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On September 23rd, 1779, he fought his famous action off Scarborough against a British convoy from the Baltic under the command of Captain Pearson, in the Serapis, and Captain Piercy in the Countess of Scarborough. Jones had left the Ranger for a frigate called the Bonne Homme Richard of forty guns and a crew of three hundred and seventy men, and had also under his command four other ships of war. A furious engagement took place, the utmost bravery being shown on either side; the English ships at last being compelled to surrender, but not until the enemy had themselves suffered fearful damage to both their crews and ships. After the conclusion of peace, Paul Jones, once the darling of two continents, faded into obscurity and even poverty, and died in Paris in the year 1792 at the age of 64.
JONES. SEAMAN.
A mariner. "A brisk young fellow" who served with Captain Bartholomew Roberts's crew. On one occasion Captain Roberts had reason to think that one of his men had spoken disrespectfully to him, so, as a warning to the rest, he killed him. The dead man's greatest friend was Jones, who, hearing what had happened, had a fierce fight with Roberts. This severe breach of discipline was punished by Jones receiving two lashes on the back from every man on board. Jones after this sailed with Captain Anstis in the Good Fortune.
JONES, THOMAS.
Found to be "not guilty" at a trial for piracy at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1723. One of Captain Charles Harris's crew. Age 17.
JONES, WILLIAM.
Tried for piracy at Boston, 1704.
JONES, WILLIAM.
Of London.
Age 28. Hanged at Rhode Island, 1723.
JONNIA, CAPTAIN.
A Spaniard.
Commanded in 1821 a fast schooner, carrying a crew of forty men, armed with muskets, cutlasses, blunderbusses, long knives, dirks, two carronades—one a twelve, the other a six-pounder. They had aboard with them three Mexican negresses. The pirates took and plundered the Boston schooner Exertion, on December 17th, 1821, the crew being considerably drunk at the time. The plunder they took to Principe in the Island of Cuba. The pirates took everything from their prisoners, even their clothes, but as a parting gift sent the captain a copy of the "Family Prayer Book" by the Rev. Mr. Brooks. The prisoners were marooned on a small mangrove quay, but they eventually escaped. Jonnia and some of his crew were afterwards captured by an English ship and taken to Kingston, Jamaica, and there hanged.
JOSE, MIGUEL.
Hanged at Kingston, Jamaica, in February, 1823. This old man's last words on the scaffold were: "No he robado, no he matado ningune, muero innocente."
JUDSON, RANDALL.
One of Captain Roderigo's crew. Tried for piracy at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in June, 1675, and sentenced to be hanged; "presently after the lecture," which was delivered by the Rev. Increase Mather. Afterwards pardoned, but fined and banished from the colony.
KELLWANTON.
A notorious pirate in the sixteenth century. Was captured in the Isle of Man in 1531.
KENNEDY, CAPTAIN.
Began life as a pickpocket and housebreaker in London. He was Captain Roberts's lieutenant, and was afterwards given command of a prize, the Rover.
Kennedy could never, even when a captain, forget his old trade. It is recorded that he stole a black suit of clothes from the captain of the Bird at Sierra Leone in 1718. These he put on with the captain's best wig and sword. He then swaggered about on board in these till his fellow-pirates drenched him with buckets of claret, so that he had to disrobe and throw the garments overboard.
Owing to a quarrel with Captain Roberts, Kennedy went off in his ship, the Rover, and sailed to Barbadoes. His first prize, a Boston ship, was a distinct novelty, being commanded by one Captain Knot, a Quaker, who lived up to the principles of his sect by allowing no pistol, sword, or cutlass, or other weapon aboard his vessel. The crew, finding Kennedy had no knowledge whatever of navigation, threatened to throw him overboard, but because he was a man of great personal courage they did not in the end carry out their threat. The crew next decided to give over piracy and to set sail for Ireland. This island they altogether missed through bad navigation, and they ran the ship ashore on the north of Scotland. The crew landed and passed themselves off as shipwrecked mariners, but owing to their drinking and rioting in each village they came to, the whole countryside was soon roused. Kennedy slipped away and reached Ireland. Having soon spent all his ill-gotten gains in Dublin, he came to Deptford and set up a house of ill-fame, adding occasionally to his income from this source by a little highwaymanry. One of the ladies of his house at Deptford, to be revenged for some slight or other, gave information to the watch, and Kennedy was imprisoned at Marshalsea and afterwards tried for robbery and piracy. Kennedy turned King's evidence against some of his old associates, but this did not save his neck, for he was condemned and hanged at Execution Dock.
KHEYR-ED-DIN. Corsair.
Brother of the famous Barbarossa. When the latter was defeated and killed by the Spaniards, Kheyr-ed-din sent an ambassador to Constantinople, begging for help to protect Algiers. He was appointed Governor of Algiers by the Sultan of Turkey in 1519. Now greatly increased both in ships and power, he scoured the whole Mediterranean for Italian and Spanish prizes. He raided the Spanish coast and carried off slaves from the Balearic Islands. He next took and destroyed the fortress of Algiers, and employed 7,000 Christian slaves to build a new one and also a great mole to protect the harbour. Invited by Solyman the Magnificent to help him against the Christian Admiral Andria Doria, in August, 1533, he sailed from Algiers with his fleet, being joined on the way by another noted corsair, Delizuff.
A year afterwards, at the age of 73, Kheyr-ed-din set out from Constantinople with a vast fleet, sacking towns and burning all Christian ships that were so unfortunate as to fall in his way. He returned to the Bosphorus with huge spoil and 11,000 prisoners. He sacked Sardinia, then sailed to Tunis, which he vanquished.
Charles V. of Spain now began to collect a large fleet and an army of 25,000 men and sailed to Tunis. A fierce fight followed; the Christians broke into the town, massacred the inhabitants and rescued some 20,000 Christian slaves. Kheyr-ed-din escaped with a few followers, but soon was in command of a fleet of pirate galleys once more. A terrific but undecisive naval battle took place off Prevesa between the Mohammedans and the Christians, the fleet of the latter being under the command of Andrea Doria; and Kheyr-ed-din died shortly afterwards at Constantinople at a great age.
KIDD, CAPTAIN WILLIAM, sometimes ROBERT KIDD or KID.
In the whole history of piracy there is no name that has so taken the world's fancy than has that of William Kidd. And yet, if he be judged by his actions as a pirate, he must be placed amongst the second- or even third-rate masters of that craft. He took but two or three ships, and these have been, after two hundred years, proved to be lawful prizes taken in his legal capacity as a privateer.
Kidd was born at Greenock in Scotland about the year 1655, and was the son of the Rev. John Kidd. Of his early life little record is left, but we know that in August, 1689, he arrived at St. Nevis in the West Indies, in command of a privateer of sixteen guns. In 1691, while Kidd was on shore, his crew ran away with his ship, which was not surprising, as most of his crew were old pirates. But that Kidd was an efficient seaman and a capable captain is shown by the number of times he was given the command of different privateer vessels, both by the Government of New York and by privateer owners.
In 1695 Kidd was in London, and on October 10th signed the articles which were to prove so fatal for him. In January, 1696, King William III. issued to his "beloved friend William Kidd" a commission to apprehend certain pirates, particularly Thomas Tew, of Rhode Island, Thomas Wake, and William Maze, of New York, John Ireland, and "all other Pirates, Free-booters, and Sea Rovers of what Nature soever."
This privateer enterprise was financed chiefly by Lord Bellomont, but the other adventurers (on shore and in safety) were the Lord Chancellor; the Earl of Orford, the First Lord of the Admiralty; the Earl of Romney and the Duke of Shrewsbury, Secretaries of State; Robert Livingston, Esq., of New York; and lastly, Captain Kidd himself.
The ship the Adventure galley was bought and fitted up, and Kidd sailed away in her to suppress piracy, particularly on the coast of America. Nothing was heard of him till August, 1698, when ugly rumours began to get about of piracies committed by Kidd in the Indian Ocean. In December of the same year a general pardon was offered to all pirates who should surrender themselves, with two exceptions—namely, Captain Avery and Captain Kidd. In May, 1699, Kidd suddenly appeared in a small vessel at New York, with rich booty. His chief patron, Lord Bellomont, was now Governor, and was placed in the most awkward position of having to carry out his orders and arrest Kidd for piracy and send him in chains to England in H.M.S. Advice, which ship had been sent specially to New York to carry back Kidd, Bradish, and other pirates to England.
The trial of Kidd proved a scandal, for someone had to suffer as scapegoat for the aristocratic company privateers, and the lot fell to the luckless Kidd. Kidd was charged with piracy and with murder. The first charge of seizing two ships of the Great Mogul could have been met by the production of two documents which Kidd had taken out of these ships, and which, he claimed, proved that the ships were sailing under commissions issued by the French East India Company, and made them perfectly lawful prizes. These commissions Kidd had most foolishly handed over to Lord Bellomont, and they could not be produced at the trial, although they had been exhibited before the House of Commons a little while previously.
It is an extraordinary and tragic fact that these two documents, so vital to Kidd, were discovered only lately in the Public Records Office—too late, by some 200 years, to save an innocent man's life.
As it happened, the charge of which Kidd was hanged for was murder, and ran thus: "Being moved and seduced by the instigations of the Devil he did make an assault in and upon William Moore upon the high seas with a certain wooden bucket, bound with iron hoops, of the value of eight pence, giving the said William Moore one mortal bruise of which the aforesaid William Moore did languish and die." This aforesaid William Moore was gunner in the Adventure galley, and was mutinous, and Kidd, as captain, was perfectly justified in knocking him down and even of killing him; but as the court meant Kidd to "swing," this was quite good enough for finding him guilty. The unfortunate prisoner was executed at Wapping on May 23rd, 1701, and his body afterwards hanged in chains at Tilbury.
