THE PIRATES OF NEW PROVIDENCE AND THE KINGS OF MADAGASCAR.
Laws and dress--Government--Blackbeard--His enormities--Captain
Avery and the Great Mogul--Davis--Lowther--Low--Roberts--Major
Bonnet--Captain Gow--the Guinea coast.
The last refugee Buccaneers turned pirates, and settled in the island of
New Providence.
The African coast, and not the main, was now their cruising ground, and
Madagascar was their new Tortuga. They no longer warred merely against
the Spaniard--their hands were raised against the world. Their cruelty
was no longer the cruelty of retaliation, but arose from a thirst of
blood, never to be slaked, and still unquenchable. There was no longer
honour among the bands, and they grew as cowardly as they were
ferocious. Flocks of trading vessels were scuttled, but no town
attacked. We waste time even to detail their guilt, and only append the
terrible catalogue as a _finis_ to our narrative.
The following articles, signed by Roberts's crew, may furnish a fair
example of the ordinary rules drawn up by pirate captains:--
"Every man has a vote in affairs of moment, and an equal title to the
fresh provisions or strong liquors at any time seized; which he may use
at pleasure, unless a scarcity make it necessary for the good of all to
vote a retrenchment.
"Every man shall be called fairly in turn by list on board the prizes,
and, over and above their proper share, shall be allowed a change of
clothes. Any man who defrauds the company to the value of a dollar in
plate, jewels, or money, shall be marooned. If the robbery is by a
messmate, the thief shall have his ears and nose slit, and be set on
shore at the place the ship touches at.
"No man shall play at cards or dice for money.
"The lights and candles to be put out at eight o'clock at night. If any
of the crew, after that hour, still remain inclined for drinking, they
are to do it on the open deck.
"Every man shall keep his piece, pistols, and cutlass clean, and fit for
service.
"No woman to be allowed on board. Any man who seduces a woman, and
brings her to sea disguised, shall suffer death.
"Any one deserting the ship, or leaving his quarters during an
engagement, shall be either marooned or put to death.
"No man shall strike another on board, but the disputants shall settle
their quarrel on shore with sword or pistol.
"No man shall talk of breaking up the company till we get each L100.
Every man losing a limb, or becoming a cripple in the service, shall
have 800 dollars, and for lesser hurts proportional recompence.
"The captain and quartermaster shall receive two shares of every prize.
The master, boatswain, and gunner one share and a-half, and all other
officers one and a-quarter.
"The musicians to rest on Sundays, but on no other days without special
favour."
From another set of articles we find, that
"He that shall be found guilty of taking up any unlawful weapon on board
a prize so as to strike a comrade, shall be tried by the captain and
company, and receive due punishment.
"All men guilty of cowardice shall also be tried.
"If any gold, jewels, or silver, to the value of a piece of eight, be
found on board a prize, and the finder do not deliver it to the
quartermaster within twenty-four hours, he shall be put to his trial.
"Any one found guilty of defrauding another to the value of a shilling,
shall be tried.
"Quarter always to be given when called for.
"He that sees a sail first, to have the best pistols or small arms on
board of her."
One of the most cruel of their punishments was "sweating," an ingenuity
probably invented by the London rakes and "scourers" of Charles the
Second's reign. They first stuck up lighted candles circularly round the
mizenmast, between decks, and within this circle admitted the prisoners
one by one. Outside the candles stood the pirates armed with penknives,
tucks, forks, and compasses, and the musicians playing a lively dance,
they drove the prisoner round, pricking him as he passed. This could
seldom be borne more than ten minutes, at the end of which time the
wretch, maddened with fear and pain, generally fell senseless.
Their diversions were as strange as their cruelties. On one occasion
some pirates captured a ship laden with horses, going from Rhode Island
to St. Christopher's. The sailors mounted these beasts, and rode them
backwards and forwards, full gallop, along the decks, cursing and
shouting till the animals grew maddened. When two or three of these
rough riders were thrown, they leaped up and fell on the crew with their
sabres, declaring that they would kill them for not bringing boots and
spurs, without which no man could ride.
In dress the pirates were fantastic and extravagant. Their favourite
ornament was a broad sash slung across the breast and fastened on the
shoulder and hip with coloured ribbons. In this they slung three and
four pairs of pistols, for which, at the sales at the mast, they would
often give L40 a-pair. Gold-laced cocked hats were conspicuous features
of their costume.
For small offences, too insignificant for a jury, the quartermaster was
the arbitrator. If they disobeyed his command, except in time of battle,
when the captain was supreme, were quarrelsome or mutinous, misused
prisoners, or plundered when plundering should cease, or were negligent
of their arms, as the master he might cudgel or whip them. He was, in
fact, the manager of all duels, and the trustee of the whole company,
returning to the owners what he chose (except gold and silver), and
confiscating whatever he thought advisable. The quartermaster was, in
fact, their magistrate, the captain their king.
The captain had always the great cabin to himself, and was often voted
parcels of plate and china. Any sailor, however, might use his
punch-bowl, enter his room, swear at him, and seize his food, without
his daring to find fault, or contest his rights. The captain was
generally chosen for being "pistol proof," and in some cases had as
privy council a certain number of the elder sailors, who were called
"lords."
The captain's power was uncontrollable in time of chase or battle: he
might then strike, stab, or shoot anybody who disobeyed his orders. The
fate of the prisoner depended much upon the captain, who was oftener
inclined to mercy than his crew.
Their flags were generally intended to strike terror. Roberts's was a
black silk flag, with a white skeleton upon it, with an hour-glass in
one hand, and cross-bones in the other, underneath a dart, and a heart
dripping blood. The pennon bore a man with a flaming sword in one hand,
standing on two skulls, one inscribed A.B.H. (a Barbadian's head), and
the other, A.M.H. (a Martiniquian's head).
EDWARD TEACH, _alias_ Blackbeard, was born in Bristol, and at a seaport
town all daring youths turn sailors. He soon became distinguished for
daring and courage, but did not obtain any command till 1716, when a
Captain Benjamin Hornigold gave him the command of a sloop, and became
his partner in piracy, till he surrendered.
In the spring of 1717, the pair sailed from their haunt in New
Providence towards the Spanish main, and taking by the way a shallop
from the Havannah, laden with flour, supplied their own vessels. From a
ship of Bermuda they obtained wine, and from a craft of Madeira they got
considerable plunder.
Careening on the Virginian coast, they returned to the West Indies, and
capturing a large French Guinea-man, bound for Martinique, Teach went
aboard as captain, and started for a cruise. Hornigold, returning to New
Providence, surrendered to proclamation, and gave himself up to Governor
Rogers.
Blackbeard had in the mean time mounted his prize with forty guns, and
christened her the _Queen Anne's Revenge_. Cruising off St. Vincent, he
captured the _Great Allan_, and having plundered her, and set the men on
shore, fired the ship, and let her drift to sea.
A few days after, Teach was attacked by the _Scarborough_ man-of-war,
who, finding him well manned, retired to Barbadoes, after a cannonade of
some hours. On his way to the mainland, Teach was joined by Major
Bonnet, a gentleman planter, turned pirate, who joined with him,
commanding a sloop of ten guns. Finding he knew nothing of naval
affairs, Teach soon deposed him, and took him on board his own ship, on
pretext of relieving him from the fatigues and cares of such a post,
wishing him, as he said, to live easy and do no duty.
While taking in water near the Bay of Honduras, they surprised a sloop
from Jamaica, which surrendered without a blow, striking sail at the
first terror of the black flag. The men they took on board Teach's
vessel, and manned it for their own use.
At Honduras they found a ship and four sloops, some from Jamaica, and
some from Boston. The Americans deserted one vessel, and escaped on
shore, and the pirates burnt it in revenge. The other vessel they also
burnt, because some pirate had been lately hung at Boston. The three
sloops they allowed to depart.
Taking turtles at the Grand Caiman's islands, they sailed to the
Havannah, and from the Bahamas went to Carolina, capturing a brigantine
and two sloops. For six days they lay off the bar of Charlestown, taking
many vessels, and a brigantine laden with negroes. The people of
Carolina, who had not long before been visited by the pirate Vane, were
dumb with terror. No vessel dared put out, and the trade of the place
stood still. To add to these misfortunes, a long and expensive war with
the natives, only just concluded, had much impoverished the colony.
Teach detained all the ships and prisoners, and being in want of
medicines, sent a boat's crew of men ashore, with one of the prisoners,
to ask the governor to supply him with the drugs. The pirates were
insolent in their demands, and, swearing horribly, vowed, if any
violence was offered to them, that their captain would murder all the
prisoners, send their heads to the governor, and then fire the vessels
and slip cable. These rude ambassadors swaggered through the streets,
insulting the inhabitants, who longed to seize them, but dared not, for
fear of endangering the town. The governor did not deliberate long, for
one of his brother magistrates was in the murderer's hands, and at once
sent on board a chest, worth about L400, which the pirates returned with
in triumph. Blackbeard then released the prisoners, having first taken
about L1500 out of the ships, besides provisions.
From the bar of Charlestown the kingly villains sailed to North
Carolina, where Teach broke up the partnership, objecting to any
division of money, preferring all the risk and all the profit. Running
into an inlet to clean, he purposely grounded his ship, and Hands,
another captain, coming to his assistance, ran ashore by his side. He
then with forty men took possession of the third vessel, and marooned
seventeen other men upon a sandy island, about a league from the main,
where neither herb grew nor bird visited. Here they would have perished,
had not Major Bonnet taken them off two days after.
