THOMAS POUND, PILOT OF THE KING’S FRIGATE, WHO BECAME A PIRATE AND DIED
A GENTLEMAN
In front of the South Station in Boston, there is an intersection of
wide streets known as “Dewey Square.” It is very firm ground today,
but in 1689, the year in which these events took place, this space was
tidewater and into it projected Bull’s wharf. On shore, near the head
of the wharf, was a tavern with a swinging sign in front displaying on
either side a beefy looking animal that was labelled “The Bull.” At
about eleven o’clock on the night of Thursday, August 8, 1689, six men
and a boy came down to the water’s edge not far from the tavern and
went on board a two-masted, half-decked fishing boat, of the type known
at that time as a Bermudas boat, and hoisting sails soon disappeared
down the harbor in the direction of the Castle. The leader of the party
was Thomas Pound, pilot of the frigate “Rose,” which had arrived at the
Boston station three years before.
One of the results of the recent insurrection against the authority of
Governor Andros had been the seizure of Captain George, of the “Rose,”
by the townspeople, who also struck the frigate’s topmasts and brought
her sails ashore. On August 3d, Governor Andros had escaped from the
Castle, but had been recaptured in Rhode Island two days later and by
easy stages was being brought back to Boston at the time when Thomas
Pound and his party planned their expedition here described.
[Illustration: VIEW OF CASTLE WILLIAM, BOSTON HARBOR, ABOUT 1729, AND A
MAN-OF-WAR OF THE PERIOD
From the only known copy of an engraving probably by John Harris, after
a drawing by William Burgis]
Thomas Hawkins, who owned the boat, had agreed with Pound to put his
men ashore at Nantasket, the consideration being two shillings and
six pence, but when the boat reached Long Island, about halfway to
the agreed destination, Hawkins was ordered to anchor, and there they
remained until early in the morning. Before daylight Pound told Hawkins
that he had changed his mind about going to Nantasket and said that his
party would like to go fishing. So the anchor was hauled aboard and
soon the boat was sailing down the harbor. When near Lovell’s Island,
the sounds of men launching a boat were heard and one of Pound’s men
at once said, “There they are,” and soon after a small boat with five
men in it, came alongside and boarded Hawkins’ boat. These men were
armed and Pound and one of his men, Richard Griffin, a gunsmith, also
had brought guns. Pound now took command and ordered the fish casks
thrown overboard and then directed that an easterly course be made
which soon carried the boat into deep water beyond the Brewster Islands
at the entrance to the harbor. He told Hawkins that he and his men had
agreed to take the first vessel they met and proceed in her to the
West Indies, to prey on the French. Hawkins seems to have acquiesced
willingly and thereafter to have been the sailing-master while Pound
commanded the expedition.
Isaac Prince of Hull, the master of a small deck-sloop, had been out
in the Bay after mackerel and with a good catch was about four or five
leagues off the Brewsters, bound in, when he was hailed from Thomas
Hawkins’ boat bound out. Hawkins brought his boat to the windward of
the sloop and asked Captain Prince if he had any mackerel and water to
spare and then bought eight penny worth of fish and was given three
or four gallons of water. The curiosity of the fishermen was aroused
because Hawkins was careful not to bring his boat alongside the sloop
but held her by the quarter of the fisherman. The crew on the sloop
also noted through the cracks in the deck or covering of the Bermudas
boat, some ten or twelve men who seemed to be keeping out of sight,
and abaft a man, whose body was out of sight, was seen to peer at the
fishermen and then quickly draw back, so Captain Prince asked Hawkins
where he was bound, and he replied to Billingsgate,[42] and when asked
how he came to be so far to the northward, Hawkins replied “It’s all
one to me.” The two vessels then separated, but when the fishermen
reached Boston, they went at once to the Governor and reported the
suspicious conduct of Hawkins, whom they said “seemed very cheerful and
Merry.”[43]
When near Halfway Rock, only two or three hours after parting with
the sloop, Hawkins came up with the fishing ketch “Mary,” Helling
Chard,[44] master, owned by Philip English, the great Salem merchant
who was accused of witchcraft three years later. The ketch was coming
in from sea with a full fare of fish when Captain Hawkins hailed and
after a show of arms took the vessel. Captain Chard knew Hawkins and
also recognized one of his men, “a Limping privateer called Johnson.”