A popular ballad was sung to commemorate the life and death of Kidd, who, for some reason, was always called Robert Kidd by the populace. It consists of no less than twenty-four verses, and we here give fifteen of them:
THE BALLAD OF CAPTAIN KIDD
My name was Robert Kidd, when I sailed, when I sailed, My name was Robert Kidd, when I sailed, My name was Robert Kidd, God's laws I did forbid, And so wickedly I did, when I sailed.
My parents taught me well, when I sailed, when I sailed, My parents taught me well, when I sailed, My parents taught me well, To shun the gates of hell, But 'gainst them I rebelled, when I sailed.
I'd a Bible in my hand, when I sailed, when I sailed, I'd a Bible in my hand, when I sailed, I'd a Bible in my hand, By my father's great command, And sunk it in the sand, when I sailed.
I murdered William Moore, as I sailed, as I sailed, I murdered William Moore, as I sailed, I murdered William Moore, And laid him in his gore, Not many leagues from shore, as I sailed.
I was sick and nigh to death, when I sailed, when I sailed, I was sick and nigh to death, when I sailed, I was sick and nigh to death, And I vowed at every breath, To walk in wisdom's ways, as I sailed.
I thought I was undone, as I sailed, as I sailed, I thought I was undone, as I sailed, I thought I was undone, And my wicked glass had run, But health did soon return, as I sailed.
My repentance lasted not, as I sailed, as I sailed, My repentance lasted not, as I sailed, My repentance lasted not, My vows I soon forgot, Damnation was my lot, as I sailed.
I spyed the ships from France, as I sailed, as I sailed, I spyed the ships of France, as I sailed, I spyed the ships from France, To them I did advance, And took them all by chance, as I sailed.
I spyed the ships of Spain, as I sailed, as I sailed, I spyed the ships of Spain, as I sailed, I spyed the ships of Spain, I fired on them amain, 'Till most of them was slain, as I sailed.
I'd ninety bars of gold, as I sailed, as I sailed, I'd ninety bars of gold, as I sailed, I'd ninety bars of gold, And dollars manifold, With riches uncontrolled, as I sailed.
Thus being o'er-taken at last, I must die, I must die, Thus being o'er-taken at last, I must die, Thus being o'er-taken at last, And into prison cast, And sentence being passed, I must die.
Farewell, the raging main, I must die, I must die, Farewell, the raging main, I must die, Farewell, the raging main, To Turkey, France and Spain, I shall n'er see you again, I must die.
To Execution Dock I must go, I must go, To Execution Dock I must go, To Execution Dock, Will many thousands flock, But I must bear the shock, and must die.
Come all ye young and old, see me die, see me die, Come all ye young and old, see me die, Come all ye young and old, You're welcome to my gold, For by it I've lost my soul, and must die.
Take warning now by me, for I must die, for I must die, Take warning now by me, for I must die, Take warning now by me, And shun bad company, Lest you come to hell with me, for I die.
KILLING, JAMES.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew, who gave evidence against him at his trial at Charleston in 1718.
KING, CHARLES.
Attempted to escape in the Larimore galley, but was captured and brought into Salem. Tried at Boston with the rest of Quelch's crew in June, 1704.
KING, FRANCIS.
One of Captain Quelch's crew captured in the Larimore galley by Major Sewall, and brought into Salem Harbour on June 11th, 1704. Tried at Boston and condemned to be hanged. Was reprieved while standing on the gallows.
KING, JOHN.
One of Captain Quelch's crew taken out of the Larimore galley. Tried at Boston in June, 1704.
KING, MATTHEW.
Of Jamaica.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew. Was hanged at Charleston, South Carolina, on November 8th, 1718, and buried in the marsh below low-water mark.
KNEEVES, PETER.
Of Exeter in Devon.
Sailed with Captain Charles Harris, and was tried for piracy with the rest of his crew at Rhode Island in 1723. Hanged at Newport at the age of 32.
KNIGHT, CAPTAIN W. Buccaneer.
In 1686 Knight was cruising off the coast of Peru and Chile with Swan, Townley, and Davis. At the end of that year, having got a fair quantity of plunder, he sailed round the Horn to the West Indies.
KNIGHT, CHRISTOPHER.
One of Captain Coward's crew. Tried for piracy at Boston in January, 1690, and found guilty, but afterwards reprieved.
KNOT, CAPTAIN.
An old Massachusetts pirate who retired from the sea and was settled in Boston in 1699. His wife gave information to the Governor, the Earl of Bellomont, of the whereabouts of a pirate called Gillam, who was "wanted."
KOXINGA. His real name was Kuo-hsing Yeh, Koxinga being the Portuguese version.
The son of a Chinese pirate, Cheng Chih-lung, by a Japanese mother, he was born in 1623.
From early youth Koxinga was inspired with a hatred of the Manchus, who had imprisoned his father.
The young pirate soon became so successful in his raids along the coast of China that the Emperor resorted to the extraordinary expedient of ordering the inhabitants of more than eighty seaboard towns to migrate ten miles inland, after destroying their homes.
There can be no doubt that Koxinga was a thorough-going cut-throat pirate, worked solely for his own ambitious ends and to satisfy his revengeful feelings, but the fact that he fought against the alien conquerors, the Dutch in Formosa, and defeated them, caused him to be regarded as a hero pirate.
His father was executed at Peking, which only increased his bitterness against the reigning house. Koxinga made himself what was, to all intents and purposes, the ruler of Formosa, and the island became, through him, part of the Chinese Empire.
After his death, which took place in 1662, he received official canonization.
The direct descendant of Koxinga, the pirate, is one of the very few hereditary nobles in China.
LACY, ABRAHAM.
Of Devonshire.
Hanged at the age of 21 at Rhode Island in 1723.
DU LAERQUERAC, CAPTAIN JOHN.
This Breton pirate was captured in 1537 by a Bristol seaman called John Wynter. Du Laerquerac, with other pirates from Brittany, had been holding up ships on their way to the great fair of St. James at Bristol. On being arrested, he denied that he had "spoiled" any English ships, but on being further pressed to confess, admitted that he had taken a few odds and ends, such as ropes, sailors' clothes, some wine, fish, a gold crown in money and eleven silver halfpence, as well as four daggers and a "couverture."
LAFITTE, CAPTAIN JEAN.
Jean and his brother first appeared in New Orleans in the year 1809. Though blacksmiths by profession, they soon took to smuggling goods brought by privateersmen and pirates. The headquarters of this trade was on the Island of Grande Terre in Barataria Bay. This island was inhabited and governed by ex-pirates; one Grambo being the acknowledged chief, until he was shot by Jean Lafitte.
In 1813, the Baratarians were denounced by the Governor of Louisiana as pirates. This made no difference to the pirate smugglers, who grew more and more rich and insolent. The Governor then secured an indictment against Jean and his brother, Pierre, who retained the very best and most expensive lawyers in the State to defend them, and they were acquitted. In 1814, war was declared with England, and Jean was invited by the English to fight on their side, with the offer of a commission in the navy and a large sum of money. He refused this, and eventually General Jackson accepted his offer of the services of himself and his Baratarians, who proved invaluable in the Battle of Orleans, serving the guns. He disappeared completely after the war until 1823, when a British sloop of war captured a pirate ship with a crew of sixty men under the command of the famous Lafitte, who was amongst those who fell fighting.
LAGARDE, LE CAPITAINE.
A French filibuster of San Domingo, who in 1684 commanded a small ship, La Subtille (crew of thirty men and two guns).
LAMBERT, JOHN.
One of Captain John Quelch's crew. Hanged on Charles River, Boston Side, on Friday, June 30th, 1704. In a broadside published at Boston in July of the same year, Lambert's conduct on the gallows is described thus: "He appeared much hardened and pleaded much on his Innocency. He desired all men to beware of Bad Company and seemed to be in great Agony near his Execution."
LANDER, DANIEL.
One of Captain Pound's crew.
LANDRESSON, CAPTAIN MICHEL, alias BREHA.
Filibuster.
Accompanied Pain in his expedition against St. Augustine in 1683. He was a constant source of annoyance to the Jamaicans. His ship was called La Trompeuse, but must not be confused with the famous ship of that name belonging to Hamlin. Landresson, when he had got a good booty of gold, jewels, cocoa, etc., would go to Boston to dispose of it to the godly merchants of New England. In 1684 a Royal proclamation was published in Massachusetts, warning all Governors that no succour or aid was to be given to any of the outlaws, but, in spite of this, Landresson was received with open arms and the proclamations in the streets torn down.
In 1684 he was at San Domingo, in command of La Fortune (crew of 100 men and fourteen guns). At this time the filibuster was disguised under the alias of Le Capitaine Breha.
Captured in 1686 by the Armada de Barlorento, and hanged with several of his companions.
LANE, CAPTAIN.
In 1720 Lane was one of Captain England's crew when he took the Mercury off the coast of West Africa. The Mercury was fitted up as a pirate ship, named the Queen Ann's Revenge, and Lane was voted captain of her. Lane left Captain England and sailed to Brazil, where he took several Portuguese ships and did a great deal of mischief.
LARIMORE, CAPTAIN THOMAS, or LARRAMORE.
Commanded the Larimore galley. In 1704 was with the pirate Quelch and several other pirates, and, among other prizes, seized a Portuguese ship, the Portugal, from which they took gold dust, bar and coined gold, and other treasure, and at the same time "acted divers villainous Murders." For these Larimore was tried, condemned and hanged at Boston, June 11th, 1704.
LAWRENCE, NICHOLAS.
Tried for piracy with the rest of Quelch's crew at Boston in 1704.
LAWRENCE, RICHARD.
One of Captain John Quelch's crew. Tried for piracy at Boston in 1704.
LAWSON, EDWARD.
Born in the Isle of Man.
One of Captain Harris's crew. Hanged at Newport, Rhode Island, in July, 1723, at the age of 20.
L'ESCAYER. A French filibuster.
In 1685, in company with Grogniet, Davis, and Swan, sacked Paita and Guayaquil and blockaded Panama. Afterwards sailed with Townley and his English pirates and again plundered Guayaquil. Suffered a severe defeat at the hands of the Spaniards at Quibo, afterwards being rescued by Townley, with whom he and his crew of buccaneers sacked Granada in Nicaragua.
LESSONE, CAPTAIN. French filibuster.
In 1680 he joined Sharp, Coxon, and other English buccaneers in an attack on Porto Bello. Putting 300 men into canoes, they landed some sixty miles from the city and marched for four days, arriving in a weak state through hardship and lack of food, but in spite of this they took the city on February 17th, 1680.
LEVERCOTT, SAM.
Hanged in 1722 at the Island of St. Kitts, with the rest of Captain Lowther's crew.
LEVIT, JOHN.
Of North Carolina.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew. Hanged at White Point, Charleston, South Carolina, on November 8th, 1723.
LEWIS, JAMES.
After being a prisoner in France, he managed to reach Spain, and was with Avery when he seized the ship Charles the Second. Tried for piracy at the Old Bailey in 1696 and hanged.
LEWIS, NICHOLAS.
One of Captain George Lowther's crew. Hanged at St. Kitts on March 11th, 1722.
LEWIS, WILLIAM.
The greatest triumph and most important exploit of this pirate was the attacking, and eventually taking, of a powerful French ship of twenty-four guns.
Lewis enjoyed a longer career than most of the brethren, and by 1717 he was already one of the leading piratical lights of Nassau, and his end did not come till ten years later. In 1726, he spent several months on the coast of South Carolina and Virginia, trading with the inhabitants the spoils he had taken from vessels in the Atlantic. He learnt his trade under the daring pirate Bannister, who was brought into Port Royal, hanging dead from his own yard-arm. On this occasion, Lewis and another boy were triced up to the corvette's mizzen-peak like "two living flags."
Lewis, amongst other accomplishments, was a born linguist, and could speak with fluency in several languages, even the dialect of the Mosquito Indians. He was once captured by the Spaniards, and taken to Havana, but escaped with a few other prisoners in a canoe, seized a piragua, and with this captured a sloop employed in the turtle trade, and by gradually taking larger and larger prizes, Lewis soon found himself master of a fine ship and a crew of more than fifty men. He renamed her the Morning Star, and made her his flagship.
On one occasion when chasing a vessel off the Carolina coast, his fore and main topmasts were carried away. Lewis, in a frenzy of excitement, clambered up the main top, tore out a handful of his hair, which he tossed into the wind, crying: "Good devil, take this till I come." The ship, in spite of her damaged rigging, gained on the other ship, which they took. Lewis's sailors, superstitious at the best of times, considered this intimacy of their captain with Satan a little too much, and soon afterwards one of the Frenchmen aboard murdered Lewis in his sleep.
LEYTON, FRANCIS.
One of Captain Charles Harris's crew. Hanged for piracy at Newport, Rhode Island, on July 19th, 1723. Age 39.
LIMA, MANUEL.
Taken by H.M. sloop Tyne, and hanged at Kingston, Jamaica, in February, 1823.
LINCH, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.
Of Port Royal, Jamaica.
In 1680 Lionel Wafer, tiring of the life of a civil surgeon at Port Royal, left Jamaica to go on a voyage with Captains Linch and Cook to the Spanish Main.
LING, CAPTAIN WILLIAM.
A notorious pirate of New Providence. Captured and hanged shortly after accepting King George's pardon of 1718.
LINISLER, THOMAS.
Of Lancashire.
One of Captain Charles Harris's crew. Hanged at Rhode Island in 1723 at the age of 21.
LITHGOW, CAPTAIN.
Famous in his day for his activities in the West Indies, this pirate had his headquarters at New Providence in the Bahamas.
LIVER, WILLIAM, alias EVIS.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew. Hanged for piracy at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1718.
LO, MRS. HON-CHO.
This Chinese woman pirate was the widow of another noted pirate who was killed in 1921. She took command after the death of her husband, and soon became a terror to the countryside about Pakhoi, carrying on the work in the best traditions of the craft, being the Admiral of some sixty ocean-going junks. Although both young and pretty, she won a reputation for being a thorough-going murderess and pirate.
During the late revolution, Mrs. Lo joined General Wong Min-Tong's forces, and received the rank of full Colonel. After the war, she resumed her piracies, occasionally for the sake of variety, surprising and sacking a village or two, and from these she usually carried away some fifty or sixty girls to sell as slaves.
Her career ended quite suddenly in October, 1922.
LODGE, THOMAS. Poet, buccaneer, and physician.
Born about 1557, he was the son of Sir Thomas Lodge, grocer, and Lord Mayor of London in 1563. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and Trinity College, Oxford. The poet engaged in more than one freebooting expedition to Spanish waters between 1584 and 1590, and he tells us that he accompanied Captain Clarke in an attack on the Azores and the Canaries. "Having," he tells his friend Lord Hunsdon, "with Captain Clarke made a voyage to the Islands of Terceras and the Canaries, to beguile the time with labour, I writ this book, rough, as hatched in the storms of the ocean, and feathered in the surges of many perilous seas." On August 26th, 1591, Lodge sailed from Plymouth with Sir Thomas Cavendish in the Desire, a galleon of 140 tons. The freebooters sailed to Brazil and attacked the town of Santa, while the people were at Mass. They remained there from December 15th until January 22nd, 1592. Some of the Englishmen, of whom Lodge was one, took up their quarters in the College of the Jesuits, and this literary buccaneer spent his time amongst the books in the library of the Fathers.
Leaving Brazil, the small fleet sailed south to the Straits of Magellan. While storm-bound amongst the icy cliffs of Patagonia, Lodge wrote his Arcadian romance "Margarite of America."
From the point of view of plunder, this expedition was a dismal failure, and the Desire returned and reached the coast of Ireland on June 11th, 1593. The crew had been reduced to sixteen, and of these only five were even in tolerable health.
At the age of 40, Lodge deserted literature and studied medicine, taking his degree of Doctor of Physics at Avignon in 1600. His last original work was a "Treatise on the Plague," published in 1603. After practising medicine with great success for many years, Thomas Lodge died, it is said, of the plague, in the year 1625, at the age of 68.
LONG, ZACHARIAH.
Of the Province of Holland.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew. Hanged at White Point, Charleston, in 1718, and buried in the marsh below low-water mark.
LOPEZ, JOHN.
Of Oporto.
This Portuguese pirate sailed in the Royal James, and was hanged with the rest of the crew at Charleston, South Carolina, on November 8th, 1718.
LORD, JOHN.
A soldier. Deserted from Fort Loyal, Falmouth, Maine. Killed at Tarpaulin Cove in 1689.
LOW, CAPTAIN EDWARD, or LOE.
Born in Westminster, he began in very early life to plunder the boys of their farthings, and as he grew bigger used to gamble with the footmen who waited in the lobby of the House of Commons. While still quite small one of his elder brothers used to carry little Edward hidden in a basket on his back, and when in a crowd the future pirate would, from above, snatch the hats and even the wigs off the heads of passing citizens and secret them in the basket and so get away with them. The Low family were the originators of this ingenious and fascinating trick, and for a time it was most successful, until the people of the city took to tying on their hats and wigs with bands to prevent their sudden removal. When he grew up, Ned went to Boston and earned an honest living as a rigger, but after a while he tired of this and sailed in a sloop to Honduras to steal log-wood. Here Low quarrelled with his captain, tried to shoot him, and then went off in an open boat with twelve other men, and the very next day they took a small vessel, in which they began their "war against all the world." Low soon happened to meet with Captain Lowther, the pirate, and the two agreed to sail in company. This partnership lasted until May 28th, 1722, when they took a prize, a brigantine from Boston, which Low went into with a crew of forty-four men. This vessel they armed with two guns, four swivels, and six quarter-casks of powder, and saying good-bye to Lowther, sailed off on their own account. A week later a prize fell into their hands, which was the first of several. Things soon became too hot for Low along the American coast and the West Indies, as several men-of-war were searching for him; so he sailed to the Azores, taking on his way a big French ship of thirty-four guns, and later, in the harbour of St. Michael, he seized several vessels which he found at anchor there. Here they burnt the French ship, but let the crew all go, except the cook, who, they said, "being a greasy fellow would fry well in the fire, so the poor man was bound to the main mast and burnt in the ship to the no small derision of Low and his Mirmidons."
Low and his crew now began to treat their prisoners with great brutality. However, on one occasion the biter was bitten. It happened that one of the drunken crew, playfully cutting at a prisoner, missed his mark and accidentally slashed Captain Low across his lower jaw, the sword opening his cheek and laying bare his teeth. The surgeon was called, who at once stitched up the wound, but Low found some fault with the operation, as well he might, seeing that "the surgeon was tollerably drunk" at the time. The surgeon's professional pride was outraged by this criticism of his skill by a layman, and he showed his annoyance in a ready, if unprofessional, manner, by striking "Low such a blow with his Fists, that broke out all the Stitches, and then bid him sew up his Chops himself and be damned, so that the captain made a very pitiful Figure for some time after." Low took a large number of prizes, but he was not a sympathetic figure, and the list of his prizes and brutalities soon becomes irksome reading. Low, still in the Fancy, and accompanied by Captain Harris in the Ranger, then sailed back to the West Indies, and later to South Carolina, where he took several prizes, one the Amsterdam Merchant (Captain Willard), belonging to New England, and as Low never missed an opportunity of showing his dislike of all New Englanders, he sent the captain away with both his ears cut off and with various other wounds about his body.
Low and Harris now made a most unfortunate mistake in giving chase to a ship which on close quarters proved to be not a merchant vessel, but H.M.S. Greyhound. After a short fight, the coward Low slipped away, and left his consort, Harris, to carry on an unequal contest until he was compelled to surrender his ship.
Low's cruelties became more and more disgusting, and there can be little doubt that he was really by this time a lunatic.
In July, 1723, Low took a new ship for himself, naming himself Admiral, and sporting a new black flag with a red skeleton upon it. He again cruised off the Azores, the Canaries, and the Guinea coast, but what the end was of this repulsive, uninteresting, and bloody pirate has never been known.
