A GENUINE ACCOUNT OF FOUR NOTORIOUS PIRATES. (continued 3)

“For that on the 5th of February last past, upon sight of the aforesaid King’s ship, ye did immediately weigh anchor from under Cape Lopez, on the southern coast of Africa, in a French-built ship of thirty-two guns called the Ranger, and did pursue and chase the aforesaid King’s ship with such dispatch and precipitancy as declared ye common robbers and pirates.

“That about ten o’clock of the same morning, drawing within gunshot of his Majesty’s aforesaid ship, the Swallow, ye hoisted a piratical black flag, and fired several chase-guns, to deter, as much as you were able, his Majesty’s servants from their duty.

“That an hour after this, being very nigh to the aforesaid King’s ship, you did audaciously continue in a hostile defence and assault for about two hours more, in open violation of the laws and in defiance to the King’s colours and Commission.

“And lastly, that in the acting and compassing of all this, you were all, and every one of you, in a wicked combination, voluntarily to exert, and actually did, in your several stations, use your utmost endeavours to distress the said King’s ship, and murder his Majesty’s good subjects.”

To which they severally pleaded “Not Guilty.”

Then the court called for the officers of the Swallow, Mr. Isaac Sun, lieutenant, Ralph Baldrick, boatswain, Daniel Maclaughlin, mate, desiring them to view the prisoners, whether they knew them, and to give an account in what manner they had attacked and fought the King’s ship; and they agreed as follows:—

That they had viewed all the prisoners as they stood now before the court, and were assured they were the same taken out of one or other of the pirate ships, Royal Fortune or Ranger; but verily believe them to be taken out of the Ranger.

That they did, in the King’s ship, at break of day, on Monday, the 5th of February, 1721-2, discover three ships at anchor, under Cape Lopez, on the southern coast of Africa, the Cape bearing then W.S.W. about three leagues, and perceiving one of them to have a pendant flying, and having heard their morning-gun before, they immediately suspected them to be Roberts the pirate, his consort, and a French ship they knew had been lately carried out of Whydah road.

The King’s ship was obliged to haul off N.W. and W.N.W. to avoid a sand called the French Man’s Bank, the wind then at S.S.E. and found, in half an hour’s time, one of the three had got under sail from the careen, and was bending her sails in a chase towards them. To encourage this rashness and precipitancy, they kept away before the wind, as though afraid, but with their tacks on board, their main-yard braced, and making, at the same time, very bad steerage.

About half an hour after ten in the morning, the pirate ship came within gunshot, and fired four chase-guns, hoisted a black flag at the mizen-peak and got their spritsail yard under their bowsprit for boarding. In half an hour more, approaching still nigher, they starboarded their helm and gave her a broadside, the pirate bringing-to and returning the same.

After this, the deponents say, their fire grew slack for some time, because the pirate was shot so far ahead on the weather-bow, that few of their guns could point to her; yet in this interval their black flag was either shot away or hauled down a little space and hoisted again.

At length, by their ill-steerage and favour of the wind, they came near a second time; and about two in the afternoon shot away their maintopmast.

The colours they fought under, besides a black flag, were a red English ensign, a King’s jack, and a Dutch pendant, which they struck at, or about, three in the afternoon, and called for quarter; it proving to be a French-built ship of 32 guns, called the Ranger.

Isaac Sun. Ralph Baldrick. Daniel Maclauglin.

When the evidence had been heard the prisoners were called upon to answer how they came on board this pirate ship, and their reason for so audacious a resistance as had been made against the King’s ship.

To this each, in his reply, owned himself to be one of those taken out of the Ranger; that he had signed their piratical articles, and shared in their plunder, some few only excepted who had been there too short a time, but that neither in this signing or sharing, nor in the resistance that had been made against his Majesty’s ship, had they been volunteers, but had acted in these several parts from a terror of death, which, by a law amongst them, was to be the portion of those who refused. The court then asked, Who made those laws? How those guns came to be fired? Or why they had not deserted their stations and mutinied when so fair a prospect of redemption offered? They replied still with the same answers, and could extenuate their crimes with no other plea than being forced men. Wherefore the court were of opinion that the indictment, as it charged them with unlawful attack and resistance of the King’s ship, was sufficiently proved; but then it being undeniably evident that many of these prisoners had been forced, and some of them of very short standing, they did, on mature deliberation, come to this merciful resolution:—

That they would hear further evidence for or against each person singly, in relation to those parts of the indictment which declared them volunteers or charged them with aiding and assisting at the burning, sinking, or robbing of other ships; for if they acted, or assisted, in any robberies or devastations it would be a conviction they were volunteers; here such evidence, though it might want the form, still carried the reason of the law with it.

The charge was exhibited also against the following pirates taken out of the Royal Fortune:—

MEN’S NAMES. SHIPS FROM. TIME WHEN.

*Mich. Mare in the Rover 5 years ago

*Chris. Moody under Davis 1718

*Mar. Johnsony a Dutch ship 1718

*James Philipsy the Revenge, pirate sloop 1717

*David Symson ⎫ Pirates with Davis

*Tho. Sutton ⎭

*Hag. Jacobson a Dutch ship 1719

*W. Williams (1) ⎫ Sudbury, Captain Thomas, Newfoundland

*Wm. Fernon ⎬ ⎫ June, 1720

*W. Williams (2) ⎪ ⎭

*Roger Scot ⎭

*Tho. Owen ⎫ York of Bristol ⎫ May, 1720

*Wm. Taylor ⎭ ⎬

*Joseph Nositer Expedition of Topsham ⎭

*John Parker Willing Mind of Pool ⎫ July, 1720

*Robert Crow Happy Return sloop ⎪

*George Smith Mary and Martha ⎬

*Ja. Clements Success sloop ⎪

*John Walden Blessing of Lymington ⎭

*Jo. Mansfield from Martinico

+James Harris Richard Pink

*John Philips a fishing boat

Harry Glasby ⎫ Samuel, Capt. Cary

Hugh Menzies ⎭ July, 1720

*Wm. Magnus

*Joseph Moor May Flower sloop Feb., 1720

+John du Frock ⎫ Lloyd galley, Captain Hyngston

Wm. Champnies ⎬ ⎫ May, 1721

George Danson ⎪ ⎭

+Isaac Russel ⎭

Robert Lilbourn ⎫ Jeremiah and Ann, Capt. Turner

*Robert Johnson ⎬ ⎫ April, 1721

Wm. Darling ⎪ ⎭

+Wm. Mead ⎭

Thomas Diggles Christopher snow ⎫ April, 1721

*Ben. Jeffreys Norman galley ⎪

John Francia a sloop at St. Nicholas ⎪

*D. Harding a Dutch ship ⎬

*John Coleman Adventure sloop ⎪

*Charles Bunce a Dutch galley ⎪

*R. Armstrong ditto run from the Swallow ⎭

*Abra. Harper ⎫ Onslow, Capt. Gee at Sestos May, 1721

*Peter Lesly ⎪

*John Jessup (1) ⎪

Tho. Watkins ⎪

*Philip Bill ⎬

*Jo. Stephenson ⎪

*James Cromby ⎪

Thomas Garrat ⎪

+George Ogle ⎭

Roger Gorsuch ⎫ Martha snow Aug., 1721

John Watson ⎭

William Child ⎫ Mercy galley at Callabar Oct., 1721

*John Griffin ⎬

*Pet. Scudamore ⎭

Christ. Granger ⎫ Cornwall galley at Callabar

Nicho. Brattle ⎪

James White ⎪

Tho. Davis ⎬⎫ Oct., 1721

Tho. Sever ⎪⎭

*Rob. Bevins ⎪

*T. Oughterlaney ⎪

*David Rice ⎭

*Rob. Haws Joceline, Capt. Loane ditto.

Hugh Riddle ⎫ Diligence boat Jan., 1721

Stephen Thomas ⎭

*John Lane ⎫ King Solomon

*Sam. Fletcher ⎪

*Wm. Philips ⎬ ditto.

Jacob Johnson ⎪

*John King ⎭

Benjamin Par Robinson, Capt. Kanning ditto.

William May ⎫ Elizabeth, Capt. Sharp ⎫ ditto.

Ed. Thornden ⎭⎪

*George Wilson ⎫ Tarlton of Liverpool at Cape La Hou ⎬

Edward Tarlton ⎬ ⎭

*Robert Hays ⎭

Thomas Roberts ⎫ Charlton, Capt. Allwright Feb., 1721

John Richards ⎬

John Cane ⎭

Richard Wood ⎫ Porcupine, Capt. Fletcher Whydah road ⎬ Feb., 1721

Richard Scot ⎪

Wm. Davison ⎬

Sam. Morwell ⎪

Edward Evans ⎭

*John Jessup (2) surrendered up at Princes

“You, Harry Glasby, William Davison, William Champnies. Samuel Morwell, &c.

“Ye, and every one of you, are, in the name and by the authority of our most dread sovereign lord, George, King of Great Britain, indicted as follows:—

“Forasmuch as, in open contempt and violation of the laws of your country, to which ye ought to have been subject, ye have all of you been wickedly united and articled together for the annoyance and destruction of his Majesty’s trading subjects by sea; and, in conformity to so wicked an agreement and association, ye have been twice lately down this coast of Africa—once in August, and a second time in January last—spoiling and destroying many goods and vessels of his Majesty’s subjects, and other trading nations.

“Particularly ye stand indicted at the information and instance of Captain Chaloner Ogle, as traitors, robbers, pirates, and common enemies to mankind.

