Under the Black Flag

by David Cordingly

  21. Ibid.

  22. CSPC, volume 1712–14, no. 651.

  23. CO.152/14, f 289, PRO.

  24. ADM.51/954, part VII, PRO.

  25. Johnson, p. 326.

  26. CSPC, volume 1719–20, no. 34.

  27. The Boston News Letter, July 15 to 22, 1717. I am grateful to William Gilkerson (op. cit.) for explaining the technical terms associated with weapons.

  28. CO.152/12, no. 136 (vi), PRO.

  29. CO.152/12, no. 67 (ii), PRO.

  30. CSPC, volume 1710–11, no. 177.

  31. The Boston Gazette, April 27 to May 4, 1724.

  32. CO.23/13, f 221, PRO.

  33. CO.152/12, no. 136 (ii), PRO.

  34. The Last Speech and Dying Words of Richard Luntly, Carpenter Aboard the Eagle Snow (Edinburgh, 1721). There is a copy in the Caird Library, NMM.

  Chapter 7

  1. The details of Gow’s life are taken from news items in The London Journal for February 12, 1724/5, March 6, 1724/5, March 13, 1724/5, March 20, 1724/5, March 27, 1724/5, April 3, 1725, May 29, 1725, and June 5, 1725; and from Johnson; and Daniel Defoe’s An Account of the Conduct and Proceedings of the Late John Gow, Alias Smith (London, 1725). A limited edition of Defoe’s Account of the Conduct and Proceedings of the Late John Gow edited by John Russell (London, 1920) has a useful commentary and notes.

  2. Defoe, An Account of the Conduct and Proceedings of the Late John Gow (ed. Russell; London, 1920), p. 35.

  3. The London Journal, June 5, 1725.

  4. Walter Scott’s The Pirate was first published in 1821. It was adapted for the stage and proved popular with the theatergoing public in the 1820s.

  5. Deposition of Nathaniel Catling, CO.37/10, no. 10 (v), PRO.

  6. Deposition of Edward North, CO.37/10, no. 10 (ii), PRO.

  7. CSPC, volume 1720–21, no. 463 (iii).

  8. Ibid.

  9. Deposition of Robert Leonard, CO.152/12, no. 136 (vi), PRO.

  10. CSPC, volume 1724–25, no. 102.

  11. I am grateful to Richard Pennell for bringing this news item to my attention. For another account of walking the plank, see The Mariners Mirror, volume 80, 1994, p. 224.

  12. Exquemelin, p. 152.

  13. Earle, The Sack of Panama, p. 74.

  14. Ibid., p. 75.

  15. Ibid., p. 79.

  16. Exquemelin, p. 155.

  17. Rediker, p. 216.

  18. Ibid., p. 219.

  19. Ibid.

  20. Ibid., p. 220.

  21. Ibid., p. 225.

  22. Dow and Edmonds, p. 325.

  23. HCA.1/99.3, PRO.

  24. Rodger, p. 227.

  25. Ibid., p. 227.

  26. News item from London concerning a trial at the Old Bailey, The Boston Gazette, August 14 to 21, 1721.

  27. The London Journal, May 14, 1726.

  28. CO.23/1, no. 18, ff75–82, PRO.

  29. CO.23/13, f 221, PRO.

  30. Johnson, p. 75.

  31. CO.1/57, f 381, PRO.

  32. See Backschreider, pp. 412–36.

  33. The Rev. Mark Noble, quoted in Moore, p. 223.

  34. Rogers, p. 94. Rogers’ description of the rescue of Selkirk is reproduced in an appendix to the Penguin Classics edition of Robinson Crusoe, edited by Angus Ross (London, 1985).

  35. Rogers, p. 92.

  36. Ibid.

  Chapter 8

  1. Dr. Emmanuel Heath, A Full Account of the Late Dreadful Earthquake at Port Royal … by the Minister of That Place (London, 1692).

  2. Letter from Edmund Edlyne, Jamaica, June 20, 1692, quoted in H. J. Cadbury, “Quakers and the Earthquake at Port Royal, 1692,” Jamaica Historical Review.

