The King of Pirates

Accordingly, having little left to do, (for we had been in a sailing Posture some Weeks) we left word with the Officer who commanded the Sloop, and with all his Men, that they should come after us to Madagascar; and our Men were not wanting to let them know all our Reasons for going thither, as well as the Difficulties we found of going any where else, which had so fully possess’d them with the Hopes of farther Advantage, that they promis’d for the rest that they would all follow us.

However, as we all calculated the Length of the Voyage, and that our Water, and perhaps our Provisions might not hold out so far, but especially our Water, we agreed, that having pass’d Cape Horn, and got into the North Seas, we would steer Northward up the East Shore of America till we came to St. Julien, where we would stay at least fourteen Days to take in Water, and to store ourselves with Seals and Penguins, which would greatly eek out our Ship’s Stores; and that then we should cross the great Atlantick Ocean in a milder Latitude than if we went directly, and stood immediately over from the Passage about the Cape, which must be, at least, in 55 or 56, and perhaps, as the Weather might be, would be in the Latitude of 60 or 61.

With this Resolution, and under these Measures, we set Sail from the Island of St. Juan Fernando the 23d of September, (being the same there as our March is here) and keeping the Coast of Chili on Board, had good Weather for about a Fortnight, [Octob. 14.] till we came into the Latitude of 44 Degrees South; when finding the Wind come squally off the Shore from among the Mountains, we were oblig’d to keep farther out at Sea, where the Winds were less uncertain; and some Calms we met with, till about the Middle of October, [16.] when the Wind springing up at N. N. W. a pretty moderate Gale, we jogg’d S. E. and S. S. E. till we came into the Latitude of 55 Degrees; and the 16th of November, found our selves in 59 Degrees, the Weather exceeding cold and severe. But the Wind holding fair, we held in with the Land, and steering E. S. E. we held that Course till we thought ourselves entirely clear of the Land, and enter’d into the North Sea, or Atlantick Ocean; and then changing our Course, we steer’d N. and N. N. E. but the Wind blowing still at N. N. W. a pretty stiff Gale, we could make nothing of it till we made the Land in the Latitude of 52 Degrees; and when we came close under Shore, we found the Winds variable; so we made still N. under the Lee of the Shore, and made the Point of St. Julien the 13th of November, having been a Year and seven Days since we parted from thence on our Voyage Outwardbound.

Here we rested ourselves, took in fresh Water, and began to kill Seals and Fowls of several Sorts, but especially Penguins, which this Place is noted for; and here we stay’d, in Hopes our Fregate would arrive, but we heard no News of her; so, at Parting, we set up a Post, with this Inscription, done on a Plate of Lead, with our Names upon the Lead, and these Words;

(Being in that Latitude the longest Day in the Year;) and I doubt not but the Post may stand there still.

From hence we launch’d out into the vast Atlantick Ocean, steering our Coast E. by N. and E. N. E. till we had sail’d, by our Account, about 470 Leagues, taking our Meridian Distance, or Departure, from St. Julian. And here a strong Gale springing up at S. E. by E. and E. S. E. encreasing afterwards to a violent Storm, we were forc’d by it to the Norward, as high as the Tropick; not that it blew a Storm all the while, but it blew so steady, and so very hard, for near 20 Days together, that we were carry’d quite out of our intended Course: After we had weather’d this, we began to recover ourselves again, making still East; and endeavouring to get to the Southward, we had yet another hard Gale of Wind at S. and S. S. E. so strong, that we could make nothing of it at all; whereupon it was resolv’d, if we could, to make the Island of St. Helena, which in about three Weeks more we very happily came to, on the 17th of January.

It was to our great Satisfaction that we found no Ships at all here, and we resolv’d not by any Means to let the Governor on Shore know our Ship’s Name, or any of our Officers Names; and I believe our Men were very true to one another in that Point, but they were not at all shy of letting them know upon what Account we were, &c. so that if he could have gotten any of us in his Power, as we were afterwards told he endeavour’d by two or three Ambuscades to do, we should have pass’d our Time but very indifferently; for which, when we went away, we let him know we would not have fail’d to have beat his little Port about his Ears.

