The Project Gutenberg eBook, The History of the Lives and Bloody Exploits of the Most Noted Pirates; Their Trials and Executions, by Ezra Baldwin Strong

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FRONTISPIECE.

THE
HISTORY
OF THE
LIVES AND BLOODY EXPLOITS
OF THE
MOST NOTED
PIRATES;
THEIR
Trials and Executions.
INCLUDING A CORRECT ACCOUNT OF THE
LATE PIRACIES
COMMITTED IN THE WEST-INDIES, AND THE EXPEDITION OF COMMODORE PORTER; ALSO, THOSE COMMITTED ON THE BRIG MEXICAN, WHO WERE TRIED AND EXECUTED AT BOSTON, IN 1835.

“Omne tulit punctum, qui miscuit utile dulci”—Hor.

Embellished with Engravings from Original Designs.

The Ship Speaker taken by the Pirates.—Page [112].

HARTFORD:

PUBLISHED BY SILAS ANDRUS & SON

Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1836, by Ezra Strong, in the Clerk’s office of the State of Connecticut.

Stereotyped by Shepard, Oliver and Company, Boston.

[THE HISTORY OF THE PIRATES].
[A CORRECT ACCOUNT OF THE LATE PIRACIES COMMITTED IN THE WEST-INDIES; AND THE EXPEDITION OF COMMODORE PORTER].

THE
HISTORY
OF
THE PIRATES.

CAPTAIN MISSON.

Captain Misson was born in Provence, of an ancient family. His father was master of a plentiful fortune; but having a great number of children, our rover had but little hopes of other fortune than what he could carve out for himself with his sword. His parents took care to give him an education equal to his birth, and upon the completion of it would have put him into the musketeers; but as he was of a roving temper, and much affected with the accounts he had read in books of travels, he chose the sea as a life which abounds with more variety, and would afford him an opportunity to gratify his curiosity, by the change of countries. Having made this choice, his father, with letters of recommendation, and every thing fitting for him, sent him to volunteer on board the Victoire, commanded by Monsieur Fourbin, his relation. He was received on board with all possible regard by the Captain, whose ship was at Marseilles, and was ordered to cruise soon after Misson’s arrival. Nothing could be more agreeable to the inclinations of our volunteer than this cruise, which made him acquainted with the most noted ports in the Mediterranean, and gave him a great insight into the practical part of navigation. He grew fond of this life, and was resolved to be a complete sailor, which made him always one of the first on a yard arm, either to hand or reef, and very inquisitive in the different methods of working a ship: his discourse was turned on no other subject, and he would often get the boatswain and carpenter to teach him in their cabins the constituent parts of a ship’s hull, and how to rig her, which he generously paid them for; and though he spent a great part of his time with these two officers, yet he behaved himself with such prudence that they never attempted any familiarity, and always paid the respect due to his family. The ship being at Naples, he obtained leave of his captain to go to Rome, which he had a great desire to visit. Hence we may date his misfortunes; for, remarking the licentious lives of the clergy, (so different from the regularity observed among the French ecclesiastics,) the luxury of the Papal Court, and that nothing but hulls of religion were to be found in the metropolis of the christian church, he began to figure to himself that all religion was no more than a curb upon the minds of the weaker, which the wiser sort yielded to, in appearance only. These sentiments, so disadvantageous to religion and himself, were strongly riveted by accidentally becoming acquainted with a lewd priest, who was at his arrival (by mere chance) his confessor, and after that his procurer and companion, for he kept him company to his death.

The Victory engages with two Salle-men. Page [7].

Misson at length became so much attached to this man, that he advised him to go with him as volunteer, and offered him money to clothe him: the priest leaped at the proposal, and a letter coming to Misson from his captain, that he was going to Leghorn, and left it to him either to come to Naples, or go by land; he chose the latter, and the Dominican, whom he furnished with money, clothing himself very cavalierly, threw off his habit, and preceded him two days, staying at Pisa for Misson; from whence they went together to Leghorn, where they found the Victoire, and signior Caraccioli, recommended by his friend, was received on board. Two days after they weighed from hence, and after a week’s cruise fell in with two Sallee-men, the one of twenty, the other of twenty-four guns; the Victoire had but thirty mounted, though she had ports for forty. The engagement was long and bloody, for the Sallee-men hoped to carry the Victoire; and, on the contrary, Capt. Fourbin, so far from having any thoughts of being taken, he was resolutely bent to make prize of his enemies, or sink his ship. One of the Sallee-men was commanded by a Spanish renegade, (though he had only the title of a lieutenant) for the captain was a young man who knew little of marine affairs.

This ship was called the Lion; and he attempted, more than once, to board the Victoire; but by a shot betwixt wind and water, he was obliged to sheer off, and running his guns, &c. on one side, to bring her on the careen to stop his leak; this being done with too much precipitation, she overset, and every soul was lost. His comrade, seeing this disaster, threw out all his small sails, endeavoured to get off, but the Victoire wronged her, and obliged her to renew the fight, which she did with great obstinacy, and made Monsieur Fourbin despair of carrying her if he did not board; he made preparations accordingly. Signior Caraccioli and Misson were the two first on board when the command was given; but they and their followers were beat back by the despair of the Sallee-men; the former received a shot in his thigh, and was carried down to the surgeon. The Victoire laid her on board the second time, and the Sallee-men defended their decks with such resolution, that they were covered with their own, and the dead bodies of their enemies. Misson seeing one of them jump down the main hatch with a lighted match, suspecting his design, resolutely leaped after him, and reaching him with his sabre, laid him dead the moment he was going to set fire to the powder. The Victoire pouring in more men, the Mahometans quitted the decks, finding resistance vain, and fled for shelter to the cook-room, steerage, and cabins, and some ran between decks. The French gave them quarters, and put the prisoners on board the Victoire, the prize yielding nothing worth mention, except liberty to about fifteen Christian slaves; she was carried into and sold with the prisoners at Leghorn. The Turks lost a great many men; the French not less than 35 in boarding, for they lost very few by the great shot, the Sallee-men firing mostly at the masts and rigging, hoping by disabling to carry her. The limited time of their cruise being out, the Victoire returned to Marseilles, from whence Misson taking his companion, went to visit his parents, to whom the captain sent a very advantageous character, both of his courage and conduct. He was about a month at home when his captain wrote to him, that his ship was ordered to Rochelle, from whence he was to sail for the West-Indies with some merchantmen. This was very agreeable to Misson and signior Caraccioli, who immediately set out for Marseilles. This town is well fortified, has four parish churches, and the number of inhabitants is computed to be about 120,000; the harbour is esteemed the safest in the Mediterranean, and is the common station for the French gallies.

Leaving this place, they steered for Rochelle, where the Victoire was docked, the merchant ships not being near ready. Misson, who did not care to pass so long a time in idleness, proposed to his comrade the taking a cruise on board the Triumph, which was going into the English channel; and the Italian readily consented to it.

Between the Isle of Guernsey and the Start Point, they met with the Mayflower, Capt. Balladine, commander, a merchant ship of 18 guns, richly laden, and coming from Jamaica. The captain of the English made a gallant resistance, and fought his ship so long, that the French could not carry her into harbour, wherefore they took the money, and what was most valuable, out of her; and finding she made more water than the pumps could free, quitted, and saw her go down in less than four hours after. Monsieur Le Blanc, the French captain, received Capt. Balladine very civilly, and would not suffer either him or his men to be stripped, saying, None but cowards ought to be treated after that manner; that brave men ought to treat such, though their enemies, as brothers; and that to use a gallant man (who does his duty) ill, speaks a revenge which cannot proceed but from a coward soul. He ordered that the prisoners should have their chests; and when some of his men seemed to mutter, he bade them remember the grandeur of the monarch they served; that they were neither pirates nor privateers; and as brave men, they ought to show their enemies an example they would willingly have followed, and use their prisoners as they wished to be used.

They then run up the English channel as high as Beachy Head, and, in returning, fell in with three fifty gun ships; which gave chase to the Triumph; but as she was an excellent sailor, she run them out of sight in seven glasses, and made the best of her way for the Land’s-End. They here cruised eight days, then doubling Cape Cornwall, ran up the Bristol channel, near as far as Nash Point, and intercepted a small ship from Barbadoes, and stretching away to the northward, gave chase to a ship they saw in the evening, but lost her in the night. The Triumph then stood towards Milford, and spying a sail, endeavoured to cut her off the land, but found it impossible; for she got into the haven, though they came up with her very fast, and she had surely been taken had the chase been any thing longer.

Capt. Balladine, who took the glass, said it was the Port Royal, a Bristol ship, which left Jamaica in company with him and the Charles. They now returned to their own coast, and sold their prize at Brest, where, at his desire, they left Capt. Balladine, and Monsieur Le Blanc made him a present of a purse with 40 louis for his support. His crew were also left here.

At the entrance into this harbour the Triumph struck upon a rock, but received no damage. This entrance, called Gonlet, is very dangerous on account of the number of rocks which lie on each side under water, though the harbour is certainly the best in France. The mouth of the harbour is defended by a strong castle; the town is well fortified, and has a citadel for its farther defence, which is of considerable strength. In 1694 the English attempted a descent, but did not find their market, for they were beat off with the loss of their general, and a great many men. From hence the Triumph returned to Rochelle, and in a month after, our volunteers, who went on board the Victoire, took their departure for Martinico and Guadaloupe. They met with nothing in their voyage thither worth noting. I shall only observe, that signior Caraccioli, who was as ambitious as he was irreligious, had, by this time, made a perfect deist of Misson, and thereby convinced him, that all religion was no other than human policy. But his arguments on this head are too long, and too dangerous to translate; and as they are worked up with great subtlety, they may be pernicious to weak men, who cannot discover their fallacy, or who, finding them agreeable to their inclinations, would be glad to shake off the yoke of the christian religion, which galls and curbs their passions, and would not give themselves the trouble to examine them to the bottom, but give it to what pleases, glad of finding some excuse to their consciences.

As he had privately held these discourses among the crew, he had gained a number of proselytes, who looked upon him as a new prophet risen up to reform the abuses in religion; and a great number being Rochellers, and, as yet, tainted with Calvanism, his doctrine was the more readily embraced. When he had experienced the affects of his religious arguments, he fell upon government, and showed, that every man was born free, and had as much right to what would support him, as to the air he respired. A contrary way of arguing would be accusing the deity with cruelty and injustice, for he brought into the world no man to pass a life of penury, and to miserably want a necessary support; that the vast difference between man and man, one wallowing in luxury, and the other in the most pinching necessity, was owing only to avarice and ambition on the one hand, and a pusillanimous subjection on the other; that at first no other than a natural was known a paternal government, every father was the head, the prince and monarch of his family, and obedience to such was both just and easy, for a father had compassionate tenderness for his children; but ambition creeping in by degrees, the stronger family set upon and enslaved the weaker; and this additional strength over-run a third, by every conquest gathering force to make others, and this was the first foundation of monarchy. Pride increasing with power, man usurped the prerogative of God, over his creatures, that of depriving them of life, which was a privilege no one had over his own; for as he did not come into the world by his own election, he ought to stay the determined time of his creator; that indeed, death given in war, was by the law of nature allowable, because it is for the preservation of our own lives; but no crime ought to be thus punished, nor indeed any war undertaken, but in defence of our natural right, which is such a share of earth as is necessary for our support.

Engagement between the Victoire and Winchelsea.—The Winchelsea blew up. Page [12].

These topics he often declaimed on, and very often advised with Misson about the setting up for themselves; he was as ambitious as the other, and as resolute. Caraccioli and Misson were by this, expert mariners, and very capable of managing a ship; Caraccioli had sounded a great many of the men on this subject, and found them very inclinable to listen to him. An accident happened which gave Caraccioli a fair opportunity to put his designs in execution, and he laid hold of it. They went off Martinico on a cruise, and met with the Winchelsea, an English man of war of 40 guns, commanded by Capt. Jones; they made for each other, and a very smart engagement followed; the first broadside killed the captain, second captain, and the three lieutenants, on board the Victoire, and left only the master, who would have struck, but Misson took up the sword, ordered Caraccioli to act as lieutenant, and encouraging the men fought the ship six glasses, when by some accident the Winchelsea blew up, and not a man was saved but Lieut. Franklin, whom the French boats took up, and he died in two days. None ever knew before this manuscript fell into my hands, how the Winchelsea was lost; for her head being driven ashore at Antigua, and a great storm having happened a few days before it was found, it was concluded, that she foundered in that storm. After this engagement, Caraccioli came to Misson and saluted him captain, and desired to know if he would choose a momentary or a lasting command, that he must now determine, for at his return to Martinico it would be too late; and he might depend upon the ship he fought and saved being given to another, and they would think him well rewarded if made a lieutenant which piece of justice he doubted; that he had his fortune in his hands, which he might either keep or let go; if he made choice of the latter, he must never again expect she would court him to accept her favours; that he ought to set before his eyes his circumstances, as a younger brother of a good family, but nothing to support his character; and the many years he must serve at the expense of his blood before he could make any figure in the world, and consider the wide difference between the commanding and being commanded; that he might with the ship he had under foot, and the brave fellows under command, bid defiance to the power of Europe, enjoy every thing he wished, reign sovereign of the Southern Seas, and lawfully make war on all the world, since it would deprive him of that liberty to which he had a right by the laws of nature, that he might in time, become as great as Alexander was to the Persians: and by increasing his forces by captures, he would every day strengthen the justice of his cause, for who has power is always in the right. That Harry the fourth and Harry the seventh, attempted and succeeded in their enterprises on the crown of England, yet their forces did not equal his. Mahomet with a few camel drivers, founded the Ottoman empire; and Darius, with no more than six or seven companions, got possession of that of Persia.

In a word, he said so much that Misson resolved to follow his advice, and calling up all hands, he told them, “That a great number of them had resolved with him upon a life of liberty, and had done him the honor to create him chief; that he designed to force no man, and be guilty of that injustice he blamed in others; therefore, if any were averse to the following his fortune, which he promised should be the same to all, he desired they would declare themselves, and he would set them ashore, whence they might return with conveniency.” Having made an end, they one and all cried, “Vive le Captain Misson et son Lieutenant le savant Caraccioli“—God bless Captain Misson and his learned Lieutenant Caraccioli. Misson thanked them for the honor they conferred upon him, and promised he would use the power they gave for the public good only, and hoped as they had the bravery to assert their liberty, they would be as unanimous in the preservation of it, and stand by him in what should be found expedient for the good of all; that he was their friend and companion, and should never exert his power, or think himself other than their comrade, but when the necessity of affairs should oblige him.

They shouted a second time, Vive le Capitain: he, after this, desired they would choose their subaltern officers, and give them power to consult and conclude upon what might be for the common interest, and bind themselves down by an oath to agree to what such officers and he should determine; this they readily gave in to. The schoolmaster they chose for second lieutenant, Jean Besace they nominated for third, and the boatswain, and a quarter master, named Mathieu le Tondu, with the gunner they desired might be their representatives in council. The choice was approved, and that every thing might pass methodically, and with general approbation, they were called into the great cabin, and the question put, What course they should steer? The captain proposed the Spanish coast as the most probable to afford them rich prizes. This was agreed upon by all. The boatswain then asked what colours they should fight under, and advised black as the most terrifying, but Caraccioli objected, “that they were no pirates, but men who were resolved to assert that liberty which God and nature gave them, and own no subjection to any, farther than was for the common good of all: that indeed obedience to governors was necessary, when they knew and acted up to the duty of their function; were vigilant guardians of the people’s rights and liberties; saw that justice was equally distributed; were barriers against the rich and powerful, when they attempted to oppress the weaker; when they suffered none on the one hand to grow immensely rich, either by his own or his ancestor’s encroachments: nor on the other, to be wretchedly miserable, either by falling, into the hands of villains, unmerciful creditors, or other misfortunes; while he had eyes impartial, and allowed nothing but merit to distinguish between man and man; and instead of being a burthen to the people by his luxurious life, he was by his care for, and protection of them, a real father, and in everything acted with the equal and impartial justice of a parent: but when a governor, who is the minister of the people, thinks himself raised to this dignity, that he may spend his days in pomp and luxury, looking upon his subjects as so many slaves, created for his use and pleasure, and therefore leaves them and their affairs to the immeasurable avarice and tyranny of some one whom he has chosen for his favourite; when nothing but oppression, poverty and all the miseries of life flow from such an administration; that he lavishes away the lives and fortunes of the people, either to gratify his ambition, or to support the cause of some neighbouring prince, that he may in return, strengthen his hands should his people exert themselves in defence of their native rights; or should he run into unnecessary wars, by the rash and thoughtless councils of his favourite, and not able to make head against the enemy he has rashly or wantonly brought upon his hands, and buy a peace (which is the present case of France, as every one knows, by supporting King James, and afterwards proclaiming his son) and drain the subject; should the people’s trade be wilfully neglected, for private interests, and while their ships of war lie idle in their harbours, suffer their vessels to be taken; and the enemy not only intercepts all commerce, but insults their coasts: it speaks a generous and great soul to shake off the yoke; and if we cannot redress our wrongs, withdraw from sharing the miseries which meaner spirits submit to, and scorn to yield to the tyranny. Such men as we, and, if the world, as experience may convince us it will, makes war upon us, the law of nature empowers us not only to be on the defensive, but also on the offensive part. As we then do not proceed upon the same ground with pirates, who are men of dissolute lives and no principles, let us scorn to take their colours; ours is a brave, a just, an innocent, and a noble cause; the cause of liberty. I therefore advise a white ensign, with liberty painted in the fly, and if you like the motto, “a Deo a libertate,” for God and liberty, as an emblem of our uprightness and resolution.”

The cabin door was left open, and the bulk-head, which was of canvass, rolled up: the steerage being full of men, who lent an attentive ear, they cried, “Liberty, Liberty; we are free men: Vive the brave Capt. Misson and the noble Lieut. Caraccioli!” This short council breaking up, every thing belonging to the deceased captain, and the other officers, and men lost in the engagement, was brought upon deck and overhauled; the money ordered to be put into a chest, and the carpenter to clap on a padlock, and give a key to every one of the council; Misson telling them, all should be in common, and the particular avarice of no one should defraud the public.

When the plate Monsieur Fourbin had, was going to the chest, the men unanimously cried out “avast! keep that out for the captain’s use, as a present from his officers and foremast men.” Misson thanked them, the plate was returned to the great cabin, and the chest secured according to orders: Misson then ordered his lieutenants and other officers to examine who among the men, were in most want of clothes, and to distribute those of the dead men impartially, which was done with the general consent and applause of the whole crew. All but the wounded being upon deck, Misson from the barricade, spoke to the following purpose, “That since they had unanimously resolved to seize upon and defend their liberty, which ambitious men had usurped, and that this could not be esteemed by impartial judges other than a just and brave resolution, he was under an obligation to recommend to them a brotherly love to each other; the banishment of all private piques and grudges, and a strict agreement and harmony among themselves; that in throwing off the yoke of tyranny, of which the action spoke an abhorrence, he hoped none would follow the example of tyrants, and turn his back upon justice; for when equity was trodden under foot, misery, confusion, and mutual distrust naturally followed.” He also advised them to remember there was a Supreme, the adoration of whom, reason and gratitude prompted us to, and our own interest would engage us (as it is best to be of the sure side, and after-life was allowed possible) to conciliate: that he was satisfied men who were born and bred in slavery, by which their spirits were broke, and were incapable of so generous a way of thinking, who, ignorant of their birth-right, and the sweets of liberty dance to the music of their chains, which was, indeed the greater part of the inhabitants of the globe, would brand this generous crew with the invidious name of pirates, and think it meritorious to be instrumental in their destruction. Self-preservation, therefore, and not a cruel disposition, obliged him to declare war against all such as should refuse him the entry of their ports, and against all, who should not immediately surrender and give up what their necessities required; but in a more particular manner against all European ships and vessels, as concluded implacable enemies. And I do now, said he, declare such war, and, at the same time, recommend to you, my comrades, a humane and generous behaviour, towards your prisoners; which will appear by so much more the effects of a noble soul, as we are satisfied we should not meet the same treatment should our ill fortune, or more properly our disunion, or want of courage, give us up to their mercy.

After this, he required a muster should be made, and there were able hands two hundred, and thirty-five sick and wounded. As they were mustered, they were sworn. After affairs were thus settled, they shaped their course for the Spanish West-Indies, but resolved in the way, to take a week or ten days’ cruise in the windward passage from Jamaica, because most merchantmen, which were good sailers, and did not stay for convoy, took this as the shorter cut for England.

Off St. Christopher’s they took an English sloop becalmed, with their boats. They took out of her a couple of puncheons of rum, and half a dozen hogsheads of sugar. She was a New-England sloop, bound for Boston, and without offering the least violence to the men, or stripping them, they let her go. The master of the sloop was Thomas Butler, who owned he never met with so candid an enemy as the French man of war, which took him the day he left St. Christophers. They met with no other booty in their way, till they came upon their station, when after three days, they saw a sloop which had the impudence to give them chase. Capt. Misson asked what could be the meaning of the sloop standing for them? One of the men who was acquainted with the West-Indies, told him, it was a Jamaica privateer, and he should not wonder, if he clapped him aboard. “I am,” said he, “no stranger to their way of working, and this despicable fellow, as those who don’t know a Jamaica privateer may think him, it is ten to one will give you some trouble. It now grows towards evening, and you’ll find as soon as he has discovered your force, he’ll keep out of the reach of your guns till the 12 o’clock watch is changed at night, and he’ll then attempt to clap you aboard, with hopes to carry you in the hurry: wherefore, captain, if you will give me leave to advise you, let every man have his small arms; and at 12, let the bell ring as usual, and rather more noise than ordinary be made, as if the one watch was turning in, and the other out, in a confusion and hurry, and I’ll engage he will venture to enter his men.” The fellow’s advice was approved and resolved upon, and the sloop worked as he said she would; for upon coming near enough to make out distinctly the force of the Victoire, on her throwing out French colours, she, the sloop, clapped upon a wind, and the Victoire gave chase, but without hopes of gaining upon her; she went so well to windward, that she could spare the ship some points in her sheet, and yet wrong her: at dusk of the evening, the French had lost sight of her, but about 11 at night, they saw her hankering up on their weather bow, which confirmed the sailor’s opinion, that she would attempt to board them, as she did at the pretended change of the watch; there being little or no wind, she lashed to the bowsprit of the Victoire, and entered her men, who were very quietly taken, as they entered, and tumbled down the fore-hatch where they were received by others, and bound without noise. Not one of the privateersmen was killed, few hurt, and only one Frenchman wounded. The Victoire, seeing the better part of the sloop’s men secured, they boarded in their turn, when the privateersmen, suspecting some stratagem, were endeavouring to cut their lashing and get off. Thus the Englishmen caught a Tartar. The prisoners being all secured, the captain charged his men not to discover, through a desire of augmenting their number, the account they were upon.

The next morning Monsieur Misson called for the captain of the privateer, and told him, he could not but allow him a brave fellow, to venture upon a ship of his countenance, and for that reason he should meet treatment which men of his profession seldom afforded the prisoners they made. He asked him how long he had been out, what was his name, and what he had on board? He answered he was but just come out, that he was the first sail he had met with, and should have thought himself altogether as lucky not to have spoke with him; that his name was Harry Ramsey, and what he had on board were rags, powder, ball, and some few half ankers of rum. Ramsey was ordered into the gun-room, and a council was held in the public manner aforesaid, the bulk-head of the great cabin being rolled up. On their conclusion, the captain of the privateer was called in again, when Capt. Misson told him, he would return him his sloop, and restore him and his men to their liberty, without stripping or plundering them of any thing, but what prudence obliged him to, their ammunition and small arms, if he would give him his word and honour, and his men take an oath, not to go out on the privateer account in six months after they left him: that he did not design to continue on that station above a week longer, at the expiration of which time, he would let them go.

Ramsay, who had a new sloop, did not expect this favour which he thanked him for, and promised punctually to comply with the injunction, which his men as readily swore to, though they had no design to keep the oath. The time being expired, he and his men were put on board their own sloop. At going over the ship’s side, Ramsay begged Monsieur Misson would allow him powder for a salute, by way of thanks; but he answered him, the ceremony was needless, and he expected no other return than that of keeping his word, which indeed Ramsay did. Some of his men had found it more to their advantage to have been as religious.