When he reached Salem on Monday, August 12th, Chard reported that when
Hawkins came on board the ketch on Friday, he pushed him away from the
helm and said the ketch was his prize. Later Hawkins told him that as
soon as they could take a better vessel and supply themselves with
provisions, they intended to go to the West Indies and plague the
French, and they expected forty more men who had enlisted to join them
shortly. Hawkins’ men were supplied with firearms but had only “two
gallons of powder” aboard and so few bullets that as soon as the ketch
had been taken they set to work at once melting up all the lead they
could find to make bullets. Saturday night Captain Chard and two of his
men were set free and sent away in the Bermudas boat and Hawkins and
his crew, in the ketch, steered a course to the northeast, taking with
them John Darby[45] of Marblehead, who went voluntarily, and forcing
a boy who could speak French, intending to use him as an interpreter.
When Chard brought the news to Salem, information was sent at once
to the Governor and Council and a vessel manned by the Salem and
Marblehead militia was ordered out “to seeke after and surprise ye said
Ketch,” but it returned to harbor without finding Pound and Hawkins.
Captain Pound, meanwhile, had ordered a course for Falmouth, Maine,
which was reached early Monday morning. The ketch came to anchor about
four miles below the fort and sent ashore a long boat with three men
in it, one of whom was John Darby, who was known to Silvanus Davis,
the commander at Fort Loyal. While two of the men filled water casks,
Darby reported to Commander Davis that the ketch had come from Cape
Sable where it had been taken by a privateer brigantine that had robbed
them of some lead and most of their bread and water. He also said that
Captain Chard, the master of the ketch, had hurt his foot and needed
a doctor. One was sent for and went out to the ketch immediately. It
was all a part of a scheme to secure his services for the proposed
expedition, but the doctor lost his courage and declined the post,
but when he came back to Falmouth, he had a variety of tales about
the ketch,--sometimes that there were few on board and that they were
honest, and at other times that there were many on board.
It was noticed that the doctor, after he came back from the ketch, was
much in conversation with the soldiers belonging to the fort which
aroused the suspicions of the commander so that at night, after all the
soldiers were in their quarters, he charged the guard to keep a close
watch on the water side of the fort. He little thought at the time that
he was placing his trust in men who already had planned to desert.[46]
For so it turned out and as soon as the rest were asleep the guard and
sentinels robbed the sleeping soldiers of everything “except what was
on their backs,” took all the ammunition they could lay their hands
on, including a brass gun and going down to a large boat, that was
afloat just below the fort, went on board the ketch. Commander Davis
was greatly upset over what had happened, and well he might be, for he
lacked a sufficient number of men to properly garrison the fort from
Indian attack and had no vessel to engage an enemy that might attack
by sea. As it turned out, the fort was attacked by French and Indians
the following May and forced to surrender when women and children and
wounded men were mercilessly slaughtered.
The morning after the soldiers deserted, there being little wind,
Commander Davis sent two men in a canoe to demand of Captain Pound that
the soldiers be sent back to the fort. He laughed at the request and
not only refused to return any of the arms and clothing that had been
stolen from the sleeping soldiers but threatened to go into the harbor
and cut out a sloop at anchor belonging to George Hesh.
After helping himself to a calf and three sheep feeding on an island
in the bay, Pound set sail for Cape Cod, and early on the morning of
the 16th came upon the sloop “Good Speed,” John Smart, master, owned by
David Larkin of Piscataqua, lying at anchor under Race Point, at the
tip of the Cape. A boatload of armed men took possession of the sloop
and as she was a larger vessel than the ketch she was taken over by
the pirates and Captain Smart and his men were given the ketch and set
free. Pound told Captain Smart that when he reached Boston “to tell
there that they knew ye Gov^t Sloop lay ready but if she came out
after them & came up w^{th} them they sh^d find hott work for they w^d
die every man before they would be taken.”
