A Pirate from Boyhood
About the beginning of the eighteenth century there lived in
Westminster, England, a boy who very early in life made a choice of a
future career. Nearly all boys have ideas upon this subject, and while
some think they would like to be presidents or generals of armies,
others fancy that they would prefer to be explorers of unknown countries
or to keep candy shops. But it generally happens that these youthful
ideas are never carried out, and that the boy who would wish to sell
candy because he likes to eat it, becomes a farmer on the western
prairie, where confectionery is never seen, and the would-be general
determines to study for the ministry.
But Edward Low, the boy under consideration, was a different sort of a
fellow. The life of a robber suited his youthful fancy, and he not only
adopted it at a very early age, but he stuck to it until the end of his
life. He was much stronger and bolder than the youngsters with whom he
associated, and he soon became known among them as a regular land
pirate. If a boy possessed anything which Ned Low desired, whether it
happened to be an apple, a nut, or a farthing, the young robber gave
chase to him, and treated him as a pirate treats a merchant vessel which
he has boarded.
Not only did young Low resemble a pirate in his dishonest methods, but
he also resembled one in his meanness and cruelty; if one of his victims
was supposed by him to have hidden any of the treasures which his captor
believed him to possess, Low would inflict upon him every form of
punishment which the ingenuity of a bad boy could devise, in order to
compel him to confess where he had concealed the half-penny which had
been given to him for holding a horse, or the ball with which he had
been seen playing. In the course of time this young street pirate became
a terror to all boys in that part of London in which he lived, and by
beginning so early he acquired a great proficiency in dishonest and
cruel practices.
It is likely that young Low inherited his knavish disposition, for one
of his brothers became a very bold and ingenious thief, and invented a
new kind of robbery which afterwards was popular in London. This brother
grew to be a tall fellow, and it was his practice to dress himself like
a porter,--one of those men who in those days carried packages and
parcels about the city. On his head he poised a basket, and supporting
this burden with his hands, he hurriedly made his way through the most
crowded streets of London.
The basket was a heavy one, but it did not contain any ordinary goods,
such as merchandise or marketing; but instead of these it held a very
sharp and active boy seven years old, one of the younger members of the
Low family. As the tall brother pushed rapidly here and there among the
hurrying people on the sidewalks, the boy in the basket would suddenly
stretch out with his wiry young arm, and snatch the hat or the wig of
some man who might pass near enough for him to reach him. This done, the
porter and his basket would quickly be lost in the crowd; and even if
the astonished citizen, suddenly finding himself hatless and wigless,
beheld the long-legged Low, he would have no reason to suppose that that
industrious man with the basket on his head had anything to do with the
loss of his head covering.
This new style of street robbery must have been quite profitable, for of
course the boy in the basket was well instructed, and never snatched at
a shabby hat or a poor looking wig. The elder Low came to have a good
many imitators, and it happened in the course of time that many a worthy
citizen of London wished there were some harmless way of gluing his wig
to the top of his head, or that it were the custom to secure the hat by
means of strings tied under the chin.
As Ned Low grew up to be a strong young fellow, he also grew
discontented with the pilferings and petty plunders which were possible
to him in the London streets, and so he went to sea and sailed to
America. He landed in Boston, and, as it was necessary to work in order
to eat,--for opportunities of a dishonest livelihood had not yet opened
themselves before him,--he undertook to learn the trade of a rigger, but
as he was very badly suited to any sort of steady occupation, he soon
quarrelled with his master, ran away, and got on board a vessel bound
for Honduras.
For a time he earned a livelihood by cutting logwood, but it was not
long before he quarrelled with the captain of the vessel for whom he was
working, and finally became so enraged that he tried to kill him. He did
not succeed in this dastardly attempt, but as he could not commit murder
he decided to do the next worst thing, and so gathering together twelve
of the greatest rascals among his companions, they seized a boat, went
out to the captain's schooner, which was lying near shore, and took
possession of it. Then they hoisted anchor, ran up the sail, and put out
to sea, leaving the captain and the men who were with him to take care
of themselves the best that they could and live on logwood leaves if
they could find nothing else to eat.
Now young Low was out upon the ocean in possession of a vessel and in
command of twelve sturdy scoundrels, and he did not have the least
trouble in the world in making up his mind what he should do next. As
soon as he could manufacture a black flag from materials he found on
board, he flung this ominous ensign to the breeze, and declared himself
a pirate. This was the summit of his ambition, and in this new
profession he had very little to learn. From a boy thief to a man pirate
the way is easy enough.
The logwood schooner, of course, was not provided with the cannon,
cutlasses, and pistols necessary for piratical undertakings, and
therefore Low found himself in the position of a young man beginning
business with a very small capital. So, in the hopes of providing
himself with the necessary appliances for his work, Low sailed for one
of the islands of the West Indies which was a resort for pirates, and
there he had very good fortune, for he fell in with a man named Lowther
who was already well established in the profession of piracy.
