. _Advice_ in 1700,
and tried and hanged in London.
WHETSTONE, SIR THOMAS, or WHITSTONE. Buccaneer.
In 1663 he commanded a ship, a Spanish prize, armed with seven guns and
carrying a crew of sixty men. In August, 1666, Sir Thomas was with a small
English garrison of some sixty men in the buccaneer stronghold of New
Providence in the Bahama Islands. Suddenly a Spanish fleet arrived from
Porto Bello, and after a siege of three days the garrison capitulated. The
three English captains were carried prisoners to Panama and there cast
into a dungeon and bound in irons for seventeen months.
WHITE, CAPTAIN THOMAS. South Sea pirate. An Englishman. Born at Plymouth.
As a young man he was taken prisoner by a French pirate off the coast of
Guinea. The French massacred their prisoners by painting targets on their
chests and using them for rifle practice. White alone was saved by an
heroic Frenchman throwing himself in front of him and receiving the volley
in his own body. White sailed with the French pirates, who were wrecked on
the coast of Madagascar. White himself managed to escape, and found safety
with a native, King Bavaw, but the French pirates were all massacred.
White not very long afterwards joined another pirate ship, commanded by a
Captain Read, with whom he sailed, helping to take several prizes, amongst
others a slave ship, the _Speaker_. White soon found himself possessed of
a considerable fortune, and settled down with his crew at a place called
Methelage in Madagascar, marrying a native woman, and leading the peaceful
life of a planter. The call of piracy at length proving irresistible, he
sailed before the mast with Captain Halsey, then returned to his native
wife and home, shortly afterwards to die of fever.
In his will, he left legacies to various relatives and friends, and
appointed three guardians for his son, all of different nationalities,
with instructions that the boy should be taken to England to be educated,
which was duly done.
White was buried with the full ceremonies of the Church of England, his
sword and pistols being carried on his coffin, and three English and one
French volley fired over his grave.
WHITE, JAMES.
Hanged in Virginia in 1718 along with the rest of Captain Edward Teach's
crew.
WHITE, ROBERT.
One of Captain George Lowther's crew. Hanged on March 22nd, 1722, at St.
Kitts.
WHITE, WILLIAM.
A Newfoundland fish-splitter. With John Phillips and three others, he
stole a fishing-boat at St. Peter's Harbour in Newfoundland in August,
1723. The other four were made officers in the pirate craft, White having
the distinction of being the only private man in the crew of five. He
appears to have been a man lacking in ambition, as he never showed any
desire to become even a petty officer amongst the pirates; in fact, we
hear no more of William until June 2nd, 1724, when he was hanged at Boston
and "dy'd very penitently, with the Assistance of two grave Divines that
attended him."
WHITTING, WILLIAM.
One of Captain Quelch's crew. In 1704 we read that he "lyes sick, like to
dye, not yet examined" in the gaol at Marblehead, when awaiting trial for
piracy.
WIFE, FRANCIS.
An unwilling mutineer with Philip Roche in a French vessel sailing from
Cork in 1721.
WILES, WILLIAM.
One of John Quelch's crew of the brigantine _Charles_. Tried at Boston in
1704.
WILGRESS, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.
Of Jamaica.
Sent by the Governor of Jamaica in 1670 to search for, and capture or
sink, a Dutchman called Captain Yallahs, who had entered the Spanish
service to cruise against the English logwood cutters. But Wilgress,
instead of carrying out his orders, went a-buccaneering on his own
account, chasing a Spanish vessel ashore, stealing logwood, and burning
Spanish houses along the coast.
WILLIAMS, CAPTAIN JOHN, _alias_ "YANKY." Buccaneer.
In 1683, when the pirate Hamlin in his famous ship, _La Trompeuse_, was
playing havoc with the English shipping around Jamaica, Governor Lynch
offered Williams a free pardon, men, victuals, and naturalization, and
£200 as well if he would catch the Frenchman.
WILLIAMS, CAPTAIN MORRIS. Buccaneer.
In November, 1664, he applied to Governor Modyford to be allowed to bring
into Port Royal, Jamaica, a rich prize of logwood, indigo, and silver,
and, in spite of the Governor's refusal, he brought the ship in. The goods
were seized and sold in the interest of the Spanish owner. At this time
the English Government was doing all it could to stamp out the pirates and
buccaneers.
WILLIAMS, CAPTAIN PAUL.