Smart reached Boston on the 19th with this audacious message. The
Great and General Court was in session at the time and an order was
immediately adopted to fit out the sloop “Resolution,” Joseph Thaxter,
commander (which had been built during the Andros administration as a
Province sloop, but in some way had got into private hands), with a
crew of forty able seamen, to cruise along the coast and “strenuously
to Endeavour the Suppressing and seizing of all Pirates, Especially one
Thomas Hawkins, Pound and others confederated with them,” being “very
careful to avoid the shedding of blood unless you be necessitated by
resistance and opposition made against you.” And as for “those men who
shall go forth in said Vessel ... It’s ordered that they be upon usual
monthly wages, and upon any casualty befalling any of the said men by
loss of Limb or otherwise be maimed that meet allowance and provision
be made for such.”[47] Captain Thaxter in the “Resolution,” was no more
successful in his search for pirates than the vessel that had been sent
out from Salem for the reason that the pirate sloop was constantly
moving about and after another capture at Homes’ Hole had sailed
through the Sound before a north-easterly gale and finally brought up
in York river, Virginia.
Soon after Pound took possession of the sloop “Good Speed,” he put in
to Cape Cod and sent some of his crew ashore, in charge of Hawkins, to
get fresh meat. They killed four shoats and after wooding and watering,
the sloop sailed around the Cape to “Martyn’s Vineyard Sound,” and
on August 27th, sighted a brigantine at anchor in Homes’ Hole. Pound
ordered “a bloodie flagg” hoisted and running up to the brigantine
ordered her master to come aboard the pirate sloop. The brigantine was
the “Merrimack,” John Kent of Newbury, master, and he at once obeyed
the command, and after reporting his destination and cargo, the vessel
was plundered of twenty half-barrels of flour, and sugar, rum and
tobacco. Captain Kent was then allowed to go.
Sailing out into the Sound the sloop ran into a stiff northeaster and
was forced away to Virginia where Pound found his way into York river.
Easterly winds kept him at anchor here for over a week. This happened
at a very fortunate time for the man-of-war ketch at York river had
sunk shortly before and the ship on the station was being careened.
The sloop made into the mouth of James river and there lay aground
for a day before they could get her afloat again. While the men were
at work on the sloop, Pound and Hawkins went ashore. There they met
two sailors, John Giddings and Edward Browne, who were looking for
adventures and at night these men came off to the sloop on a float
bringing with them a negro they had kidnapped belonging to a Captain
Dunbar. They also brought out some other spoil in the shape of an old
sail, a piece of dowlas, and some galls and copperas. The next day the
weather moderated and the sloop made sail to go out into the bay. She
hadn’t been out very long before Hawkins noticed that they were being
followed by another sloop so all sail was crowded on and the strange
sloop began to fall behind and at length gave up the pursuit and went
back into James river.
From Virginia, Pound sailed directly for the Massachusetts coast and
came to anchor in Tarpaulin Cove, on the southeast side of Nanshon
Island in Vineyard Sound. Here they filled their water casks. A Salem
bark,[48] William Lord, master, homeward bound from Jamaica, was also
at anchor in the Cove and as she was evidently more than they cared to
tackle, Hawkins went on board and offered to trade sugar for an anchor.
Captain Lord was ready to trade and he also purchased for £12, the
negro that had been brought from Virginia, and gave a draft on Mr.
Blaney of the Elizabeth Islands in payment.
Not long after coming out of Tarpaulin Cove, Pound sighted a small
ketch, commanded by one Alsop, who escaped into Martha’s Vineyard
harbor when he found that he was being chased and even then the ketch
might have been taken if the inhabitants hadn’t gathered and made a
show of defending her.[49] This happened on a Sunday. Pound and his
company then went over the shoals about the same time that Captain Lord
sailed for home. Near Race Point, at the end of Cape Cod, Hawkins went
ashore with a boat’s crew and making some excuse went inland over the
dunes and didn’t come back. After waiting a while the men returned to
the sloop and reported his desertion. Hawkins afterward claimed that
while at Tarpaulin Cove he had been recognized and told if ever he came
back to Boston he would be hanged. Probably he thought he would try to
save his skin if possible or at least drop out of sight for a time.
