GEORGE LOWTHER WHO CAPTURED THIRTY-THREE VESSELS IN SEVENTEEN MONTHS
Most of the piracies perpetrated by this man took place away from the
New England coast, but as he aided Capt. Ned Low to begin his piratical
career and at various times was his consort, it seems proper to include
here some relation of the villainies that he committed. Lowther was an
Englishman and an honest man when he sailed from London in March, 1721,
as second mate of the ship “Gambia Castle,” owned by the Royal African
Company and commanded by Capt. Charles Russell. The ship was carrying
stores and a company of soldiers to the river Gambia, on the African
coast, to garrison a fort some time before captured and destroyed by
Capt. Howel Davis, the pirate. She came to anchor at Gambia in May and
before long disputes arose between Lowther and Captain Russell in which
many of the crew sided with the second mate. These disputes eventually
led to a conspiracy whereby the ship was seized during the absence of
the captain on shore, and with Lowther in command the ship sailed down
the river.
When safely at sea Lowther called the entire company together and
made a speech in which he pointed out the folly of returning to
England, for, by seizing the ship they had been guilty of an offence,
the penalty of which was hanging, and for one he didn’t propose to
chance such a fate. Continuing, he said if the company didn’t accept
his proposal he only asked to be set ashore in some safe place. His
proposal was that they should seek their fortunes on the seas as other
brave men had done before them. The sailors and soldiers on board
proved to be a crowd of good fellows not suited for the gallows or
damp prison cells and so fell in with his suggestions. The cabins were
knocked down, the ship made flush fore and aft and renamed the “Happy
Delivery,” and the following “Articles” were drawn up, signed and,
strangely enough, sworn to upon a Bible, viz:--
“1. The Captain is to have two full Shares; the Master is
to have one Share and a half; the Doctor, Mate, Gunner, and
Boatswain, one Share and a quarter.
“2. He that shall be found guilty of taking up any unlawful
Weapon on Board the Privateer, or any Prize, by us taken, so
as to strike or abuse one another, in any regard, shall suffer
what Punishment the Captain and Majority of the Company shall
think fit.
“3. He that shall be found Guilty of Cowardice, in the Time
of Engagement, shall suffer what Punishment the Captain and
Majority shall think fit.
“4. If any Gold, Jewels, Silver, &c. be found on Board of any
Prize or Prizes, to the Value of a Piece of Eight, and the
Finder do not deliver it to the Quarter-Master, in the Space of
24 Hours, shall suffer what Punishment the Captain and Majority
shall think fit.
“5. He that is found Guilty of Gaming, or Defrauding another
to the Value of a Shilling, shall suffer what Punishment the
Captain and Majority of the Company shall think fit.
“6. He that shall have the Misfortune to lose a Limb, in Time
of Engagement, shall have the Sum of one hundred and fifty
Pounds Sterling, and remain with the Company as long as he
shall think fit.
“7. Good Quarters to be given when call’d for.
“8. He that sees a Sail first, shall have the best Pistol, or
Small-Arm, on Board her.”
This occurred on June 13, 1721. Seven days later, near Barbadoes, they
came in sight of the brigantine “Charles,” James Douglass, master,
owned in Boston in the Massachusetts Bay, which fell into their hands
without any resistance and was plundered in the usual piratical manner.
No one on board was injured and the vessel was let go without damage.
Several other captures were made near Hispaniola including a Spanish
pirate that recently had taken a Bristol ship, then in company. The
Spaniards being engaged in the same trade expected some consideration
at the hands of Lowther, but he rifled and then burned both ships,
permitting the Spaniards to go away unharmed in their launch and adding
all the English sailors to his own pirate crew. Meanwhile the news of
his venture on the high seas had reached England and in September,
H. M. Ship “Feversham,” stationed at Barbadoes, was reported to have
taken Lowther, so Captain Russell set out from Plymouth for Barbadoes
to take possession of his ship and give evidence against Lowther and
his crew.[96] Unfortunately for him, on his arrival at Barbadoes he
learned that the capture had not been made. About that time Lowther
took a small sloop owned at St. Christopher’s which he manned from
his enlarged crew and together they made for a small island where the
vessels were careened and their bottoms cleaned and here the company
spent some time drinking and carousing with some Indian women they had
seized.