Teach then surrendered himself, with twenty of his men, to the Governor
of North Carolina, and received certificates and pardons from him,
having soon crept into his favour. Through the governor's permission,
the _Queen Anne's Revenge_, though avowedly the property of English
merchants, was forfeited by an Admiralty Court, as a Spaniard, and
declared the property of Teach. Before setting out again to sea
Blackbeard married his fourteenth wife, twelve more being still alive.
The governor, who seems to have been half a pirate, and wholly a rogue,
performed the ceremony.
In June, 1718, he steered towards Bermudas, and meeting several English
vessels, plundered them of provisions. He also captured two French
vessels, one of which was loaded with sugar and cocoa, and bound to
Martinico. The loaded vessel he brought home, and the governor, calling
a court, condemned it as a derelict, and divided the plunder with Teach,
receiving sixty hogsheads of sugar as his dividend, and his secretary
twenty. For fear the vessel might still be claimed, Teach declared it
was leaky, and burnt her to the water's edge.
He now spent three or four months in the river, lying at anchor in the
coves, or sailing from inlet to inlet, bartering his plunder with any
ship he met, giving presents to the friendly, and ransacking those who
resisted. His nights he spent in revelries with the planters, to whom he
made presents of rum and sugar, sometimes, when he grew moody, laying
them under contribution, and even bullying his confederate, the
villainous governor.
The plundered sloops, finding no justice could be obtained in Carolina,
determined with great secresy to send a deputation to the Governor of
Virginia, and to solicit a man-of-war to destroy the pirates.
The governor instantly complied with their request. The next Sunday a
proclamation was read in every church and chapel in Virginia, and by the
sheriffs at their country houses. For Blackbeard's head L100 was
offered, if brought in within the year, for his lieutenant's L20, for
inferior officers L10, and for the common sailors L10. The _Pearl_ and
_Lime_, men-of-war, lying in St. James's river, manned a couple of small
sloops, supplied by the governor. They had no guns mounted, but were
well supplied with small arms and ammunition. The command was given to
Lieutenant Robert Maynard, of the _Pearl_, a man of courage and
resolution.
On the 7th of November the Lieutenant sailed from Picquetan, and on the
evening of the 21st reached the mouth of the Ollereco inlet, and
sighted the pirates. Great secresy was observed: all boats and vessels
met going up the river were stopped to prevent Blackbeard knowing of
their approach. But the governor contrived to put him on his guard, and
sent back four of his men, whom he found lounging about the town.
Blackbeard, frequently alarmed by such reports, gave no credit to the
messenger, till he saw the sloops. He instantly cleared his decks,
having only twenty-five of his forty men on board. Having prepared for
battle with all the coolness of an old desperado, he spent the night in
drinking with the master of a trading sloop, who seemed to be in his
pay.
Maynard, finding the place shoal and the channel intricate, dropped
anchor, knowing there was no reaching the pirate that night. The next
morning early he weighed, sent his boat ahead to sound, and, coming
within gunshot of Teach, received his fire. The lieutenant then, boldly
hoisting the king's colours, made at him with all speed of sail and oar,
part of his men keeping up a discharge of small arms. Teach then cut
cable and made a running fight, discharging his big guns. In a little
time the pirate ran aground, and the royal vessel drawing more water
anchored within half a gunshot. The lieutenant then threw his ballast
overboard, staved all his water, and then weighed and stood in for the
enemy.
Blackbeard, loudly cursing, hailed him. "D---- you villains, who are
you? From whence come you?" The lieutenant replied, "You see by our
colours we are no pirates." Teach bade him send a boat on board that he
might know who he was. Maynard answered that he could not spare his
boat, but would soon board with his sloop. Whereupon Blackbeard,
drinking to him, cried, "Devil seize my soul if I give you quarter or
take any." Maynard at once replied, "He should neither give nor take
quarter."
By this Blackbeard's sloop floated, and the royal boats were fast
approaching.
The sloops being scarcely a foot high in the waist, the men were exposed
as they toiled at the sweeps. Hitherto few on either side had fallen.
Suddenly Blackbeard poured in a broadside of grape, and killed twenty
men on board one ship and nine on board the other; his vessel then fell
broadside to the shore to keep its one side protected, and the disabled
sloop fell astern. The Virginia men still kept to their oars, however
exposed, because otherwise, there being no wind, the pirate would
certainly have escaped.
Maynard finding his own sloop had way, and would soon be on board,
ordered his men all down below, for fear of another broadside, which
would have been his total destruction. He himself was the only man that
kept the deck, even the man at the helm lying down snug; the men in the
hold were ordered to get their pistols and cutlasses ready for close
fighting, and to come up the companion at a moment's signal. Two ladders
were placed in the hatchway ready for the word. As they boarded, Teach's
men threw in grenades made of case-bottles, filled with powder, shot,
and slugs, and fired with a quick match. Blackbeard, seeing no one on
board, cried out, "They are all knocked on the head except three or
four, and therefore I will jump on board and cut to pieces those that
are still alive."
Under smoke of one of the fire-pots he leaped over the sloop's bows,
followed by fourteen men. For a moment he was not heard, during the
explosion, nor seen for the smoke. Directly the air cleared Maynard gave
the signal, and his men, rising in an instant, attacked the pirates with
a rush and a cheer.
Blackbeard and the lieutenant fired the first pistols at each other, and
then engaged with sabres till the lieutenant's broke. Stepping back to
cock his pistol, Blackbeard was in the act of cutting him down, when one
of Maynard's men gave the pirate a terrible gash in the throat, and the
lieutenant escaped with a small cut over his fingers.
They were now hotly engaged, Blackbeard and his fourteen men--the
lieutenant and his twelve. The sea grew red round the vessel. The ball
from Maynard's first pistol shot Blackbeard in the body, but he stood
his ground, and fought with fury till he received twenty cuts and five
more shot. Having already fired several pistols (for he wore many in his
sash), he fell dead as he was cocking another. Eight of his fourteen
companions having now fallen, the rest, much wounded, leaped overboard
and called for quarter, which was granted till the gibbet could be got
ready.
The other vessel now coming up attacked the rest of the pirates, and
compelled them to surrender. So ended a man that in a good cause had
proved a Leonidas.
With great guns the lieutenant might have destroyed him with less loss,
but no large vessel would have got up the river, so shallow, that, small
as it was, the sloop grounded a hundred times. The very broadside,
although destructive, saved the lives of the survivors, for Blackbeard,
expecting to be boarded, had placed a daring fellow, a negro named
Caesar, in the powder room, with orders to blow it up at a given signal.
It was with great difficulty that two prisoners in the hold dissuaded
him from the deed when he heard of his captain's death.
The lieutenant cutting off Blackbeard's head, hung it at his boltsprit
end, and sailed into Bath Town to get relief for his wounded men. In
rummaging the sloop, the connivance of the governor was detected; the
secretary, falling sick with fear, died in a few days, and the governor
was compelled to refund the hogsheads.
When the wounded men began to recover, the lieutenant sailed back into
James's river, with the black head still hanging from the spar, and
bringing fifteen prisoners, thirteen of whom were hung.
Of the two survivors, one was an unlucky fellow captured only the night
before the engagement, who had received no less than seventy wounds, but
was cured of them all and recovered. The other was the master of the
pirate sloop, who had been shot by Blackbeard, and put on shore at Bath
Town. His wound he received in the following way: One night, drinking in
the cabin with the mate, a pilot, and another sailor, Blackbeard,
without any provocation, drew out a small pair of pistols and cocked
them under the table. The sailor, perceiving this, said nothing, but
got up and went on deck. The pistols being ready, Blackbeard blew out
the candle, and, crossing his hands under the table, discharged the
pistols. The master fell shot through the knee, lamed for life, the
other bullet hit no one. Being asked the meaning of this cruelty,
Blackbeard answered, by swearing that if he did not kill one of them now
and then, they would forget who he was.
This man was about to be executed, when a ship arrived from England with
a proclamation prolonging the time of pardon to those who would
surrender. He pleaded this, was released, and ended his days as a beggar
in London.
It is a singular fact that many of Blackbeard's captors themselves
eventually turned pirates.
Teach derived his nickname from his long black beard, which he twisted
with ribbons into small tails, and turned about his ears. This beard was
more terrible to America than a comet, say his historians. In time of
action he wore a sling over his shoulders, with three brace of pistols
hanging to it in holsters like bandoliers. He then stuck lighted matches
under his hat, and this, with his natural fierce and wild eyes, gave him
the aspect of a demon.
His frolics were truly satanic, and only madness can furnish us with any
excuse for such crimes. Pre-eminent in wickedness, he was constantly
resorting to artifices to maintain that pre-eminence. One day at sea,
when flushed with drink, "Come," said he, "let us make a hell of our
own, and try how long we can bear it." He then, with two or three
others, went down into the hold, and, closing up all the hatches,
lighted some pots of brimstone, and continued till the men, nearly
suffocated, cried for air and pushed up the hatches. Blackbeard
triumphed in having held out longest.
The night before he was killed, as he was drinking, one of his men asked
him, if anything should happen to him, if his wife knew where he had
buried his money. He answered that nobody but himself and the devil
knew where it was, and the longest liver should have all.
These blasphemies had filled the crew with superstitious fears, and
perhaps unnerved their arms in the last struggle. The survivors declared
that, once upon a cruise, a man was found on board more than the crew,
sometimes below and sometimes above. No one knew whence he came and who
he was, but believed him to be the devil, as he disappeared shortly
before their great ship was cast away.
In Blackbeard's journal were found many entries illustrating the fear
and misery of a pirate's life. For instance--
"3rd June, all rum out; our company somewhat sober; rogues a plotting;
great talk of separation; so I looked sharp for a prize. 5th June, took
one with a great deal of liquor on board, so kept the company hot, d----
hot; then all things went well again."