After leaving the boat’s crew Hawkins walked south along the shore and
finally fell in with some Nauset fishermen to whom he told his story
of escaping from Pound and something of his adventures. He asked their
protection in case Pound and his men should attempt to find him. The
Nauset men, however, made short work with Hawkins and after fleecing
him thoroughly turned him loose to shift for himself. Fortunately he
met Capt. Jacobus Loper,[50] the master of a small sloop, whom he had
known in Boston and who was about setting sail for Boston and so was
shipped for the voyage. On the way Hawkins talked freely about his
doings. He was particularly bitter over his treatment by the Nauset
fishermen and said they “ware a pasel of Roughes & if he got Cleer at
Boston from this troble that was now on him, as he did not question
but he should, he would be Revenged on them for theire base dealing for
they be wors pirats than Pounds & Johnson.”[51] He told Captain Loper
that when he left Boston their company had intended to go privateering
and expected to get a commission at St. Thomas. But when he was asked
if he proposed to go all the way to the West Indies in the small
Bermudas boat in which they left Boston, “he was upon this surprised &
wholly silent.” Loper told him “that it apeered by his words that he
would first take a biger vessell as he before said & did: & that he was
a foole & would hang himself by his discorce then he answered, by God
thay kant hang me for what has bin don for no blood has bin shed.”[52]
As he neared Boston his courage began to fail and soon he proposed to
Captain Loper that for old acquaintance’ sake he conceal him on board
and send the sloop to Salem with oysters and so allow him to escape
to the Dutch man-of-war lying there at anchor. This was a privateer,
the “Abraham Fisher, a Scotch Rotterdammer.” Loper, however, thought
best to turn him over to the Boston authorities and soon Hawkins was
shackled and safely lodged in the new stone gaol.
Captain Pound, meanwhile, in no way distressed by Hawkins’ desertion,
was busily at work robbing vessels in the vicinity of the Cape.
On Saturday evening, Sept. 28, 1689, he sighted a small sloop and
gave chase and brought her to anchor under the Cape. She was from
Pennsylvania. Not having any salt pork on board she was allowed to
go and Pound sailed back over the shoals hoping for better luck in
Vineyard Sound. At “Homes his Hole” he found the sloop “Brothers
Adventure,” of New London, Conn., John Picket, master, just coming out,
having been forced in by bad weather. She was bound for Boston and
was loaded with the very provisions that Pound had been in search of
and a boat’s crew of armed men soon induced Captain Picket to come
to anchor beside the pirate sloop. The loot amounted to thirty-seven
barrels of pork, three of beef and a good supply of pease, Indian corn,
butter and cheese. Having at last obtained the provisions so necessary
for a southern voyage, Captain Pound anchored in Tarpaulin Cove while
the rigging was overhauled and everything made shipshape for the
intended voyage to “Corazo”--Curacao, the Dutch colony near the South
American coast. The Netherlands were then at peace with England and
there Pound could refit before going out to prey upon French shipping
out of Martinique. He lay in Tarpaulin Cove for two days and was nearly
ready to set sail when a sloop appeared off the anchorage and steered
directly for him. Pound at once came to sail and stood away with the
sloop in hot pursuit.
[Illustration: ARMED SLOOP NEAR BOSTON LIGHTHOUSE IN 1729
From the only known copy of a mezzotint by William Burgis, published
Aug. 11, 1729, and now in the possession of the United States
Lighthouse Board]
It was now less than two weeks since that Sunday morning when Captain
Pound had chased a small ketch into Martha’s Vineyard harbor. The
island at that time was a part of the colony of New York and as soon
as the pirate was gone, Matthew Mayhew, the local Governor, sent
a messenger, riding post, to inform the Governor and Council at
Boston of the presence of the pirate so that shipping bound westward
might be warned of the danger. The Council did more than that for
it commissioned Capt. Samuel Pease, late commander of the Duke of
Courland’s ship “Fortune,” two hundred tons and twelve guns, to go to
sea at once in the sloop “Mary,” with a crew of twenty able seamen in
search of the pirate. Benjamin Gallop was commissioned lieutenant and
the “Mary” was supplied with a barrel of powder, fifty pounds of small
shot, and cartridge papers and match. Captain Pease was instructed to
endeavor to take the pirates by surprise if possible and “to prevent ye
sheding of blood as much as may bee.”[53]
The Council meeting was held on Monday, Sept. 30th and the “Mary”
sailed from Boston that evening every man on board being a volunteer.