  3. Letter from John Pike, Spanish Town, Jamaica, June 19, 1692, ibid.

  4. Pawson and Buisseret, p. 98.

  5. John Taylor, writing in 1687, quoted by Pawson and Buisseret, p. 109.

  6. Ibid., p. 119.

  7. Quoted by Clinton Black in his book Port Royal: A History and Guide (Jamaica, 1970; cited 1988 revised edition), p. 17.

  8. Commission and Instructions for Captain Jonathan Barnet, issued by Lord Hamilton, Governor of Jamaica, November 24, 1715. CO.137/12, no. 78 (i), f 231. PRO.

  9. Black (op. cit.),p. 48.

  10. Pawson and Buisseret, p. 142.

  11. Johnson.

  12. There is an excellent description of the pirate settlements on Madagascar in Ritchie, pp. 80–86, 112–16.

  13. Quoted by Mitchell, p. 192.

  14. Rogers, p. 307.

  15. Uring, p. 241.

  16. Dampier, volume II, p. 156.

  17. Jeremy Dummer was the agent in Massachusetts Bay: CSPC, volume 1719–20, no. 578.

  18. Dampier, volume II, p. 155.

  19. CSPC, volume 1717–18, no. 104.

  20. Report to Secretary Addison, November 21, 1717. CSPC, volume 1717–18, no. 220.

  21. CSPC, volume 1717–18, no. 64.

  22. Details taken from C. E. Manwaring’s Introduction to Rogers, pp. vii-xi.

  23. Rogers, entry for December 22, 1709, p. 215.

  24. Report from Secretary Addison to the Council of Trade and Plantations, September 3, 1717 (CSPC, volume 1717–18, no. 64).

  25. Governor Woodes Rogers to the Council of Trade and Plantations, October 31, 1718 (CSPC, 1717–18, no. 737).

  26. A full account of the trial is in the Public Record Office, Kew: The Trial of Ten Pirates at Nassau in the Bahamas (CO.23/1, no. 18, ff 75–82, PRO).

  27. CO.23/1, no. 18, f 81v. PRO.

  28. CSPC, volume 1720–21, no. 390.

  29. CSPC, volume 1719–20, no. 31.

  30. G. E. Manwaring’s Introduction to Rogers, p. xiv, note 3.

  Chapter 9

  1. Letter from the Milford Galley, which was present when Woodes Rogers’ flotilla arrived at Nassau, printed in The Whitehall Evening Post, London, October 18, 1718.

  2. Johnson, p. 115.

  3. Ibid., p. 307.

  4. Ibid., p. 229.

  5. Exquemelin, part IV, p. 417.

  6. CSPC, volume 1711–12, no. 335.

  7. Rediker, p. 228.

  8. These figures are taken from notes on pirate attacks compiled from contemporary newspapers, reports from colonial governors, trial documents, depositions of seamen attacked by pirates (in the Public Record Office), and Johnson.

  9. For details of naval vessels see: Lyon; Lavery, The Ship of the Line; E.H.H. Archibald, The Wooden Fighting Ship in the Royal Navy, AD 897–1860 (London, 1968).

  10. Robert Gardiner, The Line of Battle: The Sailing Warship 1650–1840 (London, 1992), p. 51.

  11. Baker, p. 108.

  12. Ibid., p. 110.

  13. Ralph Davis, The Rise of the English Shipping Industry in the 17th and 18th Centuries, (Newton Abbot, 1962).

  14. Arthur Middleton, Tobacco Coast: A Maritime History of Chesapeake Bay in the Colonial Era (Baltimore, 1984), Appendix E.