We stay’d no longer here than just serv’d to refresh ourselves, and supply our Want of fresh Water; the Wind presenting fair, Feb. 2. 1692, we set Sail, and (not to trouble my Story with the Particulars of the Voyage, in which nothing remarkable occur’d) we doubled the Cape the 13th of March, and passing on without coming to an Anchor, or discovering ourselves, we made directly to the Island of Madagascar, where we arriv’d the 7th of April; the Sloop, to our particular Satisfaction, keeping in Company all the Way, and bearing the Sea as well as our Ship upon all Occasions.

To this Time I had met with nothing but good Fortune; Success answer’d every Attempt, and follow’d every Undertaking, and we scarce knew what it was to be disappointed; but we had an Interval of our Fortunes to meet with in this Place: We arriv’d, as above, at the Island on the 13th of March, but we did not care to make the South Part of the Island our Retreat; nor was it a proper Place for our Business, which was to take Possession of a private secure Place to make a Refuge of: So after staying some Time where we put in, which was on the Point of Land a little to the South of Cape St. Augustine, and taking in Water and Provisions there, we stood away to the North, and keeping the Island in View, went on till we came to the Latitude of 14 Degrees: Here we met with a very terrible Tornado, or Hurricane, which, after we had beat the Sea as long as we could, oblig’d us to run directly for the Shore to save our Lives as well as we could, in Hopes of finding some Harbour or Bay where we might run in, or at least might go into smooth Water till the Storm was over.

The Sloop was more put to it than we were in the great Ship, and being oblig’d to run afore it, a little sooner than we did, she serv’d for a Pilot-Boat to us which follow’d; in a Word, she run in under the Lee of a great Head-land, which jetted far out into the Sea, and stood very high also, and came to an Anchor in three Fathom and a half Water: We follow’d her, but not with the same good Luck, tho’ we came to an Anchor too, as we thought, safe enough; but the Sea going very high, our Anchor came Home in the Night, and we drove on Shore in the Dark among the Rocks, in spight of all we were able to do.

Thus we lost the most fortunate Ship that ever Man sail’d with; however, making Signals of Distress to the Sloop, and by the Assistance of our own Boat, we sav’d our Lives; and the Storm abating in the Morning, we had Time to save many Things, particularly our Guns, and most of our Ammunition; and, which was more than all the rest, we sav’d our Treasure: Tho’ I mention the saving our Guns first, yet they were the last Things we sav’d, being oblig’d to break the upper Deck of the Ship up for them.

Being thus got on Shore, and having built us some Huts for our Conveniency, we had nothing before us but a View of fixing our Habitations in the Country; for tho’ we had the Sloop, we could propose little Advantage by her; for as to cruising for Booty among the Arabians or Indians, we had neither Room, for it or Inclination to it; and as for attacking any European Ship, the Sloop was in no Condition to do it, tho’ we had all been on Board; for every Body knows that all the Ships trading from Europe to the East-Indies, were Ships of Force, and too strong for us; so that, in short, we had nothing in View for several Months but how to settle ourselves here, and live as comfortably and as well as we could, till something or other might offer for our Deliverance.

In this Condition we remain’d on Shore above eight Months, during which Time we built us a little Town, and fortify’d it by the Direction of one of our Gunners, who was a very good Engineer, in a very clever and regular Manner, placing a very strong double Palisado round the Foot of our Works, and a very large Ditch without our Palisado, and a third Palisado beyond the Ditch, like a Counterscarp or Cover’d-way; besides this, we rais’d a large Battery next to the Sea, with a Line of 24 Guns plac’d before it, and thus we thought ourselves in a Condition to defend ourselves against any Force that could attempt us in that Part of the World.

And besides all this, the Place on which our Habitation was built, being an Island, there was no coming easily at us by Land.

But I was far from being easy in this Situation of our Affairs; so I made a Proposal to our Men one Day, that tho’ we were well enough in our Habitation, and wanted for nothing, yet since we had a Sloop here, and a Boat so good as she was, ’twas Pity she should lye and perish there, but we should send her Abroad, and see what might happen; that perhaps it might be our good Luck to surprise some Ship or other for our Turn, and so we might all go to Sea again: The Proposal was well enough relish’d at first Word, but the great Mischief of all was like to be this, That we should all go together by the Ears upon the Question who should go in her: My secret Design was laid, that I was resolv’d to go in her myself, and that she should not go without me; but when it began to be talk’d of, I discover’d the greatest seeming Resolution not to stir, but to stay with the rest, and take Care of the main Chance, that was to say, the Money.

