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THE

WILLIAM P. TRENT COLLECTION

WORKS RELATING TO

DANIEL DEFOEAND HIS TIME

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THEPUBLICLIBRARY

OFTHECITYOFBOSTON

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SUNDRY TRUST FUNDS

C lement • Charlotte Harris • Whitnetj

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ACCOUNTO F T H E

Condua and Proceedings

Of the late

John Qow alias E^niih,

Captain of the late

PIRATES,Executed for

M u R T H E R and P I R A C Y

Committed on

Board the GEORGE Gally, after^

wards calPd the ReV E N G E•

WITH

A Relation of all the horrid MuPvTHERSthey

committed in cold Blood

AS ALSO •

Of their hclng taken at the Iflands of OrUe^, ancl

fent up P R I s o N E R s to London.

L N D N:

Printed and Sold by John Applebee, in Blacky

Fryers, [Price One ghiUing.jl



[iiil

INTRODUCTION.HO* this Work feems principally t9

enter into the liijlory of one Man^

namely. The late Captain John Gow

alias Smith, theLeaderor Commanderin the defperate a?id bloody ABio7is

for which he has been Condem?i*d,yet the Share

which feveral others hadin the whole Scene, and

who aBedin Concert with him, ccmes fo necejfarily

to be Defcrib^d, and takes up fo much Room in the

Relation, that it may indeed be call'd the Hifory

Gfall the late Pirates fo far as they a^edtogether

in thefe wicked Adventures,

NO R does the calling him (I mean th'u Gowor Smith) their Captain, denominate him any

thing deeper in the Crime than the re?i , for 'tis

eminently known, that a?no?ig fuch Fellorvs asthefe^

when once they have abandon'd thetnfelvestofuch

a dreadfidhight of Wickednefs, there is fo little

Government or Subordination among them, that

they are, on Occafion^ all Captains, all Leaders. And

tho they generally put in this or that Man to adt

as Commanderfor this cr that Voyage, or Enter

prife, they frequently remove them again upon the

fmalleB Occafton, nay^ even without any Occafion

at all^ hut asHwnours andPaffions govern at thofe

Times :

And this is done fo nften^ that I once knewa Buccaneering Pirate VeRel, whofe Crew were

A 2 towards



[v]

THIS I am fo afcertain'd of the Truth of^

that the Captain himfelf is ready to Attejl it^ to

whomit vpas afterwards difcoverd-^ that

he Gowhad madefour of the Seameti acquainted with his

bloody T)ejign^ and had gaind them over to it :

But not being able to drav;> in any more^ and not

beingJirong enough with thefe who he had fo Jje-I

baucFd, they did not make their Attempt,

THIS, it feems^ was not difcover d to the

Captain^ till after the Ship was difchargd in the

Fort of London, and the Men paid off and dif

mifs^d • when Inforpiation being given, the faid

Captain endeavour d to have apprehended Gow

and his Accomplices j but having (as ^twas fup-pos'd) gotten fome 'Notice of the Defi^ji^ made off

andf01ftedfor themfelves as well as they could^

m which it was his Lot togo over to Holland.

HE R E it was, viz. at Amfterdain, that Gowfiip'd himfelf afore the Mafl^ (as the Seamen call

it) that is to fay, as a Common Sailor^ on Board

an Englifli Ship of 200 Tons Burden^ called the

George Galley^ hefiip^d himfelf at firjl^ as I

have faid, afore the Maft ^ but afterwards, v^hich

added to the great Misfortune, appearing to be an

aBive skilfid Sailor he obtain''d the Favour ofbeing made Second Mate ^ the Ship was Com^

manded by one Oliver Fcrneaii, a Frenchman,

but a Subject of Great Britain, being of the

Ifand of Gucvnky, to which alfo dnl the Ship

belong, but was then in the Service of the M^y.

chants of Amfterdam, '

CAF'



[vi]

CAPTAIt^ Ferneau l/emg a Man ofRepu^

tation among the Merchants at Amf|:erdam, got

a Voyage for his Ship from thence f/? Santa Cruz,

vn the Coajl of Barbary, to Load Bees Wax^ and

to carry it to Genoa, which was his delivering

Fort ; and as the Dutch having JV^r with the

Turks of AJgier, were willing to employ hiiti as

/in Englifli ShipJ fo he was as willitig tq be

Mann d with Engliih Seamen \ and accordingly^

/nnong the rejl^ he unhappily took on Board this

Gow with his wretchedGang^ fiich as Maccauly,

Melvin , Williams , and others \ hut not

being able to Man themfelves wholly with Engliih

cr Scots, they were obligd to take fame Swedes,

and other Seamen to make itp his Compliment^

V^hich was 2 9 in all , among the latter Sort^ one

was namd Winter, ayid another Peterfon, both

of them- Swedes by t^ation^ but as wicked too as

Gow and his other FeUov^s were*

THET SaiVd from the Texel in the Month

of A\\%n^^ 17*49 and arrivd at Santa Cruz on

the id of Septemper foUovymg^ where having a

Super Cargo on Board who took Charge of the

Loading andfu'tir Chejls of Money to Vitrchafe it,

theyfoon

got the Bees Wax 07i Board, and on

the ^dof November they appointed to fet Sail

to pnrfue the Voyage,

THUS mnch^feeuis however proper to fgni-

fy to the World, before they enter into the reft of

'Gow'j Story ^ becattfe 'tis evident from hence,

that the late barbarous and inhuman A^ini. was

not the Effect ofa fudden Fury rais'din the Minds



I vii 3

^f the whole Company^ hy the III TJfage they had

receivd from Captain fcrneau, in the Matter of

their Frovifons, or from their having over-heard

thefaid fcrneau threaten them when he fpoke to

the Mate^ upon the Qnarler Deck, to get fmall

Arms into the great Cahbin^ which they might

fuppofe was in order to feize on them, and bring

them to CorreUion, andfo^ in their Heat of Bloody

Tnight run them itp to fuch a highth of Rage asto commit the Murthers which they did not intend

before,

BUT ^tis evident, that this GoWy in particular.

Matever the reft ?night have done, hade7itertai?id

this bloody Refolutioii in General, (Imean ofturn^

ing Pirate^ long before this Voyage \ he had endea^

vourd to put it in VraUice, at leafi once before^

namely. In the Ship ( mentioned above ) Bound

from Lisbon for London, and had only faiVd

for want of being able to bring over a fufficienth

Gang of Rogues to his Party , whether he hadnot had the fam.e Defgn in his Head long before,

that we do net know ^ but it feems he had not

been able to bring it to pafs till now^ when find

ingfome little Difcontent among the Men^ on ac^

count of their Provijions, he was made the De-

viVs Injlrument to run up thofe 'Difconpnts to

fuch a dreadful bight of Fury andRage, as W4

Jhallfind they did.

4ND this jufily intitles Gov/ to the Charge

of being the Principal, as well Author as Agent

in the Tragedy that follow d : l^or does it at all

tak^



tale of the Charge^ that Winter and Peterfofi

l?eân the mutinous Language towards the

Captain*

THE Têfign muH certainly have been laid a-

mong them before^ , how elfe JJjouId fo many of

them fo eaftly form fuch a wkked Scheme in

the few Minittes they had to talk together .<?

GOW therefore isÎfay^ jujlly charged as

Author of all the vmked Conclnfwns among them^(ind as having, formd a Refilution, in his own

Mind, to turn Pirate the firjl Time he had an

Opportunity^ whatever Ship, or whatever Voyage

he went itpon.

1. ^;.,'i w^

THE



to

A N

ACCOUNXfe3&*s)

HE following Account being chiefly

confin'd to the Conduct of this outra-

gious Pirate, Captain Gove^ after his

having adtually turn'd Pirate, in this

particular Ship the George Galley, we

mufl: content ourlelves with beginning

where he began, that is to fay, when they feiz'd

the Captain, murdered him and his Men, and run

away with the Ship, on the Coaft of Barbary, ill

Jhe 'Mediterranean Sea.

/IT was the 3d of November,^ Anno 1724, when,

as has been obferv'd, the Ship having lain two

Months in the Road at Saiita Cruz, taking in her

Lading, the Captain made Preparations to put to

Sea, and the ufual Signals for Sailing having been

given, fome of the Merchants from on Shore, who

had been concerned in furniftiing the Cargoe, came

on Board in the Forenoon, to talce their Leave of

the Captain, and wilh him a good Voyage, as is

uCual on f^ach Occaiions.WHETHER it was concerted by the whole

Gang before-hand we know not, but while the

Cipiain was treating and entertaining the Mer-

B chants



toclnants under tlie Awning upon tTie Qaarter-Dcclc,

as is the Cnftom in thofe hot Countries, three of

the Seamen, (viz) Whiter aizd Peterfoft, two Swedes,

and MacccttiJy s Scotchnan, cam^ rudely upon the

Qtiarter-Decic, and as if they took that Opportunity

becaufe the Merchants were prefent, believing the

Captain would not ufe any Violence with them, in

the prefence of the Merchants, they made a long

Complaint of their ill Ufage, and particularly of

their Provilions and Allowance (as they faid) beingnot fufficicnt, ncr fuch as was ordinarily made in

other Merchant Ships-, feeming to load the Captain,

Monfieur Fenieau^ .with being the Occalion of it,

' and that he did it for his private Gain 5 which

however had not been true if the Fatt had been

true, the Overplus of Proviiions ('if the Stores had

been more than fufficientj belonging to the Owners,

not to the Captain, at the end of the Voyage5

there being al.fo a Steward on Board to rake the

Account. -'-^ ^'

I N their making this Complaint, they feem'd

to direft their Speech to the Merchants, as well as

to the Captain, as if they had been concern'd in

the Ship (which they were notj or, as if defiring

them to intercede for them with the Captain, that

they might have Redrefs, and might have a better

Allr^wance.

THE Captain was highly provoFd at this

P^udenefsj as indeed he had reafon ^ it being a dou-ble Affront to him, as it was done in the view of

the Merchants who were come on Board to him, and

to do him an Honour at Parting •, however, he re-

ftrain'd his PalFion, and gave them not the leafi:

angry Word, only, that if they were aggrie\'\l

they had no more to do, but to have let him known

it, that if they were ill ufed it v.^as not by his

Order, that he would enquire into it, and that if

any thing was amifs it iliould be sedify'd ^v/ith

which



L 3 ]

wliich tlie Seamen withdrew, feeming well fatisiied

with his Anfwrr.

ABOU T fivethe fame Evening they

unmoor'dthe Ship, and hove fliort upon their befl:> bswer

Anchor, expeding the Land Breeze, as is ufual on

that Coaft, to carry them out to Sea ; but inftead

of that, it fell ftark Calm, and the Captain fearing

the Ship Ihould fall foul of her own Anchor, or-

dered the Mizen-top Sail to be farl'd.

PETERSON, one of the malecontent Seamen,

being the neareft Man at hand, feem'd to go

about it, but mov'd fj carelefsly, and heavily, that

it appear'd plainly he did not care whether it

was done or no ; and particularly, as if he had a

mind the Captain fhould fee it, and take Notice of

it ; and the Captain did fa, for perceiving howawkardly he went about it, he fpoke a little tartly

to him, and ask'd him what was the reafon he did

not ftir a little, and furl the Sail,

PETERSON, as if he had waited for the

Qaeftio;i, anfwered in a furly Tone, and with a.

kind of DiPJuin, So as we Eat fo Jhall we Worh:

Thishe fpoke aloud fo as that he might be fire the Cap-

tain fhould hear him, and the reft of the Men allb;

and 'twas evident, that as he fpoke in the plural

Number V^e, fo he fpoke their Minds as well as his

Own, and Words which they had all agreed to

before.

TH.E Captain however, tho' he heard plain

enough what he faid, took not the leafi: Notice cf

it, or gave him the leaft room to believe he had

heard him, being not willing to begin a Qj^arrel

with the Men, and knowing that if he took any

Kotice at all cf it, he muft refent it and punilh

it too. ..

SOON after this the Calm went oft,and the Land-

Breeze fprung up, as is ufual on that Coafl:, and

thtj immediately wejgh'd and ilood off to Sea 5 bat

B 2 the



[4](Tie Captain having had thofe two Ruffles with fii's

Men, juft at their putting to Sea, was very uneafy

in his Mind, as indeed he had reafbn to he\ and the

fame Evening, foon after they were under Sail,

the Mate being walking on the Quarter Deck, he

went, and, taking two or three Turns with him,

told him how he had been us'd by the Men, par-

ticularly how they afrronted him before the Mer-

chants, and what an Anfwer Feterfon had given

him on the Qaarter-Deck, when he ordered him to

furl the Mizen-top Sail.

THE Mate was furpriz'd at the Thing as well

as the Captain, and after fome other Difcourfe

about it, 271 which ^twas their Ujihappinejs not to be fo

ijm' private as they ought to have been in a Cafe of fuch

Importance, the Captain told him, he thought itwas abfblutely neceilary to have a Quantity of

fmall Arms brought immediately into the great

Cabbin, not only to defend themfelves if there

ftiould be occafion, but alfo that he might be in a

J^ofture to correct thofe Fellows for their Infolence,

cfpecially if he fhould meet with any more of it

The Mate agreed that it was neccllarjr to be done,

and had they faid no more, and faid this more

privately all had been well, and the wicked Defign

i:ad been much more difficult, if not the execution

of it effcclually prevented.

\ BUT two Miftakes in this Part waj the ruin

'i of them all. (i.) That the Captain fpoke it without

due Caution, fo that Winter and Feterfon^ the two

principal Malecontents, and who were exprefsly

mentioned by the Captain to be corrected, over-

heard it, and Vn^w by that Means what they had

to expe£r, if they did not immediately beftir

themfelves to prevent it. (2.^ The other Miftakewas, that when the Captain and Mate agreed that

It was neceilary to have the Arms got ready and

brought into the great Cabbin, the Captain unhap-

pily



C5]pily bacl him go immediatel7 to Gov, the fecond

Mate and Gunner, and give him Orders to

get the Arms cleared and loaded for him

and fa to bring them upto the

great Cabbin•

which was, in ihort, to tell the Confpirators /that the Captain was preparing to be too ftrong

for them iT thej did not fall to work with himimmediately.