About Christmas time, 1721, they went aboard their vessels and took a
course across the Caribbean for the Bay of Honduras, but running short
of water made for the Grand Caimane islands to fill up the water butts.
While here a small vessel came into the same harbor with only thirteen
men aboard and with a man named Edward Low in command. It turned out
that this company had recently come away from a Boston sloop in the Bay
of Honduras and had turned pirates like themselves. Lowther accordingly
proposed to Captain Low that they should join forces and shortly an
agreement was reached and all went aboard the “Happy Delivery.” The
joint adventures of these kindred spirits are related at length in the
chapter on Captain Edward Low, until Low’s ambition led to a rupture
between them. They separated at night on May 28, 1722, in the latitude
of 38°, and Captain Lowther set a course for the mainland and took
three or four fishing vessels off New York.
On June 2d, the ship “Mary Galley,” Peter King, master, was overhauled,
in latitude 35°. She was bound homeward to Boston from the Barbadoes
and from her Lowther took thirteen hogsheads and a barrel of rum, a
sufficient supply to wet thirsty throats for some days it would seem.
He also secured five barrels of sugar and several cases of loaf sugar
and pepper, a box of English goods and six negroes. The passengers were
examined and robbed of all their money and plate and at eleven o’clock
the next morning the ship was allowed to proceed. She reached Boston
on the 14th and soon the intelligence was published in the newspapers.
At the time of this capture Lowther was reported as commanding a sloop
mounting four guns. About the same time sloops from the West Indies
arriving at New York, brought news of the capture of a New York sloop,
Thomas Noxon, master, on the voyage to Jamaica, loaded with provisions.
The captain and crew had been marooned but taken off by a passing
vessel bound for Bermuda. This may have been an earlier capture of
Lowther. He next appeared near the Capes of the Chesapeake and cruised
on and off for nearly three weeks, the wind being southerly and blowing
an easy gale. Many persons harvesting on plantations near the shore
reported the strange vessels, for Lowther and Harris were than in
company. Several times they sailed up the bay for ten or twelve leagues
and on July 8th brought down with them a large sloop taken high up in
the bay. That night the vessels anchored at no great distance from
shore and the excited neighborhood heard drums beating “all night,” so
says the report, and could see a large number of men on board. Trade
between the Capes was entirely stopped, no vessels daring to venture
out. Franklin’s newspaper, the “New England Courant,” when publishing
this information just arrived from Philadelphia, makes the satirical
comment that for some time no man-of-war had been seen in the vicinity,
“who, by dear experience, we know, love Trading better than Fighting.”
One vessel did enter safely through the Capes, the sloop “Little
Joseph,” commanded by Captain Hargrave, “who sailed from hence about
two months ago for the Island of St. Christophers, but was taken by the
Pyrates three Times and rifled of most of her Cargo, so that she was
obliged to return back.”[97]
From the Capes of the Chesapeake, Captain Lowther directed a course
southerly and near the South Carolina coast met a ship just out of port
bound for England,--the “Amy,” Captain Gwatkins. Lowther hoisted his
piratical colors and fired a gun. Captain Gwatkins did not lose courage
at sight of the black flag and replied with a broadside which caused
Lowther to sheer off and the ship getting the pirate between her and
the shore stood boldly after him. Finding that at last he had “caught
a Tartar,” Lowther ran in towards shore and at length went aground
and landed all his men with their arms. Captain Gwatkins hove to as
near in-shore as he dared and filling one of his boats with armed men
rowed toward the stranded sloop with the intention of setting it on
fire. Most unfortunately, just before reaching the vessel, a volley
from Lowther’s men on shore picked off Captain Gwatkins, wounding
him fatally, after which the mate turned about and made for the ship
without attempting farther to reach the sloop. When the “Amy” had left
them, Lowther soon got his vessel afloat but found her in shattered
condition. During the engagement he had a good many men killed and
wounded and all in all it seemed best to pull into one of the many
inlets on the North Carolina coast and refit and allow his wounded
to recover. This required more time than he had anticipated and soon
winter was at hand and at their chosen anchorage they finally remained
until the next spring. Much of the time during the winter months was
spent in hunting black cattle, hogs, etc., to supply fresh meat. The
crew was divided up into small parties and sent out to ravage the back
country, at last coming back to their huts and tents near the sloop
where they lodged during the winter and only went on board when the
weather grew very cold.
