by Travers, Tim
74. After Blackbeard and his small crew were killed or captured, Lieutenant Maynard had Blackbeard’s head cut off, and displayed it from his bowsprit. Allegedly, Maynard threw Blackbeard’s body overboard, at which point the body swam around Maynard’s ship. Courtesy of Joel Baer.
75. A 1696 broadside or printed sheet of a ballad celebrating the piratical life of Henry Every (Avery). These sheets preserved the memory of Avery and this one presents him as a pirate who made his own future and fortune. Courtesy of Joel Baer.
76. A government authorised version of the trial of six of Every’s (Avery’s) men. The first trial acquitted these crewmen. But in a second trial, one was spared and turned state’s evidence, while the other five were hung as pirates. Courtesy of Joel Baer.
77. Avery is presented here as the king of Madagascar. In fact, although he did put in to Madagascar on his way to the Red Sea, he was far from becoming the king of the island. A more likely king of Madagascar was the trader John or James Plantain. Courtesy of Joel Baer.
78. ‘Kidd on the deck of the Adventure Galley.’ William Kidd is here portrayed as an evil pirate, although there is some debate as to whether Kidd was actually a pirate or not. Author’s collection.
79. William Kidd is here portrayed turning from good to evil. Historians are divided as to whether Kidd became a pirate, or tried to remain a privateer. The two major ships which Kidd took sailed under French passes, which permitted Kidd to take them legally. However, he was tried and hung in 1701. Courtesy of Joel Baer.
80. Some of the most notorious pirates were hung and then placed in iron chains at a location where all ships’ crews entering or leaving the River Thames would see them. Here, it is William Kidd hanging at Tilbury Point in 1701. Courtesy of Joel Baer.
81. ‘An attack on a Galleon.’ Pirates did sometimes attack in small boats, and often from the stern of their target. Surprise was also always a useful weapon. Author’s collection.
82. ‘Capture of the Galleon.’ This scene represents the occasion when Pierre Le Grand and his crew captured a Spanish galleon in 1665, and surprised the Spanish officers playing cards below decks. Author’s collection.
83. ‘On the Tortugas.’ Henry Pitman, perhaps the model for Robinson Crusoe, was stranded on Salt Tortuga Island with others in 1687. Salt Tortuga lies off the coast of Venezuela. Author’s collection.
84. ‘Marooned.’ Many pirates and their victims were marooned, the most famous being Alexander Selkirk, who was marooned on the Juan Fernandez Islands from 1704 to 1709. Author’s collection.
85. ‘Walking the plank.’ Very few pirates made their victims walk the plank. After all, wasn’t it simpler to just throw the victims overboard? Possibly this myth came from the practice of pirates in the Roman era, who invited their captives to walk home. Author’s collection.
86. ‘Buried treasure.’ William Kidd did have John Gardiner bury most of Kidd’s treasure on Gardiner’s Island, Long Island Sound, in 1699. The treasure was shortly afterwards dug up and sent to Lord Bellomont in Boston after Kidd was arrested. Author’s collection.
87. ‘Who shall be Captain?’ Pirate captains were almost always elected by popular vote of the pirate crew, and did not fight to become captain. But pirates did sometimes fight each other.
88. ‘The bullets were humming and singing, clipping along the top of the water.’ Author’s collection.
89. ‘The Buccaneer was a picturesque fellow.’ The Buccaneers of the seventeenth century were a very rough looking crew, unlike this individual. Buccaneers were usually based on Hispaniola and Tortuga, and lived by hunting wild cattle and hogs, before turning to piracy. Author’s collection.
90. ‘Then the real fight began.’ This picture depicts a mutiny, when some sailors decide to take over a ship. Usually there would be two or three ringleaders, then others would be signed up, and a signal would be agreed to start the mutiny – normally a password, or a cannon ball rolled over the deck. Author’s collection.
91. ‘Captain Keitt.’ A romantic and unrealistic image of a pirate captain. Many pirate captains started off as a mate or another senior position on a merchant ship before becoming a pirate. Only a few pirate captains, such as Bart Roberts, lasted more than a year or two.’ Author’s collection.
92. Capt Edward England. A sketch of the pirate Edward England. He was reported to be kind hearted, and did not abuse his prisoners. He was removed as captain by his crew, and spent his final days in poverty and repentance at St Mary’s Island, Madagascar. Author’s collection.