“For that on the 10th of February last, in a ship ye were possessed of, called the Royal Fortune, of forty guns, ye did maintain a hostile defence and resistance for some hours against his Majesty’s ship the Swallow, nigh Cape Lopez Bay, on the southern coast of Africa.

“That this fight and insolent resistance against the King’s ship was made not only without any pretence of authority, more than that of your own private depraved will, but was done also under a black flag, flagrantly by that donoting yourselves common robbers and traitors, opposers and violaters of the laws.

“And lastly, that in this resistance, ye were all of you volunteers, and did, as such, contribute your utmost efforts, and disabling and distressing the aforesaid King’s ship, and deterring his Majesty’s servants therein from their duty.”

To which they severally pleaded, Not Guilty.

Whereupon the officers of his Majesty’s ship the Swallow, were called again and testified as follows:—

That they had seen all the prisoners now before the court, and knew them to be the same which were taken out of one or other of the pirate ships, Royal Fortune or Ranger, and verily believe them to be those taken out of the Royal Fortune.

That the prisoners were possessed of a ship of forty guns, called the Royal Fortune, and were at anchor under Cape Lopez, on the coast of Africa, with two others, when his Majesty’s ship the Swallow (to which the deponents belonged, and were officers), stood in for the place on Saturday, the 10th of February, 1721-2. The largest had a jack ensign and pendant flying (being this Royal Fortune), who, on sight of them, had their boats passing and repassing from the other two, which they supposed to be with men. The wind not favouring the aforesaid King’s ship she was obliged to make two trips to gain nigh enough the wind to fetch in with the pirates; and being at length little more than cannon-shot from them, they found she slipped her cable and got under sail.

At eleven, the pirate was within pistol-shot, abreast of them, with a black flag and pendant hoisted at their main-topmast head. The deponents say they then struck the French ensign that had continued hoisted at their staff all the morning till then, and displayed the King’s colours, giving her at the same time their broadside, which was immediately returned.

The pirate’s mizen-topmast fell and some of her rigging was torn, yet she still outsailed the man-of-war, and slid half gun-shot from them, while they continued to fire without intermission, and the other to return such guns as could be brought to bear, till, by favour of the winds, they were advanced very nigh again; and after exchanging a few more shot, about half an hour past one, his main-mast came down, having received a shot below the parrel.

At two, she struck her colours, and called for quarter, proving to be a ship, formerly called the Onflow, but by them the Royal Fortune; and the prisoners from her assured them, that the smallest ship of the two, then remaining in the road, belonged to them, by the name of the Little Ranger, which they had deserted on this occasion.

Isaac Sun, Ralph Baldrick, Daniel Maclaughlin.

The prisoners were asked by the court, to the same purpose the others had been in the morning—What exception they had to make against what had been sworn, and what they had to say in their defence? And their replies were much the same with the other prisoners: that they were forced men, had not fired a gun in this resistance against the Swallow, and that what little assistance they did give on this occasion was to the sails and rigging, to comply with the arbitrary commands of Roberts, who had threatened, and, they were persuaded would, have shot them on refusal.

The court, to dispense equal justice, mercifully resolved for these, as they had done for the other pirate crew—that further evidence should be heard against each man singly, to the two points, of being a volunteer at first, and to their particular acts of piracy and robbery since; that so men, who had been lately received amongst them, and as yet had not been at the taking or plundering of any ship, might have the opportunity and benefit of clearing their innocence and not fall promiscuously with the guilty.

By order of the court, John Atkins, Registrar.

Wm. Magnes, Tho. Oughterlauney, Wm. Main, Wm. Mackintosh, Val. Ashplant, John Walden, Israel Hind, Marcus Johnson, Wm. Petty, Wm. Fernon, Abraham Harvey, Wm. Wood, Tho. How, John Stephenson, Ch. Bunce, and John Griffin.

Against these it was deposed by Captain Joseph Trahern, and George Fenn, his mate, that they were all of them, either at the attacking and taking of the ship King Solomon, or afterwards at the robbing and plundering of her, and in this manner:—

That on the 6th of January last, their ship riding at anchor near Cape Appollonia, in Africa, discovered a boat rowing towards them, against wind and stream, from a ship that lay about three miles to leeward. They judged from the number of men in her, as she nearer advanced, to be a pirate, and made some preparation for receiving her, believing, on a nigher view, they would think fit to withdraw from an attack that must be on their side with great disadvantage in an open boat, and against double the number of men; yet by the rashness and pusillanimity of his own people, who laid down their arms and immediately called for quarter, the ship was taken, and afterwards robbed by them.

President: Can you charge your memory with any particulars in the seizure and robbery?

Evidence: We know that Magnes, quartermaster of the pirate ship, commanded the men in this boat that took us, and assumed the authority of ordering her provisions and stores out, which, being of different kinds, we soon found were seized and sent away under more particular directions; for Main, as boatswain of the pirate ship, carried away two cables and several coils of rope, as what belonged to his province, beating some of our own men for not being brisk enough at working in the robbery. Petty, as sail maker, saw to the sails and canvas; Harper, as cooper, to the cask and tools; Griffin, to the carpenter’s stores, and Oughterlauney, as pilot, having shifted himself with a suit of my clothes, a new tye wig, and called for a bottle of wine, ordered the ship, very arrogantly, to be steered under Commodore Roberts’s stern (I suppose to know what orders there were concerning her). So far particularly. In the general, sir, they were very outrageous and emulous in mischief.

President: Mr. Castel, acquaint the court of what you know in relation to this robbery of the King Solomon; after what manner the pirate boat was dispatched for this attempt.

Tho. Castel: I was a prisoner, sir, with the pirates when their boat was ordered upon that service, and found, upon a resolution of going, word was passed through the company, Who would go? And I saw all that did, did it voluntarily; no compulsion, but rather pressing who should be foremost. The prisoners yielded to what had been sworn about the attack and robbery, but denied the latter evidence, saying Roberts hectored and upbraided them of cowardice on this very occasion, and told some they were very ready to step on board of a prize when within command of the ship, but now there seemed to be a trial of their valour, backward and fearful.

President: So that Roberts forced ye upon this attack.

Prisoners: Roberts commanded us into the boat, and the quartermaster to rob the ship, neither of whose commands we dared to have refused.

President: And granting it so, those are still your own acts, since done by orders from officers of your own election. Why would men, honestly disposed, give their votes for such a captain and such a quartermaster as were every day commanding them on distasteful services?

Here succeeded a silence among the prisoners, but at length Fernon very honestly owned that he did not give his vote to Magnes, but to David Sympson (the old quartermaster), “for in truth,” says he, “I took Magnes for too honest a man, and unfit for the business.”

The evidence was plain and home, and the court, without any hesitation, brought them in “Guilty.”

William Church, Phil. Haak, James White, Nich. Brattle, Hugh Riddle, William Thomas, Tho. Roberts, Jo. Richards, Jo. Cane, R. Wood, R. Scot, Wm. Davison, Sam. Morwell, Edward Evans, Wm. Guineys, and eighteen Frenchmen.

The four first of these prisoners, it was evident to the court, served as music on board the pirate, were forced lately from the several merchant ships they belonged to; and that they had, during this confinement, an uneasy life of it, having sometimes their fiddles, and often their heads broke, only for excusing themselves, or saying they were tired when any fellow took it in his head to demand a tune.

The other English had been a very few days on board the pirate, only from Whydah to Cape Lopez, and no capture or robbery done by them in that time. And the Frenchmen were brought with a design to reconduct their own ship (or the Little Ranger in exchange) to Whydah road again, and were used like prisoners; neither quartered nor suffered to carry arms. So that the court immediately acquiesced in acquitting them.

Tho. Sutton, David Simpson, Christopher Moody, Phil. Bill, R. Hardy, Hen. Dennis, David Rice, Wm. Williams, R. Harris, George Smith, Ed. Watts, Jo. Mitchell, and James Barrow.

The evidence against these prisoners were Grata de Haen, master of the Flushingham, taken nigh Axim, the beginning of January last.

Benj. Kreft, master, and James Groet, mate of the Gertruycht, taken nigh Gabone in December last, and Mr. Castel, Wingfield, and others that had been prisoners with the pirates.

The former deposed that all these prisoners (excepting Hardy) were on board at the robbery and plunder of their ships, behaving in a vile, outrageous manner, putting them in bodily fears, sometimes for the ship, and sometimes for themselves; and in particular Kreft charged it on Sutton that he had ordered all their gunner’s stores out; on which that prisoner presently interrupted and said he was perjured—“That he had not taken half.” A reply, I believe, not designed as any saucy way of jesting, but to give their behaviour an appearance of more humanity than the Dutch would allow.

From Mr. Castel, Wingfield, and others, they were proved to be distinguished men—men who were consulted as chiefs in all enterprizes; belonged most of them to the House of Lords (as they called it), and could carry an authority over others. The former said, particularly of Hardy (quartermaster of the Ranger), that when the Diligence sloop was taken (whereto he belonged) none was busier in the plunder, and was the very man who scuttled and sunk that vessel.

From some of the prisoners acquitted it was farther demanded whether the acceptance or refusal of any office was not in their own option? And it was declared that every officer was chosen by a majority of votes, and might refuse, if he pleased, since others gladly embraced what brought with it an additional share of prize. Guilty.

The court on the 31st of March remanded the following six before them for sentence, viz., Dav. Simpson, Wm. Magnes, R. Hardy, Thomas Sutton, Christopher Moody, and Valentine Ashplant.

To whom the President spoke to the following purpose: “The crime of piracy, of which all of ye have been justly convicted, is of all other robberies the most aggravating and inhumane, in that being removed from the fears of surprise in remote and distant parts, ye do in wantonness of power often add cruelty to theft.

“Pirates, unmoved at distress or poverty, not only spoil and rob, but do it from men needy, and who are purchasing their livelihoods through hazards and difficulties, which ought rather to move compassion; and what is still worse, do often, by persuasion or force, engage the inconsiderate part of them, to their own and families’ ruin, removing them from their wives and children, and by that, from the means that should support them from misery and want.

“To a trading nation nothing can be so destructive as piracy, or call for more exemplary punishment; besides the national reflection it infers, it cuts off the returns of industry, and those plentiful importations that alone can make an island flourishing; and it is your aggravation, that ye have been the chiefs and rulers in these licentious and lawless practices.

“However, contrary to the measures ye have dealt, ye have been heard with patience, and though little has, or possibly could, have been said in excuse or extenuation of your crimes, yet charity make us hope that a true and sincere repentance (which we heartily recommend) may entitle ye to mercy and forgiveness after the sentence of the law has taken place, which now remains upon me to pronounce:—

“You, Dav. Simpson, William Magnes, R. Hardy, Tho. Sutton, Christopher Moody, and Val. Ashplant.

“Ye, and each of you, are adjudged and sentenced to be carried back to the place from whence ye came, from thence to the place of execution, without the gates of this castle, and there, within the flood-marks, to be hanged by the neck till ye are dead.

“After this ye, and each of you, shall be taken down, and your bodies hanged in chains.”

Warrant for Execution.

“Pursuant to the sentence given on Saturday by the Court of Admiralty at Cape Corso Castle, against Dav. Simpson, Wm. Magnes, R. Hardy, Tho. Sutton, Christopher Moody, and Valentine Ashplant.

“You are hereby directed to carry the aforesaid malefactors to the place of execution, without the gates of this castle, to-morrow morning at nine of the clock, and there, within the flood-marks, cause them to be hanged by the neck till they are dead, for which this shall be your warrant. Given under my hand, this 2nd day of April, 1722.

“Mungo Heardman.

“To Joseph Gordyn, provost-marshal.

“The bodies remove in chains to the gibbets already erected on the adjacent hillocks.—M. H.”

William Phillips.

It appeared by the evidence of Captain Jo. Trahern and George Fenn, mate of the King Solomon, that this prisoner was boatswain of the same ship, when she was attacked and taken off Cape Appollonia, the 6th of January last, by the pirate’s boat.

When the boat drew nigh (they say) it was judged from the number of men in her that they were pirates, and being hailed, answered, “Defiance”; at which the commander snatched a musket from one of his men and fired, asking them at the same time whether they would stand by him to defend the ship? But the pirates returning a volley, and crying out they would give no quarter if any resistance was made, this prisoner took upon him to call out for quarter without the master’s consent, and mislead the rest to the laying down their arms, and giving up the ship to half the number of men, and in an open boat. It was further evident he became after this a volunteer amongst them. First, because he was presently very forward and brisk in robbing the ship King Solomon of her provisions and stores; secondly, because he endeavoured to have his captain ill-used; and lastly, because he had confessed to Fenn that he had been obliged to sign their Articles that night (a pistol being laid on the table to signify he must do it or be shot), when the whole appeared to be an untruth from other evidence, who also asserted his being armed in the action against the Swallow.

In answer to this he first observed upon the unhappiness of being friendless in this part of the world, which, elsewhere, by witnessing to the honesty of his former life, would, he believed, in a great measure have invalidated the wrong evidence had been given of his being a volunteer with the pirates. He owns, indeed, he made no application to his captain to intercede for a discharge, but excuses it with saying he had a dislike to him, and therefore was sure that such application would have availed him nothing.

The court observed the pretences of this and other of the pirates, of a pistol and their Articles being served up in a dish together, or of their being misused and forced from an honest service, was often a complotment of the parties to render them less suspected of those they came from, and was to answer the end of being put in a newspaper or affidavit. And the pirates were so generous as not to refuse a compliment to a brother that cost them nothing, and at the same time secured them the best hands; the best I call them, because such a dependence made them act more boldly. Guilty.

Harry Glasby, master.

There appearing several persons in court, who had been taken by Roberts’s ship, whereof the prisoner was master, their evidence was accepted as follows:—

Jo. Trahern, commander of the King Solomon, deposed, the prisoner, indeed, to act as master of the pirate ship (while he was under restraint there), but was observed like no master, every one obeying at discretion, of which he had taken notice, and complained to him how hard a condition it was to be a chief among brutes; and that he was weary of his life, and such other expressions (now out of his memory), as showed in him a great disinclination to that course of living.

Jo. Wingfield, a prisoner with them at Calabar, says the same as to the quality he acted in, but that he was civil beyond any of them, and verily believes that when the brigantine he served on board of, as a factor for the African Company, was voted to be burnt, this man was the instrument of preventing it, expressing himself with a great deal of sorrow for this and the like malicious rogueries of the company he was in, that to him showed he had acted with reluctancy, as one who could not avoid what he did. He adds further, that when one Hamilton, a surgeon, was taken by them, and the Articles about to be imposed on him, he opposed and prevented it; and that Hunter, another surgeon among them, was cleared at the prisoner’s instance and persuasion, from which last this deponent had it assured to him that Glasby had once been under sentence of death on board of them, with two more, for endeavouring an escape in the West Indies, and that the other two were really shot for it.

Elizabeth Trengrove, who was taken a passenger in the African Company’s ship Onslow, strengthened the evidence of the last witness; for having heard a good character of this Glasby, she inquired of the quartermaster, who was then on board a-robbing, whether or no she could see him? and he told her “No”; they never ventured him from the ship, for he had once endeavoured his escape, and they had ever since continued jealous of him.

Edward Crisp, Captain Trengrove, and Captain Sharp, who had all been taken in their turns, acknowledge for themselves and others, who had unluckily fallen into those pirates’ hands, that the good usage they had met with was chiefly through the prisoner’s means, who often interposed for leaving sufficient stores and instruments on board the ships they had robbed, alleging they were superfluous and unnecessary there.

James White, whose business was music, and was on the poop of the pirate ship in time of action with the Swallow, deposed that during the engagement and defence she made he never saw the prisoner busied about the guns, or giving orders, either to the loading or firing of them; but that he wholly attended to the setting, or trimming, of the sails as Roberts commanded; and that in the conclusion he verily believed him to be the man who prevented the ship’s being blown up by setting trusty sentinels below and opposing himself against such hot-headed fellows as had procured lighted matches and were going down for that purpose.

Isaac Sun, lieutenant of the man-of-war, deposed, that when he came to take possession of the prize in the King’s boat he found the pirates in a very distracted and divided condition, some being for blowing up, and others (who perhaps supposed themselves least culpable) opposing it. That in this confusion he inquired for the prisoner, of whom he had before heard a good character, and thinks he rendered all the service in his power for preventing it; in particular, he understood by all hands that he had seized and taken from one James Philips a lighted match, at the instant he was going down to the magazine, swearing that he should send them all to h—l together. He had heard also that after Roberts was killed the prisoner ordered the colours to be struck, and had since shown how opposite his practice and principles had been, by discovering who were the greatest rogues among them.

The prisoner in his own defence says when he had the misfortune of falling into the pirates’ hands he was chief mate of the Samuel, of London, Captain Cary; and when he had hid himself to prevent the design of carrying him away, they found him and beat and threw him overboard. Seven days afterwards, upon his objecting against, and refusing to sign, their Articles, he was cut and abused again; that though after this he ingratiated himself by a more humble carriage it was only to make life easy; the shares they had given him having been from time to time returned again to such prisoners as fell in his way, till of late, indeed, he had made a small reservation, and had desired Captain Loan to take two or three moidores from him to carry to his wife. He was once taken, he says, at making his escape in the West Indies, and, with two more, sentenced to be shot for it by a drunken jury; the latter actually suffered, and he was preserved only by one of the chief pirates taking a sudden liking to him and bullying the others. A second time he ran away at Hispaniola, carrying a pocket compass for conducting him through the woods; but that being a most desolate and wild part of the island he fell upon, and he ignorant how to direct his course, was obliged, after two or three days’ wandering, to return towards the ship again, denying with egregious oaths the design he was charged with for fear they should shoot him. From this time he hopes it will be some extenuation of his fault, that most of the acquitted prisoners can witness, they entertained jealousies of him, and Roberts would not admit him into his secrets; and withal that Captain Cary (and four other passengers with him) had made affidavit of his having been forced from his employ, which though he could not produce, yet he humbly hoped the court would think highly probable from the circumstances offered.

On the whole the court was of opinion artists had the best pretension to the plea of force, from the necessity pirates are sometimes under of engaging such, and that many parts of his own defence had been confirmed by the evidence, who had asserted he acted with reluctance, and had expressed a concern and trouble for the little hopes remained to him of extricating himself. That he had used all prisoners (as they were called) well, at the hazard of ill usage to himself; that he had not in any military capacity assisted their robberies; that he had twice endeavoured his escape with the utmost danger. Acquitted him.

Captain James Skyrm.

It appeared from the evidence of several prisoners acquitted that this Skyrm commanded the Ranger in that defence she made against the King’s ship; that he ordered the men to their quarters, and the guns to be loaded and fired, having a sword in his hand to enforce those commands, and beat such to their duty whom he espied any way negligent or backward. That although he had lost a leg in the action his temper was so warm as to refuse going off the deck till he found all was lost.