Spring came at last and leaving their winter quarters they went to
sea steering a course for the fishing banks off Newfoundland. On June
18th, 1723, the schooner “Swift” of Boston, John Hood, master, fell
into their hands and supplied them with forty barrels of salt beef,
very much needed at the time. Other miscellaneous stores were taken and
three men--Andrew Hunter, Henry Hunter and Jonathan Deloe--were forced
to join the pirate crew. Lowther’s sloop at that time had ten guns
mounted.[98]
Several other captures were made on the banks or in harbors along shore
but none supplied much plunder. On July 5th, being then about a hundred
leagues eastward of the banks of Newfoundland, Lowther overhauled the
brigantine “John and Elizabeth,” owned in Boston, Richard Stanny,
master, bound home from Holland having called at Dover. Captain Stanny
afterward reported that Lowther at that time had with him about twenty
men and the sloop mounted only seven guns. The pirates broke open the
hatches and helped themselves to a variety of merchandise and stores
and forced two men,--Ralph Kendale of Sunderland, county Durham, and
Henry Watson of Dover. These men struggled against being forced on
board the sloop and before this was accomplished were badly whipped and
beaten.[99] At the time this capture was made Lowther was headed for
warmer waters and early in September, in company with Capt. Ned Low,
reached Fayal in the Western Islands, as is related elsewhere.
The depredations of Low and Lowther that spring and summer aroused
the fears of every shipmaster along the New England coast and every
unrecognized vessel was imagined to be a rogue. Capt. James Codin on
his passage from New York to Newport, R. I., sighted a sloop at anchor
near Fisher’s Island which immediately made sail and chased him all
day so that he concluded the sloop to be a pirate, more especially
as he was followed when he altered his course. Captain Codin made
for Stonington which he reached safely during the evening. The next
morning the strange sloop was not in sight. She afterwards proved to
be a New York sloop commanded by one Captain Heed, homeward bound
from Jamaica. Not long after a sloop with a white bottom and eight
gun-ports came to anchor near Block Island and sent a boat ashore for
fresh provisions and a pilot. At Captain Rea’s some sheep were bought
and payment was made in silver money. “It is conjectured to be Lowther
the Pirate.”[100] Two weeks later the Boston newspapers published a
new batch of information according to which the sloop at Block Island
proved to be a Londoner, owned by the Royal Assiento Company, and
commanded by Capt. Rupert Wappen. She mounted eight guns and carried
a crew of thirty-nine men, and on board were ten or twelve chests of
silver money, a fact which her captain seems to have been at no pains
to conceal. She was said to have come from Laver de Cruz and South
Carolina and to be bound for Jamaica and was waiting at Block Island
for a pilot.
About the same time Capt. George Slyfield arrived at Philadelphia from
South Carolina, in the sloop “Lincolnshire,” with the news that Lowther
had gone to Cape Fear, to careen and Governor Nickolson had sent an
Indian to learn the truth of the report and was also fitting out a
man-of-war to go in search. And so the rumors flew about.
