SOME EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PIRATES
(1670-1725)
The pirates of the Spanish Main and the southern coasts of this country
have enjoyed almost a monopoly of popular interest in fact and fiction.
As early as 1632, however, the New England coast was plagued by pirates
and the doughty merchant seamen of Salem and other ports were sallying
forth to fight them for a hundred years on end.
In 1670 the General Court published in Boston, “by beat of drum,” a
proclamation against a ship at the Isle of Shoals suspected of being
a pirate, and three years later another official broadside was hurled
against “piracy and mutiny.” The report of an expedition sent out from
Boston in 1689, in the sloop _Mary_, against notorious pirates named
Thomas Hawkins and Thomas Pound, has all the dramatic elements and
properties of a tale of pure adventure. It relates that “being off of
Wood’s Hole, we were informed there was a Pirate at Tarpolin Cove, and
soon after we espyed a Sloop on head of us which we supposed to be
the Sloop wherein sd. Pound and his Company were. We made what Sayle
we could and soon came near up with her, spread our King’s Jack and
fired a shot athwart her forefoot, upon which a red fflag was put out
on the head of the sd. Sloop’s mast. Our Capn. ordered another shot to
be fired athwart her forefoot, but they not striking, we came up with
them. Our Capn. commanded us to fire at them which we accordingly did
and called to them to strike to the King of England.
“Pound, standing on the Quarter deck with his naked Sword flourishing
in his hand, said; ‘Come on Board you Doggs, I will strike you
presently,’ or words to that purpose, his men standing by him upon
the deck with guns in their hands, and he taking up his Gun, they
discharged a Volley at us and we at them again, and so continued firing
one at the other for some space of time.
“In which engagement our Capn. Samuel Pease was wounded in the Arme,
in the side and in the thigh; but at length bringing them under our
power, wee made Sayle towards Roade Island and on Saturday the fifth
of sd. October gut our wounded men on shore and procured Surgeons to
dress them. Our said Captaine lost much blood by his wounds and was
brought very low, but on friday after, being the eleventh day of the
said October, being brought on board the vessell intending to come away
to Boston, was taken with bleeding afresh, so that we were forced to
carry him on Shore again to Road Island, and was followed with bleeding
at his Wounds, and fell into fitts, but remained alive until Saturday
morning the twelfth of Octbr. aforesaid when he departed this Life.”
This admirably brief narrative shows that Thomas Pounds, strutting his
quarter deck under his red “fflagg” and flourishing his naked sword
and crying “Come on, you doggs,” was a proper figure of a seventeenth
century pirate, and that poor Captain Pease of the sloop _Mary_ was
a gallant seaman who won his victory after being wounded unto death.
Pirates received short shift and this crew was probably hanged in
Boston as were scores of their fellows in that era.
Puritan wives and sweethearts waited months and years for missing ships
which never again dropped anchor in the landlocked harbor of Salem, and
perhaps if any tidings ever came it was no more than this:
“May 21 (1697)—The ketch _Margaret_ of Salem, Captain Peter Henderson
was chased ashore near Funshal, Madeira, by pirates and lost. Of what
became of the officers and crew the account says nothing.”
In July of 1703, the brigantine _Charles_, Capt. Daniel Plowman, was
fitted out at Boston as a privateer to cruise against the French and
Spanish with whom Great Britain was at war. When the vessel had been
a few days at sea, Captain Plowman was taken very ill. Thereupon the
crew locked him in the cabin and left him to die while they conspired
to run off with the brigantine and turn pirates. The luckless master
conveniently died, his body was tossed overboard and one John Quelch
assumed the command. The crew seem to have agreed that he was the
man for their purpose and they unanimously invited him to “sail on a
private cruise to the coast of Brazil.” In those waters they plundered
several Portuguese ships, and having collected sufficient booty or
becoming homesick, they determined to seek their native land. With
striking boldness Quelch navigated the brigantine back to Marblehead
and primed his men with a story of the voyage which should cover up
their career as pirates.
Suspicion was turned against them, however, the vessel was searched,
and much plunder revealed. The pirates tried to escape along shore, but
most of them, Quelch included, were captured at Gloucester, the Isle of
Shoals, and Marblehead.