Some sugar, cocoa, indigo, and cotton were found on board the pirate
sloops, and some in a tent on the shore. This, with the sloop, sold for
L2500. The whole was divided amongst the crews of the _Lime_ and
_Pearl_, the brave captors getting no more than their dividend, and that
very tardily paid, as such things usually are by English governments.
CAPTAIN ENGLAND began life as mate of a Jamaica sloop, and being taken
by a pirate named Winter, before Providence was turned into a freebooter
fortress, became master of a piratical vessel. He soon became remarkable
for his courage and generosity.
When Providence was taken by the English, England sailed to the African
coast, a hot place, but not too hot for him, like the shores of the
main. He here took several ships, among others the _Cadogan_, bound from
Bristol to Sierra Leone--Skinner, master. Some of England's crew had
formerly served in this ship, and, having proved mutinous, had been
mulcted of their wages and sent on board a man of war, from whence
deserting to a West Indian sloop, they were taken by pirates, and
eventually joined England and started for a cruise.
As soon as Skinner struck to the black flag, he was ordered on board
the pirate. The first person he saw was his old boatswain, who addressed
him with a sneer of suppressed hatred. "Ah, Captain Skinner," said he,
"is that you? the very man I wished to see. I am much in your debt, and
will pay you now in your own coin."
The brave seaman trembled, for he knew his fate, and shuddered as an ox
does when it smells the blood of a slaughter-house. The boatswain,
instantly shouting to his companions, bound the captain fast to the
windlass. They then, amidst roars of cruel laughter, pelted him with
glass bottles till he was cut and gashed in a dreadful manner. After
this, they whipped him round the deck till they were weary, in spite of
his prayers and entreaties. At last, vowing that he should have an easy
death, as he had been a good master to his men, they shot him through
the head. England then plundered the vessel and gave it to the mate and
the crew of murderers, and they sailed with it till they reached death's
door, and the port whose name is terrible.
Taking soon after a ship called the _Pearl_, England fitted her up for
his own use, and re-christened her the _Royal James_. With her they took
several vessels of various nations at the Azores and Cape de Verd
Islands.
In 1719 the rovers returned to Africa, and, beginning at the river
Gambia, sailed all down the torrid coast as far as Cape Corso. In this
trip they captured the _Eagle Pink_, six guns, the _Charlotte_, eight
guns, the _Sarah_, four guns, the _Wentworth_, twelve guns, the _Buck_,
two guns, the _Castanet_, four guns, the _Mercury_, four guns, the
_Coward_, two guns, and the _Elizabeth_ and _Catherine_, six guns. Three
of these vessels they let go, and four they burnt. Two they fitted up as
pirates, and calling them the _Queen Anne's Revenge_ and the _Flying
King_, many of the prisoners joined their bands.
These two ships sailed to the West Indies, and careening, started for
Brazil, taking several Portuguese vessels, but were finally driven off
by a Portuguese man-of-war. The _Revenge_ escaped, but soon after went
down at sea; the _Flying King_ ran ashore; twelve of the seventy men
were killed, and the rest taken prisoners. Thirty-two English, three
Dutch, and two Frenchmen of these were at once hung.
But to return to England. In going down the coast, he captured two more
vessels, and detained one, releasing the other. Two other ships, seeing
them coming, got safe under the guns of Cape Corso castle. The pirates,
turning their last prize into a fire-ship, resolved to destroy both the
fugitives, but, the castle firing hotly upon them, they retreated, and
at Whydah road found Captain la Bouche, another pirate, had forestalled
their market.
Here England fitted up a Bristol galley for his own use, calling it the
_Victory_. Committing many insolences on shore, the negroes rose upon
them and compelled them to retire to their ship, when they had fired one
village, and killed many of the natives.
They now put it to the vote what voyage to take, and, deciding for the
East Indies, arrived at Madagascar (1720), and, taking in water and
provisions, sailed for the coast of Malabar, in the Mogul's territory.
They took several Indian vessels, and one Dutch, which they exchanged
for one of their own, and then returned to Madagascar. England now sent
some men on shore, with tents, powder, and shot, to kill hogs, and
procure venison, but they searched in vain for Avery's men.
Cleaning their ships, they then set sail for Panama, falling in with two
English ships, and one Dutch, all Indiamen. Fourteen of La Bouche's crew
boarded the Englishmen in canoes, declaring that they belonged to the
_Indian Queen_, twenty-eight guns, which had been lost on that coast,
and that their captain, with forty men, was building a new vessel. The
two English captains, Mackra and Reily, were about to sink and destroy
these castaways, when England's two vessels, of thirty-four and
thirty-eight guns, stood in to the bay. In spite of all promises of aid,
the _Ostender_ and _Kirby_ deserted Mackra, a breeze admitting of their
escape, while the pirate's black and bloody flags were still flaunting
the air. Mackra, undaunted by their desertion, fought desperately for
three hours, beating off one of the pirates, striking her between wind
and water, and shooting away their oars, when they put out their sweeps
and tried to board. Mackra being wounded in the head, and most of his
officers killed, ran ashore, and England following, ran also aground,
and failed in boarding. The engagement then commenced with fresh vigour,
and, had Kirby come up, the pirates would have been driven off. England,
obtaining three boats full of fresh men, was now in the ascendant, and
soon after Kirby stood out to sea, leaving his companion in the very
jaws of death. Mackra, seeing death inevitable, lowered the boats and
escaped to land, under cover of the smoke, and the pirate, soon after
boarding, cut three of their wounded men in pieces. The survivors fled
to Kingstown, a place twenty-five miles distant.
England offered 10,000 dollars for Mackra's head, but the king and chief
people being in his interest, and a report being spread of his death, he
remained safe for ten days, then obtaining a safe conduct from the
pirate, Mackra had an interview with their chief. England and some men
who had once sailed with Mackra protected him from those who would have
cut him to pieces, with all who would not turn rovers. Finding that they
talked of burning their own ships, and refitting the English prize,
Mackra prevailed on them to give him the shattered ship, the _Fancy_, of
Dutch build, and 300 tons burden, and also to return 129 bales of the
Company's cloth.
Fitting up jury masts, Mackra sailed for Bombay, with forty-five
sailors, two passengers, and twelve soldiers, arriving after much
suffering, and a passage of forty-three days, frequently becalmed
between Arabia and Malabar. In the engagement he had thirteen men killed
and twenty-four wounded, and killed nearly a hundred of the pirates. If
Kirby had proved staunch, he might have destroyed them both, and secured
L100,000 of booty. Opposed to him were 300 whites and eighty blacks. We
are happy to record that this brave fellow was well rewarded, and
honoured with fresh command.
Nothing but despair could have driven Mackra, he said in his published
account, to throw himself upon the pirates' mercy, still wounded and
bleeding as they were. He did not either seem to know how friendly the
Guiana people were to the English, so much so, that there was a proverb,
"A Guiana man and an Englishman are all one."
When he first came on board, England took him aside and told him that
his interest was declining among his crew, that they were provoked at
his opposition to their cruelty, and that he should not be able to
protect him. He advised him, therefore, to win over Captain Taylor, a
man who had become a favourite amongst them by his superiority in
wickedness. Mackra tried to soften this wretch with a bowl of punch, and
the pirates were in a tumult whether to kill him or no, when a sailor,
stuck round with pistols, came stumping upon a wooden leg up the
quarterdeck and asked for Captain Mackra, swearing and vapouring, and
twirling a tremendous pair of whiskers. The captain, expecting he was
his executioner, called out his name. To his delight, the bravo seized
him by the hand, and, shaking it violently, swore he was d----d glad to
see him. "Show me the man," cries he, "that dares offer to hurt Captain
Mackra, for I'll stand by him; he's an honest fellow, and I know him
well."
This put an end to the dispute. Taylor consented to give the ship, and
fell asleep on the deck. Mackra put off instantly, by England's advice,
lest the monster should awake and change his mind.
This clemency soon led to England's deposition, and on a rumour that
Mackra was fitting out a force against them, he was marooned with three
more on the island of Mauritius, and making a boat of drift wood,
escaped to Madagascar.
The pirate, detaining some of Mackra's men, set sail for the Indies.
Seeing two ships which they supposed to be English, they commanded one
of their prisoners to show them the Company's private signals, or they
would cut him in pound pieces. On approaching, they proved to be Moorish
ships from Muscat, loaded with horses. They rifled the ships and put
the officers to the torture, and left them without sails and with the
masts cut through.
The next day they fell in with the Bombay fleet of eight vessels and 100
men, despatched to attack Angria, a Malabar chief. Afraid to show their
fear, the pirates attacked the fleet and destroyed two laggers,
torturing the crew and sending them adrift. The commodore of the fleet
would not fight the pirates without orders, which so enraged the
governor of Bombay, that he appointed Mackra the commander, and enjoined
him to pursue and engage England wherever he met him.
Some time after this, the same fleet, aided by the Viceroy of Goa,
landed 10,000 men at Calabar, Angria's stronghold, but were compelled to
retreat.
The next day between Goa and Carwar the pirates drove two grabs under
the guns of India-diva castle, and would have taken the island but for
the delay. At Carwar they took a ship, and sent in a prisoner to demand
water and provisions, for which they offered to surrender their prize.
Failing in this they sailed for the Laccadeva islands, and landing at
Melinda, violated the women, destroyed the cocoa trees, and burnt the
churches. At Tellechery they heard of Mackra's expedition, and cursed
his ingratitude. Some wished to hang the dogs who were left, but the
majority agreed to keep them alive to show their contempt and revenge.