In his defence he says he was forced from a mate’s employ on board a sloop called the Greyhound, of St. Christopher’s, October, 1720. The pirate having drubbed him and broke his head only for offering to go away when that sloop was dismissed. Custom and success had since indeed blunted, and in some measure worn out, the sense of shame, but that he had really for several months passed been sick and disqualified for any duty; and though Roberts had forced him on this expedition, much against his will, yet the evidence must be sensible the title of captain gave him no pre-eminence, for he could not be obeyed, though he had often called to them to leave off their fire when he perceived it to be the King’s ship.

The sickness, he alleged, but more especially the circumstance of losing his leg, were aggravations of his fault, showing him more alert on such occasions than he was now willing to be thought. As to the name of captain, if it were allowed to give him no precedence out of battle, yet here it was proved a title of authority, such an authority as could direct an engagement against the King’s colours, and therefore he was in the highest degree guilty.

John Walden.

Captain John Trahern and George Fenn deposed the prisoner to be one of the number who, in an open boat, piratically assailed and took their ship, and was remarkably busy at mischief, having a pole-axe in his hand, which served him instead of a key to all the locked doors and boxes he came nigh. Also in particular he cut the cable of our ship, when the other pirates were willing and busied at heaving up the anchor, saying, “Captain, what signifies this trouble of hope and straining in hot weather; there are more anchors at London, and besides, your ship is to be burnt.”

William Smith (a prisoner acquitted), says Walden was known amongst the pirates mostly by the nick-name of Miss Nanny (ironically it is presumed from the hardness of his temper). That he was one of the twenty who voluntarily came on board the Ranger in the chase she made out after the Swallow, and by a shot from that ship lost his leg, his behaviour in the fight till then being bold and daring.

The President called for Harry Glasby, and bid him relate a character of the prisoner, and what custom was among them in relation to these voluntary expeditions out of their proper ship, and this of going on board the Ranger in particular.

And he gave in for evidence that the prisoner was looked on as a brisk hand (i.e., as he farther explained it, a stanch pirate, a great rogue); that when the Swallow first appeared in sight every one was willing to believe her a Portuguese, because sugar was very much in demand, and had made some jarring and dissention between the two companies (the Fortune’s people drinking punch when the Ranger’s could not); that Roberts, on sight of the Swallow, hailed the new Ranger and bid him right-ship and get under sail. “There is,” says he, “sugar in the offing, bring it in that we may have no more mumbling;” ordering, at the same time, the word to be passed among the crew, Who would go to their assistance? and immediately the boat was full of men, to transport themselves.

President: Then every one that goes on board of any prize does it voluntarily? Or were there here any other reasons for it?

H. Glasby: Every man is commonly called by list, and insists on his turn to go on board of a prize, because they then are allowed a shift of clothes (the best they can find) over and above the dividend from the robbery; and this they are so far from being compelled to that it often becomes the occasion of contest and quarrel amongst them. But in the present or such like cases, where there appears a prospect of trouble, the lazy and the timorous are often willing to decline this turn and yield to their betters, who thereby establish a greater reputation. The prisoner, and those men who went from the Fortune on board the Ranger to assist in this expedition were volunteers, and the trustiest men among us.

President: Were there no jealousies of the Ranger’s leaving you in this chase, or at any other time, in order to surrender?

H. Glasby: Most of the Ranger’s crew were fresh men, men who had been entered only since their being on the coast of Guinea, and therefore had not so liberal a share in fresh provisions or wine as the Fortune’s people, who thought they had borne the burthen and heat of the day, which had given occasion indeed to some grumblings and whispers, as though they would take an opportunity to leave us, but we never supposed, if they did, it would be with any other design then setting up for themselves, they having, many of them, behaved with greater severity than the old standers.

The prisoner appeared undaunted, and rather solicitous about resting his stump than giving any answer to the court, or making any defence for himself till called upon; then he related in a careless, or rather hopeless, manner, the circumstances of his first entrance, being forced, he said, out of the Blessing, of Lemmington, at Newfoundland, about twelve months past; this, he is sure, most of the old pirates knew, and that he was for some time as sick of the change as any man, but custom and ill company had altered him, owning very frankly that he was at the attack and taking of the King Solomon, that he did cut her cable, and that none were forced on those occasions.

As to the last expedition in the Ranger, he confesses he went on board of her, but that it was by Roberts’s order, and in the chase loaded one gun to bring her to, but when he saw it was a bite he declared to his comrades that it was not worth while to resist, forebore firing, and assisted to reeve the braces in order, if they could, to get away, in which sort of service he was busied when a shot from the man-of-war took off his leg. And being asked that supposing the chase had proved a Portuguese? “Why then,” says he, “I don’t know what I might have done,” intimating withal that everybody then would have been ready enough at plundering. Guilty.

Peter Scudamore.

Harry Glasby, Jo. Wingfield, and Nicholas Brattle, depose thus much as to his being a volunteer with the pirates from Captain Rolls at Calabar. First, that he quarrelled with Moody (one of the heads of the gang), and fought with him because he opposed his going, asking Rolls in a leering manner whether he would not be so kind as to put him into the Gazette when he came home. And, at another time, when he was going from the pirate ship in his boat a tornado arose. “I wish,” says he, “the rascal may be drowned, for he is a great rogue, and has endeavoured to do me all the ill offices he could among these gentlemen” (i.e., pirates).

And secondly, that he had signed the pirates’ Articles with a great deal of alacrity, and gloried in having been the first surgeon that had done so (for before this it was their custom to change their surgeons when they desired it, after having served a time, and never obliged them to sign, but he was resolved to break through this for the good of those who were to follow), swearing immediately upon it, he was now, he hoped, as great a rogue as any of them.

Captain Jo. Trahern and George Fenn, his mate, deposed the prisoner to have taken out of the King Solomon their surgeon’s capital instruments, some medicines, and a backgammon table, which latter became the means of a quarrel between one Wincon, and he, whose property they should be, and were yielded to the prisoner.

Jo. Sharp, master of the Elizabeth, heard the prisoner ask Roberts’ leave to force Comry, his surgeon, from him, which was accordingly done, and with him carried also some of the ship’s medicines; but what gave a fuller proof of the dishonesty of his principles was the treacherous design he had formed of running away with the prize in her passage to Cape Corso, though he had been treated with all humanity and very unlike a prisoner on account of his employ and better education, which had rendered him less to be suspected.

Mr. Child (acquitted) deposed that in their passage from the Island of St. Thomas in the Fortune prize, this prisoner was several times tempting him into measures of rising with the negroes, and killing the Swallow’s people, showing him how easily the white men might be demolished, and a new company raised at Angola, and that part of the coast. “For,” says he, “I understand how to navigate a ship, and can soon teach you to steer; and is it not better to do this than to go back to Cape Corso and be hanged and sun-dried?” To which the deponent replying he was not afraid of being hanged, Scudamore bid him be still, and no harm should come to him; but before the next day evening, which was the designed time of executing this project, this deponent discovered it to the officer, and assured him Scudamore had been talking all the preceding night to the negroes in Angolan language.

Isaac Burnet heard the prisoner ask James Harris, a pirate (left with the wounded in the prize), whether he was willing to come into the project of running away with the ship, and endeavour the raising of a new company, but turned the discourse to horse-racing as the deponent crept nigher; he acquainted the officer with what he had heard, who kept the people under arms all night, their apprehensions of the negroes not being groundless; for many of them having lived a long time in this piratical way, were, by the thin commons they were now reduced to, as ripe for mischief as any.

The prisoner in his defence said he was a forced man from Captain Rolls in October last, and if he had not shown such a concern as became him at the alteration he must remark the occasion to be the disagreement and enmity between them; but that both Roberts and Val. Ashplant threatened him into signing their Articles, and that he did it in terror.

The King Solomon and Elizabeth medicine-chests he owns he plundered by order of Hunter, the then chief surgeon, who, by the pirates’ laws, always directs in this province, and Mr. Child (though acquitted) had, by the same orders, taken out a whole French medicine-chest, which he must be sensible for me as well as for himself we neither of us dared to have denied; it was their being the proper judges made so ungrateful an office imposed. If after this he was elected chief surgeon himself both Comry and Wilson were set up also, and it might have been their chance to have carried it, and as much out of their power to have refused.

As to the attempt of rising and running away with the prize, he denies it altogether as untrue; a few foolish words, but only by way of supposition, that if the negroes should take it in their heads (considering the weakness and ill look-out that was kept), it would have been an easy matter in his opinion for them to have done it; but that he encouraged such a thing was false; his talking to them in the Angolan language was only a way of spending his time, and trying his skill to tell twenty, he being incapable of further talk. As to his understanding navigation, he had frequently acknowledged it to the deponent Child, and wonders he should now so circumstantiate this skill against him. Guilty.

Robert Johnson.

It appeared to the court that the prisoner was one of the twenty men in that boat of the pirates which afterwards robbed the King Solomon at an anchor near Cape Appollonia. That all pirates on this and the like service were volunteers, and he, in particular, had contested his going on board a second time, though out of his turn.

The prisoner in his defence called for Harry Glasby, who witnessed to his being so very drunk when he first came among their crew that they were forced to hoist him out of one ship into the other with a tackle, and, therefore, without his consent, but had since been a trusty man, and was placed to the helm in that running battle they made with the Swallow.