When Captain Pease reached Cape Cod he learned that Pound had gone
westward so he sailed on, over the shoals, expecting to find him at
Tarpaulin Cove. On Friday morning when off Woods Hole, a canoe came out
with the information that the pirate was at Tarpaulin Cove:--
“Upon which Wee presently gave a great shout, and the word was given to
our men to make all ready which was accordingly done, the wind being
SSE, and blew hard. Quickly after we were all ready we espied a Sloop
ahead of us. We made what saile we could, and quickly came so neere
that we put up our Kings Jack, and our Sloop sailing so very well we
quickly came within Shot, and our Captain ordered a great Gun to be
fired thwart her fore foot. On that a man of theirs presently carryed
up a Red flagg to the top of their maine mast and made it fast. Our
Captain then ordered a musket to be fired thwart his forefoot. He not
striking we came up with him and our Captain commanded us to fire on
them which accordingly we did, and also called them to strike to the
King of England. Captain Pounds standing on the quarter deck with his
naked sword in his hand flourishing, said, come aboard, you Doggs, and
I will strike you presently or words to that purpose. His men standing
by him with their Guns in their hands on the Deck, he taking up his
Gun, they let fly a volley upon us, and we againe at him. At last
wee came to Leeward of them, supposing it to be some Advantage to us
because the wind blew so hard and so our weather side did us good. They
perceiving this gave severall Shouts supposing (as we did apprehend)
that we would yield to them. Wee still fired at them and they at us as
fast as they could loade and fire and in a little space we saw Pounds
was shot and gone off the deck. While we were thus in the fight two of
our men met with a mischance by the blowing up of some gun powder which
they perceiving by ye smoke (we being pretty near them) gave severall
shouts and fired at us as fast as they could. Wee many times called to
them, telling them if they would yield to us we would give them good
quarter, they utterly refusing to have it, saying ‘Ai yee dogs, we
will give you quarter by and by.’ We still continued our fight, having
two more of our men wounded. At last our Captain was much wounded so
that he went off the deck. The Lieutenant quickly after ordered us to
get all ready to board them which was readily done. Wee layed them on
bord presently and at our Entrance we found such of them that were
not much wounded very resolute, but discharging our Guns at them, we
forthwith went to club it with them and were forced to knock them downe
with the but end of our muskets. At last we queld them, killing four
and wounding twelve, two remaining pretty well. The weather coming on
very bad and being desirous to get good Doctors or Surgeons for our
wounded men, we shaped our Course for Rhode Island and the same night
we secured our Prisoners and got in between Pocasset and Rhode Island.
The next day being Saturday, the fifth of October we got a convenient
house for our wounded men, got them on shore and sent away to Newport
for Doctors who quickly came and dressed them. Our Captain being shot
in the arm and in the side and in the thigh, lost much blood and
continued weak and faint, and on Friday after, being the eleventh day
of October, he being on board intending to come home, we set saile and
were come but a little way before he was taken with bleeding afresh, so
that we came to an anchor againe and got him on shore to another house
on Rhode Island side, where he continued very weake. In the afternoon
he was taken with bleeding again and with fits. He continued that night
and losing so much blood, on Saturday morning, the twelfth of October,
departed this life. We buried him at Newport, in Rhode Island, the
Monday following. That Monday at night we set saile from Rhode Island
and arrived at Boston on Saturday the 18th of October with fourteen
Prisoners. The Bloody Flag was not put above Pounds his vessell before
we fired at them.”[54]
The prisoners were duly lodged in Boston’s new stone gaol which had
a dungeon in it, walls four feet thick, and all kinds of irons to
keep them there. The “treasure,” including the sloop, was appraised
at £209.4.6. As the owners of the sloop declined to pay the salvage
ordered on her, she was condemned to her captors. Captain Pease
left a widow and four orphans. In December they were “in a poor
and low condition” and the General Court passed a bill providing
for a “collection” in the several meeting houses for their relief.
The wounded pirates were doctored by Thomas Larkin, whose bill for
attendance amounted to £21.10.0. Pound had been shot in the side and
arm “& Severall bones Taken oute.” Thomas Johnson lost part of his jaw;
Buck had seven holes in one of his arms; Griffin lost an eye and part
of an ear; Siccadam was shot through both legs; and Browne, Giddings,
Phips, Lander and Warren had various wounds.
Pound and Hawkins and the rest of their company lay in prison until
January 13, 1690, before they were brought to trial. Hawkins had been
examined by the aged Governor Bradstreet and the Magistrates on October
4th and Pound had given his version of their doings the day after he
had been placed in gaol. Hawkins was tried first,--on January 9th,
and found guilty at one session of the Court. Pound and the rest of
the indicted men were brought to trial on the 17th and found guilty
of felony, piracy and murder and Deputy-Governor Thomas Danforth
pronounced sentence of death, that they “be hanged by the neck until
they be dead.” Pound, Hawkins, Johnson and Buck were ordered to be
executed on January 27th.
