Pirates: A History

by Travers, Tim

  4. ‘Abstract of papers relating to Piracy in the East Indies’, 20 February 1697, B25, CO 323/2, PRO; Examination of Samuel Perkins, 25 August 1698, CO 323/2, PRO.

  5. ‘Notice from Bombay dated the 15th January 1696/7, and from Calicut dated the 30th November 1696’, in CO 323/2, PRO. Richard Zacks, The Pirate Hunter: the True Story of Captain Kidd, Hyperion, New York, 2002, pp.197–198, 308, 398.

  6. J. South, Dublin, 15 August 1696, A 35, CO 323/2, PRO; Earle, The Pirate Wars, Methuen, London, 2004, p.122.

  7. ‘Extract of a Letter to the East India Company from Captain Thomas Warren…’ 28 November 1697, CO 323/2, PRO.

  8. The Earl of Morton and the Hon. Charles Egerton, ‘To the Rt Honoble the Lords Committees of Trade’, 1708, CO 323/6, f. 195, PRO. ‘The humble Petition of the Pirates and Buckaneers of Madagascar … and their accomplices by Mary Read [et al]…’ ‘To the Queen’s Most Excett. Majestie’, December 1708, CO 323/6, ff. 197–198, PRO. Deposition of Penelope Aubin, 20 January 1709, f. 225, CO 323/6, PRO. Deposition of Elizabeth Woodford, Barbara Ramsey, and Ann Rupert, f. 225, January 1709, CO 323/6, PRO.

  9. On George Breholt, Captain George Martin, Royal Navy, to Lords of the Admiralty, 1701, ADM 1/2090, letter ‘M’, 1689–1701, PRO; on Breholt’s plan, John Dovey to Court of St James, 2 June 1709, f. 187, CO 323/6, PRO. It is possible that George Breholt existed separately and was the father or brother or other relation of John Breholt.

  10. Lawrence Waldron, deposition, 7 May 1709, f. 222, and Lawrence Waldron and John Clough, deposition, 16 January 1709, f. 223; CO 323/6, PRO.

  11. Marquis of Carmarthen to the Queen’s Council, 11 June 1709, ff. 188–189; and ‘Reasons humbly Offer’d by Peregrine, Marquis of Carmarthen…’ June 1709, f. 226; CO 323/6, PRO.

  12. Marquis of Carmarthen, ‘A Memorial for Suppressing the Pirates of Madagascar…’ ff. 220–221, 1709, CO 323/6, PRO.

  13. Duke of Leeds, Diary, 19 March 1705, 14 October 1708, 29 March 1712, Carmarthen Papers, Add. Ms. 28041, BL. It seems that Carmarthen separately got into trouble with a certain Mrs. Morton, which resulted in a hearing in the House of Commons, 12 July 1712, Ibid.

  14. Ibid., Duke of Leeds, Diary, 13 July 1710.

  15. Johnson, pp.25–26.

  16. Examination of William Bishop, 15 October 1696, f. 18, HCA 1/53, PRO.

  17. Ibid; Narrative of Philip Middleton, 4 August 1696, f. 114, CO 323/2; Examination of Philip Middleton, 21 November 1699, f. 70 ff., HCA 1/53; PRO. Philip Middleton was around 15 years old when examined, so aged about 13 or 14 during the voyage.

  18. Narrative of Philip Middleton, 4 August 1696, f. 114, CO 323/2; Examination of John Dann, 3 August 1696, ff. 250–256, CO 323/2; PRO. Other sources for the story include Examination of David Evans, 27 June 1696, f. 28, HCA 1/53; Examination of William Bishop, 15 October 1696, f. 18, HCA 1/53; Examination of John Dann, 8 September 1696; f. 10, HCA 1/53; Examination of Philip Middleton, 21 November 1696, f. 70, HCA 1/53; PRO.

  19. Narrative of Philip Middleton, 4 August 1696, f. 114, CO 323/2; Examination of John Dann, 3 August 1696, ff. 250–256, CO 323/2; PRO. Johnson, pp.32–33.

