by Travers, Tim
Central to these plans to capture a share of the wealth of the pirates of Madagascar was John Breholt. In June 1709, he was named in a letter to the Court of St James. Breholt was apparently trying to take advantage of delays in suppressing the pirates of Madagascar ‘for want of shipping’, and was therefore preparing the previously mentioned project in order to go where ‘ye pyrates reside’, namely Madagascar. John Breholt was possibly the same Breholt who earlier commanded a ship called the Carlisle, which was a privateer turned pirate. This Breholt was reportedly taken by Captain George Martin of the Royal Navy in 1700 at St Augustine, Madagascar, and claimed a pardon, although Martin stated that Breholt was since dead, and also called him George rather than John Breholt. Perhaps Martin was mistaken.9 In any case, the promoter of the 1708–1709 undertaking, John Breholt, was unmasked by Lawrence Waldron, a barber surgeon, who in 1700 had sailed with John Breholt in the Carlisle. According to Waldron, he signed on with John Breholt, expecting to sail to England from the Carolinas. But once at sea, Breholt declared that the ship would go to Madagascar to pirate and make their fortune. However, Breholt and his crew were captured by the Spanish and incarcerated in Lisbon. No act of piracy being found against them, they were released after a year, and came to England, where Breholt and some comrades organized a fake scheme to find a ship wreck and take the treasure out of it. This scheme involved Lord Fairfax, and then Breholt organized a second fraudulent scheme to find a similar ship wreck, which involved Lord Rivers and other gentlemen. It is clear that John Breholt’s scheme with Morton, Egerton and the supposed female relatives of the pirates was of the same fraudulent kind. Breholt’s modus operandi was obviously to involve the naïve aristocracy, exploit their funds and respectability, and thus spring him to run away with the ships provided, and then go pirating again to Madagascar.10
Breholt’s 1709 plan did not succeed, but it certainly worried the next promoter, the Marquis of Carmarthen. Carmarthen wrote a memorial to the Queen, complaining accurately enough of Breholt’s ‘pernicious design’ to trade with the pirates of Madagascar, which plan had drawn in men of quality, but he asserted that Breholt’s real plan was to run away with the ships and goods involved, and join with the pirates.11 It did not take Carmarthen long to produce his own schemes for the Queen, which were either a plan to bring the pirates of Madagascar home with their wealth, giving a tenth part to the Queen, and allowing Carmarthen a share; or a far more ambitious plan to raid the French island of Reunion and the Arab kingdom of Muscat. This second plan would use the pardoned pirates of Madagascar to support the raid, which also required the Queen to provide five Royal Navy ships with Carmarthen as commander. Carmarthen also felt compelled to fend off the rival plans of the East India Company as well as Breholt’s proposals.12 It is relevant that Carmarthen’s plans were no doubt influenced by his very considerable indebtedness, which, according to the diary of his father, the Duke of Leeds, amounted to the startling sum of £12,000.13 Needless to say, Carmarthen’s plan did not gain approval either, although he was soon involved in the war of the Spanish Succession as a naval commander, and managed to bring two Swedish ships as prizes into Portsmouth in 1710, which no doubt helped his financial condition.14
Henry Avery (Active 1693–1695)
Breholt’s mention, above, of Captain Avery’s wife, draws attention to the most successful Red Sea and Madagascar pirate of his time. Henry Avery or Every, had been chief mate aboard a navy ship, but, in 1693, was appointed chief mate of the Charles II, which, along with four other ships, was waiting at the port of Corunna to take part in an expedition to the Americas. The main idea of this expedition was to salvage valuable ship wrecks in Spanish American waters, but the Spanish authorities refused permission for the promoter of the expedition, Sir James Houblon, to carry on with the voyage. The net result was that, as the fleet waited at Corunna, wages were not paid, and food and necessities were very scarce. So Avery, who was an impressively tall and obviously capable leader, led a mutiny on 7 May 1694. The watchword for the mutiny was ironic, ‘Is your drunken boatswain onboard?’ The mutiny was easily undertaken and the Charles II sailed away from Corunna. As the ship sailed out to sea, the noise awoke the captain of the Charles II, Gibson, who was sick in his cabin. In a fright, Gibson asked Avery, ‘Something’s the matter with the ship, does she drive? What weather is it?’ Avery coolly told him of the mutiny, ‘I am bound to Madagascar with a design of making my own fortune and that of all the brave fellows joined with me.’ Avery offered the captain a choice: join the mutiny, or be put ashore in a boat. Gibson chose to go ashore with some fourteen or fifteen others, and the Charles II sailed on, carrying 40 guns, a formidable amount of fire power, and some eighty men.15
