34 chapters
7 hour read
Selected Chapters
34 chapters
THE HISTORY OF THE LIVES AND BLOODY EXPLOITS OF THE MOST NOTED PIRATES; THEIR Trials and Executions. INCLUDING A CORRECT ACCOUNT OF THE LATE PIRACIES COMMITTED IN THE WEST-INDIES, AND THE EXPEDITION OF COMMODORE PORTER; ALSO, THOSE COMMITTED ON THE BRIG MEXICAN, WHO WERE TRIED AND EXECUTED AT BOSTON, IN 1835.
THE HISTORY OF THE LIVES AND BLOODY EXPLOITS OF THE MOST NOTED PIRATES; THEIR Trials and Executions. INCLUDING A CORRECT ACCOUNT OF THE LATE PIRACIES COMMITTED IN THE WEST-INDIES, AND THE EXPEDITION OF COMMODORE PORTER; ALSO, THOSE COMMITTED ON THE BRIG MEXICAN, WHO WERE TRIED AND EXECUTED AT BOSTON, IN 1835.
The Ship Speaker taken by the Pirates.—Page 112 . Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1836, by Ezra Strong , in the Clerk’s office of the State of Connecticut....
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CAPTAIN MISSON.
CAPTAIN MISSON.
Captain Misson was born in Provence, of an ancient family. His father was master of a plentiful fortune; but having a great number of children, our rover had but little hopes of other fortune than what he could carve out for himself with his sword. His parents took care to give him an education equal to his birth, and upon the completion of it would have put him into the musketeers; but as he was of a roving temper, and much affected with the accounts he had read in books of travels, he chose th
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CAPTAIN JOHN BOWEN.
CAPTAIN JOHN BOWEN.
The exact time of this person’s setting out I am not certain of. I find him cruising on the Malabar coast in the year 1700, commanding a ship called the Speaker, whose crew consisted of men of all nations, and their piracies were committed upon ships of all nations likewise. The pirates here met with no manner of inconveniencies in carrying on their designs, for it was made so much a trade, that the merchants of one town never scrupled the buying commodities taken from another, though but ten mi
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CAPTAIN ROBERT KIDD.
CAPTAIN ROBERT KIDD.
We are now going to give an account of one whose name is well known in England. The person we mean is Capt. Kidd, whose public trial and execution here, rendered him the subject of all conversation, so that his actions have been chanted about in ballads. However, it is now a considerable time since these things passed, and though the people knew in general that Capt. Kidd was hanged, and that his crime was piracy, yet there were scarce any, even at that time, who were acquainted with his life or
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CAPTAIN TEW.
CAPTAIN TEW.
Before I enter on the adventures of this pirate I must take notice to the reader of the reasons which made me not continue the life of Misson. In reading the notes, which I have by me, relating to Capt. Tew, I found him joined with Misson; and that I must be either guilty of repetition, or give an account of Tew in Misson’s life, which is contrary to the method I proposed, that of giving a distinct relation of every pirate who has made any figure: and surely Tew, in point of gallantry, was infer
35 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CAPTAIN JOHN HALSEY.
CAPTAIN JOHN HALSEY.
John Halsey was a Boston man, of New-England, commanded the Charles, brigantine, and went out with a commission from the governor, to cruise on the banks of Newfoundland, where he took a French banker, which he appointed to meet him at Fayal; but missing his prize here, he went among the Canary Islands, where he took a Spanish barcalonga, which he plundered and sunk: from thence he went to the island of Bravo, one of the Cape-de-Verds, where he wooded and watered, turned ashore his lieutenant, a
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CAPTAIN THOMAS WHITE.
CAPTAIN THOMAS WHITE.
He was born at Plymouth, where his mother kept a public house. She took great care of his education, and when he was grown up, as he had an inclination to the sea, procured him the king’s letter. After he had served some years on board a man of war, he went to Barbadoes, where he married, got into the merchant service, and designed to settle in the island. He had the command of the Marygold brigantine given him, in which he made two successful voyages to Guinea and back to Barbadoes. In his thir
27 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CAPTAIN CONDENT.
CAPTAIN CONDENT.
Captain Condent was a Plymouth man born, but we are as yet ignorant of the motives and time of his first turning pirate. He was one of those who thought fit to retire from Providence, on Governor Rogers’ arrival at that island, in a sloop belonging to Mr. Simpson, of New-York, a Jew merchant of which sloop he was then quarter-master. Soon after they left the island, an accident happened on board, which put the whole crew into consternation. They had among them an Indian man, whom some of them ha
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CAPTAIN BELLAMY.