  20. Joel Baer, Pirates of the British Isles, Tempus Publishing, Stroud, 2005, p.125. Zacks, The Pirate Hunter, p.151. For opposite interpretations of Kidd, see Robert Ritchie, Captain Kidd and the War against the Pirates, Cambridge, Mass:, 1986, and Zacks, The Pirate Hunter. Ritchie sees Kidd as a pirate, Zacks sees Kidd as innocent. On Kidd as a severe captain, Thomas Pattle, chief factor at Karwar, cited in Charles Grey, Pirates of the Eastern Seas, ed. Sir George MacMunn, Kennikat Press, Port Washington and New York (1933), 1971, p.199.

  21. Zacks, The Pirate Hunter, p.361.

  22. Colonel Quarry, Philadelphia, 6 March 1699, f. 130; Captain Giles Shelley, f.132; Bartholomew Gracedieu to Lords Commissioners, received 7 May 1700, f. 158; Bartholomew Gracedieu, 9 May 1700, f. 162; CO 323/3, PRO.

  23. King in Council, 20 June 1700, f. 205, CO 323/3, PRO.

  24. Johnson, chapter on England, and p.88. There is confusion over Taylor’s first name – most books list him as John Taylor, but it is clear that his name was actually Richard Taylor, see deposition of Richard Moore, 31 October 1724, HCA 1/55, PRO; and Captain Laws to Duke of Portland, 24 April 1723, f. 314, CO 137/14, Part 2, PRO.

  25. Johnson, pp.84–89.

  26. Ibid, p.99.

  27. Clem Downing, deposition, 28 October 1724; supported by the deposition of Richard Moore, 31 October 1724; HCA 1/55, PRO.

  28. Earle, Pirate Wars, p.125. Duke of Portland to Lords Commissioners, 25 July 1723, and further discussion in ff. 269 and 272, CO 137/14, Part 2, PRO.

  29. Richard Moore, deposition, 31 October 1724, HCA 1/55, PRO. ‘Petition of the Pirates’, 10 April 1723, f.314; Captain Laws to Duke of Portland, 24 April 1723; Pirates second petition, 26 April 1723, f. 316; Captain Laws to Duke of Portland, 14 May 1723, f. 317; Duke of Portland, 21 May 1723, to Captain Laws, f. 317; Pirates to Captain Laws, 14 May 1723, f. 319, CO 137/14, Part 2, PRO.

  30. Duke of Portland to Lords Commissioners, 4 March 1723/4. f. 280; Captain Laws to Portland, 4 June 1723, f. 317; Pirates to Captain Laws, 14 May 1723, f. 317; CO 137/14, Part 2, PRO.

  31. Earle, Pirate Wars, pp.125–126; Johnson, p.102; Duke of Portland to Lord Cartaret, 24 July 1723, f. 221, and Governor of Panama, J.G. Badillo, to Portland, 5 October 1723, CO 137/14, Part 2, PRO. Charles Grey, Pirates of the Eastern Seas, pp.301, 314, argues that Johnson makes some errors in this story.

  32. Johnson, p.99–100; Zacks, The Pirate Hunter, pp.292–293; Botting, The Pirates, Time Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia, 1978, pp.76–77; Clement Downing, A History of the Indian Wars, 1737, ed. and Introduction by William Foster, Oxford University Press, 1924, pp.97–104; Charles Collins, deposition, 15 October 1724, f. 75; HCA 1/55, PRO. Conden’s name has also been spelt in other ways.

  33. J. Andrew, deposition, 1724, f. 94, HCA 1/55, PRO.

  34. Gosse, The History of Piracy, p.241. Information from various depositions: Charles Collins, 15 October 1724, f. 77; James Holmes, 1724, ff. 81–82; James Duffie, 1724, f. 87; Alex Farquharson, 22 October 1724, f. 90; HCA 1/55, PRO. It seems that the native taken aboard was dropped off at the Cape of Good Hope, along with two native boys, whether by choice or not is unclear.

  35. Clement Downing, A History of the Indian Wars, pp.105–122. On 1730 as the last of the pirates, see Charles Grey, Pirates of the Eastern Seas, p.53. It is curious that Plantain called his location ‘Ranter’ Bay, since the Ranters were a radical religious and political sect of the Puritan revolution in England in the 1640s – the name may indicate Plantain’s political views.

  CHAPTER 7: DEATH TO THE PIRATES

  1. Marcus Rediker, Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age, Beacon Press, Boston, 2004, p.127; Earle, The Pirate Wars, Methuen, London, 2004, pp.162, 207.