Samuel Sewall, the diarist, rode into Boston a little before twelve
o’clock on the day of the trial having spent the night at Braintree.
It had been a cold ride and a snowstorm was threatening. After dinner
he went to the Town House where the Court was sitting and then in
company with the Reverend Cotton Mather, went to the gaol to visit
the condemned prisoners. Mr. Mather never failed to attend to
this detail of his professional work and Pound and the others were
thereupon counseled and prayed with. Mr. Waitstill Winthrop, one of
the magistrates who had tried the pirates, was not satisfied with the
verdict or sentence and immediately after the trial bestirred himself
to obtain for them a reprieve. He went about obtaining the signatures
of influential persons and finally headed a committee that went before
the Governor and petitioned that reprieve be granted. Sewall records
in his diary that he was one of those who called on the aged Governor
and asked that Pound and Buck be respited, and he further relates that
Mr. Winthrop, Col. Samuel Shrimpton, one of the magistrates, and Isaac
Addington, the clerk of the court, followed him to his house with
another petition asking that Hawkins be reprieved. Sewall signed it and
the Governor granted the reprieve barely in time to save Hawkins’ neck
for he was on the scaffold and ready to be turned off when the order
reached the sheriff. “Which gave great disgust to the People; I fear
it was ill done”--writes Sewall. “Some in the Council thought Hawkins,
because he got out of the Combination before Pease was kill’d, might
live; so I rashly sign’d, hoping so great an inconvenience would not
have followed. Let not God impute Sin.”[55] And so it happened that
the only entertainment found by the crowd that had gathered to see the
hanging was the turning off of Thomas Johnson, “the limping privateer.”
[Illustration: SAMUEL SEWALL, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT IN
MASSACHUSETTS, 1718-1728
From an original painting in possession of the Massachusetts Historical
Society]
On February 20th, on petition of Thomas Hawkins and others, the
sentence of death was remitted on Hawkins, Warren, Watts, Lander,
Griffin, Siccadam, Buck and Dunn on payment of twenty marks[56] each
in money, to reimburse the charges of the prosecution and imprisonment
or else be sold into Virginia. Pound’s name was not included with the
others but four days later, he was further reprieved from execution
at the instance of Mr. Epaphras Shrimpton and sundry women of quality.
Who these “women of quality” were is not known but Thomas Hawkins’s
sisters had married the leading men of the Colony and may have
joined in the petitions. One sister had been the second wife of Adam
Winthrop, brother of Waitstill Winthrop, who worked so earnestly for
the reprieves. At that time she was the wife of John Richards, one of
the magistrates, who had tried the pirates. Another sister was the wife
of Rev. James Allen of the First Church. Hannah Hawkins had married
Elisha Hutchinson, another of the magistrates, and Abigail, married the
Hon. John Foster, while Hawkins lay in prison. Certainly these were
“women of quality,” and it seems strange, at this late day, that one so
well connected should have surreptitiously “gone privateering,” or, in
plainer language, have engaged in piracy.
On April 20, 1690, the “Rose” frigate, John George, commander, lying
before the town of Boston, whose sails had been returned by the King’s
command, sailed from Nantasket for England, and carried Thomas Hawkins,
the pirate, whose sentence had been remitted, and Thomas Pound, his
captain, whose sentence had only been respited. The “Rose” went into
Piscataqua where she lay for a month waiting for two mast ships to
finish their lading and on May 19th sailed in convoy. On the 24th,
off Cape Sable, they met a privateer, “or Pirot,” of thirty guns and
well manned, from St. Malo, France. She came up under English colors
and when hailed from the “Rose,” answered “Will tell you by and by.”
Soon after she hoisted French colors and fired a broadside and not
less than three hundred small arms. The “Rose” returned the fire to
good purpose and the nearest mast-ship also engaged the Frenchman. The
other mast-ship having only two guns stood off. At a distance of half a
musket-shot the fight obstinately continued for nearly two hours.
