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.