CAPTAIN BELLAMY.
As we cannot, with any certainty, deduce this man from his origin, we shall begin where we find him first a declared enemy to mankind. Capt. Bellamy and Paul Williams, in two sloops, had been upon a Spanish wreck, and not finding their expectation answered, they resolved not to lose their labour, and agreed to go upon the account , a term among the pirates, which speaks their profession. The first who had the misfortune to fall in their way, was Capt. Prince, bound from Jamaica to London, in a g
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CAPTAIN WILLIAM FLY.
CAPTAIN WILLIAM FLY.
As to the birth of this pirate, we can discover nothing by the inquiries we have hitherto made; and indeed had we succeeded in our search, it would have been of no great consequence; for it is certain by the behaviour of the man, he must have have been of very obscure parents; and by his education, (as he was no artist) very unfit in all respects, except that of cruelty, for the villaneous business he was in. We have been informed, that he had been in a pirate in a private capacity, and having e
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CAPTAIN THOMAS HOWARD.
CAPTAIN THOMAS HOWARD.
We have said, in another life, viz. White’s that he was a lighterman on the river Thames. His father was of that business, and had the character of a very honest man. After his father’s decease, he grew very extravagant, and squandered away not only what he had left his son, but what he had allotted for his widow, whose indulgence, putting every thing into her son’s hands, was followed by being herself turned out of doors, for he sold the house over her head. After having ruined himself and moth
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CAPTAIN LEWIS.
CAPTAIN LEWIS.
This worthy gentleman was an early pirate. We first find him a boy on board the pirate Banister who was hanged at the yard arm of a man of war in sight of Port Royal, Jamaica. This Lewis and another boy were taken with him, and brought into the island hanging by the middle at the mizen peak. He had a great aptitude for languages, and spoke perfectly well that of the Mosquil Indians, French, Spanish, and English. I mention our own, because it is doubted whether he was French or English, for we ca
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CAPTAIN JOHN CORNELIUS.
CAPTAIN JOHN CORNELIUS.
Having now the command of the Morning Star, Cornelius kept on the coast, and made several prizes, both English and Portuguese. The former he always discharged, after he had taken what he thought fit, but the latter he commonly burnt. While he was thus ravaging the coast, two English ships, which had slaved at Whidaw, one of 56 guns, and the other 12, which fought close, were ready to sail; and having notice of a pirate, who had done great mischief, resolved to keep company together for their def
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CAPTAIN DAVID WILLIAMS.
CAPTAIN DAVID WILLIAMS.
This man was born in Wales, of very poor parents, who bred him up to the plough and the following of sheep, the only things he had any notion of till he went to sea. He was never esteemed among the pirates as a man of good natural parts, perhaps on account of his ignorance of letters; for as he had no education, he knew as little of the sailing a ship, set aside the business of a foremast man, as he did of history, in which, and natural philosophy, he was equally versed. He was of a morose, sour
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CAPTAIN SAMUEL BURGESS.
CAPTAIN SAMUEL BURGESS.
Captain Samuel Burgess was born in New-York, and had a good education. He sailed some time in a privateer in the West-Indies, and very often, the gang he was with, when the time of their cruising was expired, would make no ceremony of prolonging the commission by their own authority. By his privateering he got together some little money, and returned home, where the government having no notice, or at least taking none, of his piratical practice, in staying beyond the date of his commission, he w
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CAPTAIN NATHANIEL NORTH.
CAPTAIN NATHANIEL NORTH.
Captain North was born at Bermuda, and was the son of a sawyer, which business he himself was bred up to, but took at last to the seas, at the age of 17 or 18, shipping himself cook on board a sloop, built at Bermuda, for some gentlemen of Barbadoes, with design to fit her out for a privateer. She was bound to her owners, but the master took Santa Udas in the way, and loaded with salt. When they came to Barbadoes, all the crew was pressed, and North with his companions were put on board the Rese
48 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
AN ACCOUNT
AN ACCOUNT
Of the piracies and cruelties of John Augur, William Cunningham, Dennis Mackarthy, William Dowling, William Lewis, Thomas Morris, George Bendall, and William Ling, who were tried, condemned, and executed at Nassau, (N. P.) on Friday, the 10th of December, 1718. Also, some account of the pirates, Vane, Rackham, and others. About the 20th of July, 1718, Mr. Woodes Rogers, Governor and Vice-Admiral of the Bahama Islands, being sent from England with the king’s proclamation and pardon for all pirate
47 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
MUTINY ON BOARD THE BRITISH SHIP KATE.