He insisted for himself likewise, on Captain Turner’s affidavit of his being forced, on which others (his shipmates) had been cleared.

The court considering the partiality that might be objected in acquitting one and condemning another of the same standing, thought fit to remark it as a clear testimony of their integrity, that their care and indulgence to each man in allowing his particular defence, was to exempt from the rigour of the law such who, it must be allowed, would have stood too promiscuously condemned if they had not been heard upon any other fact than that of the Swallow, and herein what could better direct them than a character and behaviour from their own associates; for though a voluntary entry with the pirates may be doubtful, yet his consequent actions are not, and it is not so material how a man comes among pirates as how he acts when he is there. Guilty.

George Wilson.

John Sharp, master of the Elizabeth, in which ship the prisoner was passenger, and fell a second time into the pirates’ hands, deposes that he took the said Wilson off from Sestos, on this coast, paying to the negroes for his ransom the value of three pound five shillings in goods, for which he had taken a note, that he thought he had done a charitable act in this, till, meeting with one Captain Canning, he was asked why he would release such a rogue as Wilson was? for that he had been a volunteer with the pirates out of John Tarlton. And when the deponent came to be a prisoner himself he found Thomas, the brother of this John Tarlton, a prisoner with the pirates also, who was immediately, on Wilson’s instigation, in a most sad manner misused and beat, and had been shot, through the fury and rage of some of those fellows, if the town-side (i.e., Liverpool) men had not hid him in a staysail under the bowsprit, for Moody and Harper with their pistols cocked searched every corner of the ship to find him, and came to the deponent’s hammock, whom they had like fatally to have mistaken for Tarlton, but on his calling out they found their error, and left him with this comfortable anodyne, that “he was the honest fellow who brought the doctor.” At coming away the prisoner asked about his note, whether the pirates had it or no? Who not being able readily to tell, he replied, “It’s no matter, Mr. Sharp, I believe I shall hardly ever come to England to pay it.”

Adam Comry, surgeon of the Elizabeth, says, that although the prisoner had, on account of his indisposition and want, received many civilities from him before meeting with the pirates, he yet understood it was through his and Scudamore’s means that he had been compelled among them. The prisoner was very alert and cheerful, he says, at meeting with Roberts, hailed him, told him he was glad to see him, and would come on board presently, borrowing of the deponent a clean shirt and drawers, for his better appearance and reception; he signed their Articles willingly, and used arguments with him to do the same, saying, they should make their voyage in eight months to Brazil, share six or seven hundred pounds a man, and then break up. Again, when the crew came to an election of a chief surgeon, and this deponent was set up with the others, Wilson told him he hoped he would carry it from Scudamore, for that a quarter share (which they had more than others) would be worth looking after; but the deponent missed the preferment, by the good will of the Ranger’s people, who, in general, voted for Scudamore, to get rid of him, the chief surgeon being always to remain with the commodore.

It appeared likewise by the evidence of Captain Jo. Trahern, Tho. Castel, and others, who had been taken by the pirates, and thence had opportunities of observing the prisoner’s conduct, that he seemed thoroughly satisfied with that way of life, and was particularly intimate with Roberts; they often scoffing at the mention of a man-of-war, and saying, if they should meet with any of the turnip-man’s ships, they would blow up and go to h—l all together. Yet setting aside these silly freaks to recommend himself, his laziness had got him many enemies; even Roberts told him, on the complaint of a wounded man, whom he had refused to dress, that he was a double rogue to be there a second time, and threatened to cut his ears off.

The evidence further assured the court, from Captain Thomas Tarlton, that the prisoner was taken out of his brother’s ship, some months before, a first time, and being forward to oblige his new company, had presently asked for the pirates’ boat to fetch the medicine-chest away, when the wind and current proving too hard to contend with, he was drove on shore at Cape Montzerado.

The prisoner called for William Darling and Samuel Morwel (acquitted), and Nicholas Butler.

William Darling deposed, the first time the prisoner fell into their hands Roberts mistook him for Jo. Tarlton, the master, and being informed it was the surgeon who came to represent him (then indisposed) he presently swore he should be his messmate, to which Wilson replied, he hoped not, he had a wife and child, which the other laughed at; and that he had been two days on board before he went in that boat, which was drove on shore at Cape Montzerado. And at his second coming, in the Elizabeth, he heard Roberts order he should be brought on board in the first boat.

Samuel Morwel says that he has heard him bewail his condition while on board the pirate, and desired one Thomas to use his interest with Roberts for a discharge, saying, his employ and the little fortune he had left at home would, he hoped, exempt him the further trouble of seeking his bread at sea.

Nicholas Butler, who had remained with the pirates about forty-eight hours, when they took the French ships at Whydah, deposes that in this space the prisoner addressed him in the French language several times, deploring the wretchedness and ill-fortune of being confined in such company.

The prisoner, desiring liberty of two or three questions, asked whether or no he had not expostulated with Roberts, for a reason of his obliging surgeons to sign their Articles, when heretofore they did not; whether he had not expressed himself glad of having formerly escaped from them; whether he had not said, at taking the ships in Whydah road, that he could like the sport, were it lawful; and whether if he had not told him, should the Company discharge any surgeon, that he would insist on it as his turn? The deponent answered yes to every question separately; and farther, that he believes Scudamore had not seen Wilson when he first came and found him out of the Elizabeth.

He added in his own defence, that, being surgeon with one John Tarlton, of Liverpool, he was met a first time on this coast of Guinea by Roberts the pirate, who, after a day or two, told him, to his sorrow, that he was to stay there, and ordered him to fetch his chest (not medicines, as asserted), which opportunity he took to make his escape; for the boat’s crew happening to consist of five French and one Englishman, all as willing as himself, they agreed to push the boat on shore and trust themselves with the negroes of Cape Montzerado. Hazardous, not only in respect of the dangerous seas that run there, but the inhumanity of the natives, who sometimes take a liking to human carcases. Here he remained five months, till Thomas Tarlton, brother to his captain, chanced to put into the road for trade, to whom he represented his hardships and starving condition; but was, in an unchristian manner, both refused a release of this captivity, or so much as a small supply of biscuit and salt meat, because, as he said, he had been among the pirates. A little time after this the master of a French ship paid a ransom for him and took him off; but, by reason of a nasty leprous indisposition he had contracted by hard and bad living, was, to his great misfortune, set ashore at Sestos again, when Captain Sharp met him and generously procured his release in the manner himself has related, and for which he stands infinitely obliged. That ill-luck threw him a second time into the pirates’ hands, in this ship Elizabeth, where he met Thomas Tarlton, and thoughtlessly used some reproaches of him for his severe treatment at Montzerado; but protests without design his words should have had so bad a consequence; for Roberts took upon him, as a dispenser of justice, the correction of Mr. Tarlton, beating him unmercifully; and, he hopes it will be believed, contrary to any intention of his it should so happen, because, as a stranger, he might be supposed to have no influence, and believes there were some other motives for it. He cannot remember he expressed himself glad to see Roberts this second time, or that he dropped those expressions about Comry, as are sworn; but if immaturity of judgment had occasioned him to slip rash and inadvertent words, or that he had paid any undue compliments to Roberts, it was to ingratiate himself, as every prisoner did, for a more civil treatment, and in particular to procure his discharge, which he had been promised, and was afraid would have been revoked, if such a person as Comry did not remain there to supply his room; and of this, he said, all the gentlemen (meaning the pirates) could witness for him.

He urged also his youth in excuse for his rashness. The first time he had been with them (only a month in all), and that in no military employ; but in particular the service he had done in discovering the design the pirates had to rise in their passage on board the Swallow. Guilty.

But execution respited till the King’s pleasure be known, because the commander of the Swallow had declared the first notice he received of this design of the pirates to rise was from him.

Benjamin Jeffreys.

By the depositions of Glasby and Lillburn (acquitted) against this prisoner, it appeared that his drunkenness was what at first detained him from going away in his proper ship, the Norman galley; and next morning, for having been abusive in his drink, saying to the pirates there was not a man amongst them, he received for a welcome six lashes from every person in the ship, which disordered him for some weeks, but on recovery was made boatswain’s mate; the serving of which, or any office on board a pirate, is at their own option (though elected), because others are glad to accept what brings an additional share in prize.

The deponents further say that at Sierra Leone every man had more especially the means of escaping, and that this prisoner, in particular, neglected it, and came off from that place after the ship was under sail and going out of the river.

The prisoner, in his defence, protests he was at first forced, and that the office of boatswain’s mate was imposed on him, and what he would have been glad to have relinquished. That the barbarous whipping he had received from the pirates at first was for telling them that none who could get their bread in an honest way would go on such an account. And he had certainly taken the opportunity which presented at Sierra Leone of ridding himself from so distasteful a life, if there had not been three or four of the old pirates on shore at the same time who, he imagined, must know of him, and would doubtless have served him the same, if not worse, than they since had done William Williams, who, for such a design, being delivered up by the treacherous natives, had received two lashes through the whole ship’s company.

The Court observed the excuses of these pirates about want of means to escape, was oftentimes as poor and evasive as their pleas of being forced at first; for here, at Sierra Leone, every man had his liberty on shore, and, it was evident, might have kept it, if he, or they, had so pleased. And such are further culpable, who having been introduced into the society by such uncivil methods as whipping, or beating, neglect less likely means of regaining liberty; it shows strong inclinations to dishonesty, and they stand inexcusably. Guilty.

Jo. Mansfield.