  15. CO.152/12, no. 67 (iii), PRO.

  16. Johnson, p. 72.

  17. CSPC, volume 1717–18, no. 556.

  18. CO/152/13, f 282, PRO.

  19. CO.152/12, no. 136 (i), PRO.

  20. Ritchie, p. 58.

  21. Deposition of James Blois, February 24, 1718. CO.152/12 no. 136 (ii), PRO.

  22. Vanderbilt; Clifford and Turchi.

  23. For a study of pirate films and swashbucklers, see Richards; and Parish and Stanke.

  24. Quoted by Parish and Stanke, p. 64.

  25. Richards, p. 251.

  26. Ibid.

  27. Flynn (1961 paperback edition); and Thomas.

  28. Robertson, p. 34.

  29. Rudy Behlmer, Inside Warner Bros. (New York, 1985) p. 25.

  30. Ibid.

  31. Robertson, p. 55.

  Chapter 10

  1. The details of this example of buried treasure are taken from three depositions in the Public Record Office, Chancery Lane: Information of Morgan Miles of Swansea, and William Doale of Bristol, and Joseph Spollet of Devon. HCA.1/55, f 9,
10, 11, PRO.

  2. Ibid.

  3. The account of Captain Kidd given here is taken from: Brooks; Johnson; Hill, pp. 113–22; and Ritchie.

  4. Quoted by Ritchie, p. 102.

  5. Brooks, p. 40.

  6. Barlow.

  7. Brooks, p. 70.

  8. Ibid., p. 71.

  9. Ibid., p. 28.

  10. Ibid., p. 27.

  11. Ritchie, p. 192.

  12. Ibid., p. 193.

  13. Quoted by Linebaugh, p. 28.

  14. Brooks, p. 187.

  15. Ritchie, p. 231.

  16. Johnson, p. 87. The logbook of Lieutenant Hicks of HMS Pearl notes that 732 pounds of bread, and 6,487 pounds of cocoa, “besides whats in cask,” were brought back by Maynard’s expedition (ADM/L/ P32, NMM).

  17. A list of items recovered from the wreck of the Whydah is in the Appendix of Clifford and Turchi, pp. 205–14.

  18. Rediker, pp. 256 and 281.

  19. Report from Governor Lawes of Jamaica, 24 August 1720 (CSPC, volume 1720–21, no. 213).

  Chapter 11

  1. ADM.51/4250, PRO.

  2. ADM/L/P32, NMM.

  3. Johnson, p. 78.

  4. CSPC, volume 1717–18, no. 800, p. 430.

  5. Johnson, p. 78. Robert Maynard was made lieutenant on January 14, 1707. From 1709 he was third lieutenant on HMS Bedford. He became first lieutenant of HMS Pearl in 1716. He was promoted to commodore in 1739, and to captain in 1740. He died in 1750.

  6. Letter of Captain Ellis Brand to the Admiralty, February 6, 1718/19, ADM 1/1472, PRO.

  7. A letter from Maynard to Lieutenant Symonds of HMS Phoenix, the station ship at New York, was published by The Weekly Journal or British Gazetteer on April 25, 1719. It is quoted, together with much other valuable documentation, in Lee, p. 233.

  8. Johnson, p. 80.

  9. Lee, p. 233.

  10. The Boston News Letter, February 23 to March 2, 1719. The report was brought by a sloop from North Carolina on February 12. The same issue of the newspaper contains additional information from a letter sent from North Carolina on December 17.

  11. Lee, p. 234.

  12. ADM/L/P32, NMM.

  13. An illustrated booklet with the text of the play is available from Pollock’s Toy Theatres Ltd., Scala Street, London.

  14. CSPC, volume 1717–18, no. 556.

  15. CSPC, volume 1720–21, no. 251 (i).

  16. CSPC, volume 1717–18, no. 271.

  17. CSPC, volume 1717–18, no. 575.

  18. Rediker (1989 paperback edition), p. 256.

  19. These figures are taken from Pawson and Buisseret; and Constance Green, American Cities in the Growth of the Nation (London, 1957).

  20. Rediker, p. 256.

  21. For an excellent survey of the British government’s measures against piracy see Ritchie, pp. 140–54; see also R. Marsden (ed.), The Law and Custom of the Sea, volume II (Navy Records Society, 1916); and Gosse, pp. 315–17; and Statutes of the Realm.