93. Anne Bonny and Mary Read. These two women served as part of the crew on ‘Calico’ Jack Rackam’s ship. There were extremely few female pirates in the West, so they gained considerable fame. They were captured along with the rest of Rackam’s crew, and condemned to death. But both were pregnant, and so were spared the noose. Author’s collection.
94. Capt Bart Roberts. Roberts was one of the most successful pirate captains, taking around 400 ships. He also managed to remain as captain for some four years, before being killed in 1722 on the coast of West Africa. Roberts was unusual in maintaining discipline on his ships, and was reportedly a non drinker. Author’s collection.
95. Captain George Lowther. Lowther is shown watching as his ship is careened. This was a difficult task in which the ship was heeled over, and the barnacles and weed scraped and burnt off the hull. Unfortunately for Lowther, his ship was taken in 1723 as it was being careened. Lowther escaped into the jungle where he was found dead with a pistol by his side. Author’s collection.
96. Captain Edward Low. An appropriate image of Edward Low, his twisting body reflecting his twisted personality. Low was an unusually cruel pirate captain, often torturing and killing his captives. He seems to have been an unbalanced individual, but he was caught and hung by the French in 1726. Author’s collection.
97. ‘Henry Morgan recruiting for the attack.’ Author’s collection.
98. ‘Morgan at Porto Bello.’ Author’s collection.
99. ‘The sacking of Panama.’ A romantic vision of the ruthless sacking of Panama in 1671 by Henry Morgan and his buccaneers. Author’s collection.
100. ‘Blackbeard buries his treasure.’ Blackbeard was rumoured to have buried his treasure on or near Mulberry Island, Chesapeake Bay. If he did, it has not yet been found.’ Author’s collection.
101. Captain Teach. A portrait of Blackbeard. According to Captain Charles Johnson, Blackbeard did have a long, bushy beard, and he did set fire to lighted matches under his hat, and he did carry three brace of pistols in bandoliers. Author’s collection.
102. Captain Avery. A portrait of the pirate Henry Avery or Every. Avery was also called Long Ben, meaning that he was unusually tall. The picture relates to Avery’s greatest feat in taking two very valuable ships from India. One of these ships did belong to the Moghul emperor of India, Aurangzeb. Author’s collection.
103. ‘Kidd at Gardiner’s Island.’ Author’s collection.
104. The Royal Ann. A typical Royal Navy first rate. Rates were measured by the number of guns they carried – a first rate carried from 80 to 110 guns. The large crew of 780 men was required mainly to work the guns. These ships were not useful for chasing pirates because they were slow sailors, and could not enter rivers or go close to land. Author’s collection.
105. The Captain’s bridge protected by a grill against Chinese pirates in the 1920s and 30s. Author’s collection.
106. Anti-pirate guard ready for action against Chinese pirates in the 1920s and 30s. Author’s collection.
107. Lai Choi San. A well known female Chinese pirate in the 1920s, who commanded a fleet of 11 junks. She was to be obeyed, and obeyed she was. Author’s collection.
108. Lai Choi San had singled out a large black junk with three yellow sails. Author’s collection.
109. Lai Choi San’s junk ready for action. Author’s collection.
110. Two men bound hand and foot on Lai Choi San’s junk afetr action. Author’s collection.
&
nbsp; 111. Some distance to starboard lay the sinking junk – a victim of Lai Choi San. Author’s collection.
112. Houses in the pirate lair of Bias Bay, near Hong Kong. Author’s collection.
113. The house of torture in Bias Bay, the pirate lair near Hong Kong. Author’s collection.
114. The powder magazine onboard Lai Choi San’s junk. Author’s collection.
115. A typical pirate onboard Lai Choi San’s junk. Author’s collection.
CHAPTER PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
* ‘Band of armed pirates.’ Author’s collection.
* Skull and cross bones taken from a Howard Pyle illustration (cover design). Author’s collection.
* ‘A pirate takes aim.’ Author’s collection.
* A woodcut of the execution of one of Avery’s crew in 1696. Author’s collection.
* Different versions of pirate flags. Author’s collection.
* A woodcut of the execution of one of Avery’s crew in 1696. Author’s collection.
* ‘On the Tortugas.’ Henry Pitman, perhaps the model for Robinson Crusoe, was stranded on Salt Tortuga Island with others in 1687. Author’s collection.
* Captain Teach. A portrait of Blackbeard. Author’s collection.
* Avery is presented here as the king of Madagascar. Author’s collection.