IFINTER and Peterfon went immediately For-

ward, where they knew the reft of the Mutineers

were, and to whom they communicated what they

had heard-, telling them that it was time to provide

for their own Safety, for otherwife their Deftrudtion

was refolv'd on, and the Captain would foon be in

fuch a Pofture that there would be no meddling

with him.

AVHILE they were thus confulting at firft, a?

they faid, only for their own Safety, Gow and

Williams came in to them, with fome others to the

Number of eight-, and no fooner were they join'd

by thefe two, but they fell downright to the Point,

which Gow had fo long form'd in his own Mind,

{viz..) to feize upon the Captain and Mate, and all

thofe that they could not bring to joyn with them5

in ihort, to throw them into the Sea. and to go u^on

the Accoimt.

ALL thofe who are acquainted with the Sea

Language, know the Meaning of that Exprefiion,

and that it is in

few Words, to run away withths/

Ship and turn Pirates.

VILLANOUS Defigns are fooneftconcluded;

as they had but little Time to confult upon what

Meafiires they fliould take, fo a very little Conful-

tation ferv'd for what was before them, and thcv

came to this fhort but helliili Refolution, (viz,^)

That they would immediatelj^ that very Night,

ir.urther the Captain, and fuch others as they

liam'd.



16-]

iiaitid, and afterwards proceed witli the Ship as

they ihould fee Caufe.

AND here it is to be obferv'd, that tho^inmer

and Peterfon were in the firft Propofal, nameljr, toprevent their being brought to Corregion by the

Captain, yet Gom and WilUajm were the principal

Advifers in the bloody Part, which however the

reft foon came into^ for, as I faid before^ as they

h^d but little Time to refolve in, fo they had but

very little Debate about it : But what was firft

proposed,was forthwith engag'd in and confented to.

BESIDES, it inuft not be omitted, that as I have

faid, upon good Grounds, that Gow had always had

the wicked Game of Pirating in his Head, and that

he had attempted it, or rather try'd to attempt it

before, but was not able to bring it to pafs : So he

bad, and JftUiams alfb had feveral times, even in

this very Voyage, dropt f)me Hints of this vile De-

lign, as they thought there was Room for it •, and

touch'd two or three Times at what a noble Opper*

tunity they had of Enriching themfelves, and ma-

king their Fortunes, as they wickedly call'd it

Tiiis was when they had the four Chefts of Moneyon Board- and Ifillmm made it a kind of ajeft

in his Difcourfe,how eatily they might carry it oft.

Ship and all : But as they did not find themfelves

Seconded, or that any of the Men ftiewed them-

felves in Favour of fuch a Thing, but rather fpoke

of it with Abhorrence, they pafs'd itover^ as

akind of Difcourfe that had nothing at all in it -,

except that one of the Men, {vi-z..) the Surgeon,

took them up ihort once, for fa much as mentio-

ning fdch a Things told them the Thought was

Criinin'il, and it ought not to be fpoken of among

them. Which Reproof 'twas fuppos'd coft him

his Life afterwards.

A S Gow and his Comrade had thus ftarted ih&

Tiiingat a Diftaace before, tho' it was then without

3iJccefs,



[73Succefs, yet they had the lefs to do noiv^ when o*

ther Difcontents had rais'd a fecret Fire in the

Breafts of the Men^ for now being, as it were, Mad

and Defperate, with Ai^preheniions cf their being to

te feverely Punirn'd by the Captain, they wanted

no Perfwaiions to come into the moft wicked Un-

dertaking that the Devil, or any of his Agents?,

cou'd propofe to them. Kor do we find, that upon

any of their Examinations, they pretended to have

made anyScruples of, or Objcdions againft thp

Cruelty of the bloody Attempt that was to be

made, but came into it at once, and refolved to

put it in EzecutioK immediately, that is to fay, the

i-ery fame Evening.~^

I T was the Captain's condant Cuftom to call all

the Ships Company every >^ight, at Eight a-Clock,

into the Great Cabbin to prayers ; and then the

Watch being fet, one Watch went upon Deck, and

the other turn'd in, (as the Seamen call.it) that is,

went to their Hammocks to Sleep : And here they

concerted their deviiiOi Plot. It was the Turn of

five of the Confpirators to go to Sleep, and of thefe.

Gov and JfilUams were two 5 the three, who wereto be upon the Deck, were Jfinter^ Rolfony and

Melvht a Scotchman.

THE Perfons they had immediately defign''d

for Deftrudion, were four, (vi-x..) the Captain, the

Mate, the Super Cargo, and the Surgeon, whereof

all, but the Captain, were gone to Sleep , the Caj)-tain himfelf being upon the Quarter-deck.

BETWEEN Nine and Ten at Night, all being

quiet and fecure, and the poor Gentlemen, that

were to be Murther'd, faft afleep, the Villains, that

were below, gave the WatcJi-Word, which was, who'

Tires next ? at which they all got out of their

Hammocks, with as little Noife as they could, and

going, in the Dark, to the Hammocks of the Chief

.Mate, Super Cargo, and Surgeon, they cut all their

Throats



enThroats ^ the Stirgeoits Throat was cut fo efFedtually^

that he could ftruggle very little with them, but

leaping out of his Hammock, ran up to get upon

the Deck, holding his Hand upon his Throat, but

ftumbled at the Tiller, and falling down, had noBreatb, and confequentlj no Strength, to raifehim-

felf, but dyed where he lay.

THE Mate, whofe Throat was cut, but not his

Windpipe, had ftrugled fo Vigoroufly with theVil-

lain, that attempted him, that he got from him, andgot into the Hold ; and the -Super Cargo, in the

lame Condition, got forwards between Decks, un-

der fome Deals, and both of them begg'd, with the

moft moving Cries and Intreaties, for their Lives5

and when nothing could pret^ail, they beg'd, with

the fame Earneftnefs, but for a few Moments toPray to j3od, and Recommend their Souls to his

Mercy 5 but alike, in Vain, for the wretched Mur-

therers, heated with Blood, were pafs'd all Pitty

and not being able to come at them with their

Knives, with which they had begun the Execution,

they fhot them with their Piftols, Firing feveral

times upon each of them, till they found they were

^uite dead.

A S all this, before the Firings, could not be

done without fome Noife, the Captain, who was

walking alone upon the Qiiarter-Deck, call'd out,

and ask'd, what was the Matter ? The Boatfwain,

who fat on the After Bits, and was not of the Party,

anfwer'd. He could not tell •, but was afraid there

was fome Body Over-board ^ upon which the Cap-

tain flep'd towards the Ships Side, to look over^

when TFrnter^ Roipllnfon and Melvin, coming that

Moment behind him, lay'd Hands on him, and lift-

ing him up, at once attempted to throw him Over-board into the Sea ; but he being a nimble, ilrong

Man, got hold of the Shrouds, and ftrugled fo hard

with them, that they could not break his Hold •, but

turning



C 9 J

turning his HeacI, to look behind him, to fee who f

lie had to deal with, one of them cut his Throat

with a broad Dutch Knife ^ but neither was that

Wound Mortal : And the Captain ftill firugled with

them, tho' feeing he ihould undoubtedly be Mur-ther'd, he conftantly cry'd out to God for Mercy,

for he found there was no Mercy to be expedted

from them : During this Struggle, another of the

Murthersftab'd

him with a Knifein

the Back, andthat with fuch Force, that the Villain could not

draw the Knife out again to repeat his Blow, which

he would otherwife have done.

A T this Moment Gojp came up from the Butche-

ry he had been at between Decks, and feeing the

Captain ftill alive, he went clofe up to him, andIhot him (as he confefs'd) with a Brace of Bullets.

WHAT Part he ihot him into, could not be

known ; tho' they faid that he fhot him into the

Head ^ however he had yet Life enough, tho' they

threw him Overboard, to take hold of a Rope,

and would itill have faved himfelf, bnt they cut

that Rope, and then he fell into the Sea, and wasfeen no more. Thus they finifhed the Trage-

dy, having nurther'd four of the principal Menof Command in the Ship, fo that there was nowno Body to Oppofe them •, for Gon; being Second

Mate and Gunner ^ the Command fell to him of

Courfe, and the reft of the Men having no Arms rea*dy, nor knowing how to get at any, were in the ut«

moft Confternation, expeding they would go onwith the Work, and cut all their Throats.

I N this Fright, every one fiiifted for himfelfj

as for thofe who were upon Delcy fome got vginto the Round Tops, others got into the Shi^s

Head, refolving to throw themfelves into the Se?^

rather than to be mangled with Knives, and mu.-ther' in Cold Blood, as the Captain and Matf^;

^c, had been •, Thofe who were below, not

C



Icnowing wTiat to do, or whofe Turn it fhould be

next, lay flill in their Hammocks, expedting Death

every Moment ; and not daring to ftir, leaft the

Villains ihould think they did it in order to makeRefinance, which however they were no way ca-

pable of doing, having no Concert one with ano-

ther, nor knowing any Thing in Particular of one

another, as xvho was Alive or who was Dead$

whereas had the Captain, who was himfelf a bold

and ftout Man, been in his Great Cabbin with

three or four Men with him, and his Fire-Arms, as

he intended to have had, thofe eight Fellows had

never been Able to have done their AVork ; but e-

very Man was taken Unprovided, and in the ut-

mofi: Surprife, fj that the Murtherers met with noReliflance : And as for thofe that were left, they

were Icfs Able to make Refiftance than the other5

fo that, as I have faid, they were in the utmoffc

Terror and Amazement, expedting every Minute

to be Marthered as the reft had been,

BUT the Villains had done: The Perfons who

had anyCommandjWereDifpatch'd •, fo they Coord a

little as to Blood. The firdXhing they did afterward,

was to call up all the Eight upon the Quarter-Deck,

where they Congratulated one another, and {hook

Hands together engaging to proceed, by unanimous

Confent, in their refoived Deiign, that is to lay, of

turning Pirates ; in Order to which, they with a

Nem. Con. cliofe Gotp to Command the Ship, prorai-

ling all Subjection and Obedience to his Orders :

(fo that nov/ we muft call him Captain Gow) and

he, by the fame Confent of the reft, named Jf^U*

Hams to be his Lieutenant. Other Officers they

ai:)pointed afterv/ards.

THE firft Order they IlTued, was to let all

the reft of the Men know. That if they continu-

ed Quiet, and offer'd not to Meddle with any of

their Affairs, they ihouid receive no Hurt : But



C 3Il:ri£i:l7 forbid an^r Man among them tq fet a Foot

Abaft the Main-nialt, except tlie)^ were callM to

the Helm, upon Pain of being immediately Cur in

Pieces t, keeping, for that Purpofe, one Man at the

Steerage- door, and one upon the Qjiarter-deck, with

drawn Cutlafhes in their Hands ^ but there was no

need for it, for the Men were fo terrified with the

bloody Doings they had feen, that they never offer'd

to come in fight till they were cali'd.

THEIR next Wovk wasto throw the three

dead Bodies, of the Mate, the Surgeon, and the Su'

per Cargo, over Board, which, they faid, lay in their

Way, and that was foon done, their Pockets being

firft fearch'd and rifled 5 From thence they went

to work with the Great Cabbin, and with all the

Lockers, Chefts, Boxes, and Trunks •, Thefe

they Broke open and Rifled, th&t is, fuch of them

as belong'd to the murthered Perlbns; and whatever

they found there, they Ihar'd among themfelves :

When they had done this, they calFd {or Li-

quor, and fat down to Drinking till Morning, lea-

ving the Men (as above) to keep Guard, and parti-

cularly to guard the Arms, bat Relieved them fromTime to Time, as they faw Occalion.

B Y this Time they had drawn in four more of

the Men to approve of what they had done, and

promife to Joyn with them, fo that now they

were twelve in Number, and being but 24 at firfl,

whereof four were Murthered, they had but eightMen to be Apprehenfiv^e of, and thofe they could

.

eafily look after •, fo the nest Day they lent for

them all to appear before their neivCaptain ^ where

they were told by Gojp,what his Refolution was, viz^,

to go a Cruifing,or to go upon theAccount,(as above)

that if they were willing tojoj^n with them, and i^o

into their Meafures, they fhould be well ufed, and

there fliould be no Diftindtion among them* but

ithey ihould all fare alike ^ that they had been fcr-

C z ^'-4



tl2]

ced by tlie LarLarous Ufage cf Ferneau to do what

they had done, but that now there was no looking

back y and therefore as they had not been concerned

in what was paf^, tney had nothing to do but to adfc

in Concert/ do their Duty as Sailors, and obey Or-

ders for the good of the Ship, and no Harm fhould

be done to any of them.

A S they all look'd like condemn'd Prifoners

brought up to the Bar to receive Sentence of Death,

fo they all anfvver'd by a profound Silence 5 notone Word being faid by any of them, which Govtook, as they meant it, (viz..) for a Confent, be-

caufe they durft not refufe •, fo they were then

permitted to go up and down every where as

they ufed to do, Tho' fuch of them as fometimes

afterward fnewed any Reluftance to a£t as Princi-

pals, v/ere never Trufted, alv/ays Sufpected, and

often fevereljr Beaten, and fomeof them were ma-

ny ways inhumanly Treated, and that particularly

hy Tfilliams^ the Lieutenant, who was, in his Na-

ture, a merciiefs, cruel, and inexorable Wretch,

as we fhall have occafion to take Notice of again

in its Place.

THEY were now in a new Circumftance of

Life, and ading upon a different Stage of Bulinefs,

tho' upon the fame Stage as to the Element, the

Water ibefore,, they were a Merchant Ship, loaden,

upon a good Account, with Merchants Goods from

the Ccaft of Barbary, and bound to the Coaft ofItaly : But they were now a Crew of Pirates, or

as they call them in the Levant^ Corfaires^ Bound

no where, but to look out for Purchafe and Spoil

wherever they could find it.

I N perfuit of this wicked Trade, they firfi:

chang'd the Nam6 of the Ship, which was before

calFd the George Gaily, and which they call

nov/ the Revenge, a Kame indeed fuitable to the

bloody Steps they had taken ; In the next place,

they



tJiey made the beft of the Ships Forces : The Ship

had but twelve Guns mounted when they came out

o? Holland ^ but as they had fix more good Guns in

the Hold, with Carriages and every Thing proper

for Service, which they had in Store, becaufe be-

ing Freighted for the Dutch Merchants, and the

Algerbies being at War vîth the Djitcb^ they fup-

pos'd they might want them for Defence: Nowthey took care to Mount them for a much worfe

Defign ; fo that now they had 1 8 Guns, tho' too

many for the number of Hands they had on Board.

IN the third Pkce, inftead of periling their

Voyage to Gejwa with the Siiips Cargo, they took

s clear contrary Courfe, and refolv'd to Station

themfelves upon the Coafts of Spaht and PortngAl^

and to Cruife upon all Nations •, but what ihey

chiefly aim'd at, v/as a Ship with Wine, if poJiible,

for that they wanted Extreamly.

THE firft Prize they took was an Evglijl) Sloop,

belonging to Fool^ Thomas Vîfe^ Commander, bound

from Newfoutidlani with Fiih, 'cn-^ Cadiz : This was

a Prize of no Value to them, ior they knew not

what to do with the Fifli •,

fo they took out the Ma-iler, Mr. TFife, and his Men, who were but Five in

Number, with their Anchors, and Cables, and Sails,

and what elfe they found worth taking out, and

funk the VeiTel.

N. B. Here it is to he ohferv'd, they found a Manzjery ft for their Turn, one James Belvin ^ he was

Xoatfwain ofthe Sloopâfout, brisk Fellorp, and a very

good Sailor •, hut otherways wicked enough to fuit with

their Occajion, and as Jhon as he came.amovg them,

he difcover^d it-, for tho he was mt in the frji

bloody Cayitrivance^ nor in the terrible Execution ofTfihich I have given a Relation^ that is to fay, lie wasnot guilty of running away'with the Ship, Georgs

Gaily, nor of munhering the four Innocent Men,

whicli



wTiicTi we have given an Account of above • yef'tis Evident he joyn'd Heartily in all the Villanies

which foliow'd. And indeed this Man's Fate is a

juft and net^dful Caution to all thofe Sailors, whobeing taken in other Ships hy the Pirates, think

that is a fufficient Plea for them to ad as real Pi-

rates afterwards ^ and that the Plea, or Pretence ofbe-

ing Forced, will be a fufficient Protedion to them,

however Guilty they may have been afterward,

/ and however Volunteir they may have Adted whentlfiey come among the Pirates.

DOUBTLESS 'tis poiTible for a Man to prove a

hearty Rogue after he is forced into the Service of

the Pirates, however Honeil he was before, and

however Un lelignedly or againft his Confent he

at firfi: came among them : Therefore thofe who ex-

pert to be Acquitted in a Court of Juftice afterward,on Pretence of their being at firft Forced into the

Company of Rogues, mult take care not to a£fc any

thing in Concert with them, while they are Em-

bark'd togc-ther, but v/hat they really cannot Avoid,

and are apparently under a Conftraint in the doing.

BUTthis Man, 'twas plain, adfced a quite dif-

ferent PartJ

for after he took on with them, he

took all Occafions to engage their Confidence, and

to convince them that he was Hearty in his Joyning

them. In a Word, he was the moft adive and vi-

gorous Fellow of any that were, as it may be faid,

forced into their Service •, for many of the other,

tho' they a£ted with them, and were apparently

Aflifting, yet there was always a kind of Back-

wardnefs and Difgnft at the Villainy, for which

they were often maltreated,and always fufpedted by,

their Mailers.

THE next Prize they took was a ScotchYefTd^

t)onnd from Glaffgow, with Herrings and Salmon,,

from thence to Gennt^ and Commanded by one Mr,

John SomerviUe, of Fort Patrick j this VeiTel was

iikewiie



C '5 1

likewife of little Value to theml except t^af^llief

took out, as they had done from the other, theit

Arms, Ammunition, Cloths, Provilions, Sails, An«chors, Cables, GTr;. and every Thing of Value, and

therefore they funk her too, as they had done the

Sloop. The Realbn they gave for finking thele

two VelTels was, to prevent their being Difcover'd 5

for as they were now Cruifing on the Coaft of Por-

tugal, had they let the Ships have gone with feve-ral of their Men on Board, they would prefently

have flood in for the Shore, and have given the A-

larm ; and the Men of War, of which there were

feveral, as well Dutch as Efiglijb^ in the River o€

Lisbon, would prefently have put out to Sea in/Queft of them ;

Andthey were very unwilling to

leave the Coaft of Portugal, till they had got a

Ship with Wine, which they very much wanted.

THEY Cruifed eight or ten Days after this,

v/ithout feeing fo much as one VeiTel upon the Seas,

and were juft refolving to ftand more to the Nor-

ward, to the Coaft of GalJitia^ when they defcryed

a Sail to the Soutlmardr being a Ship about as big

as their own, tho' they could not perceive what

Force ftie had \ however they gave Chafe, and the

VelTel perceiving it, crouded from them with all

the Sail they could make, hoifting up French Co-

lours, and ftanding away to the Southward.

THEY continued the Chafe three Days andthree Nights, and rho' they did not gain much up-

on her, the Frenchman Sailing very well, yet they

kept her in fight ail the while, and for the moft

part within Guii-fhot : But the third Night, the

Weather proving a little Haizy, the Frenchman

chang'd hisCourfe in

the Night, andfo

got clear ofthem, and good Reafon intj had to blefs them-

felves in the Efcape they had made ; If they had

but known what a dreadful Crew of Rogues thty

had fallen among, if they had been taken.



[i6 3

THEY were now gotten a long Way to the

Southward, and being greatly Difappointed, and in

want of Water, as v/ell as Wine, the3r refolved to

ftand awav for the Maderas, which they knew was

not far off, lb they accordingly made the Ifland in

two Days more •, and keeping a large Offing, they

Cruiz'd for three or four Days more, expecting to

meet with feme Portuguefe Veflel going in or co-

ming out •, but 'twas in Vain, for nothing ftirr'd :

So tir'd with Expe6ting, they flood in for the Road,

and came to an Anchor, tho' at a great Diftance,

then they fent their Boat towards the Shore with fe-

ven Men all well Arm'd, to fee whether it might

not be Prafticable to Board one of the Ships in the

Road, and, cutting her away from her Anchors,bring her off ^ or if they found that could not be

done, then their Orders were to Intercept fome of

the Boats, belonging to the Place, which carry

Wines off on Board the Ships in the Road, or from

one Place to another on the Coaft 5 but they came

backvghln difappointed in both

^

every Body be-

ing allarm'd and aware of them, knowing by their

Pofture what they were.

HAVING thus fpent feveral Days to no Pur-

pofe, and finding themfelves Difcovered, (at length

being apparently under a NecelTity to make an

Attempt fbme where^ they ftood away for Porte

Santa, about ten Leagues to the Windward of Ma-

deras, and belonging aifo to the Porttigitefe-,here

putting up Britijh Colours, they lent their Boat a-

fhore with Captain SomerviUs Bill of Health, and a

prefent to the Governour of three Barrels of Salmon,

and fix Barrels of Herrings, and a very civil Mel-

fage, deiiring leave to Water, and to buy fome Re-^reihments, pretending to be Bound to

THE Governour very courteoufly granted

their Deiire, but with more Courtefie than Difcre-

lion, went off himfelf, with about Nine or ten of



C 17 ]

Ills principal People, to pay the IRvgliJJ) Captain a

Vifit, little thinking what a kind of a Captain it

was they were going to Compliment, and what

Price it might have Coft them.HOWEVER Gow, handfomly drefs'd, receiv'd

them with fome Ceremony,and entertaiii'd them tol-

lerably well for a while ^ but the Governour having

been kept as long by Civillity as they could,and the

Refrefhraents from the Shore not appearing, he wasforced to Unmask, and when the Governour and

his Company rofe up to take their leave, they were,

to their great Snrprize, fuddenly fiirrounded with

a gang of Fellows with Mufquets and an Officer at

the Head of them, v^fh.o told them, in fo manyWords, they were the Captains Prifoners, andmnffc

not think of going on Shore any more, till the Wa-ter and Provifions, which were promifed, lliould

come on Board.

I T is impoffible to conceive the Confternation

and Surprize the Porhigneje Gentry were in^

nor is it very Decently to be exprels'd ^ the poor

Governour was fo much more than half Dead with

the Fright, that he really Befourd himfelf in apiteous Manner j and the reft were in no much .bet^

•ter Condition ^ they trembled, cry'd, begg'd, crofs'd

themfelves, and faid their Prayers as Men going ^

to Execution ; but 'twas all one, the}^ were told*

flatly the Captain was not to be Trifled with, tjiat

the Shipwas

in

wantof Provifions, and they

would-have them, or they would carry them all away ;

They were however well enougli Treated, except

the Reftraint of their Perfons, and were often

ask'd to Refreih themfelves, but they would nei- f

ther Eat or Drink any more ail the while they'

ftay'd on Board, which was till the next Day in

the Evening, when to their great Satisfaction they

iaw a great Boat come oft from the Fort, and which

D came



I i8 ]

came diredly on Board with feven Buts of Water,'

a Cow and a Calf, and a good number of Fowls.

WHEN the Boat came on Board, and had de-

livered the Stores, Captain Gow Complimentedthe Governour and his Gentlemen, and Difcharg'd

them to their great Joy -, and beiides difcharging

them, he gave them, in return for the Provifions

they brought, two Ccrons of Bees Wax, and fir'd

(them three Guns at their going away. I fup-

pofe however, they will have a care how they go on

Board of any Ship again in Compliment to their

Captain, unlefs they are very fnre who they are.

HAVING had no better Succefs in this out of

the way run, to the Mdi^^'^s, they refolved to make

the beft of their way back again to the Coaft of

Spain or Fortiigal •, they accordingly left Forto Santa

the next Morning - with a fair Wind, Handing di-

redly for Cape St. Vhicent^ or the Southward Cape,

THEY had not been upon the Coaft of Spaht

above two or three Days, before they met with a

êw England Ship • Crofs Commander, la-

den with Staves, and bound for Lisbon, and being

to Load there with Wine for London ^ this was aPrize alfo of no Value to them, and they began to

be very much difcouraged with their bad Fortune.

However they took out Captain Crofs and his Men,

which were feven or eight in Number, with moft of

the Proviiions and fome of the Sails, and gave the ,

Ship to Captain /fz/g the Poo/ Man, who they took I

at firft in a Sloop from Newjoundland ^ and in order

to pay TFife and his Men for what he took from

them, and made them Satisfadion, as he called it,

he gave to Captain Tîfe and his Mate 24Cerons of

Bees Wax, and to each of his Men, who were four

in Number, two Cerons of Wax each •, thus he

pretended Honeily, and to make Keperation of Da-

mages by giving them the Goods which he had

robb'd the 2)?itc7j Merchants of, whofe Sujêr-Cargo

he had Murthered. AFTER.



[ 19 3

AFTER this Cruizing forneDnys off of the

Bay, tliey mtt with a French Ship from Cadiz^ la-

den with Wine, Oyl, and Fruit •, this was, in feme

refpedt, the very Thing they wanted sfo they

Mann'd her with their own Men, and flood ofF to

Sea, that they might divide the Spoil oF her with

more Safety, for they were then too near the Land.

AND firft they took out theJT-ew&Mafterand all

his Men, which were twelve in Number 5 then theyfliifted great Part of the Cargo, efpecially of the

Wine, with fome 0)'-l, and a large quantity of AUmonds, out of the French Ship into their own ..with

five of his heft Guns, and their Carriages, all their

Ammunition and fmall Arms, and all the beft of

theirSails,

and then they gave that Shipto Captain

Somerville, the Glafcow Captain, whofe Ship they

had funk, and to Captain Crofs, the JSIew Evglavd

Captain, who they had taken but juft before •, and

to do Juftice, as thejr calFd it, here alfo, they gave

half the Ship and Cargo to Somervllle, one quar-

ter to his Mate, and the other quarter to Captain

Cro/i, and 16 Cerons of Wax to the Men to be

fhar'd among them.

I T is to be obferv'd here, that Captain Somer*

ville carry ed all his Men along with him j except

one who chofe to enter among the Pirates, fo that

he cou'd never pretend he was forced into their Ser^

I'ice i but G'o/i's Men where all detained, whetherby Force, or by their own Confent, does not ap*

pear at prefent.

THE Day before this Diviiion of the Spoil,

ihQj faw a large Ship to Windward, which at firit

put them into fome Surprize, for (he came bearing

dov/n diredly upon them, and they thought Diehad been a Portuguefs Man of War, but they found

foon after that it was a Merchant Ship, had French

Colours, and bound Home, as they fupposM, from

Xh^WeJi hiuiesj and it was foj for as we afterwards



L 20 ]

learn'd, fhe was loaden at Marthiico, and bound

forRochelle.

THE Frenchman, not fearing them, came on

large to the Wind, being a Ship of much greater

Force than Gof's Ship, and carr3'-ing 52 Guns and

80 Men, belides a great many Paflengers 5 how-

ever Gotp at firft made as if he would lye by for

them, but feeing plainly what a Ship it was, and

that they Ihould have their Hands full of her, he

began to c onlider, and calling his Men all together

upon the Deck, told them his Mind, (i^fxJThat the

Frenchman was apparently fuperior in Force every

way, that they were but ili-mann'd, and had a

great man}? Prifoners on Board, and that fome of

their own People were not very well to be trufted,

that iix cf their beft Hands were on Board the

Prize, and that all they had left were not fufficient

to ply their Guns and ftand by the Sails •, and

that therefore as they were under no NeceiTity to

engage, fo he thought it would be next to Madnefs

to think of it, the French Ship being fo very muchSuperior to them in Force.

THE generallity of the Men were of Gout's

Mind,a id agreed to decline the Fight, but Williams,

his Lieu^ ftrenuoufly oppos'd it, and being not to be

appeas'dby all thatGos? could fay to him,or any one

elfe, flew out in a Rage at Gow, upbraiding him

with being a Coward, and not fit to command a

Ship of Force.

THE Truth is. Gong's Reafoning was Good, and

the Thing was Juit, confidering their own Conditi-

on : But Williams was a Fellow uncapable of any

iolid Thinking, had a kind of a favage, brutal Cou-

rage, but nothing of true Bravery in him -, andthis made him the moft defperate and outragious

Villain in the World, and the moft cruel and inhu-

piane tothofe v/hcfe Difafter it was to fall into his

Ilands,



1 21 ]

Hands, as had frequently appearM in his Ufage of

the Prifoners, under his Power, in this veryVoyage.

GO If was a Man of Temper, and notwithftand-

ing all the ill Language JFiUiafns gave him, faid lit-

tle or nothing, hut by way of Argument, againft

attacking the French Ship, which would certainly

have been too ilrong for them : But this provolc'd

IFilliams the more 5 and he grew to fuch an extrava-

gant height, that he demanded boldly of Gow togive his Orders for Fighting, which Gow declining

ftill, WiJlia77is prefented his Piftol at him, and fnapc

it, but it did not go off, which enrag'd him the

more.

jriNTE R and 'Peterfon ftanding nearell: to WiUJiams, and feeing him fo furious, flew at him im-

mediately, and each of them fir'd a Piftol at him,

one ihot him thro' the Arm, and the other into

his Belly, at which he fell, and the Men about

him laid hold of him to throw him Over-board, be-

lieving he was dead ; but as they lifted him. up, he

ftarted violently out of their Hands, and leaped

direftly into the Hold, and from thence run defpe-

perately into the Powder-Room, with his Piftol

cock'd in his Hand, fwearing he would blow them

ail up ^ and had certainly done it, if they had not

fciz'd him juft as he had gotten the Scuttle open,

and was that Moment going in to put his hellifti Re-

folution in practice.

HAVING thus fecufd the demented raving

Creature, they carryed him forward to the Place

which they had made on Puvpofe, between Decks,

to fecure their Prifoners, and put him in amongft

them, having firft loaded him with Irons, and par-

ticularlyHand-cufted him with his Hands behind

him, to the great Satisfaction of the other Prifb-

foncrs, who knowing what a butcherly, furious

Fellow he was, were terri^ed, to the laft Degree,

to fee him come in among them , till they faw the



C«3Condition he came in. He was indeed theTerror of

all the Prifbners, for he iifually treated them in a

barbarous manner, without the leaft Provocation,

and meerly for his Humonr •, prefenting Piftols to

their Breafts, fwearing he would ihoot them that

Moment, and then would beat them unmercifully,

and all for hisDiveriion, as he call'd it»

HAVING thus laid him faft, they prefently

refolv'd to ftand away to the Jfejlward, by whichthey quitted the Mxrtinico Ship, who by that time

was come nearer to them, and farther convinc'd

them they were in no Condition to have Engag'd

her, for flie was a ftout Ship and full of Men.

ALL this happened juft the Day before they

ihar'd their laft Prize among the Prifoners, (as Ihave faid) in which they put on fucli a Moclc face

of doing Juftice to the feveral Captains and Mates,

and other Men, their Prifoners, whofe Ships they

had taken away, and who now they made a Repa-

ration to, by giving them what they had taken Vio-

lently from another, that it was a ftrange Medly

of Mock-JuHice made up of Rapine and Genero»

Hty blended together,

TWO Days after this they took a Brijlol Ship

tound from Newfoundland to Oporto with Fiih;

they let her Cargo alone, for they had no ocrafi-

on for Fifh, but they took out alfo almoft all their

Provifions, all the Ammunition, Arms, &c. all her

good Sails, alfo her beft Cables, and forced two of

her Men to go away with them, and then put lo

of the FfenchMtn on Board her, and let her go.

BUT juft as they were parting with her, they

confuUed together what to do with Williann their

Lieutenant, who was then among their Prifoners,

and in Irons •, and after a ftiort Debate, they re-

folved to put him on Board the Bnjiol Man and

fend him away too, which accordingly was done

with Directions to ths Mufter to deliver him on



[33 1

Board the firfl: EnglijI) Man of War they Ihoulcl

meet with, in order to his being hang'd for a Pi-

rate (fo they Jeeringly call'd him) as foon as he

came roh7ighnd, giving them alio

an Accountof

fome of his Villanies,

THE Truth is, this Ifilliams was a ?;lonfl:er,

rather than a Man ; he was the moft inhuman,

bloody and defperate Creature that theWorld could

produce •, he was even too wicked for Gow and all

his Crew, tho' they were Pirates and Murtherers

as has been faid •, his Temper was fo Savage, fo

Villainous, fo Mercilefs, that even the Pirates

themfelves told him it was Time he was hang'd

out of the Way.

ONE Inftance of this Barbarity in Williams

can not be omitted, and will be fufficient to jufti-

fy all that can be faid of him, namely, that whenGow gave it as a Reafon againft engaging with the

MartinlcQ Ship, that he had a great many Prifbners

on Board, ( as above) and fome of their own Menthat they could not depend upon \ If^illiams pro-

posed to have them all calFd up, one by one, and

to cut their Throats, and throw them Overboard •

A Propofal fo Horrid, that the worft of the CrewIhook their Hesds at it

^yet Gow anfwer'd him ve-

ry handfomly. That there had been too much Blood

fpilt already; yet the refufing this, highten'd the

Q_aarrel, and was the chief Occafion of his offer-

ing to Piftol Gow himfjlf, as has been faid at large :

After which, his Behaviour was fuch, as made all

the Ships Crew refolve to be rid of him. And'twas thought, if they had not had an Opportunity

to fend him away, as they did by the Brijlol Ship,

they would have been oblig'd to have hang'd hini

themfelves.

THIS cruel and butcherly Temper of Ifilliams

i)eing carry'd to fuch a height, and fo near to the

ruine of them all, ihock'd fome of them, and as

th^y



[24 3

tTiey acknowledg'd gave them fbme check m the

heat of their wicked Progrefs, and had thej had a

fair Opportunity to have gone on Shore at that

Time, without falling into the Hands of Juftice,

'tis believ'd the greateft Part of them would have

abandon'd the Ship, and perhaps the very Trade

of a Pirate too. But they had dipt their Hands

in Blood, and Heaven had no doubt determined to

bring them, that is to fay, the Chief of them to

the Gallows for it, as indeed they all deferv'd, fo

they went on.

WHE N they put Williams on board the Brijiol

Man, and he was told what Directions they gave

with him, he began to relent, and made all the In-*

terceflion he could to Captain Gow for Pardon, or

at leaft not to be put on board the Ship, knowing

if he was carried to Lisbojj, he fhould meet withhis Due from the Portvguefe if not from xheBvgliJh-^

for it feems he had been concerned in fame Villanies

among the Portitgiiefe, before he came on Board the

George Galley ^ what they were he did not confefs,

nor indeed did his own Ship's Crew trouble them-

lelves to examine him about it :

He had beenwicked enough among them, and it was fufficient

to make them ufe him as they did ^ it was more to

be wonder'd indeed, they did not cut him in pieces

upon the Spot, and throw him into the Sea, half

on one fide of the Ship, and half on the other-, for

there was fcarce a Man in the Ship, but on one Oc*

Gallon or other, had fbme apprehenlions of him,

and might be faid to go in danger of his Life from

him.

BUT they chofe to ihift their Hands of him

this bloodlefs way j fo they double fetter'd him and

brought him up : When they brought him out among

the Men, he begg'd they would throw him into tlie

Sea and drown him ^ then entreated for his Liffe

with a meanaefs which made them difpife him, and

with



t 25 ]

with Tears, fothat one Time -they' began to relent*

but then the deviliflh Temper oi the Fellow over-

rul'd it again -,

'

fo at laft they -refjlVd to let him

go, and did accordingly put him on Board, andgave him many a hearty Curfe at parting, wifliing

him a good Voyage to the Gallows, as was made

good afterwards, tho'in fuch Company as they lit-

tle thought of at that Time.

THE Brijiol Captain was very juH to them,

for according to their Orders, as foon as they came

to Lisbo) , they put him on Board the Argyle^ one

of His Majefty's Ships, Captain Bov?ler, Comman-der, then lying in the Tagus, and bound Home for

Englavdj who accordingly brought hian -Home •,

tho', as it happened. Heaven brought the Captain

and the reft of the Crew fo quickly to the End of

all their Villainies, that thejr all came Home time

enough to be hang'd with their Lieutenant. But I

return to Gotp and his Crew, Having thus dif^

mifs'd the BriJlol Man, and clear'd his Fiaiids af

moft of hisPrilbners, he, with the fame wicked Ge^

nerolity, gave the Brijt'l Captain ( 3 Cerons of

Bees Wax, as a Gratuity for his Trouble andCharge with the Prifoners, and in Recomjiencc, as

he cali'd it, for the Goods he had taken froni him,

and fo they parted.

WHAT thefe feveral Captains did, to whomvtliey thus divided the Spoil of poor Fenwans Car-

go, or as I ought rather to.call it, of theMerchant'sCargo, which was loaded in Africa-^ I -fay, what

was done with the Bees-wax, and other Things

which they diftributed to th^ Captains, and xhtit

Crews, who they thus tranfpos'd from Snip to Ship,

that we cannot tell, nor indeed coula rr.cfe Peopleeither well know how to keep it, or how to part

Avith it. '

-^ IT was certainty 'a Gift they had na power to

give, nor had the'other any Right to it by their

E Dona*



Donation ; but as the Owners were unlcnoWn, and

the feveral Perfons pofTeffing it are not eafily

known, I do not fee which way the poor Dutchmen

can come at their Goods again.It is true, indeed, the Ships which they exchang'd

may, and ought to be reftored, and the honeft

Owners put in PolTdlion of them again, and I

fuppofe will be fo in a legal Manner \ but the

Goods were fo difpers'd that it was jmpoiTible.

THISwas the laft Prize they took, not only

on the Coafi: of Portugal, but any where elfe •, for

/ Gow who, to give him his due, was a Fellow of

Council, and had a great Prefrnce of Mind iu Ca- -

\fes of Exigence, conlider'cl that as foon as the Bri-

fol Ship came into the River of Lubon^ they would

certainly give an Account of them, as well of

their Strength, as of their Station in which they

Cruized ^ and that coiifrquently the EngUJh Menof War, o'i which there are generally fome in that

River, would immediately come Abroad to look

for them : So he began t( jRcafbn with hisOfficers, that

now the Coaft of Fortiigal would be no proper Place

at all for them, unlels they refolved to fall into

the Hands of the faid Men of War ; and that they

ought to conlider immediately what to do»

I N thefe Debates, fome advifed one Tiling,

fome another, as is ufual in like Cafts^ fome where

for going to the Coaft of Guinea^ where (as they

faid) was Purchafe enough, and very richShips

tobe taken

Jothers v/ere for going to the Jf^ejl hi-

dies, and to Cruize among the liiands, and take up

\ their Station at Tobago ; others, and that not thofe

' of the moft Ignorant, proix)s'd the ftapdiijg Jn

to the Bay o't Mexico^ and to jojrn in with fome of ft

new fort of Pirates at St. Jago de la Cuba, who are

all Spaniards, and call themfelvesGnrrr^^^ del CoaJIa^

that is, Guardlhips for the Coaft ^ but under that

pretence make Prize of Shijps- of all Nations, and

fomp-



L -^7 J

fometimes even of their own Countrymen too, but

efpecially of the Evglip •, but when this was pro-

pose it was anfyvcred, they durft not truft the

Spaniards. 'ol'-'\

ANOTHER'fort was for going to the North

of America, and af*-er having taken a Sioop oi two

on the Coaft of New-Evgland.^ or I^ew-Tork^ laden

with Provilions for the Ifeji-Indics, v/hich would

not have been very hard to do, TLich being often

pairing and re-paffing there, and by which they

might nave been fuffidentlv ftor'dwith Provifion,

-then to hiive gone away to the South Seas •,

' ut Gon^

objeded, t^iat they were not Mann'd fifficiently

for fuch an Undertaking • and likewife, that they

had not i'uffident Scores of Ammunition, efpedally

of Powder, and of fmall Arms for any confidera-

ble A£tion with the Spaniards

.

THEN it was offered bv the Boatfwain, whoit feems had been iu that Part of the World, to go

away to the Honduras, and to the Bay o^ Campeachy

among the Buccaniers and Logwood Cutteis, and /

there they ihould in the firft Place be fure to pick;'

up forty or fifty ftout Fdlows, good Sailois, and'

bold, enterprizing Men, who undeiftand the Spa-

jiiardi^ and the Spanijh Coafl: on both lides of Ame-

rica as well as any Men in the World, and had all

Fire- Arms with them, and Ammunition too, and

then being well Mann'd, they might take their

hazard for Provifions, which might be had anywhere, at leaft of one Sort if not of another ^ be-

lides, vAitn they were thoroughly Mann'd, they

might cruize for Provifions any where, and might

be as likely to meet with the New-Tork and JN't-n;-

England Sloops, on the back of the Iflands- in their

Way to Barhadoes and Jamaica as any where.

Others faid they fhould go iirft to the Iflan Js of

New-Providence^ or to the Month of the Gulph of

Florida^sindihen cruiling on the Coaft cf North-Atne^

E 2 ricd



l^9l

lows to go along with them, upon his Encourage-

ment Jfo that they fhould be better Mann'd than

they were yet, and Ihould be Ready againft all

Events.

THESE Arguments, and their approaching

Fate Concurring, had a fufficient Influence, on the

Ships Company, to prevail on them to Confent:

So they made the bell of their Way to the Norths

ward, and about the middle of laft Jamury^ th-y

arriv'd at Carrijioiin, in the Ifles o^ Orkvey^ and

came to an Anchor in a Place, which Gow told

them, was fafe Riding under the Lee of a fmall

ifland at feme Diftance from the Port.

G 01^ being nowfole Diredor, as well as Com-mander of the Ship,caird them all together, fo tell

them what Account they ihould give of themfelves,

when they came to Converfe with any of the Peo-

ple of the Ifland, that they might agree in their

Story, and give no Caufe of Sufpicion; and 'tis

moft certain, that had they been careful to ob-

ferve his Directions, and not betray'd and exposed

themfelvs, they might have pafs'd undifcover'd,and done all tîQ Mifchief they intended, without

allarming the Country. Kis Orders were, that

they iliould fay they came from Cadiz., and were

bound for Stockholm, and thence to Dantzjck5 but

that they had had a long Paflage, by reafon of

contrary Winds, and lofi: their Opportunity of

paiiing the Smiid, which was now full of Ice, if

not frozen up •, and that they had been driven fo

far to the Norwards by Strcfs of V/eather, that

they wanted Water and frelh ProviiTons, and to

clean their Ship •, that they would pav for wliat-î-„ r. i„'j „-..i, __j A . 7 .Y

them to proceed on their Voyage. This Tale was

âlie to tell, and propable enough, and tiierefore

likely



C 30 ]

likely enough to be Believed ; and tney all olDlJgM

themfelves ro give the fame Account exactly, andnot to vary the leaft Tittle from it, or fo much as

Wifper otherwife, upon Pain of immediate Death.

I N Carrijfoiin Harbour they found a fmall Scots

Bark, — Liunfdale^ Mafter, loaden withWine

and Brandy, and bound about to t}\t Ifle of Many

this was a welcome Thing to them all ; and had it

been any where elfe, they would have made it a*

good Prize : But as they had Goods fufficient onBoard, and fuch as where very Acceptable Mer-

chandize, Lmnfdale traded freely with them,' and

GoF bartred fjven Gro7/s of Wax, and about 200I.

Weight of Barbary Copper with him for a Hogfliead

of Geveva and an Anchor of Brandy^ and fome o»

ther Goods ^ and it was believed that Gcc? hadfome Money into the Bargain.

A Day or two after, a SwedlUxVe^t\ came into

the Road, bound from Stockholm to Glafgorv, and

laden with Stvedes Iron, and Bajl Country Plankj

they traded with her alio for 10 Coil of new Rope,

forwhich Gow gave the Mafter eleven Cerons

of Bees Wai : It has been faid, th^j plundered

this Veflll of feveral other Goods, and obligM the

the Mafter to promife to Sail dire£lly to his Port,

without fpeaking to any Bodjr, on Pain of Unking

the Ship ^ But this wants Confirmation, nor is it

Probable they would venture to do fo in a Port

where they refolv'd to ftay any long Time, and

where they knew it v/as lb NecelTary to be en-

tirely Gonceal'd.

fBUT now their Misfortunes began to come on,

jand Things lookM but with an indifferent Afpedt

]upon them ^ for feveral oF their Men, efpecially

fuch of them as had been forc'd or dccoy'd into

their Service, began to think of making their E-

fcape from them ^ and to caft about for Means to

biingit topafs. The firft w^s a young Man, who

was



was originally one of the Ships Company, but

was Forced b)'' fear of being Murther'd, as has been

ohfervd^ to give a filent i\irent to go with them,

he took an Opportunity to get away.

I T was one Evening when the Boat went on

Shore, (for they kept a civil Correfpondence with

iho. People of the Town) this yom^g Fellow being

one of the Ships Crew, and having been feveral

Times on Shore before, and therefore not fupedted,

gave them the Slip, and got away to a Farm-houfe

which lay under a Hill, out of light 5 and there,

for two or three Pieces of Eight, he got a Horfe,

and foon, by that _ means, efcap'd to Kirkwall^ a

Market-Town, and the Chief of the Orhteys, a-

bout 12 Miles from the Place where the Ship lay.

A S foon as he came there, he furrender'd him-

felf to the Government, deiiringProtedlion, andfin-form'd them who Gow was, and what the Ships

Crew were, and upon what Bufinefs they were A-broad ^ with what elfe he knew of their Deligns,

as to Plundering the GentlemensHoufes, &c. Up-on which they immediatel)r rais'd the Countrjr, and

got a ftrength together to defend themfelves.

BUT the next Diftafter that attended them,

was, (for Misfortunes feldam come alone^ more fa-

tal than this, for 1 o of Gown's Men, moft of them

likewife Men forced into their Service, went awaywith the long Boat, making the beft of their Wayfor the main Land of Scotland.

N. B. Thefe Men however they did, or what(

Shift foever they m.ade to get fo far, were taken

in the Firth of Bdenburg^ and made Prifoners there, i

HAD Gob? taken the Alarm, as he ought to

have done, at eitheir of thefe Accidents, and putto Sea, eitlier ftood over for the Coafl of Norway^

or have run thro * JFcJiward, between the Iflands]

and gone for the IJls oj Man, or for the North ofIreland, he might have eafily have gone clear off.

for



t 32]

for there was no VefTel in the Country that was of

Force fafficient to have fpolcen with him.

. BUT hardened for his own Deftrudion, and

Juftice evidently purfuing him, he grew the Bolder

for the Difafter ^ and notwithftanding that the

Country was alarm'd, and that he was fully difco-

verM, inftead of making a timely Efcape^ he re-

folved to Land upon them, and to put his intend-

ed Projefts, (vix.) of Plundring the Gentlemens

Houfes, in Execution, whatever it coft him.

I N Order to this, he fent the Boatfwain and lo

Men on Shore, the very fame Night, very well

Arm'd, directing them to go to the Houfe of Mr.

Homtyvian of Grahamfs^, Sheriff of the County,

and who was himfelf at that Time, to his great

good Fortune, from Home : The People of the

Houfe had not the leaft Notice of their coming, fo4 that which they knock'd at the Door,it was immedi-

ately open'd ; upon when they all entered the

IHoufe at once, except one Pantojij who they fet

' Centinel, and order'd him to ftand at the Door to

fecure their Retreat, and to fecure any from co-

ming in after them.

MRS. Honnyman and her Daughter were ei*

/ treamly Frighted at the iight of fo many Armed• Men coming into the Houfe, and ran fcreaming a-

tout, like People Diftraded, while the Pirates,

rot regarding them, were looking about for-Ghefls

and Trunks, where they might expect to find fome

, ^Plunder : And Mrs. Hovnyvmt^ in her Fright, co-

\ aning to the Door, ask'd Pantoit, the Man who

they fet Centinel there, what the Meaning of it all

was? and he told her freelj'-, they were Pirates, and

that they came to Plunder the Houfe. At this ftie

\ recovered fome Courage, and run back into thf?

'

.Houfe immediately•,

and knowing, to be fure,

where her Money lay, which was very Conlidera-

hie, and ail in Gold, fhe put the Bags in her Lap,

and



C 331

and boldly rufhing hy Vanton, who thought flie was

only running from them, in a Fright, carryed it all

off, and fo made her Eicape with the Treafure.

The Boatfwain being infonn'd that tht Money was

carryedofl^ refblved to revenge himfelf by burning

the Writings and Papers, which they call there, the

Charters of their Eftates, and are always of great

Value in Gentlemens Houfes of Eftatts j but the

young Lady, Mr.Honeymans

Daughther, hearingthem threaten to burn the Writings, watch'd her

Opportunity, and running to the Charter Room

where they lay, and tying the mofl- roniiderable of

them up in a Napkin, threw them out of the Win-

dow, jumpt after them herfelf, and Efcaped

without the Damage 5 tho * theWnidow was one Sto-

ry high at leaft.

HOWEVER the Pirates had the Plundering

of all the reft of the Houfe, and carryed of a great

deal of Plate and Things of Value ^ and forced one

of the Servants, who played very well on the Bag-

pipe, to march along, Piping before them, when

they carryed them off to the S'^ip.

THE next Day they weigh 'd Anchor, intend^

ing, tho' they had clean'd but one iide of the Ship,

to put out to Sea and quit the Coaft 5 but failing

Eajiward, they came to an Anchor again, at a little

Ifland, call'd Caljfound 5 and, having fome farther

Mifchief in their view here, the Boatfwain wenton Shore again, with fome Armed Men ^ our meet-

ing with no other Plunder, they carryed off three /

Womeuj who they kept on Board fome time, and /

ufed fo Inhumanly, that when they fet them on

Shore again, they were not able to go or to ftand i

and we hear that one of them dyed on the Beacia

where they left them.

THE next Day they weigli'd again, hoL^ng

the fame Courfe Eajiward, thro' the Openings I^e-

iween the Iflands, till thty came off of Roptefs %

F '



[34]

And now Gom refolved to malce the beft of hh Way for the Ifland of Bda, to Plunder the Houfe

of Mr. Fea^ a Gentleman of a confiderable Eftate,

and who Gow had fome Acquaintance with, having

been at School together when they were Youths.

I T feems Gow^s Reafbn for refolving to attack

this Gentleman, w'lo was his old Acquaintance,

was, that he thought the Alarm, given at Carri

Jloun, would neêflarily draw the Gentlemen, and

the t.-ft of their Focces, that Way j wbich Guefs

.was f;r tioni being Imp'obahle j for j ft fo it was,

only wi::- R'-fpeft to M.. F.t, w''o having had the

Allarm wit . the rf ft, yet ilay'd at Home, on a par-

ticular OccafI-l^ 'lis Wile being, at that lime, ve-

ry much Indifpofld.

I T is to be obferv'd here, that CaryiJI.un and_Eda lye with Rerp.6t to each other, (A\ £j/ and

S. Ifêji) and the Bodies of the chief Iflanas lye be-

tween tnem.

ON the nth of February^ in the Morning,

Gow appearing with his Ship off of the Ifland,

caird the Calffoujid, Mr. Fea and his Family were

very much alarm'd, not being able to get together

above fix or feven Men for his Defence ., he there-

fore wrote a Letter to Gow, intending to fend it

on Board, as foon as he fliould get into the Har-

bour, to defire him to forbear the ufual Salutes

with his great Guns • becaufe Mrs. Fea his Wife was

fo very much Indifpos'd : And this as he would o-

blige his old School-fellow, telling hjm at the fame

time, that the Inhabitants were all fled to the

Mountains, on the Report of his being a Pirate,

which he hoped would not prove true în which

Cafe, he fhould be very ready to fupply him with

all fuch NecelTaries as the Ifland would afford 5

.defiling him to fend the Mellenger fafe back, at

whofe Return, the. Allarms of the People would

immediately be at an End.

THE



C35 3

THE Tide it feems runs extreamly Rapid a?.,

inong thofe Iflands, and the Navigation is thereby'

render'd verydaiigeous

anduncei:ti\in : Gorv

wasan able Seaman : but he was no PiLot for that Place,

and which was worfe, he had no Boat to AiTift, in

cafe of Extremit}', to ware the Ship ^ and in turn-

ing into Calf Sound, he flood a little to near the;

Point of a little Ifland, call'd the Calj, and which

lay in the middle of thePaiT-ge-, here . is Ship miC-

ling Stays, was in great Danger of going a Snore •

to avoid which, he drop'd an .Anchor under his

Foot, which talcing good hold, brought him up, and

he thought the Daugtr was over.

BUT as the WiM was, he lay fo near the

Shore, that he could not get under Sail again, for'

want of a Boat to Tow him out into the Channel,or to carry oif an Anchor to heave him out.

THAT litde Ifland above, is uninhabited, but

affords Pafture to five or fix Hundred Sheep,

which Mr. Fea always keeps upon it, for it be-

longs wholly to him : Gow was novv in Diftrefs,

and had no Remedy but to fend his fmall Boat onShore to Mr. Fea, to delire his Aifiltance, that is to

fay, to deiire him to lend him a Boat to carry out

an Anchor to heave off the Ship.

Mr. Fea fent back the Boat, and one ^ames

Lahg in it, with the Letter, which I have already

mentioned ^ Gow fent him back immediately with

this Anfwer, by AVord of Mouth, (viz.) that he

would write to no Body • But if Mr. Fea would

order his People to aiiift him with a Boat, to carry

out an Anchor, he would Reward them handfomly :

Mr. Fea, in the mean time, orderM his great Boat

(for he had fuch a Boat as Gow wanted j to be ftav'd

and launchM into the Water and funk, and the

Mafbs, Sails and Oars to be carryed privately out

of Sight.

F 2 WHILE



1^6 1

WHILE this was doing Mr. Fea percelv'd Gobi's

Boat corai'-g on Shore, with five Perfons in her :

Thefe Men having landed on the main Ifland, left

their Boat on the Beach, and all together march'ddireftly lip to the Manfion Houfe. This put him

into fonie Surprize at firft, however, he refolv'd to

meet them in a peaceable Manner, tho' he perceiv'd

they we' e all double Arm'd ^ when he came up to

them he entreated them not to go up to the Houfe,

becaufe of thelanguifliing

Conditionof his

Wife ythat f}ie was already frighted with the Rumours

which had been rais'd of their being Pirates, and

that fhe would certainly die with the fear flie was

5n for herfelf and Family, if they came to the

Door.' THE Boatfwain anfwer'd. They did not deflre

to fright his Wife, or any Body elfe ; but they

came to deiire the affiftance of his Boat, and if he

would not grant them fo fmall a Favour,' he had

nothing to expert from them but the utmoft Ex-

tremity. Mr. Fea return'd, that they knew well

enough he could not anfwer giving them, or lend-

ing them his Boat, or any Help, as they appeared

to be fuch People as was reported ^ but that if they

would take them by Force, he could not help

himfelf.'*'

^ BU T in the niean time, talking flill in a friend-

ly Manner to them, he ask'd them to go to 4

iieighbouring Houfe, which he faid was a ChangeHonfe, that is a Fvblick Houfe^ and take a Cup of

j\.le witn him.

THIb they confented to, feeing Mr. F^^ was

all alone, fo ihey went all with him •,. Mr. Fea mthe mean time found means to give private Orders

that the Oars, and Maft, and Sails of the Pirate$

Boat Ihould be all carry'd away, and that in a

quarter of an Hour after they had fat together, h6

fliould be CalFd hailily out of the Room on fome'•= : ^

-pre^



C37lpretence or otlier of fome Body to fpeak witfi him,'

all which was perrorm 'd to a Tittle.

WHEN he was got from them he gave Orders

that his Six Men, who, as before, he had got -o-

gether,and who were now come to him wellarm'd,

Ihould place themfelves at a certain Stile, behind a

thick Hedge, and which was about half the way

between the Ale-Houfe and his own Houfe 5 that if

he came that way with the Boatfwain alone, they

fhould fuddenly ftart out upon them fat)th, andthrowing him down, fhould feize upon the other

5

but that if all the five came with him, he would

take an Occafion to be either before or behind

them, fo that they might all fire upon them with-

out danger of hurting him.

HAVING given thefe Orders, and depending

upon their being well executed, he return'd to the

Company, and having given them more Ale, told

them he would gladly do them any S. rvice that he

could lawfully do, and that if thrj would take the

trouble of walking up to his Houfe in a peaceable /

Manner, that his Family might not be frighted/

with feeing himfelf among them, they ihould have

all the Alliftance that was in his Power.

THE Fellows, whether they had taken too much

Ale, or whether the Condition of their 8 np, and

the Hopes of getting a Boat to help them, blinded

their Eyes, is not certain, fell with eafe inro this

Snare, and agreed readily to go along with Mr^Fea-^but after a while refolv'd not to go all of them,

only deputed the Boatfwain to go, which was w'lat

Mr. Fea indeed moft delir'd : The Boatfwain was

very willing to accept of the Truft, but it was ob-

ferv'd, he took a great deal of care of his Arms,

which was no lefs than four Piftols, all loaded

with a brace of Bullets each ; nor would he be per-

fwaded to leave any of them behind him, no not

with his own Men,..r

IN



C 58 ]

IN this Polture Mr. Fea and tTie Boatfwam

walk'd along together very quietly till they came

to the Stile, which having got over, Mr. Fea^V^ting

his Men all ready, turn'd fliort about upon the

Boatfwain, and taking him by the Collar, told

him he was his Prifoner, and the fame Moment the

reft of his Men ruQiing in upon them, threw them

both down, and ib fecur'd the Boatfwain without

giving him time f > much as to fire one Piftol. Hecry'd out indeed with all his Might to allarm his

Men, but they f.ion ftopt his Mouth, by firft forcing

a Piftol into it, and then a Handkerchief, and ha-

ving difarm'd him, and bound his Hands behind

him, and his Feet together, Mr. Fea left him there

under a Guard, and with his other five Men, but

without any Arms, at leaft that could be feen,

returned to the Ale-Houfe to the reft : The Houfe

having two Doors, they divided themfelves and

having rufli'd in at both the Doors at the fame time,

they fciz'd all the fourMen before they were aware,

or had time to lay hold of their Arms : They did

indeed what Mencould do, and one of them fnapp'd

a Piflnl at Mr. Fea^ but it did not go off; and Mr.

Fea fnatching at the Piftol at the fame Moment to

divert the Shot if it had fir'd, ftruck his Hand

with fuch force againft the Cock, as very much

bruifed his Hand.

THEY were all five notv in his Power, and he

fent them away under a good Guard to a Village in

the middle of the Ifland, where they were kept

feparate from one another, and fuftlciently fecur'd.

Then Mr. J^^^ difpatch'd ExprefTes to the Gentle-

men in the neighbouring Iflands, to acquaint them

with what he had done, and to deiire their fpeedy

Alfiftance ; alfo defiring earneftly that they wouldtake care that no Boat ihould go within reach of

the Pirate's Gunsj and at Night he, Mr. Fea, caus'd

Fires to be made upon the Hills round him, to al-

larm



C39 1

tTie Country, and ordered all the Boats round the

Ifland to \e har.Vd up upon the Btrach as far as was

poiFible, and difabled alfo, leaft the Pirates fllould

fwim from the bhip and get any of them into their

Pcflt-ilion.

NEXT Day, the 14th, it blew very hard all

Dav •, and in the Evening, about High Water, it

ihifted to /r. N. If. upon which the Pirates fet their

Sails, expeftingto get oiF, and fo to lay it round the

Ifland, and put out to Sea•,

but the Fellow whowasotder'd to cut the Cable, miffing feveral Strokes,

the Cable check'd the Ships Way, and confequent-

137-, on a fudden, fhe took all a-back •, then the Ca-

ble being parted, when it fhould have held, the

Ship, run direftly on Shore on the Calf IJland ^ nor

could all their Skill prevent it : ThenGon?, with an

Air of Defperation, told them they were all dead

Men : Nor indeed could it be otherways, for ha-

ving loft the only Boat they had, and five of their

beft Hands, they were able to do little or nothing

towards getting their Ship off ^ befides, as fhe went

on Shore, on the Top of High Water, and a Spring

Tide, there was no Hope of getting her off after-

ward: Wherefore, the next Morning, being Afow-

day the l-jth, they hung out a white Flag, as a Sig-

nal for Parlee, and fent a Man on Shore, upon

Calf TJlajid, for now they cou'd go on Shore out of

the Ship almoft at half Flood.

NOW Mr. Fea thought he might talk withGon?in a difPering Stile from what he did before^ fbhe

wrote a Letter to him, wherein he complained of

the rude Behaviour of his five Men; for which he

told him, he had been obliged to feize on them and

jnake them Prifoners ^ letting him know that th«

Country,being all allarm'd, would foon be too

many for him -, and therefore advis'd him to fur-

render himfelf Peaceably, and be the Author of n

quiet Surrender of the reft, as the only Means t6

obtain



[40 3

ol)tain any Favour •, and then he might become ah

Evidence againft the reft, and fo might fave his

ownLife.

THIS Letter Mr. Tea fent hj a Boat with

four armed Men to the Ifland, to be given to the

Ftllow that Gorp had fent on Shore, and who wait-

ed there -, and he at the fame time gave them a

Letter from Gotp to Mr. Fea j for now he was hum-

ble enough to Write, which before he refufed.

G /T' s Letter to Mr. Fea, was to let him have

iomc Men and Boats to take out the beft of the

Cciigoe, in order to lighten the Ship and fet her a-

fl oat ; and offering himfelf to come on Shore and

be Hoftage, for the Security of the Men and BoatSj

and to give Mr. Fea a thoufand Pounds in Goods

for the Service : Declaring at the fame time, if

this fmall Succour was refus'd him, he would take

care no Body fhould better himfelf by his Misfor-

tune •, for that rather than to be taken, they would

fet Fire to the Ship, and would all Perim toge-

ther.

Mr. Fea reply'd to this Letter, That he had aBoat indeed, th^ would have been fit for his Ser-

vice, but that fhe was ftav'd and funk ^ but if he

would come on Shore quietly, without Arms, and

fering his Carpenter with him to repair the Boat,

he might have her. This Mr. Fea did to give Gojp

an Opportunity to embrace his firft offer of Surren-

dering. But GoTv was neither Humble enough to

come in, nor Sincere enough to treat with him

fairly, if he had intended to let him have the

Boat j and if he had, 'tis propable that the former

Letter had made the Men Sufpicious of him 5 So

that now he could do nothing without communica*

ting it to the reft of the Crew.

ABOUT four in the Afternoon Mr. Fea receij-

Ved a.i Aiifwer to his laft Letter ; The Copy of

which is exactly as follows*

Bonovr'i



C405-T ii o Tu From on Board our Ship thsHomir d S IR,

K^y,,,^., Feb. 16, 17 2 j.

** T am fbrry to hear of the irregular Proceedings

*' X of my Men. I gave no Or.lers to thatEiF-iS,

** And what hath teen wrongfully done to the

Country,was contrary to my Iriclination. Itibmy

Misfortune to be in this Condition at prefent : It

was in your Power to ftave done otherwife, iri

making my Fortune better. Since my being in

the Country I have wrong'd no Man, nor taken*' any Thing, but v/hat I have paid for. ?vly De-

lign in coming, was ^o make the Countrv the

better, which I am ftill capable to do, providing

you are juft to me. I thank you for tht Concern

you have for my bad Fortune 5 and am forry I**

cannot embrace your Propofal, as being Evi-*' dence ^ my People have already made ufe of*' that Advantage. I have hy my lafl: fignified my*' Defign of Proceeding, provided I can procure*' no better Terms. Pleafe to fend James Laing*' on Board to continue till my return. I ftionid

** be glad to have the good Forfune to

commune with you upon that Subjed. I beg you will af-

fill me with a Boat •, and be aflured I do no Man*' Harm, wer't in my Power, as I am now at your

Mercy. I cannot furrender my Telf Prifoner5

I'd rather commit my felf to the Mercy of the

Seas : So that ifyou will incline to contribute to

my Efcape, Ihall leave you Ship and Ccirgo at*' your DifpofaJ.

J conthmi. Honour''d Sir, &c.

John Smith,

UPON this Letter, and, efpecially that Part

wherein Gow defires to commune with him, Mr.

Tea believing he might do Icme bervice in perf-A^a-

G dins.



C 4= JcingWjTi to fabmit, went over to Cr?/ IJJavd, and

went on Shore alone, ordering his Boat to lie in

readinefs to take him in ag;i>:, but not one Manto fiiir ouc of her : And ralHng to Gow, with

aSpeaking-Trnmpet, deiir'd him to come on Shore,

which the other readily did: But Mr. Fea, before

he venturM, wifely forefaw, that wnlft he was a-

lone, upon the Ifiand, the Pirates might, unknown

to him, get frnm the Ship by different Ways, and

under (.over of Shore, might get behind and fur-

round ')im •, to prevent which, he fet a Man upon

the top of his own Houfe, which was on the oppo-

fue Snore, and over-look'd the whole Ifland, and

order'd hirn to make Signals with his Flag, waving

his Flag once for every Man that he faw come on

Shore •, but if four or more cam.eon Shore, then

to keep ^he Flag waving continually, till he, Mr.Fea^ fh juld retire.

THIS Precaution was verv needful, for na

fooner was Mr. Fea advanc'd upon the Ifland, ex-

ptdting Gow to come on Shore, to meet him 5 but

he law a Fellow come from the Ship with a white

Flag, anda Bottle,

and aGlafs,and a

Bundle 5

then

turning to his own Houfe, he faw his Man make

the cignals appointed, and that the Man kept the

Flag continually waving ^ upon which he imme-

diately retired to his Boat, and he was no fooner

got into it, but he faw five Fellows running under

^5ho^e with lighted Matches and Granadoes in their

Hands, to have Intercepted him, but feeing him out

of their Reach, they retir'd to the Ship.

AFTER this the Fellow with the white Flag came

up, and gave Mr. Fea iwo Letters •, he would have

left the Bundle, which he faid was a prefent to

Mr. Fea •, and th.e Bottle, which he faid, was aBot-

tle of Brandyfi but Mr. Fea would not take

them ^ but told the Fellow his Captain was a trea-

cherous Villain, and he did not doubt but he Ihould

ice



[43 1

fee Iiim hang'd ; and as to him, the Fellow, he

had a great Mind to flioot him -, upon vyhich the

Fellow took to his Heels, and Mr. Fea, being in h is

Boat, did not think it worth while to Land again

to perfue him. This put an End to all Parlee for

the prefent. But had the Pirates fucceeded io this

Attempt, they would fo far have gained their Point,

either that they mull: have been AlTifted, or Mr.

Fee mull: 'lave been Sacrific'd,

THE Two Letters from Gow, were only for

Mr. Fee^ and the other for his Wife , the fii ft was

much to the fame Purpofe as the former •, only that

in this, Gojp requefted the great B^at with her

Mafts, and Sails, and Oars, with fome Proviiions,

to tranfport themfelves whether ihey thoug':t fit

to go for their

ownSafety

^

oftering to leave the

Ship and Cargo to Mr. Fea , and threatning, that if

the Men of War arriv d, (for Mr= Fea had given

him Notice that he expeded two Men of War) be-

fore he was thus aiiifted, they would fet Fire to

the Ship, and blow themf Ives up : io that as they

had liv'a, they would all eye together.

THE Letter to Mrs. Fea, was to deiire her to

Interceed with her Husband j and Pleading that

he was their Countryman, and had been her Hus-

bands School-fellow, &c. but no Anfwer was re-

turned to either of thefe Letters,

O N the 17th, in the Morning, contrary to Ex-

pectation, Gotp hinifeif came on Shore, upon the

Calf-ljlaud, unarm'd, except his Sv/ord, and alone,

except one Man at a diftance, carrying a white

Flag, making Signals for a Parlee.

Mr. Fea who by this time had gotten more Peo-

ple about him, immediately fent one Mr. Fea of

Jf^hhehall, to a Gentleman of his own Family,with

five other Perfoiis, well Armed, over to thQ liland,

with Orders to fecure Gow, if it was poillbie, by any

means, either Dead or Alive : When they came oil

G 2 Shore



Shore, lie propofed that one of tRem, wliofer

Kanie was ScoUary, a Mafter of a Veflel, fhoald

go on. Board t e Slip, as Hoftage for this Gore's

Safety ^ i-.ud Scollary confenting, Gob? himfelf con-ducted him to the Ships lide.

Air. Fea perceiving this from his own Houfe,

immediatelv took another Boat, and went over to

the Ifland himfelf: And while he was expoftula-

ting with his Men, for letting Scollary go for Ho-

ftage, Gorp return'd •

and Mr.Fea made no Heillta-

tion, but told him in ihort he was Im Prijoner -j^at

which Gow Parting, faid, it ought not to be fo,

iince there was a Hoftage delivered for him. Mr.

Fea faid he gave no Order for it, and it was what

they could .lot JuftiFy ^ and Iince Scollary Had ven-

tured wi':hout Orders, he muft take his Fate, he

would rua the Venture of ir ^ but advis'd Gotp,

as he expeded good Ufage himf-if, that he would

fend the Fellow, who carrved his white Flag, back

to the Ship, with Orders for them to return Scollary

in fit ety, a.>d to defire Tfinter and Peterfoji to

come \v\ih him.

GOJ^ dcclin'd giving any fuch Orders 5 but

the Fellow faid he ivould readily go and fetch

them, and did fo, and they came along with him.

Wnen Gor^ fgw them, he reproached them for be-

ing fo evilly impofeu, and ordered them to go back

to the Ship immediately : But Mr. Fea^s Men, who

were too ftrong f.or them, furrounded them, andtook them all. When this was done, they de-

manded Gob? to deliver his Sword, but he faid he

would rather dye with it in his Hand, and beggM

them iO ftioot him : But that v/as deny'd •, and

Mr. Feas Men difarming him of his Sword, carried

him, with the other two, into their Boat, and af-

ter that to the main Ifland where Mr. Pea liv'd.

HAVING thus fecur'd the Captain, Mr. Fea

prevailed with him to go to the Shore, over-againft

the



C 45 ] •

the Ship, and to call the Gunner and another Manto come on Alhore on Calj-IJIayid, which they did

5

but they was no fooner there, but they alio were

farrounded by fome Men, which Mr. Feahad pla-

ced out of fight UDon the Illand for that Purpofe :

Then they made G^.w to call to the Carpenter to

come on Shore, (till malcing them believe they

jhould have a Boat, and Mr. Fea went over and

met him alone-, and talking with him, told him

they could not repair the Boat without Help, andwithout Tools, fb perfwaded him to go back to

the Ship, and bring a Hand or two with him, and

fome Tools, fome Ockham, Nails, &€, The Car-

penter, being thus deluded, went back, and brought

a Frenchman 2tnd. another with him, with all Tilings

j)roper for their Work ; all which, as fbon as they

came on Shore, were likewife feiz'd and fecurM by

Mr. Fea and his Men. : .i u .

BUT there was ftill a great many Men in tht

Ship, who it was neceffary to bring, if poffibie,

to a quiet Surrender ; So Mr. Fea order'd his Mento make a Feint, as if they would go to Work up-

on the great Boat which lay on Shore upon the

Ifland, but in light of the Ship •, there they ham-mered, and knocked, and made a Noife, as if they

were really caulking and repairing her, in order

to her being launch'd oft, and put into their PofTef-

lion. But, towards Night, he obliged Gow to write

to the Men,. That '^lx,Fea would not deliver the

Boat, till he v/as in PofTeffion of the Ship ^ and

therefore he order'd them all to come on Shore,

without Arms and in a peaceable manner.

THIS occafioned many Debates in the Ship,

but as they Jiad no Officers to guide them, and

M'ere all in Confulion, they knew not what to do ;

& after f:>ine time bewailing their hard Fate, anddividing what Money was left in the Ship amongthem, tnev yielded, and went on Shore ^ and were

ail



[46]

all made Pri{bners, to the number of eight an3

twent J •, included thofe who were fecnr''d before.

H OW he brought Gnrp to be fo weak was fome-

thing ftrange ^ Gow being not very fupple, and far

from being fufficiently humble : But whether it

was that he hoped to fare the better for it, and to

plead fome Merit by obliging his Men to come in

without Blood, and perhaps they might encourage

him infuch Expedtaticns, tho'iiot promife him, for

the laft they could not.O R whether it was that Gotv, who knew their

Circumftances and Temper alfo, wasfatisfyM if he

did not perfwade them to it, they would certainly

do it without any Perfwafion in a Day or two more,

having, indeed, no other Remedy, and fome of

them being really forced Men, defiring nothing

more than tofuirender.

AND if it was neither of thefe, perhaps Gnw^

whofe Cafe was now defperate, and who was fully

in the Power of his Enemies, and in the Hands of

Jnftice hiinftlf, from whom he had indeed noreafoii

to expedi any Favour, was, perhaps I fay, he was

not over defirous to have the reft: make their Efcape,

and therefore was ealier to perfwade them to put

themfelves into the fame unhappy Circumftances

with himfelf ^ it being moft Natural to People in

fuch Circumftances, to defire to have their Com-

rades ingulpht in the fame Mifery.

B E it which of thefe it will, Mr. Fea did cer-

tainly prevail with Gojff to be the Inftrument to

ivrite to them, and to joyn as it were with Mr.

Feas Stratagem to draw them on Shore, without

which they had not come, at leaft not at thatTime,

and fo they faid afterwards, upbraiding him with

having betrayM them •, and yet it feems plain too,

that when they went they took it for granted that

%hey ftiould be made Prifaners^ by their Exclamati-

ons



[47]

bns one to another, and by their jQiaring the '.luiie/

among them, as is faid above.

I T was indeed a moft agreeable Sight, to fee

inch a Crew of defperate Fellows fo tamely fur-

render to a few almclt nalced Countrymen, and to

fee t^em fo Circumvented by one Gentleman, that

they were rendred quite Ufelefs to themfelves, and

to their own Deliverance 5 the want of a Boat was

as much to them as an adual Imprifonment5 nay,

they were indeed in Prifon in their Ship, nor wasthey able to flir one way or other. Hand or Foot

5

it was too Cold to fwim over to the Ifland and feize

the Boat, and if they had, unlefs they had done it

immediately at firft, the Peoj^le on Shore would

have beeii'too ftrong for them ; fo that they were

as fecure on board the Ship, as to any Efcape theycould have made, as they were afterwards in the

Condemn'd Hold in Newgate,

AGAIN, never were People more fooliihly

Circumvented when they had a Boat and Conve-

niences, for had they gone on Shore then, while

they had a Boat, tho' it was but their fmallBoat,

yet going at twice, twenty, or five and twenty Menof them, they might have repairM and launch'd

Mr. Feas great Boat, in fpite of all he could have

done to hinder it, and then, if they could not have

got their Shipoft^ they might have come away, as

the Fellows did, with their own Boat, and mightfoon have found Means to get a bigger Boatjbn the

Coaft, either of Scotland or England, and getting

on Shore in the Night in any convenient Part ofEngland, might have difpers'd,and mixt themfelves

among the People, and made an cfFedual Efcape.

But their End was apparently at hand^ Juftice

was ready for them, their Crimes had ripen'd themfor the Gallows, and the Gallows claira'd themtheir Time was come, and it was not in their

Power to avoid it.

I aia



[48]' I am tfie longer upon this particular Part becaufe

it is fo very remarkable, and the Circumjftances of

it are fo unaccoimtable : That the Boatfwain fhould

come on Shore with his Boat, and no more but four

Men, thinkii;g to fire and plunder Mr. Fea^s Houfe

with that little Crew •, as if he could imagine Mr.

Fea^ who they knew was alarm'd and had been

acquainted with what they were, fhould have no

Body at all with him, or that he could ftorm his

Hnufe with that little Force.

THEN that he fhould be wheedled into an Ale

Houfe by a fingle Gentleman 5 as if he would have

ven ur'd hinifelf into an Ale Houfe with them if

he had not had help at Hand to refcae him if any

thing had been offered to him.

/ THEN, which was ftill worfe, that they fhouldi be taken with the old Bite of having the Gentlemari

\ caird out of the Room, when they were together,

as if he could have any Bulinefs to talk of there

but to lay a Trap for them, and which, if they had

their Eyes about them, or, as we might fay, any

Eres in their Heads, they might have feen intoeaiily enough.

AND to conclude this fcene of Madnefs and

Ffdly together, they came all away and left their

Boat, with no Body either in her to keep her

a float, or near her to guard and defend her : No-

thing but Men infatuated to their own Deftrudion,

and condemned by the vilible Hand of Heaven to

an immediate Surprize, could have been fo ftupid5

they might have been fare, if there were any Peo-

plv'in the Ifland, they would if pojiible fecure

tlieir Boat ^ and they ought at leaft to have conli

dered the forlorn Condition of the reft of their

Ccmpaiiy in the Snip, without a Boat to help

themfclvcs: But blinded by their inevitable Fate,

l in 4 V.'ord, they run into the Snare with their Eyes

open V



[ 49 ]

fcpen •, they f^ood as \t were loolcirg on, and lawthemfelves taken before it was done.

NAY, foine of the Men were heard to fay, that

if their Captain, Gow himfeif, had but faid the

VVord,the7 were able to have built a Boat on Board,

with fuch ftufF as they could have pulTd from the

Sides and Ceilings of the Ship, at leaft big enough

to have gone -out to Sea, and failing along the Coall,

have either found a better, or leiz'd upon fome

other Veflel in the Night, fo to have made their

Efcape.

BUT never Creatures were taken fo tamely,

trick'd fo eafily, and fo entirely difabled from the

leaft Defence, or the leaft Contrivance for their

Efcape . even Gow himfeif, who, as I faid before,

never v/anteda

refbluteCourage or Prefence ofMind before, and was never daunted by an}'- Diffi^

culties, yet was now fnapp'd under a pretence of aHoftage, delivered, and being himfeif taken and

difarm'd, yields himfeif to be made a Tool of, to

bring all the reft to yield at Difcretion.

I N a Word, they were as void of Counfel as of

Courage ^ they v/ere outwitted on every Occajion;

they could not fte in the open Day v/hat any one

elfe would have felt in the Dark •, but they dro2:)p'd

infenfibly into Mr. Feas Hand, by one, and two,

and three at a time, as if they had told Iiim before

hand, that if he went on with his Stratagem, he

fliould befure to have them all in his Cuftody \^ery

quickly ; And tho' every one, as faft as they went,

on Shore, were made Prifjuers, and fecur d, ye.t.

the other v/cre made believe they were at Liberty,

and were limple enougii to come on Shore to them.

EVERY thing. we can fay of the blindnefs

and foil}?- of thefe People, who Heaven having de- /

termin'd to Puniiliment, demented and blinded to, I

prepare them for their beiug brought to it *, I iay^j

sv^ry thing that can be faid to ezpofe their Stupi-.

H diiy



tiity and blindnefs, is a juft Panegyrick upon the

Conduct of that Gentleman, by whofe happy Con-

dud:, and the dextrous Turn he gave to every Inci-

dent which happened in the whole Affair, was,

indeed, the principal Means of tlieir being all ap-

prehended.

HAD this Gentleman, Icnowing their' Strengtfi

and Number was fo great, being four times as manyMen as he had about him, and better provided for

Mifchief, than he was for Defence •, had he, as it

feems others did, fled with his Family, over the

Firth, or Arm of the Sea which parted his Ifland

from the reftjby which they had fecur'd themfelves

from Danger 5 cr had he, with the few Men and

Fire Arms which he had about him, fortified and

defended themfelves in his Houfe, and refolv'd to

defend themfelves there, the Pirates had in all

probability gone off again, left him, and made

their Efcape : Nay, if they had run their Ship

a-ground, as they afterwards did, and tho' they

had been oblig'd to lay her Bones there, they

would however havegot

away fome Boatoff

theShore, to have made a Long-boat of, and have

made their Efcape along the Coafl:, till they came

to Newcaftle vpon Tyne^ and there nothing had been

more eafy than to have feparated and gone to

London^ fome in one Ship, fome in another ; (jr, as

one of them propos'd, the}?- Ihould have found fome

Coafting Bark or other riding near the Shore, which

they might have boarded, and fo gone off' to Sea

which way they i:)ieas'd,

BXIT they were come a great Way to bring

themfelves to Jaftice, and here they met with it in

the moft remarkable Manner, and with fuch Cir-

cumftaiices as I believe are not to be imitated in

the World.

WHEN they were all on Shore, and were told

that they were Priibners, they began to re affiinie

a



t5i]

ti kind of Courage, and to loolc upon one anotHer,

as if to lay hold on fome Weapons to relifl j and

'tis nor doubted but if they had had Arms then in

their Hands, they would have made a defperate

Defence : But it was too late, the thing wss all

over, they faw their Captain and all their Officers

in the fame Condition, and there was no room for

Refiftance then ^ all they could have done had

been only to caufe them to be the more effedually

fecur'd, and perhaps to have had fome or other ofthem knocked on the Head for Example ^ fo feeing

there was no Remedy they all fjbmitted quietly,

and were foon difpers'd one from another,tiH more

Strength came to carry them oft, which was not

long.

THUSended their defperate Undertaking,

Heaven having by a vifible Infatuation upon them-

felves, and a Concurrence of other Circumftances,

brought them all into the Hands of Juftice, and

that by the perticular Bravery and Conduct of one

lingle Gentleman, I mean Mr. Fea, who fj well

manag'd them, that, as above, having .at firft but

five or fix Men with him, he brought the whole

Company partly by Force, and partly by Strata-

gem, to fubmit, and that without any lofs of

Blood on one fide or other.

AM O N G the reft of the Papers found on board

the Ship, was the following Copy of a Draft, or

Agreement of Articles, or Orders, or what you |

pleafeto call them,which were to have bcenSignM,

and were for the Diredion of the Men, whether

on Shore or on Board, when they firft came to an

Anchor in the Orhteys,

THEY would, I fuppofe, have been put up

uponthe

Mainmaft if they had hadlonger

Time.but they foon found Articles v/ere of no Value

with fuch Fellows ^ for the going aw.iy with the

Long-B^at, and ten Men in her, confounded all

H 2 their



[52 :i

tTicir Meafures, made them jealous and afraid of

one anotFier, and made them act afterwards as if

they were under a General Infatuation or Pofleffion,

ailways Irrefolute and Unfettled, void of any

Forecafl or reafona'ole Actings ; but having the

Plunder of Mr. Feas Houfe in their View, when

they Ihould have chiefly regarded their ownSafety,

and making their Efcape •, they pufh'd at the leaft

Significant, tho' moft difficult Part, and which was

their Ruin in the Undertaking, when they fhould

St firfl; have fecured their Lives, which, at leaft to

them, was the Thing of the moft Value, tho' the

ealieft at that Time to have fecur'd.