At Calicut they attempted to take a large Moorish ship in the roads, but
were prevented by some guns mounted on the shore. One of Mackra's men
they obliged to tend the braces on the booms amid all the fire. When he
refused, they threatened to shoot him or loaded him with blows. His old
tormentor, Captain Taylor, being gouty, could not hold a cudgel. Some
interceded for him, but Taylor declared if he was let go he would
disclose all their plans.
They next arrived at Cochin, and, sending on shore a fishing boat with a
letter, ran into the road, saluting the fort. At night boats came off
with provisions and liquor. The governor sent a boat full of arrack and
sixty bales of sugar, and received in return a present of a table clock,
and a gold watch for his daughter. The boatmen they paid some L7000, and
threw them handfuls of ducatoons to scramble for. The fiscal brought out
cloths and piece goods for sale, but the fort opened fire when they
chased a vessel under its shelter. They were soon after chased by five
tall ships, supposed to be Mackra's, but escaped. Their Christmas for
three days they spent in a carouse, using the greater part of their
fresh provisions, so that in their voyage to the Mauritius they were
reduced to a bottle of water and two pounds of beef a day for ten men.
Fitting up at Mauritius, they sailed again in two months, leaving this
inscription on one of the walls: "Left this place the 5th of April, to
go to Madagascar for limes." At the island of Mascarius they fell upon a
great prize, finding the Viceroy of Goa in a Portuguese ship of seventy
guns, lying dismasted on the shore. Of diamonds alone she had a cargo
worth four millions of dollars. The viceroy coming calmly on board,
taking them for English, was captured with all his officers, and
ransomed for 2000 dollars. To the leeward of the island they found an
Ostend vessel, which they sent to Madagascar to prepare masts for the
prize, and followed soon after with a cargo of 2000 Mozambique negroes.
When they reached Madagascar they found that the Dutch crew had made the
pirates drunk, and sailed back to Mozambique, and from thence to Goa
with the governor.
They now divided their plunder, most of them receiving forty-two small
diamonds as their share. The madman, who obtained one large one, broke
it in a mortar, swearing he had got now a better share than any of them,
for he had forty-three sparks.
Some of the pirates now gave up their wild life and settled in
_matelotage_ at Madagascar, on the tontine principle of the longest
liver inheriting all.
The two prizes were then burnt, and Taylor sailed for Cochin to sell his
diamonds to the Dutch, and thence to the Red and China Seas, to avoid
the English men-of-war.
The pirates, about this time, had 11 sail and 1500 men in the Indian
seas, but soon separated for the coast of Brazil and Guinea, or to
settle and fortify themselves at Madagascar, Mauritius, Johanna, and
Mohilla. A pirate named Condin, in a ship called the _Dragon_, took a
vessel from Mocha with thirteen lacs of rupees (130,000 half-crowns),
and burning the ship settled at Madagascar. The commander of the English
fleet, still in pursuit of these pirates, attempted to prevail on
England to serve him as spy and pilot, but in vain.
Taylor, resolving to sail to the Indies, but hearing of the four
men-of-war, started for the African main, and put into Delagoa,
destroying a small fort of six guns. This fort belonged to the Dutch
East India Company, but its 150 men had been deserted, and left to pine
away and starve; sixteen turned pirates, but the rest, being Dutch, were
left to die. They stayed in this den of fever three months, and having
careened, paid the Dutch with bales of muslins and chintzes.
Some now left, and returned to settle in Madagascar. The rest sailed for
the West Indies, and, escaping the fangs of two English men-of-war,
surrendered themselves to the Governor of Porto Bello. Eight of them
afterwards passed to Jamaica as shipwrecked sailors, and shipped for
England. Captain Taylor entered the Spanish service, and commanded the
man-of-war that afterwards attacked the English logwood-cutters in the
bay of Honduras, and caused the Spanish war.
CAPTAIN AVERY was a more remarkable man than England, and his ambition
of a wider kind. He was a native of Plymouth, and served as mate of a
merchant vessel in several voyages. Before the peace of Ryswick, the
French of Martinique carried on a smuggling trade with the natives of
Peru, in spite of the Spanish _guarda costas_. The Spaniards, finding
their vessels too weak for the French, hired two Bristol vessels of
thirty guns and 220 men, which were to sail first to Corunna or the
Groine, and from thence to the main.
Of one of these ships, the _Duke_, Gibson was commander, and Avery first
mate. Avery, planning with the boldest and most turbulent of the crew,
plotted to run away with the vessels, and turn pirates on the Indian
coasts.
The captain, a man much addicted to drink, had gone to bed, when sixteen
conspirators from the other vessel, the _Duchess_, came on board and
joined the company. Their watchword was, "Is your drunken boatswain on
board?" Securing the hatches, they slipped their cable and put to sea,
without any disorder, although surrounded by vessels. A Dutch frigate of
forty guns refused to interrupt their progress, although offered a
reward.
The captain, awoke by the motion of the ship and the noise of working
the tackle, rang his bell, and Avery and two others entered the cabin.
The captain, frightened and thinking the ship had broken from her
anchors, asked, "What was the matter?" Avery replied coolly, "Nothing."
The captain answered, "Something has happened to the ship; does she
drive? what weather is it?" "No, no," said Avery, "we're at sea with a
fair wind and good weather." "At sea?" said the captain, "how can that
be?" Upon which Avery told him to get up and put on his clothes, and he
could tell him a secret, for he (Avery) was captain, and that was his
cabin, and that he was on his way to Madagascar to make his fortune and
that of all the brave fellows who were with him.
Avery then bade the captain not to be afraid, for if he was sober and
minded his business, he might in time make him one of his lieutenants.
At his request, however, he sent him on shore with six others.
On reaching Madagascar they found two sloops lying at anchor, which the
men had run away with from the West Indies, and who, taking his vessel
for a frigate, fled into the woods and posted themselves in a strong
place with sentinels. Discovering their mistake, after some cautious
parleying, they united together and sailed for the Arabian coast. Near
the river Indus they espied a sail and gave chase, believing they had
caught a Dutch East Indian ship, but found it to be one of the Great
Mogul's vessels, carrying his daughter with pilgrims and offerings to
Mecca. The sloops boarded her on either side, and she at once struck her
colours. The Indian ship was loaded with treasure, the slaves and
attendants richly clad and covered with jewels, and all having vessels
of gold and silver, and large sums of money to defray their expenses in
the land journey.
Taking all the treasure, they let the princess go, and the ship put back
for India. The Mogul, on learning it, threatened to drive the English
from India with fire and sword, but the Company contrived to pacify him
by promising to deliver up to him the pirate ship and her crew.
The rumours of this adventure occasioned a report at Wapping that Jack
Avery had married the Great Mogul's daughter, founded an empire, and
purchased a fleet.
Avery, having secured his prize, determined to return to Madagascar,
build a fort and magazine where he could leave a garrison to overawe
the natives when he was absent on a cruise. A fresh scheme suggesting
itself, he resolved to plunder his friends the sloops, and return to New
Providence. He began by sending a boat on board each of his allies,
desiring their captain to come and attend a general council. At this
meeting he represented to them that if they were separated in a storm
they must be taken, and the treasure would then be lost to the rest. He
therefore proposed, as his ship was so strong that it could hold its own
against any vessel they could meet with on those seas, to put the
treasure on board in his care, in a chest sealed with three seals, and
that a rendezvous should be appointed in case of separation. The two
captains at once agreed to the proposal as manifestly for the common
good.
That day and the next the weather was fair, and they all kept company.
In the mean time Avery persuaded his men to abscond with the plunder,
and escape to some country where they might spend the rest of their days
in splendour and luxury. Taking advantage of a dark night, they steered
a new course, and by morning had lost sight of the outwitted sloops.
Avery now resolved to steer for America, change his name, purchase a
settlement, and die in peace and charity with all the world--a calm,
rich Christian. They first visited New Providence, afraid that they
might be detected in New England as the deserters from the Groine
expedition. Avery, pretending that his vessel was a privateer that had
missed her mark and was sold by the owners, disposed of her to good
advantage, and bought a sloop.
In this vessel he touched at several parts of the American coast, giving
his men their dividends, and allowing those who chose to leave the ship.
The greater part of the diamonds he had concealed at the first plunder
of the vessel. Some of his men settled at Boston; but he, afraid of
selling his diamonds in New England, betook himself with a few
companions to Ireland, putting into one of the northern ports, and
avoiding St. George's Channel. The sailors now dispersed. Some went to
Dublin, and some to Cork, to obtain pardons from King William.
Avery, still afraid of being apprehended as a pirate if he offered his
diamonds for sale, passed over to England, and sent for some Bristol
friends to Bideford. They agreed, for a commission, to put the stones
into the hands of Bristol merchants who, being men of wealth and credit,
would not be suspected. The merchants, after some negotiation, visited
him at Bideford, and, after many protestations of honour and integrity,
received several packets of diamonds and some vessels of gold to dispose
of. They gave him some money for his present necessities and departed.
Changing his name Avery continued to live at Bideford, visited by those
relations to whom he confided his secret. The merchants, after many
letters and much importunity, sent him small supplies of money, scarce
sufficient to pay his debts and buy him bread. Weary of this life, he
ventured over privately to Bristol, and to his dismay, when he desired
them to come to an account with him, they threatened to proclaim him as
a pirate, for men who had been robbed by him could be found on the
'Change, in the docks, or in any street.