Avery apparently did not tell the rest of the crew his real design for the voyage until the day after sailing, when the ship was ‘abt. 20 or 30 Leagues’ out to sea. It turned out that Avery’s real intention, as he told the former captain, was to go via Madagascar to the Red Sea.16 The crew accepted the plan, and the Charles II, now renamed the Fancy, quickly turned to piracy. Three English ships were taken at the Isle of May in the Cape Verde Islands, mainly for provisions, and nine sailors from their crews joined the Fancy, giving the pirate ship an establishment of ninety-four men. Then it was on to the Guinea coast of Africa, where the Fancy lured thirteen natives aboard, robbed them, and made them slaves. In addition two Danish ships were taken on the Guinea coast, producing elephants’ teeth (ivory) and eight or nine ounces of gold per man. Here fourteen of the Danes joined Avery’s crew. Then it was on to Madagascar, where the pirates watered, and sailed on to the island of Johanna (Anjouan). Here the Fancy plundered a Moorish ship, and later a French pirate, out of which forty men joined them. Now Avery’s crew numbered some 170 men, about the right number for a pirate system that relied on boarding for success. Of these, 104 were English, 14 were Danes, and 52 were French. The slaves evidently did not count. Finally, the Fancy arrived at the Red Sea, but doubled back to Johanna when the winds were contrary, and then again set out for the Red Sea.17
On its way back to the Red Sea, the Fancy sailed along what the crew called the Ethiopian coast. When the inhabitants of a town called Mayd refused to trade with them, the crew ‘burnt the town and blew up the Church…’ Despite this, the Fancy lay there for about a month, and then headed again to the mouth of the Red Sea, and specifically to what was then called Babs Key or Rogues Island (Bab el Mandeb). There the Fancy was eventually joined by five other pirate ships, including one captained by Thomas Tew. Avery was elected commander of this fleet, possibly because the Fancy was the ship with the most cannon and men onboard (now 184 men). The ships waited for the Muslim merchant and pilgrim fleet to come down from Mocha (a port at the mouth of the Red Sea), on its way to India, which usually happened in late August and September due to the prevailing winds. However, after waiting for a month, a small captured grab (a galley) informed the pirates that the Mocha fleet had passed in the night. Avery and some of the pirate ships chased the Mocha fleet and caught up with one Muslim ship, the Fateh Mohammed, at the Cape of St John. This ship offered little or no resistance, and the pirates took out of her £50,000 to £60,000 of treasure. Then the pirates overhauled another huge Muslim ship, which they named the Gunsway (Ganj-i-Sawai). As it happened this ship belonged to the Moghul emperor, Aurangzeb, and was variously described as being of seventy guns and 600 or 700 men; or forty guns and 800 men, including passengers; or seventy guns and 1,000 men. This ship put up a stronger fight, and if it really did only have forty guns, would have been outgunned by the Fancy and another pirate ship, the Pearl (William Mayes captain). According to different witnesses the fight took either three hours, or two hours, or an hour and a half, and ended as Avery’s crew boarded the Gunsway, assisted by the Pearl. The only man not to board the Gunsway was Avery himself. Huge amounts of gold and silver came out of the Gunsway, as well as many jewels, and a particular saddle and bridle designed as a gift for Aurangzeb, which was set with rubies. More tr
easure was unearthed as several members of the Gunsway were put to the torture to confess where their wealth was hidden. In addition, the pirates raped the women onboard, who were often of high caste status.18
As a result of this haul from the Gunsway and previous captures, the pirates netted between £800 and £1,000 per man. After disposing of some of the treasure locally, the Fancy headed back toward the West Indies, although Avery had to withstand a mutiny near Brazil over the destination of the ship. Some pirates were put ashore on the island of Reunion, and the Fancy eventually sailed into New Providence in the Bahamas in March or April 1695, where the Governor, Nicholas Trott, was known to be receptive to pirates. The crew of the Fancy gave Trott 20 pieces of eight and 2 sequins (a gold coin) per man, as well as the ship itself, so Trott permitted the Fancy and crew to come ashore and stay in two houses. One night a pirate broke a glass in one house and was made to pay 8 sequins for it by Trott! Following this, the remaining crew of the Fancy split up, with many remaining in the Americas, including Joseph Morris, who was ‘left mad at Providence