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.