  2. Johnson, p.60.

  3. Ibid, pp.59–60.

  4. Ibid, p.61.

  5. Ibid, p.46. Is it possible, given Teach/Blackbeard’s comparative literacy, and command abilities, that Teach refers to Blackbeard’s original profession as teacher? Another name mentioned was ‘Titche’.

  6. Angus Konstam, Blackbeard: America’s Most Notorious Pirate, Wiley, Hoboken, New Jersey, 2006, chapter 3.

  7. Ibid, pp.157, 91.

  8. Ibid, pp.127–130.

  9. Ibid, chapters 5 and 7.

  10. Johnson, p.55.

  11. Konstam, Blackbeard, pp.256–257; Johnson, p.57.

  12. Konstam, Blackbeard, pp.270–274.

  13. See Earle, The Pirate Wars, p.173 on the functions of the quartermaster.

  14. Johnson, pp.107–108; Deposition by Hosea Tisdell, 18 January 1720, St. Jago de la Vega, Jamaica, p.24, CO 137/14, PRO.

  15. Konstam, Blackbeard, pp.119–120; Johnson, chapters on Read and Bonny.

  16. Konstam, Blackbeard, pp.120–122; ‘The Tryals of John Rackam and other Pirates’, 17 and 28 November 1720, St Jago de la Vega, Jamaica, pp.12–19, CO 137/14, PRO.


  17. ‘The Tryals of John Rackam and other Pirates’, 28 November 1720, St Jago de la Vega, p.18, CO 137/14, PRO. On cross dressing, see Rediker, Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age, Beacon Press, Boston, 2004, chapter 6.

  18. ‘The Tryals of John Rackam and other Pirates’, 28 November 1720, St Jago de la Vega, Jamaica, pp.18–19, CO 137/14, PRO; Johnson, pp.123–124.

  19. Johnson, p.131; Aubrey Burl, Black Barty: Bartholomew Roberts and his Pirate Crew, 1718–1723 (1997), Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2005, p.149.

  20. Johnson, pp.180, 183. Johnson devotes almost a third of his first volume to Roberts’ life, and knew a great deal about Roberts. For an over-view of Roberts generally, see Aubrey Burl, Black Barty.

  21. Burl, Black Barty, p.51, claims that Roberts was third mate of the Princess, while Johnson has Roberts as second mate, Johnson, p.161, and for Roberts’ quoted attitude, Johnson, pp.213–214. Roberts’ frequent drinking of toasts suggests that he was not quite a teetotaler. Similar sentiments on the difficulties of promotion come from the sailor Edward Barlow, in his journal, Basil Lubbock, ed. Barlow’s Journal of His Life at Sea, 2 vols., Hurst and Blackett, London, 1934.

  22. Johnson, p.160.

  23. Ibid, pp.171 ff.

  24. Ibid, p.173; Burl, Black Barty, pp.73 ff.

  25. Johnson, pp.173 ff.

  26. Ibid., pp.186 ff.

  27. Ibid., pp.190 ff.

  28. Ibid, pp.192–193.

  29. Ibid, pp.194–195.

  30. Ibid, pp.200–201.

  31. Ibid, pp.208–209. Captain Ogle to the Admiralty, 5 April 1722, ADM 1/2242, 1714–1731, Letter O, PRO.

  32. Johnson, pp.211–213; Ogle to Admiralty, 5 April 1721, op cit.

  33. Johnson, pp.209, 214; Mungo Herdman to Admiralty, 6 August 1723, ADM 1/1880, Letter H, PRO; John Atkins, A Voyage to Guinea, Brazil and the West Indies, (1735), Cass, London, 1970, pp.139, 192, 263.

  34. Johnson, pp.216–217; Ogle to Admiralty, 5 April 1722, and 8 September 1722, ADM 1/2242, 1714–1731, Letter O, PRO.

  35. Atkins, A Voyage to Guinea, Brazil and the West Indies, pp.193 ff; Ogle to Admiralty, 14 March 1726, ADM, 1/2242, 1714–1731, Letter O, PRO; Burl, Black Barty, p.260.

  36. Johnson, pp.255–259; Ogle to Admiralty, 26 July 1722, 1714–1731, ADM 1/2242, Letter O, PRO.

  37. Archibald Hamilton to Admiralty, 1723, 1720–1724, Letter H; Barrow Harris to Admiralty, 14 October 1723, 1719–1725, Letter H; ADM 1/1880, PRO. The Cork pirate ship was named The Old Noll, deposition 6 August 1748, 1736–1749, ff. 108 ff, HCA 1/57, PRO.