* A portrait of Anne Bonny (or Bonn), who served on Captain Jack Rackam’s ship. Courtesy of Joel Baer.
* Captain Bartholomew Roberts, one of the most successful pirates. Courtesy of Joel Baer.
* ‘A pirate takes aim.’ Author’s collection.
* Different versions of pirate flags. Author’s collection.
* ‘A pirate takes aim.’ Author’s collection.
* This pirate captain was known as ‘Calico’ Jack Rackam, due to his penchant for wearing white calico clothes. Courtesy of Joel Baer.
* ‘Band of armed pirates.’ Author’s collection.
* A woodcut of the execution of one of Avery’s crew in 1696. Author’s collection.
* ‘Pirates carrying treasure.’ Author’s collection.
MAPS
All are taken from the author’s collection.
Maps
1 The Carribean and the Americas.
Top: 2a The east coast of North America.
Bottom: 2b South America.
3 The Mediterranean.
4 The west coast of Africa, and Madagascar (inset).
5 Arabia, India, China, and the East Indies.
Notes
CHAPTER 1: THE PIRATE WORLD
1. Captain Charles Johnson, A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most Notorious Pirates, originally published 1724, London, Conway Maritime Press edition, Introduction by David Cordingly, 1998, 2002 [hereafter Johnson], p.265.
It is significant that Johnson goes out of his way to say that the account of this mock trial was given to him by someone who was actually present, that Johnson describes the precise clothing worn by the judge of the mock trial, and that Johnson reiterates: ‘This is the trial just as it was related to me…’ p.266.
2. Cordingly, ‘Introduction’, Johnson, pp.vii – xiv. Defoe seems not to have been Johnson. High Court of Admiralty [hereafter HCA], Admiralty [hereafter ADM], and Colonial Office [hereafter CO], records are held by the Public Record Office [hereafter PRO], Kew Gardens, London, England. First hand accounts, especially of the South Sea men, from the Sloane collection, are found in the British Library [hereafter BL], London, England. There are many excellent books on the pirates, but tribute should be paid to the first good overview, which is Philip Gosse, The History of Piracy, first published in 1932. Other fine books are listed in the footnotes and bibliography.
3. Several other authors of pirate stories for children exist, including, for example, Captain Marryat (1792–1848) and more recently, Arthur Ransome (1884–1967).
4. For example, Brad Strickland and Thomas Fuller, The Guns of Tortuga, New York, Aladdin Books, 2003, part of the teenage Pirate Hunter Series.
5. Such as Howard Pyles’ Book of Pirates, New York and London, Harper and Brothers, 1921. Some of the illustrations for the present book come from this work.
6. Among many publications, the following recent titles may be mentioned: Robert Ritchie, Captain Kidd and the War against the Pirates, 1986; David Cordingly, Under the Black Flag: the Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates, 1996; Aubrey Burl, Black Barty: Bartholomew Roberts and his Pirate Crew, 1718–1723, 1997; C.R. Pennell, ed., Bandits at Sea: A Pirates Reader, 2001; Richard Zacks, The Pirate Hunter: the True Story of Captain Kidd, 2002; Jacques Heers, The Barbary Corsairs: Warfare in the Mediterranean, 1480–1580, 2003 (translated from the French, originally published 2001); Peter Earle, The Pirate Wars, 2004; Diana and Michael Preston, A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: Explorer, Naturalist, and Buccaneer: the Life of William Dampier, 2004; Marcus Rediker, Villains of all Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age, 2004; Joel Baer, Pirates of the British Isles, 2005; and Angus Konstam, Blackbeard: America’s Most Notorious Pirate, 2006. For modern piracy, there is John Burnett, Dangerous Waters: Modern Piracy and Terror on the High Seas, 2002.
7. Richard Burgess, ‘Account of the Proceedings of the Essex prize …’ 13 August 1699, f. 74; deposition of Thomas Gulluck, f. 67; CO 323/3, PRO.
8. Johnson, pp.180–181.
9. Ibid, pp.278, 287–288, and 319 for old hands’ suspicion of new pirates.
10. Ibid, pp.314–315, 322–323.
11. Ibid, pp.182–183.
12. Charles Johnson, The History of the Lives and Bloody Exploits of the Most Noted Pirates: Their Trials and Executions, Guilford, Connecticut, Lyons Press, 2004, pp.128–129. This volume is a reprint of part of the 1726 edition of Johnson’s A General History of the … Pyrates, with added material.