It was proved against this prisoner, by Captain Trahern and George Fenn, that he was one of those volunteers who was at the attack and robbery of the Company’s ship called the King Solomon. That he bullied well among them who dared not make any reply, but was very easy with his friends, who knew him; for Moody on this occasion took a large glass from him, and threatened to blow his brains out (a favourite phrase with these pirates) if he muttered at it.

From others acquitted it likewise appeared that he was at first a volunteer among them, from an island called Dominico, in the West Indies, and had, to recommend himself, told them he was a deserter from the Rose man-of-war, and, before that, had been on the highway; he was always drunk, they said, and so bad at the time they met with the Swallow, that he knew nothing of the action, but came up vapouring with his cutlass, after the Fortune had struck her colours, to know who would go on board the prize; and it was some time before they could persuade him into the truth of their condition.

He could say little in defence of himself, acknowledged this latter part of drunkenness; a vice, he says, that had too great a share in ensnaring him into this course of life, and had been a greater motive with him than gold. Guilty.

William Davis.

William Allen deposed he knew this prisoner at Sierra Leone, belonging to the Ann galley; that he had a quarrel with, and beat, the mate of that ship, for which, as he said, being afraid to return to his duty, he consorted to the idle customs and ways of living among the negroes, from whom he received a wife, and ungratefully sold her one evening for some punch to quench his thirst. After this, having put himself under the protection of Mr. Plunket, governor there for the Royal African Company, the relations and friends of the woman applied to him for redress, who immediately surrendered the prisoner, and told them he did not care if they took his head off; but the negroes wisely judging it would not fetch so good a price, they sold him in his turn again to Seignior Jessee, a Christian black, and native of that place, who expected and agreed for two years’ service from him, on consideration of what he had disbursed for the redemption of the woman. But long before the expiration of this time Roberts came into Sierra Leone river, where the prisoner, as Seignior Jessee assured the deponent, entered a volunteer with them.

The deponent further corroborates this part of the evidence, in that he being obliged to call at Cape Mount, in his passage down hither, met there with two deserters from Roberts’s ship, who assured him of the same, and that the pirates did design to turn Davis away the next opportunity as an idle, good-for-nothing fellow.

From Glasby and Lillburn it was evident, that every pirate, while they stayed at Sierra Leone, went on shore at discretion. That Roberts had often assured Mr. Glynn and other traders at that place, that he would force nobody; and, in short, there was no occasion for it; in particular, the prisoner’s row-mate went away, and thinks he might have done the same if he had pleased.

The prisoner alleged his having been detained against his will, and says that, returning with elephants’ teeth for Sierra Leone, the pirates’ boat pursued and brought him on board, where he was kept on account of his understanding the pilotage and navigation of that river.

It was obvious to the court, not only how frivolous excuses of constraint and force were among these people, at their first commencing pirates, but also it was plain to them, from these two deserters, met at Cape Mount, and the discretional manner they lived in at Sierra Leone, through how little difficulty several of them did, and others might have escaped afterwards, if they could but have obtained their own consents for it. Guilty.

This is the substance of the trials of Roberts’s crew, which may suffice for others that occur in this book. The foregoing lists show, by a * before the names, who were condemned; those names with a + were referred for trial to the Marshalsea, and all the rest were acquitted.

The following pirates were executed, according to their sentence, without the gates of Cape Corso Castle, within the flood-marks, viz.:—William Magnes, 35, Minehead; Richard Hardy, 25, Wales; David Simpson, 36, North Berwick; Christopher Moody, 28; Thomas Sutton, 23, Berwick; Valentine Ashplant, 32, Minories; Peter de Vine, 42, Stepney; William Philips, 29, Lower Shadwell; Philip Bill, 27, St. Thomas’s; William Main, 28; William Mackintosh, 21, Canterbury; William Williams, 40, near Plymouth; Robert Haws, 31, Yarmouth; William Petty, 30, Deptford; John Jaynson, 22, near Lancaster; Marcus Johnson, 21, Smyrna; Robert Crow, 44, Isle of Man; Michael Maer, 41, Ghent; Daniel Harding, 26, Groomsbury in Somersetshire; William Fernon, 22, Somersetshire; Jo. More, 19, Meer, in Wiltshire; Abraham Harper, 23, Bristol; Jo. Parker, 22, Winfred, in Dorsetshire; Jo. Philips, 28, Jersey; James Clement, 20, Bristol; Peter Scudamore, 35, Wales; James Skyrm, 44, Somersetshire; John Walden, 24, Whitby; Jo. Stephenson, 40, Orkneys; Jo. Mansfield, 30, Bristol; Israel Hynde, 30, Aberdeen; Peter Lesley, 21, Exeter; Charles Bunce, 26, Other St. Mary’s, Devonshire; Robert Birtson, 30, Cornwall; Richard Harris, 45, Sadbury, in Devonshire; Joseph Nositer, 26 (speechless at execution); William Williams, 30, Holland; Agge Jacobson, 30, Bristol; Benjamin Jeffreys, 21, Topsham; Cuthbert Goss, 21, Plymouth; John Jessup, 20, Plymouth; Edward Watts, 22, Dunmore; Thomas Giles, 26, Minehead; William Wood, 27, York; Thomas Armstrong, 34, London (executed on board the Weymouth); Robert Johnson, 32, at Whydah; George Smith, 25, Wales; William Watts, 23, Ireland; James Philips, 35, Antegoa; John Coleman, 24, Wales; Robert Hays, 20, Liverpool; William Davis, 23, Wales.

The remainder of the pirates, whose names are undermentioned, upon their humble petition to the court, had their sentence changed from death to seven years’ servitude, conformable to our sentence of transportation. The petition is as follows:—

“To the Honourable the President and Judges of the Court of Admiralty, for trying of pirates, sitting at Cape Corso Castle, the 20th day of April, 1722.

“The humble petition of Thomas How, Samuel Fletcher, &c.

“Humbly showeth—

“That your petitioners being unhappily, and unwarily drawn into that wretched and detestable crime of piracy, for which they now stand justly condemned, they most humbly pray the clemency of the court, in the mitigation of their sentence, that they may be permitted to serve the Royal African Company of England, in this country for seven years, in such a manner as the court shall think proper; that by their just punishment, being made sensible of the error of their former ways, they will for the future become faithful subjects, good servants, and useful in their stations, if it please the Almighty to prolong their lives.

“And your petitioners, as in duty, &c.”

The resolution of the court was—

“That the petitioners have leave by this Court of Admiralty, to interchange indentures with the Captain-General of the Gold Coast, for the Royal African Company, for seven years’ servitude, at any of the Royal African Company’s settlements in Africa, in such manner as he, the said Captain-General, shall think proper.

“On Thursday, the 26th day of April, the indentures being all drawn out, according to the grant made to the petitioners, by the court held on Friday the 20th of this instant, each prisoner was sent for up, signed, sealed and exchanged them in the presence of—

Captain Mungo Heardman, President, James Phipps, Esq., Mr. Edward Hyde, Mr. Charles Fanshaw, and Mr. John Atkins, Registrar.”@

A Copy of the Indenture.

The Indenture of a person condemned to serve abroad, for piracy, which, upon the humble petition of the pirates therein mentioned, was most mercifully granted by his Imperial Majesty’s Commissioners and Judges appointed to hold a Court of Admiralty, for the trial of pirates, at Cape Corso Castle, in Africa, upon condition of serving seven years, and other conditions, are as follows, viz.:—

“This Indenture, made the twenty-sixth day of April, Anno Regni Regis Georgii magnæ Britanniæ, &c. Septimo, Domini Millessimo, Sepcentessimo viginti duo, between Roger Scot, late of the City of Bristol, mariner, of the one part, and the Royal African Company of England, their Captain-General and Commander-in-chief, for the time being, on the other part, witnesseth, That the said Roger Scot doth hereby covenant, and agree, to, and with, the said Royal African Company, their Captain-General, and Commander-in-chief for the time being, to serve him, or his lawful successors, in any of the Royal African Company’s settlements on the coast of Africa, from the day of the date of these presents, to the full term of seven years, from hence next ensuing, fully to be complete and ended; there to serve in such employment as the said Captain-General or his successors shall employ him, according to the custom of the country in like kind.

“In consideration whereof, the said Captain-General, and Commander-in-chief, doth covenant and agree to, and with, the said Roger Scot, to find and allow him meat, drink, apparel, and lodging, according to the custom of the country.

“In witness whereof, the parties aforesaid, to these presents, have interchangeably put their hands and seals, the day and year first above written.

“Signed, sealed, and delivered, in the presence of us, at Cape Corso Castle, in Africa, where no stamped paper was to be had.

Mungo Heardman, President, ⎬Witnesses.”

John Atkins, Registrar,

In like manner was drawn out and exchanged the indentures of Thomas How, of Barnstaple, in the county of Devon; Samuel Fletcher, of East Smithfield, London; John Lane, of Lombard Street, London; David Littlejohn, of Bristol; John King, of Shadwell parish, London; Henry Dennis, of Bideford; Hugh Harris, of Corf Castle, Devonshire; William Taylor, of Bristol; Thomas Owen, of Bristol; John Mitchel, of Shadwell parish, London; Joshua Lee, of Liverpool; William Shuren, of Wapping parish, London; Robert Hartley, of Liverpool; John Griffin, of Blackwall, Middlesex; James Cromby, of London, Wapping; James Greenham, of Marshfield, Gloucestershire; John Horn, of St. James’s parish, London; John Jessup, of Wisbech, Cambridgeshire; David Rice, of Bristol.