A Carolina pirate, who began as a wrecker with the pirate Bellamy in the
West Indies. He later on took to piracy and ended a not too glorious
career by being hanged at Eastman, Massachusetts. Williams was one of the
pirates who accepted King George's offer of pardon at New Providence
Island in 1718.
WILLIAMS, DAVID.
This son of a Welsh farmer was a poor pirate but a born soldier. He was
described by one who knew him as being morose, sour, unsociable, and
ill-tempered, and that he "knew as little of the sea or of ships as he did
of the Arts of Natural Philosophy." But it is recorded to his credit that
he was not cruel. He started life in a merchant ship bound for India, and
was accidentally left behind in Madagascar. Taken care of by friendly
natives, he fought so well on the side of his benefactors in an
inter-tribal battle that the King made him his intimate friend. A little
later this tribe was wiped out and Williams taken prisoner. The King of
this hostile tribe, knowing Williams to be a brave man, put him in charge
of his army, for his success as a leader was known far and wide. He was
next seized by a very powerful King, Dempaino, who made him
Commander-in-Chief over his army of 6,000 men, and supplied him with
slaves, clothes, and everything he could want. After several years as
commander of Dempaino's army, a pirate ship, the _Mocha_ (Captain
Culliford), arrived on the coast, and Williams escaped in her and went for
a cruise. He was afterwards captured by the Dutch pirate Ort Van Tyle of
New York, and made to work as a slave on his plantation. After six months
he escaped and sought safety with a Prince Rebaiharang, with whom he lived
for a year. He next joined a Dutchman, Pro, who had a small settlement,
to be again taken prisoner by an English frigate. In a skirmish between
the crew and some natives, Williams and Pro managed to escape, and,
procuring a boat, joined Captain White's pirates at Methalage, in
Madagascar.
Williams now spent his time pirating, unsuccessfully, until one day in a
sloop he attempted a raid on an Arab town at Boyn. This attempt proved a
fiasco, and Williams was caught by the Arabs, cruelly tortured, and
finally killed by a lance thrust. He was so loved and admired by the
Madagascar natives that his friend and benefactor, King Dempaino, seized
the Arab chief of Boyn and executed him in revenge for the death of
Williams. Williams seems to have been as much beloved by the natives as he
was hated by men of his own colour. As a pirate he was a failure, but as a
soldier of fortune with the native tribes he was a great success.
WILLIAMS, JOHN.
A Cornish pirate, who sailed from Jamaica with Captain Morrice, and was
captured by the Dutch. Eventually he reached Boston, and sailed with
Captain Roderigo in 1674 in the _Edward and Thomas_, a Boston vessel.
Tried for piracy, but acquitted.
WILLIAMS, LIEUTENANT JAMES. Welsh pirate.
Sailed as a hand on board the _George_ galley from Amsterdam in 1724.
Conspiring with Gow to bring about a mutiny, he took an active part in
murdering the captain, the chief mate, super cargo, and surgeon. Gow
promoted him to be his mate. He was a violent, brutal man, and a bully. On
one occasion, he accused Gow of cowardice, and snapped his pistol in Gow's
face, but the weapon failed to go off, and two seamen standing by shot
Williams, wounding him in the arm and belly. The next day Gow sent away a
crew of prisoners in a sloop he had taken and plundered, and Williams,
heavily manacled, was cast into the hold of this vessel, with orders that
he should be given up as a pirate to the first English man-of-war they
should meet with. He was taken to Lisbon and there put on board H.M.S.
_Argyle_, and carried to London. When Gow and his crew eventually arrived
in irons at the Marshalsea Prison, they found Williams already there
awaiting trial. Hanged at Newgate on June 11th, 1725, his body being
hanged in chains at Blackwall.
WILLIAMS, WILLIAM.
"Habitation--nigh Plymouth."
One of Captain Roberts's crew. Deserted the pirates at Sierra Leone, but
was delivered up by the negroes, and as a punishment received two lashes
from the whole ship's company. Hanged at the age of 40.
WILLIS, ROBERT.
One of Captain George Lowther's crew. Tried for piracy at St. Kitts in
March, 1722, and acquitted.
WILSON, ALEXANDER.
One of the mutineers of the ship _Antonio_. Hanged at Boston in 1672.
WILSON, GEORGE. Surgeon and pirate.
