The Pirates Own Book (4 page)

He changed his name, and lived quietly at Bideford, so that no notice
was taken of him. In a short time his money was all spent, and he heard
nothing from his merchants though he wrote to them repeatedly; at last
they sent him a small supply, but it was not sufficient to pay his
debts. In short, the remittances they sent him were so trifling, that he
could with difficulty exist. He therefore determined to go privately to
Bristol, and have an interview with the merchants himself,—where,
instead of money, he met with a mortifying repulse; for, when he desired
them to come to an account with him, they silenced him by threatening to
disclose his character; the merchants thus proving themselves as good
pirates on land as he was at sea.

Whether he was frightened by these menaces, or had seen some other
person who recognised him, is not known; however, he went immediately to
Ireland, and from thence solicited his merchants very strongly for a
supply, but to no purpose; so that he was reduced to beggary. In this
extremity he was determined to return, and cast himself upon the mercy
of these honest Bristol merchants, let the consequence be what it would.
He went on board a trading-vessel, and worked his passage over to
Plymouth, from whence he travelled on foot to Bideford. He had been
there but a few days, when he fell sick and died; not being worth so
much as would buy him a coffin!

We shall now turn back and give our readers some account of the other
two sloops. Deceiving themselves in the supposition that Avery had
outsailed them during the night, they held on their course to the place
of rendezvouse; but, arriving there, to their sad disappointment no ship
appeared. It was now necessary for them to consult what was most proper
to do in their desperate circumstances. Their provisions were nearly
exhausted, and both fish and fowl were to be found on shore, yet they
were destitute of salt to cure them. As they could not subsist at sea
without salt provisions, they resolved to form an establishment upon
land. Accordingly making tents of the sails, and using the other
materials of the sloops for what purposes they could serve, they
encamped upon the shore. It was also a fortunate circumstance, that they
had plenty of ammunition and small arms. Here they met with some of
their countrymen; and as the digression is short, we will inform our
readers how they came to inhabit this place.

Captain George Dew, and Thomas Tew, had received a commission from the
Governor of Bermuda to sail for the river Gambia, in Africa, that, with
the assistance of the Royal African Company, they might seize the French
Factory situated upon that coast. Dew, in a violent storm, not only
sprang a mast, but lost sight of his companion. Upon this returned to
refit. Instead of proceeding in his voyage, Tew made towards the Cape of
Good Hope, doubled that cape, and sailed for the straits of
Babel-Mandeb. There he met with a large ship richly laden coming from
the Indies, and bound for Arabia. Though she had on board three hundred
soldiers, besides seamen, yet Tew had the courage to attack her, and
soon made her his prize. It is reported, that by this one prize every
man shared near three thousand pounds. Informed by the prisoners that
five other ships were to pass that way, Tew would have attacked them,
but was prevented by the remonstrances of his quarter-master and others.
This difference of opinion terminated in a resolution to abandon the
sea, and to settle on some convenient spot on shore; and the island of
Madagascar was chosen. Tew, however, and a few others, in a short time
went for Rhode Island, and obtained a pardon.

The natives of Madagascar are negroes, but differ from those of Guinea
in the length of their hair and in the blackness of their complexion.
They are divided into small nations, each governed by its own prince,
who carry on a continual war upon each other. The prisoners taken in war
are either rendered slaves to the conquerors, sold, or slain, according
to pleasure. When the pirates first settled among them, their alliance
was much courted by these princes, and those whom they joined were
always successful in their wars, the natives being ignorant of the use
of fire-arms. Such terror did they carry along with them, that the very
appearance of a few pirates in an army would have put the opposing force
to flight.

By these means they in a little time became very formidable, and the
prisoners whom they took in war they employed in cultivating the ground,
and the most beautiful of the women they married; nor were they
contented with one, but married as many as they could conveniently
maintain. The natural result was, that they separated, each choosing a
convenient place for himself, where he lived in a princely style,
surrounded by his wives, slaves and dependants. Nor was it long before
jarring interests excited them also to draw the sword against each
other, and they appeared at the head of their respective forces in the
field of battle. In these civil wars their numbers and strength were
greatly lessened.

The servant, exalted to the condition of a master, generally becomes a
tyrant. These pirates, unexpectedly elevated to the dignity of petty
princes, used their power with the most wanton barbarity. The punishment
of the very least offence was to be tied to a tree, and instantly shot
through the head. The negroes, at length, exasperated by continued
oppression, formed the determination of extirpating them in one night;
nor was it a difficult matter to accomplish this, since they were now so
much divided both in affection and residence. Fortunately, however, for
them, a negro woman, who was partial to them, ran twenty miles in three
hours, and warning them of their danger, they were united and in arms to
oppose the negroes before the latter had assembled. This narrow escape
made them more cautious, and induced them to adopt the following system
of policy:—

Convinced that fear was not a sufficient protection, and that the
bravest man might be murdered by a coward in his bed, they labored to
foment wars among the negro princes, while they themselves declined to
aid either party. It naturally followed, that those who were vanquished
fled to them for protection, and increased their strength. When there
was no war, they fomented private discords, and encouraged them to wreak
their vengeance against each other; nay, even taught them how to
surprise their opponents, and furnished them with fire-arms, with which
to dispatch them more effectually and expeditiously. The consequences
were, that the murderer was constrained to fly to them for protection,
with his wives, children, and kindred. These, from interest, became true
friends, as their own safety depended upon the lives of their
protectors. By this time the pirates were so formidable, that none of
the negro princes durst attack them in open war.

Pursuing this system of policy, in a short time each chief had his party
greatly increased, and they divided like so many tribes, in order to
find ground to cultivate, and to choose proper places to build places of
residence and erect garrisons of defence. The fears that agitated them
were always obvious in their general policy, for they vied with each
other in constructing places of safety, and using every precaution to
prevent the possibility of sudden danger, either from the negroes or
from one another.