One of the old Salem records has preserved the following information
concerning the fate of these rascals:
(1704)—“Major Stephen Sewall, Captain John Turner and 40 volunteers
embark in a shallop and Fort Pinnace after Sun Set to go in Search of
some Pirates who sailed from Gloucester in the morning. Major Sewall
brought into Salem a Galley, Captain Thomas Lowrimore, on board of
which he had captured some pirates and some of their Gold at the Isle
of Shoals. Major Sewall carries the Pirates to Boston under a strong
guard. Captain Quelch and five of his crew are hung. About 13 of the
ship’s company remain under sentence of death and several more are
cleared.”
Tradition records that a Salem poet of that time was moved to write of
the foregoing episode:
“Ye pirates who against God’s laws did fight,
Have all been taken which is very right.
Some of them were old and others young
And on the flats of Boston they were hung.”
There is a vivacious and entertaining flavor in the following chronicle
and comment:
“May 1, 1718, several of the ship _Hopewell’s_ crew can testify that
near Hispaniola they met with pirates who robbed and abused their crew
and compelled their mate, James Logun of Charlestown to go with them,
as they had no artist; having lost several of their company in an
engagement. As to what sort of an artist these gentlemen rovers were
deficient in, whether dancing, swimming or writing master, or a master
of the mechanical arts, we have no authority for stating.”
The official account of the foregoing misfortune is to be found among
the notarial records of Essex county and reads as follows:
“Depositions of Richard Manning, John Crowell, and Aaron Crowell,
all of Salem, and belonging to the crew of Captain Thomas Ellis,
commander of the ship _Hopewell_, bound from Island of Barbadoes to
Saltatuda. Missing of that Island and falling to Leeward we shaped our
course for some of the Bahama Islands in hopes to get salt there, but
nigh ye Island of Hispaniola we unhappily met with a pirate, being a
sloop of between thirty and forty men, one Capt. Charles, commander,
his sirname we could not learn. They took us, boarded us and abused
several of us shamefully, and took what small matters we had, even
our very cloathes and particularly beat and abused our Mate, whose
name was James Logun of Charlestown, and him they forcibly carried
away with them and threatened his life if he would not go, which they
were ye more in earnest for insomuch as they had no artist on board,
as we understood, having a little before that time had an Engagem’t.
with a ship of force which had killed several of them as we were
Informed by some of them. Ye said James Logun was very unwilling to
go with them and informed some of us that he knew not whether he had
best to dye or go with them, these Deponents knowing of him to be an
Ingenious sober man. To ye truth of all we have hereunto sett our hand
having fresh Remembrance thereof, being but ye fifth day of March last
past, when we were taken.
Salem, May 1, 1718.”
In the following year Captain John Shattuck entered his protest at
Salem against capture by pirates. He sailed from Jamaica for New
England and in sight of Long Island (West Indies) was captured by a
“Pyrat” of 12 guns and 120 men, under the command of Captain Charles
Vain, who took him to Crooked Island (Bahamas), plundered him of
various articles, stripped the brig, abused some of his men and finally
let him go. “Coming, however, on a winter coast, his vessel stripped of
needed sails, he was blown off to the West Indies and did not arrive in
Salem until the next spring.”
In 1724 two notorious sea rogues, Nutt and Phillip, were cruising off
Cape Ann, their topsails in sight of Salem harbor mouth. They took a
sloop commanded by one Andrew Harradine of Salem and thereby caught a
Tartar. Harradine and his crew rose upon their captors, killed both
Nutt and Phillip and their officers, put the pirate crew under hatches,
and sailed the vessel to Boston where the pirates were turned over to
the authorities to be fitted with hempen kerchiefs.
On the first of May, 1725, a Salem brigantine commanded by Captain Dove
sailed into her home harbor having on board one Philip Ashton, a lad
from Marblehead who had been given up as dead for almost three years.
He had been captured by pirates, and after escaping from them lived
alone for a year and more on a desert island off the coast of Honduras.
Philip Ashton wrote a journal of his adventures which was first
published many years ago. His story is perhaps the most entertaining
narrative of eighteenth century piracy that has come down to present
times. Little is known of the career of this lad of Marblehead before
or after his adventures and misfortunes in the company of pirates.
It is recorded that when he hurried to his home from the ship which
had fetched him into Salem harbor there was great rejoicing. On the
following Sunday Rev. John Barnard preached a sermon concerning the
miraculous escape of Philip Ashton. His text was taken from the third
chapter of Daniel, seventeenth verse: “If it be so our God whom we
serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will
deliver us out of thy hands, O King.”
It is also known that at about the same time that Philip Ashton
was captured by pirates his cousin, Nicholas Merritt, met with a
like misfortune at sea. He made his escape after several months of
captivity and returned to his home a year later when there was another
thanksgiving for a wanderer returned.
What the early shipmasters of Salem and nearby ports had to fear in the
eighteenth century may be more clearly comprehended if a part of the
journal of Philip Ashton is presented as he is said to have written it
upon his return home. It begins as follows:
[Illustration: A page from Falconer’s Marine Dictionary (18th Century)
Figure 4: a snow, (5) a ketch, (6) a brig or brigantine, (7) a
bilander, (8) a xebec, (9) a schooner, (10) a galliot, (11) a dogger,
(12 and 13) two gallies, one under sail, the other rowing, (14) a sloop]
“On Friday, the 15th of June, 1722, after being out some time in a
schooner with four men and a boy, off Cape Sable, I stood in for Port
Rossaway, designing to lie there all Sunday. Having arrived about
four in the afternoon, we saw, among other vessels which had reached
the port before us, a brigantine supposed to be inward bound from the
West Indies. After remaining three or four hours at anchor, a boat
from the brigantine came alongside, with four hands, who leapt on
deck, and suddenly drawing out pistols, and brandishing cutlasses,
demanded the surrender both of ourselves and our vessel. All
remonstrance was vain; nor indeed, had we known who they were before
boarding us could we have made any effectual resistance, being only
five men and a boy, and were thus under the necessity of submitting at
discretion. We were not single in misfortune, as thirteen or fourteen
fishing vessels were in like manner surprised the same evening.
“When carried on board the brigantine, I found myself in the hands of
Ned Low, an infamous pirate, whose vessel had two great guns, four
swivels, and about forty-two men. I was strongly urged to sign the
articles of agreement among the pirates and to join their number,
which I steadily refused and suffered much bad usage in consequence.
At length being conducted, along with five of the prisoners, to the
quarterdeck, Low came up to us with pistols in his hand, and loudly
demanded: ‘Are any of you married men?’
“This unexpected question, added to the sight of the pistols, struck
us all speechless; we were alarmed lest there was some secret meaning
in his words, and that he would proceed to extremities, therefore none
could reply. In a violent passion he cocked a pistol, and clapping
it to my head, cried out: ‘You dog, why don’t you answer?’ swearing
vehemently at the same time that he would shoot me through the head. I
was sufficiently terrified by his threats and fierceness, but rather
than lose my life in so trifling a matter, I ventured to pronounce, as
loud as I durst speak, that I was not married. Hereupon he seemed to
be somewhat pacified, and turned away.
“It appeared that Low was resolved to take no married men whatever,
which often seemed surprising to me until I had been a considerable
time with him. But his own wife had died lately before he became a
pirate; and he had a young child at Boston, for whom he entertained
such tenderness, on every lucid interval from drinking and revelling,
that on mentioning it, I have seen him sit down and weep plentifully.
Thus I concluded that his reason for taking only single men, was
probably that they might have no ties, such as wives and children, to
divert them from his service, and render them desirous of returning
home.
“The pirates finding force of no avail in compelling us to join them,
began to use persuasion instead of it. They tried to flatter me into
compliance, by setting before me the share I should have in their
spoils, and the riches which I should become master of; and all the
time eagerly importuned me to drink along with them. But I still
continued to resist their proposals, whereupon Low, with equal fury
as before, threatened to shoot me through the head, and though I
earnestly entreated my release, he and his people wrote my name, and
that of my companions, in their books.
“On the 19th of June, the pirates changed the privateer, as they
called their vessel, and went into a new schooner belonging to
Marblehead, which they had captured. They then put all the prisoners
whom they designed sending home on board of the brigantine, and sent
her to Boston, which induced me to make another unsuccessful attempt
for liberty; but though I fell on my knees to Low, he refused to let
me go; thus I saw the brigantine depart, with the whole captives,
excepting myself and seven more.
“A very short time before she departed, I had nearly effected my
escape; for a dog belonging to Low being accidentally left on shore,
he ordered some hands into a boat to bring it off. Thereupon two
young men, captives, both belonging to Marblehead, readily leapt
into the boat, and I considering that if I could once get on shore,
means might be found of effecting my escape, endeavored to go along
with them. But the quartermaster, called Russell, catching hold of my
shoulder, drew me back. As the young men did not return he thought I
was privy to their plot, and, with the most outrageous oaths, snapped
his pistol, on my denying all knowledge of it. The pistol missing
fire, however, only served to enrage him the more; he snapped it
three times again, and as often it missed fire; on which he held it
overboard, and then it went off. Russell on this drew his cutlass, and
was about to attack me in the utmost fury, when I leapt down into the
hold and saved myself.
“Off St. Michael’s the pirates took a large Portuguese pink, laden
with wheat, coming out of the road; and being a good sailor, and
carrying fourteen guns, transferred their company into her. It
afterwards became necessary to careen her, whence they made three
islands called Triangles lying about forty leagues to the eastward of
Surinam.
“In heaving down the pink, Low had ordered so many men to the shrouds
and yards that the ports, by her heeling, got under water, and the sea
rushing in, she overset; he and the doctor were then in the cabin,
and as soon as he observed the water gushing in, he leaped out of the
stern port while the doctor attempted to follow him. But the violence
of the sea repulsed the latter, and he was forced back into the cabin.
Low, however, contrived to thrust his arm into the port, and dragging
him out, saved his life. Meanwhile, the vessel completely overset. Her
keel turned out of the water; but as the hull filled she sunk in the
depth of about six fathoms.
“The yardarms striking the ground, forced the masts somewhat above
the water; as the ship overset, the people, got from the shrouds and
yards, upon the hull, and as the hull went down, they again resorted
to the rigging, rising a little out of the sea.
“Being an indifferent swimmer, I was reduced to great extremity; for
along with other light lads, I had been sent up to the main-topgallant
yard; and the people of a boat who were now occupied in preserving
the men refusing to take me in, I was compelled to attempt reaching
the buoy. This I luckily accomplished, and as it was large secured
myself there until the boat approached. I once more requested the
people to take me in, but they still refused, as the boat was full.
I was uncertain whether they designed leaving me to perish in this
situation; however, the boat being deeply laden made way very slowly,
and one of my comrades, captured at the same time with myself, calling
to me to forsake the buoy and swim toward her, I assented, and
reaching the boat, he drew me on board. Two men, John Bell, and Zana
Gourdon, were lost in the pink.
“Though the schooner in company was very near at hand, her people were
employed mending their sails under an awning and knew nothing of the
accident until the boat full of men got alongside.
“The pirates having thus lost their principal vessel, and the greatest
part of their provisions and water, were reduced to great extremities
for want of the latter. They were unable to get a supply at the
Triangles, nor on account of calms and currents, could they make the
island of Tobago. Thus they were forced to stand for Grenada, which
they reached after being on short allowance for sixteen days together.
“Grenada was a French settlement, and Low, on arriving, after having
sent all his men below, except a sufficient number to maneuver the
vessel, said he was from Barbadoes; that he had lost the water on
board, and was obliged to put in here for a supply.
“The people entertained no suspicion of his being a pirate, but
afterward supposing him a smuggler, thought it a good opportunity
to make a prize of his vessel. Next day, therefore, they equipped a
large sloop of seventy tons and four guns with about thirty hands, as
sufficient for the capture, and came alongside while Low was quite
unsuspicious of their design. But this being evidently betrayed by
their number and actions, he quickly called ninety men on deck, and,
having eight guns mounted, the French sloop became an easy prey.
“Provided with these two vessels, the pirates cruised about in the
West Indies, taking seven or eight prizes, and at length arrived at
the island of Santa Cruz, where they captured two more. While lying
there Low thought he stood in need of a medicine chest, and, in order
to procure one sent four Frenchmen in a vessel he had taken to St.
Thomas’s, about twelve leagues distant, with money to purchase it;
promising them liberty, and the return of all their vessels for the
service. But he declared at the same time if it proved otherwise, he
would kill the rest of the men, and burn the vessels. In little more
than twenty-four hours, the Frenchmen returned with the object of
their mission, and Low punctually performed his promise by restoring
the vessels.
“Having sailed for the Spanish-American settlements, the pirates
descried two large ships about half way between Carthagena and
Portobello, which proved to be the _Mermaid_, an English man-of-war,
and a Guineaman. They approached in chase until discovering the
man-of-war’s great range of teeth, when they immediately put about
and made the best of their way off. The man-of-war then commenced the
pursuit and gained upon them apace, and I confess that my terrors were
now equal to any that I had previously suffered; for I concluded that
we should certainly be taken, and that I should not less be hanged
for company’s sake; so true are the words of Solomon: ‘A companion
of fools shall be destroyed.’ But the two pirate vessels finding
themselves outsailed, separated, and Farrington Spriggs, who commanded
the schooner in which I was stood in for the shore. The _Mermaid_
observing the sloop with Low himself to be the larger of the two,
crowded all sail, and continued gaining still more, indeed until her
shot flew over; but one of the sloop’s crew showed Low a shoal, which
he could pass, and in the pursuit the man-of-war grounded. Thus the
pirates escaped hanging on this occasion.
“Spriggs and one of his chosen companions dreading the consequences of
being captured and brought to justice, laid their pistols beside them
in the interval, and pledging a mutual oath in a bumper of liquor,
swore if they saw no possibility of escape, to set foot to foot and
blow out each other’s brains. But standing toward the shore, they made
Pickeroon Bay, and escaped the danger.
“Next we repaired to a small island called Utilla, about seven or
eight leagues to leeward of the island of Roatan, in the Bay of
Honduras, where the bottom of the schooner was cleaned. There were
now twenty-two persons on board, and eight of us engaged in a plot to
overpower our masters, and make our escape. Spriggs proposed sailing
for New England, in quest of provisions and to increase his company;
and we intended on approaching the coast, when the rest had indulged
freely in liquor and fallen sound asleep, to secure them under the
hatches, and then deliver ourselves up to government.
“Although our plot was carried on with all possible privacy,
Spriggs had somehow or other got intelligence of it; and having
fallen in with Low on the voyage, went on board his ship to make a
furious declaration against us. But Low made little account of his
information, otherwise it might have been fatal to most of our number.
Spriggs, however, returned raging to the schooner, exclaiming that
four of us should go forward to be shot, and to me in particular he
said: ‘You dog Ashton, you deserve to be hanged up at the yardarm
for designing to cut us off.’ I replied that I had no intention of
injuring any man on board; but I should be glad if they would allow me
to go away quietly. At length this flame was quenched, and, through
the goodness of God, I escaped destruction.
“Roatan harbor, as all about the Bay of Honduras, is full of small
islands, which pass under the general name of Keys; and having got in
here, Low, with some of his chief men, landed on a small island, which
they called Port Royal Key. There they erected huts, and continued
carousing, drinking, and firing, while the different vessels, of which
they now had possession, were repairing.
“On Saturday, the 9th of March, 1723, the cooper, with six hands, in
the long-boat, was going ashore for water; and coming alongside of the
schooner, I requested to be of the party. Seeing him hesitate, I urged
that I had never hitherto been ashore, and thought it hard to be so
closely confined when every one besides had the liberty of landing as
there was occasion. Low had before told me, on requesting to be sent
away in some of the captured vessels which he dismissed that I should
go home when he did, and swore that I should never previously set my
foot on land. But now I considered if I could possibly once get on
terra firma, though in ever such bad circumstances, I should account
it a happy deliverance and resolved never to embark again.
“The cooper at length took me into the long-boat, while Low and
his chief people were on a different island from Roatan, where the
watering place lay; my only clothing was an Osnaburgh frock and
trowsers, a milled cap, but neither shirt, shoes, stockings, nor
anything else.
“When we first landed I was very active in assisting to get the casks
out of the boat, and in rolling them to the watering place. Then
taking a hearty draught of water I strolled along the beach, picking
up stones and shells; but on reaching the distance of a musket-shot
from the party I began to withdraw toward the skirts of the woods. In
answer to a question by the cooper of whither I was going I replied,
‘for cocoanuts,’ as some cocoa trees were just before me; and as soon
as I was out of sight of my companions I took to my heels, running as
fast as the thickness of the bushes and my naked feet would admit.
Notwithstanding I had got a considerable way into the woods, I was
still so near as to hear the voices of the party if they spoke loud,
and I lay close in a thicket where I knew they could not find me.