  22. For a detailed account of the trial see Dow and Edmonds, pp. 99–115.

  23. Ibid., p. 112.

  24. Governor Bennett of Bermuda issued a certificate of pardon based on the wording of the royal proclamation:

  To all whom these presents may concern

  Whereas His most Sacred Majesty George King of Great Britain France and Ireland by His Royal Proclamation bearing Date the Fifth day of Septr. 1717 and in the fourth year of His Said Majesty’s Reign hath been graciously pleased to declare that if any Pirate and Pirates shall by the time therein limited Surrender him or themselves to one of His said Majesty’s Principal Secretarys of State in Great Britain or Ireland or to any Govr. or Deputy Govr. of his said Majesty’s Plantations or Dominions every such Pirate and Pirates so Surrendering him or themselves as aforesd. Should have His most gracious Pardon of and for such his or their Piracy & Piracys by him or them comitted as more fully and at large appears by the said Proclamation.

  These are therfore to Certifye till His Majesty’s Pardon can be made out that hath on this day arrived in these His Majesty’s Islands of Bermuda and Surrendered himself to me the Govr. and Vice Admiral aforesaid Accordingly.

  Given under my hand and Publick Seal of these Islds this day of in the fourth Year of His Majesty’s Reign Anno Dom 1717/18.

  CO.37/10, no. 7. (i), PRO.

  25. Ibid.

  26. CO.137/13 no. 5 (i), PRO.

  27. CSPC, volume 1719–20, no. 33, PRO.

  28. CSPC, volume 1717–18, no. 556, PRO.

  29. CSPC, volume 1717–18, no. 9, PRO.

  30. See Lyon; Lavery, The Ship of the Line; and Christopher Lloyd, The British Seaman (London, 1968).

  31. ADM.8/14, PRO.

  32. CSPC, volume 1710–11, no. 782.

  33. Rediker, p. 49, note 85.

  34. Johnson, p. 66.

  35. Rodger, p. 98.

  36. CSPC, volume 1717–18, no. 64.

  37. ADM.8/14, PRO.

  38. Captain’s log of HMS Swallow, ADM.51/954, PRO.

  39. John Charnock, Biographia Novalis, (London, 1795), volume III, pp. 402–07. See also a useful entry in the Dictionary of National Biography.

  40. The details of Captain Ogle’s search for Bartholomew Roberts and the final battle are taken from the following sources: Captain Ogle’s letters to the Admiralty, April 5, 1722, July 26, 1722, and September 8, 1722, ADM. 1/2242, PRO; captain’s log of HMS Swallow ADM.51/954, PRO; lieutenant’s log of HMS Swallow, ADM/L/S564, NMM; Proceedings of Court Held on the Coast of Africa upon Trying of 100 Pyrates Taken by HMS Swallow, HCA. 1/99.3, PRO; The London Journal, April 3,1725; and Johnson, pp. 232–55.

  41. Johnson, p. 224.

  42. Ibid., p. 234.

  43. ADM. 1/2242, PRO.

  44. ADM/L/S564, NMM.

  45. ADM. 1/2242, PRO.

  46. HCA. 1/99.3, PRO.

  47. Ibid.

  48. CSPC, volme 1722–23, no. 76.

  49. Ibid.

  50. The details of this action are taken from Dow and Edmonds, pp. 292–93; and Johnson, pp. 328–29.

  51. CSPC, volume 1722–23, no. 606.

  52. The Boston Gazette, August 19 to 26, 1723.

  53. Ritchie, p 152.

  54. CO. 137/12, no. 78 (i-iii), PRO.

  55. Ibid.

  56. CSPC, volume 1720–21, no. 288.

  57. For details of this action see the report of the Governor and Council of South Carolina to the Council of Trade and Plantations, CSPC, volume 1717–18, no. 730; and Johnson.

  58. See Deposition of Walter Moor of the Sloop Eagle, CO.152/14, f 259, PRO; Johnson, pp. 315–17; and Dow and Edmonds, pp. 139–40.