LOWTHER, CAPTAIN GEORGE.
Sailed as second mate from the Thames in the Gambia Castle, a ship belonging to the African Company, sixteen guns and a crew of thirty men. On board as passengers were Captain Massey and a number of soldiers. Arriving at their destination, Massey quarrelled with the merchants on shore, and, a few days later, with Lowther, seized the ship, which he renamed the Delivery. They now went a-pirating, their first prize being a Boston ship, and cruising about off the Island of Hispaniola, several more were taken, but nothing very rich. Lowther quarrelled with Captain Massey, who, being a soldier, wished to land on some island to plunder the French settlements, but this was not agreed to, and Massey and his followers were sent away in a sloop. Life for Lowther now became a series of successes, prizes being taken, and visits to land being occasionally made for the crew to enjoy a drunken revel.
Having met with Captain Low, for a while the two sailed together, and took the Greyhound, a merchantman, and several more rich prizes. Lowther now commanded a small pirate fleet, and styled himself Admiral, his flagship being the Happy Delivery. While careening their ships in the Gulf of Matigue, they were suddenly attacked by the natives, and the pirates barely escaped in a sloop with their lives. Lowther soon improved himself by seizing a brigantine, and in her shaped his course to the coast of South Carolina, a favourite resort for the pirates. Here he attacked an English ship, but was so roughly handled that he was glad to run his ship ashore and escape.
In 1723 he steered for Newfoundland, taking many small vessels there, and returning to the West Indies. While cleaning his ship at the Isle of Blanco, he was suddenly attacked by a South Sea Company's ship, the Eagle, and the pirates were compelled to surrender. Lowther and a dozen of his crew escaped by climbing out of the cabin window, and, reaching the island, hid themselves in the woods. All were caught except Lowther and three men and a boy. He was shortly afterwards found lying dead with a pistol by his side, and was supposed to have shot himself. Three of his crew who were caught were carried to St. Christopher's, and there tried for piracy and hanged.
LUDBURY, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.
Sailed in company with Captains Prince and Harrison in October, 1670, ascended the San Juan River in Nicaragua with a party of 170 men, and surprised and plundered the city of Granada.
LUKE, CAPTAIN MATTHEW.
This Italian pirate had his headquarters at Porto Rico, and specialized in attacking English ships. In 1718 he took four of these and murdered all the crews. In May, 1722, Luke made a terrible mistake. Perceiving what he thought to be a merchant ship, he attacked her, to find out all too late that she was an English man-of-war, the Lauceston. Luke and his crew were taken to Jamaica and hanged. One of his crew confessed to having killed twenty English sailors with his own hands.
LUSHINGHAM, CAPTAIN.
In 1564 this pirate was at Berehaven in the South of Ireland, having just sold a cargo of wine out of a Spanish prize to the Lord O'Sullivan, when some of Queen Elizabeth's ships arrived in the bay in search of pirates. By Lord O'Sullivan's help the pirates escaped, but Lushingham was killed "by a piece of ordnance" as he was in the act of waving his cap towards the Queen's ships.
LUSSAN, LE SIEUR RAVENEAU DE.
This French filibuster was a man of much better birth and education than the usual buccaneer. Also, he was the author of a most entertaining book recording his adventures and exploits as a buccaneer, called "Journal du Voyage fait a la Mer de sud avec les Flibustiers de l'Amerique en 1684."
Pressure from his creditors drove de Lussan into buccaneering, as being a rapid method of gaining enough money to satisfy them and to enable him to return to the fashionable life he loved so well in Paris. De Lussan was, according to his own account, a man of the highest principles, and very religious. He never allowed his crew to molest priests, nuns, or churches. After taking a Spanish town, the fighting being over, he would lead his crew of pirates to attend Mass in the church, and when this was done—and not until then—would he allow the plundering and looting to begin.
De Lussan was surprised and grieved to find that his Spanish prisoners had a most exaggerated idea of the brutality of the buccaneers, and on one occasion when he was conducting a fair young Spanish lady, a prisoner, to a place of safety, he was overwhelmed when he discovered that the reason of her terror was that she believed she was shortly to be eaten by him and his crew. To remedy this erroneous impression, it was the custom of the French commander to gather together all his prisoners into the church or the plaza, and there to give them a lecture on the true life and character of the buccaneers.
The student who wishes to learn more about the adventures of de Lussan can do so in his book. There he will read, amongst other interesting events, particulars about the filibuster's surprising and romantic affair with the beautiful and wealthy Spanish widow who fell so violently in love with him.
It happened on one occasion that Raveneau and his crew, having taken a town on the West Coast of South America after a somewhat bloody battle, had, as usual, attended Mass in the Cathedral, before setting out to plunder the place.
Entering one of the chief houses in the town, de Lussan discovered the widow of the late town treasurer dissolved in tears, upon which the tender buccaneer hastened, with profound apologies, discreetly to withdraw, but calling again next day to offer his sympathy he found the widow had forgotten all about the late treasurer, for she had fallen violently in love with her gallant, handsome, and fashionably dressed visitor.
After various adventures, de Lussan arrived safely back in Paris with ample means in his possession not only to satisfy his creditors, but also to enable him to live there as a gentleman of fortune and fashion.
MACHAULY, DANIEL, or MACCAWLY, or MCCAWLEY.
A Scotch pirate. One of Captain Gow's crew. Hanged at Execution Dock at Wapping on June 11th, 1725.
MACKDONALD, EDWARD.
One of Captain George Lowther's crew in the Happy Delivery. Hanged at St. Kitts on March 11th, 1722.
MACKET, CAPTAIN, or MAGGOTT.
On March 23rd, 1679, Macket, who commanded a small vessel of fourteen tons, with a crew of twenty men, was at Boca del Toro with Coxon, Hawkins, and other famous buccaneers, having just returned from the sacking of Porto Bello.
Shortly afterwards the fleet sailed to Golden Island, off the coast of Darien, and from thence set out to attack Santa Maria and Panama.
MACKINTOSH, WILLIAM.
Of Canterbury in Kent.
One of Captain Roberts's crew. Hanged at Cape Coast Castle in 1722 at the age of 21.
MAGNES, WILLIAM, or MAGNUS.
Born at Minehead in Somersetshire in 1687. Quartermaster of the Royal Fortune (Captain Bartholomew Roberts). Tried for piracy at Cape Coast Castle, and hanged in chains in 1718, for taking and plundering the King Solomon.
MAIN, WILLIAM.
One of Captain Roberts's crew. Hanged in April, 1722, at the age of 28 years.
MAIN, WILLIAM.
Boatswain to Captain Bartholomew Roberts in the Royal Fortune. Was blown up, the explosion being caused by one of the crew firing his pistol into some gunpowder when the ship was taken by H.M.S. Swallow in 1722.
MAINTENON, MARQUIS DE.
Arrived in the West Indies from France in 1676. In 1678 commanded La Sorciere, a frigate, and, in company with other French filibusters from Tortuga Island, cruised off the coast of Caracas. He ravaged the islands of Margarita and Trinidad. He met with but little success, and soon afterwards his fleet scattered.
MAINWARING, CAPTAIN HENRY.
A notorious Newfoundland pirate.
On June 4th, 1614, when off the coast of that island, in command of eight vessels, he plundered the fishing fleet, stealing what provisions and stores he was in need of, also taking away with him all the carpenters and mariners he wanted for his own fleet.
It was his custom, when taking seamen, to pick one out of every six. In all he took 400 men, some of whom joined him willingly, while others were "perforstmen." Sailing across the Atlantic to the coast of Spain, Mainwaring took a Portuguese ship and stole from out of her a good store of wine, and out of a French prize 10,000 dried fish. A few years later this pirate was pardoned and placed in command of a squadron and sent to the Barbary coast in an unsuccessful attempt to drive out the pirates who were settled there. Here he may well have met with his old friend Captain Peter Easton, who had also been a Newfoundland pirate, but in 1613 had joined the Barbary corsairs.
EL MAJORCAM, CAPTAIN ANTONIO.
At one time an officer in the Spanish Navy. Became a notorious West Indian pirate, but about 1824 he retired from the sea to become a highwayman on shore.
MANSFIELD, JO.
One of Captain Bartholomew Roberts's men. Must not be confused with Edward Mansfield, the famous buccaneer.
A native of the Orkney Islands. At one time was a highwayman. Later on deserted from the Rose, man-of-war. Volunteered to join the pirates at the island of Dominica, and was always keen to do any mischief. He was a bully and a drunkard.
When Roberts's ship was attacked by H.M.S. Swallow and had surrendered after a sharp fight, Mansfield, who had been below all the while, very drunk, came staggering and swearing up on deck, with a drawn cutlass in his hand, crying out to know who would go on board the prize with him, and it was some time before his friends could persuade him of the true condition of things.
At his trial at Cape Coast Castle he said little in his defence, but pleaded that the cause of his backsliding was drunkenness. Hanged in the year 1722 at the age of 30.
MANSFIELD, CAPTAIN EDWARD, or MANSVELT.
A Dutchman born in the Island of Curacao.
He was the chief of the buccaneers, and at his death was succeeded by Henry Morgan. He was the first buccaneer to cross the Isthmus of Darien to the Pacific Ocean. Noted for his charm of manner, he was very popular with the buccaneers of all nationalities. In 1663 he commanded a brigantine carrying four guns and a crew of sixty men. Was chosen admiral of the fleet of buccaneers that gathered at Bleufields Bay in Jamaica in November, 1665, at the invitation of Modyford, the Governor, when he appointed young Henry Morgan to be his vice-admiral. This fleet was to sail and attempt to seize the Island of Curacao, and consisted of fifteen ships and a mixed crew of 500 buccaneers. On the way there they landed in Cuba, although England was at peace with Spain, and marched forty miles inland, to surprise and sack the town of Sancti Spiritus, from which they took a rich booty.
