The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down

by Colin Woodard

  CSPCS 1716–1717: Cecil Headlam, ed., Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series: America and the West Indies, January 1716 to July 1717 (Vol. 29), London: His Majesty's Stationary Office, 1930.

  CSPCS 1717–1718: Cecil Headlam, ed., Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series: America and the West Indies, August 1717 to December 1718 (Vol. 30), London: His Majesty's Stationary Office, 1930.

  CSPCS 1719–1720: Cecil Headlam, ed., Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series: America and the West Indies, January 1719 to February 1720 (Vol. 31), London: His Majesty's Stationary Office, 1933.

  CSPCS 1720–1721: Cecil Headlam, ed., Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series: America and the West Indies, March 1720 to December 1721 (Vol. 32), London: His Majesty's Stationary Office, 1933.

  CSPCS 1722–1723: Cecil Headlam, ed., Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series: America and the West Indies, 1722–1723 (Vol. 33), London: His Majesty's Stationary Office, 1934.

  E190/1164/2: Exchequer Records: Port Books, Bristol, 1708, National Archives, Kew, UK.

  GHP: Charles Johnson, A General History of the Pyrates, ed. Manuel Schonhorn, Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1972.

  HCA1/54: High Court Admiralty Records: Examinations of Pirates and Other Criminals, 1710–1721, National Archives, Kew, UK.

  HCA1/55: High Court Admiralty Records: Examinations of Pirates and Other Criminals, 1721–1725, National Archives, Kew, UK.

  SAT: Translations of Spanish and Vatican Documents from the Archive of the West Indies, Seville, Spain; overseen by Jack Haskins, Kip Wagner, and others. Unpublished manuscript: Islamorda Public Library, Islamorda, Florida.

  TEP: The Trials of Eight Persons Indited for Piracy, Boston: John Edwards, 1718.

  TJR: The Tryals of Captain John Rackham and other Pirates, Kingston, Jamaica: Robert Baldwin, 1720.

  TSB: The Tryals of Major Stede Bonnet and Other Pirates. London: Benjamin Cowse, 1719.

  PROLOGUE

  [>] Pirate sentiments and American Revolution: The Golden Age pirates were, of course, long gone by 1776, but the spirit of maritime rebellion persisted throughout the century. Disgruntled sailors and African Americans led riots and mob actions against Royal Navy press gangs in Boston in 1747 and 1768; Newport, Rhode Island, and Portland, Maine, in 1764; New York in 1764 and 1765; and Norfolk, Virginia, in 1767. In the 1747 riot—which lasted for three days—slaves, servants, and seamen stormed the Boston Town House, forced the governor to flee his home, beat up the sheriff, and detained a naval officer. Sailors also led the resistance to the Stamp Act and the angry Boston mob that was fired upon by British soldiers in what became known as the Boston Massacre. See Jesse Lemisch, "Jack Tar in the Streets: Merchant Seamen in the Politics of Revolutionary America," William & Mary Quarterly, 3rd Series, Vol. 25, No. 3,July 1968, pp. 371–407.

  [>] Disability benefits: Marcus Rediker, Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age, Boston: Beacon Press, 2005, pp. 73–74.

  [>] Kinkor quote: Author's Interview, Kenneth J. Kinkor, Provincetown, MA: 15 June 2005.

  [>] Quote from Bermuda Governor: Benjamin Bennett to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Bermuda: 31 May 1718 in CSPCS 1717–1718, No. 551, p. 261.

  [>] Captain of Seaford's fears: Walter Hamilton to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Antigua: 15 May 1717 in CSPCS 1716–1717, No. 568, p. 300.

  [>] Pirate sympathizers: Alexander Spotswood to Lord Carteret, Williamsburg, VA: 14 February 1719 in R. A. Brock (ed), The Official Letters of Alexander Spottswood, Vol. I, Richmond, VA: Virginia Historical Society, 1882, p. 274.

  CHAPTER ONE: THE LEGEND

  [>] Arrival of sloop at Nassau: Examination of John Dann, 3 August 1696, in John Franklin Jameson, Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents, New York: Macmillan Co., 1923, pp. 169–170.

  [>] Nassau described (1696): John Oldmixon, The British Empire in America, London: J. Brotherten, 1741, pp. 428–431.

  [>] Rumors of French capture: "The Case of Nicholas Trott," 25 October 1698, in CSPCS 1697–1698, No. 928, p. 506; Michael Craton, A History of the Bahamas, London: Collins, 1962, pp. 86–87.

  [>] Navy not at Bahamas for years: Oldmixon, p. 429.

  [>] Fort Nassau, difficulty of manning: Oldmixon, pp. 429–430.

  [>] Contents of letter carried by Adams: "The Trial of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis and John Sparkes at the Old Baily for Felony and Piracy," London: 19 October 1696, in Francis Hargrave, A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings, Volume V, London: T. Wright, 1777 p. 10; "The Case of Nicholas Trott," p. 506; Examination of John Dean, pp. 169–170; Affidavit of Phillip Middleton, London: 11 November 1696, in Jameson, pp. 171–173.

  [>] Notes on the conversion of Spanish currencies to English pounds: At the time, a Spanish peso or piece of eight was worth 5 shillings or £0.25 according to Phillip A Bruce, Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, New York: MacMillan & Co., 1896, pp. 503, 507, 510–11; Each "piece of gold" is presumed to be equivalent to a Spanish pistole;according to John Condiuitt, Observations upon the present state of our Gold and Silver Coins (1730), a pistole was worth 32 ryals.

  12 Salary of governor: In 1713, North Carolina, a minor colony owned by the same aristocrats who owned the Bahamas, paid their governor an annual salary of £300. Warrant from the Lord Proprietors to Daniel Richardson, St. James's Palace, London: 13 August 1713 in CSPCS 1712–1714, item No. 451, p. 219.

  [>]–13 Trott meets with his Council: "The Case of Nicholas Trott," pp. 506–507.

  [>] Trott's "very civil" letter: Affidavit of Phillip Middleton, p. 172; Hargrave (V), p. 10.

  [>] Avery's "tip" to Trott: Affidavit of Phillip Middleton, p. 173.

  [>] Trott's later claims of innocence: "The Case of Nicholas Trott," pp. 506–507.

  [>]–14 Trott orders emptying of Fancy, crewing by Africans: Affidavit of Phillip Middleton, pp. 172–173.

  [>]–15 Henry Avery's early life and career: Joel H. Baer, "'Captain John Avery' and the Anatomy of a Mutiny," Eighteenth Century Life, Vol. 18 (February 1994), pp. 3–4.

  [>] Avery joins Charles II: Ibid., pp. 4–5.

  [>] Getting to, delays in La Coruña: Ibid., pp. 5–6.

  [>]–16 Petitions to Houblon and his response: Ibid., pp. 8–9,11.

  [>] William May's offer and Gibson's response: Ibid., p. 9.

  [>] Crews feel they've been sold to the Spanish: Ibid., p. 9.

  [>]–17 Description of mutiny: Ibid., pp. 13–14; Hargrave (V), p. 6.

  [>]–18 Avery speaks to Gibson, Gravet: Hargrave (V), pp. 6–8.

  [>] Meeting of the ship's company: Baer (1994), p. 15.

  [>] Privateering vs. piracy shares: For examples see Gomer Williams, History of the Liverpool Privateers and Letters of Marque with an Account of the Liverpool Slave Trade, Montreal: McGill-Queen's Press, 2004, p. 31; Angus Kostram, Privateers & Pirates 1730–1830, Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2001, p. 20.

  [>]–19 Fancy at Moia: Examination of John Dann, 3 August 1696, in Jameson, p. 165; Hargrave (V),p. 10.

  [>] Avery declaration not to harm English: in Declaration of Henry Avery to All English Commanders, Johanna, Comoro Islands: 28 February 1694, enclosed within Petition of the East India Company to the Lord Justices, London: July 1696, in Jameson, p. 154.

  [>] Captures, atrocities en route to Red Sea: Examination of John Dann, pp. 165–167; Hargrave (V), pp. 8–10; Examination of Peter Claus in CSPCS 1697–1698, No. 404ii, p. 184.

  [>]–21 Meeting with privateers, fleet slips past: Examination of John Dann, pp. 167–168; Hargrave (V), pp. 9–10.

  [>] Capture of the Fath Muhmamadi: Examination of John Dann, p. 168; Hargrave (V), p. 10.

  [>] Attack on the Ganj-i-sawai: Hargrave (V), pp. 9–10.

  [>] Captain Ibrahim has Turkish concubines fight: "Khafi Khan" in H. M. Elliot and John Dawson, The History of India as Told by its Own Historians, Volume VII, London: Trubner, 1867–1877,
pp. 421–422.

  [>]–23 Legendary accounts of aftermath aboard Ganj-i-sawai: The Life and Adventures of Captain John Avery, London: 1709, pp. 30–32.

  [>] Accounts of atrocities aboard Ganj-i-sawai: "Abstract of East India Company Letters from Bombay," 12 October 1695 in Jameson, pp. 158–159; "Khafi Khan" in The History of India as Told by its Own Historians, Volume VII, pp. 421–423.

  23 Split of plunder at Réunion, shares of £1,000: Hargrave (V), p. 10; Examination of John Dann, p. 169.

  [>] Seven men stay at Nassau: John Graves to the Council of Trade and Plantations, New Providence, Bahamas: 11 May 1698, in CSPCS 1697–1698, No. 444, p. 208.

  [>] Party on the Isaac, others to Charleston: Examination of John Dann, p. 170.

  [>] Avery's purchase of Sea Flower: Examination of John Dann, p. 170.

  [>] Trott disposes of Fancy: Affidavit of Phillip Middleton, p. 174.

  [>] Trott's claims "they could give no information," governor of Jamaica "gave no proof": "Case of Nicholas Trott...,"pp. 506–507.

  [>]–25 Avery's men at Philadelphia: Robert Snead to Sir John Houblon, 29 September 1697, in CSPCS 1696–97 No. 1331, pp. 613–615; Edward Randolph to William Popple, New York: 12 May 1698, in CSPCS 1697–98, No. 451, pp. 211–212; Narrative of Captain Robert Snead, in CSPCS 1697–98, No. 4511, pp. 212–214; Information of Thomas Robinson, in CSPCS 1697–98, No. 451Ü, pp. 214–215.

  [>] Isaac party in West Ireland: Examination of John Dann, p. 171; "Abstract of Letters from Ireland," in Jameson, pp. 160–164.

  [>]–26 Sea Flower and Avery in North Ireland: Examination of John Dann, pp. 170–171.

  [>] John Dan in England: Examination of John Dann, pp. 170–171.

  [>] Executions: Hargrave (V), p. 18.

  [>]–27 Legends of Avery: Charles Johnson, The Successful Pyrate, London: Bernard Lintott, 1713, pp. 3–4; The Life and Adventures... pp. 46–7, 57–59.

  [>] Account in A General History of the Pyrates: GHP, pp. 49–50, 56–57.

  CHAPTER TWO: GOING TO SEA

  [>] Bellamy birth: Kenneth J. Kinkor, "The Whydah Sourcebook," unpublished document, Provincetown: Whydah Museum, Provincetown, MA: 2003, p. 355; Parish register printouts of Hittisleigh, Devon, England christenings, 1673–1837, FHL Film 933371, Item 4, Provo, UT: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Genealogical Society. Microfilm.

  [>] Hittisleigh described: The National Gazeteer of Great Britain and Ireland, London, Virtue, 1868.

  [>] Quotes on Devon soils: [Daniel Defoe] A Tour Thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain, 4th ed., London: S. Birt, et al., 1768, pp. 360–361.

  [>] Uses of Commons described: Jane Humphries, "Enclosures, Common Rights, and Women: The Proletarianization of Families in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries," The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 50, No. 1, March 1990, pp. 17–42.

  [>] Man's wages equal to dairy cow production: Ibid., p. 24.

  [>]–30 Quotes from "traveler" and Bacon: M. Dorothy George, England in Transition, Baltimore: Penguin, 1953, pp. 12, 15.

  [>] Half the English population barely surviving (1689): David Ogg, England in the Reigns of James II and William III, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1969, pp. 33–34.

  [>] Poor half the life expectancy of the rich: Ogg, pp. 34–35.

  [>] Poor six inches shorter than the rich: John Komlos, "On English Pygmies and Giants: The Physical Stature of English Youth in the late-18th and early-19th Centuries," Discussion Paper 2005–06, Munich: Department of Economics, University of Munich, April 2005.

  30 Vane lived in Port Royal: TJR, p. 27.

  [>] A third of pirates from London: Marcus Rediker, Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age, Boston: Beacon Press, 2004, p. 51.

  [>] London in 1700: Ogg, 132; Maureen Waller, 1700: Scenes from London Life, New York: Four Walls, Eight Windows, 2000, pp. 1–4.

  [>] Churches crowded by trade: New State of England, 4th ed., London: R. J., 1702, p. 149.

  [>] Floating forest of masts: Ibid., p. 149.

  [>] Wapping on the Ooze: John Stow as quoted in Sir Walter Besant, The Thames, London: Adam & Charles Black, 1903, p. 110.

  [>] Crowded conditions, mass graves, coal in Wapping: E. N. Williams, Life in Georgian England, London: B. T. Batsford, Ltd., 1962, pp. 113–114.

  [>] Dead animals putrefy: Waller, p. 95.

  [>] Disease and death rates: Waller, pp. 96–102; includes a photograph, "A General Bill of all the Christenings and Burials from the 19 of December 1699 to the 17 of December 1700."

  [>] Baby and child survival rates: Waller, p. 62.

  [>] Renting out babies to beggars: A Trip Through the Town, London: J. Roberts, 1705.

  [>] Climbing boys: J. P. Andrews, An Appeal to the Humane on behalf of the most deplorable class of society, the Climbing Boys, London: John Stockdale, 1788, pp. 8–9, 30–31.

  [>] Blackguards: Edward Ward, The London Spy, London: The Folio Society, 1955, Originally published 1698–1700, pp. 27–28.

  [>] Prominent craftsmen described: An Account of a Dreadful and Amazing Fire, London: Edward Harrison, 1703. Pamphlet.

  [>] Descriptions of Wapping executions: David Cordingly, Under the Black Flag, New York: Harcourt, 1997, p. 224; Richard Zacks, The Pirate Hunter, New York: Hyperion, 2002, pp. 386–392.

  [>] Last words of John Sparcks et al.: An Account of the Behavior, Dying Speeches and Execution of Mr. John Murphy, for High Treason, and William May, John Sparkes, William Bishop, James Lewis, and Adam Forseith, for Robbery, Piracy, and Felony, London: T. Crownfield, 1696.

  [>] Seamen in short supply, accounting for two-thirds: R. D. Manning, Queen Anne's Navy, London: Navy Records Society, 1961, p. 170.

  [>] Navy's bounty for volunteers: Ibid., p. 170.

  [>] "sea for pleasure, hell for pastime": Rediker (1987), p. 13.

  [>] Quote on spirits: Edward Barlow quoted in Ibid., p. 81.

  [>] Spirits and crimps: Ibid., pp. 43, 81–82.

  [>] Edward Ward describes sailors: Ward (1955), pp. 249–250.

  [>] Sailor avoiding press quote: Christopher Lloyd, The British Seaman 1200–1860: A Social Survey, Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1970, p. 104.

  [>] Methods of avoiding the press: A Copy of the Marquis of Carmarthen's Method for the Speedy Manning Her Majesty's Royal Navy and for Encouraging Seamen, Speech given 12 February 1705, London: John Humfreys, 1706, pp. 3–4.

  [>] Sailors go abroad to avoid press: Lloyd (1970), p. 109; Marquis Carmarthen, p. 2.

  [>] Press leader get 20s a head: John Dennis, An Essay on the Navy, London: John Nutt, 1702, p. 32.

  [>] Press gangs break into homes: Marques Carmarthen, p. 3, Dennis, p. 32.

  [>] Pressing sailors from incoming ships: Lloyd (1970), pp. 108–109.

  [>] Sailors mutiny to avoid impressments: Ibid., pp. 142–143.

  [>] Whipping ship's boys on colliers: Dennis, p. 33.

  38 Capturing tradesmen and quote on that: Ibid., p. 32.

  [>] Beggars fair game, wealthier exempt: R. D. Merriman, Queen Anne's Navy, London: Navy Records Society, 1961, p. 172.

  [>] Blackbeard's birthdate and place: GHP, p. 71; Robert E. Lee, Blackbeard the Pirate: A Reappraisal of His Life and Times, Winston-Salem, NC: John F. Blair, 1974, pp. 175–176n.

  [>] Bristol tax assesment of 1696: Elizabeth Ralph and Mary E. Williams, The Inhabitants of Bristol in 1696, Bristol, UK: Bristol Records Society, 1968. The author also examined partial tax records from the 1690s at the Bristol Records Office.

  [>] Thatch of Gloucester: Lease of Martin Nelme to Thomas Thatch and Charles Dymock, Bristol: 27 November 1712, Bristol Records Office, Bristol, UK, Document 00452/12b; Marriage Settlement of Martin Nelme, Bristol: 28 November 1712, Bristol Records Office, Bristol, UK, Document 00452/ 12a.

  [>] Physical appearance of Blackbeard: CO 152/12, No. 67iii: Deposition of Henry Bostock, St. Christopher, Leeward Islands: 19 December 1717.

  [>] Bristol described: Roger H. Leec
h, The Topography of Medieval and Early Modern Bristol, Part I, Bristol, UK: Bristol Record Society, 1997; Author visit, Bristol, November 2005; Frank Shipsides and Robert Wall, Bristol: Maritime City, Bristol, UK: Redcliffe Press, 1981, pp. 47–50.

  [>] Ogg quote on sailors: Ogg, p. 328.

  [>] Samuel Johnson quote: James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, London: 1791, p. 876.

  [>] Hazards presented by cargo: Rediker (1987), pp. 89, 91, 93.

  [>] Barlow quotes on climbing rigging: Quoted in Lloyd (1970), p. 106.

  [>] Large numbers died from falling, etc: Rediker (1987), pp. 92–93.

  [>]–41 Sailor's clothes: G. E. Manwaring, The Flower of England's Garland, London: Philip Allan & Co., 1935, pp. 157–169; Edward Ward, The Wooden World Dissected, 3rd ed., London: M. Cooper, 1744, p. 70.

  [>] Hans Sloane on sunburns: Hans Sloane, A Voyage to the Islands of Madera, Barbados, Nieves, St Christopher's and Jamaica, Vol. I, London: B. M., 1707, p. 25.

  [>] Sailor's quarters, vermin: Rediker (1987), pp. 160–161; Stephen R. Brown, Scurvy: How a surgeon, a mariner, and a Gentleman solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age, New York: St Martin's Press, 2003, pp. 14–15.

  [>] Passenger's quote on cabin conditions (1750): Gottleib Mittelberger as quoted in John Duffy, "The Passage to the Colonies," Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 38. No. 1 (June 1951), p. 23.

  [>] Sailor's food and drink: Rediker (1987), pp. 127–128; "mouldy and stinking" Edward Barlow quoted in Lloyd (1970), p. 108; Web site on HMS Victory (1797) at www.stvincent.ac .uk/Heritage/ 1797/Victory/food.html.

  [>] Planned shortages of food: Rediker (1987), p. 143.

  [>]–42 Starvation accounts: "Dispatch from Dublin Post-Boy of 11 March," Boston News-Letter, 1 May 1729, p. 1; "Boston Dispatch, November 4," Boston News-Letter, 6 November 1729, p. 2.

  [>] Brutal discipline accounts: Rediker (1987), pp. 215–221.

  [>] Sadistic Captain Jeane account: The Tryal of Captain Jeane of Bristol, London: T. Warner, 1726, pp. 5–7.

  [>] Royal Navy punishments: Instructions, London: [for the Admiralty], 1714, p. 27; Dudley Pope, Life in Nelson's Navy, London: Unwin Irwin, 1987.