At parting Ramsey gave the ship three cheers, and Misson had the complaisance to return one, which Ramsay answering with three more, made the best of his way for Jamaica, and at the east end of the island met with the Diana, who, upon advice, turned back.

The Victoire steered for Carthagena, off which port they cruised some days, but meeting with nothing in those seas, they made for Porto Bello; in their way they met with two Dutch traders, who had letters-of-marque, and were just come upon the coast, the one had 20, the other 24 guns; Misson engaged them, and they defended themselves with a great deal of resolution and gallantry; and as they were manned apeak, he durst not venture to board either of them, for fear of being at the same time boarded by the other. His weight of metal gave him a great advantage over the Dutch, though they were two to one; besides, their business, as they had cargoes, was to get off, if possible, wherefore they made a running fight, though they took care to stick close to one another.

They maintained the fight for above six hours, when Misson, enraged at this obstinacy, and fearing, if by accident they should bring a mast, or top-mast by the board, they would get from him, he was resolved to sink the larger ship of the two, and accordingly ordered his men to bring all their guns to bear a midship, then running close along side of him, to raise their metal, his orders being punctually obeyed, he poured in a broadside, which opened such a gap in the Dutch ship that she went directly to the bottom, and every man perished.

He then manned his bowsprit, brought his sprit sail yard fore and aft, and resolved to board the other, which the Dutch perceiving, and terrified with the unhappy fate of their comrade, thought a farther resistance vain, and immediately struck. Misson gave them good quarters, though he was enraged at the loss of thirteen men killed outright, beside nine wounded, of which six died. They found on board a great quantity of gold and silver lace, brocade silks, silk stockings, bales of broadcloth, baizes of all colours, and osnaburgs.

A consultation being held, it was resolved Capt. Misson should take the name of Fourbin, and returning to Carthagena, dispose of his prize, and set his prisoners ashore. Accordingly they plied to the eastward, and came to an anchor between Boca Chicca fort, and the town, for they did not think it expedient to enter the harbour. The barge was manned, and Caraccioli, with the name of D’Aubigny, the first lieutenant, who was killed in the engagement with the Winchelsea, and his commission in his pocket, went ashore with a letter to the governor, signed Fourbin, whose character, for fear of the worst was exactly counterfeited. The purport of his letter was, that having discretionary orders to cruise for three months, and hearing the English infested his coast he was come in search of them, and had met two Dutchmen, one of which he had sunk, the other he made prize of. That his limited time being near expired, he should be obliged to his excellency, if he would send on board him such merchants as were willing to take the ship and cargo off his hands, of which he had sent the Dutch invoice. Don Joseph de la Zerda, the then governor, received the lieutenant (who sent back the barge at landing) very civilly, and agreed to take the prisoners ashore, and do every thing that was required of him; and ordering fresh provisions and vegetables to be got ready as a present for the captain, he sent for some merchants, who were very ready to go on board, and agree for the ship and goods; which they did, for fifty-two thousand pieces of eight. The next day the prisoners were set ashore; a rich piece of brocade which was reserved, sent to the governor for a present, a quantity of fresh provision bought and brought on board, the money paid by the merchants, the ship and goods delivered, and the Victoire, at the dawn of the following day, got under sail. It may be wondered how such despatch could be made, but the reader must take notice, these goods were sold by the Dutch invoice, which the merchant of the prize affirmed was genuine. I shall observe, by the by, that the Victoire was the French man of war which Admiral Wager sent the Kingston in search of, and being afterwards falsely informed, that she was joined by another of 70 guns, and that they cruised together between the Capes, ordered the Severn up to windward, to assist the Kingston, which had like to have proved very fatal; for these two English men of war, commanded by Capt. Trevor and Capt. Pudnor, meeting in the night, had prepared to engage, each taking the other for the enemy. The Kingston’s men not having a good look-out which must be attributed to the negligence of the officer of the watch, did not see the Severn till she was just upon them; but by good luck, to leeward, and plying up, with all the sail she could crowd, and a clear ship. This put the Kingston in such confusion, that when the Severn hailed, no answer was returned for none heard her. She was got under the Kingston’s stern, and Capt. Pudnor ordered to hail for the third and last time, and if no answer was returned, to give her a broadside. The noise on board the Kingston was now a little ceased, and Capt. Trevor, who was on the poop with a speaking trumpet, to hail the Severn, by good luck heard her hail him, and answering the Kingston, and asking the name of the other ship, prevented the damage.

They cruised together some time, and meeting nothing which answered their information, returned to Jamaica, as I shall to my subject, begging pardon for this, as I thought, necessary digression.

Don Juan de la Zerda told the captain in a letter, that the St. Joseph, a galleon of 70 guns, was then lying at Porto Bello, and should be glad if he could keep her company till she was off the coast. That she would sail in eight or ten days for the Havana; and that, if his time would permit him, he would send an advice-boat. That she had on board the value of 800,000 pieces of eight in silver, and bar gold. Misson returned answer, that he believed he should be excused if he stretched his orders, for a few days; and that he would cruise off the Isle of Pearls, and Cape Gratias a Dios, and give for signal to the galleon, his spreading a white ensign in his fore-top-mast shrouds, the cluing up his fore-sail, and the firing one gun to windward, and two to leeward, which he should answer by hoisting his fore-top-sail three times, and the firing as many guns to leeward. Don Joseph, extremely pleased with this complaisance, sent a boat express to advise the St. Joseph, but she was already sailed two days, contrary to the governor of Carthagena’s expectation, and this advice Capt. Misson had from the boat, which returning with an answer, saw the Victoire in the offing, and spoke to her. It was then resolved to follow the St. Joseph, and accordingly they steered for the Havanna, but by what accident they did not overtake her is unknown.

I forgot to tell my reader, that on board the Dutch ship were fourteen French huguenots, whom Misson thought fit to detain. When they were at sea, he called them up, and proposed to them their taking on; telling them at the same time, he left it to their choice, for he would have no forced men; and that if they all, or any of them disapproved the proposal, he would either give them the first vessel he met that was fit for them, or set them ashore on some inhabited coast; and therefore bid them take two days for consideration before they returned an answer; and to encourage them, he called all hands up, and declared, that if any man repented of the course of life he had chosen, his just dividend should be counted to him, and he would set him on shore, either near the Havanna, or some other convenient place; but not one accepted the offer, and the fourteen prisoners unanimously resolved to join in with them; to which resolution, no doubt, the hopes of a good booty from the St. Joseph, and this offer of liberty, greatly contributed.

At the entrance of the Gulf they spied and came up with a large merchant ship bound for London, from Jamaica; she had 20 guns, but no more than thirty-two hands, so that it is not to be wondered at she made no resistance; besides, she was deep laden with sugars. Mons. Misson took out of her what ammunition she had, about four thousand pieces of eight, some puncheons of rum, and ten hogsheads of sugar; and, without doing her any further damage, let her proceed her voyage. What he valued most in this prize was the men he got, for she was carrying to Europe twelve French prisoners, two of which were necessary hands, being a carpenter and his mate. They were of Bordeaux from whence they came in the Pomechatraine, which was taken by the Mermaid off Petit Guave, after an obstinate resistance, in which they lost 40 men. These men very willingly came into Capt. Misson’s measures. Having been stripped to the skin, they begged leave to make reprisals, but the captain would not suffer them, though he told the master of the prize, as he protected him and his men, he thought it reasonable these French should be clothed; upon this the master contributed of his own, and every man bringing up his chest, thought themselves very well off in sharing with them one half.

Though Misson’s ship passed for a French man of war, yet his generosity in letting the prize go, gave the English grounds to suspect the truth, neither the ship nor cargo being of use to such as were upon the grand account.

When they had lost all hopes of the St. Joseph, they coasted along the north side of Cuba, and the Victoire growing now foul, they ran into a landlocked bay on the E. N. E. point, where they hove her down by boats and guns, though they could not pretend to heave her keel out; however, they scraped and tallowed as far as they could go; they, for this reason, many of them, repented they had let the last prize go, by which they might have careened.

When they had righted the ship, and put every thing on board, they consulted upon the course they should steer. Upon this the council divided. The captain and Caraccioli, were for stretching over to the African, and the others for New-England coast, alleging, that the ship had a foul bottom, and was not fit for the voyage; and that if they met with contrary winds, and bad weather, their stock of provision might fall short; and that as they were not far from the English settlement of Carolina, they might either on that or on the coast of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New-York, or New-England, intercept ships which traded to the islands with provisions and by that means provide themselves with bread, flour, and other necessaries. An account of the provisions was taken, and finding they had provisions for four months, Capt. Misson called all hands upon deck, and told them, as the council differed in the course they should steer, he thought it reasonable to have it put to the vote of the whole company. That for his part, he was for going to the coast of Guinea, where they might reasonably expect to meet with valuable prizes; but should they fail in their expectation one way, they would be sure of having it answered in another; for they could then throw themselves in that of East-India ships, and he need not tell them, that the outward bound drained Europe of what money they drew from America. He then gave the sentiments of those who were against him, and their reasons, and begged that every one would give his opinion and vote according as he thought most conducive to the good of all. That he should be far from taking it ill if they should reject what he had proposed, since he had no private views to serve. The majority of votes fell on the captain’s side, and they accordingly shaped their course for the coast of Guinea, in which voyage nothing remarkable happened. On their arrival on the gold coast, they fell in with the Nieuwstadt, of Amsterdam, a ship of 18 guns, commanded by Capt. Blaes, who made a running fight of five glasses: this ship they kept with them, putting on board 40 hands, and bringing all the prisoners on board the Victoire they were forty-three in number; they left Amsterdam with fifty-six: seven were killed in the engagement, and they had lost six by sickness and accidents, one falling overboard, and one being taken by a shark, going overboard in a calm.

The Nieuwstadt had some gold dust on board, to the value of about £2000 sterling and a few slaves to the number of seventeen, for she had but just begun to trade; the slaves were a strengthening of their hands, for the captain ordered them to be clothed out of the Dutch mariners’ chests, and told his men “That the trading for those of our own species could never be agreeable to the eyes of divine justice: that no man had power over the liberty of another; and while those who professed a more enlightened knowledge of the Deity, sold men like beasts, they proved that their religion was no more than grimace, and that they differed from the barbarian in name only, since their practice was in nothing more humane: for his part, and he hoped he spoke the sentiments of all his brave companions, he had not exempted his neck from the galling yoke of slavery, and asserted his own liberty to enslave others. That however these men were distinguished from the Europeans by their colour, customs, or religious rites, they were the work of the same omnipotent Being, and indued with equal reason, wherefore he desired they might be treated like freemen, (for he would banish even the name of slavery from among them) and divided into messes among them, to the end they might the sooner learn their language, be sensible of the obligation they had to them, and more capable and zealous to defend that liberty they owed to their justice and humanity.”

This speech of Misson’s was received with general applause, and the ship rang with “Vive le Capitaine Misson.” Long live Capt. Misson.—The negroes were divided among the French, one to a mess, who, by their gesticulations showed they were gratefully sensible of their being delivered from their chains. Their ship growing very foul, and going heavily through the water, they run into the river Lagoa, where they hove her down, taking out such planks as had suffered most by the worms, and substituting new in their room.

After this they careened the prize, and so put out to sea, steering to the southward, and keeping along the coast, but met with nothing. All this while, the greatest decorum and regularity was observed on board the Victoire; but the Dutch prisoners’ example began to lead them into swearing and drunkenness, which the captain remarking thought it was best to nip these vices in the bud; and calling both the French and Dutch upon deck, he addressed himself to the latter, desiring their captain, who spoke French excellently well, to interpret what he said to those who did not understand him. He told them, “before he had the misfortune of having them on board, his ears were never grated with hearing the name of the great Creator profaned, though he, to his sorrow, had often since heard his own men guilty of that sin, which administered neither profit nor pleasure, and might draw upon them a severe punishment: that if they had a just idea of that great Being, they would never mention him, but they would immediately reflect on his purity and their own vileness. That we so easily took impressions from our company, that the Spanish proverb says, Let a hermit and a thief live together, the thief would become hermit, or the hermit thief, that he saw this verified in his ship, for he could attribute the oaths and curses he had heard among his brave companions, to nothing but the odious example of the Dutch: that this was not the only vice they had introduced, for before they were on board, his men were men, but he found by their beastly pattern they were degenerated into brutes, by drowning that only faculty which distinguishes between men and beasts, reason. That as he had the honour to command them, he could not see them run into these odious vices without a sincere concern, as he had a paternal affection for them; and he should reproach himself as neglectful of the common good, if he did not admonish them; and as by the post with which they had honoured him, he was obliged to have a watchful eye over their general interest; he was obliged to tell them his sentiments were, that the Dutch allured them to a dissolute way of life, that they might take some advantage over them: wherefore, as his brave companions, he was assured, would be guided by reason, he gave the Dutch notice, that the first whom he caught either with an oath in his mouth or liquor in his head, should be brought to the geers, whipped and pickled for an example to the rest of his nation; as to his friends, his companions, his children, those gallant, those generous, noble, and heroic souls he had the honour to command, he entreated them to allow a small time for reflection, and to consider how little pleasure and how much danger, might flow from imitating the vices of their enemies; and that they would among themselves, make a law for the suppression of what would otherwise estrange them from the source of life, and consequently leave them destitute of his protection.”

It is not to be imagined what efficacy this speech had on both nations; the Dutch grew continent in fear of punishment, and the French in fear of being reproached by their good captain, for they never mentioned him without this epithet. Upon the coast of Angola, they met with a second Dutch ship, the cargo of which consisted of silk and woollen stuffs, cloth, lace, wine, brandy, oil, spice, and hardware: the prize gave chase and engaged her, but upon the coming up of the Victoire she struck. This ship opportunely came in their way, and gave full employ to the tailors, who were on board; for the whole crew began to be out at elbows; they plundered her of what was of use to their own ship, and then sunk her.

The captain having about ninety prisoners on board, proposed the giving them the prize with what was necessary for their voyage, and sending them away; which being agreed to, they shifted her ammunition on board the Victoire, and giving them provisions to carry them to the settlements the Dutch have on the coast, Misson called them up, told them what was his design, and asked if any of them was willing to share his fortune: eleven Dutch came in to him, two of whom were sailmakers, one an armourer, and one a carpenter, necessary hands; the rest he let go, not a little surprised at the regularity, tranquility, and humanity, which they found among these new fashioned pirates.

They had now run the length of Saldanha bay, about ten leagues to the northward of Table Bay. As here is good water, safe riding, plenty of fish and fresh provision, to be got of the natives for the merchandise they had on board, it was resolved to stay here some little time for refreshments. When they had the bay open, they spied a tall ship, which instantly got under sail, and hove out English colours. The Victoire made clear ship, and hove out her French ensign, and a smart engagement began. The English was a new ship built for 40 guns, though she had but 32 mounted, and 90 hands. Misson gave orders for boarding, and the number of fresh men he constantly poured in, after an obstinate dispute obliged the English to fly the decks, and leave the French masters of their ship, who promised, and gave them good quarters and stripped not a man.

They found on board the prize some bales of English broadcloth, and about £60,000 in English crown pieces, and Spanish pieces of eight. The English captain was killed in the engagement, and 14 of his men: the French lost 12, which was no small mortification, but did not however provoke them to use their prisoners harshly. Capt. Misson was sorry for the death of the commander, whom he buried on shore, and one of his men being a stone-cutter, he raised a stone over his grave with these words, “Icy gist un brave Anglois,” Here lies a gallant Englishman. When he was buried he made a triple discharge of fifty small arms, and fired minute guns.

The English, knowing whose hands they were fallen into, and charmed with Misson’s humanity, 30 of them, in three days space, desired to take on with him. He accepted them, but at the same time gave them to understand, that in taking on with him they were not to expect they should be indulged in a dissolute and immoral life. He now divided his company between the two ships, and made Caraccioli captain of the prize, giving him officers chosen by the public suffrage. The 17 negroes began to understand a little French, and to be useful hands, and in less than a month all the English prisoners came over to him, except their officers.

He had two ships well manned with resolute fellows: they now doubled the cape, and made the S. end of Madagascar, and one of the Englishmen telling Capt. Misson, that the European ships bound for Surat, commonly touched at the island of Johanna, he sent for Capt. Caraccioli on board, and it was agreed to cruise off that island. They accordingly sailed on the West side of Madagascar, and off the bay de Diego. About half seas over, between that bay, and the island of Johanna, they came up with an English East-Indiaman, which made signals of distress as soon as she spied Misson and his prize, they found her sinking by an unexpected leak, and took all her men on board, though they could get little out of her before she went down. The English, who were thus miraculously saved from perishing, desired to be set on shore at Johanna, where they hoped to meet with either a Dutch or English ship in a little time, and the mean while they were sure of relief.

They arrived at Johanna, and were kindly received by the Queen Regent and her brother, on account of the English on the one hand, and of their strength on the other, which the queen’s brother, who had the administration of affairs, was not able to make head against, and hoped they might assist him against the king of Mohila, who threatened him with a visit.

This is an island which is contiguous, in a manner, to Johanna, and lies about N. W. by N. from it. Caraccioli told Misson he might take his advantage in widening the breach between these two little monarchies, and, by offering his assistance to that of Johanna, in a manner rule both, for these would court him as their protector, and those come to any terms to buy his friendship, by which means he would hold the balance of power between them. He followed this advice, and offered his friendship and assistance to the queen, who very readily embraced it.

I must advise the reader, that many of this island speak English, and that the Englishmen who were of Misson’s crew, and his interpreters, told them, their captain, though not an Englishman, was their friend and ally, and a friend and brother to the Johanna men, for they esteemed the English beyond all other nations.

They were supplied by the queen with all necessaries of life, and Misson married her sister, as Caraccioli did the daughter of her brother, whose armoury, which consisted before of no more than two rusty fire-locks and three pistols, he furnished with 30 fuzils, as many pair of pistols, and gave him two barrels of powder and four of ball.

Several of his men took wives, and some required their share of the prizes, which was justly given them, they designing to settle in this island; but the number of these did not exceed ten, which loss was repaired by thirty of the crew (they had saved from perishing) coming in to him.

While they past their time in all manner of diversions the place would afford them, as hunting, feasting, and visiting the island, the king of Mohila, made a descent, and alarmed the whole country. Misson advised the queen’s brother not to give him any impediment but let him get into the heart of the island, and he would take care to intercept their return; but the prince answered, should he follow this advice the enemy would do him and his subjects an irreparable damage, in destroying the cocoa walks, and for that reason he must endeavour to stop his progress. Upon this answer he asked the English who were not under his command, if they were willing to join him in repelling the enemies of their common host, and one and all consenting, he gave them arms, and mixed them with his own men, and about the same number of Johannians, under the command of Caraccioli and the queen’s brother, and arming out all his boats, he went himself to the westward of the island, where they made their descent. The party which went by land, fell in with, and beat the Mohilians with great ease, who were in the greatest consternation, to find their retreat cut off by Misson’s boats. The Johannians, whom they had often molested, were so enraged, that they gave quarter to none, and out of 300 who made the descent, if Misson and Caraccioli had not interposed, not a soul had escaped; 113 were taken prisoners, by his men, and carried on board his ships. These he sent safe to Mohila, with a message to the king, to desire he would make peace with his friend and ally the king of Johanna; but that prince, little affected with the service done him in the preservation of his subjects, sent him word he took laws from none, and knew when to make war and peace without his advice, which he neither asked nor wanted. Misson irritated by this rude answer, resolved to transfer the war into his own country, and accordingly set sail for Mohila, with about 100 Johanna men. The shore on sight of the ships, was filled with men to hinder a descent if intended, but the great guns soon dispersed this rabble, and under their cover he landed the Johannians, and an equal number of French and English. They were met by about 700 Mohilians, who pretended to stop their passage, but their darts and arrows were of little avail against Misson’s fuzils; the first discharge made a great slaughter, and about 20 shells which were thrown among them, put them to a confused flight. The party of Europeans and Johannians then marched to their metropolis, without resistance, which they reduced to ashes, and the Johannians cut down all the cocoa walks that they could for the time, for towards evening they returned to their ships, and stood off to sea.

At their return to Johanna the queen made a festival, and magnified the bravery and service of her guests, friends, and allies. This feast lasted four days, at the expiration of which time the queen’s brother proposed to Capt. Misson the making another descent, in which he would go in person, and did not doubt subjecting the Mohilians; but this was not the design of Misson, who had thoughts of fixing a retreat on the N. W. side of Madagascar, and looked upon the feuds between these two islands advantageous to his views, and therefore no way his interest to suffer the one to overcome the other; for while the variance was kept up, and their forces pretty much upon a level, it was evident their interest would make both sides caress him; he therefore answered, that they ought to deliberate on the consequences, for they might be deceived in their hopes, and find the conquest less easy than they imagined. That the king of Mohila would be more upon his guard, and not only intrench himself, but gall them with frequent ambuscades, by which they must inevitably lose a number of men; and, if they were forced to retire with loss, raise the courage of the Mohilians, and make them irreconcilable enemies to the Johannians, and entirely deprive him of the advantages with which he might now make a peace, having twice defeated them: that he could not be always with them, and at his leaving Johanna he might expect the king of Mohila would endeavour to take a bloody revenge for the late damages. The queen gave entirely into Misson’s sentiments.

While this was in agitation, four Mohilians arrived as ambassadors to propose a peace. Finding the Johannians upon high terms, one of them spoke to this purpose:—O ye Johannians, do not conclude from you late success, that fortune will be always favourable; she will not always give you the protection of the Europeans, and without their help it is possible you might now sue for a peace, which you seem averse to. Remember the sun rises, comes to its meridian height, and stays not there, but declines in a moment. Let this admonish you to reflect on the constant revolution of all sublunary affairs, and the greater is your glory, the nearer you are to your declension. We are taught by every thing we see, that there is no stability in the world, but nature is in continual movement. The sea, which overflows the sands, has its bounds set, which it cannot pass, which the moment it has reached, without abiding, returns back to the bosom of the deep. Every herb, every shrub and tree, and even our own bodies teach us this lesson, that nothing is durable, or can be counted upon. Time passes away insensibly, one sun follows another, and brings its changes with it. To-day’s globe of light sees you strengthened by these Europeans elate with victory, and we, who have been used to conquer you, come to ask a peace. To-morrow’s sun may see you deprived of your present succours, and the Johannians petitioning us: as therefore we cannot say what to-morrow may bring forth, it would be unwise on uncertain hopes to forego a certain advantage, as surely peace ought to be esteemed by every wise man.

Having said this, the ambassadors withdraw, and were treated by the queen’s orders. After the council had concluded, they were again called upon, and the queen told them, that by the advice of her good friends, the Europeans, and those of her council, she agreed to make peace, which she wished might banish all memory of former injuries; that they must own the war was begun by them, and that she was far from being the aggressor; she only defended herself in her own kingdom, which they had often invaded, though, till within a few days, she had never molested their coasts. If then they really desired to live amicably with her, they must resolve to send two of the king’s children, and ten of the first nobility, as hostages: that they might, when they pleased, return, for these were the only terms on which she would desist prosecuting the advantages she now had, with the utmost vigour.

The ambassadors returned with this answer, and, about ten days after, the two ships appearing upon their coasts, they sent off to give notice, that their king complied with the terms proposed, would send the hostages, and desired a cessation of all hostility, and, at the same time, invited the commanders on shore. The Johanna men on board dissuaded their accepting the invitation; but Misson and Caraccioli, fearing nothing, went, but armed their boat’s crew. They were received by the king with demonstrations of friendship, and they dined with him under a tamarind tree; but when they parted from him, and were returning to their boats, they were inclosed by at least a hundred of the Mohilians, who set upon them with the utmost fury, and, in the first flight of arrows, wounded both the captains, and killed four of their boat’s crew, of eight who were with them. They, in return, discharged their pistols with some execution, and fell in with their cutlasses; but all their bravery would have stood them in little stead, had not the report of their pistols alarmed and brought the rest of their friends to their assistance, who took their fuzils, and coming up while they were engaged, discharged a volley on the back of the assailants, which laid twelve of them dead on the spot. The ships hearing this fire, sent immediately the yawls and long-boats well manned. Though the islanders were a little damped in their courage by this fire of the boat’s crew, yet they did not give over the fight, and one of them desperately threw himself upon Caraccioli, and gave him a deep wound in the side with a long knife; but he paid for the rashness of the attempt with his life, one of the crew cleaving his scull. The yawls and long-boats now arrived, and being guided by the noise, reinforced their companions, put the traitors to flight, and brought off their dead and wounded. The Europeans lost by this treachery, seven slain outright, and eight wounded, six of which recovered.