losing all his Jewels upon a wager’, and Edward Short, who was killed by a shark. Avery himself and a few others arranged transport to Ireland, and thence to England. The authorities in England tracked down a number of the crew of the Fancy, and managed to hang five of them, besides persuading several to turn state’s evidence. Yet Avery disappeared. To help his escape, he changed his name to John Bridgeman, and was believed by John Dann, a fellow crew member, to be headed for Devon, since Avery was a Plymouth man. John Dann also came across the wife of Avery’s quartermaster boarding a coach at St. Albans, saying that she was going to meet up with Avery, but she naturally refused to say where she was heading. It seems equally possible that Avery was actually hiding in London, the easiest place to disappear because of its large population. Also, since St. Albans is north of London, presumably the coach was travelling from St. Albans to London. Either way, according to Captain Johnson, Avery tried to sell his jewels to some Bristol merchants, but was cheated, and died in poverty in Bideford, Devon. There is a moralistic quality to the supposed end of this Madagascar and Red Sea man, which seems a little unlikely for such a careful pirate.19
William Kidd (1654–1701)
Another famous visitor to Madagascar was William Kidd. He had been given commissions in London to capture pirates and French ships, the latter since England was at war with France when the commissions were issued in 1695. Kidd formed a financial agreement with several extremely prominent politicians in London to build a vessel, the Adventure Galley, to pursue these commissions. One of these politicians was Lord Bellomont, later governor of Massachusetts. However, a disappointing voyage frustrated Kidd’s crew, and Kidd was faced with near mutiny at times. At one point Kidd quelled what he thought was mutinous behaviour by smashing a bucket on the head of his gunner, William Moore, calling him a ‘Lousie Dog’, and unintentionally killing him. At another point, Kidd sailed into a fleet of Muslim pilgrim ships at the entrance to the Red Sea, but was seen off by an East India Company ship, the Sceptre. Later, Kidd’s Adventure Galley did capture two valuable merchant ships off India that both carried French passes, the Rouparelle and the Quedagh Merchant. When Kidd saw the French pass offered by the captain of the Rouparelle, he exclaimed joyfully, ‘By God, I have got you! You are a free prize to England!’ This indicates that Kidd felt he was not a pirate but a privateer. Kidd said much the same about the Quedagh Merchant, and he felt vindicated by these two French passes. With considerable treasure now onboard, Kidd headed for St. Mary’s, Madagascar. First into the harbour in 1698 came the Adventure Galley, with Kidd as captain. Some weeks later the Rouparelle and the Quedagh Merchant both arrived at St Mary’s, with some of Kidd’s prize crew in each. Also in St Mary’s at the same time was the pirate Robert Culliford, who had many years earlier run away with a privateer in the West Indies captained by Kidd while Kidd was ashore. Therefore tension existed between Kidd and Culliford at St Mary’s, and most of Kidd’s crew deserted to Culliford. This was partly because Kidd was a severe captain, threatening to knock out the brains of those who opposed him, partly because Culliford offered a better chance of obtaining riches, and partly because Kidd wanted to delay dividing up their treasure until the crew reached New England. Kidd armed himself with muskets and pistols and barricaded himself in his cabin, with only a few supporters onboard. Kidd survived the cabin siege, and with a minimal crew transferred to the Quedagh Merchant, burnt the Adventure Galley, and left for New England. The Rouparelle was not seaworthy and sank in St Mary’s harbour.20
Kidd’s arrival in New England did not go well. Kidd was soon taken prisoner by Lord Bellomont in Boston, who felt the political winds of change. There was now a much more critical attitude towards pirates and pirate friendly governors, and Bellomont also well understood that he stood to make more money by capturing Kidd and receiving his share of the proceeds than by splitting the treasure with Kidd and many others. Kidd was brought to trial in London after spending more than a year in two very unpleasant London jails – the Marshalsea and Newgate. Kidd’s trial in London showed that his political supporters wanted to get rid of him, and, as well, there was hostility from the East India Company, and the previously mentioned changing attitude toward pirates. Kidd found that the two French passes he had collected from the Quedagh Merchant and the Rouparelle had gone missing after he turned them over to Bellomont, and the trial seemed stacked against him. Thus the opening scenes of his trial make for sad reading:
Captain Kidd: ‘I cannot plead till I have these papers [the French passes]; and I have not my witnesses here.’