Afraid of their threats (for he never showed much personal courage), or
detected by some sailor, he fled to Ireland, and from thence again
solicited the merchants, but in vain, for a supply. In a short time
reduced to beggary, he resolved to throw himself upon their throats, and
obtain money or revenge, and, working his passage on board a trading
vessel to Plymouth, travelled on foot to Bideford. In a few days he fell
sick and died, and was buried at the expense of the parish.
To return to the deserted crews of the sloops. They, believing the
separation an accident, sailed at once to the rendezvous, and then
discovering the cheat, and having no more fresh provisions, resolved to
establish themselves on land. They therefore made tents of their sails,
and unloaded their vessels. On shore they were joined by the crew of a
privateer which had been despatched by the government of Bermuda to take
the French factory of Goree, in the river Gambia, and had turned
pirates by the way, Captain Tew, their captain, capturing a large
Arabian vessel in the strait of Babelmandel, in spite of its crew and
300 soldiers. By this prize his men gained L3000 a-piece, and but for
the cowardice and mutiny of the quartermaster and some others would have
captured five other ships. This leading to a quarrel, the band left off
pirating, and retired to Madagascar. Captain Tew sailed to Rhode Island,
and obtained a pardon.
The pirates lived at Madagascar like little princes, each with his
harem, and with large retinues of slaves, whom they employed in fishing,
hunting, and planting rice. The English sided with some of the negro
princes in their wars, and struck such terror in their adversaries by
their fire-arms, that whole armies fled at the sight of two or three of
the white faces. At first, these piratical chieftains waged war on each
other, but at last, alarmed by a revolt of the negroes, united in strict
union.
Before this they tied their slaves to trees, and shot them to death for
the smallest offence; and at last the negroes, uniting in a general
conspiracy, resolved to murder them all in one night. As they lived
apart, this would undoubtedly have been done, had not one of their black
concubines run nearly twenty miles in three hours to discover the plot.
They instantly, upon this alarm, flocked together in arms, and compelled
the advancing negroes to retire. This escape made them very cautious.
They therefore fomented war between the native tribes, but henceforward
remained neutral. All murderers and outlaws they took under their
protection, and turned into body-guards, whilst the vanquished they
defended. By this diplomacy, worthy of the most civilized people, they
soon grew so powerful and numerous as to be compelled to branch out in
colonies, parting into tribes, each with their wives and children.
They had now all the power and all the fears of despotism. Their houses
were citadels, and every hut a fortress. They generally chose a place
overgrown with wood, and situated near a spring or pool. Round this
spot they raised a rampart, encircled by a fosse. This wall was straight
and steep, could not be ascended without scaling ladders, and had but
one entrance. The hut was so hidden that it might not be seen at a
distance. The passage that led to it was intricate, labyrinthine, and
narrow, so that only one person could walk it abreast, and the path
wound round and round, with so many cross-paths, that any one
uninitiated might search for hours and not find the cabin. All along the
sides of the path, huge thorns peculiar to the island were stuck into
the ground, with points uppermost, like _chevaux-de-frise_, sufficient
to impale the assailant who ventured by night.
These men were found in this state by Captain Woods Rogers, when he
visited Madagascar in the _Delicia_ (40 guns), wishing to buy slaves, to
sell to the Dutch of New Holland. The men he met had been twenty-five
years on the island, and had not seen a ship for seven years. The petty
kings of the bush were covered with untanned skins, and were savage
wretches, overgrown with beard and hair. They bartered slaves for
cloths, knives, saws, powder, and ball. They went aboard the _Delicia_
and examined her with care, and, talking familiarly with the men,
invited them on shore, intending to surprise the ship by night when
there was a slender watch kept, having plenty of boats and arms. They
wanted the men to surprise the captain, and clap those who resisted
under hatches. At a given signal, the negroes were to row on board, and
then all would start as pirates and roam round the world. The captain,
observing the intimacy, would not suffer his men to even speak with the
islanders, choosing an officer to negotiate with them for slaves.
These pirate kings were all foremast men, and could read no more than
their chief secretaries could write. The chief prince of this Newgate
paradise had been a Thames waterman, who had committed a murder on the
river.
As even a few years since an old sailor at Minehead was known as the
"King of Madagascar," we suppose divine right and hereditary succession
still continue in that Eden of gaol-birds.
During the time of war the pirates diminished in number and turned
privateersmen, but increased at the peace of Utrecht, when the disbanded
privateersmen again turned thieves for want of excitement and some more
honest employment.
About 1716, Captain Martel appeared as commander of a pirate sloop of
eight guns and eighty men, that, cruising off Jamaica, captured a galley
and another small vessel, from the former of which he plundered L1000.
In their way to Cuba they took two more sloops, which they rummaged and
let go, and off Cavena hoisted the black flag, and boarded a galley of
twenty guns, called the _John and Martha_. Part of the men they put
ashore and part enrolled in the crew.
The cargo of logwood and sugar they seized, and, taking down one of the
ship's decks, mounted her with twenty-two guns and 100 men, and
proceeded to cruise off the Leeward Islands, capturing a sloop, a
brigantine, and a Newfoundland vessel of twenty guns.
They soon after plundered a Jamaica vessel, and two ships from
Barbadoes, detaining all the best men, and from a Guinea galley they
stole some gold dust, elephants' teeth, and forty slaves.
In 1717, they put into Santa Cruz to clean and refit with a small
piratical fleet of five vessels, warping up a little creek, very
shallow, but guarded by rocks and sands. They then erected a battery of
four guns on the island, and another of two guns near the road, while a
sloop with eight guns protected the mouth of the channel.
In November, 1716, the commander-in-chief of all the Leeward islands
sent a sloop to Barbadoes for the _Scarborough_, of thirty guns and 140
men, to inform her of the pirate. The captain had just buried twenty
men, and having forty sick could scarcely put out to sea. However,
putting on a bold heart, he left his sick behind and beat up for
recruits at all the islands he passed. At Antigua he took in twenty
soldiers, at Nevis ten, and the same number at St. Christopher's.
Unable to find the pirate, he was on the point of putting back, when a
boat from Santa Cruz informed him of a creek where he had seen a vessel
enter. The _Scarborough_ instantly sailed to the spot and discovered the
pirates, but the pilot refused to enter. The pirates all this while
fired red-hot shot from the shore; but at length the ship anchored
alongside the reef and cannonaded the vessels and batteries. The sloop
in the channel soon sank, and the larger vessel was much punished, but
the _Scarborough_, fearing the reef, stood off and on for a day or two
and blockaded the creek. The pirates, endeavouring to warp out and slip
away, ran aground, and, seeing the _Scarborough_ again standing in,
fired the ship and ran ashore, leaving twenty negroes to perish.
Nineteen escaped in a sloop, and the captain and twenty other negroes
fled to the woods, where it is supposed they perished, as they were
never heard of again.
Captain CHARLES VANE, our next Viking, is known as one of the men who
helped to steal the silver which the Spaniards had fished up from their
sunk galleons in the gulf of Florida.
When Captain Rogers with his two men-of-war conquered Providence, and
pardoned all the pirates who submitted, Vane slipped his cable, fired a
prize in the harbour, hoisted the black flag, and, firing a broadside at
one of the men-of-war, sailed boldly away. Capturing a Barbadoes vessel,
he manned it with twenty-five hands, and, unloading an interloper of its
pieces of eight, careened at a key, and spent some time in a revel.
In the next cruise they captured some Spanish and New England vessels,
and one laden with logwood. The crew of the latter they compelled to
throw the lading overboard, intending to turn her into a pirate vessel,
but in a fit of caprice suddenly let the men go and the ship with them.
The prize captain, offended at Vane's arrogance, left him, and
surrendered himself and 90 negroes to the governor of Charlestown,
receiving a free pardon. Vane saluted the runaway with a broadside as
he left, and lay wait for some time for him, but without success. Soon
after this two armed sloops started in pursuit of Vane, and, failing in
the capture, attacked and took another pirate vessel that was clearing
at Cape Fear.
In an inlet to the northward Vane met Blackbeard, and saluted him,
according to piratical etiquette, with a discharge of his shotted guns.
Off Long Island he attacked a vessel that proved to be a French
man-of-war, and gave chase; Vane was for flight, but many of the men, in
spite of the enemy's weight of metal and being twice their force, were
for boarding. A pirate captain in all cases but that of fighting was
controlled by a majority, but in this case had an absolute power; Vane
refused to fight, and escaped.
The next day Vane was branded by vote as a coward and deposed, and
Rackham, his officer, elected captain. Vane and the minority were turned
adrift in a sloop. Putting into the bay of Honduras, Vane captured
another sloop, and fitted it up as a pirate vessel, and soon after
captured two more. Vane was soon after shipwrecked on an island near
Honduras, and most of his men drowned; he himself being supported by the
turtle fishermen. While in this miserable state, a Jamaica vessel
arrived, commanded by a Buccaneer, an old acquaintance, to whom he
applied to help him. The man refused, declaring Vane would intrigue with
his men, murder him, and run off as a pirate. On Vane expressing
scruples about stealing a fisherman's boat from the beach, the Buccaneer
declared that if he found him still there on his return he would take
him to Jamaica and hang him.
Soon after his friend's departure a vessel put in for water, and, not
knowing Vane to be a pirate, took him on board as a sailor. On leaving
the bay the Buccaneer met them and came on board to dine. Passing to the
cabin he spied Vane working in the hold, and asked the captain if he
knew that that was Vane, the notorious pirate. The other then declared
he would not have him, and the Buccaneer, sending his mate on board with
at loaded pistol, seized Vane and took him to Jamaica, where he was
soon after hung.