I found, when they saw that I did not propose to go myself, the Men were much the easier; for at first they began to think it was only a Project of mine to run away from them; and so indeed it was: However, as I did not at first propose to go my self, so when I came to the Proposal of who should go, I made a long Discourse to them of the Obligation they had all to be faithful one to another, and that those who went in the Sloop, ought to consider themselves and those that were with them to be but one Body with those who were left behind; that their whole Concern ought to be to get some good Ship to fetch them off: At last, I concluded, with a Proposal, that who ever went in the Sloop, should leave his Money behind in the common Keeping, as it was before; to remain as a Pledge for his faithful performing the Voyage, and coming back again to the Company; and should faithfully swear that wherever they went, (for as to the Voyage, they were at full Liberty to go whither they would) they would certainly endeavour to get back to Madagascar; and that if they were cast away, stranded, taken, or whatever befel them, they should never rest till they got to Madagascar, if it was possible.

They all came most readily into this Proposal, for those who should go into the Sloop, but with this Alteration in them, (which was easy to be seen in their Countenances) viz. that from that Minute there was no striving who should go, but every Man was willing to stay where they were: This was what I wanted, and I let it rest for two or three Days; when I took Occasion to tell them, that seeing they all were sensible that it was a very good Proposal to send the Sloop out to Sea, and see what they could do for us, I thought it was strange they should so generally shew themselves backward to the Service for fear of parting from their Money; I told them that no Man need be afraid, that the whole Body should agree to take his Money from him without any pretended Offence, much less when he should be Abroad for their Service: But however, as it was my Proposal, and I was always willing to hazard myself for the Good of them all, so I was ready to go on the Conditions I had propos’d to them for others, and I was not afraid to flatter myself with serving them so well Abroad, that they should not grudge to restore me my Share of Money when I came Home, and the like of all those that went with me.

This was so seasonably spoken, and humour’d so well, that it answer’d my Design effectually, and I was voted to go nemine contradicente; then I desir’d they would either draw Lots for who and who should go with me, or leave it in my absolute Choice to pick and cull my Men: They had for some Time agreed to the first; and forty Blanks were made for those to whose Lot it should come to draw a Blank to go in the Sloop; but then it was said, this might neither be a fair nor an effectual Choice; for Example, if the needful Number of Officers, and of particular Occupations, should not happen to be lotted out, the Sloop might be oblig’d to go out to Sea without a Surgeon, or without a Carpenter, or without a Cook, and the like: So, upon second Thoughts, it was left to me to name my Men; so I chose me out forty stout Fellows, and among them several who were trusty bold Men, fit for any thing.

Being thus Mann’d, the Sloop rigg’d, and having clear’d her Bottom, and laid in Provisions enough for a long Voyage, we set Sail the 3d of January 1694, for the Cape of Good Hope. We very honestly left our Money, as I said, behind us, only that we had about the Value of 2000 Pound in Pieces of Eight allow’d us on Board for any Exigence that might happen at Sea.

We made no Stop at the Cape, or at St. Helena, tho’ we pass’d in Sight of it, but stood over to the Caribbee Islands directly, and made the Island of Tobago the 18th of February, where we took in fresh Water, which we stood in great Need of, as you may judge by the Length of the Voyage. We sought no Purchase, for I had fully convinc’d our Men, that our Business was not to appear, as we were used to be, upon the Cruise, but as Traders; and to that End I propos’d to go away to the Bay of Campeachy, and load Logwood, under the Pretence of selling of which we might go any where.

It is true, I had another Design here, which was to recover the Money which my Comrade and I had bury’d there; and having the Man on Board with me to whom I had communicated my Design, we found an Opportunity to come at our Money with Privacy enough, having so conceal’d it, as that it would have lain there to the general Conflagration, if we had not come for it our selves.

My next Resolution was to go for England, only that I had too many Men, and did not know what to do with them: I told them we could never pretend to go with a Sloop loaden with Logwood to any Place, with 40 Men on Board, but we should be discover’d; but if they would resolve to put 15 or 16 Men on Shore as private Seamen, the rest might do well enough; and if they thought it hard to be set on Shore, I was content to be one, only that I thought it was very reasonable that whoever went on Shore should have some Money given them, and that all should agree to rendezvous in England, and so make the best of our Way thither, and there perhaps we might get a good Ship to go fetch off our Comrades and our Money. With this Resolution, sixteen of our Men had three hundred Pieces of Eight a Man given them, and they went off thus; the Sloop stood away North, thro’ the Gulph of Florida, keeping under the Shore of Carolina and Virginia; so our Men dropp’d off as if they had deserted the Ship; three of the sixteen run away there, five more went off at Virginia, three at New York, three at Road Island, and myself and one more at New England; and so the Sloop went away for England with the rest. I got all my Money on Shore with me, and conceal’d it as well as I could; some I got Bills for, some I bought Molosses with, and turn’d the rest into Gold; and dressing myself not as a common Sailor, but as a Master of a Ketch, which I had lost in the Bay of Campeachy, I got Passage on Board one Captain Guillame, a New England Captain, whose Owner was one Mr. Johnson a Merchant, living at Hackney, near London.

Being at London, it was but a very few Months before several of us met again, as I have said we agreed to do. And being true to our first Design of going back to our Comrades, we had several close Conferences about the Manner and Figure in which we should make the Attempt, and we had some very great Difficulties appear’d in our Way: First, to have fitted up a small Vessel, it would be of no Service to us, but be the same Thing as the Sloop we came in; and if we pretended to a great Ship, our Money would not hold out; so we were quite at a Stand in our Councils what to do, or what Course to take, till at length our Money still wasting, we grew less able to execute any Thing we should project.

This made us all desperate; when as desperate Distempers call for desperate Cures, I started a Proposal which pleas’d them all, and this was, that I would endeavour among my Acquaintance, and with what Money I had left, (which was still sixteen or seventeen hundred Pound) to get the Command of a good Ship, bearing a quarter Part, or thereabout, myself; and so having gat into the Ship, and got a Freight, the rest of our Gang should all enter on Board as Seamen, and whatever Voyage we went, or wheresoever we were bound, we would run away with the Ship and all the Goods, and so go to our Friends as we had promis’d.

I made several Attempts of this Kind, and once bought a very good Ship, call’d, The Griffin, of one Snelgrove a Shipwright, and engag’d the Persons concern’d to hold a Share in her and fit her out, on a Voyage for Leghorn and Venice; when it was very probable the Cargo, to be shipp’d on Board casually by the Merchant, would be very rich; but Providence, and the good Fortune of the Owner prevented this Bargain, for without any Objection against me, or Discovery of my Design in the least, he told me afterwards his Wife had an ugly Dream or two about the Ship; once, that it was set on Fire by Lightning, and he had lost all he had in it; another Time, that the Men had mutiny’d and conspir’d to kill him; and that his Wife was so averse to his being concern’d in it, that it had always been an unlucky Ship, and that therefore his Mind was chang’d; that he would sell the whole Ship, if I would, but he would not hold any Part of it himself.

Tho’ I was very much disappointed at this, yet I put a very good Face upon it, and told him, I was very glad to hear him tell me the Particulars of his Dissatisfaction; for if there was any Thing in Dreams, and his Wife’s Dream had any Signification at all, it seem’d to concern me (more than him) who was to go the Voyage, and command the Ship; and whether the Ship was to be burnt, or the Men to mutiny, tho’ Part of the Loss might be his, who was to stay on Shore, all the Danger was to be mine, who was to be at Sea in her; and then, as he had said, she had been an unlucky Ship to him, it was very likely she would be so to me; and therefore I thank’d him for the Discovery, and told him I would not meddle with her.

The Man was uneasy, and began to waver in his Resolution, and had it not been for the continu’d Importunities of his Wife, I believe would have come on again; for People generally encline to a Thing that is rejected, when they would reject the same Thing when profer’d: But I knew it was not my Business to let myself be blow’d upon, so I kept to my Resolution, and wholly declin’d that Affair, on Pretence of its having got an ill Name for an unlucky Ship; and that Name stuck so to her, that the Owners could never sell her, and, as I have been inform’d since, were oblig’d to break her up at last.