The crew were resolved to revenge the blood of their officers and comrades the next day, and were accordingly on the point of landing, when two canoes came off with two men bound, the pretended authors of this treason, without the king’s knowledge, who had sent them that they might receive the punishment due to their villany. The Johanna men on board were called for interpreters, who having given this account, added, that the king only sacrificed these men, but that they should not believe him, for he certainly had given orders for assassinating the Europeans; and the better way was to kill all the Mohilians that came in the canoes, as well as the two prisoners; go back to Johanna, take more of their countrymen, and give no peace to traitors; but Misson was for no such violent measures; he was averse to every thing that bore the face of cruelty, and thought a bloody revenge, if necessity did not enforce it, spoke a grovelling and timid soul: he, therefore, sent those of the canoes back, and bid them tell their king, if before the evening he sent the hostages agreed upon, he should give credit to his excuse; but if he did not, he should believe him the author of the late vile attempt on his life.

The canoes went off, but returned not with an answer; wherefore, he bid the Johanna men tell the two prisoners that they should be set on shore the next morning, and ordered them to acquaint their king, he was no executioner to put those to death whom he had condemned, but that he should find he knew how to revenge himself of his treason. The prisoners being unbound, threw themselves at his feet, and begged that he would not send them ashore, for they should be surely put to death, for the crime they had committed, was, the dissuading the barbarous action of which they were accused as authors.

Next day, the two ships landed 200 men, under the cover of their cannon; but that precaution of bringing their ships close to the shore, they found needless: not a soul appearing, they marched two leagues up the country, when they saw a body of men appear behind some shrubs. Caraccioli’s lieutenant, who commanded the right wing, with fifty men, made up to them, but found he had got among pit-falls artificially covered, several of his men falling into them, which made him halt, and not pursue those Mohilians who made a feint retreat to ensnare him, thinking it dangerous to proceed farther; and seeing no enemy would face them, they retired the same way they came, and getting into their boats, went on board the ships, resolving to return with a strong reinforcement, and make descents at one and the same time in different parts of the island. They asked the two prisoners how the country lay, and what the soil was on the north side of the island; and they answered it was morass, and the most dangerous part to attempt, it being a place where they shelter on any imminent danger.

The ships returned to Johanna, where the greatest tenderness and care was shown for the recovery and cure of the two captains and of their men; they lay six weeks before they were able to walk the decks, for neither of them would quit his ship. Their Johanna wives expressed a concern they did not think them capable of; nay, a wife of one of the wounded men who died, stood some time looking upon the corpse as motionless as a statue, then embracing it, without shedding a tear, desired she might take it ashore to wash and bury it; and at the same time by an interpreter, and with a little mixture of European language, begged her late husband’s friends would take their leave of him the next day.

Accordingly a number went ashore, and carried with them the dividend, which fell to his share, which the captain ordered to be given to his widow; when she saw the money, she smiled, and asked if all that was for her?—Being answered in the affirmative, “and what good will all that shining dirt do me? If I could with it purchase the life of my husband, and call him back from the grave, I would accept it with pleasure, but as it is not sufficient to allure him back to this world, I have no use for it; do with it what you please.” Then she desired they would go with her and perform the last ceremonies to her husband’s dead body, after their country fashion, lest he should be displeased; that she could not stay with them, to be a witness, because she was in haste to go and be married again. She startled the Europeans who heard this latter part of her speech, so dissonant from the beginning; however they followed her, and she led them into a plantain walk, where they found a great many Johanna men and women, sitting under the shade of plantains, round the corpse, which lay (as they all sat) on the ground, covered with flowers. She embraced them round, and then the Europeans, one by one, and after these ceremonies, she poured out a number of bitter imprecations against the Mohila men, whose treachery had darkened her husband’s eyes, and made him insensible of her caresses, who was her first love, to whom she had given her heart with her virginity. She then proceeded in his praises, calling him the joy of infants, the love of virgins, the delight of the old, and the wonder of the young, adding, he was strong and beautiful as the cedar, brave as the bull, tender as the kid, and loving as the ground turtle. Having finished this oration, not unlike those of the Romans, which the nearest relation of the deceased used to pronounce from the rostrum, she laid down by the side of her husband, embracing him, and sitting up again, gave herself a deep wound under the left breast with a bayonet, and fell dead on her husband’s corpse.

The Europeans were astonished at the tenderness and the resolution of the girl, for she was not, by what her mien spoke her, past seventeen; and they now admired, as much as they had secretly detested her, for saying she was in haste to be married again, the meaning of which they did not understand.

After the husband and wife were buried, the crew returned on board, and gave an account of what had passed; the captains’ wives (for Misson and his were on board the Bijoux, the name they had given their prize from her make and gilding) seemed not in the least surprised, and Caraccioli’s lady only said, she must be of noble descent, for none but the families of the nobility had the privilege allowed them of following their husbands, on pain if they transgressed, of being thrown into the sea, to be eat by fish; and they knew that their souls could not rest as long as any of the fish, who fed upon them, lived. Misson asked, if they intended to have done the same thing had they died? “We should not,” answered his wife, “have disgraced our families; nor is our tenderness for our husbands inferior to hers whom you seem to admire.”

After their recovery, Misson proposed a cruise, on the coast of Zanguebar, which being agreed to, he and Caraccioli, took leave of the queen and her brother, and would have left their wives on the island, but they could by no means be induced to the separation; it was in vain to urge the shortness of the time they were to cruise; they answered it was not farther than Mohila they intended to go, and if they were miserable in that short absence, they could never support a longer; and if they would not allow them to keep them company in the voyage, they must not expect to see them at their return, if they intended one.

In a word, they were obliged to yield to them, but told them, if the views of their men should insist as strongly on following their example, their tenderness would be their ruin, and make them a prey to their enemies; they answered, the queen should prevent that, by ordering that no woman should go on board, and if any were in the ships, they should return on shore: this order was accordingly made, and they set sail for the river Mozambique. In about ten days’ cruise after they had left Johanna, and about 15 leagues to the eastward of this river, they fell in with a stout Portuguese ship of 60 guns, which engaged them from break of day till two in the afternoon, when the captain being killed, and a great number of men lost, she struck; this proved a very rich prize, for she had the value of £250,000 sterling on board, in gold dust. The two women never quit the decks all the time of the engagement, neither gave they the least mark of fear except for their husbands. This engagement cost them 30 men, and Caraccioli lost his right leg; the slaughter fell mostly on the English, for of the above number, 20 were of that nation: the Portuguese lost double the number. Caraccioli’s wound made them resolve to make the best of their way for Johanna, where the greatest care was taken of their wounded, not one of whom died, though their number amounted to 27.

Caraccioli kept his bed two months; but Misson seeing him in a fair way of recovery, took what hands could be spared from the Bijoux, leaving her sufficient for defence, and went out, having mounted ten of the Portuguese guns, for he had hitherto carried but thirty, though he had ports for forty. He stretched over to Madagascar, and coasted along this island to the northward, as far as the most northerly point, when turning back, he entered a bay to the northward of Diego Suares. He run ten leagues up this bay, and on the larboard side found it afforded a large, and safe harbour, with plenty of fresh water. He came to an anchor, went on shore and examined the nature of the soil, which he found rich, the air wholesome, and the country level. He told his men this was an excellent place for an asylum, and that he determined here to fortify and raise a small town, and make docks for shipping, that they might have some place to call their own; and a receptacle, when age or wounds had rendered them incapable of hardship, where they might enjoy the fruits of their labour, and go to their graves in peace: that he would not, however, set about this, till he had the approbation of the whole company; and were he sure they would all approve this design, which he hoped, it being evidently for the general good, he should not think it advisable to begin any works, lest the natives should, in his absence, destroy them; but, however, as they had nothing upon their hands, if they were of his opinion, they might begin to fall and square timber, ready for the raising a wooden fort, when they returned with their companions.

The captain’s motion was universally applauded, and in ten days they felled and rough hewed a hundred and fifty large trees, without any interruption from or seeing any of the inhabitants. They felled their timber at the waters’ edge, so that they had not the trouble of hauling them any way, which would have employed a great deal more time: they returned again, and acquainted their companions with what they had seen and done, and with the captain’s resolution, which they one and all came into.

Capt. Misson then told the queen, as he had been serviceable to her in her war with the island of Mohila, and might continue to be of farther use, he did not question her lending him assistance in the settling himself on the coast of Madagascar, and to that end furnish him with 300 men, to help in his buildings. The queen answered, she could do nothing without consent of council, and that she would assemble her nobility, and did not question their agreeing to anything he could reasonably desire, for they were sensible of the obligations the Johannians had to him. The council was accordingly called, and Misson’s demand being told, one of the eldest said, he did not think it expedient to comply with it, nor safe to refuse; that they should in agreeing to give him that assistance, help to raise a power, which might prove formidable to themselves, by the being so near a neighbour; and these men who had lately protected, might, when they found it for their interest, enslave them. On the other hand, if they did not comply, they had the power to do them great damage: that they were to make choice of the least of two possible evils, for he could prognosticate no good to Johanna, by their settling near it. Another answered, that many of them had Johanna wives: that it was not likely they would make enemies of the Johanna men at the first settling, because their friendship might be of use to them; and from their children there was nothing to be apprehended in the next generation, for they would be half their own blood; that in the mean while, if they complied with the request, they might be sure of an ally and protector against the king of Mohila; wherefore, he was for agreeing to the demand.

After a long debate, in which every inconvenience and advantage was maturely considered, it was agreed to send with him the number of men he required, on condition he should send them back in four moons, make an alliance with them, and war against Mohila. This being agreed to, they staid till Caraccioli was thoroughly recovered: then putting the Johannians on board the Portuguese ship, with forty French and English, and fifteen Portuguese to work her, and setting sail, they arrived at the place where Misson designed his settlement, which he called Libertatia, and gave the name of Liberi to his people, desiring in that might be drowned the distinguished names of French, English, Dutch, Africans, &c.

The first thing they set about was, the raising a fort on each side the harbour, which they made of an octagon figure, and having finished and mounted them with forty guns taken out of the Portuguese, they raised a battery on an angle, of ten guns, and began to raise houses and magazines under the protection of their forts and ships; the Portuguese was unrigged, and all her sails and cordage carefully laid up. While they were very busily employed in the raising a town, a party which had often hunted and rambled four or five leagues off their settlement, resolved to venture farther into the country. They made themselves some huts, at about four leagues distance from their companions, and travelled E. S. E. about five leagues farther into the country, when they came up with a black, who was armed with a bow, arrows, and a javelin: they with a friendly appearance engaged the fellow to lay by his fear, and go with them. They carried him to their companions, and there entertained him three days with a great deal of humanity, and then returned with him near the place they found him, and made him a present of a piece of scarlet baize, and an axe. He appeared overjoyed with the present, and left them with seeming satisfaction.

The hunters imagined that there might be some village not far off, and observing that he looked at the sun, and then took his way directly south, they travelled on the same point of the compass, and from the top of a hill they spied a pretty large village, and went down to it: the men came out with their arms, such as before described, bows, arrows, and javelins; but upon two only of the whites advancing, with presents of axes and baize in their hands, they sent only four to meet them. The misfortune was, that they could not understand one another: but by their pointing to the sun, and holding up one finger, and making one of them go forward, and return again with showing their circumcision, and pointing up to heaven with one finger, they apprehended they gave them to understand there was but one God, who had sent one prophet, and concluded from thence, and their circumcision, they were Mahometans. The presents were carried to their chief, and he seemed to receive them kindly, and by signs invited the whites into their village; but they remembering the late treachery of the Mohilians, made signs for victuals to be brought to them where they were.

☞ The remainder of Captain Misson’s History will be found incorporated with that of Captain Tew.

CAPTAIN JOHN BOWEN.

The exact time of this person’s setting out I am not certain of. I find him cruising on the Malabar coast in the year 1700, commanding a ship called the Speaker, whose crew consisted of men of all nations, and their piracies were committed upon ships of all nations likewise. The pirates here met with no manner of inconveniencies in carrying on their designs, for it was made so much a trade, that the merchants of one town never scrupled the buying commodities taken from another, though but ten miles distant, in a public sale, furnishing the robbers at the same time with all necessaries, even of vessels, when they had occasion to go on any expedition, which they themselves would often advise them of.

Among the rest, an English East-Indiaman, Capt. Coneway, from Bengal, fell into the hands of this crew, which they made prize of, near Callequilon. They carried her in, and put her up to sale, dividing the ship and cargo into three shares; one third was sold to a merchant, native of Callequilon aforesaid, another third to a merchant of Porca, and the other to one Malpa, a Dutch factor.

Loaded with the spoil of this and several country ships they left the coast, and steered for Madagascar; but in their voyage thither, meeting with adverse winds, and, being negligent in their steerage, they ran upon St. Thomas’s reef, at the island of Mauritius, where the ship was lost; but Bowen and the greatest part of the crew got safe ashore.

They met here with all the civility and good treatment imaginable. Bowen was complimented in a particular manner by the governor, and splendidly entertained in his house; the sick men were got, with great care, into the fort, and cured by their doctor, and no supplies of any sort, wanting for the rest. They spent here three months, but yet resolving to set down at Madagascar, they bought a sloop, which they converted into a brigantine, and about the middle of March, 1701, departed, having first taken formal leave of the governor, by making a present of 2500 pieces of eight; leaving him, besides, the wreck of their ship, with the guns, stores, and every thing else that was saved. The governor, on his part, supplied them with necessaries for their voyage, which was but short, and gave them a kind invitation to make that island a place of refreshment in the course of their future adventures, promising that nothing should be wanting to them that his government afforded.

Upon their arrival at Madagascar, they put in at a place on the east side, called Maritan, quit their vessel, and settled themselves ashore in a fruitful plain on the side of a river. They built themselves a fort on the river’s mouth, towards the sea, and another small one on the other side, towards the country; the first to prevent a surprise from shipping, and the other as a security from the natives, many of whom they employed in the building. They built also a little town for their habitation, which took up the remainder of the year 1701.

When this was done, they soon became dissatisfied with their new situation, having a hankering mind after their old employment, and accordingly resolved to fit up the brigantine they had from the Dutch at Mauritius, which was laid in a cove near their settlement; but an accident, that they improved, provided for them in a better manner, and saved them a great deal of trouble.

It happened that about the beginning of the year 1702, a ship called the Speedy Return, belonging to the Scotch-African and East-India company, Capt. Drummond, commander, came into the port of Maritan in Madagascar, with a brigantine that belonged to her; they had before taken in negroes at St. Mary’s, a little island adjoining to the main land of Madagascar, and carried them to Don Mascarenhas, from whence they sailed to this port on the same trade.

On the ship’s arrival, Capt. Drummond, with Andrew Wilky, his surgeon, and several others of the crew, went on shore; in the mean time John Bowen, with four others of his consorts, went off in a little boat, on pretence of buying some of their merchandise brought from Europe: and finding a fair opportunity, the chief mate, boatswain, and a hand or two more only upon deck, and the rest at work in the hold they threw off their mask; each drew out a pistol and hanger, and told them they were all dead men if they did not retire that moment to the cabin. The surprise was sudden, and they thought it necessary to obey: one of the pirates placed himself sentry at the door, with his arms in his hands, and the rest immediately laid the hatches, and then made a signal to their fellows on shore as agreed on; upon which, about forty or fifty came on board, and took quiet possession of the ship, and afterwards the brigantine, without bloodshed, or striking a stroke. Bowen was made, or rather made himself, of course, captain; he detained the old crew, or the greatest part thereof, burnt the Dutch brigantine as being of no use to them, cleaned and fitted the ship, took water, provisions, and what necessaries were wanting, and made ready for new adventures.

Having thus piratically possessed himself of Capt. Drummond’s ship and brigantine, and being informed by the crew, that when they left Don Mascarenhas, a ship called the Rook galley, Capt. Honeycomb, commander, was lying in that bay, Bowen resolved, with the other pirates, to sail thither, but it taking up seven or eight days in watering their vessels, and settling their private affairs, they arrived not at the island till after the departure of the said galley, who thereby happily escaped the villaneous snare of their unprovoked enemies.

The night after the pirates left Maritan, the brigantine ran on a ledge of rocks off the west side of the island of Madagascar, which not being perceived by the ship, Bowen came into Mascarenhas without her, not knowing what was become of his consort. Here he stayed eight or ten days, in which time he supplied the ship with provisions, and judging that the Rook galley was gone to some other island, the ship sailed to Mauritius, in search of her; but the pirates seeing four or five ships in the N. W. harbour, they thought themselves too weak to attempt any thing there; so they stood immediately for Madagascar again, and arrived safe, first at Port Dauphin and then at Augustin Bay. In a few days the Content brigantine, which they supposed either to have been lost, or revolted that honourable service, came into the same bay, and informed their brethren of the misfortune that happened to them.

The rogues were glad, no doubt, of seeing one another again, and calling a council together, they found the brigantine in no condition for business, being then very leaky; therefore she was condemned, and forthwith hauled ashore and burnt, and the crew united, and all went on board the Speedy Return.

At this place the pirates were made acquainted, by the negroes, of the adventures of another gang that had settled for some time near that harbour, and had one Howard for their captain. It was the misfortune of an India ship called the Prosperous, to come into the bay at the time that these rogues were looking out for employment; who under the pretence of trading (almost in the same manner that Bowen and his gang had seized the Speedy Return) made themselves master of her, and sailed with her to New Mathelage. Bowen and his gang consulting together on this intelligence, concluded it was more for their interest to join in alliance with this new company, than to act single, they being too weak of themselves to undertake any considerable enterprise, remembering how they were obliged to bear away from the island of Mauritius, when they were in search of the Rook galley, which they might have taken, with several others, had they had, at that time, a consort of equal force to their own ship.

They accordingly set sail from the bay, and came into New Mathelage, but found no ship there, though upon enquiry they understood that the pirate they looked for, had been at the place, but was gone; so after some stay they proceeded to Johanna, but the Prosperous not being there neither, they sailed to Mayotta, where they found her lying at anchor. This was about Christmas, 1702.

Here these two powers struck up an alliance. Howard liking the proposals, came readily into it, and the treaty was ratified by both companies. They stayed about two months at this island, thinking it, perhaps, as likely a place to meet with prey as cruising out for it, and so indeed it happened; for about the beginning of March, the ship Pembroke, belonging to our East-India company, coming in for water, was boarded by their boats, and taken, with the loss of the chief mate and another man that were killed in the skirmish.

The two pirate ships weighed, and went out to sea along with their prize, and that day and the next plundered her of the best part of her cargo, provisions, and stores, and then taking the captain and carpenter away, they let the Pembroke go where the remainder of her crew pleased, and came with their ships into New Mathelage. Here the two captains consulted, and laid a plan for a cruise to India, for which purpose they detained Capt. Woolley, of the Pembroke, lately taken, in order to be their pilot in those seas; but a very hot dispute arose between the two companies which ship he should go aboard of, insomuch that they had gone together by the ears, if an expedient had not been found to satisfy each party, that one might not have the advantage of the other by the captain’s skill and knowledge of the Indian coast, and this was to knock the poor man on the head, and murder him: but at last, by the authority of Bowen, Capt. Woolley escaped the threatened danger, by bringing his company to consent to his remaining on board the Prosperous, where he then was.

The Speedy Return being foul, and wanting a little repair was judged proper for her to go back to Augustin Bay to clean; in the mean while the Prosperous was to have a pair of boot-tops where she lay, and likewise to take in water and provisions, and then to join their consort again at Mayotta, the island appointed for the rendezvous.

The Prosperous put into Mayotta as agreed on, and waiting there some time for Bowen’s ship, without seeing or hearing any news of her, went to Johanna, but not meeting with her there, they apprehended some accident had befell her, and therefore left the place, and sailed on the expedition themselves. As to the Speedy Return, she arrived safe at St. Augustin Bay, at Madagascar, and there cleaned and victualled; but tarrying there somewhat too long, the winds hung contrary, and they could not for their lives beat up to Mayotta, and therefore went up to Johanna, where, hearing that their friends had lately left that Island, they steered for the Red Sea, but the wind not proving fair for their design, they bore away for the high land of St. John’s near Surat, where they once more fell in company with their brethren of the Prosperous.

They cruised together as was first agreed on, and after some time they had sight of four ships, to which they gave chase; but these separating, two standing to the northward, and two to the southward, the pirates separated likewise, Bowen standing after those that steered southerly, and Howard crowding after the others. Bowen came up with the heaviest of the two, which proved to be a Moorish ship of 700 tons, bound from the Gulf of Mocha to Surat. The pirates brought the prize into Rajapora, on the coast of India, where they plundered her; the merchandise they sold to the natives, but a small sum of current gold they found aboard, amounting to £22,000 English money, they put into their pockets. Two days after, the Prosperous came in, but without any prize; however, they soon made their friends acquainted that they had not succeeded worse than themselves, for at Surat river’s mouth, where all the four ships were bound, they came up with their chase, and with a broad side, one of them struck, but the other got into the bay. They stood down the coast with the prize till they had plundered her of the best of her cargo, the most valuable of which was 84,000 sequins, a piece of about ten shillings each, and then they left her adrift, without either anchor or cable, off Daman.

While they were lying at Rajapora they passed a survey on their shipping, and judging their own to be less serviceable than their prize, they voted them to the flames, and straightway fitted up the Surat ship. They transported both companies aboard of her, and then set fire to the Prosperous and Speedy Return. They mustered at this place 164 fighting men; 43 only were English, the greater number French, the rest Danes, Swedes, and Dutch. They took on board 70 Indians to do the drudgery of the ship, and mounted 56 guns, calling her the Defiance, and sailed from Rajapora the latter end of October, in the year 1703 to cruise on the coast of Malabar. But not meeting with prey in this first cruise, they came to an anchor about three leagues to the northward of Cochen, expecting some boats to come off with supplies of refreshments, for which purpose they fired several guns, by way of signal, but none appearing, the quarter-master was sent in the pinnace to confer with the people, which he did with some caution, keeping the boat upon their oars at the shore side. In short, they agreed very well, the pirates were promised whatever necessaries they wanted, and the boat returned aboard.

The next day a boat came off from the town with hogs, goats, wine, &c. with a private intimation from Malpa, the Dutch broker, an old friend of the pirates, that a ship of that country called the Rhimæ, lay then in Mudbay, not many leagues off, and if they would go out and take her, he would purchase the cargo of them, and likewise promised that they should be further supplied with pitch, tar, and all other necessaries, which was made good to them; for people from the factory flocked aboard every hour, and dealt with them as in open market, for all sorts of merchandise, refreshments, jewels, and plate, returning with coffers of money, &c. to a great value.

The advice of the ship was taken very kindly, but the pirates judging their own ship too large to go close into the bay, consulted their friend upon means for taking the said ship, who readily treated with them for the sale of one of less burthen, that then lay in the harbour; but Malpa speaking to one Punt, of the factory, to carry her out, he not only refused to be concerned in such a piece of villany, but reproved Malpa for corresponding with the pirates, and told him, if he should be guilty of so base an action, he must never see the face of any of his countrymen more; which made the honest broker change both his countenance and his purpose.

At this place Capt. Woolley, whom they had taken for their pilot on the Indian coast, being in a very sick and weak condition, was, at his earnest entreaty, discharged from his severe confinement among them, and set ashore, and the next day the pirates sailed, and ranged along the Malabar coast, in quest of more booty. In their way they met a second time with the Pembroke, and plundered her of some sugar, and other small things, and let her go again. From the coast they sailed back for the Island of Mauritius, where they lay some time, and lived after their usual extravagant manner.

CAPTAIN ROBERT KIDD.

We are now going to give an account of one whose name is well known in England. The person we mean is Capt. Kidd, whose public trial and execution here, rendered him the subject of all conversation, so that his actions have been chanted about in ballads. However, it is now a considerable time since these things passed, and though the people knew in general that Capt. Kidd was hanged, and that his crime was piracy, yet there were scarce any, even at that time, who were acquainted with his life or actions, or could account for his turning pirate.