[Illustration: CAPT. GEORGE LOWTHER AT PORT MAYO
From a rare engraving in the Harry Elkins Widener Collection, Harvard
College Library]
Meanwhile, Lowther, in the sloop “Happy Delivery,” cruised about
the Western Islands with Low and then made for the Guinea coast and
the West Indies where he seems to have left Low, for he was alone
when he had the good luck to capture a Martinico vessel that gave
him greatly needed provisions. Not long after, a Guinea-man, the
“Princess,” Captain Wickstead, surrendered to him. The bottom of the
“Happy Delivery” having become foul, Lowther began to look about for a
suitable inlet in which to careen and finally hit upon the island of
Blanco which lies between the islands of Margarita and Rocas and is
not far from Tortuga. It is a low-lying island, about two leagues in
circumference and uninhabited. It is well wooded and there is a heavy
scrub growth everywhere. Besides being frequented by large sea turtles
it supports great numbers of iguanas, a kind of lizard that grows to a
length of about five feet and is very good to eat; in fact, the pirates
used to go there to catch them, as was well-known at the time. On the
northwest end of the island there is a small cove or sandy bay and here
Lowther, about the first of October, 1723, unrigged his sloop, sent
the guns, sails, etc., ashore and began to careen his vessel. Just at
this time, most unfortunately for him, there appeared off the cove, the
armed sloop “Eagle,” Walter Moore, commander, owned by Colonel Otley
of the island of St. Christopher. She was bound for Comena, in Spanish
territory, and passing near this well-known resort for pirates and
catching sight of the sloop on the careen and so unprepared, Captain
Moore decided to grasp the advantage and attack the rogues. So he
fired a gun to oblige them to show their colors and they hoisted the
St. George’s flag to their topmast head. But Captain Moore felt sure
that she was no trader and so came in close. When Lowther found that
the strange sloop was determined to engage him he opened fire from the
shore, but was at so great a disadvantage that shortly his men called
for quarter and began to run for the woods behind them. All resistance
was soon over and Captain Moore got the “Happy Delivery” off, secured
her, and then went ashore with twenty-five men in search of Lowther and
his crew, and after five days of beating about the bushes succeeded in
taking sixteen of the pirates including the sloop’s surgeon and seven
others who surrendered themselves as forced men. Lowther they were
unable to discover. At last abandoning further search Captain Moore
continued his voyage to Comena, with the captured sloop in company,
and on his arrival the Spanish Governor condemned the sloop a prize to
the Englishman and also sent a sloop with twenty-three armed men to
make further search for pirates at the island of Blanco. This search
resulted in the capture of four more men whom the Spanish Governor
tried and condemned to slavery for life. Captain Lowther and three of
his men were able to conceal themselves in some dense undergrowth and
so escaped capture, but not long after another party visited the island
and came upon his dead body with a pistol beside it and it was supposed
that in desperation he at last committed suicide.
The sloop “Eagle,” having brought Captain Moore’s prisoners to St.
Christopher’s, a Court of Vice-Admiralty was held on Mar. 11, 1724 when
the following men were tried for piracy, viz: John Churchill, Edward
Mackdonald, Nicholas Lewis, Richard West, Samuel Levercott, Robert
White, John Shaw, Andrew Hunter, Jonathan Deloe, Matthew Freeborn,
Henry Watson, Roger Granger, Ralph Candor and Robert Willis. The
last three were acquitted, and the others found guilty, two of them,
however, being recommended to mercy, were afterwards pardoned. Eleven
of Lowther’s piratical crew accordingly were hanged by the neck until
dead on Mar. 20, 1724, on a gallows erected between high- and low-water
mark at St. Christopher’s in the West Indies.
FOOTNOTES
[96] _American Weekly Mercury_, Feb. 6, 1722.
[97] _New England Courant_, Aug. 6, 1722.
[98] _Boston Gazette_, Sept. 9, 1723.
[99] _Boston News-Letter_, Aug. 8, 1723.
[100] _Boston News-Letter_, Aug. 22, 1723.