But two or three of whom, I hear, are now living; two others, viz., George Wilson and Thomas Oughterlaney, were respited from execution till his Majesty’s pleasure should be known; the former died abroad, and the latter came home, and received his Majesty’s pardon; the account of the whole stands thus:—Acquitted, 74; executed, 32; respited, 2; to servitude, 20; to the Marshalsea, 17; killed in the Ranger, 10; killed in the Fortune, 3; died in the passage to Cape Corso, 13; died afterwards in the Castle, 4; negroes in both ships, 70: total, 276.

I am not ignorant how acceptable a relation of the behaviour and dying words of malefactors are to the generality of our countrymen, and therefore shall deliver what occurred worthy of notice in the deportment of these criminals.

The first six that were called to execution were Magnes, Moody, Simpson, Sutton, Ashplant, and Hardy; all of them old standers and notorious offenders. When they were brought out of the hold, on the parade, in order to break off their fetters, and fit the halters, none of them, it was observed, appeared the least dejected, unless Sutton, who spoke faint, but it was rather imputed to a flux that had seized him two or three days before than fear. A gentleman, who was surgeon of the ship, was so charitable at this time, to offer himself in the room of an ordinary, and represented to them, as well as he was able, the heinousness of their sin, and necessity which lay on them of repentance; one particular part of which ought to be acknowledging the justice they had met with. They seemed heedless for the present, some calling for water to drink, and others applying to the soldiers for caps; but when this gentleman pressed them for an answer, they all exclaimed against the severity of the court, and were so hardened as to curse, and wish the same justice might overtake all the members of it as had been dealt to them. “They were poor rogues,” they said, “and so must be hanged, while others, no less guilty in another way, escaped.”

When he endeavoured to compose their minds, exhorting them to die in charity with all the world, and would have diverted them from such vain discourse by asking them their country, age, and the like, some of them answered, “What was that to him? They suffered the law, and should give no account but to God.” They walked to the gallows without a tear in token of sorrow for their past offences, or showing as much concern as a man would express at travelling a bad road; nay, Simpson, at seeing a woman that he knew, said, “He had lain with that b——h three times, and now she was come to see him hanged.” And Hardy, when his hands were tied behind him (which happened from their not being acquainted with the way of bringing malefactors to execution), observed, “That he had seen many a man hanged, but this way of the hands being tied behind them he was a stranger to and never saw before in his life.” I mention these two little instances to show how stupid and thoughtless they were of their end, and that the same abandoned and reprobate temper that had carried them through their rogueries, abided with them to the last.

Samuel Fletcher, another of the pirates ordered for execution, but reprieved, seemed to have a quicker sense of his condition; for when he saw those he was allotted with go to execution, he sent a message by the Provost-Marshal to the court, to be “informed of the meaning of it, and humbly desired to know whether they designed him mercy or not? If they did, he stood infinitely obliged to them, and thought the whole service of his life an incompetent return for so great a favour; but that if he was to suffer, the sooner the better, he said, that he might be out of his pain.”

There were others of these pirates the reverse of this, and though destitute of ministers or fit persons to represent their sins and assist them with spiritual advice, were yet always employing their time to good purposes, and behaved with a great deal of seeming devotion and penitence; among these may be reckoned Scudamore, Williams, Philips, Stephenson, Jeffreys, Lesly, Harper, Armstrong, Bunce, and others.

Scudamore too lately discerned the folly and wickedness of the enterprise, that had chiefly brought him under sentence of death, from which, seeing there was no hopes of escaping, he petitioned for two or three days’ reprieve, which was granted; and for that time applied himself incessantly to prayer and reading the Scriptures. He seemed to have a deep sense of his sins, of this in particular, and desired, at the gallows, they would have patience with him, to sing the first part of the thirty-first Psalm; which he did by himself throughout.

Armstrong, having been a deserter from his Majesty’s service, was executed on board the Weymouth (and the only one that was); there was nobody to press him to an acknowledgment of the crime he died for, nor of sorrowing in particular for it, which would have been exemplary, and made suitable impressions on seamen; so that his last hour was spent in lamenting and bewailing his sins in general, exhorting the spectators to an honest and good life, in which alone they could find satisfaction. In the end he desired they would join with him in singing two or three latter verses of the 140th Psalm; and that being concluded, he was, at the firing of a gun, triced up at the fore-yard-arm.

Bunce was a young man, not above twenty-six years old, but made the most pathetic speech of any at the gallows. He first declaimed against the gilded baits of Power, Liberty, and Wealth, that had ensnared him among the pirates, his inexperienced years not being able to withstand the temptation; but that the briskness he had shown, which so fatally had procured him favour amongst them, was not so much a fault in principle as the liveliness and vivacity of his nature. He was now extremely afflicted for the injuries he had done to all men, and begged their’s and God’s forgiveness, very earnestly exhorting the spectators to remember their Creator in their youth, and guard betimes, that their minds took not a wrong bias, concluding with this apt similitude, “That he stood there as a beacon upon a rock” (the gallows standing on one) “to warn erring mariners of danger.”

IV.

CAPTAIN AVERY AND HIS CREW.

Romantic reports of his greatness—His birth—Is mate of a Bristol man—For what voyage designed—Tampers with the seamen—Forms a plot for carrying off the ship—Executes it, and how—The pirates take a rich ship belonging to the Great Mogul—The Great Mogul threatens the English settlements—The pirates steer their course back for Madagascar—Call a council—Put all the treasure on board of Avery’s ship—Avery and his crew treacherously leave his confederates—Go to the Isle of Providence in the West Indies—Sell the ship—Go to North America in a sloop—They disperse—Avery goes to New England—From thence to Ireland—Avery afraid to expose his diamonds for sale—Goes over to England—Puts his wealth into merchant’s hands of Bristol—Changes his name—Lives at Bideford—The merchants send him no supplies—Importunes them—Goes privately to Bristol—They threaten to discover him—Goes over to Ireland—Solicits them from thence—Is very poor—Works his passage over to Plymouth—Walks to Bideford—Dies a beggar—An account of Avery’s confederates—Their settlement at Madagascar—They meet other pirates—An account of them—The pirates deposed, and why—Marooned on the Island Mauritius—Some account of that island—The adventures of the company continued—Angria, an Indian pirate—His strength by land and sea—The East India Company’s wars with him—The pirates go the island of Melinda—Their barbarous behaviour there—Hear of Captain Mackra’s designs against them—Their reflections thereupon—Sail for Cochin, a Dutch settlement—The pirates and the Dutch very good friends—Mutual presents made between the pirates and the Governor—The pirates in a fright—Almost starved—Take a prize of an immense value—Take an Ostend East Indiaman—A short description of Madagascar—A prodigious dividend made by the pirates—A fellow’s way of increasing his diamonds—Some of the pirates quit, and join the remains of Avery—The proceedings of the men-of-war in those parts—Some Dutchmen petition to be among the pirates—The pirates divided in their measures—Break up—What became of them.

None of these bold adventurers were ever so much talked of for a while as Avery: he made as great a noise in the world as Meriveis does now, and was looked upon to be a person of as great consequence; he was represented in Europe as one that had raised himself to the dignity of a king, and was likely to be the founder of a new monarchy, having, as it was said, taken immense riches and married the Great Mogul’s daughter, who was taken in an Indian ship which fell into his hands; and that he had by her many children, living in great royalty and state; that he built forts, erected magazines, and was master of a stout squadron of ships, manned with able and desperate fellows of all nations; that he gave commissions out in his own name to the captains of his ships and to the commanders of his forts, and was acknowledged by them as their prince. A play was written upon him, called “The Successful Pirate”; and these accounts obtained such belief that several schemes were offered to the Council for fitting out a squadron to take him, while others were for offering him and his companions an Act of Grace and inviting them to England, with all their treasure, lest his growing greatness might hinder the trade of Europe to the East Indies.

Yet all these were no more than false rumours, improved by the credulity of some and the humour of others who love to tell strange things; for while, it is said, he was aspiring at a crown he wanted a shilling, and at the same time it was given out he was in possession of such prodigious wealth in Madagascar he was starving in England.

No doubt but the reader will have a curiosity of knowing what became of this man, and what were the true grounds of so many false reports concerning him; therefore I shall, in as brief a manner as I can, give his history.

He was born in the West of England near Plymouth, in Devonshire; being bred to the sea, he served as a mate of a merchantman in several trading voyages. It happened before the Peace of Ryswick, when there was an alliance between Spain, England, Holland, &c. against France, that the French in Martinico carried on a smuggling trade with the Spaniards on the continent of Peru, which by the law of Spain is not allowed to friends in time of peace, for none but native Spaniards are permitted to traffic in those parts or set their feet on shore, unless at any time they are brought as prisoners; wherefore they constantly keep certain ships cruising along the coast, whom they call Guarda del Costa, who have the orders to make prizes of all ships they can light of within five leagues of land. Now the French, growing very bold in trade, and the Spaniards being poorly provided with ships, and those they had being of no force, it often fell out that when they light of the French smugglers they were not strong enough to attack them, therefore it was resolved in Spain to hire two or three stout foreign ships for their service, which being known at Bristol, some merchants of that city fitted out two ships of thirty odd guns, and one hundred and twenty hands each, well furnished with provision and ammunition, and all other stores; and the hire being agreed for by some agents for Spain, they were commanded to sail for Corunna—the Groine—there to receive their orders, and to take on board some Spanish gentlemen who were to go passengers to New Spain.