In the beginning of king William’s war, Capt. Kidd commanded a privateer in the West-Indies, and by several adventurous actions acquired the reputation of a brave man, as well as an experienced seaman. About this time the pirates were very troublesome in those parts: wherefore Capt. Kidd was recommended by the Lord Bellamont, then governor of Barbadoes, as well as by several other persons, to the government here, as a person very fit to be entrusted with the command of a government ship, and to be employed in cruising upon the pirates, as knowing those seas perfectly well, and being acquainted with all their lurking places; but what reasons governed the politics of those times I cannot tell, but this proposal met with no encouragement here, though it is certain it would have been of great consequence to the subject, our merchants suffering incredible damages by those robbers.

Upon this neglect, the lord Bellamont and some others, who knew what great captures had been made by the pirates, and what a prodigious wealth must be in their possessions, were tempted to fit out a ship at their own private charge, and to give the command of her to Capt. Kidd; and to give the thing a greater reputation, as well as to keep their seamen under the better command, they procured the king’s commission for the said Capt. Kidd, of which the following is an exact copy:

William Rex.

“William the Third, by the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. To our trusty and well beloved Capt. Robert Kidd, commander of the ship the Adventure galley, or to any other the commander of the same for the time being, Greeting. Whereas we are informed, that Capt. Thomas Too, John Ireland, Capt Thomas Wake, and Capt. William Maze, or Mace, and other subjects, natives or inhabitants of New-York, and elsewhere, in our plantations in America, have associated themselves with divers others, wicked and ill-disposed persons, and do against the law of nations commit many and great piracies, robberies, and depredations on the seas upon the parts of America, and in other parts, to the great hindrance and discouragement of trade and navigation, and to the great danger and hurt of our loving subjects, our allies, and all others, navigating the seas upon their lawful occasions. Now know ye, that we being desirous to prevent the aforesaid mischiefs, and as much as in us lies, to bring the said pirates, free-booters and sea-rovers to justice, have thought fit, and do hereby give and grant to the said Robert Kidd (to whom our commissioners for exercising the office of Lord High Admiral of England, have granted a commission as a private man of war, bearing date the 11th day of December, 1695,) and unto the commander of the said ship for the time being, and unto the officers, mariners, and others, which shall be under your command, full power and authority to apprehend, seize, and take into your custody as well the said Capt. Thomas Too, John Ireland, Capt. Thomas Wake, and Capt. William Maze, or Mace, as all such pirates, free-booters, and sea-rovers, being either our subjects, or of other nations associated with them, which you shall meet with upon the seas or coasts of America, or upon any other seas or coasts, with all their ships and vessels, and all such merchandise, money, goods, and wares as shall be found on board, or with them, in case they shall willingly yield themselves; but if they will not yield without fighting, then you are by force to compel them to yield. And we also require you to bring, or cause to be brought, such pirates, free-booters, or sea-rovers, as you shall seize, to a legal trial, to the end they may be proceeded against according to the law in such cases. And we do hereby command all our officers, ministers, and other our loving subjects whatsoever, to be aiding and assisting to you in the premises. And we do hereby enjoin you to keep an exact journal of your proceedings in the execution of the premises, and set down the names of such pirates, and of their officers and company, and the names of such ships and vessels as you shall by virtue of these presents take and seize, and the quantities of arms, ammunition, provision, and lading of such ships, and the true value of the same, as near as you judge. And we do hereby strictly charge and command you, as you will answer the contrary at your peril, that you do not, in any manner, offend or molest our friends or allies, their ships or subjects, by colour or pretence of these presents, or the authority thereby granted. In witness whereof, we have caused our great seal of England to be affixed to these presents. Given at our court at Kensington, the 26th day of January, 1695, in the 7th year of our reign.”

Capt. Kidd had also another commission, which was called a commission of reprisals; for it being then war time, this commission was to justify him in the taking of French merchant ships, in case he should meet with any; but as this commission is nothing to our present purpose, we shall not burthen the reader with it.

With these two commissions he sailed out of Plymouth in May, 1696, in the Adventure galley, of 30 guns, and 80 men; the place he first designed for was New-York; in his voyage thither he took a French banker, but this was no act of piracy, he having a commission for that purpose, as we have just observed.

When he arrived at New-York, he put up articles for engaging more hands, it being necessary to his ship’s crew, since he proposed to deal with a desperate enemy. The terms he offered were, that every man should have a share of what was taken, reserving for himself and owners forty shares. Upon which encouragement he soon increased his company to 155 men.

With this company he sailed first for Madeira, where he took in wine and some other necessaries; from thence he proceeded to Bonavista, one of the Cape-de-Verd Islands, to furnish the ship with salt, and from thence went immediately to St. Jago, another of the Cape-de-Verd Islands, in order to stock himself with provisions. When all this was done, he bent his course to Madagascar, the known rendezvous of pirates. In his way he fell in with Capt. Warren, commodore of three men of war: he acquainted him with his design, kept them company two or three days, and then leaving them, made the best of his way for Madagascar, where he arrived in February, 1696, just nine months from his departure from Plymouth.

It happened that at this time the pirate ships were most of them out in search of prey; so that according to the best intelligence Capt. Kidd could get, there was not one of them at that time about the island: wherefore, having spent some time in watering his ship and taking in more provisions, he thought of trying his fortune on the coast of Malabar, where he arrived in the month of June following, four months from his reaching Madagascar. Hereabouts he made an unsuccessful cruise, touching sometimes at the island of Mohila, and sometimes at that of Johanna, between Malabar and Madagascar. His provisions were every day wasting, and his ship began to want repair: wherefore, when he was at Johanna, he found means of borrowing a sum of money from some Frenchmen who had lost their ship, but saved their effects, and with this he purchased materials for putting his ship in good repair.

It does not appear all this while that he had the least design of turning pirate; for near Mohila and Johanna both, he met with several Indian ships richly laden, to which he did not offer the least violence, though he was strong enough to have done what he pleased with them; and first outrage or depredation I find he committed upon mankind, was after his repairing his ship, and leaving Johanna; he touched at a place called Mabbee, upon the Red Sea, where he took some Guinea corn from the natives, by force. After this, he sailed to Bab’s Key, a place upon a little island at the entrance of the Red Sea. Here it was that he first began to open himself to his ship’s company, and let them understand that he intended to change his measures; for, happening to talk of the Mocha fleet, which was to sail that way, he said, We have been unsuccessful hitherto; but courage, my boys, we’ll make our fortunes out of this fleet; and finding that none of them appeared averse to it, he ordered a boat out, well manned, to go upon the coast to make discoveries, commanding them to take a prisoner and bring to him, or get intelligence any way they could. The boat returned in a few days, bringing him word, that they saw fourteen or fifteen ships ready to sail, some with English, some with Dutch, and some with Moorish colours.

We cannot account for this sudden change in his conduct, otherwise than by supposing that he first meant well while he had hopes of making his fortune by taking of pirates; but now weary of ill success, and fearing lest his owners, out of humour at their great expenses, should dismiss him, and he should want employment, and be marked out for an unlucky man; rather, I say, than run the hazard of poverty, he resolved to do his business one way, since he could not do it another.

He therefore ordered a man continually to watch at the mast head, lest this fleet should go by them; and about four days after, towards evening, it appeared in sight, being convoyed by one English and one Dutch man of war. Kidd soon fell in with them, and getting into the midst of them, fired at a Moorish ship which was next him; but the men of war taking the alarm, bore down upon Kidd, and firing upon him, obliged him to sheer off, he not being strong enough to contend with them. Now he had begun hostilities, he resolved to go on, and therefore he went and cruised along the coast of Malabar. The first prize he met was a small vessel belonging to Aden: the vessel was Moorish, and the owners were Moorish merchants, but the master was an Englishman; his name was Parker. Kidd forced him and a Portuguese that was called Don Antonio, which were all the Europeans on board, to take on with him; the first he designed as a pilot, and the last as an interpreter. He also used the men very cruelly, causing them to be hoisted up by the arms, and drubbed with a naked cutlass, to force them to discover whether they had money on board, and where it lay; but as they had neither gold nor silver on board, he got nothing by his cruelty; however, he took from them a bale of pepper, and a bale of coffee, and so let them go.

Kidd’s Engagement with the Fleet. Page [62].

A little time after he touched a Carawar, a place upon the same coast, where, before he arrived, the news of what he had done to the Moorish ship had reached them; for some of the English merchants there had received an account of it from the owners who corresponded with them; wherefore, as soon as Kidd came in, he was suspected to be the person who committed this piracy; and one Mr. Harvey and Mr. Mason, two of the English factory, came on board and asked for Parker, and Antonio, the Portuguese; but Kidd denied that he knew any such persons, having secured them both in a private place in the hold, where they were kept for seven or eight days, that is, till Kidd sailed from thence.

However, the coast was alarmed, and a Portuguese man of war was sent out to cruise. Kidd met with her, and fought her about six hours, gallantly enough; but finding her too strong to be taken he quitted her; for he was able to run away from her when he would. Then he went to a place called Porca, where he watered the ship, and bought a number of hogs of the natives to victual his company.

Soon after this, he came up with a Moorish ship, the master whereof was a Dutchman, called Schipper Mitchell, and chased her under French colours, which they observing, hoisted French colours too; when he came up with her, he hailed her in French, and they having a Frenchman on board, answered him in the same language; upon which he ordered them to send their boat on board; they were obliged to do so, and having examined who they were, and from whence they came, he asked the Frenchman, who was a passenger, if he had a French pass for himself; the Frenchman gave him to understand that he had. Then he told the Frenchman he must pass for captain, and by ——, says he, you are the captain: the Frenchman durst not refuse doing as he would have him. The meaning of this was, that he would seize the ship as fair prize, and as if she had belonged to French subjects, according to a commission he had for that purpose; though, one would think, after what he had already done, that he need not have recourse to a quibble to give his actions a colour.

In short, he took the cargo, and sold it some time after; yet still he seemed to have some fears upon him, lest these proceedings should have a bad end; for, coming up with a Dutch ship some time after, when his men thought of nothing but attacking her, Kidd opposed it; upon which a mutiny arose, and the majority being for taking the said ship, and arming themselves to man the boat to go and seize her, he told them, such as did, never should come on board him again; which put an end to the design, so that he kept company with the said ship some time, without offering her any violence. However, this dispute was the occasion of an accident, upon which an indictment was after wards grounded against Kidd; for Moor, the gunner, being one day upon deck, and talking with Kidd, about the said Dutch ship, some words arose between them, and Moor told Kidd, that he had ruined them all; upon which, Kidd, calling him a dog, took up a bucket and struck him with it, which breaking his scull, he died the next day.

But Kidd’s penitential fit did not last long, for coasting along Malabar, he met with a great number of boats, all which he plundered. Upon the same coast he also fell in with a Portuguese ship, which he kept possession of a week, and then having taken out of her some chests of India goods, thirty jars of butter, with some wax, iron, and a hundred bags of rice, he let her go.

Much about the same time he went to one of the Malabar islands for wood and water, and his cooper being ashore, was murdered by the natives; upon which Kidd himself landed, and burnt and pillaged several of their houses, the people running away; but having taken one, he caused him to be tied to a tree, and commanded one of his men to shoot him; then putting to sea again he took the greatest prize which fell into his hands while he followed this trade: this was a Moorish ship of 400 tons, richly laden, named the Queda Merchant, the master whereof was an Englishman, by the name of Wright; for the Indians often make use of English or Dutchmen to command their ships, their own mariners not being so good artists in navigation. Kidd chased her under French colours, and having come up with her, he ordered her to hoist out her boat, and to send on board of him, which being done, he told Wright he was his prisoner; and informing himself concerning the said ship, he understood there were no Europeans on board, except two Dutch, and one Frenchman, all the rest being Indians or Armenians, and that the Armenians were part owners of the cargo. Kidd gave the Armenians to understand, that if they would offer any thing that was worth his taking for their ransom, he would hearken to it. Upon which, they proposed to pay him 20,000 rupees, not quite £3000 sterling; but Kidd judged this would be making a bad bargain, wherefore he rejected it, and setting the crew on shore, at different places on the coast, he soon sold as much of the cargo as came to ten thousand pounds. With part of it he also trafficked, receiving in exchange provisions, or such other goods as he wanted; by degrees he disposed of the whole cargo, and when the division was made, it came to about £200 a man; and having reserved forty shares to himself, his dividend amounted to about £8000 sterling.

The Indians along the coast came on board and trafficked with all freedom, and he punctually performed his bargains, till about the time he was ready to sail; and then thinking he should have no further occasion for them, he made no scruple of taking their goods, and setting them on shore without any payment in money or goods, which they little expected; for as they had been used to deal with pirates, they always found them men of honour in the way of trade; a people, enemies to deceit, and that scorned to rob but in their own way.

Kidd put some of his men on board the Queda Merchant, and with this ship and his own, sailed for Madagascar. As soon as he had arrived and cast anchor, there came on board of him a canoe, in which were several Englishmen, who had formerly been well acquainted with Kidd. As soon as they saw him they saluted him, and told him, they were informed he was come to take them, and hang them, which would be a little unkind in such an old acquaintance. Kidd soon dissipated their doubts, by swearing he had no such design, and that he was now in every respect their brother, and just as bad as they; and calling for a cup of bombo, drank their captain’s health.

These men belonged to a pirate ship, called the Resolution, formerly the Mocha Merchant, whereof one Capt. Culliford was commander, and which lay at anchor not far from them. Kidd went on board with them, promising them his friendship and assistance, and Culliford in his turn came on board of Kidd; and Kidd to testify his sincerity in iniquity, finding Culliford in want of some necessaries, made him a present of an anchor and some guns, to fit him out for sea again.

The Adventure galley was now so old and leaky, that they were forced to keep two pumps continually going; wherefore Kidd shifted all the guns and tackle out of her into the Queda Merchant, intending her for his man of war; and as he had divided the money before, he now made a division of the remainder of the cargo: soon after which, the greatest part of the company left him, some going on board Capt. Culliford, and others absconding into the country, so that he had not above 40 men left.

He put to sea, and happened to touch at Amboyna, one of the Dutch spice islands, where he was told, that the news of his actions had reached England, and that he was there declared a pirate.

The truth of it is, his piracies so alarmed our merchants, that some motions were made in parliament, to inquire into the commission that was given him, and the persons who fitted him out. These proceedings seemed to lean a little hard upon Lord Bellamont, who thought himself so much touched thereby, that he published a justification of himself in a pamphlet, after Kidd’s execution. In a mean time it was thought advisable, in order to stop the course of these piracies, to publish a proclamation, offering the king’s free pardon to all such pirates as should voluntarily surrender themselves, whatever piracies they had been guilty of, at any time before the last day of April, 1699—that is to say, for all piracies committed eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, to the longitude and meridian of Socatora, and Cape Cormorin; in which proclamation, Avery and Kidd were excepted by name.

When Kidd left Amboyna he knew nothing of this proclamation, for certainly had he had notice of his being excepted in it, he would not have been so infatuated, as to run himself into the very jaws of danger; but relying upon his interest with the lord Bellamont, and fancying that a French pass or two he found on board some of the ships he took, would serve to countenance the matter, and that part of the booty he got would gain him new friends—I say all these things made him flatter himself that all would be hushed, and that justice would but wink at him.—Wherefore he sailed directly for New-York, where he was no sooner arrived, but by the Lord Bellamont’s orders, he was secured with all his papers and effects. Many of his fellow-adventurers, who had forsook him at Madagascar, came over from thence passengers, some to New-England and some to Jersey; where hearing of the king’s proclamation for pardoning of pirates, they surrendered themselves to the governor of those places. At first they were admitted to bail, but soon after laid in strict confinement, where they were kept for some time, till an opportunity happened of sending them with their captain over to England to be tried.

Accordingly a sessions of admiralty being held at the Old Bailey, in May, 1701, Capt. Kidd, Nicholas Churchill, James How, Robert Lumley, William Jenkins, Gabriel Loff, Hugh Parrot, Richard Barlicorn, Abel Owens, and Darby Mullins, were arraigned for piracy and robbery on the high seas, and all found guilty except three: these were Robert Lumley, William Jenkins, and Richard Barlicorn, who proving themselves to be apprentices to some of the officers of the ship, and producing their indentures in court, were acquitted.

The three above mentioned, though they were proved to be concerned in taking and sharing the ship and goods mentioned in the indictment, yet, as the gentlemen of the long robe rightly distinguished, there was a great difference between their circumstances and the rest; for there must go an intention of the mind and a freedom of the will to the committing an act of felony or piracy. A pirate is not to be understood to be under constraint, but a free agent; for in this case, the bare act will not make a man guilty, unless the will make it so.

Now a servant, it is true, if he go voluntarily, and have his proportion, he must be accounted a pirate, for then he acts upon his own account, and not by compulsion; and these persons, according to the evidence, received their part, but whether they accounted to their masters for their shares afterwards, is the matter in question, and what distinguishes them as free agents, or men that did go under the compulsion of their masters, which being left to the consideration of the jury, they found them not guilty.

Kidd was tried upon an indictment of murder also, viz. for killing Moor, the gunner, and found guilty of the same. Nicholas Churchill, and James How pleaded the king’s pardon, as having surrendered themselves within the time limited in the proclamation, and Col. Bass, governor of West-Jersey, to whom they surrendered, being in court, and called upon, proved the same. However, this plea was over-ruled by the court, because there being four commissioners named in the proclamation, viz. Capt. Thomas Warren, Israel Hayes, Peter Delannoye, and Christopher Pollard, Esqrs. who were appointed commissioners, and sent over on purpose to receive the submission of such pirates as should surrender, it was adjudged no other person was qualified to receive their surrender, and that they could not be entitled to the benefit of the said proclamation, because they had not in all circumstances complied with the conditions of it.

Darby Mullins urged in his defence, that he served under the king’s commission, and therefore could not disobey his commander without incurring great punishments; that whenever a ship or ships went out upon any expedition under the king’s commission, the men were never allowed to call their officers to an account, why they did this, or why they did that, because such a liberty would destroy all discipline: that if any thing was done which was unlawful, the officers were to answer it, for the men did no more than their duty in obeying orders. He was told by the court, that acting under the commission justified in what was lawful, but not in what was unlawful. He answered he stood in need of nothing to justify him in what was lawful, but the case of seamen must be very hard, if they must be brought into such danger for obeying the commands of their officers, and punished for not obeying them, and if they were allowed to dispute the orders, there could be no such thing as command kept up at sea.

This seemed to be the best defence the thing could bear; but his taking a share of the plunder, the seamen’s mutinying on board several times, and taking upon them to control the captain, showed there was no obedience paid to the commission; and that they acted in all things according to the custom of pirates and free-booters, which weighing with the jury, they brought him in guilty with the rest.

As to Capt. Kidd’s defence, he insisted much on his own innocence, and the villany of his men. He said, he went out in a laudable employment and had no occasion, being then in good circumstances, to go a pirating; that the men often mutinied against him, and did as they pleased; that he was threatened to be shot in the cabin, and that ninety-five left him at one time, and set fire to his boat, so that he was disabled from bringing his ship home, or the prizes he took, to have them regularly condemned, which he said were taken by virtue of a commission under the broad seal, they having French passes. The captain called one Col. Hewson to his reputation, who gave him an extraordinary character, and declared to the court, that he had served under his command, and been in two engagements with him against the French, in which he fought as well as any man he ever saw; that there were only Kidd’s ship and his own against Monsieur du Cass, who commanded a squadron of six sail, and they got the better of him. But this being several years before the facts mentioned in the indictment were committed, proved of no manner of service to the prisoner on his trial.

As to the friendship shown to Culliford, a notorious pirate, Kidd denied, and said, he intended to have taken him, but his men being a parcel of rogues and villains refused to stand by him, and several of them ran away from his ship to the said pirate.—But the evidence being full and particular against him, he was found guilty as before mentioned.

When Kidd was asked what he had to say why sentence should not pass against him, he answered, that he had nothing to say, but that he had been sworn against by perjured and wicked people. And when sentence was pronounced, he said, my Lord, it is a very hard sentence. For my part, I am the most innocent person of them all, only I have been sworn against by perjured persons.

Wherefore about a week after, Capt. Kidd, Nicholas Churchill, James How, Gabriel Loff, Hugh Parrot, Abel Owen, and Darby Mullins, were executed at Execution Dock, and afterwards hung up in chains, at some distance from each other, down the river, where their bodies hung exposed for many years.

CAPTAIN TEW.

Before I enter on the adventures of this pirate I must take notice to the reader of the reasons which made me not continue the life of Misson.

In reading the notes, which I have by me, relating to Capt. Tew, I found him joined with Misson; and that I must be either guilty of repetition, or give an account of Tew in Misson’s life, which is contrary to the method I proposed, that of giving a distinct relation of every pirate who has made any figure: and surely Tew, in point of gallantry, was inferior to none, and may justly claim a particular account of his actions. However, before I enter on the life of this pirate, I shall continue that of Misson to the time that these two commanders met.

The blacks seeing them so much on their guard, brought out boiled rice and fowls, and after they had satisfied their hunger, the chief made signs that they were the same who had carried a negro to their ships, and sent for the axe and piece of baize they had given him. While this passed, the very negro came from hunting, who seemed overjoyed to see them. The chief made signs that they might return, and ten negroes coming to them, laden with fowls and kids, he gave them to understand, they should accompany them to their ships with these presents. They parted very amicably, and in hopes of settling a good correspondence with these natives. All the houses were neatly framed and jointed, not built from any foundation, but so made, that half a dozen men could lift and transport them from place to place. The hunters, returning to their ships, with these presents and negroes, were joyfully received; and the negroes were not only caressed, but laden with baize, iron kettles, and rum, besides the present of a cutlass for the chief.

While the negroes stayed, which was the space of three days, they examined and admired the forts and growing town, in which all hands were busied, and not even the prisoners excused.

As Misson apprehended no danger from the land, his fort, though of wood, being, he thought, a sufficient defence to his infant colony, he took 160 hands, and went a second time on the coast of Zanguebar, and off Quiloa he gave chase to a large ship which lay by for him. She proved an over-match for the Victoire, which engaged her, with great loss of men, near eight glasses; but finding he was more likely to be taken, than to make a prize, by the advice of his officers and men, endeavoured to leave the Portuguese, which was a 50 gun ship, and had 300 men on board; but he found this attempt vain, for the Portuguese sailed as well as the Victoire, and her commander, who was a resolute and brave man, seeing him endeavour to shake him off, clapped him on board, but lost most of the men he entered. Misson’s crew, not used to be attacked, and expecting no quarter, fought so desperately, that they not only thoroughly cleared their decks, but some of them followed the Portuguese, who leaped into their own ship; which Misson seeing, hoped to make an advantage of their despair, and crying out, Elle est a nous, a l’abordage—She’s our own, board, board her—so many of his men followed the few, that hardly were there enough left to work the ship. Misson, observing the resolution of his men, grappled the Portuguese ship, and leaped on board himself, crying out, la mort, ou la victoire—death or victory. The Portuguese, who thought themselves in a manner conquerors, seeing the enemy not only drive off those who entered them, but board with such resolution, began to quit the decks in spite of their officers. The captain and Misson met, as he was endeavouring to hinder the flight of his men. They engaged with equal bravery with their cutlasses: but Misson striking him on the neck, he fell down the main hatch, which put an end to the fight, for the Portuguese seeing their captain fall, threw down their arms, and called for quarters, which was granted; and all the prisoners without distinction being ordered between decks, and the powder rooms secured, he put 35 men on board the prize, and made the best of his way to Libertatia. This was the dearest prize he ever made, for he lost 56 men. She was vastly rich in gold, having near £200,000 sterling on board, being her own and the cargo of her companion, which was lost upon the coast, of whose crew she had saved one hundred men out of 120, the rest being lost by endeavouring to swim ashore. This was the reason that the prize was so well manned, and proved so considerable.

Being within sight of Madagascar, they spied a sloop which stood for them, and when in gun shot, threw out black colours, and fired a gun to windward. Misson brought too, fired another to leeward, and hoisted out his boat, which the sloop perceiving, lay by for. Misson’s lieutenant went on board, and was received very civilly by Capt. Tew, who was the commander, to whom the lieutenant gave a short account of their adventures and new settlement, inviting him very kindly on board Capt. Misson. Tew told him, he could not consent to go with him till he had the opinion of his men. In the mean while, Misson coming along side, hailed the sloop, and invited the captain on board, desiring his lieutenant would stay as a hostage, if they were in the least jealous of him, which they had no reason to be, since he was of force so much superior, that he need not employ stratagem. This determined the company on board the sloop, who advised their captain to go with the lieutenant, whom they would not suffer to stay behind, to show the greater confidence in their new friends.