When Low sailed into the little port with his home-made black flag
floating above him, Lowther received him with the greatest courtesy and
hospitality, and shortly afterwards proposed to the newly fledged pirate
to go into partnership with him. This offer was accepted, and Low was
made second in command of the little fleet of two vessels, each of
which was well provided with arms, ammunition, and all things necessary
for robbery on the high seas.
The partnership between these two rascals did not continue very long.
They took several valuable prizes, and the more booty he obtained, the
higher became Low's opinion of himself, and the greater his desire for
independent action. Therefore it was that when they had captured a large
brigantine, Low determined that he would no longer serve under any man.
He made a bargain with Lowther by which they dissolved partnership, and
Low became the owner of the brigantine. In this vessel, with forty-four
men as a crew, he again started out in the black flag business on his
own account, and parting from his former chief officer, he sailed
northward.
As Low had landed in Boston, and had lived some time in that city, he
seems to have conceived a fancy for New England, which, however, was not
at all reciprocated by the inhabitants of that part of the country.
Among the first feats which Low performed in New England waters was the
capture of a sloop about to enter one of the ports of Rhode Island. When
he had taken everything out of this vessel which he wanted, Low cut away
the yards from the masts and stripped the vessel of all its sails and
rigging. As his object was to get away from these waters before his
presence was discovered by the people on shore, he not only made it
almost impossible to sail the vessel he had despoiled, but he wounded
the captain and others of the peaceful crew so that they should not be
able to give information to any passing craft. Then he sailed away as
rapidly as possible in the direction of the open sea. In spite, however,
of all the disadvantages under which they labored, the crew of the
merchant vessel managed to get into Block Island, and from there a small
boat was hurriedly rowed over to Rhode Island, carrying intelligence of
the bold piracy which had been committed so close to one of its ports.
When the Governor heard what had happened, he quickly sent out drummers
to sound the alarm in the seaport towns and to call upon volunteers to
go out and capture the pirates. So great was the resentment caused by
the audacious deed of Low that a large number of volunteers hastened to
offer their services to the Governor, and two vessels were fitted out
with such rapidity that, although their commanders had only heard of the
affair in the morning, they were ready to sail before sunset. They put
on all sail and made the best speed they could, and although they really
caught sight of Low's ship, the pirate vessel was a swifter craft than
those in pursuit of her, and the angry sailors of Rhode Island were at
last compelled to give up the chase.
The next of Low's transactions was on a wholesale scale. Rounding Cape
Cod and sailing up the coast, he at last reached the vicinity of
Marblehead, and there, in a harbor called in those days Port Rosemary,
he found at anchor a fleet of thirteen merchant vessels. This was a
grand sight, as welcome to the eye of a pirate as a great nugget of gold
would be to a miner who for weary days had been washing yellow grains
from the "pay dirt" which he had laboriously dug from the hard soil.
It would have been easy for Low to take his pick from these vessels
quietly resting in the little harbor, for he soon perceived that none of
them were armed nor were they able to protect themselves from assault,
but his audacity was of an expansive kind, and he determined to capture
them all. Sailing boldly into the harbor, he hoisted the dreadful black
flag, and then, standing on his quarter-deck with his speaking-trumpet,
he shouted to each vessel as he passed it that if it did not surrender
he would board it and give no quarter to captain or crew. Of course
there was nothing else for the peaceful sailors to do but to submit, and
so this greedy pirate took possession of each vessel in turn and
stripped it of everything of value he cared to take away.
But he did not confine himself to stealing the goods on board these
merchantmen. As he preferred to command several vessels instead of one,
he took possession of some of the best of the ships and compelled as
many of their men as he thought he would need to enter his service.
Then, as one of the captured vessels was larger and better than his
brigantine, he took it for his own ship, and at the head of the little
pirate fleet he bid farewell to Marblehead and started out on a grand
cruise against the commerce of our coast.
It is wonderful how rapidly this man Low succeeded in his business
enterprises. Beginning with a little vessel with a dozen unarmed men, he
found himself in a very short time at the head of what was perhaps the
largest piratical force in American waters. What might have happened if
Nature had not taken a hand in this game it is not difficult to imagine,
for our seaboard towns, especially those of the South, would have been
an easy prey to Low and his fleet.
But sailing down to the West Indies, probably in order to fit out his
ships with guns, arms, and ammunition before beginning a naval campaign,
his fleet was overtaken by a terrible storm, and in order to save the
vessels they were obliged to throw overboard a great many of the heavier
goods they had captured at Marblehead, and when at last they found
shelter in the harbor of a small island, they were glad that they had
escaped with their lives.
The grasping and rapacious Low was not now in a condition to proceed to
any rendezvous of pirates where he might purchase the arms and supplies
he needed. A great part of his valuable plunder had gone to the bottom
of the sea, and he was therefore obliged to content himself with
operations upon a comparatively small scale.