  38. Robert Harris, affidavit and deposition, 13 August 1722, ADM 1/2096, PRO.

  39. Lord Muskerry to the Lords of the Admiralty, 7 December 1722, ADM 1/2096, PRO.

  CHAPTER 8: THE BARBARY CORSAIRS OF NORTH AFRICA

  1. Jacques Heers, The Barbary Corsairs: Warfare in the Mediterranean, 1480–1580, (2001), translated by J. North, Greenhill Books, London, and Stackpole Books, Pennsylvania, 2003, pp.61–66.

  2. Ibid, p.86.

  3. Ibid, pp.87–89.

  4. Ibid, p.90.

  5. Robert C. Davis, Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast, and Italy, 1500–1800, Palgrave, Macmillan, London, 2004 pp.13–25.

  6. Curthio Mattei, surgeon of Lenola, Italy, referring to a raid of 4 July 1623, cited in Davis, Ibid, p.39.

  7. Davis, Ibid, pp.43–45; Ellen Friedman, Spanish Captives in North Africa in the Early Modern Age, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1983, chapter 2 and Conclusion.

  8. Cited in Davis, Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters, pp.47–48, 53.

  9. Ibid, p.52.

  10. Narrative of Richard Hasleton, cited in Daniel J.Vitkus, ed., Piracy, Slavery and Redemption: Barbary Captive Narratives from Early Modern England, Columbia University Press, New York, 2001, p.75.

  11. Davis, Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters, p.51.

  12. Ibid, p.53. A more favourable view of corsair behaviour comes from Peter Earle, Corsairs of Malta and Barbary, Sidgwick and Jackson, London, 1970, pp.64–65.

  13. Narrative of Joseph Pitts, cited in Vitkus, Piracy, Slavery and Redemption, pp.228–229.

  14. Davis, Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters, p.83.

  15. Ibid, p.127.

  16. Poem, 1624, cited in Vitkus, ed., Piracy, Slavery, and Redemption, p.346.

  17. Davis, Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters, pp.75–82, 129.

  18. Heers, Barbary Corsairs, pp.212–213.

  19. Davis, Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters, p.163.

  20. Earle, Corsairs of Malta and Barbary, p.90.

  21. Cited in Davis, Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters, p.187

  22. Heers, Barbary Corsairs, p.204.

  23. The story of Pellow’s escape is taken from Giles Milton, White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and North Africa’s One Million European Slaves, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 2004, chapters 10 and 12, and p.255 for Pellow as physician.

  24. George Penticost and John Butler, ‘A true relation of an Escape made out of Algier the fourth day of July 1640 out of the hands of the cruell Turks…’ ms. 3317, BL.

  25. W.H. Lewis, The Splendid Century: Life in the France of Louis XIV, Waveland, Prospect Heights, Illinois, 1997, p.114.

  26. Desmond Seward, The Monks of War: the Military Religious Orders, (1972), Penguin edition London, 1995, chapter 15.

  27. Earle, Corsairs of Malta and Barbary, chapters 6 and 7.

  28. Ibid, pp.152–153, and chapter 8.

  29. Ibid, p.270; Seward, Monks of War, p.310–311.

  30. Cited in Milton, White Gold, p.275

  31. Peter Earle, Corsairs of Malta and Barbary, London, 1970, pp.92–3; Linda Colley, Captives: Britain, Empire and the World, Pimlico, London, 2003, p.62; Christopher Lloyd, English Corsairs on the Barbary Coast, Collins, London, 1981, pp.28, 31; Peter Wilson, Pirate Utopias: Moorish Corsairs and European Renegades, Autonomedia, New York, 1995, 2003, p.40.

  32. W. Onley, ‘The Famous Sea-Fight between Captain Ward and the Rainbow’, ballad, London, 1680.

  33. Cited in Rogozinski, Dictionary of Pirates, entry for Ward.

  34. Jacques Heers, The Barbary Corsairs, pp.226–7, 149; Robert Davis, Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters, pp.42–3.

  35. Heers, p.162.

  36. Milton, White Gold, pp.81–2.

  37. Joseph Pitts, ‘A True and Faithful Account of the Religion and Manners of the Mahommetans …’(1704), in Vitkus, ed, Piracy, Slavery, and Redemption, pp.311–312.