My reader may be surprised that a single sloop should venture to give chase to two ships of such countenance as were the Victoire and her prize; but this wonder will cease, when he is acquainted with the sequel.

Capt. Tew, after being handsomely regaled on board the Victoire, and thoroughly satisfied, returned on board his sloop, gave an account of what he had learned, and his men consenting, he gave orders to steer the same course with Misson, whose settlement it was agreed to visit. I shall here leave them to give an account of Capt. Tew.

Mr. Richier, governor of Bermuda, fitted out two sloops on the privateer account, commanded by Capt. George Drew, and Capt. Thomas Tew, with instructions to make the best of their way to the river Gambia, in Africa, and there, with the advice and assistance of the agent for the royal African company, to attempt the taking the French factory of Goree on that coast.

The above commanders having their commissions and instructions from the governor, took their departure from Bermuda, and kept company some time; but Drew springing his mast, and a violent storm coming upon them, they lost each other.

Tew being separated from his consort, thought of providing for his future ease, by making one bold push; and accordingly, calling all hands on deck, he spoke to them to this purpose.

“That they were not ignorant of the design with which the governor fitted them out: the making and destroying the French factory; that he, indeed, readily agreed to take a commission to this end, though contrary to his judgment, because it was for the sake of being employed; but that he thought it a very injudicious expedition, which, did they succeed in, would be of no use to the public, and only be of advantage to a private company of men, from whom they could expect no reward for their bravery; that he could see nothing but danger in the undertaking, without the least prospect of booty; that he could not suppose any man fond of fighting for fighting’s sake; and few ventured their lives, but with some view either of particular interest or public good: but here was not the least appearance of either. Wherefore, he was of opinion, that they should turn their thoughts on what might better their circumstances; and if they were so inclined, he would undertake to shape a course which should lead them to ease and plenty, in which they might pass the rest of their days. That one bold push would do their business, and they might return home, not only without danger, but even with reputation.” The crew finding he expected their resolution, cried one, and all, “A gold chain or a wooden leg—we’ll stand by you.”

Hearing this, he desired they would choose a quarter-master, who might consult with him for the common good; which was accordingly done.

I must acquaint the reader, that on board the West-India privateers and free-booters, the quarter-master’s opinion is like the Mufti’s among the Turks: the captain can undertake nothing which the quarter-master does not approve. We may say the quarter-master is a humble imitation of the Roman tribune of the people; he speaks for, and looks after the interest of the crew.

Tew, now, instead of proceeding on his voyage to Gambia, shaped his course for the Cape of Good Hope, which doubling, he steered for the straits of Babelmandel, entering into the Red Sea, where they came up with a lofty ship bound from the Indies to Arabia; she was richly laden, and as she was to clear the coasts of rovers, five more, extremely rich (one especially in gold) being to follow her, she had 300 soldiers on board, besides her seamen.

Tew, on making this ship, told his men she carried their fortunes, which they would find no difficulty to take possession of; for though he was satisfied she was full of men, and was mounted with a great number of guns, they wanted the two things necessary, skill and courage: and, indeed, so it proved, for he boarded and carried her without loss, every one taking more care to run from danger, than to exert himself in the defence of his goods.

In rummaging this prize, the pirates threw over a great many rich bales, to search for gold, silver and jewels; and having taken what they thought proper, together with the powder, part of which (as being more than they could handsomely stow) they threw into the sea, they left her, sharing £3000 sterling a man.

Encouraged by this success, Capt. Tew proposed going in quest of the other five ships, of which he had intelligence from the prize; but the quarter-master opposing him. He was obliged to drop the design, and steer for Madagascar.

Here the quarter-master finding this island productive of all the necessaries of life; and the air was wholesome, soil fruitful, and the sea abounding with fish, proposed settling; but only three and twenty of the crew came into the proposal: the rest stayed with Captain Tew, who having given the new settlers their share of plunder, designed to return to America, as they afterwards did; but spying, the Victoire and her prize, he thought he might, by their means, return somewhat richer, and resolved to speak with them, as I have already said.

Tew and his company having taken the above resolution of visiting Monsieur Misson’s colony, arrived with him, and was not a little surprised to see his fortifications.

When they came under the first fort, they saluted it with nine guns, and were answered by an equal number. All the prisoners, at their coming to an anchor, were suffered to come up, a privilege they had never before granted them, on account of the few hands left them, except two or three at a time.

The Victoire engages a Portuguese Ship. Page [78].

The joy those ashore expressed at the sight of so considerable a prize as they judged her at first sight, was vastly allayed, when they heard how dear a purchase she had proved to them. However, the reinforcement of the sloop made some amends. Capt. Tew was received by Caraccioli and the rest, with great civility and respect, who did not a little admire his courage, both in attacking the prize he made, and afterwards in giving chase to Misson. He was called to the council of officers, which was immediately held, to consider what methods should be taken with the prisoners, who were, by 190 brought in by this new prize, near as numerous as those of his own party, though Tew joined them with 70 men. It was therefore resolved to keep them separate from the Portuguese and English, who were before taken, to make them believe they were in amity with a prince of the natives, who was very powerful, and to propose to them, at their choice, the assisting the new colony in their works, or being sent prisoners up the country, if they rejected entering in with them. Seventy-three took on, and the rest desired they might be any way employed rather than be sent up the country; 117 then were set to work upon a dock, which was laid out about half a mile above the mouth of the harbour, and the other prisoners were forbid to pass such bounds as were prescribed then on pain of death; lest they, knowing their own strength, should revolt; for I must acquaint the reader, that on the arrival of the Victoire, both their loss and the number of Portuguese they brought in, was known to none but themselves, and the number of those who came over, magnified; besides, the Johanna men were all armed and disciplined, and the Bijoux lay as a guard-ship, where the last prisoners were set to work; but while they provided for their security, both within and without, they did not neglect providing also for their support, for they dug and sowed a large plat of ground with Indian and European corn, and other seeds which they found on board their prizes. In the mean while, Caraccioli, who had the art of persuasion, wrought on many of the Portuguese, who saw no hopes of returning home to join them. Misson, who could not be easy in an inactive life, would have taken another cruise; but fearing the revolt of the prisoners, durst not weaken the colony by the hands he must necessarily take with him. Wherefore, he proposed giving the last prize to, and sending away the prisoners. Caraccioli and Capt. Tew were against it, saying, that it would discover their retreat, and cause their being attacked by the Europeans, who had settlements along the continent, before they were able to defend themselves. Misson replied, he could not bear to be always diffident of those about him; that it was better to die at once, than live in continual apprehensions of death: that the time was come for sending away the Johanna men, and that they could not go without a ship; neither durst he trust a ship out, not well manned, nor man her while so many prisoners were with him. Wherefore there was a necessity of sending them off, or of putting them all to the sword; a barbarity by which he would not purchase his security. A council was called, and what Capt. Misson had proposed, agreed to. The prisoners were then summoned, and he told them, in few words, that he knew the consequence of giving them liberty; that he expected to be attacked as soon as the place of his retreat was known, and had it in his hands by putting them to death, to avoid the doubtful fate of war; but his humanity would not suffer him to entertain a thought so cruel, and his alliances with the natives, he hoped, would enable him to repel his assailants; but he required an oath of every one, that he should not serve against him. He then inquired into the circumstances of every particular man, and what they had lost, all which he returned, telling the company it should be reckoned as part of his share; and the prisoners, that he did not make war with the oppressed, but the oppressors. The prisoners were charmed with this mark of generosity, and wished he might never meet a treatment unworthy of that he gave them. The ship victualled for a voyage to the coast of Zanguebar, all her guns and ammunition taken out with the spare sails, and spare rigging, all were ordered to be gone; and 137 departed, highly applauding the behaviour of their enemies. All this while they had heard nothing from the natives, nor had the hunting parties met with any of them, which made Misson suspect they were afraid of his being their neighbour, and had shifted their quarters; but as the Johanna men were upon going away, there came about 50 negroes to them, driving about 100 head of black cattle, 20 negro men bound, and 25 women, for which cattle and prisoners they bartered rum, hatchets, baize, and beads; some hogsheads of which last commodity they had taken on the coast of Angola. Here the negroes belonging to Misson were provided with wives: the natives were caressed, and to the slaves signs made that their liberty was given them; they were immediately clothed and put under the care of as many whites, who, by all possible demonstrations, endeavoured to make them understand that they were enemies to slavery. The natives stayed ten days, which retarded the departure of the Johanna men; but, upon their retiring, the Bijoux sailed with 100 of them on board, under the command of Caraccioli’s lieutenant, who excused the keeping them longer than was promised, and not bringing them at once, having no more than two ships. The Portuguese ship, which was unrigged, being made a hulk, the ten men of Misson’s company who had settled at Johanna, being desirous to return, were brought to Libertatia with their wives (of which they had two or three a piece) and their children. The Bijoux, at two more voyages, carried over the rest of the Johannians.

Misson hove down the Bijoux, and resolving on a cruise on the coast of Guinea, to strengthen his colony by the capture of some slaving ship, he gave the command of her to Capt. Tew, and he and Caraccioli pressed the work of the dock. He gave him also 200 hands, of which 40 were Portuguese, 37 negroes, 17 of them expert sailors, 30 English, and the rest French. Tew met with nothing in his way, till he came to the northward of the Cape of Good Hope, when he fell in with a Dutch East-India galley of 18 guns, which he took after a small resistance, and with the loss of one man only. On the coast of Angola he took an English Guinea-man with 240 slaves, men, women, and boys. The negroes who had been before taken on this coast, found among these a great many of their acquaintance, and several of their relations, to whom they reported their unexpected change of fortune, the great captain (for so they now called Misson) having humanely knocked off their chains, and of slaves made them free men, and sharers in his fortunes: that the same good fortune had attended them in their falling into his hands, for he abhorred even the name of slavery. Tew, following the orders and acquainted with the policy of Misson, ordered the fetters and handcuffs to be taken off, upon his negro sailors assuring him they would not revolt, and were sensible of their happiness in falling into his hands. Content with these prizes, he made the best of his way home to Libertatia where he arrived without any sinister accident; but I forgot to tell my reader, that he set his Dutch prisoners (nine excepted, who took on with him) ashore, about 30 miles to the northward of the Cape of Saldanha Bay, where had been buried, by Capt. Misson, the English commander. He found a great quantity of English crowns on board his Dutch prize, which were carried into the common treasury; money being of no use where every thing was in common, and no hedge bounded any particular man’s property. The slaves he had released in this last cruise were employed in perfecting the dock, and treated on the footing of free people. They were not ignorant of the change of their condition, and were therefore extremely diligent and faithful. A white man, or one of the old standing negroes, wrought with every four, and made them understand the French words (by often repetition, and the help of their countrymen’s interpreting) used in their works Misson ordered a couple of sloops to be built in a creek, of eighty tons each, which he mounted with eight guns a piece, out of a Dutch prize. These were perfected in a little time, and proved not only shapely vessels, but excellent sailers. The officers of these sloops were chosen by balloting, and as their first design was only to discover and lay down a chart of the coast, sands, shoals, and depth of water round the island of Madagascar, the schoolmaster being sent with the command of one, Tew desired and had the other. They were manned, each sloop with 50 white and 50 black men: which voyage round the island was of vast advantage in giving the new released Angola negroes a notion of working a vessel;—and they were very industrious both in endeavouring to learn the French language, and to be useful. These sloops, the one of which was called the Childhood, and the other the Liberty, were near four months on this expedition. In the mean while, a few of the natives had come often to the settlement, and began to speak a little French, mixed with the other European languages, which they heard among Misson’s people, and six of the native families fixed among them, which was of vast use to the planters of this colony; for they made a very advantageous report to their countrymen of the regularity and harmony they observed in them. The sloops having returned, and an exact chart taken of the coast, Caraccioli had a mind for a cruise. He proposed visiting all the neighbouring islands, and accordingly went out to Mascarenhas, and the other islands near it, taking one half of his crew of negroes, and returned with a Dutch prize, which he took off the above mentioned island where they were about fixing a colony. This prize, as it had on board all sorts of European goods, and necessaries for settling, was more valuable than if it had been vastly richer. The negroes growing useful hands, Misson resolved on a cruise to the northward, encouraged by Tew’s success; and with all the blacks, which he divided between the two ships, one of which Capt. Tew commanded set out with 500 men. Off the coast of Arabia Felix they fell in with a ship belonging to the Great Mogul, bound for Zidon, with pilgrims to Mecca, who, with Moor mariners, made up the number of 1600 souls. This ship carried 110 guns, but made a very poor defence, being encumbered with the goods and number of passengers they carried. The two adventurers did not think it their business to cannonade, they therefore boarded as soon as they came up with her, and the Moors no sooner saw them entered, but they discharged one volley of small arms at random, we may suppose, because no execution was done, and fled the decks. Being masters of this ship, which did not cost them a single man, they consulted what they should do with her, and the prisoners, and it was resolved to set them ashore between Ain and Aden.

They now made the best of their way for Madagascar, putting 200 hands on board the prize, which proved a very heavy sailer, and retarded them very much. Off the Cape Guarde Fin they were overtaken with a cruel storm, which was near wrecking them on the island called Irmanos; but the wind coming about due north, they had the good luck to escape this danger. Though the fury of the wind abated, yet it blew so hard for twelve days together, that they could only carry their coursers reefed. They spied a sail in their passage, but the weather would not permit their endeavouring to speak with her. In a word, they returned to Libertatia with their prize, without any other accident; but the captors could make no estimate of her value, she having on board a vast quantity of diamonds, besides rich silks, raw silks, spices, carpets, wrought and bar gold. The prize was taken to pieces, as she was of no use; her cordage and knee timber preserved, with all the bolts, eyes, chains, and other iron work, and her guns planted on two points of the harbour, where they raised batteries, so that they were now so strongly fortified they apprehended no danger from any number of shipping which could be brought into those seas to attack them. They had, by this time, cleared, sown, and enclosed a good parcel of ground, and taken in a quantity of pasturage, where they had above 300 head of black cattle, bought of the natives. The dock was now finished, and the Victoire growing old and unfit for a long voyage, and the last storm having shook, and loosened her very much, she was pulled to pieces and rebuilt, keeping the same name. She was rigged, victualled, and fit to go to sea, and was to sail to the coast of Guinea for more negroes, when one of the sloops came in, which had been sent out rather to exercise the negroes, than with any view of making a prize, and brought word that five lofty ships chased her into the bay, and stood for their harbour; that she judged them to be Portuguese by their built, and 50 gun ships, full of men. This proved the real truth. The alarm was given, the forts and batteries manned, and every man stood to his arms. Misson took upon him the command of 100 negroes, who were well disciplined, (for every morning they had been used to perform their exercise, which was taught them by a French serjeant, one of their company, who belonged to the Victoire) to be ready where his assistance should be required, Tew commanded all the English. They had hardly ordered their affairs when these ships hove in sight, and stood directly for the harbour with Portuguese colours. They were warmly received by the two forts, which did not stop them, though it brought one of them on the careen. They entered the harbour, and thought they had done their business, but were saluted so warmly from the forts, batteries, sloops, and ships, that two of them sunk downright, and a great many men were drowned, though some got on board the other ships. The Portuguese, who did not imagine they had been so well fortified, and thought in passing the two forts they should without difficulty land their men, and easily root out this nest of pirates, found now their mistake, for they durst not venture to hoist out a boat. They had wisely, however, contrived to enter just before the turn of the tide. Finding the attempt vain, and that they had lost a great many men, they clapped upon a wind, and with the help of the tide of ebb, made more haste out than they did to get in, leaving two of their ships sunk in the harbour; but they did not get off so cheaply, for no sooner were they clear of the forts, but Misson, manning with the utmost expedition both the ships and sloops, gave them chase, and engaged them at the mouth of the bay. The Portuguese defended themselves with a great deal of gallantry, and one of them beat off the Libertatians twice, who boarded them from the two sloops; two of them, finding themselves hard pressed made a running fight, and got off, and left the third to shift as well as she could. The Bijoux and Victoire finding the Portuguese endeavoured to clear themselves and knowing there was little to be got by the captures, gave over the chase, and fell upon the third, who defended himself till his decks swam with blood, and the greater number of his men killed; but finding all resistance vain, and that he was left to an unequal fight by his companions, he called for quarter, and good quarter was given, both to himself and men. This prize yielded them a great quantity of powder and shot, and, indeed, they expected nothing of value out of her. None of the prisoners were stripped, and the officers, Misson, Caraccioli, and Tew invited to their tables, treating them very civilly, and extolling the courage they had shown in their defence. Unhappily two prisoners were found on board, who had been released, and had sworn never to serve against them; these were clapped in irons, and publicly tried for their perjury. The Portuguese officers being present, the witnesses proved them the very discharged men, and they were condemned to be hanged at the point of each fort; which execution was performed the next morning after their condemnation, with the assistance of the Portuguese chaplain, who attended, confessed, and absolved them. This was the engagement with the pirates, which made so much noise in the Lisbon Gazette, and these the men whom the English ignorantly took for Avery; who, we had a notion here in London, had 32 sail of men of war, and had taken upon himself the state and title of king.

This execution seeming to impugn the maxims of the chiefs, Caraccioli made an harangue, in which he told them, “that there was no rule could be laid down which did not allow exceptions: that they were all sensible how tender the Commodore Monsieur Misson was in shedding blood; and that it was a tenet of his faith, that none had power over the life of another, but God alone who gave it; but notwithstanding, self-preservation sometimes made it absolutely necessary to take away the life of another, especially an avowed and obliged enemy, even in cold blood. As to the blood shed in a lawful war, in defence of that liberty they had generously asserted, it was needless to say any thing, but he thought it proper to lay before them reasons for the execution of the criminals, and the heinousness of their crimes. They had not only received their lives from the bounty of the Libertatians, but their liberty, and had every thing restored them which they laid claim to; consequently their ingratitude rose in proportion to the generous treatment they had met with: that indeed, both he and Capt. Misson would have passed by the perjury and ingratitude which they had been guilty of, with a corporeal punishment, which had not extended to the deprivation of life, but their gallant friend and companion, the English commander, Capt. Tew, used such cogent reasons for an exemplary punishment, to deter others from the like crimes, that they must have been enemies to their own preservation in not following his advice: that the lives of their whole body ought to be preferred to those of declared and perjured enemies, who would not cease to endeavour their ruin; and, as they were well acquainted with their settlement, might be fatal instruments of it, if they were again restored to that liberty which they had already abused: that he was obliged to do Capt. Tew the justice, to acknowledge he was inclined to the side of mercy, till he was thoroughly informed of the blackness of their ingratitude, and then he thought it would be cruelty to themselves to let those miscreants experience a second time their clemency. Thus an absolute necessity had obliged them to act contrary to their declared principles; though, to state the case rightly, these men, not the Libertarians, were the authors of their own deaths.” Here the assembly crying out, “their blood is on their own heads, they sought their deaths, and hanging is too good for them;” Caraccioli gave over, and every one returned satisfied to his private or the public affairs.

Some difference arising between Misson’s and Tew’s men, on a national quarrel, which the latter began, Capt. Tew proposed their deciding the quarrel by the sword; but Caraccioli was entirely against it, alleging, that such decision must necessarily be a damage to the public, since the brave men who fell, would be weakening of their colony. He therefore desired Capt. Tew to interpose the authority he had over his crew, and he and Misson would endeavour to bring their men to an amicable agreement; and for the future, as this accident proved the necessity, wholesome laws should be made, and a form of government entered upon. Both parties were therefore called, and Caraccioli showed them the necessity of their living in unity among themselves, who had the whole world for enemies; and as he had a persuasive and insinuating way of argument, with the assistance of Capt. Tew, this affair was ended to the satisfaction of both parties.

The next day the whole colony was assembled, and the three commanders proposed a form of government as necessary to their conservation; for where there was no coercive laws, the weakest would always be the sufferers, and every thing must tend to confusion: that men’s passions, blinding them to justice, and making them ever partial to themselves, they ought to submit the differences which might rise to calm and disinterested persons who could examine with temper, and determine according to reason and equity: that they looked upon a democratical form, where the people were themselves the makers and judges of their own laws, the most agreeable; and therefore, desired they would divide themselves into companies of ten men, and every such company choose one to assist in settling a form of government, and in making wholesome laws for the good of the whole: that the treasure and cattle they were masters of should be equally divided, and such lands as any particular man would enclose, should, for the future, be deemed his property, which no other should lay any claim to, if not alienated by a sale.

This proposal was received with applause, and they decimated themselves that very day, but put off the meeting of the states till a house was built, which they set about very cheerfully, and finished it in about a fortnight; it being of framed timber, and they having among them a great number who understood the handling of an axe.

When this body of politicians met, Caraccioli opened the sessions with a handsome speech, showing the advantage flowing from order; and then spoke to the necessity of lodging a supreme power in the hands of one who should have that of rewarding brave and virtuous actions, and of punishing the vicious, according to the laws which the state should make; by which he was to be guided: that such a power, however, should not be for life, nor be hereditary, but determine at the end of three years, when a new choice should be made by the state, or the old confirmed for three years longer; by which means, the ablest men would always be at the head of affairs, and their power being of short duration, none would dare to abuse it: that such a chief should have the title of Lord Conservator, and all the ensigns of royalty to attend him.

This was approved nem. con. and Misson was chosen conservator, with power to create great officers, &c. and with the title of Supreme Excellence.

A law was then made for the meeting of the State once every year at least, but oftener, if the conservator and his council thought it necessary for the common good to convene them; and that nothing of moment should be undertaken without the approbation of the State.

In a word their first session lasted ten days; and a great many wholesome laws were enacted, registered in the state book, and dispersed among the crews.

Capt. Tew, the conservator honoured with the title of Admiral, and Caraccioli was made Secretary of State. He chose a council of the ablest among them, without distinction of nation or colour; and the different languages began to be incorporated, and one made out of the many. An equal division was made of their treasure and cattle, and every one began either to enclose land for himself, or his neighbour who would hire his assistance.

Admiral Tew proposed building an arsenal, and augmenting their naval force. The first was agreed to be proposed to the State at the next convention; but the latter was thought unnecessary, till the number of inhabitants was augmented; for, should they all be employed in the sea service, the husbandry would be neglected, which would be of fatal consequence to the growing colony.

The Admiral then proposed the fetching in those Englishmen who had followed the quarter-master; but the council rejected this, alleging, that as they deserted their captain, it was a mark of a mutinous temper, and they might infect others with a spirit of disorder; that, however, they might have notice given them of the settlement, and if they made it their earnest entreaty to be admitted, and would desert the quarter-master, it should be granted as a particular favour done them, at the instance of the Admiral, and upon his engaging his parole of honour for their quiet behaviour.

The Admiral then desired he might take a cruise; that he hoped to meet with some East-India ships, and bring in some volunteers, for the number of subjects being the riches of a nation, he thought the colony stood more in need of men, than of any thing else; that he would lie in the way of the Cape, and did not question doing good service; and as he went to the northward, would call upon his own men.

The Victoire was according to the Admiral’s desire fitted out, and in a few days he sailed with 300 men on board. He came to an anchor at the settlement his men had made, hoisted an English ensign in his fore shrouds, and fired a gun; but after he had waited some time, perceiving no signal from the shore, he landed and sent back his boat. Soon after the boat returned towards the ship, two of his men came up to him, to whom he gave an account of Misson’s settlement. They invited him into the wood to see that of theirs, and to advise with their companions, about the proposed migration. The governor, alias quarter-master, received him mighty civilly, but told him, that he could see no advantage to themselves in changing their present situation, though they might prove a great one to the new colony, by adding to their force so many brave fellows: that they there enjoyed all the necessaries of life; were free and independent of all the world; and it would be madness again to subject themselves to any government, which, however mild, still exerted some power. That he was governor for three months, by the choice of his companions; but his power extended no farther than to the judging in matters of small difference which might arise, which he hoped to do impartially while his authority continued; that they had agreed among themselves, and confirmed that agreement by oath to support the decrees of the governor for the time, that their tranquility might not be disturbed by the humour of any one man: and that this power of determining, was to devolve at the expiration of three months, to him on whom the lot should fall by balloting, provided he had not before enjoyed the honour, for such a one was not to draw; by which agreement, every one would be raised, in time, to the supreme command, which prevented all canvassing and making interest for votes, as when determined by suffrage; left no opening for making divisions and parties, and was a means to continue to them that repose inseparable from an unity among themselves. However, continued he, “if you will go to America or Europe, and show the advantage which may accrue to the English, by fixing a colony here, out of that love we bear our country, and to wipe away the odious appellation of pirates, with pleasure we will submit to any who shall come with a commission from a lawful government; but it is ridiculous to think we will become subjects to greater rogues than ourselves.”

Capt. Tew finding the quarter-master spoke the sentiments of his companions, took leave, and returned to his ship: but went on shore again in the evening, the wind not serving to weigh, it blowing due west. He asked the governor how he got acquainted with the natives? He answered, by meeting them a hunting, and using them well: that he wheedled one of them down to their huts, the fellow being alone, and they three in company, he supposed, thought it best to go with seeming willingness. After him several came, and they lived very friendly with them. The captain, had brought ashore with him some rum and brandy, and they were drinking a bowl of punch, when on a sudden, a violent storm arose. Capt. Tew ran to the shore, and made a signal for his boat to carry him off, but the sea ran too high to venture out of the ship. The storm all the while increased, and the Victoire, in less than two hours, parting her cables, was driven ashore where it was very steep, and perished, with all her men, in Capt. Tew’s sight.

The captain stayed with his old companions, without knowing which way to return to his friends he had left with Misson, not one of whom was (luckily for them,) on board the ship. At the end of three months they saw a large ship, which Tew believed was the Bijoux; but she took no notice of the fires they made. As he expected she would return after a short cruise, he, and his companions, made large fires every night on the shore, and visited the coast very often. About a month after this, as they came early to the sea-side, they were surprised at the sight of two sloops which lay at anchor, about a cannon shot from the shore. They had not been long looking upon them, when a canoe was hoisted out of one, and made to them, with six men who rowed, and one sitter.

Tew soon knew him to be Capt. Misson. He came ashore, and embracing the former, told him, all their proposed happiness was vanished; for without the least provocation given, in the dead of the night, the natives came down upon them in two great bodies, and made a great slaughter, without distinction of age or sex, before they could put themselves in a posture of defence; that Caraccioli (who died in the action) and he, got what men together they could, to make a stand; but finding all resistance vain against such numbers, he made a shift to secure a considerable quantity of rough diamonds and bar gold, and to get on board the two sloops with 45 men: that the Bijoux being gone to cruise, and the number of men he had carried with him in the Victoire, had weakened the colony, and given the natives the boldness to attack them, but for what reason he could not imagine.

Tew gave him an account of the disaster which had happened, and after having mutually condoled their misfortunes, Tew proposed their going to America, where Misson might, with the riches he had, pass his life unknown, and in a comfortable manner. Misson answered he could not yet take any resolution, though he had thoughts of returning to Europe, and privately visiting his family, if any were alive, and then retire from the world. They dined with the quarter-master, who pressed their return to America, to procure a commission for the settling a colony. Misson told Tew, he should have one of the sloops, and what volunteers would keep him company, for his misfortunes had erased all thoughts of future settlements; that what riches they had saved, he would distribute equally, nay, he would be content, if he had only a bare support left him. On this answer, four of the quarter-master’s company offered to join Capt. Tew.

In the afternoon they visited both sloops, and Misson putting the question to the men, 30 went on board of one sloop, though they parted with great reluctance from their old commander; and 15 stayed with Misson. The four men who joined Tew made the number of his crew 34: they stayed about a week, in hopes of the Bijoux’s return upon the coast; but she not appearing, they set sail, Captain Misson having first shared the treasure, with Tew and his other friends and companions, hoping to meet the Bijoux on the Guinea coast, for which they shaped their course. Off Cape Infantes, they were overtaken with a storm, in which the unhappy Misson’s sloop went down, within musket shot of Capt. Tew, who could give him no assistance.

Tew continued his course for America, and arrived at Rhode-Island without any accident. His men dispersed themselves, as they thought fit, and Tew sent to Bermuda for his owner’s account, fourteen times the value of their sloop; and not being questioned by any, lived in great tranquillity. The French belonging to Misson, took different routes, one of whom dying at Rochelle, the French manuscript of Misson’s life was found among his papers, and transmitted to me by a friend and correspondent.

Capt. Tew lived unquestioned. He had an easy fortune, and designed to live quietly at home; but those of his men, who lived near him, having squandered their shares, were continually soliciting him to take another trip. He withstood their request a considerable time; but they having got together (by the report they made of the vast riches to be acquired) a number of resolute fellows, they, in a body, begged him to head them but for one voyage. They were so earnest in their desire, that he could not refuse complying. They prepared a small sloop, and made the best of their way to the straits entering the Red Sea, where they met with, and attacked a ship belonging to the Great Mogul in the engagement, a shot carried away the rim of Tew’s belly, who held his bowels with his hands some small space. When he dropped, it struck such a terror in his men, that they suffered themselves to be taken, without further resistance.

CAPTAIN JOHN HALSEY.

John Halsey was a Boston man, of New-England, commanded the Charles, brigantine, and went out with a commission from the governor, to cruise on the banks of Newfoundland, where he took a French banker, which he appointed to meet him at Fayal; but missing his prize here, he went among the Canary Islands, where he took a Spanish barcalonga, which he plundered and sunk: from thence he went to the island of Bravo, one of the Cape-de-Verds, where he wooded and watered, turned ashore his lieutenant, and several of his men here running away from him, the governor sent them on board again, his commission being as yet in force. From hence he stood away to the southward, and doubling the Cape of Good Hope, made for Madagascar and the bay of Augustin, where he took in wood and water, with some straggling seamen, who were cast away in the Degrave Indiamen, Capt. Young, commander. After this, he shaped his course for the Red Sea, and met with a Dutchman of 60 guns, coming from Mocha, whom he kept company with a week. Though he was resolved upon turning pirate, he intended to rob only the Moor ships, which occasioned a dispute between him and his men; they insisting on the ship’s being a Moor, and he asserting she was Dutch, was positive in his resolve of meddling with no European ships. The men were for boarding, but his obstinacy not being to be conquered, they broke Halsey and his gunner, confined both, and were ready to board the Dutchman, when one of the crew perceiving he was about to run out his lower tier, knocked down the quarter-master (whose business it is to be at the helm, in time of chase or engagement, according to the rules of pirates) clapped the helm hard aweather, and wore the brigantine. The Dutchman stayed, and fired a shot, which taking a swivel gun, carried it aft, narrowly missed the man at helm, and shattered the taffarel. The men perceiving they had caught a Tartar, made the best of their way to shake her off, and some were running down between decks, whom the surgeon pricked up again with his sword, though he was no way consenting to their designed piracy. The captain and gunner were again reinstated after they had seen their mistake, and then they steered for the Nicobar Islands, where they met with a country ship, called the Buffalo, commanded by Capt. Buckley, an Englishman, coming from Bengal, which they took after a short engagement there being only three Europeans on board, the captain and two mates; the rest were Moors. This ship fell seasonably in their way, she being bound for Achen, with butter, rice, and cloth, and the pirates, at that time, were in great straits both for provision and clothing. They took the two mates to sea with them, but left the captain and the Moors at Cara Nicobar, at an anchor, and then took a cruise. Capt. Buckley, who was sick, died before their return. In the cruise they met Captain Collins, in a country sloop, bound also to Achen. He had also two English mates with him, but the rest of his company consisted of Moors. Him they carried to the same harbour where they left the Buffalo.

Here a dispute arose among the pirates. Some were for returning to the West-Indies, others were against it, for they had got no money, and that was what engaged their search. They parted upon this; one part went on board the Buffalo, made one Rowe captain, and Myers, a Frenchman, master, whom they had picked up at Madagascar. The sloop’s deck they ripped up, and mended with it the bottom of the brigantine which Halsey still commanded. The ship shaped her course for Madagascar, and the brigantine made for the straits of Malacca, to lie in the track of the Manilla ships. I must observe, that Capt. Buckley’s two mates, whom they intended to force with them, were by strength of entreaty, permitted to go away with a canoe. In these straits, they met an European built ship, of 26 guns, which they had not the courage to attack, being soured by the Dutchman. They afterwards stood in shore, and came to an anchor. A few days after they made a vessel, which they supposed a China junk, and gave chase, but when they came pretty nigh, notwithstanding the pilot assured them she was what they supposed, they swore it was a Dutchman, and would not venture upon him; so leaving off their chase they stood in shore, and came again to an anchor under the peninsula. They lay here some days, and then spied a tall vessel, which they chased, and which proved to be the Albemarle East-Indiamen, Capt. Bews, commander, coming from China. They came up with him, but thinking it too warm a ship after exchanging a few shot, the brigantine made off, and the Albemarle chased in her turn. They however got clear, having a better share of heels, and came again to an anchor. Having not above 40 hands, the water growing scarce, and not daring to venture ashore for fear of the Dutch, a council was called, and it was resolved to make the best of their way to Madagascar, to pick up more hands, refresh, and set out on new adventures. Pursuant to this resolution, they steered for that island, but fell in their way on Mascarenhas, where, making a small present to the governor, they were supplied with what they wanted. From hence they went to a place on Madagascar, called by the pirates Hopeful Point; by the natives, Harangby, near the island of St. Mary’s in the lat. of 17, 40, S. where they met with the Buffalo, and the Dorothy, a prize, made by Capt. Thomas White and his company, being about 90 or 100 men, settled near the same place, in petty governments of their own, having some of them 5 or 600, some 1000 negro subjects, who acknowledged their sovereignty. Here they again repaired their brigantine, took in provisions and all necessaries, augmented their company to about 100 men, and set out for the Red Sea. They touched at Johanna, and there took in a quantity of goats and cocoa nuts for fresh provisions, and thence in eleven days reached the Straits of Babelmandel. They had not cruised here many days, when they spied the Moorish fleet from Mocha and Jufa, consisting of 25 sail, which they fell in with, and had been taken, if their oars had not helped them off, it falling a dead calm. They had not apprehended the danger so great, if they had not judged these ships convoyed by some Portuguese men of war. Some days after this, they met a one mast vessel, called a grab, coming from Mocha, which they spied within gun-shot in a thick fog: they fired a shot which cut her halliards, and then took possession of her with their boats. She was laden with drugs, but they took only some necessaries and 2000 dollars; and having learned that four English vessels lay at Mocha, of which one was from Jufa, they let her go.

Three days after they spied the four ships, which they at first took to be the trees of Babelmandel. At night they fell in with, and kept them company till morning, the trumpets sounding on both sides all the time, for the pirate had two on board as well as the English. When it was clear day, the four ships drew into a line, for they had hailed the pirate, who made no ceremony of owning who he was, by an answering according to their manner, From the seas. The brigantine bore up till she had slung her gaff. One of the ships perceiving this, advised Capt. Jago, who led the van, in a ship of 24 guns and 70 men, to give chase, for the pirate was on the run; but a mate, who was acquainted with the way of working among pirates, answered he would find his mistake, and said he had seen many a warm day, but feared this would be the hottest. The brigantine turned up again, and coming astern, clapped the Rising Eagle aboard, a ship of 16 guns, and the sternmost. Though they entered their men, the Rising Eagle held them a warm dispute for three quarters of an hour, in which Capt. Chamberlain’s chief mate and several others were killed, the purser was wounded, jumped overboard and drowned. In the mean while the other ships called to Capt. Jago to board the pirate; who bearing away to clap him aboard, the pirate gave him a shot, which raked him fore and aft, and determined Capt. Jago to get out of danger; for he run away with all the sail he could pack, though he was fitted out to protect the coast against pirates. His example was followed by the rest, every one steering a different coast. Thus they became masters of the Rising Eagle. I cannot but take notice, that the second mate of the Rising Eagle, after quarters were called for, fired from out the forecastle, and killed two of the pirates, one of whom was the gunner’s consort, who would have revenged his death by shooting the mate, but several Irish and Scots, together with one Captain Thomas White, once a commander among the pirates, but then a private man, interposed and saved him, in regard that he was an Irishman. They examined the prisoners to know which was the ship from Jufa, that had money on board; and having learned it was the Essex, they gave chase, came up with her, hoisted the bloody flag at the main-mast-head, fired one single gun, and she struck, though she was fitted for close quarters, and there was not on board the brigantine above 20 hands, and the prize was astern so far, that her top-mast scarce appeared out of the water. In chasing this ship, they passed the other two, who held the fly of their ensigns in their hands ready to strike. When the ship had struck, the captain of her asked, who commanded the brigantine? He was answered, Capt. Halsey. Asking again, who was quarter-master? He was told Nathaniel North, to whom he called, as he knew him very well. North, learning his name was Punt, said, Capt. Punt, I am sorry you are fallen into our hands. He was civilly treated, and nothing belonging to himself or the English gentlemen, who were passengers, touched, though they made bold to lay hands on £40,000 in money, belonging to the ship. They had about £10,000 in money out of the Rising Eagle. They discharged the Essex, and with the other prize and the brigantine, steered for Madagascar, where they arrived and shared their booty. Some of the passengers, who had been so well treated, came afterwards with a small ship from India (with license from the governor of Madras) called the Greyhound, laden with necessaries, in hopes to barter with the pirates for the dry goods they had taken, and recover them at an easy rate. They were received very kindly, an invoice of their goods was asked, the goods agreed for, shared and paid in money and bale goods. In the mean while came in a ship from Scotland, called the Neptune, 26 guns, 54 men, commanded by Capt. Miller, with a design to slave, and to go thence to Batavia to dispose of her negroes (having a supercargo on board, brought up among the Dutch) and thence to Malacca, to take on board the cargo of a ship, called the Speedwell, lost on her return from China; but finding here another ship trading with the pirates, and having many necessaries, French brandy, Madeira wine, and English stout on board, Capt. Miller thought it better to trade for money than slaves. The merchants of the Greyhound, nettled to see any but themselves take money, for the pirates never haggled about a price, told them, They could not do the governor of Madras a more grateful piece of service than to make prize of the Neptune, which was a ship fit for that purpose. To which some of the Scotch and Irish answered, They had not best put such a design on foot, for if the company once got it into their heads to take one, they would go nigh to take both ships. In a short time after came on a hurricane, which obliged the Neptune to cut away all her masts, and lost the three ships belonging to the pirates, which was their whole fleet. They having now no ship, and several of them no money, having been stripped at play, their thoughts were bent on the Neptune. The chief mate of her, Daniel Burgess, who had a spleen to the captain, joining privately with the pirates (among whom he died) got all the small masts and yards ashore; and the pirates being requested to find him proper trees for masting, told Capt. Miller they had found such as would serve his turn, desiring he would take a number of hands ashore to get them down to the water, which (he suspecting no harm) accordingly did, and he and his men were seized, and the long-boat detained ashore. The captain was forced to send for the second mate, and afterwards for the gunner; the mate, who was the captain’s brother, went, but the gunner, suspecting foul play, refused. In the evening, Burgess came on board, and advised the surrender of the ship, which, though but sixteen were left on board, they scrupled, and proposed going under the cover of their own guns to fetch their top-mast and yards, and with them put to sea; but the chief mate, Burgess, whose villany was not then known, persuaded them to give up a ship they could neither defend nor sail; which was no small satisfaction to the Greyhound, little thinking how soon they would meet with the same treatment; for two days after, the pirates manned the Neptune’s pinnace, seized the Greyhound, took away all the money they had paid, and shifting out of the Neptune ten pipes of Madeira, with two hogsheads of brandy, into the Greyhound, and putting on board the captain, second mate, boatswain and gunner of the Neptune, and about fourteen of her hands, ordered her to sea. The rest of the Neptune’s company being young men fit for their purpose, they detained, most of whom, by hard drinking, fell into distempers and died. As to Capt. Halsey, while the Scotch ship was fitting, he fell ill of a fever, died and was buried with great solemnity and ceremony; the prayers of the church of England was read over him, colours were flying, and his sword and pistol laid on his coffin, which was covered with a ship’s jack; as many minute guns fired as he was years old, viz. 46, and three English volleys, and one French volley of small arms. He was brave in his person, courteous to all his prisoners, lived beloved, and died regretted by his own people. His grave was made in a garden of water-melons, and fenced in with palisades to prevent his being rooted up by the wild hogs, of which there are plenty in those parts.

P. S. The Neptune seized as above, was the year after Capt. Halsey’s death, ready to go to sea; but a hurricane happening, she was lost, and proved the last ship that gang of pirates ever got possession of.

CAPTAIN THOMAS WHITE.

He was born at Plymouth, where his mother kept a public house. She took great care of his education, and when he was grown up, as he had an inclination to the sea, procured him the king’s letter. After he had served some years on board a man of war, he went to Barbadoes, where he married, got into the merchant service, and designed to settle in the island. He had the command of the Marygold brigantine given him, in which he made two successful voyages to Guinea and back to Barbadoes. In his third, he had the misfortune to be taken by a French pirate, as were several other English ships, the masters and inferior officers of which they detained, being in want of good artists. The brigantine belonging to White, they kept for their own use, and sunk the vessel they before sailed in; but meeting with a ship on the Guinea coast more fit for their purpose, they went on board her, and burnt the brigantine.

It is not my business here to give an account of this French pirate, any farther than Capt. White’s story obliges me, though I beg leave to take notice of their barbarity to the English prisoners, for they would set them up as a butt or mark to shoot at; several of whom were thus murdered in cool blood, by way of diversion.

White was marked out for a sacrifice by one of these villains, who, for I know not what reason, had sworn his death which he escaped thus. One of the crew, who had a friendship for White, knew this fellow’s design to kill him in the night, and therefore advised him to lie between him and the ship’s side, with intention to save him; which indeed he did, but was himself shot dead by the murderous villain, who mistook him for White.

After some time cruising along the coast, the pirates doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and shaped their course for Madagascar, where, being drunk and mad, they knocked their ship on the head, at the south end of the island, at a place called by the natives Elexa. The country thereabouts was governed by a king, named Mafaly.

When the ship struck, Capt. White, Capt. Boreman, (born in the Isle of Wight, formerly a lieutenant of a man of war, but in the merchant’s service when he fell into the hands of the pirates) Capt. Bowen and some other prisoners, got into the long-boat, and with broken oars and barrel staves, which they found in the bottom of the boat, paddled to Augustin Bay, which is about 14 or 15 leagues from the wreck, where they landed, and were kindly received by the king of Bavaw (the name of that part of the island) who spoke good English.

They stayed here a year and a half at the king’s expense, who gave them a plentiful allowance of provision, as was his custom to all white men, who met with any misfortune on his coast. His humanity not only provided for such, but the first European vessel that came in, he always obliged to take in the unfortunate people, let the vessel be what it would; for he had no notion of any difference between pirates and merchants.

At the expiration of the above term, a pirate brigantine came in, on board which the king obliged them to enter, or travel by land to some other place, which they durst not do; and of two evils chose the least, that of going on board the pirate vessel which was commanded by one William Read, who received them very civilly.

This commander went along the coast, and picked up what Europeans he could meet with. His crew, however, did not exceed forty men. He would have been glad of taking on board some of the wrecked Frenchmen, but for the barbarity they had used towards the English prisoners. However, it was impracticable, for the French pretending to lord it over the natives, whom they began to treat inhumanly, were set upon by them, one half of their number cut off, and the other half made slaves.

Read, with this gang, and a brigantine of 60 tons, steered his course for the gulf of Persia, where they met a grab (a one masted vessel) of about 200 tons, which was made prize. They found nothing on board but bale goods, most of which they threw overboard to search for gold, and to make room in the vessel; but as they learned afterwards, they threw over, in their search, what they so greedily hunted after, for there was a considerable quantity of gold concealed in one of the bales they tossed into the sea.

In this cruise Capt. Read fell ill and died, and was succeeded by one James. The brigantine being small, crazy, and worm-eaten, they shaped their course for the island of Mayotta, where they took out the masts of the brigantine, fitted up the grab, and made a ship of her. Here they took in a quantity of fresh provisions, which are in this island very plentiful, and very cheap; and found a twelve oared boat, which formerly belonged to the Ruby East-Indiamen, which had been lost there.

They stayed here all the monsoon time, which is about six months; after which they resolved for Madagascar. As they came in with the land, they spied a sail coming round from the East side of the island. They gave chase on both sides, so that they soon met. They hailed each other, and receiving the same answer from each vessel, viz. from the seas, they joined company.

This vessel was a small French ship, laden with liquors from Martinico, first commanded by one Fourgette, to trade with the pirates for slaves, at Ambonawoula, on the East side of the island, in the lat. of 17 degrees 30 minutes and was by them taken after the following manner.

The pirates, who were headed by George Booth, now commander of the ship, went on board (as they had often done) to the number of ten, and carried money with them, under pretence of purchasing what they wanted. This Booth had formerly been gunner of a pirate ship, called the Dolphin. Capt. Fourgette was pretty much upon his guard, and searched every man as he came over the side, and a pair of pocket pistols were found upon a Dutchman, who was the first entered. The captain told him, he was a rogue, and had a design upon his ship, and the pirates pretended to be so angry with this fellow’s offering to come on board with arms, that they threatened to knock him on the head, and tossingly him rough into the boat, ordered him ashore, though they had before taken an oath on the bible, either to carry the ship or die in the undertaking.

They were all searched, but they however contrived to get on board four pistols, which were all the arms they had for the enterprise, though Fourgette had 20 hands on board, and his small arms on the awning, to be in readiness.

The captain invited them into the cabin to dinner, but Booth chose to dine with the petty officer though one Johnson, Isaac, and another, went down. Booth was to give the watch-word, which was hurrah. Standing near the awning, and being a nimble fellow, at one spring threw himself upon it, drew the arms to him, fired his pistol forward among the men, one of whom he wounded, (who jumping overboard was lost) and gave the signal.

Three, I said, were in the cabin, and seven upon deck, who with handspikes and the arms seized, secured the ship’s crew. The captain and his two mates, who were at dinner in the cabin, hearing the pistol, fell upon Johnson, and stabbed him in several places with their forks, but they being silver did him no great damage. Fourgette snatched his piece, which he snapped at Isaac’s breast several times, but it would not go off. At last, finding his resistance vain, he submitted, and the pirates set him, and those of his men, who would not join them, on shore, allowing him to take his books, papers, and whatever else he claimed as belonging to him self; and besides treating him very humanely, gave him several casks of liquor, with arms and powder to purchase provisions in the country.

I hope this digression, as it was in a manner needful, will be excused. I shall now proceed.

After they had taken in the Dolphin’s company, which were on the island, and increased their crew, by that means, to the number of 80 hands, they sailed to St. Mary’s, where Capt. Mosson’s ship lay at anchor, between the island and the main. This gentleman and his whole ship’s company had been cut off, at the instigation of Ort Van Tyle, a Dutchman of New-York.

Out of her they took water casks and other necessaries; which having done, they designed for the river Methelage. On the west side of Madagascar, in the lat. of 16 degrees or thereabouts, to salt up provisions and to proceed to the East-Indies, cruise off the islands of St. John, and lie in wait for the Moor ships from Mocha.

In their way to Methelage they fell in (as I have said) with the pirate, on board of which was Capt. White. They joined company, came to an anchor together in the above named river, where they had cleaned, salted, and taken in their provisions, and were ready to go to sea, when a large ship appeared in sight, and stood into the same river.

The pirates knew not whether she was a merchantman or man of war. She had been the latter, belonging to the French king, and could mount 50 guns; but being taken by the English, she was bought by some London merchants, and fitted out from that port to slave at Madagascar, and go to Jamaica. The captain was a young, inexperienced man, who was put in with a nurse.

The pirates sent their boats to speak with them, but the ship firing at them, they concluded it a man of war, and rowed ashore; the grab standing in, and not keeping her wind so well as the French built ship, run among a parcel of mangroves, and a stump piercing her bottom, she sunk: the other run aground, let go her anchor, and came to no damage, for the tide of flood fetched her off.