“The Rose had her Mizzon shott down, her Ensign, her sails and Rigging
much torn, but so bored the French Man’s sides that his Ports were
made Two or three into one. It was almost quite Calm, else we had Run
Thwart him with out Head, and possibly might have sent him Low enough,
but we had not winde enough, so we Lay on his Quarter which we fired
so that he was necessitated to cutt down and Cast into the Sea, which
was so much as to burn in our View half an hour as it floated in the
Sea. We saw his Captain and Lieutenant fall & believe we could not have
killed less than a hundred of his men. His Tops were full of Grenadiers
and Fuzes which we saw fall like Pidgeons, and Multitudes of his Men
lay Slaughtered on his Decks. We would have taken him for Certain would
our heavy Ship have workt, but he was a quick Sailor and so gott away.
Captain George and Mr. Wiggoner were slaine with Musket shott, 5 Common
men more were slain, and 7 desperately wounded. Mr. Maccarty’s man
Michael lost his arm. Paul Main, Sam Mixture and Thomas Hawkins the
Pirate, were amongst the slain.”[57]
Such was the end of Hawkins. As for Captain Pound,--he reached England
safely and on July 8th, after his arrival at Falmouth, wrote to Sir
Edmund Andros, then in London, announcing his return and sending the
latest news from New England together with a short account of the fight
with the privateer. Pound published in London in 1691, “A New Mapp of
New England,” of which only one copy is now known,[58] and which served
as a basis for other charts for nearly fifty years after. The charge
of piracy seems to have been dismissed at once for on Aug. 5, 1690,
he was appointed captain of the frigate “Sally Rose,” of the Royal
Navy. In 1697 his ship was stationed at Virginia under his old patron
Governor Andros. In 1699, he retired to private life and died in 1703,
at Isleworth, county Middlesex, a “gentleman,” and respected by friends
and neighbors.[59]
CAPTAIN POUND’S COMPANY OF PIRATES
_Captain Thomas Pound_, pilot and sailing master on the “Rose”
frigate; embarked from Boston in Hawkins’ boat; wounded in the fight
at Tarpaulin Cove, shot in the side and arm and several bones taken
out; found guilty but reprieved; sent to England where the charge
was dismissed; given command of a ship, and died in 1703 in England,
honored and respected.
_Thomas Hawkins_, son of Capt. Thomas Hawkins, a Boston privateersman,
and Mary his wife; found guilty but reprieved; sent to England but on
the voyage was killed in an engagement with a French privateer off Cape
Sable.
_Thomas Johnston_, of Boston, “the limping privateer”; embarked from
Boston in Hawkins’ boat; wounded in the fight at Tarpaulin Cove; shot
in the jaw and several bones taken out; found guilty and hanged in
Boston, Jan. 27, 1690; the only one of the company who was executed.
_Eleazer Buck_, embarked from Boston in Hawkins’ boat; had seven holes
shot through his arms in the fight at Tarpaulin Cove; found guilty but
pardoned on payment of twenty marks.[60]
_John Siccadam_, embarked from Boston in Hawkins’ boat; shot through
both legs in the fight at Tarpaulin Cove; found guilty but pardoned on
payment of twenty marks.
_Richard Griffin_, of Boston, gunsmith, embarked from Boston in
Hawkins’ boat; shot in the ear in the fight at Tarpaulin Cove, the
bullet coming out through an eye which he lost; found guilty but
pardoned on payment of twenty marks.
_Benjamin Blake_, a boy, who embarked from Boston in Hawkins’ boat.
_Daniel Lander_, came on board in a boat at Lovell’s Island, Boston
harbor, and probably from the frigate “Rose”; shot through an arm in
the fight at Tarpaulin Cove; found guilty but pardoned on payment of
twenty marks.
_William Warren_, came on board in a boat at Lovell’s Island, Boston
harbor, and probably from the frigate “Rose”; shot in the head in the
fight at Tarpaulin Cove; found guilty but pardoned on payment of twenty
marks.
_Samuel Watts_, came on board in a boat at Lovell’s Island, Boston
harbor, and probably from the frigate “Rose”; found guilty but pardoned
on payment of twenty marks.
_William Dunn_, came on board in a boat at Lovell’s Island, Boston
harbor, and probably from the frigate “Rose”; found guilty but pardoned
on payment of twenty marks.