Mansfield, "being resolved never to face the Governor of Jamaica until he had done some service to the King," next made a very daring attack on the Island of Old Providence, which the Spaniards had fortified and used as a penal settlement. This was successful, and Mansfield, with great humanity, landed all the prisoners on the mainland of America. For a long while it had been Mansfield's dream to make this island a permanent home of the buccaneers, as it was close to the Spanish Main, with the towns of Porto Bello and Vera Cruz, and on the trade route of the Spanish galleons, taking their rich cargoes to Spain.
Mansfield's next exploit was to ascend the San Juan River and to sack Granada, the capital of Nicaragua. From there he coasted south along Costa Rica, burning plantations, smashing the images in the churches, ham-stringing cows and mules, and cutting down fruit-trees.
He returned in June, 1665, to Port Royal, with a rich booty. For this inexcusable attack on a country at peace with England, Governor Modyford mildly reproved him!
Mansfield, now an old man, died suddenly at the Island of Tortuga, off Hispaniola, when on a visit to the French pirates there. Another account says that he was captured by the Spaniards and taken by them to Porto Bello, and there put to death.
MARTEEN, CAPTAIN DAVID. Buccaneer.
In 1665 he had his headquarters in Jamaica.
MARTEL, CAPTAIN JOHN.
An old Jamaican privateer. After the Peace of Utrecht, being out of employment, he took to piracy. His career as a pirate was very successful so long as it lasted. Cruising off Jamaica, Cuba, and other islands, he continued taking ship after ship, with one particularly rich prize, a West African ship containing gold-dust, elephants' teeth, and slaves. His original command was a sloop of eight guns and a crew of eighty men, but after a short while he commanded a small fleet consisting of two ships (each armed with twenty guns), three sloops, and several armed prizes. With these Martel entered a bay in a small island called Santa Cruz, near Porto Rico, to careen and refit. This was in December, 1716, but news had leaked out of the pirate's whereabouts, and soon there arrived on the scene Captain Hume, of H.M.S. Scarborough. Martel tried to escape, but his ship ran aground, and many of the pirates were killed, but a few, with Martel, got ashore and hid on the island. None of them were heard of again except Martel, and it was supposed that they had died of hunger. In the space of three months Martel took and plundered thirteen vessels, all of considerable size. Two years later he was back in New Providence Island, when Governor Rogers arrived with King George's offer of pardon to the pirates, and Martel was one of those who surrendered.
MARTIN, JOHN.
Hanged in Virginia in 1718 with the rest of Blackbeard's crew.
MASSEY, CAPTAIN JOHN.
As a lieutenant, he "served with great applause" in the army in Flanders, under the command of the Duke of Marlborough.
He afterwards sailed from the Thames in the Gambia Castle, a ship of the African Company, in command of a company of soldiers which was being sent to garrison the fort. The merchants of Gambia were supposed to victual this garrison, but the rations supplied were considered by Massey to be quite insufficient. He quarrelled with the Governor and merchants, and took his soldiers back on board the ship, and with Lowther, the second mate, seized the ship and turned pirate. Lowther and Massey eventually quarrelled, for the latter, being a soldier, "was solicitous to move in his own sphere"—that is, he wanted to land his troops and plunder the French West Indian settlements. In the end Massey and a few followers were permitted to go off in a captured sloop, and in this sailed for Port Royal, Jamaica. Arrived there, "with a bold countenance he went to the Governor" and told a long and plausible tale of how he had managed to escape from the pirates at the first opportunity. He deceived the sympathetic Governor, and was sent with Captain Laws to hunt for Lowther. Returning to Jamaica without finding Lowther, he was granted a "certificate of his surrender," and came to England as a passenger.
On reaching London, he wrote a narrative of the whole affair—or as much as he deemed wise—to the African Company, who, receiving the story with far less credulity than the Governor of Jamaica, returned him answer "that he should be fairly hanged," and very shortly afterwards he was, at Tyburn on July 26th, 1723.
MAY, WILLIAM.
A London mariner. One of Captain Avery's crew, left behind in Madagascar very sick. A negro, hearing that an Englishman was there, came to him and nursed and fed him. This negro spoke good English, having lived at Bethnal Green.
May was promoted afterwards to be captain of a ship in the Red Sea. He was described by a shipmate as being "a true cock of the Game and an old sportsman." Hanged at London in 1696.
MAZE, CAPTAIN WILLIAM, or MACE, or MAISE.
A notorious pirate; particularly mentioned in the royal warrant authorizing Captain Kidd to go and capture certain "wicked and ill-disposed persons."
Arrived in command of a big ship at New York in 1699, loaded with booty taken in the Red Sea.
McCARTHY, CAPTAIN DENNIS.
Of New Providence, Bahama Islands.
This pirate and prize-fighter was one of those who refused King George's pardon in 1717, and was eventually hanged by his late fellow-pirates. On the gallows he made the following dying speech:
"Some friends of mine have often said I should die in my shoes, but I would rather make them liars." And so, kicking off his shoes, he was hanged.
MEGHLYN, HANS VAN.
A pirate of Antwerp, who owned a vessel of forty-five tons, painted black with pitch, and carried a crew of thirty. In 1539 he was cruising off Whitstable, on the lookout for vessels entering or leaving the Thames. Cromwell had been warned by Vaughan to look out for this pirate ship.
DE MELTON.
A well-known pirate in the sixteenth century. Was with Kellwanton when he was captured in the Isle of Man in 1531, but de Melton managed to escape with some of the crew and get away in their ship to Grimsby.
MELVIN, WILLIAM.
This Scotch pirate was hanged, with other members of Gow's crew, at Wapping in June, 1725.
MENDOZA, ANTONIO.
A Spaniard from San Domingo.
Mention is made of this unlucky mariner in a very interesting document which Mr. A. Hyatt Verrill was fortunate enough to acquire quite recently in the island of St. Kitts. It runs as follows:
"An assize and generall Gaole delivrie held at St. Christophers Colonie from ye nineteenthe daye of Maye to ye 22n. daye off ye same Monthe 1701 Captaine Josias Pendringhame Magustrate &c. The Jurye of our Soveraigne Lord the Kinge Doe presente Antonio Mendoza of Hispaniola and a subjecte of ye Kinge of Spain for that ye said on or about ye 11 Daye of Apryl 1701 feloneousely delibyrately and malliciousley and encontrarye to ye laws off Almightie God and our Soveraigne Lord the Kinge did in his cuppes saucely and arrogantyly speak of the Governour and Lord the Kinge and bye force and armies into ye tavernne of John Wilkes Esq. did entre and there did Horrible sware and cursse and did felonoslye use threatteninge words and did strike and cutte most murtherouslye severalle subjects of our Soveraigne Lord the Kinge. Of w'h Indictment he pleadeth not Guiltie butte onne presente Master Samuel Dunscombe mariner did sware that said Antonio Mendoza was of his knowenge a Blood-thirste piratte and Guiltie of diabolicalle practises & ye Grande Inquest findinge yt a trewe bill to be tryd by God and ye Countrye w'h beinge a Jurie of 12 men sworne finde him Guiltie & for the same he be adjuged to be carryd to ye Fort Prison to have both his earres cutt close by his head and be burnet throughe ye tongue with an Hot iron and to be caste chained in ye Dungon to awaitte ye plesyure of God and Our Soveraigne Lord the Kinge."
MEYEURS.
A South Sea pirate, killed when taking part with Captain Williams in a raid against an Arab settlement at Bayu.
MICHEL, CAPITAINE. Filibuster.
His ship, La Mutine, was armed with forty-four guns and carried a crew of 200 men.
MICHEL LE BASQUE. A French filibuster.
In company with the butcher L'Onnais and 650 other buccaneers, he pillaged the town of Maracaibo in Venezuela, in the year 1667. A very successful but ruthless buccaneer.
DON MIGUEL.
In 1830 commanded a squadron of small pirate vessels off the Azores. After seizing a Sardinian brig off St. Michael's, was himself captured by a British frigate.
MIGUEL, FRANCESCO.
Hanged at Kingston, Jamaica, in 1823.
MILLER, JOHN.
One of Captain John Quelch's crew. Hanged at Boston on June 30th, 1704. A broadsheet published at the time, describing the scenes at the execution, tells us that Miller "seemed much concerned, and complained of a great Burden of Sins to answer for, expressing often: 'Lord, what shall I do to be Saved?'"
MILLER, THOMAS.
Quartermaster on the pirate ship Queen Ann's Revenge, and killed on November 22nd, 1718.
MISNIL, SIEUR DU.
A French filibuster who commanded a ship, La Trompeuse (one hundred men and fourteen guns).
MISSON, CAPTAIN.
This unique pirate came of an ancient French family of Provence. He was the youngest of a large family, and received a good education. At the age of 15 he had already shown unusual distinction in the subjects of humanity and logic, and had passed quite tolerably in mathematics. Deciding to carve a fortune for himself with his sword, he was sent to the Academy at Angiers for a year, and at the conclusion of his military studies his father would have bought him a commission in a regiment of musketeers. But young Misson had been reading books of travel, and begged so earnestly to be allowed to go to sea that his father got him admitted as a volunteer on the French man-of-war Victoire, commanded by Monsieur Fourbin. Joining his ship at Marseilles, they cruised in the Mediterranean, and the young volunteer soon showed great keenness in his duties, and lost no opportunity of learning all he could about navigation and the construction of ships, even parting with his pocket-money to the boatswain and the carpenter to receive special instruction from them.
Arriving one day at Naples, Misson obtained permission from the captain to visit Rome, a visit that eventually changed his whole career.
It happened that while in Rome the young sailor met a priest, a Signor Caraccioli, a Dominican, who held most unclerical views about the priesthood; and, indeed, his ideas on life in general were, to say the least, unorthodox. A great friendship was struck up between these two, which at length led the priest to throw off his habit and join the crew of the Victoire. Two days out from port they met and fought a desperate hand-to-hand engagement with a Sallee pirate, in which the ex-priest and Misson both distinguished themselves by their bravery. Misson's next voyage was in a privateer, the Triumph, and, meeting one day an English ship, the Mayflower, between Guernsey and Start Point, the merchantman was defeated after a gallant resistance.
Rejoining the Victoire, Misson sailed from Rochelle to the West Indies, and Caraccioli lost no opportunity of preaching to young Misson the gospel of atheism and communism, and with such success that the willing convert soon held views as extreme as those of his teacher. These two apostles now began to talk to the crew, and their views, particularly on the rights of private property, were soon held by almost all on board. A fortunate event happened just then to help the new "cause." Meeting with an English man-of-war, the Winchester, off the island of Martinique, a smart engagement took place between the two ships, at the very commencement of which Captain Fourbin and three of the officers on the French ship were killed. The fight ended by the English ship blowing up, and an era of speech-making may be said to have now begun.
Firstly, Signor Caraccioli, stepping forward, made a long and eloquent address to Misson, inviting him to become captain of the Victoire, and calling upon him to follow the example of Alexander the Great with the Persians, and that of the Kings Henry IV. and VII. of England, reminding him how Mahomet, with but a few camel-drivers, founded the Ottoman Empire, also how Darius, with a handful of companions, got possession of Persia. Inflamed by this speech, young Misson showed what he could do, when, calling all hands up on deck, he made his first, but, as events proved, by far from last, speech. The result was a triumph of oratory, the excited French sailors crying out: "Vive le Capitaine Misson et son Lieutenant le Scavant Caraccioli!" Misson, returning thanks in a few graceful words, promised to do his utmost as their commander for their new marine republic. The newly elected officers retiring to the great cabin, a friendly discussion began as to their future arrangements. The first question that arose was to choose what colours they should sail under. The newly elected boatswain, Mathew le Tondu, a brave but simple mariner, advised a black one, as being the most terrifying. This brought down a full blast of eloquence from Caraccioli, the new lieutenant, who objected that "they were no pirates, but men who were resolved to affect the Liberty which God and Nature gave them," with a great deal about "guardians of the Peoples Rights and Liberties," etc., and, gradually becoming worked up, gave the wretched boatswain, who must have regretted his unfortunate remark, a heated lecture on the soul, on shaking "the Yoak of Tyranny" off their necks, on "Oppression and Poverty" and the miseries of life under these conditions as compared to those of "Pomp and Dignity." In the end he showed that their policy was not to be one of piracy, for pirates were men of no principle and led dissolute lives; but their lives were to be brave, just, and innocent, and their cause the cause of Liberty; and therefore, instead of a black flag, they should live under a white ensign, with the motto "For God and Liberty" embroidered upon it.
The simple sailors, debarred from these councils, had gathered outside the cabin, but were able to overhear this speech, and at its conclusion, carried away by enthusiasm, loud cries went up of "Liberty! Liberty! We are free men! Vive the brave Captain Misson and the noble Lieutenant Caraccioli!" Alas! it is impossible in the space of this work to do justice to the perfectly wonderful and idealistic conditions of this pirate crew. Their speeches and their kind acts follow each other in fascinating profusion. We can only recommend those who feel disposed to follow more closely the history of these delightful pirates, to read the account printed in English in 1726, if they are fortunate enough to come by a copy.
The first prize taken by these pirates under the white flag was an English sloop commanded by one Captain Thomas Butler, only a day's sail out from St. Kitts. After helping themselves to a couple of puncheons of rum and a few other articles which the pirates needed, but without doing any unkindness to the crew, nor stripping them, as was the usual custom of pirates on such occasions, they let them go, greatly to the surprise of Captain Butler, who handsomely admitted that he had never before met with so much "candour" in any similar situation, and to further express his gratitude he ordered his crew to man ship, and at parting called for three rousing British cheers for the good pirate and his men, which were enthusiastically given.
Sailing to the coast of Africa, Misson took a Dutch ship, the Nieuwstadt, of Amsterdam. The cargo was found to consist of gold dust and seventeen slaves. In the latter Captain Misson recognized a good text for one of his little sermons to his crew, so, calling all hands on deck, he made the following observations on the vile trade of slavery, telling his men:
"That the Trading for those of our own Species, cou'd never be agreeable to the Eyes of divine Justice. That no Man had Power of the Liberty of another; and while those who profess a more enlightened Knowledge of the Deity, sold Men like Beasts; they prov'd that their Religion was no more than Grimace, and that they differ'd from the Barbarians in Name only, since their Practice was in nothing more humane. For his Part, and he hop'd he spoke the Sentiments of all his brave Companions, he had not exempted his Neck from the galling Yoak 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 endued with equal Reason. Wherefore, he desired they might be treated like Freemen (for he wou'd banish even the Name of Slavery from among them) and be divided into Messes among them, to the end they might the sooner learn their language, be sensible of the Obligations they had to them, and more capable and zealous to defend that Liberty they owed to their Justice and Humanity." This speech was met with general applause, and once again the good ship Victoire rang with cries of "Vive le Capitaine Misson!" The negroes were freed of their irons, dressed up in the clothes of their late Dutch masters, and it is gratifying to read that "by their Gesticulations, they shew'd they were gratefully sensible of their being delivered from their Chains." But alas! a sad cloud was creeping insidiously over the fair reputation of these super-pirates. Out of the last slave ship they had taken, a number of Dutch sailors had volunteered to serve with Misson and had come aboard as members of his crew. Hitherto no swearword was ever heard, no loose or profane expression had pained the ears of Captain Misson or his ex-priestly lieutenant. But the Dutch mariners began to lead the crew into ways of swearing and drunkenness, which, coming to the captain's notice, he thought best to nip these weeds in the bud; so, calling both French and Dutch upon deck, and desiring the Dutch captain to translate his remarks into the Dutch language, he told them that—
"Before he had the Misfortune of having them on Board, his Ears were never grated with hearing the Name of the great Creator profaned, tho' he, to his Sorrow, had often since heard his own Men guilty of that Sin, which administer'd neither Profit nor Pleasure, and might draw upon them a severe Punishment: That if they had a just Idea of that great Being, they wou'd never mention him, but they wou'd immediately reflect on his Purity, and their own Vileness. That we so easily took Impression from our Company, that the Spanish Proverb says: 'Let a Hermit and a Thief live together, the Thief wou'd become Hermit, or the Hermit thief': That he saw this verified in his ship, for he cou'd 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 Man and Beast, 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 which they had honour'd 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, wou'd be guided by reason, he gave the Dutch Notice, that the first whom he catch'd 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 heroick 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."
This speech had the desired effect, and ever afterwards, when any one of the crew had reason to mention the name of his captain, he never failed to add the epithet "Good" before it.
These chaste pirates soon took and plundered many rich merchant ships, but always in the most gentlemanly manner, so that none failed to be "not a little surprised at the Regularity, Tranquillity and Humanity of these new-fashioned Pyrates." From out of one of these, an English vessel, they took a sum of L60,000, but during the engagement the captain was killed. Poor Captain Misson was broken-hearted over this unfortunate mishap, and to show as best he could his regret, he buried the body on shore, and, finding that one of his men was by trade a stonecutter, raised a monument over the grave with, engraved upon it, the words: "Here lies a gallant English-Man." And at the conclusion of a very moving burial service he paid a final tribute by "a triple Discharge of 50 small Arms and fired Minute Guns."
Misson now sailed to the Island of Johanna in the Indian Ocean, which became his future home. Misson married the sister of the local dusky queen, and his lieutenant led to the altar her niece, while many of the crew also were joined in holy wedlock to one or more ladies of more humble social standing.
Already Misson has received more space than he is entitled to in a work of reference of this kind, but his career is so full of charming incidents that one is tempted to continue to unseemly length. Let it suffice to say that for some years Misson made speeches, robbed ships, and now and again, when unavoidably driven to it, would reluctantly slaughter his enemies.
Finally, Misson took his followers to a sheltered bay in Madagascar, and on landing there made a little speech, telling them that here they could settle down, build a town, that here, in fact, "they might have some Place to call their own; and a Receptacle, when Age or Wounds had render'd them incapable of Hardship, where they might enjoy the Fruits of their Labour, and go to their Graves in Peace."
This ideal colony was called Libertatia, and was run on strictly Socialistic lines, for no one owned any individual property; all money was kept in a common treasury, and no hedges bounded any man's particular plot of land. Docks were made and fortifications set up. Soon Misson had two ships built, called the Childhood and the Liberty, and these were sent for a voyage round the island, to map and chart the coast, and to train the released slaves to be efficient sailors. A Session House was built, and a form of Government arranged. At the first meeting Misson was elected Lord Conservator, as they called the President, for a term of three years, and during that period he was to have "all the Ensigns of Royalty to attend him." Captain Tew, the English pirate, was elected Admiral of the Fleet of Libertatia, Caraccioli became Secretary of State, while the Council was formed of the ablest amongst the pirates, without distinction of nation or colour. The difficulty of language, as French, English, Portuguese, and Dutch were equally spoken, was overcome by the invention of a new language, a kind of Esperanto, which was built up of words from all four. For many years this ideally successful and happy pirate Utopia flourished; but at length misfortunes came, one on top of the other, and a sudden and unexpected attack by the hitherto friendly natives finally drove Misson and a few other survivors to seek safety at sea, but, overtaken by a hurricane, their vessel foundered, and Misson and all his crew were drowned; and thus ended the era of what may be called "piracy without tears."
He was the mildest-manner'd man That ever scuttled ship or cut a throat. BYRON.
MITCHELL, CAPTAIN.
An English buccaneer of Jamaica, who flourished in 1663.
MITCHELL, JOHN.
Of Shadwell Parish, London.
One of the crew of the Ranger. Condemned to death, but reprieved and sold to the Royal African Company.
M'KINLIE, PETER. Irish pirate.
Boatswain in a merchant ship which sailed from the Canaries to England in the year 1765. On board were three passengers, the adventurous Captain Glass and his wife and daughter. One night M'Kinlie and four other mutineers murdered the commander of the vessel, Captain Cockeran, and Captain Glass and his family, as well as all the crew except two cabin-boys. After throwing their bodies overboard, M'Kinlie steered for the coast of Ireland, and on December 3rd arrived in the neighbourhood of the harbour of Ross. Filling the long-boat with dollars, weighing some two tons, they rowed ashore, after killing the two boys and scuttling the ship. On landing, the pirates found they had much more booty than they could carry, so they buried 250 bags of dollars in the sand, and took what they could with them to a village called Fishertown. Here they regaled themselves, while one of the villagers relieved them of a bag containing 1,200 dollars. Next day they walked into Ross, and there sold another bag of dollars, and with the proceeds each man bought a pair of pistols and a horse and rode to Dublin. In the meanwhile the ship, instead of sinking, was washed up on the shore. Strong suspicion being roused in the countryside, messengers were sent post-haste to inform the Lords of the Regency at Dublin that the supposed pirates were in the city. Three of them were arrested in the Black Bull Inn in Thomas Street, but M'Kinlie and another pirate, who had already taken a post-chaise for Cork, intending to embark there on a vessel for England, were arrested on the way.
The five pirates were tried in Dublin, condemned and executed, their bodies being hung in chains, on December 19th, 1765.
MONTBARS, THE EXTERMINATOR.
A native of Languedoc. He joined the buccaneers after reading a book which recorded the cruelty of the Spaniards to the American natives, and this story inspired him with such a hatred of all Spaniards that he determined to go to the West Indies, throw in his lot with the buccaneers, and to devote his whole life and energies to punishing the Spaniards. He carried out his resolve most thoroughly, and treated all Spaniards who came into his power with such cruelty that he became known all up and down the Spanish Main as the Exterminator. Eventually Montbars became a notorious and successful buccaneer or pirate chief, having his headquarters at St. Bartholomew, one of the Virgin Islands, to which he used to bring all his prisoners and spoils taken out of Spanish ships and towns.
MONTENEGRO.
A Columbian. One of Captain Gilbert's crew in the pirate schooner Panda. Hanged at Boston in 1835.
DE MONT, FRANCIS.
Captured in South Carolina in 1717. Tried at Charleston, and convicted of taking the Turtle Dove and other vessels in the previous July. Hanged in June, 1717.
MOODY, CAPTAIN CHRISTOPHER.
A notorious pirate. Very active off the coast of Carolina, 1717, with two ships under his command. In 1722 was with Roberts on board the Royal Fortune, being one of his chief men or "Lords." Taken prisoner, and tried at Cape Coast Castle, and hanged in chains at the age of 28.
MOORE. Gunner.
A gunner aboard Captain Kidd's ship the Adventure. When Kidd's mutinous crew were all for attacking a Dutch ship, Kidd refused to allow them to, and Moore threatened the captain, who seized a bucket and struck Moore on the head with it, the blow killing him. Kidd was perfectly justified in killing this mutinous sailor, but eventually it was for this act that he was hanged in London.
MORGAN, CAPTAIN.
This pirate must not be confused with the buccaneer, Sir Henry Morgan. Little is known about him except that he was with Hamlin, the French pirate, in 1683, off the coast of West Africa, and helped to take several Danish and English ships. Soon the pirates quarrelled over the division of their plunder and separated into two companies, the English following Captain Morgan in one of the prizes.
MORGAN, COLONEL BLODRE, or BLEDRY.
This buccaneer was probably a relation of Sir Henry Morgan. He was an important person in Jamaica between 1660 and 1670. At the taking of Panama by Henry Morgan in 1670 the Colonel commanded the rearguard of 300 men. In May, 1671, he was appointed to act as Deputy Governor of Providence Island by Sir James Modyford.
MORGAN, LIEUT.-COLONEL EDWARD. Buccaneer.
Uncle and father-in-law of Sir Henry Morgan.
In 1665, when war had been declared on Holland, the Governor of Jamaica issued commissions to several pirates and buccaneers to sail to and attack the Dutch islands of St. Eustatius, Saba, and Curacao. Morgan was put in command of ten ships and some 500 men; most of them were "reformed prisoners," while some were condemned pirates who had been pardoned in order to let them join the expedition.
Before leaving Jamaica the crews mutinied, but were pacified by the promise of an equal share of all the spoils that should be taken. Three ships out of the fleet slipped away on the voyage, but the rest arrived at St. Kitts, landed, and took the fort. Colonel Morgan, who was an old and corpulent man, died of the heat and exertion during the campaign.
MORGAN, LIEUT.-COLONEL THOMAS.
Sailed with Colonel Edward Morgan to attack St. Eustatius and Saba Islands, and after these were surrendered by the Dutch, Thomas Morgan was left in charge.
In 1686 he sailed in command of a company of buccaneers to assist Governor Wells, of St. Kitts, against the French. The defence of the island was disgraceful, and Morgan's company was the only one which displayed any courage or discipline, and most of them were killed or wounded, Colonel Morgan himself being shot in both legs.
Often these buccaneer leaders altered their titles from colonel to captain, to suit the particular enterprise on which they were engaged, according if it took place on sea or land.
MORGAN, SIR HENRY. Buccaneer.
This, the greatest of all the "brethren of the coast," was a Welshman, born at Llanrhymmy in Monmouthshire in the year 1635. The son of a well-to-do farmer, Robert Morgan, he early took to the seafaring life. When quite a young man Morgan went to Barbadoes, but afterwards he settled at Jamaica, which was his home for the rest of his life.
Morgan may have been induced to go to the West Indies by his uncle, Colonel Morgan, who was for a time Deputy Governor of Jamaica, a post Sir Henry Morgan afterwards held.
Morgan was a man of great energy, and must have possessed great power of winning his own way with people. That he could be absolutely unscrupulous when it suited his ends there can be little doubt. He was cruel at times, but was not the inhuman monster that he is made out to be by Esquemeling in his "History of the Bucaniers." This was largely proved by the evidence given in the suit for libel brought and won by Morgan against the publishers, although Morgan was, if possible, more indignant over the statement in the same book that he had been kidnapped in Wales and sold, as a boy, and sent to be a slave in Barbadoes. That he could descend to rank dishonesty was shown when, returning from his extraordinary and successful assault on the city of Panama in 1670, to Chagres, he left most of his faithful followers behind, without ships or food, while he slipped off in the night with most of the booty to Jamaica. No doubt, young Morgan came to Jamaica with good credentials from his uncle, the Colonel, for the latter was held in high esteem by Modyford, then Governor of Barbadoes, who describes Colonel Morgan as "that honest privateer."
Colonel Morgan did not live to see his nephew reach the pinnacle of his success, for in the year 1665 he was sent at the head of an expedition to attack the Dutch stronghold at St. Eustatius Island, but he was too old to stand the hardships of such an expedition and died shortly afterwards.
By this time Morgan had made his name as a successful and resolute buccaneer by returning to Port Royal from a raiding expedition in Central America with a huge booty.
In 1665 Morgan, with two other buccaneers, Jackman and Morris, plundered the province of Campeachy, and then, acting as Vice-Admiral to the most famous buccaneer of the day, Captain Mansfield, plundered Cuba, captured Providence Island, sacked Granada, burnt and plundered the coast of Costa Rica, bringing back another booty of almost fabulous wealth to Jamaica. In this year Morgan married a daughter of his uncle, Colonel Morgan.
In 1668, when 33 years of age, Morgan was commissioned by the Jamaican Government to collect together the privateers, and by 1669 he was in command of a big fleet, when he was almost killed by a great explosion in the Oxford, which happened while Morgan was giving a banquet to his captains. About this time Morgan calmly took a fine ship, the Cour Volant, from a French pirate, and made her his own flagship, christening her the Satisfaction.
In 1670 the greatest event of Morgan's life took place—the sacking of Panama. First landing a party which took the Castle of San Lorenzo at the mouth of the Chagres River, Morgan left a strong garrison there to cover his retreat and pushed on with 1,400 men in a fleet of canoes up the river on January 9th, 1671. The journey across the isthmus, through the tropical jungle, was very hard on the men, particularly as they had depended on finding provisions to supply their wants on the way, and carried no food with them. They practically starved until the sixth day, when they found a barn full of maize, which the fleeing Spaniards had neglected to destroy. On the evening of the ninth day a scout reported he had seen the steeple of a church in Panama. Morgan, with that touch of genius which so often brought him success, attacked the city from a direction the Spaniards had not thought possible, so that their guns were all placed where they were useless, and they were compelled to do just what the buccaneer leader wanted them to do—namely, to come out of their fortifications and fight him in the open. The battle raged fiercely for two hours between the brave Spanish defenders and the equally brave but almost exhausted buccaneers. When at last the Spaniards turned and ran, the buccaneers were too tired to immediately follow up their success, but after resting they advanced, and at the end of three hours' street fighting the city was theirs. The first thing Morgan now did was to assemble all his men and strictly forbid them to drink any wine, telling them that he had secret information that the wine had been poisoned by the Spaniards before they left the city. This was, of course, a scheme of Morgan's to stop his men from becoming drunk, when they would be at the mercy of the enemy, as had happened in many a previous buccaneer assault.
Morgan now set about plundering the city, a large part of which was burnt to the ground, though whether this was done by his orders or by the Spanish Governor has never been decided. After three weeks the buccaneers started back on their journey to San Lorenzo, with a troop of 200 pack-mules laden with gold, silver, and goods of all sorts, together with a large number of prisoners. The rearguard on the march was under the command of a kinsman of the Admiral, Colonel Bledry Morgan.
On their arrival at Chagres the spoils were divided, amidst a great deal of quarrelling, and in March, 1671, Morgan sailed off to Port Royal with a few friends and the greater part of the plunder, leaving his faithful followers behind without ships or provisions, and with but L10 apiece as their share of the spoils.
On May 31st, 1671, the Council of Jamaica passed a vote of thanks to Morgan for his successful expedition, and this in spite of the fact that in July, a year before, a treaty had been concluded at Madrid between Spain and England for "restraining depredations and establishing peace" in the New World.
In April, 1672, Morgan was carried to England as a prisoner in the Welcome frigate. But he was too popular to be convicted, and after being acquitted was appointed Deputy Governor of Jamaica, and in November, 1674, he was knighted and returned to the West Indies. In 1672 Major-General Banister, who was Commander-in-Chief of the troops in Jamaica, writing to Lord Arlington about Morgan, said: "He (Morgan) is a well deserving person, and one of great courage and conduct, who may, with His Majesty's pleasure, perform good public service at home, or be very advantageous to this island if war should again break forth with the Spaniards."
While Morgan was in England he brought an action for libel against William Crooke, the publisher of the "History of the Bucaniers of America." The result of this trial was that Crooke paid L200 damages to Morgan and published a long and grovelling apology.
Morgan was essentially a man of action, and a regular life on shore proved irksome to him, for we learn from a report sent home by Lord Vaughan in 1674 that Morgan "frequented the taverns of Port Royal, drinking and gambling in unseemly fashion," but nevertheless the Jamaican Assembly had voted the Lieutenant-Governor a sum of L600 special salary. In 1676 Vaughan brought definite charges against Morgan and another member of the Council, Robert Byndloss, of giving aid to certain Jamaica pirates.
Morgan made a spirited defence and, no doubt largely owing to his popularity, got off, and in 1678 was granted a commission to be a captain of a company of 100 men.
The Governor to succeed Vaughan was Lord Carlisle, who seems to have liked Morgan, in spite of his jovial "goings on" with his old buccaneer friends in the taverns of Port Royal, and in some of his letters speaks of Morgan's "generous manner," and hints that whatever allowances are made to him "he will be a beggar."
In 1681 Sir Thomas Lynch was appointed to be Governor, and trouble at once began between him and his deputy. Amongst the charges the former brought against Morgan was one of his having been overheard to say, "God damn the Assembly!" for which he was suspended from that body.
In April, 1688, the King, at the urgent request of the Duke of Albemarle, ordered Morgan to be reinstated in the Assembly, but Morgan did not live long to enjoy his restored honours, for he died on August 25th, 1688.
An extract from the journal of Captain Lawrence Wright, commander of H.M.S. Assistance, dated August, 1688, describes the ceremonies held at Port Royal at the burial of Morgan, and shows how important and popular a man he was thought to be. It runs:
"Saturday 25. This day about eleven hours noone Sir Henry Morgan died, & the 26th was brought over from Passage-fort to the King's house at Port Royall, from thence to the Church, & after a sermon was carried to the Pallisadoes & there buried. All the forts fired an equal number of guns, wee fired two & twenty & after wee & the Drake had fired, all the merchant men fired."
Morgan was buried in Jamaica, and his will, which was filed in the Record Office at Spanish Town, makes provision for his wife and near relations.
MORRICE, HUMPHREY.
Of New Providence, Bahama Islands.
Hanged at New Providence in 1718 by his lately reformed fellow-pirates, and on the gallows taxed them with "pusillanimity and cowardice" because they did not rescue him and his fellow-sufferers.
MORRIS, CAPTAIN JOHN.
Of Jamaica.
A privateer until 1665, he afterwards became a buccaneer with Mansfield. Took part in successful raids in Central America, plundering Vildemo in the Bay of Campeachy; he also sacked Truxillo, and then, after a journey by canoe up the San Juan River to take Nicaragua, surprised and plundered the city of Granada in March, 1666.
MORRIS, CAPTAIN THOMAS.
One of the pirates of New Providence, Bahamas, who, on pardon being offered by King George in 1717, escaped, and for a while carried on piracy in the West Indian Islands. Caught and hanged a few years afterwards.
MORRIS, JOHN.
One of Captain Bartholomew Roberts's crew. When the Royal Fortune surrendered to H.M.S. Swallow, Morris fired his pistol into the gunpowder in the steerage and caused an explosion that killed or maimed many of the pirates.
MORRISON, CAPTAIN.
A Scotch pirate, who lived on Prince Edward Island.
For an account of his career, see Captain NELSON.
MORRISON, WILLIAM.
Of Jamaica.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew. Hanged at White Point, Charleston, South Carolina, on November 8th, 1718, and buried in the marsh below low-water mark.
MORTON, PHILIP.
Gunner on board "Blackbeard's" ship, the Queen Ann's Revenge. Killed on November 22nd, 1718, in North Carolina, during the fight with Lieutenant Maynard.
MULLET, JAMES, alias MILLET.
Of London.
One of the crew of the Royal James, in which vessel Major Stede Bonnet played havoc with the shipping along the coasts of South Carolina and New England. Hanged at Charleston in 1718.
MULLINS, DARBY.
This Irish pirate was born in the north of Ireland, not many miles from Londonderry. Being left an orphan at the age of 18, he was sold to a planter in the West Indies for a term of four years.
After the great earthquake at Jamaica in 1691, Mullins built himself a house at Kingston and ran it as a punch-house—often a very profitable business when the buccaneers returned to Port Royal with good plunder. This business failing, he went to New York, where he met Captain Kidd, and was, according to his own story, persuaded to engage in piracy, it being urged that the robbing only of infidels, the enemies of Christianity, was an act, not only lawful, but one highly meritorious.
At his trial later on in London his judges did not agree with this view of the rights of property, and Mullins was hanged at Execution Dock on May 23rd, 1701.
MUMPER, THOMAS.
An Indian of Mather's Vineyard, New England.
Tried for piracy with Captain Charles Harris and his men, but found to be "not guilty."
MUNDON, STEPHEN.
Of London.
Hanged for piracy at Newport, Rhode Island, on July 19th, 1723, at the age of 20.
MUSTAPHA. Turkish pirate.
In 1558 he sailed, with a fleet of 140 vessels, to the Island of Minorca. Landed, and besieged the fortified town of Ciudadda, which at length surrendered. The Turks slew great numbers of the inhabitants, taking the rest away as slaves.
NAU, CAPTAIN JEAN DAVID, alias FRANCIS L'OLLONAIS.
A Frenchman born at Les Sables d'Ollone.
In his youth he was transported as an indented labourer to the French Island of Dominica in the West Indies. Having served his time L'Ollonais went to the Island of Hispaniola, and joined the buccaneers there, living by hunting wild cattle and drying the flesh or boucan.
He then sailed for a few voyages as a sailor before the mast, and acted with such ability and courage that the Governor of Tortuga Island, Monsieur de la Place, gave him the command of a vessel and sent him out to seek his fortune.
At first the young buccaneer was very successful, and he took many Spanish ships, but owing to his ferocious treatment of his prisoners he soon won a name for cruelty which has never been surpassed. But at the height of this success his ship was wrecked in a storm, and, although most of the pirates got ashore, they were at once attacked by a party of Spaniards, and all but L'Ollonais were killed. The captain escaped, after being wounded, by smearing blood and sand over his face and hiding himself amongst his dead companions. Disguised as a Spaniard he entered the city of Campeachy, where bonfires and other manifestations of public relief were being held, to express the joy of the citizens at the news of the death of their terror, L'Ollonais.
Meeting with some French slaves, the fugitive planned with them to escape in the night in a canoe, this being successfully carried out, they eventually arrived back at Tortuga, the pirate stronghold. Here the enterprising captain stole a small vessel, and again started off "on the account," plundering a village called De los Cagos in Cuba. The Governor of Havana receiving word of the notorious and apparently resurrected pirate's arrival sent a well-armed ship to take him, adding to the ship's company a negro executioner, with orders to hang all the pirate crew with the exception of L'Ollonais, who was to be brought back to Havana alive and in chains.
Instead of the Spaniards taking the Frenchman, the opposite happened, and everyone of them was murdered, including the negro hangman, with the exception of one man, who was sent with a written message to the Governor to tell him that in future L'Ollonais would kill every Spaniard he met with.
Joining with a famous filibuster, Michael de Basco, L'Ollonais soon organized a more important expedition, consisting of a fleet of eight vessels and 400 men. Sailing to the Gulf of Venezuela in 1667, they entered the lake, destroying the fort that stood to guard the entrance. Thence sailing to the city of Maracaibo they found all the inhabitants had fled in terror. The filibusters caught many of the inhabitants hiding in the neighbouring woods, and killed numbers of them in their attempts to force from the rest the hiding-places of their treasure. They next marched upon and attacked the town of Gibraltar, which was valiantly defended by the Spaniards, until the evening, when, having lost 500 men killed, they surrendered. For four weeks this town was pillaged, the inhabitants murdered, while torture and rape were daily occurrences. At last, to the relief of the wretched inhabitants, the buccaneers, with a huge booty, sailed away to Corso Island, a place of rendezvous of the French buccaneers. Here they divided their spoil, which totalled the great sum of 260,000 pieces of eight, which, when divided amongst them, gave each man above one hundred pieces of eight, as well as his share of plate, silk, and jewels.
Also, a share was allotted for the next-of-kin of each man killed, and extra rewards for those pirates who had lost a limb or an eye. L'Ollonais had now become most famous amongst the "Brethren of the Coast," and began to make arrangements for an even more daring expedition to attack and plunder the coast of Nicaragua. Here he burnt and pillaged ruthlessly, committing the most revolting cruelties on the Spanish inhabitants. One example of this monster's inhuman deeds will more than suffice to tell of. It happened that during an attack on the town of San Pedros the buccaneers had been caught in an ambuscade and many of them killed, although the Spaniards had at last turned and fled. The pirates killed most of their prisoners, but kept a few to be questioned by L'Ollonais so as to find some other way to the town. As he could get no information out of these men, the Frenchman drew his cutlass and with it cut open the breast of one of the Spaniards, and pulling out his still beating heart he began to bite and gnaw it with his teeth like a ravenous wolf, saying to the other prisoners, "I will serve you all alike, if you show me not another way." |
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