MUTINY ON BOARD THE BRITISH SHIP KATE.
The crew, 8 in number, of the ship Kate, Captain Purdy, landed in the island of Guadaloupe, on the 24th of January, 1821. They slept on the beach that night, and next morning a planter in the neighbourhood came to them, and brought them to his house. Their story was uniform, all said they belonged to the American ship Retrieve, Capt. Jacob Hawes, belonging to Messrs. Suydam & Wyckoff, merchants, of New-York; that after 6 weeks boisterous weather, not being able to keep the ship free, she
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
LIST OF ATROCIOUS PIRACIES AND BARBARITIES.
LIST OF ATROCIOUS PIRACIES AND BARBARITIES.
The brig Cobbessecontee, Capt. Jackson, arrived yesterday from the Havana, sailed thence on the morning of the 8th ult. and on the evening of the same day, about four miles from the Moro, was brought to by a piratical sloop, containing about 30 men. A boat from her, with ten men, came along side, and soon after they got on board commenced plundering. They took nearly all the clothing from the Captain and mate—all the cooking utensils and spare rigging—unrove part of the running rigging—cut the s
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
U. S. BRIG SPARK.
U. S. BRIG SPARK.
“We arrived here, after a rather rough passage, in eighteen days from Boston, all well. We expect to sail again in two or three days. We found here the piratical ship which robbed the Orleans Packet. She is now in possession of the Swedish government. She came into their possession in the following manner:—The crew landed her cargo on a small island near this, from whence it was taken by a schooner to St. Thomas;—they then run the ship into Five Island Harbour, where all the crew, except two men
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PIRACY.
PIRACY.
In the early part of June I sailed from Philadelphia in the schooner Mary, on a voyage to New-Orleans. My principal object in going round by sea was the restoration of my health, which had been for many months declining. Having some friends in New-Orleans whose commercial operations were conducted on an extensive scale, I was charged with the care of several sums of money in gold and silver, amounting altogether to nearly eighteen thousand dollars. This I communicated to the captain, and we conc
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
BRIG DOVER.
BRIG DOVER.
Jan. 16, 1822, sea account, at 1 P. M.—Pan of Matanzas bearing S. saw a boat coming to us from a small drogher, which came out of Matanzas the night before us, with five Spaniards, armed with long knives, pistols, cutlasses, &c. When they got within hail, they fired a musket at us, cheered, and came on board. They were the most villanous looking rascals that any one had probably ever beheld. They immediately drew their weapons, and after beating us severely with their cutlasses, drove us
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PIRATES CAPTURED.
PIRATES CAPTURED.
Charleston, Feb. 12. —The four pirates brought into this port by the United States Porpoise, were landed yesterday from that vessel, and committed to prison. Three of them are Spaniards, the other a Portuguese; two of the former father and son, the son being only about 18 years of age. Charleston, Feb. 14, 1824. —The United States schooner Grampus, Lieut. Gregory, from a cruise of 4 months in the West-Indies and along the Spanish Main, arrived at our port yesterday morning, last from Santa Marth
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
LIEUT. ALLEN’S VICTORY AND DEATH.
LIEUT. ALLEN’S VICTORY AND DEATH.
“The gallant ALLEN is no more!—You witnessed the promptitude with which he hastened to relieve the vessels which I informed him had been captured off this port. He arrived just in time to save five sail of vessels which he found in possession of a gang of pirates, 300 strong, established in the Bay of Lejuapo, about 15 leagues east of this. He fell, pierced by two musket balls, in the van of a division of boats, attacking their principal vessel, a fine schooner of about eighty tons, with a long
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PIRATES ENTRAPPED.
PIRATES ENTRAPPED.
The British schooner Speedwell arrived at Nassau N. P. in November, bringing in 18 pirates, who had been captured by the Speedwell and her consort. The schooner had been disguised as a merchantman, and the pirates, taking her to be an easy prize, came carelessly along side of her, for the purpose of boarding, when she gave them a hot fire, and threw them into confusion. Many jumped overboard and were drowned; and with these and the killed, the loss of the pirates was about 15 or 16. The remainde
30 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
SAILING OF COMMODORE PORTER.
SAILING OF COMMODORE PORTER.
Yesterday Commodore PORTER left this port in the steam galley Enterprize, to join the squadron fitted out at Norfolk, for the purpose of suppressing piracy on the coast of Cuba. Every friend of humanity must wish that the efforts of the distinguished officer who has been selected to this command will be crowned with success. The means adopted are certainly the best calculated to effect the object. Frigates and sloops of war are totally inadequate, by means of their great draft of water; but the
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
EXECUTION OF THE PIRATES.