13. The ideological background to Atlantic piracy is the argument of Marcus Rediker, Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age, Beacon Press, Boston, 2004, passim. For Roberts’ ideas, Johnson, p.213.
14. For James, information from Thomas Jones, Captain of the Ronoke, 4 August 1699, folio 110, CO 323/3, PRO.
15. Cited in Aubrey Burl, Black Barty: Bartholomew Roberts And His Pirate Crew, 1718–1723, Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2006, p.37. On revenge, Rediker, op cit, pp.86–87.
16. Deposition of Joseph Smollett, 1721, ff. 11–12; deposition of John Stephenson, 9 November 1721, f. 5, HCA 1/55, PRO. On Hamlin, ‘Journal of Captain Charles Carlile in His Majesty’s ship the Francis, 18 August 1683, Gosse /6, Gosse Collection, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England.
17. Thomas Lawrence, deposition, 13 February 1723, HCA 1/55; Captain George Martin, HMS Lizard, to Admiralty, 1701, M papers, 1698–1701, ADM 1/2090, PRO.
18. Angus Konstam, Blackbeard: America’s Most Notorious Pirate, Wiley, Hoboken, New Jersey, 2006, pp.257–258, 267–268, 271–272.
19. Examination of Richard Moor, 31 October 1724, HCA 1/55, PRO.
20. Deposition of Thomas Lawrence Jones, 13 February 1723, HCA 1/55, PRO. Johnson, pp.194–195.
21. Deposition of Thomas Lawrence Jones, op cit; Johnson, op cit, pp.262 ff, 194. Johnson mixes up Jones’ name on p.262, calling him ‘Bones’ in the Anstis chapter. It is also on this island that Johnson relates the story of the mock trial, related to Johnson by a participant, op cit, pp.265–266.
22. Johnson, pp.314–315, 317.
23. Ibid, pp.278, 287–288.
24. Ibid, pp.180–181. Johnson noted that the original articles had been thrown overboard when Roberts’ crew feared capture, and wondered if these originals had contained something worse. The articles actually mentioned by Johnson had been related to him, presumably by some of Roberts’ pirates.
25. Aubrey Burl, Black Barty, pp.185–186.
26. Ibid, pp.127 –128.
27. ‘Journal of our Intended Voyage’, Sloane ms 2752, f. 53, BL. Diana and Michael Preston, A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: Explorer, Naturalist, and Buccaneer: The Life of William Dampier, Walker and Company,
New York, pp.102–103.
28. John Strong, ‘Voyage to the Straits of Magellan, 1689–1690’, Sloane ms 3295, f. 78, BL.
29. Deposition of Joseph Turner, 12 January 1716, f. 37, HCA 1/54, PRO.
30. Examination of Robert Mason, 27 May 1699, CO 5/1258, PRO.
31. Diana and Michael Preston, A Pirate of Exquisite Mind, p.313; Rogozinski, Dictionary of Pirates, Wordsworth, Ware, Herts., 1995, Selkirk entry; David Cordingly, Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates, (1996) Random House, New York, 2006, pp.139–140.
32. The Pitman story is related by Tim Severin, Seeking Robinson Crusoe, MacMillan, London, 2002.
33. John Elting, Swords Around A Throne: Napoleon’s Grande Armee, Free Press, New York and London, 1988, chapter 30; N.A.M. Rodger, The Wooden World: An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 1986, p.77; Cordingly, Under the Black Flag, p.67.
34. David N. Ford, Royal Berkshire History, Nash Ford Publishing, Finchampstead, Berkshire, 2005.
35. Cordingly, Under the Black Flag, pp.72–74, citing information from Ann Chambers, Granuaille: the Life and Times of Grace O’Malley, 1530–1603, Dublin 1979.
36. Cordingly, Under the Black Flag, pp.74–75; M.J. Rodriguez–Salgado, Armada 1588–1988, Penguin Books, London, 1988, p.266. Bingham, who died in 1599, appears to have been a ruthless and zealous supporter of Elizabeth in Ireland.
37. Johnson, pp.180–181, 315, 278. On the Red Sea pirates’ treatment of women, see chapter 6, and Joel Baer, Pirates of the British Isles, Tempus Publishing, Stroud, 2005, p.102.
38. See B.R. Burg, Sodomy and the Perception of Evil: English Sea Rovers in the Seventeenth–century Caribbean, New York, 1983; Hans Turley, Rum, Sodomy and the Lash: piracy, sexuality, and masculine identity, New York, 1999.