Of one of these ships, which I take to be called the Duke, Captain Gibson, commander, Avery was first mate, and being a fellow of more cunning than courage, he insinuated himself into the good will of several of the boldest fellows on board the other ship as well as that which he was on board of. Having sounded their inclinations before he opened himself, and finding them ripe for his design, he at length proposed to them to run away with the ship, telling them what great wealth was to be had upon the coast of India. It was no sooner said than agreed to, and they resolved to execute their plot at ten o’clock the night following.

It must be observed the captain was one of those who are mightily addicted to punch, so that he passed most of his time on shore in some little drinking ordinary; but this day he did not go on shore as usual; however, this did not spoil the design, for he took his usual dose on board, and so got to bed before the hour appointed for the business. The men also who were not privy to the design turned into their hammocks, leaving none upon deck but the conspirators, who, indeed, were the greatest part of the ship’s crew. At the time agreed on the Duchess’s long-boat appeared, which, Avery hailing in the usual manner, was answered by the men in her, “Is your drunken boatswain on board?” which was the watchword agreed between them, and Avery replying in the affirmative the boat came aboard with sixteen stout fellows and joined the company.

When our gentry saw that all was clear they secured the hatches, so went to work; they did not slip the anchor, but weighed it leisurely, and so put to sea without any disorder or confusion, though there were several ships then lying in the bay, and among them a Dutch frigate of forty guns, the captain of which was offered a great reward to go out after her; but Mynheer, who perhaps would not have been willing to have been served so himself, could not be prevailed upon to give such usage to another, and so let Mr. Avery pursue his voyage whither he had a mind to.

The captain, who by this time was awakened, either by the motion of the ship or the noise of working the tackles, rung the bell. Avery and two others went into the cabin. The captain, half asleep, and in a kind of fright, asked, “What was the matter?” Avery answered coolly, “Nothing.” The captain replied, “Something’s the matter with the ship. Does she drive? What weather is it?” thinking nothing less than that it had been a storm and that the ship was driven from her anchors. “No, no,” answered Avery, “we’re at sea, with a fair wind and good weather.” “At sea!” says the captain; “how can that be?” “Come,” says Avery, “don’t be in a fright, but put on your clothes, and I’ll let you into a secret. You must know that I am captain of this ship now, and this is my cabin, therefore you must walk out. I am bound to Madagascar, with a design of making my own fortune, and that of all the brave fellows joined with me.”

The captain having a little recovered his senses began to apprehend the meaning. However, his fright was as great as before, which Avery perceiving, bade him fear nothing; “for,” says he, “if you have a mind to make one of us we will receive you, and if you’ll turn sober and mind your business, perhaps in time I may make you one of my lieutenants; if not, here’s a boat alongside, and you shall be set ashore.”

The captain was glad to hear this, and therefore accepted of his offer; and the whole crew being called up, to know who was willing to go on shore with the captain and who to seek their fortunes with the rest, there were not above five or six who were willing to quit this enterprise. Wherefore they were put into the boat with the captain that minute and made their way to the shore as well as they could.

They proceeded on their voyage to Madagascar; but I do not find they took any ships in their way. When they arrived at the north-east part of that island they found two sloops at anchor, who, upon seeing them, slipped their cables and run themselves ashore, the men all landing and running into the woods. These were two sloops which the men had run away with from the West Indies, and seeing Avery, they supposed him to be some frigate sent to take them, and therefore not being of force to engage him they did what they could to save themselves.

He guessed where they were, and sent some of his men on shore to let them know they were friends, and to offer they might join together for their common safety. The sloops’ men were well armed, and had posted themselves in a wood, with sentinels just on the outside to observe whether the ship landed her men to pursue them, and they observing only two or three men to come towards them without arms, did not oppose them; but having challenged them, and they answering that they were friends, they led them to their body, where they delivered their message. At first they apprehended it was a stratagem to decoy them on board, but when the ambassadors offered that the captain himself and as many of the crew as they should name would meet them on shore without arms, they believed them to be in earnest, and they soon entered into a confidence with one another, those on board going on shore and some of those on shore going on board.

The sloops’ men were rejoiced at the new ally, for their vessels were so small that they could not attack a ship of any force, so that hitherto they had not taken any considerable prize; but now they hoped to fly at high game. And Avery was as well pleased at this reinforcement to strengthen them for any brave enterprise, and though the booty must be lessened to each by being divided into so many shares, yet he found out an expedient not to suffer by it himself, as shall be shown in its place.

Having consulted what was to be done, they resolved to sail out together upon a cruise—the galley and two sloops. They therefore fell to work to get the sloops off, which they soon effected, and steered towards the Arabian coast. Near the River Indus the man at the masthead spied a sail, upon which they gave chase, and as they came nearer to her they perceived her to be a tall ship, and fancied she might be a Dutch East Indiaman homeward bound; but she proved a better prize. When they fired at her to bring to she hoisted Mogul’s colours, and seemed to stand upon her defence. Avery only cannonaded at a distance, and some of his men began to suspect that he was not the hero they took him for. However, the sloops made use of their time, and coming one on the bow and the other on the quarter of the ship, clapped her on board and entered her, upon which she immediately struck her colours and yielded. She was one of the Great Mogul’s own ships, and there were in her several of the greatest persons of his Court, among whom it was said was one of his daughters, who were going on a pilgrimage to Mecca, the Mahometans thinking themselves obliged once in their lives to visit that place; and they were carrying with them rich offerings to present at the shrine of Mahomet. It is known that the Eastern people travel with the utmost magnificence, so that they had with them all their slaves and attendants, their rich habits and jewels, with vessels of gold and silver, and great sums of money to defray the charges of their journey by land; wherefore the plunder got by this prize is not easily computed.

Having taken all the treasure on board their own ships, and plundered their prize of everything else they either wanted or liked, they let her go; she not being able to continue her voyage, returned back. As soon as the news came to the Mogul, and he knew that they were English who had robbed them, he threatened loud, and talked of sending a mighty army with fire and sword to extirpate the English from all their settlements on the Indian coast. The East India Company in England were very much alarmed at it; however, by degrees they found means to pacify him, by promising to do their endeavours to take the robbers and deliver them into his hands; however, the great noise this thing made in Europe as well as in India, was the occasion of all these romantic stories which were formed of Avery’s greatness.

In the meantime our successful plunderers agreed to make the best of their way back to Madagascar, intending to make that place their magazine or repository for all their treasure, and to build a small fortification there, and leave a few hands always ashore to look after it and defend it from any attempts of the natives; but Avery put an end to this project, and made it altogether unnecessary.

As they were steering their course as has been said, he sends a boat on board of each of the sloops desiring the chief of them to come on board of him in order to hold a council; they did so, and he told them he had something to propose to them for the common good, which was to provide against accidents; he bade them consider the treasure they were possessed of would be sufficient for them all if they could secure it in some place on shore, therefore all they had to fear was some misfortune in the voyage; he bade them consider the consequences of being separated by bad weather, in which case the sloops, if either of them should fall in with any ships of force, must be either taken or sunk, and the treasure on board her lost to the rest, besides the common accidents of the sea; as for his part he was so strong he was able to make his party good with any ship they were likely to meet in those seas; that if he met with any ship of such strength, and could not take her, he was safe from being taken, being so well-manned, besides, his ship was a quick sailor, and could carry sail when their sloops could not, wherefore he proposed to them to put the treasure on board his ship, to seal up each chest with three seals, whereof each was to keep one, and to appoint a rendezvous in case of separation.

Upon considering this proposal it appeared so reasonable to them that they readily came into it, for they argued to themselves that an accident might happen to one of the sloops and the other escape, wherefore it was for the common good. The thing was done as agreed to, the treasure put on board of Avery, and the chests sealed; they kept company that day and the next, the weather being fair, in which time Avery tampered with his men, telling them they now had sufficient to make them all easy, and what should hinder them from going to some country where they were not known and living on shore all the rest of their days in plenty. They understood what he meant, and, in short, they all agreed to bilk their new allies, the sloops’ men; nor do I find that any of them felt any qualms of honour rising in his stomach to hinder them from consenting to this piece of treachery. In fine, they took advantage of the darkness that night, steered another course, and by morning lost sight of them.

I leave the reader to judge what swearing and confusion there was among the sloops’ men in the morning when they saw that Avery had given them the slip, for they knew by the fairness of the weather and the course they had agreed to steer, that it must have been done on purpose. But we leave them at present to follow Mr. Avery.

Avery and his men, having consulted what to do with themselves, came to a resolution to make the best of their way towards America, and, none of them being known in those parts, they intended to divide the treasure, to change their names, to go ashore, some in one place some in another, to purchase some settlements and live at ease. The first land they made was the island of Providence, then newly settled; here they stayed some time, and having considered that when they should go to New England the greatness of their ship would cause much inquiry about them, and possibly some people from England who had heard the story of a ship’s being run away with from the Groine might suspect them to be the people, they therefore took a resolution of disposing of their ship at Providence. Upon which Avery, pretending that the ship being fitted out upon the privateering account and having had no success, he had received orders from the owners to dispose of her to the best advantage. He soon met with a purchaser, and immediately bought a sloop.

In this sloop he and his companions embarked. They touched at several parts of America, where no person suspected them, and some of them went on shore, and dispersed themselves about the country, having received such dividends as Avery would give them, for he concealed the greatest part of the diamonds from them, which in the first hurry of plundering the ship they did not much regard, as not knowing their value.