“After my comrades had filled their casks and were about to depart,
the cooper called on me to accompany them; however, I lay snug in
the thicket, and gave him no answer, though his words were plain
enough. At length, after hallooing loudly, I could hear them say to
one another: ‘The dog is lost in the woods, and cannot find the way
out again’; then they hallooed once more, and cried ‘He has run away
and won’t come to us’; and the cooper observed that had he known my
intention he would not have brought me ashore. Satisfied of their
inability to find me among the trees and bushes, the cooper at last,
to show his kindness, exclaimed: ‘If you do not come away presently, I
shall go off and leave you alone.’ Nothing, however, could induce me
to discover myself; and my comrades seeing it vain to wait any longer,
put off without me.
“Thus I was left on a desolate island, destitute of all help, and
remote from the track of navigators; but compared with the state and
society I had quitted, I considered the wilderness hospitable, and the
solitude interesting.
“When I thought the whole was gone, I emerged from my thicket, and
came down to a small run of water, about a mile from the place where
our casks were filled, and there sat down to observe the proceedings
of the pirates. To my great joy in five days their vessels sailed, and
I saw the schooner part from them to shape a different course.
“I then began to reflect on myself and my present condition; I was on
an island which I had no means of leaving; I knew of no human being
within many miles; my clothing was scanty, and it was impossible to
procure a supply. I was altogether destitute of provision, nor could
tell how my life was to be supported. This melancholy prospect drew
a copious flood of tears from my eyes; but as it had pleased God to
grant my wishes in being liberated from those whose occupation was
devising mischief against their neighbors, I resolved to account every
hardship light. Yet Low would never suffer his men to work on the
Sabbath, which was more devoted to play; and I have even seen some of
them sit down to read in a good book.
“In order to ascertain how I was to live in time to come, I began
to range over the island, which proved ten or eleven leagues long,
and lay in about sixteen degrees north latitude. But I soon found
that my only companions would be the beasts of the earth, and fowls
of the air; for there were no indications of any habitations on the
island, though every now and then I found some shreds of earthen ware
scattered in a lime walk, said by some to be the remains of Indians
formerly dwelling here.
“The island was well watered, full of high hills and deep valleys.
Numerous fruit trees, such as figs, vines, and cocoanuts are found
in the latter; and I found a kind larger than an orange, oval-shaped
of a brownish color without, and red within. Though many of these
had fallen under the trees, I could not venture to take them until
I saw the wild hogs feeding with safety, and then I found them very
delicious fruit.
“Stores of provisions abounded here, though I could avail myself of
nothing but the fruit; for I had no knife or iron implement, either
to cut up a tortoise on turning it, or weapons wherewith to kill
animals; nor had I any means of making a fire to cook my capture, even
if I were successful.
“To this place then was I confined during nine months, without seeing
a human being. One day after another was lingered out, I know not how,
void of occupation or amusement, except collecting food, rambling from
hill to hill, and from island to island, and gazing on sky and water.
Although my mind was occupied by many regrets, I had the reflection
that I was lawfully employed when taken, so that I had no hand in
bringing misery on myself; I was also comforted to think that I had
the approbation and consent of my parents in going to sea, and trusted
that it would please God, in his own time and manner, to provide
for my return to my father’s house. Therefore, I resolved to submit
patiently to my misfortune.
“Sometime in November, 1723, I descried a small canoe approaching with
a single man; but the sight excited little emotion. I kept my seat
on the beach, thinking I could not expect a friend, and knowing that
I had no enemy to fear, nor was I capable of resisting one. As the
man approached, he betrayed many signs of surprise; he called me to
him, and I told him he might safely venture ashore, for I was alone,
and almost expiring. Coming close up, he knew not what to make of
me; my garb and countenance seemed so singular, that he looked wild
with astonishment. He started back a little, and surveyed me more
thoroughly; but, recovering himself again, came forward, and, taking
me by the hand, expressed his satisfaction at seeing me.
“This stranger proved to be a native of North Britain; he was well
advanced in years, of a grave and venerable aspect, and of a reserved
temper. His name I never knew, he did not disclose it, and I had not
inquired during the period of our acquaintance. But he informed me
he had lived twenty-two years with the Spaniards who now threatened
to burn him, though I know not for what crime; therefore he had fled
hither as a sanctuary, bringing his dog, gun, and ammunition, as also
a small quantity of pork, along with him. He designed spending the
remainder of his days on the island, where he could support himself by
hunting.