Sir Salathiel Lovell [Recorder]: ‘You do not know your own interest; if you will not plead you must have judgment against you.’
Captain Kidd: ‘If I plead I shall be accessory to my own death, till I have persons to plead for me.’
Sir Salathiel Lovell: ‘You are accessory to your own death if you do not plead. We cannot enter into evidence unless you plead.’
Clerk of Arraigns: ‘Are you guilty or not guilty?’21
Kidd was eventually forced to plead, but was found guilty of the murder of William Moore (it was judged to be premeditated), and also guilty of a number of counts of piracy against the Quedagh Merchant, the Rouparelle, and other ships. Kidd was therefore hung at Execution Dock, Wapping, London, in May 1701. Thus another Madagascar and Red Sea pirate earned the final sentence, although Kidd had naively failed to make use of his original political supporters to make a deal and thus save his life.
Kidd had left St Mary’s in 1698, but according to Colonel Quarry, the aggressive customs collector for Pennsylvania, ships from New York were still following a trading round trip that threatened honest trade. Ships left from New York with a suitable cargo for Madras in India, then loaded up with brandy and wine for Madagascar, and sold the liquor to pirates who in exchange traded their treasure at cut rate prices to the ships. These traders then came back to New England and sold the pirate treasure at great profit. For example, Captain Giles Shelley sold his goods at Madagascar and took onboard seventy-five passengers, twenty-two Africans, and calico, ivory, 12,000 pieces of eight, and 3,000 Lyon dollars. He then returned to New England and made a good profit. And piracy still continued. For example, the pirate Ryder (or Rider) captured the ship Beckford Galley in 1698 while the captain was onshore trading at the port of Tullia in Madagascar. This Ryder was described as a middle sized man, of a swarthy complexion, churlish constitution, hair short and brown, and ‘Apt when in Drink, to utter some Portegues, or Moorish words, he sometimes sayled with the Moores, and was left by a Pyrate att Fort Dolphin, on the East side of Madagascar…’22 Rider disappeared with the Beckford Galley (possibly named for the wealthy West Indian planter and sugar merchant William Beckford), despite a message to all New England governors in 1700 to seize the ship.23
Edward England and Richard Taylor: Pirates
After a lull in piracy from Madagascar and in the Red Sea in the early 1700s, a revival too
k place after 1715, due to the end of the war of the Spanish Succession, and the subsequent Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Among the most significant Madagascar pirates were Edward England and Richard Taylor. England pursued a successful piratical career off the coast of Africa in 1719, capturing some twenty or more prizes in short order. One of the ships captured was renamed the Victory, and Richard Taylor appointed captain. According to Captain Johnson, Taylor was named captain because he was ‘a fellow of most barbarous nature, who was become a great favourite amongst them [the pirates] for no other reason than he was a greater brute than the rest.’24 After the African voyage, the crews of England and Taylor voted to go to the East Indies, and stopped at Madagascar on the way for water and provisions in 1720. Then the pirates raided along the coast of India, and returned again to Madagascar for provisions, where some of the pirates tried unsuccessfully to find whatever crew from Henry Avery’s ship remained, but they searched in the wrong place, on the west side of the island instead of at St Mary’s. Following this episode, the two pirate ships of England and Taylor went to the island of Johanna, where they took part in a violent fight with an East India Company ship, the Cassandra, with cannon fire killing and wounding many on each side. England’s ship, the Fancy, forced the Cassandra ashore, but the Fancy also struck ground. The captain of the Cassandra, James Macrae, eventually surrendered to Taylor’s Victory, and was close to being murdered when one of his old crewmen, with fearsome whiskers and a wooden leg, and stuck around with pistols, came ‘swearing and vapouring upon the quarter-deck’ and strongly defended the terrified Macrae. England was also sympathetic to Macrae, and advised Macrae to serve punch to Taylor in order to mellow him. This was done, and Macrae was even allowed to take the battered Fancy and get home if he could. Meanwhile, some of the pirates were much displeased with England for letting Macrae go free, thinking he would bring the East India Company against them. So, they deposed England, and marooned him with three others on Mauritius. There England and his companions put together a crude boat and sailed away to Madagascar, where he ended his career by subsisting on the charity of other pirates living there.25