EXECUTION OF THE PIRATES.
Ten of the pirates captured by the British sloop of War Tyne, were executed at Kingston, Jamaica, on Friday, the 7th of February, 1823. About a quarter of an hour before day dawn, the wretched culprits were taken from the jail, under a guard of soldiers from the 50th regiment, and the City Guard. On their arrival at the wherry wharf, the military retired, and the prisoners, with the Town Guard were put on board two wherries, in which they proceeded to Port Royal Point, the usual place of executi
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PIRATES CAPTURED.
PIRATES CAPTURED.
The famous pirate, La Cata, was captured, off the Isle of Pines, about the 1st of March, 1823, by the British cutter Grecian, after a smart action. The cutter had 50 men—the pirate 100, and 8 guns; it was believed that about 30 of the crew of the latter were killed, but only three prisoners were made, the rest making their escape on shore. Considerable quantities of goods were found on board the prize. The Grecian conveyed the prisoners to Jamaica, where, it seems, there is more law to reach cas
26 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
LAFITTE, THE NOTED PIRATE, KILLED.
LAFITTE, THE NOTED PIRATE, KILLED.
A British sloop of war fell in with and captured a piratical vessel with a crew of sixty men, under command of the famous Lafitte . He hoisted the bloody flag and refused quarter, and fought until nearly every man was killed or wounded— Lafitte being among the former. The schooner Pilot, of Norfolk, was captured by the pirates off Matanzas, and her crew much abused; but they were put ashore, and the wretches went on a cruise in the prize, and captured and robbed two vessels, within two miles of
42 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
BATTLE WITH THE PIRATES.
BATTLE WITH THE PIRATES.
Almost every day furnished accounts evincing the activity of Commodore Porter, and the officers and men under his command; but for a long time their industry and zeal was rather shown in the suppression of piracy than the punishment of it. At length, however, an opportunity offered for inflicting the latter, as detailed in the following letter, dated Matanzas, July 10, 1823. “I have the pleasure of informing you of a brilliant achievement obtained against the pirates on the 5th inst. by two barg
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CAPTURE OF A PIRATICAL STATION IN CUBA.
CAPTURE OF A PIRATICAL STATION IN CUBA.
The U. S. schooners of war Greyhound and Beagle left Thompson’s Island, June 7, 1823, under the command of Lieuts. Kearney and Newton, and cruised within the Keys, on the south side of Cuba, as far as Cape Cruz, touching at all the intermediate ports on the island, to intercept pirates. On the 21st July, they came to anchor off Cape Cruz, and Lieut. Kearney went in his boat to reconnoitre the shore, when he was fired on by a party of pirates who were concealed among the bushes. A fire was also o
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PIRATES TAKEN AND EXECUTED.
PIRATES TAKEN AND EXECUTED.
A piratical vessel, and her crew of thirty-eight men were captured off Matanzas on the 16th May, 1825, by a British cutter and a steamboat fitted out at that place. Several of the pirates were killed, and the rest sent to Havana for trial. It was ascertained that some of them had assisted in capturing more than twenty American vessels, whose crews were MURDERED !! An additional gang of pirates was hung at the same period, at Porto Rico.—Eleven at once. Mutiny on board the Vineyard. Page 28
33 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHARLES GIBBS, otherwise JAMES D. JEFFERS, AND THOMAS I. WANSLEY.
CHARLES GIBBS, otherwise JAMES D. JEFFERS, AND THOMAS I. WANSLEY.
This atrocious villain was a native of Providence in Rhode-Island. His true name was James D. Jeffers, but as he was more generally known as Charles Gibbs we shall give him that appellation. His adventures, excepting the crime for which he was finally hanged, are only known from his own admissions while under sentence of death, and our readers must judge for themselves how far they are to be credited. It appears from evidence legally taken, that the brig Vineyard sailed from New-Orleans about th
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PIRACIES ON THE BRIG MEXICAN.
PIRACIES ON THE BRIG MEXICAN.
On the 26th day of August, 1834, His Britannic Majesty’s brig of war Savage, from Portsmouth, England, arrived at Salem, Massachusetts, having on board sixteen of the crew of the piratical schooner Panda, which robbed the brig Mexican, of Salem, on the high seas, nearly two years since. The robbery committed upon the Mexican was one of the most audacious and cruel acts of piracy ever recorded. She was bound to Rio Janeiro from Salem; and was boarded by a piratical schooner under Brazilian colors
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter