The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down (49 page)

CO137/12: Colonial Office Records: Jamaica Correspondence, 1716–1718, National Archives, Kew, UK.

CO142/14: Colonial Office Records: Jamaica Shipping Returns, 1709–1722, National Archives, Kew, UK.

CO152/12: Colonial Office Records: Leeward Islands Correspondence, 1718–1719, National Archives, Kew, UK.

CSPCS 1696–1697:
John W Fortescue, ed.,
Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series: America and the West Indies: 15 May 1696 to October 1697
(Vol. 10), London: His Majesty's Stationary Office, 1904.

CSPCS 1697–1698:
John W Fortescue, ed.,
Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series: America and the West Indies, 27 October 1697 to 31 December 1698
(Vol. 11), London: His Majety's Stationary Office, 1905.

CSPCS 1712–1714:
Cecil Headlam, ed.,
Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series: America and the West Indies, July 1712 to July 1714
(Vol. 27), London: His Majesty's Stationary Office, 1926.

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

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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.

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

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

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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.

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

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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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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

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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.

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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.

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

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

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

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

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

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–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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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

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Capture of the F
ath
M
uhmamadi:
Examination of John Dann, p. 168; Hargrave (V), p. 10.

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Attack on the G
anj-i-sawai:
Hargrave (V), pp. 9–10.

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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.

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

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Accounts of atrocities aboard G
anj-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.

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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.

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Party on the I
saac,
others to Charleston:
Examination of John Dann, p. 170.

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Avery's purchase of S
ea
F
lower:
Examination of John Dann, p. 170.

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Trott disposes of F
ancy:
Affidavit of Phillip Middleton, p. 174.

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

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–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.

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I
saac
party in West Ireland:
Examination of John Dann, p. 171; "Abstract of Letters from Ireland," in Jameson, pp. 160–164.

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–26 
S
ea
F
lower
and Avery in North Ireland:
Examination of John Dann, pp. 170–171.

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

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Executions:
Hargrave (V), p. 18.