The captain of the Speaker, for that was the name of the ship which frightened the pirates, was not a little vain of having forced these two vessels ashore, though he did not know whether they were pirates or merchantmen, and could not help expressing himself in these words: “How will my name ring on the exchange, when it is known I have run two pirates aground;” which gave handle to a satirical return from one of his men after he was taken, who said, “Lord! how our captain’s name will ring on the exchange; when it is heard, he frightened two pirate ships ashore, and was taken by their two boats afterwards.”

When the Speaker came within shot, she fired several times at the two vessels; and when she came to an anchor, several more into the country, which alarmed the negroes, who, acquainting their king, he would allow him no trade, till the pirates living ashore, and who had a design on his ship, interceded for them, telling the king, they were their countrymen, and what had happened was through a mistake, it being a custom among them to fire their guns by way of respect, and it was owing to the gunner of the ship’s negligence that they fired shot.

The captain of the Speaker sent his purser ashore, to go up the country to the king, who lived about 24 miles from the coast, to carry a couple of small arms inlaid with gold, a couple of brass blunderbusses, and a pair of pistols, as presents, and to require trade. As soon as the purser was ashore, he was taken prisoner, by one Tom Collins, a Welchman, born in Pembroke, who lived on shore, and had belonged to the Charming Mary, of Barbadoes, which went out with a commission but was converted to a pirate. He told the purser he was his prisoner, and must answer the damage done to merchants who were slaving. The purser answered, that he was not commander; that the captain was a hot rash youth, put into business by his friends, which he did not understand; but however, satisfaction should be made. He was carried by Collins on board Booth’s ship, where, at first, he was talked to in pretty strong terms; but after a while very civilly used, and the next morning sent up to the king with a guide, and peace made for him.

The king allowed them trade, and sent down the usual presents, a couple of oxen between twenty and thirty people laden with rice, and as many more with the country liquor, called toke.

The captain then settled the factory on the shore side, and began to buy slaves and provisions. The pirates were among them, and had opportunities of sounding the men, and knowing in what posture the ship lay. They found by one Hugh Man, belonging to the Speaker, that there were not above 40 men on board, and that they had lost the second mate and 20 hands in the long-boat, on the coast, before they came into this harbour, but that they kept a good look out, and had their guns ready primed. However, he, for a hundred pounds, undertook to wet all the priming, and assist in taking the ship.

After some days the captain of the Speaker came on shore, and was received with a great deal of civility by the heads of the pirates, having agreed before to make satisfaction. In a day or two after, he was invited by them to eat a barbecued shoat, which invitation he accepted. After dinner, Capt. Bowen, who was, I have already said, a prisoner on board the French pirate, but now become one of the fraternity, and master of the grab, went out, and returned with a case of pistols in his hand, and told the captain of the Speaker, whose name I won’t mention, that he was his prisoner. He asked, upon what account? Bowen answered, “they wanted a ship, his was a good one, and they were resolved to have her, to make amends for the damage he had done them.”

In the mean while his boat’s crew, and the rest of his men ashore, were told by others of the pirates, who were drinking with them, that they were also prisoners: some of them answered, Zound’, we don’t trouble our heads what we are, let’s have t’other bowl of punch.

A watch word was given, and no boat to be admitted on board the ship. This word, which was for that night, Coventry, was known to them. At 8 o’clock they manned the twelve-oared boat, and the one they found at Mayotta, with 24 men, and set out for the ship. When they were put off, the captain of the Speaker desired them to come back as he wanted to speak with them. Capt. Booth asked what he wanted! He said, “they could never take his ship.” “Then,” said Booth, “we’ll die in or along side of her.”—“But,” replied the captain, “if you will go with safety, don’t board on the larboard side for there is a gun out of the steerage loaded with partridge, which will clear the decks.” They thanked him, and proceeded.

When they were near the ship they were hailed, and the answer was, the Coventry. “All well,” said the mate, “get the lights over the side;” but spying the second boat, he asked what boat that was? One answered, it was a raft of water; another that it was a boat of beef; this disagreement in the answers made the mate suspicious, who cried out—Pirates, take to your arms my lads, and immediately clapped a match to a gun, which, as the priming was before wet by the treachery of Hugh Man, only fizzed. They boarded in the instant, and made themselves masters of her, without the loss of a man on either side.

The next day they put necessary provisions on board the French built ship, and gave her to the captain of the Speaker, and those men who would go off with him, among whom was Man, who had betrayed his ship; for the pirates had both paid him the £100 agreed, and kept his secret. The captain having thus lost his ship, sailed in that which the pirates gave him, for Johanna, where he fell ill and died with grief.

The pirates having here victualled, they sailed for the Bay of St. Augustine where they took in between 70 and 80 men, who had belonged to the ship Alexander commanded by Capt. James, a pirate. They also took up her guns, and mounted the Speaker with 54, which made up their number 240 men, besides slaves, of which they had about 20.

From hence they sailed for the East-Indies, but stopped at Zanguebar for fresh provisions, where the Portuguese had once a settlement, but now inhabited by Arabians. Some of them went ashore with the captain to buy provisions. The captain was sent for by the governor, who went with about 14 in company. They passed through the guard, and when they had entered the governor’s house, they were all cut off; and, at the same time, others who where in different houses of the town were set upon, which made them fly to the shore. The long-boat, which lay off a grappling, was immediately put in by those who looked after her. There were not above half a dozen of the pirates who brought their arms ashore, but they plied them so well, for they were in the boat, that most of the men got into her. The quarter-master ran down sword in hand, and though he was attacked by many, he behaved himself so well, that he got into a little canoe, put off, and reached the long-boat.

In the interim, the little fort the Arabians had played upon the ship, which returned the salute very warmly. Thus they got on board, with the loss of Capt. Booth and 20 men, and set sail for the East-Indies. When they were under sail, they went to voting for a new captain, and the quarter-master, who had behaved so well in the last affair with the Arabians, was chosen; but he declining all command, the crew made choice of Bowen for captain Pickering to succeed him as master, Samuel Herault, a Frenchman, for quarter-master, and Nathaniel North for captain quarter-master.

Things being thus settled, they came to the mouth of the Red Sea, and fell in with 13 sail of Moor ships, which they kept company with the greater part of the day, but afraid to venture on them, as they took them for Portuguese men of war At length part were for boarding, and advised it. The captain though he said little, did not seem inclined, far he was but a young pirate, though an old commander of a merchantman. Those who pushed for boarding, then desired Capt. Boremen, already mentioned, to take the command; but he said he would not be an usurper; that nobody was more fit for it than he who had it; that for his part he would stand by his fuzil, and went forward to the forecastle with such as would have him take the command, to be ready to board; on which, the captain’s quarter-master said, if they were resolved to engage, their captain, (whose representative he was) did not want resolution; therefore ordered them to get their tacks on board (for they had already made a clear ship) and get ready for boarding; which they accordingly did, and coming up with the sternmost ship, they fired a broadside into her, which killed two Moors, clapped her on board and carried her; but night coming on, they made only this prize, which yielded them £500 per man. From hence they sailed to the coast of Malabar. The adventures of these pirates on this coast are already set down in Captain Bowen’s life, to which I refer the reader, and shall only observe, that Capt. White was all this time before the mast, being a forced man from the beginning.

Bowen’s crew dispersing, Capt. White went to Methelage, where he lived ashore with the King not having an opportunity of getting off the island, till another pirate ship, called the Prosperous, commanded by one Howard, who had been bred a lighterman on the river Thames, came in. This ship was taken at Augustin, by some pirates from shore, and the crew of their own long-boat, which joined them, at the instigation of one Ranten, boatswain’s mate, who sent for water. They came on board in the night and surprised her, though not without resistance, in which the captain and chief mate were killed, and several others wounded.

Those who were ashore with Capt. White, resolving to enter in this ship, determined him to go also, rather than be left alone with the natives, hoping, by some accident or other, to have an opportunity of returning home. He continued on board this ship, in which he was made quarter-master, till they met with, and all went on board of Bowen, as is set down in his life, in which ship he continued after Bowen left them. At Port Dolphin he went off in the boats to fetch some of the crew left ashore, the ship being blown to sea the night before. The ship not being able to get in, and he supposing her gone to the west side of the island, as they had formerly proposed, he steered that course in his boat with 26 men. They touched at Augustin, expecting the ship, but she not appearing in a week, the time they waited, the king ordered them to be gone, telling them they imposed on him with lies, for he did not believe they had any ship: however he gave them fresh provision: they took in water, and made for Methelage. Here as Capt. White was known to the king, they were kindly received, and stayed about a fortnight in expectation of the ship, but she not appearing, they raised their boat a streak, salted the provision the king gave them, put water aboard, and stood for the north end of the island, designing to go round, believing their ship might be at the island of St. Mary. When they came to the north end, the current, which sets to the N. W. for eight months in the year, was so strong they found it impossible to get round. Wherefore they got into a harbour, of which there are many for small vessels. Here they stayed about three weeks or a month, when part of the crew were for burning the boat, and travelling over land to a black king of their acquaintance, who name was Reberimbo, who lived at a place called Manangaromasigh, in lat. 15 deg. or thereabouts. As this king had been several times assisted by the whites in his wars, he was a great friend to them. Capt. White dissuaded them from this undertaking, and with much ado, saved the boat; but one half of the men being resolved to go by land, they took what provisions they thought necessary, and set out. Capt. White, and those who stayed with him, convoyed them a day’s journey, and then returning, he got into the boat with his companions, and went back to Methelage, fearing these men might return, prevail with the rest, and burn the boat.

Here he built a deck on his boat, and lay by three months, in which time there came in three pirates with a boat, who had formerly been trepanned on board the Severn and Scarborough men of war, which had been looking for pirates on the east side; from which ships they made their escape at Mohila, in a small canoe to Johanna, and from Johanna to Mayotta, where the king built them the boat which brought them to Methelage. The time of the current’s setting with violence to the N. W. being over, they proceeded together in White’s boat (burning that of Mayotta) to the north end, where the current running yet too strong to get round, they went into a harbour and stayed there a month, maintaining themselves with fish and wild hogs, of which there was a great plenty. At length, having fine weather, and the strength of the current abating, they got round; and after sailing about 40 miles on the east side, they went into a harbour, where they found a piece of a jacket, which they knew belonged to one of those men who had left them to go over land. He had been a forced man, and a ship carpenter. This they supposed he had torn to wrap round his feet: that part of the country being barren and rocky. As they sailed along this coast, they came to an anchor in convenient harbours every night, till they got as far as Manangaromasigh, where king Reberimbo resided, where they went in to inquire for their men, who left them at the north end, and to recruit with provisions. The latter was given them, but they could get no information of their companions.

From hence they went to the island of St. Mary, where a canoe came off to them with a letter directed to any white man. They knew it to be the hand of one of their former ship-mates. The contents of this letter was to advise them to be on their guard, and not trust too much to the blacks of this place, they having been formerly treacherous. They inquired after their ship, and were informed, that the company had given her to the Moors, who were gone away with her, and that they themselves were settled at Amboynavoula, about 20 leagues to the southward of St. Mary, where they lived among the negroes as so many sovereign princes.

One of the blacks, who brought off the letter went on board their boat, carried them to the place called Olumbah, a point of land made by a river on one side, and the sea on the other, where twelve of them lived together in a large house they had built, and fortified with about twenty pieces of cannon.

The rest of them were settled in small companies of about 12 or 14 together, more or less, up the said river, and along the coast, every nation by itself, as the English, French, Dutch &c. They made inquiry of their consorts after the different prizes which belonged to them, and they found all very justly laid by to be given them, if ever they returned, as were what belonged to the men who went over land. Capt. White, hankering after home, proposed going out again in the boat; for he was averse to settling with them; and many others agreed to go under his command; and if they could meet with a ship to carry them to Europe, to follow their old vocation. But the others did not think it reasonable he should have the boat, but that it should be set to sale for the benefit of the company. Accordingly it was set up, and Capt. White bought it for 400 pieces of eight, and with some of his old consorts, whose number was increased by others of the ship’s crew, he went back the way he had come to Methelage. Here he met with a French ship of about 50 tons, and 6 guns, which had been taken by some pirates who lived at Maratan, on the east side of the island, and some of the Degrave East-Indiaman’s crew, to whom the master of her refused a passage to Europe; for as he had himself been a pirate, and quarter-master to Bowen, in the Speaker, he apprehended their taking away his ship. War then subsisting between England and France, he thought they might do it without being called in question as pirates. The pirates who had been concerned in taking Herault’s ship, for that was his name, had gone up the country, and left her to the men belonging to the Degrave who had fitted her up, cleaned and tallowed her, and got in some provision, with a design to go to the East-Indies, that they might light on some ship to return to their own country.

Capt. White, finding these men proposed joining him, and going round to Ambonavoula, to make up a company, it was agreed upon, and they unanimously chose him commander. They accordingly put to sea, and stood away round the south end of the island, and touched at Don Mascarenhas, where he took in a surgeon, and stretching over again to Madagascar, fell in with Ambonavoula, and made up his complement of 60 men. From hence he shaped his course for the island of Mayotta, where he cleaned his ship, and waited for the season to go into the Red Sea. His provisions being taken in, the time proper, and the ship well fitted, he steered for Babelmandel, and running into a harbour, waited for the Mocha ships.

He here took two grabs laden with provisions, and having some small money and drugs aboard. These he plundered of what was for his turn, kept them a fortnight by him, and let them go. Soon after they spied a lofty ship, upon which they put to sea; but finding her European built, and too strong to attempt, for it was a Dutchman, they gave over the chase, and were glad to shake him off, and return to their station. Fancying they were here discovered, from the coast of Arabia, or that the grabs had given information of them they stood over for the Ethiopian shore, keeping a good look out for the Mocha ships. A few days after, they met with a large ship of about 1000 tons and 600 men, called the Malabar, which they chased, kept company with all night, and took in the morning, with the loss of only their boatswain, and two or three men wounded. In the taking this ship, they damaged their own so much, by springing their foremast, carrying away their bowsprit, and beating in part of their upper works, that they did not think her longer fit for their use. They therefore filled her with prisoners, gave them provision and sent them away.

Some days after this they spied a Portuguese man of war of 44 guns, which they chased, but gave it over, by carrying away their main-top-mast, so that they did not speak with her, for the Portuguese took no notice of them. Four days after they had left this man of war, they fell in with a Portuguese merchantman, which they chased with English colours flying. The chase, taking White for an English man of war or East-Indiaman, made no sail to get from him, but on his coming up, brought to, and sent his boat on board with a present of sweet-meats for the English captain. His boat’s crew was detained, and the pirates getting into his boat with their arms, went on board, and fired on the Portuguese, who being surprised, asked if war was broke out between England and Portugal? They answered in the affirmative, but the captain could not believe them. However they took what they liked, and kept him with them.

After two days they met with the Dorothy, an English ship, Capt. Penruddock, commander, coming from Mocha. They exchanged several shot in the chase, but when they came along side of her, they entered their men, and found no resistance, she being navigated by Moors, no Europeans, except the officers being on board. On a vote, they gave Capt. Penruddock (from whom they took a considerable quantity of money) the Portuguese ship and cargo, with what bale he pleased to take out of his own, bid him go about his business, and make what he could of her. As to the English ship, they kept her for their own use.

Soon after, they plundered the Malabar ship, out of which they took as much money as came to £200 sterling a man, but missed 50,000 sequins, which were hid in a jar under a cow’s stall, kept for the giving milk to the Moor supercargo, an ancient man. They then put the Portuguese and Moor prisoners on board the Malabar, and sent them about their business. The day after they had sent them away, one Capt. Benjamin Stacy, in a ketch of 6 guns fell into their hands. They took what money he had, and what goods and provisions they wanted. Among the money were 500 dollars, a silver mug and two spoons belonging to a couple of children on board, who were under the care of Stacy. The children took on for their loss, and the captain asking the reason of their tears, was answered by Stacy, that the above sum and plate was all the children had to bring them up. Capt. White made a speech to his men, and told them it was cruel to rob the innocent children; upon which, by unanimous consent, all was restored them again. Besides, they made a gathering among themselves, and made a present to Stacy’s mate, and other of his inferior officers, and about 120 dollars to the children. They then discharged Stacy and his crew, and made the best of their way out of the Red Sea.

They came into the bay of Defarr, where they found a ketch at anchor, which the people had made prize of, by seizing the master and boat’s crew ashore. They found a French gentleman, one Monsieur Berger, on board, whom they carried with them, took out about 2000 dollars, and sold the ketch to the chief ashore for provision.

Hence they sailed for Madagascar, but touched at Mascarenhas, where several of them went ashore with their booty, about £1200 a man. Here taking in fresh provisions, White steered for Madagascar, and fell in with Hopeful Point where they shared their goods, and took up settlements ashore, where White built a house, bought cattle, took off the upper deck of his ship, and was fitting her up for the next season. When she was near ready for sea, Capt. John Halsey, who had made a broken voyage, came in with a brigantine, which being a more proper vessel for their turn, they desisted from working on the ship, and those who had a mind for fresh adventures, went on board Halsey among whom Capt. White entered before the mast.

At his return to Madagascar, White was taken ill of a flux, which in about five or six months ended his days. Finding his time was drawing nigh, he made his will, left several legacies, and named three men of different nations, guardian to a son he had by a woman of the country, requiring he might be sent to England with the money he left him, by the first English ship, to be brought up in the Christian religion, in hopes he might live a better man than his father. He was buried with the same ceremony they used at the funerals of their companions, which is mentioned in the account of Halsey. Some years after, an English ship touching there, the guardians faithfully discharged their trust, and put him on board with the captain, who brought up the boy with care, acting by him as became a man of probity and honour.

CAPTAIN CONDENT.

Captain Condent was a Plymouth man born, but we are as yet ignorant of the motives and time of his first turning pirate. He was one of those who thought fit to retire from Providence, on Governor Rogers’ arrival at that island, in a sloop belonging to Mr. Simpson, of New-York, a Jew merchant of which sloop he was then quarter-master. Soon after they left the island, an accident happened on board, which put the whole crew into consternation. They had among them an Indian man, whom some of them had beat: in revenge, he got most of the arms forward into the hold, and designed to blow up the sloop; upon which, some advised scuttling the deck and throwing grenade shells down; but Condent said, that was too tedious and dangerous, since the fellow might fire through the deck and kill several of them. He, therefore, taking a pistol in one hand, and his cutlass in the other, leaned into the hold. The Indian discharged a piece at him, which broke his arm; but, however, he ran up and shot the Indian. When he was dead, the crew hacked him to pieces, and the gunner, ripping up his belly, tore out his heart, broiled and ate it.

After this, they took a merchantman called the Duke of York; and some disputes arising among the pirates, the captain, and one half of the company, went on board the prize; the other half, who continued in the sloop, chose Condent captain. He shaped his course for the Cape-de-Verd Islands, and in his way took a merchant ship from Madeira, laden with wine, bound for the West-Indies, which he plundered and let go; then coming to the Isle of May, one of the said islands, he took the whole salt fleet, consisting of about 20 sail. Wanting a boom, he took out the mainmast of one of these ships to supply the want. Here he took upon himself the administration of justice, inquiring into the manner of the commanders behaviour to their men, and those against whom complaint was made he whipped and pickled. He took what provision and other necessaries he wanted, and having augmented his company by volunteers and forced men, he left the ships and sailed to St. Jago, where he took a Dutch ship, which had formerly been a privateer. This proved also an easy prize, for he fired but one broadside, and clapping her on board, carried her without resistance, for the captain and several men were killed, and some wounded by his great shot.

The ship proving for his purpose, he gave her the name of the Flying Dragon, went on board with his crew, and made a present of his sloop to a mate of an English prize, whom he had forced with him. From hence he stood away for the coast of Brazil, and in his cruise took several Portuguese ships, which he plundered and let go.

After these, he fell in with the Wright galley, Capt. John Spelt, commander, hired by the South Sea company, to go to the coast of Angola for slaves, and thence to Buenos Ayres. This ship he detained a considerable time, and the captain being his townsman, treated him very civilly. A few days after he took Spelt, he made prize of a Portuguese, laden with bale goods and stores. He new rigged the Wright galley, and put on board of her some of the goods. Soon after he had discharged the Portuguese, he met with a Dutch Fast Indiaman of 28 guns, whose captain was killed the first broadside, and took her with little resistance, for he had hoisted the pirate’s colours on board Spelt’s ship.

He now, with three sail, steered for the island of Ferdinando, where he hove down and cleaned the Flying Dragon. Having careened, he put 11 Dutchmen on board Capt. Spelt, to make amends for the hands he had forced from him, and sent him away, making him a present of the goods he took from the Portuguese ship. When he sailed himself, he ordered the Dutch to stay at Ferdinando 24 hours after his departure; threatening, if he did not comply, to sink his ship, if he fell a second time into his hands, and to put all the company to the sword. He then stood for the coast of Brazil, where he met a Portuguese man of war of 70 guns, which he came up with. The Portuguese hailed him, and he answered, from London, bound to Buenos Ayres. The Portuguese manned his shrouds and cheered him, when Condent fired a broadside and a volley of small arms, which began a smart engagement for the space of three glasses; but Condent finding himself over-matched, made the best of his way, and being the best sailer, got off.

A few days after, he took a vessel of the same nation, who gave an account, that he had killed above 40 men in the guarda del Costa, beside a number wounded. He kept along the coast to the southward, and took a French ship of 18 guns, laden with wine and brandy, bound for the South Sea, which he carried with him into the River of Plate. He sent some of his men ashore to kill some wild cattle, but they were taken by the crew of a Spanish man of war. On their examination before the captain, they said they were two Guinea ships, with slaves belonging to the South Sea company, and on this story were allowed to return to their boats. Here five of his forced men ran away, with his canoe; he plundered the French ship, cut her adrift, and she was stranded. He proceeded along the Brazil coast, and hearing a pirate ship was lost upon it, and the pirates imprisoned, he used all the Portuguese who fell into his hands, who were many, very barbarously, cutting off their ears and noses; and as his master was a papist, when they took a priest, they made him say mass at the mainmast, and would afterwards get on his back and ride him about the decks, or else load and drive him like a beast. He from this went to the Guinea coast, and took Capt. Hill, in the Indian Queen.

In Luengo Bay he saw two ships at anchor, one a Dutchman of 44 guns, the other an English ship, called the Fame, Capt. Bowen, commander. They both cut and ran ashore; the Fame was lost, but the Dutch ship the pirate got off and took with him. When he was at sea again, he discharged Captain Hill, and stood away for the East-Indies. Near the Cape he took an Ostend East-Indiaman, of which Mr. Nash a noted merchant in London, was supercargo. Soon after he took a Dutch East-Indiaman, discharged the Ostender, and made for Madagascar. At the Isle of St. Mary, he met with some of Capt. Halsey’s crew, whom he took on board with other stragglers, and shaped his course for the East-Indies, and in the way, at the island of Johanna, took, in company with two other pirates he met at St. Mary’s, the Cassandra East-Indiaman, commanded by Capt. James Macraigh. He continued his course for the East-Indies, where he made a very great booty; and returning, touched at the isle of Mascarenhas, where he met with a Portuguese ship of 70 guns, with the viceroy of Goa on board. This ship he made prize of, and hearing she had money on board, they would allow of no ransom, but carried her to the coast of Zanguebar, where was a Dutch fortification, which they took and plundered, razed the fort, and carried off several men voluntarily. From hence they stood for St. Mary’s, where they shared their booty, broke up their company, and settled among the natives. Here a snow came from Bristol, which they obliged to carry a petition to the governor of Mascarenhas for a pardon, though they paid the master very generously. The governor returned answer he would take them into protection if they would destroy their ships, which they agreed to, and accordingly sunk the Flying Dragon &c. Condent and some others went to Mascarenhas, where Condent married the governor’s sister-in-law, and remained some time; but, as I have been credibly informed, he is since come to France, settled at St. Maloes, and drives a considerable trade as a merchant.

CAPTAIN BELLAMY.