Originally he sailed as surgeon in a Liverpool ship, the _Tarlton_, which
was taken by the pirate Bartholomew Roberts. Wilson voluntarily joined the
pirates. One day, being accidentally left on shore, he had to remain
amongst the negroes at Sestos on the West Coast of Africa for five
months, until he was eventually rescued by a Captain Sharp, of the
_Elizabeth_, who ransomed Wilson for the value of £3 5s. in goods. Wilson
was again captured by Roberts, and served with him as surgeon. At his
trial for piracy at Cape Coast Castle in 1722, witnesses proved that
Wilson was "very alert and cheerful at meeting with Roberts, hailed him,
told him he was glad to see him, and would come on board presently,
borrowing a clean Shirt and Drawers" from the witness "for his better
Appearance and Reception: signed the Articles willingly," and tried to
persuade him, the witness, to sign also, as then they would each get £600
or £700 a man in the next voyage to Brazil.
When the election of senior surgeon took place, Wilson wanted to be
appointed, as then he would receive a bigger share of the booty. Wilson
became very intimate with Captain Roberts, and told him that if ever they
were taken by one of the "Turnip-Man's ships"--_i.e.,_ a man-of-war--they
would blow up their ship and go to hell together. But the surgeon proved
such a lazy ruffian, neglecting to dress the wounded crew, that Roberts
threatened to cut his ears off.
At the trial Wilson was found guilty and condemned to be hanged, but his
execution was withheld until the King's pleasure was known, because it was
believed that owing to information given by Wilson a mutiny of the
prisoners was prevented.
WILSON, JAMES.
Of Dublin.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew in the _Royal James_. Hanged at
Charleston, South Carolina, on November 8th, 1718, and buried in the marsh
below low-water mark.
WILSON, JOHN.
Of New London County.
Tried for piracy in 1723 at Newport, Rhode Island, and acquitted.
WINTER, CAPTAIN CHRISTOPHER.
Of New Providence Island.
He took a sloop off the coast of Jamaica, the mate on board which was one
Edward England, who, on Winter's persuasion, turned pirate and soon
reached the summit of his new profession.
In 1718 Winter accepted the King's offer of pardon to all pirates who
surrendered. Winter soon afterwards not only returned to piracy, but did
even worse, for he surrendered to the Spanish Governor of Cuba, and turned
Papist. From Cuba he carried on piracy, chiefly preying on English
vessels, and made raids on the coast of Jamaica, stealing slaves, which he
took away to Cuba. The Governor of Jamaica, Sir Nicholas Laws, sent
Lieutenant Joseph Laws, in H.M.S. _Happy_ snow, to demand the surrender of
Winter and another renegade, Nicholas Brown, but nothing resulted but an
exchange of acrimonious letters between the Lieutenant and the Governor of
Cuba.
WINTER, JOHN.
One of Gow's crew in the _Revenge_. Hanged in 1725 at Wapping.
WINTER, WILLIAM, _alias_ MUSTAPHA.
A renegade English sailor amongst the Algiers pirates. Taken prisoner in
the _Exchange_, on which vessel he was carpenter.
WINTHROP.
One of Fly's crew. Took an active part in the mutiny aboard the
_Elizabeth_. Winthrop it was who chopped off the hand of Captain Green,
and in a fight with Jenkins, the mate, severed his shoulder with an axe
and then threw the still living officer overboard. He was hanged at Boston
on July 4th, 1726.
WITHERBORN, CAPTAIN FRANCIS.
Captured, with his ship, by Major Beeston and brought to Jamaica. Tried
for piracy at Port Royal, he was condemned to death, and sent a prisoner
to England.
WOLLERVY, CAPTAIN WILLIAM.
A New England pirate who sailed in company with a Captain Henley in 1683
off the Island of Elenthera. He burnt his vessel near Newport, Rhode
Island, where he and his crew disappeared with their plunder.
WOOD, WILLIAM.
Native of York.
One of Captain Roberts's crew. Hanged in April, 1722, at the age of 27.
WORLEY, CAPTAIN.
His reign was short, lasting but six months from start to finish. He was
first heard of in September, 1718, when he set out, in company with eight
other desperadoes, from New York in a small open boat "upon the account."
They were provided with a few biscuits, a dried tongue, and a keg of
water, half a dozen old muskets and some ammunition. They sailed down the
coast for 150 miles, entered the river Delaware, and rowed up to
Newcastle, and there seized a shallop. The news of this enterprise was
quickly spread abroad, and roused the whole coast. Going down the river
again, still in their open boat, they took another sloop belonging to a
mulatto called Black Robbin. They changed into this sloop, and next day
met with another sloop from Hull, which suited their purpose better. By
now the country was much alarmed, and the Government sent out H.M.S.