A description of one of these dwellings will both show the fears that
agitated these tyrants, and prove entertaining to the reader. They
selected a spot overgrown with wood, near a river, and raised a rampart
or ditch round it, so straight and steep that it was impossible to climb
it, more particularly by those who had no scaling ladders. Over that
ditch there was one passage into the wood; the dwelling, which was a
hut, was built in that part of the wood which the prince thought most
secure, but so covered that it could not be discovered until you came
near it. But the greatest ingenuity was displayed in the construction of
the passage that led to the hut, which was so narrow, that no more than
one person could go abreast, and it was contrived in so intricate a
manner, that it was a perfect labyrinth; the way going round and round
with several small crossways, so that a person unacquainted with it,
might walk several hours without finding the hut. Along the sides of
these paths, certain large thorns, which grew on a tree in that country,
were stuck into the ground with their points outwards; and the path
itself being serpentine, as before mentioned, if a man should attempt to
approach the hut at night, he would certainly have struck upon these
thorns.

Thus like tyrants they lived, dreading, and dreaded by all, and in this
state they were found by Captain Woods Rogers, when he went to
Madagascar in the Delicia, a ship of forty guns, with the design of
purchasing slaves. He touched upon a part of the island at which no ship
had been seen for seven or eight years before, where he met with some
pirates who had been upon the island above twenty-five years. There were
only eleven of the original stock then alive, surrounded with a numerous
offspring of children and grandchildren.

They were struck with terror upon the sight of the vessel, supposing
that it was a man-of-war sent out to apprehend them; they, therefore,
retired to their secret habitations. But when they found some of the
ship's crew on shore, without any signs of hostility, and proposing to
treat with them for slaves, they ventured to come out of their dwellings
attended like princes. Having been so long upon the island, their cloaks
were so much worn, that their majesties were extremely out at elbows. It
cannot be said that they were ragged, but they had nothing to cover them
but the skins of beasts in their natural state, not even a shoe or
stocking; so that they resembled the pictures of Hercules in the lion's
skin; and being overgrown with beard, and hair upon their bodies, they
appeared the most savage figures that the human imagination could well
conceive.

The sale of the slaves in their possession soon provided them with more
suitable clothes, and all other necessaries, which they received in
exchange. Meanwhile, they became very familiar, went frequently on
board, and were very eager in examining the inside of the ship, talking
very familiarly with the men, and inviting them on shore. Their design
was to surprise the ship during the night. They had a sufficient number
of men and boats to effect their purpose, but the captain suspecting
them, kept so strong a watch upon deck, that they found it in vain to
hazard an attempt. When some of the men went on shore, they entered into
a plan to seize the ship, but the captain observing their familiarity,
prevented any one of his men from speaking to the pirates, and only
permitted a confidential person to purchase their slaves. Thus he
departed from the island, leaving these pirates to enjoy their savage
royalty. One of them had been a waterman upon the Thames, and having
committed a murder, fled to the West Indies. The rest had all been
foremastmen, nor was there one among them who could either read or
write.

Containing a description of their chief town, Ras El Khyma, and an
account of the capture of several European vessels, and the barbarous
treatment of their crews.—With interesting details of the several
expeditions sent against them, and their final submission to the troops
of the English East India Company
.

The line of coast from Cape Mussenndom to Bahrain, on the Arabian side
of the Persian Gulf, had been from time immemorial occupied by a tribe
of Arabs called Joassamees. These, from local position, were all engaged
in maritime pursuits. Some traded in their own small vessels to
Bussorah, Bushire, Muscat, and even India; others annually fished in
their own boats on the pearl banks of Bahrain; and a still greater
number hired themselves out as sailors to navigate the coasting small
craft of the Persian Gulf.

The Joassamees at length perceiving that their local position enabled
them to reap a rich harvest by plundering vessels in passing this great
highway of nations, commenced their piratical career. The small coasting
vessels of the gulf, from their defenceless state, were the first object
of their pursuit, and these soon fell an easy prey; until, emboldened by
success, they directed their views to more arduous enterprises, and
having tasted the sweets of plunder in the increase of their wealth, had
determined to attempt more promising victories.

About the year 1797, one of the East India Company's vessels of war, the
Viper, of ten guns, was lying at anchor in the inner roads of Bushire.
Some dows of the Joassamees were at the same moment anchored in the
harbor; but as their warfare had hitherto been waged only against what
are called native vessels, and they had either feared or respected the
British flag, no hostile measures were ever pursued against them by the
British ships. The commanders of these dows had applied to the Persian
agent of the East India Company there, for a supply of gunpowder and
cannon shot for their cruise: and as this man had no suspicions of their
intentions, he furnished them with an order to the commanding officer on
board for the quantity required. The captain of the Viper was on shore
at the time, in the agent's house, but the order being produced to the
officer on board, the powder and shot were delivered, and the dows
weighed and made sail. The crew of the Viper were at this moment taking
their breakfast on deck, and the officers below; when on a sudden, a
cannonading was opened on them by two of the dows, who attempted also to
board.

The officers, leaping on deck, called the crew to quarters, and cutting
their cable, got sail upon the ship, so as to have the advantage of
manoeuvring. A regular engagement now took place between this small
cruiser and four dows, all armed with great guns, and full of men. In
the contest Lieut. Carruthers, the commanding officer, was once wounded
by a ball in the loins; but after girding a handkerchief round his
waist, he still kept the deck, till a ball entering his forehead, he
fell. Mr. Salter, the midshipman on whom the command devolved, continued
the fight with determined bravery, and after a stout resistance, beat
them off, chased them some distance out to sea, and subsequently
regained the anchorage in safety.