As we cannot, with any certainty, deduce this man from his origin, we shall begin where we find him first a declared enemy to mankind. Capt. Bellamy and Paul Williams, in two sloops, had been upon a Spanish wreck, and not finding their expectation answered, they resolved not to lose their labour, and agreed to go upon the account, a term among the pirates, which speaks their profession. The first who had the misfortune to fall in their way, was Capt. Prince, bound from Jamaica to London, in a galley built at that port, whose cargo consisted of elephant’s teeth, gold dust, and other rich merchandise. This prize not only enriched but strengthened them. They immediately mounted this galley with 28 guns, and put on board 150 hands, of different nations; Bellamy was declared captain, and the vessel had her old name continued, which was Whidaw. This happened about the latter end of February, 1717. They, now thus fitted for continuing their desperate resolution, shaped their course for Virginia, which coast they very much infested, taking several vessels. They were upon shifting this station, when they were very near, as the psalmist expresses it, going quick down into hell; for the heavens beginning to lower, prognosticated a storm. At the first appearance of the sky being likely to be overcast, Bellamy took in all his small sails, and Williams doubled-reefed his mainsail, which was hardly done when a thunder shower overtook them with such violence, that the Whidaw was very near oversetting. They immediately put before the wind, for they had no other way of working, having only the goose wings of the fore-sail to scud with. Happy for them the wind was at W. by N. for had it been easterly, they must have infallibly perished upon the coast. The storm increased towards night, and not only put them by all sail, but obliged the Whidaw to bring her yards aportland, and all they could do with tackles to the goose neck of the tiller, four men in the gun-room, and two at the wheel, was to keep her head to the sea, for had she once broached to, they must infallibly have foundered. The heavens, in the mean while, were covered with sheets of lightning, which the sea, by the agitation of the saline particles, seemed to imitate. The darkness of the night was such, as the scripture says, as might be felt; the terrible hollow roaring of the winds, could be only equalled by the repeated, I may say, incessant claps of thunder, sufficient to strike a dread of the Supreme Being, who commands the sea and the winds, one would imagine in every heart; but among these wretches, the effect was different, for they endeavoured by their blasphemies, oaths, and horrid imprecations, to drown the uproar of jarring elements. Bellamy swore he was sorry he could not run out his guns to return the salute, meaning the thunder, that he fancied the gods had got drunk over their tipple, and were gone together by the ears. They continued scudding all that night under their bare poles: the next morning the mainmast being sprung in the step, they were forced to cut it away, and at the same time, the mizen came by the board. These misfortunes made the ship ring with blasphemy, which was increased, when, by trying the pumps, they found the ship made a great deal of water; though by continually plying them, they kept it from gaining. The sloop, as well as the ship, was left to the mercy of the winds, though the former, not having a tant mast, did not lose it. The wind shifting round the compass, made so outrageous and short a sea, that they had little hopes of safety; it broke upon the poop, drove in the taffarel, and washed the two men away from the wheel, who were saved in the netting. The wind after four days and three nights, abated its fury, and fixed in the N. N. E. point, hourly decreasing, and the weather clearing up they spoke to the sloop, and resolved for the coast of Carolina. They continued this course but a day and a night, when the wind coming about to the southward, they changed their resolution to that of going to Rhode Island. All this while the Whidaw’s leak continued, and it was as much as the lee pump could do to keep the water from gaining, though it was kept continually going. Jury-masts were set up, and the carpenter finding the leak to be in the bows, occasioned by the oakum working out of a seam, the crew became very jovial again. The sloop received no other damage than the loss of the mainsail, which the first flurry tore away from the boom. In their cruise off Rhode-Island, the beginning of April, they took a sloop commanded by Capt. Beer, belonging to Boston, in the lat. of South-Carolina, 40 leagues from land. They put the said captain on board the Whidaw, while they rifled and plundered his vessel, which Williams and Bellamy proposed returning to him, but the crews being averse to it, they sunk her, and put the captain ashore upon Block Island.

I cannot pass by in silence, Capt. Bellamy’s speech to Capt. Beer. I am sorry they won’t let you have your sloop again, for I scorn to do any one a mischief when it is not for my advantage; —— the sloop, we must sink her, and she might be of use to you. Though you are a sneaking puppy, and so are all those who will submit to be governed by laws which rich men have made for their own security, for the cowardly whelps have not the courage otherwise to defend what they get by their knavery; but —— ye altogether: —— them for a pack of crafty rascals, and you, who serve them, for a parcel of hen-hearted numskulls. They vilify us, the scoundrels do, when there is only this difference, they rob the poor under the cover of law, forsooth, and we plunder the rich under the protection of our own courage. Had you not better make one of us, than sneak after these villains for employment? Captain Beer told him, that his conscience would not allow him to break through the laws of God and man. You are a devilish conscience rascal, replied Bellamy; I am a free prince, and I have as much authority to make war on the whole world, as he who has a hundred sail of ships at sea, and an army of 100,000 men in the field; and this my conscience tells me: but there is no arguing with such snivelling puppies, who allow superiors to kick them about deck at pleasure.

The pirates, wanting neither provisions nor water, and the Whidaw’s damage being repaired, passed the time very jovially.

A fortnight after setting Capt. Beer ashore, Williams boarded and took a vessel off Cape Cod, laden with wine; the crew of which increased the number of their prisoners. They put seven men on board the prize, with orders to keep company with the ship and sloop, and left on board her the master.

As they had been long off the careen, they stood away to the northward, and made the best of their way to Penobscot river. When they were at the mouth of it, it was thought more eligible to careen in the river Mechisses. They entered it as agreed and run up about two miles and a half, where they came to an anchor with their prizes. The next morning all the prisoners were set ashore with drivers, and orders to assist in building huts; the guns were also set ashore, and a breast work raised, with embrasures for the cannon on each side of the river. This took up four days. A magazine was dug deep in the earth, and a roof raised over it by the poor slaves, the prisoners, whom they treated after the same manner as the negroes are used by the West-India planters. The powder being secured, and every thing out, they hove down the sloop, cleaned her, and when she had all in again, they careened the Whidaw by the largest prize.

They now thought of cruising again, and accordingly steered for Fortune’s Bay in Newfoundland. They made some prizes on the Banks, forced all the men, and sunk the vessels.

They had not been long on this coast before they were separated by a storm, which held some days. Off the island of St. Paul the Whidaw spied a sail, which she immediately gave chase to. The ship brought to and lay by for her, and proved a Frenchman of 36 guns, carrying soldiers to Quebec. The Whidaw engaged with great resolution, and the French did not show less, for he boarded the Whidaw and was twice put off, with the loss of men on both sides. Bellamy, after two hour’s engagement, thought the Frenchman too hard a match, and was for shaking him off; but his enemy was not as willing to part with him, for he gave chase, and as he sailed altogether as well as Bellamy, the latter had certainly been taken, and had received the due punishment of his crimes, had not the night coming on favoured his escape. He lost in this engagement 36 hands, besides several wounded.

The Whidaw returned to the coast of Newfoundland, and off Placentia Bay met with his consort and the prize. They resolved to visit again the coast of New-England, the Whidaw being much shattered in the late engagement, having received a great many shot in her hull. They ran down this coast, and between St. George’s Banks and Nantucket Shools, took the Mary Anne.

The master of the vessel, taken formerly off Cape Cod, was left on board her, and as he was very well acquainted with the coast, they ordered him to carry the light and go ahead; and the pirates commonly kept him at the helm. He upon a night of public rejoicing, seeing all the pirates drunk, laid hold of the opportunity, and run his vessel ashore about midnight, near the land of Eastham, out of which he alone escaped with life. The Whidaw, steering after the light, met with the same fate. The small vessel ran into a sandy bay, and the men got ashore without difficulty.

When the Whidaw struck, the pirates murdered all their prisoners, that is, all their forced men; as it is concluded, from the mangled carcasses which were washed ashore; but not a soul escaped out of her or Williams, who was also lost.

The pirates, to the number of seven, who escaped, were seized by the inhabitants, and on the information of the master who escaped, and on their own confession were imprisoned, condemned, and executed. They were all foreigners, very ignorant and obstinate; but by the indefatigable pains of a pious and learned divine, who constantly attended them; they were at length, by the special grace of God, made sensible of, and truly penitent, for the enormous crimes they had been guilty of.

CAPTAIN WILLIAM FLY.

As to the birth of this pirate, we can discover nothing by the inquiries we have hitherto made; and indeed had we succeeded in our search, it would have been of no great consequence; for it is certain by the behaviour of the man, he must have have been of very obscure parents; and by his education, (as he was no artist) very unfit in all respects, except that of cruelty, for the villaneous business he was in. We have been informed, that he had been in a pirate in a private capacity, and having escaped justice, had an opportunity of repenting his former crimes, and as a foremast man, or petty officer, of getting his bread in a warrantable way. But no—ignorant as he was of letters, he was ambitious of power, and capable of the most barbarous actions to acquire it.

Capt. Green, of Bristol, in April, 1726, shipped this Fly as boatswain, at Jamaica, being bound, in the Elizabeth snow, of Bristol, for the coast of Guinea. Fly, who had insinuated himself with some of the men, whom he found ripe for any villany, resolved to seize the said snow, and murder the captain and mate, and taking the command on himself, turn pirate. He proposed this design to his brothers in iniquity, who approving it, he, having the watch at one o’clock in the morning, on the 27th day of May, went up to one Morrice Cundon, then at the helm, accompanied by Alexander Mitchel, Henry Hill, Samuel Cole, Thomas Winthrop, and other conspirators, and swore if he spoke one word, or stirred either hand or foot, he would blow his brains out; and tucking up his shirt above the elbows with a cutlass in his hand, he, with Mitchel, went into the captain’s cabin, and told him he must turn out. The captain, asking what was the matter, was answered by Mitchel, they had no time to answer impertinent questions; that if he would turn out and go upon deck quietly, it would save them the trouble of scraping the cabin; if he would not, a few buckets of water and a scraper would take his blood out of the deck: that they had chosen Capt. Fly for commander, and would allow of no other, and would not waste their provisions to feed useless men.

The Captain replied, that since they had so resolved, he should make no resistance; but begged they would not murder him, since his living could be no obstacle to their designs; that he had never been harsh to either of them, and therefore they could not kill him out of revenge; and if it was only for their security, he desired, if they would not take his word to do nothing to obstruct the measures they had resolved on, they would secure him in irons, till he might be put somewhere on shore, Ah, says Fly, to live and hang us, if we are ever taken: no, no, walk up, that bite won’t take; it has hanged many an honest fellow already. Mitchel and Fly then laying hold of him, pulled him out of his bed. The poor captain entreating them to spare his life for his soul’s sake, told them he would bind himself down by the most solemn oaths, never to appear against them; that he was unfit to appear before the judgment seat of a just and pure God; that he was loaded with sins, and to take him off before he had washed those stains, which sullied his soul, by the tears of repentance, would be a cruelty beyond comparison greater than that of depriving him of life, were he prepared for death, since it would be, without any offence committed against them, dooming him to eternal misery. However, if they would not be persuaded that his life was consistent with their safety, he begged they would allow some time to prepare himself for the great change: that he begged no other mercy than what the justice and compassion of the laws would allow them, should they hereafter be taken. —— your blood, said Mitchel, no preaching. Be —— a’ you will, what’s that to us? Let him look out who has the watch. Upon deck you dog, for we shall lose no more time about you.

They hauled him into the steerage, and forced him upon deck, where one of the hell-hounds asked if he had rather take a leap like a brave fellow, or be tossed over like a sneaking rascal? The captain addressing himself to Fly, said, Boatswain, for God’s sake don’t throw me overboard; if you do I am for ever lost; Hell’s the portion of my crimes. —— him, answered Fly, since he’s so Godly, we’ll give him time to say his prayers, and I’ll be parson. Say after me. Lord have mercy on me. Short prayers are best, so no more words and over with him, my lads. The captain still cried for mercy, and begged an hour’s respite only, but all in vain; he was seized by the villains and thrown overboard. He caught, however, and hung by the main sheet, which Winthrop seeing, fetched the cooper’s broad axe, and chopping off the unhappy master’s hand, he was swallowed up by the sea.

The captain being thus dispatched, Thomas Jenkins, the mate, was secured and brought upon deck, to share the same cruel fate. His entreaties were as useless as the captain’s; the sentence they had passed upon him was not to be reversed; they were deaf to his prayers and remonstrances, strangers to humanity and compassion. He was of the captain’s mess, they said, and they should e’en drink together; it was a pity to part good company.

Thus they jested with his agonies. He, however, made some struggle, which irritating his murderers, one of them snatched up the axe, with which Winthrop had lopped off the captain’s hand, and gave him a great cut on the shoulder, by missing his head, where the blow was aimed, and he was thrown into the sea. He swam notwithstanding, and called out to the doctor to throw him a rope, who, poor man, could not hear him, being secured, and laid in irons in his own cabin; and had he heard, and been able to have thrown the rope required, could it be expected that these hardened wretches would have relented, and shown him mercy? But the sinking man will catch at a straw, and hope, they say, is the last that deserts us. While we have life we are apt to flatter ourselves some lucky accident may favour us.

It was next debated what should be done with the doctor. Some were for sending him to look after the captain and mate; but the majority, as he was a useful man, thought it better to keep him. All obstacles being removed, Mitchel saluted Fly captain, and with the rest of the crew who had been in the conspiracy, with some ceremony, gave him possession of the great cabin.

Here a bowl of punch being made, Morrice Cundon was called down, and one John Fitzherbert, set to the helm in his place. At the same time the carpenter and Thomas Streaton were brought before the captain, who told them they were three rascals, and richly deserved to be sent after the captain and mate, but that they were willing to show them mercy, and not put them to death in cold blood and he would therefore only put them in irons, for the security of the ship’s crew. They were accordingly ordered out, and ironed. Fly then told his comrades it was convenient to resolve on some course, when word was brought them, that a ship was very near them. The council broke up, and made a clear ship, when in a very little while after, they found it was the Pompey, which had left Jamaica in company with the snow. The Pompey, standing for the snow which did not make from her, soon hailed and asked how Capt. Green did, and was answered by Fly, that he was very well. They did not think fit to attack this ship, but returned to hold their consultation; it was resolved to steer for North-Carolina.

Upon their arrival on that coast they spied a sloop at anchor within the bar. She was called the John and Hannah, and commanded by Capt. Fulker who thinking the snow might want a pilot, stepped into his boat with his mate, Mr. Atkinson, and Mr. Roan, two passengers, and a young lad, in order to bring her in. When they came on board, they were told, that the snow was from Jamaica, with a cargo. Capt. Fulker and Mr. Roan were desired to walk down to the captain, who was in the cabin. Fly received them very civilly, ordered a bowl of punch, and hearing Capt. Fulker had brought another passenger on board Mr. Atkinson was also invited down.

The punch being brought in, Capt. Fly told his guest, that he was no man to mince matters; that he and his comrades were gentlemen of fortune, and should make bold to try if Capt. Fulker’s sloop was a better sailer than the snow. If she was, she would prove much fitter for their business, and they must have her. The snow came to an anchor about a league off the sloop, and Fly ordered Fulker, with six of his own hands, into the boat to bring her along side of the snow; but the wind proving contrary, their endeavours proved also vain, and they returned again in the boat, bringing Capt. Fulker back with them. As soon as they got on board the snow, Fly fell into a violent passion, cursing and abusing Fulker for not bringing off the sloop. He gave him his reason, and said it was impossible. You lie you dog, replied the pirate, but your hide shall pay for your roguery, and if I can’t bring her off, I’ll burn her where she lies. He then ordered Capt. Fulker to the geers; no reason, no arguments could prevail; he was stripped and lashed after a very inhuman manner; and the boat’s crew being sent again, with much ado carried her off as far as the bar, where she bilged and sunk. The pirates then endeavoured to set what remained of her out of water on fire, but they could not burn her.

The snow getting under sail to look-out for some booty, Fulker and the others desired they might be set at liberty, but it was denied them for the present, though not without a promise that they should be released the first vessel they took. On the 5th of June they left Carolina, and the next day spied a sail, which proved the John and Betty, commanded by Capt. Gale, bound from Barbadoes to Guinea. Fly gave chase, but finding the ship wronged him, he made a signal of distress, hoisting his jack at the main-top-mast head; but this decoy did not hinder the ship making the best of her way. Fly continued the chase all night, and the wind slackening, he came within shot of the ship, and fired several guns at her under his black ensign. The ship being of no force, and the pirates ready to board, the captain struck; and Fly, manning his long-boat, the crew being well armed with pistols and cutlasses, went on board the prize, and sent Capt. Gale, after having secured his men, prisoner on board the snow. This prize was of little value to the pirates, who took nothing but some sail-cloth and small arms, and after two days let her go, but took away six of his men, setting on board Capt. Fulker, a passenger, and Capt. Green’s surgeon. They kept Mr. Atkinson, knowing he was a good artist, and lately master of the Boneta brigantine, as a pilot for the coast of New-England, which they were satisfied he was well acquainted with.

Upon Mr. Atkinson’s desiring to have his liberty with the others, Capt. Fly refused it with the most horrid oaths and imprecations, and insisted upon it that he should act as their pilot; assuring him at the same time, if he piloted them wrong, his life should be the forfeit.

Mr. Atkinson answered, it was very hard he should be forced to take upon himself the pilotage, when he did not pretend to know the coast, and that his life should answer for any mistake his ignorance of it might make him guilty of, and therefore begged he might be set on board Capt. Gale; and that they would trust their own knowledge, since he did not doubt there being better artist on board. No no, replied Fly, that won’t do—your palavering won’t save your bacon; so either discharge your trust like an honest man, (for go you shan’t) or I’ll send you with my service to the d—l: so no more words about the matter.

There was no reply made, and they stood for the coast of New-England. Off Delaware Bay they made a sloop, commanded by one Harris, bound from New-York to Pennsylvania. She had on board about fifty passengers. Fly gave chase, and coming up with her, hoisted his black ensign, and ordered her to strike, which she immediately did; and Fly sent Capt. Atkinson on board, to sail her, though he would not allow him (Atkinson) any arms. The pirates ransacked this prize, but not finding her of any use to them, after a detention of 24 hours, they let her go, with her men, excepting only a well made young fellow, whose name was James Benbrooke, whom they kept.

Fly, after having released the prize, ordered Capt. Atkinson to carry the snow into Martha’s Vineyard, but he wilfully missed this place. Fly, finding himself beyond Nantucket, and that his design was balked, called to Atkinson, and told him he was a rascally scoundrel and that it was a piece of cruelty to let such a villain live, who designed the death of so many honest fellows. Atkinson, in his defence, said, he never pretended to know the coast, and that it was very hard he should die for being thought an abler man than he really was. Had he pretended to be their pilot, and did not know his business, he deserved punishment; but when he was forced upon a business which he before declared he did not understand, it would be certainly cruel to make him suffer for their mistake. You are an obstinate villain, replied Fly, and your design is to hang us; but blood and wounds, you dog, you shan’t live to see it—and saying this, he ran into his cabin and brought a pistol, with design to shoot Atkinson; but by the interposition of Mitchel, who thought him innocent of any design, he escaped.

Atkinson, who perceived his life every minute in danger, began to ingratiate himself with the pirates and gave them hopes, that with good and gentle usage, he might be brought to join them. This he did not say in express terms, but by words he now and then let drop, as by accident. They were not a little rejoiced at the idea of having so good an artist to join them; nay some of them hinted to him, that if he would take upon him the command, they were ready to dispossess Capt. Fly, who carried his command too high, and was known to all the crew to be no artist, and to understand nothing beyond the business of a boatswain. Atkinson thought it his interest to keep them in the opinion that he would join; but always declined hearing any thing as to the command.

This made him less severely used, and protected him from the insults of Fly, who imagined he would betray them the first opportunity, therefore, more than once proposed his being thrown overboard, which was never approved by the snow’s company.

From Nantucket they stood to the eastward, and off Brown’s Bank made a fishing schooner. Fly, coming up with her, fired a gun, and hoisting his black ensign, swore, if they did not instantly bring to, and send their boat on board, he would sink her. The schooner obeyed, and sent away her boat on board the snow. He examined the captain as to what vessels were to be met with, and promised, if he could put him in the way of meeting with a good sailer, to let him go, and give him his vessel, or he should otherwise keep her. The poor man told him he had a companion which would soon be in sight, and was a much better vessel. Accordingly about 12 at noon, the same day, which was the 23d of June, the other schooner hove in sight; upon which Fly manned this prize with six pirates and a prisoner named George Tasker, and sent her in chase, having himself on board the snow, no more than three pirates, Capt. Atkinson, (who had worked himself into some favour with him) and fifteen forced men; but he took care to have his arms upon deck by him.

The men who had not taken on with Fly, were Atkinson, Capt. Fulker’s mate, and two youths belonging to him; the carpenter and gunner belonging to Capt. Green; six of Capt. Gale’s men, and the aforesaid Benbrooke, who belonged to Capt. Harris, with three of the men out of the schooner. Atkinson, seeing the prisoners and forced men were five to one of the pirates, thought of delivering himself from the bondage he was in: and as by good luck several other fishing vessels hove in sight, right ahead of the snow, he called to Capt. Fly, and told him he spied several other vessels ahead, desiring he would come forward and bring his glass. Fly did so, and leaving his arms on the quarter deck, set on the windlass to see if he could make out what they were. Atkinson, who had concerted his measures with one Walker and the above mentioned Benbrooke, secured the arms on the quarter deck, and gave them a signal to seize Fly; which they did, with very little trouble, and afterwards made themselves masters of the other three pirates and the snow, the rest of the prisoners, not knowing any thing of, or what the design might be, remaining altogether inactive, and brought the snow and pirates to Great Brewster, where a guard was put on board, June 28, 1726.

Soon after, the said pirates were brought to their trial, that is, on the 4th of July following, before the Honourable William Dummer, Esq., Lieutenant Governor and commander in chief of the province of Massachusetts Bay, President of the Special Court of Admiralty, at the court-house of Boston, assisted by 18 gentlemen of the council; before whom they were found guilty of murder and piracy condemned to be executed, and accordingly were executed the 12th of July. Fly was ordered to be hanged in chains at the entrance of the harbour of Boston. Thus ended the short reign of an obdurate wretch, who only wanted skill and power to be as infamous as any who scoured the seas. The names of the three pirates, executed with him, were, Samuel Cole, George Condick, and Henry Greenvil.

CAPTAIN THOMAS HOWARD.

We have said, in another life, viz. White’s that he was a lighterman on the river Thames. His father was of that business, and had the character of a very honest man. After his father’s decease, he grew very extravagant, and squandered away not only what he had left his son, but what he had allotted for his widow, whose indulgence, putting every thing into her son’s hands, was followed by being herself turned out of doors, for he sold the house over her head. After having ruined himself and mother, his friends fearing the wickedness of his inclination would bring scandal upon them, persuaded him to go to sea, and procured him a voyage to Jamaica, on board a merchant ship. At this island he ran away from his ship, and associating himself with some desperate fellows, they stole a canoe, and went away to the Grand Camanas, to join some others of their own stamp, who lurked thereabouts, with design to go on the account, the term for pirating. They met those they looked for, made up a company of 20 men, surprised and made themselves masters of a turtling sloop, and set out in search of booty.

The first prizes they made were only turtlers, which, however, increased the number of their crew, some being willing to join them, others being forced, with threats of being set on shore, on some desolate key. After some time cruising, they met with an Irish brigantine, which had provisions and servants on board. They made an exchange with the master, gave him provision to carry him to Jamaica, and allowed five hands to go with him. The rest (except the servants, who readily took on with the pirates) were all forced. Not long after, they surprised a sloop which had been trading on the Spanish coast. As she had 6 guns, and was a fit vessel for their turn, they changed her against the brigantine. Several hands belonging to this sloop entered volunteers, and several more were obliged to join them by compulsion. After this capture, they steered for the coast of Virginia, and in their way, met with a large New-England brigantine, laden with provisions bound for Barbadoes. This they made prize of, and shifting their own guns on board her, sent the master away with the sloop, after forcing some of his men with them. They had now a vessel of ten guns, and a crew of 80 men, of whom one James was captain, and Howard quarter-master.

THEHISTORYOF THELIVES AND BLOODY EXPLOITSOF THEMOST NOTEDPIRATES;THEIRTrials and Executions.INCLUDING A CORRECT ACCOUNT OF THELATE PIRACIESCOMMITTED IN THE WEST-INDIES, AND THE EXPEDITION OF COMMODORE PORTER; ALSO, THOSE COMMITTED ON THE BRIG MEXICAN, WHO WERE TRIED AND EXECUTED AT BOSTON, IN 1835.

CONTENTS

THEHISTORYOFTHE PIRATES.