_Phoenix_, of twenty guns, to cruise in search of the pirates. In the
meantime the latter sailed to the Bahama Islands and took another sloop
and a brigantine. Worley now commanded a tidy craft of six guns and a crew
of twenty-five men, and flew a black ensign with a white death's head upon
it. So far all had gone well with the pirates, but one day, when cruising
off the Cape of Virginia, Worley sighted two sloops as he thought making
for the James River, but which were really armed vessels sent in search of
him. Worley stood in to cut them off, little dreaming what they really
were. The two sloops and the pirate ship all standing in together, Worley
hoisted his black flag. This terrified the inhabitants of Jamestown, who
thought that three pirates were about to attack them. Hurried preparations
for defence were made, when all of a sudden the people on shore were
surprised to see the supposed pirates fighting amongst themselves. No
quarter was asked, and the pirates were all killed in hand-to-hand
fighting except Captain Worley and one other pirate, who were captured
alive but desperately wounded. The formalities were quickly got through
for trying these two men, so that next day they were hanged before death
from their wounds could save them from their just punishment. "Thus,"
writes Captain Johnson, "Worley's beginning was bold and desperate, his
course short and prosperous, and his end bloody and disgraceful."
WORMALL, DANIEL.
Master on the brigantine _Charles_, commanded by Captain John Quelch.
Attempted to escape from Gloucester, Massachusetts, by sailing off in the
_Larimore_ galley, but was followed and caught by Major Sewell and taken
to Salem. Here he was kept in the town gaol until sent to Boston to be
tried for piracy in June, 1704.
YALLAHS, CAPTAIN, or YELLOWS. A Dutch buccaneer.
In 1671 fled from Jamaica to Campeachy, there selling his frigate to the
Spanish Governor for 7,000 pieces of eight. He entered the Spanish service
to cruise against the English logwood cutters, at which business he was
successful, taking more than a dozen of these vessels off the coast of
Honduras.
YEATES, CAPTAIN.
In 1718 this Carolina pirate commanded a sloop which acted as tender to
Captain Vane. When at Sullivan Island, Carolina, Yeates, finding himself
master of a fine sloop armed with several guns and a crew of fifteen men,
and with a valuable cargo of slaves aboard, slipped his anchor in the
middle of the night and sailed away.
Yeates thought highly of himself as a pirate and had long resented the way
Vane treated him as a subordinate, and was glad to get a chance of sailing
on his own account. Yeates, having escaped, came to North Edisto River,
some ten leagues off Charleston. There, sending hurried word to the
Governor to ask for the Royal pardon, he surrendered himself, his crew,
and two negro slaves. Yeates was pardoned, and his negroes were returned
to Captain Thurston, from whom they had been stolen.
ZEKERMAN, ANDREW.
A Dutch pirate, one of Peter M'Kinlie's gang, who murdered Captain Glass
and his family on board a ship sailing from the Canary Islands to England.
Zekerman was the most brutal of the whole crew of mutineers.
He was hanged in chains near Dublin on December 19th, 1765.
SOME FAMOUS PIRATE SHIPS, WITH THEIR CAPTAINS
Black Joke Captain de Soto.
Bravo " Power.
Flying Horse " Rhoade.
Fortune " Bartholomew Roberts.
Royal Fortune " Bartholomew Roberts.
Good Fortune " Bartholomew Roberts.
Batchelor's Delight " Dampier.
Delight " Spriggs.
Flying King " Sample.
Night Rambler " Cooper.
Cour Valant " La Vivon.
Most Holy Trinity " Bartholomew Sharp.
Flying Dragon " Condent.
Sudden Death " Derdrake.
Scowerer " Evans.
Queen Ann's Revenge " Teach.
Happy Delivery " Lowther.
Snap Dragon " Goldsmith.
Revenge Captains Cowley, Bonnet, Gow,
Phillips, and others.
Bonne Homme Richard Captain Paul Jones.
Blessing " Brown.
New York Revenge's Revenge " Cole.
Mayflower " Cox.
Childhood " Caraccioli.
Liberty " Tew.
Transcriber's notes:
Despite consuming (I suspect) large amounts of rum while writing this, the
author saved none of it for me. I, therefore, refuse to correct any of his
mistakes.
... except this one on page 321: Wiliams corrected to Williams, as
per rest of same entry.
The entry on page 75 for "CHURCH, CHARLES" ends abruptly, as per original.
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