It was a great while I spent with hunting after a Ship, but was every Way disappointed, till Money grew short, and the Number of my Men lessen’d apace, and at last we were reduc’d to seven, when an Opportunity happen’d in my Way to go Chief-Mate on Board a stout Ship bound from London to…

[N. B. In Things so modern, it is no Way convenient to write to you particular Circumstances and Names of Persons, Ships, or Places, because those Things being in themselves criminal, may be call’d up in Question in a judicial Way; and therefore I warn the Reader to observe, that not only all the Names are omitted, but even the Scene of Action in this criminal Part, is not laid exactly as Things were acted; least I should give Justice a Clew to unravel my Story by, which no Body will blame me for avoiding.]

It is enough to tell the Reader, that being put out to Sea, and being for Conveniency of Wind and Weather come to an Anchor on the Coast of Spain, my seven Companions having resolv’d upon our Measures, and having brought three more of the Men to confederate with us, we took up Arms in the middle of the Night, secur’d the Captain, the Gunner, and the Carpenter, and after that, all the rest of the Men, and declar’d our Intention: The Captain and nine Men refus’d to come into our projected Roguery, (for we gave them their Choice to go with us, or go on Shore) so we put them on Shore very civilly, gave the Master his Books, and every Thing he could carry with him; and all the rest of the Men agreed to go along with us.

As I had resolv’d, before I went on Board, upon what I purpos’d to do, so I had laid out all the Money I had left in such Things as I knew I should want, and had caus’d one of my Men to pretend he was going to – to build or buy a Ship there, and that he wanted Freight for a great deal of Cordage, Anchors, eight Guns, Powder and Ball, with about 20 Tun of Lead and other bulky Goods, which were all put on Board as Merchandize.

We had not abundance of Bail Goods on Board, which I was glad of; not that I made any Conscience or Scruple of carrying them away, if the Ship had been full of them; but we had no Market for them: Our first Business was to get a larger Store of Provision on Board than we had, our Voyage being long; and having acquainted the Men with our Design, and promis’d the new Men a Share of the Wealth we had there, which made them very hearty to us, we set Sail: We took in some Beef and Fish, at – where we lay fifteen Days, but out of all Reach of the Castle or Fort; and having done our Business, sail’d away for the Canaries, where we took in some Butts of Wine, and some fresh Water: With the Guns the Ship had, and those eight I had put on Board as Merchandize, we had then two and thirty Guns mounted, bur were but slenderly Mann’d, tho’ we gat four English Seamen at the Canaries; but we made up the Loss at Fiall, where we made bold with three English Ships we found, and partly by fair Means, and partly by Force, shipp’d twelve Men there; after which, without any farther Stop for Men or Stores, we kept the Coast of Africa on Board ’till we pass’d the Line, and then stood off to St. Helena.

Here we took in fresh Water, and some fresh Provisions, and went directly for the Cape of Good Hope, which we pass’d, stopping only to fill about 22 Butts of Water, and with a fair Gale enter’d the Sea of Madagascar, and sailing up the West Shore, between the Island and the Coast of Africa, came to an Anchor over against our Settlement, about two Leagues Distance, and made the Signal of our Arrival, with firing twice seven Guns at the Distance of a Two-Minute Glass between the Seven; when, to our infinite Joy, the Fort answer’d us, and the Long-boat, the same that belong’d to our former Ship, came off to us.

We embrac’d one another with inexpressible Joy, and the next Morning I went on Shore, and our Men brought our Ship safe into Harbour, lying within the Defence of our Platform, and within two Cables length of the Shore, good soft Ground, and in eleven Fathom Water, having been three Months and eighteen Days on the Voyage, and almost three Years absent from the Place.

When I came to look about me here, I found our Men had encreas’d their Number, and that a Vessel which had been cruising, that is to say, Pirating on the Coast of Arabia, having seven Dutchmen, three Portuguese, and five Englishmen on Board, had been cast away upon the Northern Shore of that Island, and had been taken up and reliev’d by our Men, and liv’d among them. They told us also of another Crew of European Sailors, which lay, as we did, on the Main of the Island, and had lost their Ship and were, as the Islanders told them, above a hundred Men, but we heard nothing who they were.