Rackham, after a cruise among the Caribbee islands, spent a Christmas on
shore, and when the liquor was all gone put to sea. Their first prize
was an ominous one, a ship laden with Newgate convicts bound for the
plantations, which was soon after retaken by an English ship of war. Two
others of his prizes were also recaptured while careening at the Bahama
islands by Governor Rogers, of New Providence.
They then sailed to the back of Cuba, where Rackham had a settlement,
and there spent their plunder in debauchery. As they were fitting out
for sea, they were attacked by a Spanish guarda costa that had just
captured an English interloper. Rackham being protected by an island,
the Spaniards warped into the channel at dusk and waited for day. The
pirates, roused to despair, boarded the Spanish prize with pistols and
cutlasses in the dead of the night, and, threatening the crew with death
if they spoke, captured her almost without a blow, and slipping the
cable stood out to sea. When day broke the Spaniards opened a
tremendous fire upon the deserted pirate vessel, but soon discovered
their mistake.
1720 was spent in small cruises about Jamaica, their crew being still
short; they then swept off some fishing boats from Harbour Island, and
landing in Hispaniola, carried off some wild cattle and several French
hunters.
He then captured several more vessels, and was joined by the crew of a
sloop in Dry Harbour Bay. But their end was at hand. The governor of
Jamaica despatched a sloop in pursuit of them, who found the pirates
carousing with a boat's crew from Point Negril, and they were soon
overpowered.
A fortnight after sentence of death was passed upon nine of them at a
court of admiralty held at St. Jago de la Vega. Five of them were
executed at Gallows Point in Port Royal, and the four others the day
after at Kingston. Rackham and two more were afterwards taken down and
hung in chains, one at Plumb Point, one at Busk-key, and the other at
Gun-key. By the terrible Draconic laws of Jamaica, the nine boatmen
from Port Negril were also hung by their side. After such justice, can
we wonder at the crimes to which despair too often drove the pirates?
Among these "unfortunate brave," as Prior generously calls them, two
female pirates are not to be forgotten. The first of these, Mary Reed,
was the daughter of a sailor, whose wife having after his death given
birth to an illegitimate girl, palmed it off as a boy, in order to
excite the compassion of her husband's mother. Being reduced in
circumstances she put the girl out as a foot-boy, but she soon after ran
to sea, and entered on board a man-of-war. Quitting the sea service Mary
Reed wintered over in Flanders and obtained a cadetship in a regiment of
foot, behaving herself in many actions with a great deal of bravery, and
finally entering a regiment of horse. Here she fell in love with a
comrade, a young Fleming, whom she eventually married, and set up an
eating-house at Beda, called "The Three Horse-shoes." Her husband dying,
and the peace ruining her trade, Mary went into Holland, and joined a
regiment quartered on a frontier town, but, finding preferment slow, she
shipped herself on board a vessel bound for the West Indies.
The vessel was taken by English pirates, and the amazon, being the only
English sailor, was detained. A pardon soon afterwards being issued, the
crew surrendered themselves, but Mary Reed sailed for New Providence,
and joined a privateer squadron fitting out there against the Spaniards.
The crews, who were pardoned pirates, soon rose against their commander,
and resumed their old trade, and Mary Reed among them. Abhorring the
life of a pirate, she still was the first to board, and was as resolute
as the bravest. By chance Anne Bonny, another disguised woman, being
with the crew, discovered her sex, and soon after she fell in love with
a sailor whom they took prisoner, and was eventually married to him. Her
husband hated his new profession as much as herself, and they were about
to quit it when they were both taken prisoners.
On one occasion Mary Reed, to prevent her husband fighting a duel,
challenged his opponent to meet her on a sand island near which their
ship lay, with sword and pistol, and killed him on the spot.
At the trial she declared that her life had been always pure, and that
she had never intended to remain a pirate. When they were taken, only
she and Anne Bonny kept the deck, calling to those in the hold to come
up and fight like men, and when they refused firing at them, killing one
and wounding several. In prison she said the fear of hanging had never
driven her from piracy, for but for the dread of that there would be so
many pirates that the trade would not be worth following.
Great compassion was evinced for her in the court, but she was still
found guilty, though being near her pregnancy, her execution was
respited. She might have been pardoned, but a violent fever coming on
soon after her trial she died in prison.
Her companion, Anne Bonny, was the illegitimate daughter of a Cork
attorney. Her father, disguising the child as a boy, pretended it was a
relative's son, and bred it up for a clerk. Becoming ruined he emigrated
to Carolina, and turning merchant bought a plantation. Upon her mother's
death Anne Bonny succeeded to the housekeeping. She was of a fierce and
ungovernable temper, and was reported to have stabbed an English servant
with a case-knife. Marrying a penniless sailor, her father turned her
out of doors, and she and her husband fled to New Providence, where he
turned pirate. Here she was seduced by Captain Rackham, and ran with him
to sea, dressed as a sailor, and accompanied him in many voyages. The
day that Rackham was executed she was admitted to see him by special
favour, but she only taunted him and said that she was sorry to see him
there, but that if he had fought like a man he would not have been hung
like a dog.
Becoming pregnant in prison she was reprieved, and, we believe, finally
pardoned.
Captain HOWEL DAVIS, our next sea king, was a native of Milford, who,
being taken prisoner by England, was appointed captain of the vessel of
which he had been chief mate. At first, he declared he would rather be
shot than turn pirate, but eventually accepted sealed orders from
England, to be opened at a certain latitude. On opening them, he found
they directed him to make the ship his own, and go and trade at Brazil.
The crew, refusing to obey Davis, steered for Barbadoes, and put him in
prison, but he was soon discharged.
Starting for New Providence, the pirates' nest, he found the island had
just surrendered to Captain Woods Rogers. He here joined the ships
fitting out for the Spanish trade, and at Martinique joined in a
conspiracy, secured the masters, and started on a cruise against all the
world. At a council of war, held over a bowl of punch, Davis was
unanimously elected commander, and the articles he drew up were signed
by all the crew.
They then sailed to Coxon's-hole, at the east end of Cuba, to clean,
that being a narrow creek, where one ship could defend itself against a
hundred, and, having no carpenter, they found some difficulty in
careening. On the north side of Hispaniola, they fell in with a French
ship of twelve guns, which they took, and sent twelve men on board to
plunder, being now very short of provisions. They had scarcely leaped on
deck before another French vessel of twenty-four guns and sixty men hove
in sight. This vessel Davis proposed to attack, quite contrary to the
wish of his crew, who were afraid of her size. When Davis approached,
the Frenchmen bade him strike, but giving them a broadside, he said he
should keep them in play till his consort arrived, when they should have
but hard quarters. At this moment came up all the prisoners, having been
dressed in white shirts, and forced on deck, and a dirty tarpaulin was
hoisted for a black flag. The French captain, intimidated, instantly
struck, and was at once, with ten of his hands, put in irons.
The guns, small arms, and powder in the small ship were then removed,
and the prize crew sent on board the larger vessel. Part of the
prisoners were put in the smaller and now defenceless bark. At the end
of two days, finding the French prize a dull sailer, Davis restored her
to the captain, minus her ammunition and cargo. The Frenchman, vexed at
being so outwitted, would have destroyed himself had not his men
prevented him.
Davis then visited the Cape de Verd islands, and left some of his men as
settlers among the Portuguese. They also plundered many vessels at the
Isle of May, obtained many fresh hands, and fitted one of their prizes
with twenty-six guns, and called her the _King James_. At St. Jago the
governor accused them of being pirates, and Davis resolved to resent the
affront by surprising the fort by night. Going on shore well armed, they
found the guard negligent, and took the place, losing only three men.
The fugitives barricaded themselves in the governor's house, into which
the pirates threw grenades. By daybreak the whole country was alarmed,
and poured down upon them, but they, unwilling to stand a siege,
dismounted the fort guns and fought their way to their ships.
Mustering their hands, and finding themselves still seventy strong, they
proposed to follow Davis's advice, and attack Gambia castle, where a
great deal of money was always kept, for they had now such an opinion of
Davis's courage and prudence that they would have followed him anywhere.
Having come within sight of the place, he ordered all his men below but
such as were absolutely necessary for the working of the vessel, that
the people on shore might take her for a trader. He then ran close under
the fort, anchored, and ordering out the boat, manned her with six
plain-dressed men, himself as the master, and the rest attired as
merchants. The men were instructed what to say.
At the landing-place they were received by a file of musqueteers, and
led to the governor, who received them civilly. They said they were from
Liverpool, bound to the river of Senegal to trade for gums and ivory,
but being chased to Gambia by two French men-of-war, were willing to
trade for slaves; their cargo, they said, being all iron and plate. The
governor, promising them slaves, asked for a hamper of European liquor,
and invited them to stay and dine. Davis himself refused to stay, but
left his two companions.
On leaving he observed there was a sentry at the entrance, and a
guard-house near, with the arms of the soldiers on duty thrown in one
corner. Going on board he assured his men of success, desired them to
keep sober, and when the castle flag struck to send twenty hands
immediately ashore. He then seized a sloop that lay near, for fear the
crew should discern their preparations.
He put two pairs of loaded pistols in his pocket, and made all his crew
do the same, bidding them get into conversation with the guard, and when
he fired a pistol through the governor's window, leap up and secure the
piled arms.
While dinner was getting ready, the governor began to brew a bowl of
punch, when Davis, at a whisper of the coxswain who had been
reconnoitring the house, suddenly drew out a pistol, and, clapping it to
the governor's breast, bade him surrender the fort and all his riches,
or he was a dead man. The governor, taken by surprise, promised to be
passive. They then shut the door, and loaded the arms in the hall, while
Davis fired his piece through the window. The men, hearing this signal,
cocked their pistols, got between the soldiers and the arms, and carried
them off, locking up the men in the guard-room, and guarding it without.
Then striking the flag, the rest of the crew tumbled on shore, and the
fort was their own without the loss of a man. Davis at once harangued
the soldiers, and persuaded many to join him, and those who resisted he
sent on board the sloop, which he first unrigged. The rest of the day
they spent in salutes--ship to castle and castle to ship, and the next
day plundered. Much money had been lately sent away, so they found only
L2,000 in bar gold, and many rich effects. They then dismounted the
guns, and demolished the fortifications.
A French pirate of 14 guns, and sixty-four men, half French, half
negroes, soon joined Davis, and they sailed down the coast together.
They soon after met another pirate ship, of 24 guns, and spent several
days in carousing. They then attacked in company the fort of Sierra
Leone, and the garrison, after a stiff cannonade, surrendered the place
and fled. Here they spent seven weeks careening; and, capturing a
galley, La Bouce, the second captain, cut her half deck, and mounted her
with 24 guns. They now sailed together, and appointed Davis commodore,
but, like men of a trade, soon quarrelled, and parted company. Off Cape
Apollonia Davis took several vessels, and off Cape Points Bay attacked a
Dutch interloper, of 30 guns, and ninety men. After many hours' fighting
the Dutchman surrendered to the black flag, having killed nine of
Davis's men at one broadside. This vessel Davis called the _Rover_,
fitted with 32 guns and 27 swivels, and, sailing to Anamaboe, captured
several ships laden with ivory, gold dust, and negroes, saluting the
fort, and then started for Prince's island, a Portuguese settlement near
the same coast.
They here captured a Dutchman, a valuable prize, having the governor of
Acra and L150,000, besides merchandise, on board, and recruited their
force with thirty-five hands. The _King James_ springing a leak, they
deserted her and left her to sink. At the isle of Princes Davis passed
himself off for an English man-of-war in search of pirates, and was
received with great honours by the governor, who approved of his openly
plundering a French vessel which he accused of piracy. A few days after
Davis and fourteen of his men attempted to carry off the chief men's
wives from a small village in which they lived, but failed in the
attempt. But Davis had determined to plunder the island by means of the
following stratagem. He resolved to present the governor with a dozen
negroes in return for his civilities, and afterwards to invite him with
the friars and chief men of the island to an entertainment on board his
ship. He would then clap them in irons, and not release them under a
ransom of L40,000.
This plot proved fatal to him. A Portuguese negro, swimming ashore at
night, disclosed the whole. The governor dissembled and professed to
fall into the snare. The next day Davis went himself on shore to bring
the governor on board, and was invited to take some refreshment at the
government house. He fell at once into the trap. A prepared ambuscade
rose and fired a volley, killing every pirate but one, who, running to
the boat, got safely to the ship. Davis, though shot through the bowels,
rose, made a faint effort to run, drew out his pistols, fired at his
pursuers, and fell dead.
Upon Davis's death, Bartholomew Roberts was at once chosen commander, in
preference to many other of the _lords_ or head seamen. The sailors
said, that any captain who went beyond their laws should be deposed, but
that they must have a man of courage and a good seaman to defend their
commonwealth. One of the lords, whose father had suffered in Monmouth's
rebellion, swore Roberts was a Papist. In spite of all, Roberts, who
had been only taken prisoner six weeks before, was chosen commander. He
told them that, "since he had dipped his hands in muddy water, and must
needs be a pirate, he would rather be commander than mere seaman."
Their first thought was to avenge Davis's death, for he had been much
beloved for his affability and good nature. Thirty men were landed, and
attacked the fort in spite of the steep hill on which it was situated.
The Portuguese deserted the walls, and the pirates destroyed the guns.
Still unsatisfied, they would have burnt the town, had it not been
protected by a thick wood, which furnished a cover to the enemy. They,
however, mounted the French ship with twelve guns, running into shoal
water, battered down several houses, and then sailed out of the harbour
by the light of two ships to which they set fire. Having taken two more
vessels and burnt one of them, they started by general consent for
Brazil.
Cruising here for nine weeks and taking no prize, the pirates grew
quite discouraged, and resolved to steer for the West Indies, but soon
after fell in with forty-two sail of Portuguese ships laden for Lisbon,
and lying off the bay of los Todos Santos, waiting for two men-of-war of
seventy guns each for their convoy. Stealing amongst them, Roberts hid
his men till he had closed upon the deepest of them, threatening to give
no quarter if the master was not instantly sent on board. The
Portuguese, alarmed at the sudden flourish of cutlasses, instantly came.
Roberts told him they were gentlemen of fortune, and should put him to
death if he did not tell them which was the richest vessel of the fleet.
The trembler pointed out a ship of forty guns and 150 men, more force
than Roberts could command; but Roberts, replying "They are only
Portuguese," bore down at once upon it. Finding the enemy was aware of
their being pirates, Roberts poured in a broadside, grappled, and
boarded. The dispute was short and warm. Two of the pirates fell, and
many of the Portuguese. By this time it was pretty well seen that a fox
had got into the poultry-yard. Signals of top-gallant sheets were
flying, and guns fired to bring up the convoy that still rode at anchor.
Roberts, finding his prize sail heavy, waited for the first man-of-war,
which, basely declining the duel, lingered for its consort till Roberts
was out of sight. The prize proved exceedingly rich, being laden with
sugar, skins, tobacco, and 4000 moidors, besides many gold chains and
much jewellery. A diamond cross, which formed part of this spoil, they
afterwards gave to the governor of Caiana. Elated with this spoil, they
fixed on the Devil's Islands, in the Surinam river, as a place for a
revel, and, arriving there, found the governor ready to barter.
Much in want of provision, Roberts threw himself, with forty men, into a
prize sloop, in hopes of capturing a brigantine laden with provision
from Rhode Island, which was then in sight, and was kept at sea by
contrary winds for eight days. Their food ran short, and failing in
securing the prize, they despatched their only boat to bring up the
ship.
Landing at Dominica, Roberts took on board thirteen Englishmen, the
crews of two New England vessels that had been seized by a French guarda
costa. At this island they were nearly captured by a Martinique sloop,
but contrived to escape to the Guadanillas. Sailing for Newfoundland
they entered the harbour with their black colours flying, their drums
beating, and trumpets sounding. The crews of twenty-two vessels fled on
shore at their approach, and they proceeded to burn and sink all the
shipping and destroy the fisheries and the houses of the planters.
Mounting a Bristol galley that he found in the harbour with sixteen
guns, Roberts destroyed nine sail of French ships, and carried off for
his own use a vessel of twenty-six guns. From many other prizes they
pressed men and got plunder. The passengers on board the _Samuel_, a
rich London vessel, he tortured, threatening them with death if they did
not disclose their money. His men tore up the hatches, and, entering the
hold with axes and swords, cut and ripped open the bales and boxes.
Everything portable they seized, the rest they threw overboard, amidst
curses and discharges of guns and pistols. They carried off L9000 worth
of goods, the sails, guns, and powder. They told the captain "They
should accept of no act of grace. The king might be d---- with their act
of grace for them: they weren't going to Hope Point to be hung up
sun-drying like Kidd's and Braddish's company were; and if they were
overpowered they would set fire to the powder, and _go all merrily to
hell together_."
While debating whether to sink or burn the prize, they espied a sail,
and left the _Samuel_ tumultuously to give chase. It proved to be a
Bristol vessel, and hating Bristol men because the Martinique sloops
were commanded by one, he used him with barbarous cruelty.
Their provisions growing scarce, Roberts put into St. Christopher's,
and, being refused succours, fired on the town and burnt two ships in
the road. They then visited St. Bartholomew, where they were well
received. Sailing for Guinea, weary of even debauchery, they captured a
rich laden vessel from Martinique, and changed ships. By some
extraordinary ignorance of navigation, Roberts, in trying to reach the
Cape Verd islands, got to leeward of his port, and, obliged to go back
again with the trade wind, returned to the West Indies, steering for
Surinam, 700 leagues distant, with one hogshead of water for 124 souls.
Great suffering followed their pleasures in the islands of the Sirens;
each man obtained only one mouthful of water in twenty-four hours. Many
drank their urine or the brine and died fevered and mad; others wasted
with fluxes. The rest had but an inch or two of bread in the day, and
grew so feeble they could hardly reef and climb. They were all but
dying, when they were suddenly brought into soundings, and at night
anchored in seven fathoms water.
Thirsty in the sight of lakes and streams, and maddened with hunger,
Roberts tore up the floor of the cabin, and, patching together a canoe
with rope yarn, paddled to shore and procured water. After some days,
the boat returned with the unpleasant intelligence that the lieutenant
had absconded with the vessel.
This Lieutenant Kennedy's sail into Execution Dock we will give before
we return to Roberts. Upon leaving Caiana Roberts's treacherous crew
determined to abandon piracy. Their Portuguese prize they gave to the
master of the prize sloop, a good-natured man, whose quiet philosophy
under misfortune had astonished and pleased them. Off Barbadoes Kennedy
took a Quaker's vessel from Virginia, the captain of which allowed no
arms on board, and his equanimity so attracted the pirates that eight of
them returned with him to Virginia. These men rewarded the sailors and
gave L250 worth of gold dust and tobacco to the peaceful captain. At
Maryland the treacherous Quaker surrendered his friends, who were all
hung on the evidence of some Portuguese Jews whom they had brought from
Brazil.
Off Jamaica Kennedy captured a flour vessel from Boston, in which
himself and many others embarked. This Kennedy had been a pickpocket and
a housebreaker, could neither read nor write, and had been only elected
captain for his cruelty and courage.
His crew, at first afraid of his treachery, would have thrown him
overboard, but relented, on his taking solemn oaths of fidelity. Of all
these men only one knew anything of navigation, and he was so ignorant
that, trying to reach Ireland, he ran them ashore on Scotland. Landing
they passed at first for shipwrecked sailors; seven of them reached
London in safety, the rest were seized at Edinburgh and hung, having
attracted attention by rioting and drunken squandering. Two others were
murdered on the road.
Kennedy turned robber, and some years after was arrested as a pirate by
the mate of a ship he had plundered, turned king's evidence, but was
hung in 1721.
We must now return to Roberts, whom we left swearing and vapouring on
the coast of Newfoundland. He began by drawing up a code of laws and
establishing stricter discipline, and then steered for the West Indies,
capturing several vessels by the way, and was soon after pursued by a
Bristol galley of twenty guns and eighty men, and a sloop of ten guns
and forty men, despatched by the Governor of Barbadoes. Roberts, taking
them for traders, attempted to board, but was driven off by a broadside,
the king's men huzzaing as they fired. Roberts, crowding all sail, took
to flight and escaped, after a galling pursuit, by dint of throwing
overboard his guns and heavy goods. He was henceforward particularly
severe to Barbadian vessels, so deeply established were the principles
of justice and compensation in the mind of this great man.
In the morning, they saw land, but at a great distance, and dispatching
a boat, it returned late at night with a load of water: they had reached
Surinam. The worst blasphemer heard the words, and fell upon his knees
to thank a God whom he had so often denied. They swore that the same
Providence which had given them drink would bring them meat.
Taking provisions from several vessels, Roberts touched at Tobago, and
then sailed to Martinique to revenge himself on the governor. Adopting
the custom of the Dutch interlopers, he hoisted a jack and sailed in as
if to trade. He was soon surrounded by a swarm of sloops and smacks;
then sending all the crews on shore on board one vessel, minus their
money, he fired twenty others. His new flag bore henceforward a
representation of himself trampling on the skulls of a Barbadian and
Martinique man. At Dominica he took several vessels, and several others
at Guadaloupe, and then put into a key off Hispaniola to clean and
refit.
While here, the captains of two piratical sloops visited him, having
heard of his fame and achievements, to beg from him powder and arms.
After several nights' revel, Roberts dismissed them, hoping "the Lord
would prosper their handy works." Three of their men, who had long
excited suspicion by their reserve and sobriety, deserted, but being
recaptured were put upon their trial. The jury sat in the steerage,
before a bowl of rum punch; the judge on the bench smoked a pipe.
Sentence was already passed, when one of the jury, with a volley of
oaths, swore Glashby (one of the prisoners) should not die. "He was as
good a man as the best of them, and had never turned his back to a man
in his life. Glashby was an honest fellow in spite of his misfortune,
and he loved him. He hoped he would live and repent of what he had done;
but d---- if he must die, he would die along with him," and as he spoke
he handled a pair of loaded pistols, and presented them at two of the
judges, who, thinking the argument good, at once acquitted Glashby. The
rest, allowed to choose their executioners, were tied to the mast and
shot.
Amply stocked with provision, they now sailed for Guinea to buy gold
dust, and on their passage burnt and sank many vessels. Roberts, finding
his crew mutinous and unmanageable, assumed a rude bearing, offering to
fight on shore any one who was offended, with sword or pistol, for he
neither feared nor valued any. On their way to Africa they were deserted
by a prize, a brigantine, which they had manned. Roberts being insulted
by a drunken sailor, killed him on the spot. His messmate returning from
shore declared the captain deserved the same fate. Roberts hearing this
stabbed him with his sword, but in spite of the wound the seaman threw
him over a gun and gave him a beating. A general tumult ensued, which
was appeased by the quartermaster, and the majority agreeing that the
captain must be supported at all risks, the sailor received two lashes
from every man on board as soon as he recovered from his wound. This man
then conspired with the captain of the brigantine and his seventy hands,
and agreed to desert Roberts, as they soon after did on the first
opportunity.
Near the river of Senegal the pirates were chased by two French cruisers
of ten and sixteen guns, who mistook him for one of those interlopers
for whom they were on the look-out. The pair surrendered, however, with
little resistance on the first shot of the _Jolly Roger_, and with these
prizes they put into Sierra Leone. About thirty retired Buccaneers and
pirates lived here, one of whom, who went by the name of Crackers, kept
two cannon at his door to salute all pirate ships that arrived.
They found that the _Swallow_ and _Weymouth_ men-of-war, fifty guns, had
just been there, and would not return till Christmas; so, after six
weeks' debauch, they put out again to sea, plundering along the coast.
They exchanged one of their vessels for a French frigate-built ship,
pressing the sailors, and allowing some soldiers on board to sail with
them for a quarter share.
They found an English chaplain on board, and wanted him to go with them
to make punch and say prayers, but as he refused they let him go,
detaining nothing of the property of the church but three prayer-books
and a corkscrew. This ship they altered by pulling down the bulkheads
and making her flush. They then christened her the _Royal Fortune_, and
mounted her with forty guns.
They next proceeded to Calabar, where a shoal protected the harbour.
Enraged at the negroes refusing to trade, they landed forty men under
protection of the ships' fire, drove back a party of 2000 natives, and
then burnt their town. Still unable to obtain provisions, they returned
to Cape Apollonia. Here they took a vessel called the _King Solomon_,
boarding her from the long boat in spite of a volley from the ship, the
pirates shouting defiance. The captain would have resisted, but the
boatswain made the men lay down their arms and cry for quarter. They
then cut her cable, and rifled her of everything. They next cut the mast
of a Dutch vessel, and strung the sausages they found on board round
their necks, killing the fowls, and inviting the captain to drink from
his own but, singing obscene French and Spanish songs from his Dutch
prayer-book.
Going too near the land they alarmed the coast, and the English and
Dutch factories spread signals of danger.
Entering Whydah with St. George's ensign and a black flag flying, eleven
ships instantly surrendered without a blow; most of the crews being, in
fact, ashore. Each captain ransomed his cargo for 8 lbs. of gold dust,
upon which they gave him acquittals, signed with sham names, as
"Whiffingpin" and "Tugmutton." One vessel full of slaves refusing to
give any ransom, he set fire to it, and burnt eighty negroes who were
chained in the hold; a few leaped overboard to avoid the flames, and
were torn to pieces by the sharks that swarmed in the road.
Discovering from an intercepted letter that the _Swallow_ was after him,
Roberts put back to the island of Anna Bona, but the wind failing
steered for Cape Lopez. The cruiser had lost 100 men from sickness in a
three weeks' stay at Prince's island, and, unable to return to Sierra
Leone, turned to Cape Corso, unknown to Roberts, who was ignorant of the
causes that had led to their return. Receiving many calls for help, and
finding the trade of the whole coast disturbed, the _Swallow_ sailed for
Whydah. The crew were impatient to attack the pirates, learning that
they had an arms' chest full of gold, secured by three keys. Recruiting
thirty volunteers, English and French, the _Swallow_ reached the river
Gaboon, and soon discovered the pirates, one of whom gave them chase,
believing her a Portuguese sugar vessel, and the sugar for their punch
now ran short.
The pirates were cursing the wind and the sails that kept them from so
rich a prey, when the _Ranger_ suddenly brought to and hauled up her
lower ports, while the first broadside brought down their black flag.
Hoisting it again, they flourished their cutlasses on the poop, but
tried to escape. Some prepared to board, but, after two hours' firing,
their maintop came down with a run, and they struck, having had ten men
killed and twenty wounded. The _Swallow_ did not lose one. The _Ranger_
carried thirty-two guns, and was manned by sixteen Frenchmen,
seventy-seven English, and ten negroes. Their black colours were thrown
overboard. As the _Swallow_ was sending a boat to board, an explosion
was heard, and a smoke poured out of the great cabin. It appeared that
half a dozen of the most desperate had fired some powder, but it was too
little to do anything but burn them terribly.
The commander, a Welshman, had had his leg shot off, and had refused to
allow himself to be carried below. The rest were gay and brisk, dressed
in white shirts and silk waistcoats, and wearing watches.
An officer said to a man whom he saw with a silver whistle at his
belt--"I presume you are boatswain of this ship." "Then you presume
wrong," said the pirate, "for I am boatswain of the _Royal
Fortune_--Captain Roberts, commander." "Then, Mr. Boatswain, you'll be
hanged," said the officer. "That is as your Honour pleases," said the
man, turning away.
The officer asking about the explosion, he swore "they are all mad and
bewitched, for I have lost a good hat by it." He had been blown out of
the cabin gallery into the sea. "But what signifies a hat, friend?" said
the officer. "Not much," he answered.
As the sailors stripped off his shoes and stockings, the officer asked
him if all Robert's crew were as likely men as himself? He answered,
"There are 120 of them as clever fellows as ever trod shoe-leather;
would I were with them." "No doubt on't," said the officer. "It's naked
truth," said the man laughing, as he looked down at his bare feet.
The officer then approached another man, black and scorched, who sat
sullenly alone in a corner. He asked him how it happened. "Why," said
he, "John Morris fired a pistol into the powder, and if he had not done
it I would." The officer said he was a surgeon, and offered to dress his
wounds, which he bore without a groan. He swore it should not be done
and he would tear off the dressing, so he was then overpowered and
bandaged. At night he grew delirious and raved about "brave Roberts,"
who would soon release him. The men then lashed him down to the
forecastle, as he resisted with such violence to his burnt sore flesh
that he died next day of mortification. The other pirates they fettered,
and sent the shattered ship, scarcely worth preserving, into port.