  38. Ibid, p.313.

  39. C.R. Pennell, ed., Piracy and Diplomacy in Seventeenth Century North Africa: the Journal of Thomas Baker, English Consul in Tripoli, 1677–1685, Cranbury, New Jersey, 1989, pp.126, 133–4, 141, 132, 161.

  40. Davis, Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters, pp.125–127; Wilson, Pirate Utopias, pp.184–5.

  41. Pennel, ed., Piracy and Diplomacy, pp.141–2.

  42. On Peter Lyle/Lisle, Seton Dearden, A Nest of Corsairs: the Fighting Karamanlis of Tripoli, London, 1976, p.134.

  CHAPTER 9: PIRATES OF THE EASTERN SEAS

  1. Kwan-wai So, Japanese Piracy in Ming China during the Sixteenth Century, Michigan State University Press, East Lansing, 1975, passim; Philip Gosse, The History of Piracy, (1932), Rio Grande Press, Glorieta, New Mexico, 1995, p.265; Peter Lorge, ‘Water Forces and Naval Operations’, in David Graff and Robin Higham, eds., A Military History of China, Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 2002, pp.92–94.

  2. Ray Huang, 1587, A Year of No Significance: the Ming Dynasty in Decline, Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, 1981, chapter on Ch’i Chi-Kuang. Chi-Kuang, also transliterated as Qi Jianguang (1528–1588), wrote two lengthy military manuals, and went on to defend the northern border of China against the nomads.

  3. Peter Lorge, ‘Water Forces and Naval Operations’, in A Military History of China, p.93; A.G. Course, Pirates of the Eastern Seas, Muller, London, 1966, pp.130–132

  4. Course, Pirates of the Eastern Seas,
p.134; Peter Lorge, ‘Water Forces and Naval Operations’, in A Military History of China, p.94.

  5. Dian Murray, Pirates of the South China Coast, 1790–1810, Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1987, chapters 2 and 3.

  6. Ibid, p.78, for homosexual quote, and chapters 4 and 5 for information in this paragraph. China has a long tradition of female warriors, and this cultural trait probably led to the prevalence of female pirates and women onboard the pirate junks, Ibid, footnote 76, p.198.

  7. Ibid for Chang Pao; Cordingly and Falconer, Pirates Fact and Fiction, Collins and Brown, London, p.108, for story by Turner. This episode reminds the reader of L’Olonnais.

  8. Murray, Pirates of the South China Coast, pp.127, 131.

  9. Ibid, pp.63 ff.

  10. Ibid, chapter 8.

  11. Ibid, p.83 and chapter 5.

  12. Ibid, p.64 and chapter 5.

  13. Ibid, chapter 6.

  14. Report of Commander Dalrymple Hay, China Mail, 1 November 1849; Cordingly and Falconer, Pirates Fact and Fiction, pp.112–113, 117; Gosse, The History of Piracy, pp.281–282; Rogozinski, Dictionary of Pirates, entry for Chui Apoo.

  15. Basil Lubbock, ed., Barlow’s Journal of His Life at Sea, 2 vols:, Hurst and Blackett, London, 1934, vol. 2, pp.380–381, 486. Manohar Malgonkar, Kanhoji Angrey, Maratha Admiral, Asia Publishing House, London, 1959, p.132, and passim.

  16. Malgonkar, Kanhoji Angrey, chapter 27.

  17. Ibid, chapter 28. For Mr and Mrs Gifford, Clement Downing, A History of the Indian Wars, 1737, ed. William Foster, Oxford University Press, London, 1924, pp.41–42. Gosse, The History of Piracy, pp.236–237.

  18. Malgonkar, Kanhoji Angrey, chapter 42; Gosse, The History of Piracy, p.246; Downing, A History of the Indian Wars, pp.38, 56–57. It seems that the crew of one of Matthews’ ships, the Exeter, was much given to drunkenness, Peter Earle, The Pirate Wars, Methuen, London, 2004, p.125.

  19. Malgonkar, Kanhoji Angrey, pp.270, 120–124. Malgonkar gets the date of the capture of the Derby wrong by attributing this capture to Angrey in 1728, p.292. John Biddulph, The Pirates of Malabar, Smith Elder, London, 1907, chapter IX for Matthews, and chapter X for the Derby. Clement Downing, on the other hand, says the crew of the Derby fought bravely, A History of the Indian Wars, p.67.