How small and contemptible this scale was it is scarcely possible for an
ordinary civilized being to comprehend, but the soul of this ignoble
pirate was capable of extraordinary baseness.
When he had repaired the damage to his ships, Low sailed out from the
island, and before long he fell in with a wrecked vessel which had lost
all its masts in a great storm, and was totally disabled, floating about
wherever the winds chose to blow it. The poor fellows on board greatly
needed succor, and there is no doubt that when they saw the approach of
sails their hopes rose high, and even if they had known what sort of
ships they were which were making their way toward them, they would
scarcely have suspected that the commander of these goodly vessels was
such an utterly despicable scoundrel as he proved to be.
Instead of giving any sort of aid to the poor shipwrecked crew, Low and
his men set to work to plunder their vessel, and they took from it a
thousand pounds in money, and everything of value which they could find
on board. Having thus stripped the unfortunate wreck, they departed,
leaving the captain and crew of the disabled vessel to perish by storm
or starvation, unless some other vessel, manned by human beings and not
pitiless beasts, should pass their way and save them.
Low now commenced a long series of piratical depredations. He captured
many merchantmen, he committed the vilest cruelties upon his victims,
and in every way proved himself to be one of the meanest and most
black-hearted pirates of whom we have any account. It is not necessary
to relate his various dastardly performances. They were all very much of
the same order, and none of them possessed any peculiar interest; his
existence is referred to in these pages because he was one of the most
noted and successful pirates of his time, and also because his career
indicated how entirely different was the character of the buccaneers of
previous days from that of the pirates who in the eighteenth century
infested our coast. The first might have been compared to bold and
dashing highwaymen, who at least showed courage and daring; but the
others resembled sneak thieves, always seeking to commit a crime if they
could do it in safety, but never willing to risk their cowardly necks in
any danger.
The buccaneers of the olden days were certainly men of the greatest
bravery. They did not hesitate to attack well-armed vessels manned by
crews much larger than their own, and in later periods they faced cannon
and conquered cities. Their crimes were many and vile; but when they
committed cruelties they did so in order to compel their prisoners to
disclose their hidden treasures, and when they attacked a Spanish
vessel, and murdered all on board, they had in their hearts the
remembrance that the Spanish naval forces gave no quarter to buccaneers.
But pirates such as Edward Low showed not one palliating feature in
their infamous characters. To rob and desert a shipwrecked crew was only
one of Low's contemptible actions. It appears that he seldom attacked a
vessel from which there seemed to be any probability of resistance, and
we read of no notable combats or sea-fights in which he was engaged. He
preyed upon the weak and defenceless, and his inhuman cruelties were
practised, not for the sake of extorting gain from his victims, but
simply to gratify his spite and love of wickedness.
There were men among Low's followers who looked upon him as a bold and
brave leader, for he was always a blusterer and a braggart, and there
were honest seamen and merchants who were very much afraid of him, but
time proved that there was no reason for any one to suppose that Edward
Low had a spark of courage in his composition. He was brave enough when
he was attacking an unarmed crew, but when he had to deal with any
vessel capable of inflicting any injury upon him he was a coward indeed.
Sailing in company with one companion vessel,--for he had discarded the
greater part of his pirate fleet,--Low sighted a good-sized ship at a
considerable distance, and he and his consort immediately gave chase,
supposing the distant vessel might prove to be a good prize. It so
happened, however, that the ship discovered by Low was an English
man-of-war, the _Greyhound_, which was cruising along the coast looking
for these very pirates, who had recently committed some outrageous
crimes upon the crews of merchant vessels in those waters.
When the two ships, with the black flags floating above them and their
decks crowded with desperate fellows armed with pistols and cutlasses,
drew near to the vessel, of which they expected to make a prize, they
were greatly amazed when she suddenly turned in her course and delivered
a broadside from her heavy cannon. The pirates returned the fire, for
they were well armed with cannon, and there was nothing else for them to
do but fight, but the combat was an extremely short one. Low's consort
was soon disabled by the fire from the man-of-war, and, as soon as he
perceived this, the dastardly Low, without any regard for his
companions in arms, and with no thought for anything but his own safety,
immediately stopped fighting, and setting all sail, sped away from the
scene of combat as swiftly as it was possible for the wind to force his
vessel through the water.
The disabled pirate ship was quickly captured, and not long afterwards
twenty-five of her crew were tried, convicted, and hung near Newport,
Rhode Island. But the arrant Low escaped without injury, and continued
his career of contemptible crime for some time longer. What finally
became of him is not set down in the histories of piracy. It is not
improbable that if the men under his command were not too brutally
stupid to comprehend his cowardly unfaithfulness to them, they suddenly
removed from this world one of the least interesting of all base
beings.