  59. CO.152/14, f 259, PRO.

  60. See The Trial of Robert Corp and Henry Wynn, CO.152/14, f 292, PRO.

  Chapter 12

  1. Griffiths, volume 1, p. 281.

  2. The London Journal, July 27, 1728.

  3. Ibid., 5 June 1725.

  4. Report from Governor Hart, St. Christophers, June 1723. CSPC, volume 1722–23, no. 576.

  5. Quoted in Dow and Edmonds, p. 327. It is interesting to compare these costs with those incurred in the hanging of Captain Kidd: the Admiralty Marshal charged £4 for the transport in carts to the gallows; James Sherwood charged £10 for building the gibbet at Tilbury; Thomas Sherman charged £3.2s.6d for the gallows and £1.5s.2d to carry the body and hang it in chains; James Smith charged £4 for making the chains (ADM 1/3666, f 210, PRO).

  6. From figures compiled by Rediker, p. 283.

  7. Quoted by Senior, p. 19.

  8. These figures are taken from: contemporary newspapers; reports from the colonial governors in Calendar of State Papers and in documents at the Public Record Office; trial documents; Johnson; Dow and Edmonds.

  9. Whitehall Evening Post, February 17,1719.

  10. CSPC, volume 1722–23, no. 142.

  11. CO.5/867,f10,PRO.

  12. Johnson, p. 107.

  13. This account of the trial of Roberts’ crew is taken from: Proceedings o
f Court Held on the Coast of Africa upon Trying of 100 Pyrates Taken by HMS Swallow, HCA.1/99.3, PRO; and Captain Chaloner Ogle’s letters to the Admiralty, ADM. 1/2242, PRO; captain’s log of HMS Swallow, ADM.51/954, PRO; and lieutenant’s log of HMS Swallow, ADM/L/ S564, NMM.

  14. Davis, pp. 240–45.

  15. Captain A. Dewar (ed.), The Voyages and Travels of Captain Nathaniel Uring (London, 1928), p. 106.

  16. Davis, p. 345; and James Walvin, The Slave Trade, p. 318.

  17. HCA.1/99.3, PRO.

  18. Ibid.

  19. Ibid.

  20. Ordinary of Newgate, His Account of the Behaviour, Confession, and Last Speech of Capt. Alexander Dolzell (London 1715). A copy is held at the NMM.

  21. Brooks, p. 49.

  22. Ibid., p. 50.

  23. Dow and Edmonds, p. 112.

  24. Vanderbilt, p. 105.

  25. Rev. Cotton Mather, Instructions to the Living from the Condition of the Dead. A Brief Relation of Remarkables in the Shipwreck of Above One Hundred Pirates Who Were Cast Away in the Ship Whido, on the Coast of New-England, April 26, 1717 … With Some Account of the Discourse Had with Them on the Way to Their Execution. And a Sermon Preached on Their Occasion (Boston, 1717). Vanderbilt quotes extensively from this pamphlet (pp. 106–12).

  26. There is a detailed account of the last days of Fly and his crew in Dow and Edmonds, pp. 335–37.

  27. CSPC, volume 1724–25, no. 102.

  28. The poem is quoted by Dow and Edmonds, p. 307.

  Afterword

  1. For information on modern piracy see: Eric Ellen, Piracy at Sea (International Maritime Bureau; London, 1992); Villar; Merchant Shipping Notice no. M1517, Piracy and Armed Robbery (HMSO; London, 1993).

  GLOSSARY OF

  SEA TERMS

  after Situated at the back or the stern part of a vessel.

  block and tackle An arrangement of pulleys and ropes used to raise heavy loads, and to increase the purchase on ropes used for the running rigging.

  boatswain, or bosun The warrant officer in charge of sails, rigging, anchors and associated gear.

  bowsprit A heavy spar pointing forward from the stem or front of the vessel.

  brace A rope used to control the horizontal movement of a square-sailed yard.

  brig A two-masted vessel, fully square-rigged on both masts, with a fore-and-aft sail on the lower part of the mainmast.