“I experienced much kindness from the stranger; he was always ready to
perform any civil offices, and assist me in whatever he could, though
he spoke little; and he gave me a share of his pork.
“On the third day after his arrival, he said he would make an
excursion in his canoe among the neighboring islands, for the purpose
of killing wild hogs and deer, and wished me to accompany him. Though
my spirits were somewhat recruited by his society, the benefit of the
fire, which I now enjoyed, and dressed provisions, my weakness and the
soreness of my feet, precluded me; therefore he set out alone, saying
he would return in a few hours. The sky was serene, and there was no
prospect of any danger during a short excursion, seeing he had come
nearly twelve leagues in safety in his canoe. But, when he had been
absent about an hour, a violent gust of wind and rain arose, in which
he probably perished, as I never heard of him more.
“Thus, after having the pleasure of a companion almost three days,
I was as unexpectedly reduced to my former lonely state, as I had
been relieved from it. Yet through the goodness of God, I was myself
preserved from having been unable to accompany him; and I was left
in better circumstances than those in which he had found me, for now
I had about five pounds of pork, a knife, a bottle of gunpowder,
tobacco, tongs and flint, by which means my life could be rendered
more comfortable. I was enabled to have fire, extremely requisite
at this time, being the rainy months of winter. I could cut up a
tortoise, and have a delicate broiled meal. Thus, by the help of the
fire, and dressed provisions, through the blessings of God, I began
to receive strength, though the soreness of my feet remained. But I
had, besides, the advantage of being able now and then to catch a dish
of cray fish, which, when roasted, proved good eating. To accomplish
this I made up a small bundle of old broken sticks, nearly resembling
pitch-pine, or candle-wood, and having lighted one end, waded with
it in my hand, up to the waist in water. The cray fish, attracted by
the light, would crawl to my feet and lie directly under it, when, by
means of a forked stick, I could toss them ashore.
“Between two and three months after the time of losing my companion,
I found a small canoe, while ranging along the shore. The sight of
it revived my regret for his loss, for I judged that it had been
his canoe; and, from being washed up here, a certain proof of his
having been lost in the tempest. But on examining it more closely, I
satisfied myself that it was one which I had never seen before....”
Three months after he lost his companion Philip Ashton found a
small canoe which had drifted on the island beach. In this fragile
craft he made his way to another island where he found a company of
buccaneers who chased him through the woods with a volley of musketry.
Re-embarking in his canoe he headed for the western end of this
island and later reached Roatan where he lived alone for seven months
longer. Here he was discovered and hospitably cared for by a number of
Englishmen who had fled from the Bay of Honduras in fear of an attack
by Spaniards. These refugees had planted crop and were living in what
seemed to Philip Ashton as rare comfort. “Yet after all,” he said of
them, “they were bad society, and as to their common conversation there
was but little difference between them and pirates.”
At length this colony of outlaws was attacked and disbanded by a ship’s
company of pirates headed by Spriggs who had thrown off his allegiance
to Low and set up in the business of piracy for himself with a ship of
twenty-four guns and a sloop of twelve.
Ashton evaded their clutches and with one Symonds, who had also fled
from the attack of Spriggs, made his way from one island to another
until he was fortunate enough to find a fleet of English merchant
vessels under convoy of the _Diamond_ man-of-war bound for Jamaica.
They touched at one of these islands near the Bay of Honduras to
fill their water casks and it was there that Ashton found the Salem
brigantine commanded by Captain Dove.
The journal says in conclusion: “Captain Dove not only treated me with
great civility and engaged to give me a passage home but took me into
pay, having lost a seaman whose place he wanted me to supply.
“We sailed along with the _Diamond_, which was bound for Jamaica, in
the latter end of March, 1725, and kept company until the first of
April. By the providence of Heaven we passed safely through the Gulf
of Florida, and reached Salem Harbor on the first of May, two years,
ten months and fifteen days after I was first taken by pirates; and
two years, and two months, after making my escape from them on Roatan
island. That same evening I went to my father’s house, where I was
received as one risen from the dead.”