_Henry Dipper_, a member of Governor Andros’ company of red coats,
commanded by Francis Nicholson, the first English regulars to come
to Massachusetts, brought over in 1686; came on board in a boat at
Lovell’s Island, Boston harbor, probably from the frigate “Rose”;
killed in the fight at Tarpaulin Cove or died of wounds soon after.
_John Darby_, a Marblehead fisherman, one of the crew of the ketch
“Mary,” of Salem, captured by Pound; voluntarily joined the expedition
and was killed in the fight at Tarpaulin Cove; left a widow and four
children living at Marblehead.
_A Boy_, one of the crew of the ketch “Mary,” of Salem, captured by
Pound; forced to join the expedition to serve as an interpreter as he
could speak French.
_John Hill_, a member of Governor Andros’ company of red coats,
commanded by Francis Nicholson, the first English regulars to come
to Massachusetts, brought over in 1686; was stationed at Fort Loyal,
Falmouth, Maine, where he held the rank of corporal; deserted and
joined the expedition; killed in the fight at Tarpaulin Cove.
_John Watkins_, a soldier, one of the garrison at Fort Loyal, Falmouth,
Maine; deserted and joined the expedition; killed in the fight at
Tarpaulin Cove.
_John Lord_, a soldier, one of the garrison at Fort Loyal, Falmouth,
Maine; deserted and joined the expedition; killed in the fight at
Tarpaulin Cove.
_William Neff_, son of William and Mary Neff, born in 1667, in
Haverhill, Mass.; his father, while in the military service against
Indians, died in February, 1689, at Pemaquid, Maine; a soldier and one
of the garrison at Fort Loyal, Falmouth, Maine; deserted and joined
the expedition; was found not guilty of piracy as it was shown that he
was “enticed and deluded away from the Garrison by his corporal,” John
Hill; the Court discharged him he paying for a gun belonging to the
country’s store.
_William Bennett_, a soldier, one of the garrison at Fort Loyal,
Falmouth, Maine; deserted and joined the expedition; was in prison at
Boston, where he may have died as he never was brought to trial.
_James Daniels_, a soldier, one of the garrison at Fort Loyal,
Falmouth, Maine; deserted and joined the expedition; killed in the
fight at Tarpaulin Cove.
_Richard Phips_, a soldier, one of the garrison at Fort Loyal,
Falmouth, Maine; deserted and joined the expedition; wounded in the
head in the fight at Tarpaulin Cove; was in prison in Boston where he
may have died as he never was brought to trial.
_John Giddings_, joined the expedition at York River, Virginia, was
wounded in the fight at Tarpaulin Cove and imprisoned in Boston, where
he may have died as he never was brought to trial.
_Edward Browne_, joined the expedition at York River, Virginia, and
was wounded in a hand in the fight at Tarpaulin Cove; at the trial was
found not guilty.
FOOTNOTES
[42] Now the town of Wellfleet.
[43] _Suffolk County Court Files_, No. 2539: 1.
[44] Elsewhere written Allen Chard.
[45] John Darby probably was one of the four pirates who were killed
Oct. 4, 1689, in the fight with the Colony sloop “Mary,” Captain
Pease, at Tarpaulin Cove. He had a wife and four children living at
Marblehead. His estate was inventoried on June 17, 1690, and his widow
on July 2, 1690, married John Woodbury of Beverly.
[46] These men were Corporal John Hill, John Watkins, John Lord,
William Neff, William Bennett, James Daniels, and Richard Phips.
[47] _Massachusetts Archives_, Vol. CVII, leaves 277-279.
[48] In Hawkins’ deposition called a _brigantine_.
[49] _Massachusetts Archives_, Vol. XXXV, leaf 10a.
[50] Captain Loper was a Portuguese whaler and oysterman who had been
on the Cape since 1665.
[51] _Suffolk Court Files_, No. 2539: 13.
[52] _Ibid._
[53] _Massachusetts Archives_, Vol. XXXV, leaf 31.
[54] _Suffolk Court Files_, No. 2539: 9.
[55] _Diary of Samuel Sewall_, Vol. I, p. 310.
[56] £13.6.8.
[57] _Gay Transcripts_, _Phips_ (Mass. Hist. Society), Vol. I, leaf 31.
[58] In the Library of Congress collection.
[59] Charnock, _Biographia Navalis_, Vol. II, p. 401.
[60] £13.6.8.