BY this prepofterous Way of Proceeding they

drew themfelves into the Labyrinth and werede-

ftro3r'd, without any poffibility of Recovery ^ na}'',

they muft have perilh'd by Hunger and Diftrefs, if

there had been no Body to have taken them Pri-

foners -, for having no Boat to fupply them with

[Neceilaries, their Ship faft a-ground upon a barren

and uninhabited Idand, and noway to be fupply'd,

they were themfelves in the utmoft Defpair, and I

think it was one of the kindcft Things that could

be done for them, to bring them off, and hang

ihem out of the way.

Their foolifh Articles were as follows, (vh.)

I. THAT everyMan fhall obey his Commanderin all Refpcds, as if the Ship was his own, and

we under Monthly Pay,

II. THAT no Man fhall give or difpofe of the

Ship's ProvifionSj whereby may be given Reafon

of Sufpicion that every one hath not an equalShare.

III. THx\T no Man ftiall open or declare to

any Peifon or Perfons v/hat we are, or what Deiign we



[53 3

we are upon 5 the Offender fliall be puniili'd witH

Peath upon the fiiot.

IV. THAT no Man Ihall go on Shore till the

Ship is off the Ground, and in readinefs to put to

Sea.

V. THAT every Man fliall keep his Watc&

Night and Day, and precifely at the Hour of

Eight leave of Gamingand Drinlcing,

and everyone repair to their refped:ive Stations.

VI. WHOEVER Offends fliall he punifird

with Death, or otherwife, as we ihall find proper

for our Intereft.

iV. B. This Draft of Articles feems to be im«

perfect, and as it were only begun to be made, for

that there were feveral others intended to be added,

but it was ruppos''d that their Affairs growing def-

perate, their Long-Boat gone, and the Boaifwaia

and Boat's Crew, in the Pinnace or fmaller Boat

gone alfc), and made Prifoners, there was no moreneed of Articles, nor would any Body be bound by

them if they were made -, fo the farther making of

Orders and Articles were let alone.

THESE that were made were written with

Goiv's own Hand, and 'tis luppos'd that the reft

tvould have been done fo too, and then he wouldhave taken care to have them executed; but he

fooo found there was no Occaiion of them, and I

make no Queftion but all their other Papers and

Articles of any kind were deftroy'd.

BEING now all fecnr'd and in Cu{i:ody in the

moft proper Places in the Ifland, Mr. Fea took care

to give Notice to the proper Oflicers in the Country,

and by tliem to tiie Government at Edeitburgh^ in

Older to get help for the carrying them to Ev^land,

' The



C54]The Dlftance teing fo great, this took np fome

Time, for the Government at Edenhirgh being

not immediately concerned in it, but rather thQ

Court of Admiralty of Great Britaht, Expreffes

were difpatchM from thence to London, that his

Majefty's Pleafure might be known 5 in return to

which, Orders were difpatch'd into Scotland to

have them immediately fent up to England^ with

as much Expedition as the Cafe would admit ; and

accordingly they were brought up by Land to

Bdenbiirgh firft, and from thence being put on

Board the Greyhound Frigate, they were brought

hj Sea to England.

THIS neceflarily took up a great deal of Time,

fo that had they been wife enough to improve the

Hours that were left, they had almoft half a yearstime to prepare themfelves for Death-, t ho' they

cruelly deny'd the poor Mate a few Moments to

commend his Soul to^ God's Mercy, even after he

was half Murther'd before : I fay, they had almoft

half a year, for they were moft of them in Cufto-

dy the latter end of January^ and they were not

Executed till the i rth of June,

THE Greyhound arriv'd in the River the 26 th,

of March^ and the next day came to an Anchor at

JFoolwichj and the Pyrates being put into Boats ap-

pointed to receive them, with a ftrong Guard to at-

tend them, were brought on fhore the 30th, and

convey'd to the MarJ/jalfea Prifon in Soiithwark,

where they were delivered to the Keeper of the

laid Prifon, and were laid in Irons, and there they

had the Mortification to meet their Lieutenant Wil'

Imns^ who was brought home by the Argyle Man

of War from Lisbon, and had been committed to

the fame Prifon but a very few days.INDEED as it was a Mortification to them,

fo it was more to him, for tho' he might be fecret-

ly pleased, that thole v/ho had fo Cruelly, ^s he



C 55]

calVd zf, put him into the Hands of Juftice, lyy

the fending him to Lisbon, were brought into the

fame Cirruinftanccs with himfelf-,

yet on the o-

ther hand, it cculd not but be a terrible Mortifica-

tion to him, that here now were fufficient Wit-

nelTes found to prove his Crimes upon him, which

v/ere not fo cafie to be had before.

BEING thus laid faft, it remain'd to pro-

ceed againil them in due form,, and this took up

fomelonger

timeftill.

O N Friday the 2d of ,'4pril, they were all car-

ry'd to DoBors-'Co7nmons, where the proper Judges

being prefent they were Examin'd, by which Ex-

amination due Meafures were taken for the farther

Proceedings ; for as they were not equally Guilty,

fo it was needful to determine who it was proper to

bring to an immediate Tryal, and who being lefs

Guilty, were more proper Objeds of the Govern-

ments Clemency, as being under force and fear,

and confequently necelTitated to A6t as they did ^

and alfo wiio it might be proper to lingle out as

Evidence againflthe reft 5 after being thus Exa-

mined, they were remanded to the Marpalfea.

O N Saturday the 8th, of May, the five whowere appointed for Evidence againft the reft, ajid

whofe Karnes are particularly let down in its Place,

were fent from the Marjhalfea Prifon to Newgate^

in order to give their Informations.

BEING thus brought up to London, and c6m«-niitted to the Marjhalfea Prifon, and the Govern-

ment being fully informed what black uncom-

jnon Offenders they were, it was thought proper to

bring them to fpeedy Juftice.

IN order to this, fome of them, as is faid, whowere lefs Criminal than the reft, and who apparent-

ly had been forc'd into their Service, were formed

our, and being examin'd, and giving firft anAccount

of themfclves, and then of the whole Fraternity,.

it



[56]

it v/as thought fit to make ufe of their Evidence^'

for the more clear detedling and convincing of

the reft. Thefe were George Dobfojt, John i'hhtnes,

Timothy Mn/phyj William Booth.

-THESE were the principal Evidence, and

were indeed more thon fiifficient ; for they fo ex-

aftlv agreed in their Evidence, and the Prifoners

CPirates) faid fo little in their Defence, that there

was no room for the Jury to queftion their Guilty

or to doubt the Truth of any part of the Accountgiven in.

ROBERT READ was a young Man (menti*

cned above) who efcap'd from the Boat iii the 0;-/:-

jif'jij, and getting a Horfe at a Farmer's Houfe,

was conveyed to Kirkwall^ the chief Town of the

faid Ofhii^ys, where he furrendered himfelf : Ne-

ver thelcfs he was brought up with the refi: as a Pxi-

foner, Uf r was he made ufe of as an Evidence,

but was try'd upon moft, if not all the Indict-

ments, with the reft. But Dohfov^ one of the

Witnefle?, did him the Juftice to teftifie, that

he was forced into their Service, as others were,

for fear of hai'ing their Throats cut, as others

had been fery'd before their Faces 5 and that,

in particular, he was not prefent at, or con-

cerned in any of the Murthers for which the

reft were Indided 5 upon which Evidence, he

was Acquitted by the Jury.

ALSO he 1Tought one Archibald Sntor, the

Man of the Houfe, faid above to be a Farm-

Koufe, whether the faid Read made his Efcape

in the Orkneys^ who teltiiied that he did fo Efcape

to him, and that he begg'd him to procure him

^ Horfe to ride oft to KirkwaR, which he did,

and that therehe farri^ider'd

himfelf:Alfo he

teftifisd thit Read gave him (Siitor) a full Ac-

count of the Ship, and of the Pirates that

were in her, and what they were > and he

(Siitor)



C 57 3

(Siitor) difcover'd it all to the Colleaor of the

Cuftoms •, by which means the Country was a»

larm'd : And he added, that it was by this

Man'smeans that all the Prifbners were apprehended •

(tho^ that was a little too much too) for tis plain,

it was by the Vigilance and Courage of Mr.Fea chiefly : They were reduc'd to fuch Difi:reC»

fes, as oblig'd them to furrender.

H O W E V E R it was true that Rear% Efcape

did allarm the Country, and that he merited

very well of the Publick> for the timely Dif-

covery he made : So he came ofF clear, as indeed

it was but Jufl: •, for he was not only forc'd to

lerve them, (as above) but as Dobfon tcftiiied

for him, he Jiad' often exprefs'd his Unealinels,

as being oblig'd to aft with them, and that hewifh'd he cou'd get away \ and that he was Sin»

cere in thofe Wifhes^ as appear'd in that he

took the firffc Opportunity he could get to put

it in Practice.

JV. jS. This Dohfon was one of the ten Men

who ran away with the Pirates Long-Boat fromthe Orhteys^ and who were afterwards madePrifoners in the Firth of Leigh, and carryed

up to Edinburgh.

G OW was now a Prifoner among the reft inthe MarJJjalfea j his Behaviour there was SuUeaand Referv'd, rather than Penitent : It hadbeen hinted to him by Mr. Fea, as others, that

he fhould endeavour, by his Behaviour, to make,

himfelf an Evidence againll others, and to me-rit his Life by a readjr Submiilion, and obli-

ging others to do the like. But Gov^ was noFool ^ and he eafilv faw there were too many-

gone before who had provided for their ownSafety at his Expence : And befides that, he

knew himfelf too deeply guilty of Cruelty and*

I Murthejg



C58]

MurtBier, td be excepted hy the puLlick Juftice

as an Evidence, efpecially were fo many other

lefs Criminals were to behad.

This,Ifay, made

him, and with good Reaitm too, give over any

Thoughts of Efcaping by fuch means as that :

And perhaps feeing fo plainly that there was

no Room for it, might be the Reafbn why he

feem'd to rcjed the Offer : otherwife he was

not a Perfon, of fuch nice Honour, as that we

fliould fuppofe he would not have fecur'd his

cwn Life at the Expence of his Comrades.

BUT, as I fay, Gotp was no Fool : So he

feem'd to give over all Thought of Life, from

the fir ft time he came to Evgland •, not that he

ihew'd any Tokens of his Repentance, or any

Sence of his. Condition, fuitable to what wasbefore him : But continuing (as above^ Sullen

and Referv'd, even to the very time he was

brought to the Bar : When he came there, he

could not be try'd with the reft •, for the Arraign-

ment being made in the ufual Form, he refufed

to Plead :

The Court ufed all the Arguments,which Humanity Didates in fuch Cafes, to pre-

vail on him to come into the ordinary Courfe

of other People in like Government 5 laying be-

fore him the Sentence of the Law in fuch Ca-

fes ^ namely, that he muft be prefs'd to Death,

theonly torturing Execution which remains in

our Law -, which however they were oblig'd to

Jnfiia.

B U T he continued Inflexible, and carryed

on his Obftinacy to fuch a height, as to receive

the Sentence in Form, as ufual in fuch Cafes,

the Execution being appointed to be done the

next Morning, and he was carryed back to Neipgati

an order to it : But whether he was prevailed

fvith hj Argument, and the Reafons of thofe

about



t 59 ]

tihont him \ or whetlier the Apparatus for the

Execution, and the manner of the Death he

was to dye, terrified him, v/e cannot fai^ ^ but

the next Morning he yielded, and petitioned to

be allowed to Plead, and be admitted to be

try'd in the ordinaay Way ^ which being grant-

ed, he was brought to the Bar by himlelf, and

pleaded , being arraigned again upon the

fame Indidment, upon which he had been len^

tenc'd as a Mute, and was found Guilty.

TFIL LIA M S, the Lieutenant, who, as has

been faid, was put on Board a Brijid Ship, with

Orders to deliver him on Board the firft £«-

glijlj Man of War they Ihould meet with • comes

cf Courle to have the reft of his HiAory made

up in this Place.

T HE Captain of the Brijlol Ship, tho' he re-

ceived his Orders from the Crew of Pirates and

Rogues, whofe Inftrudlions he was not obliged

to follow ; and whofe Accufation of JFilliains^

they were not obliged to give Credit tO; yec

punctually obey'd the Order, and put him on

Board the Argyle, Captain Bowler^ then lying in

the Port of Lisbon, and bound for Evgland, who,

as they took him in Irons, kept him fj, and brought

him to England in the fame Condition.

BUT as the Pirates did not fend any of

their Company, nor indeed could they do it^

along with him, to be Evidence againft him y

and the Men who went out of the Pirate Ship^

on Board a Brijlol Ship, being till then kept

as Prilbners en Board the Pirate Ship, and per-

haps could not have faid enough, or given par-

ticular Evidence fufficient to convict him in a

Court of Juftice. Providence fupplyM the Want^

hj brinking the whole Ciev/ to the fame Place,

(ror WilUami was in the MarJIjalfea Prifan before

themj and by that meaiis furnilhing fi^fficient

I 3 Evidence



C6o3

Ex'i3ence againil Williams alfo, fo that they were

all try'd together.

1 N Williams Cafe the Evidence was as par-

ticular as in Gows • and Dobfon and the other fworepolitively, that Williams boafted, that after Macr

cauly had cut the Super Cargo's Throat imperfedly,

he (Williams) did his Buflnefs, that is to fay mur--

ther'd him -, and added, that he would not give him

Time to fay his Prayers, but fhot him thro' the

Head:

Fhimies and Timothy Mvrphey teftifyingthe fame. And to ihew the bloody Difpofition of

this Wretch, William Booth teftifyed that Williams

proposed afterwards to the Company, that if they

took any more Ships, they fhould not incumber

themfelves with the Men, having already fo ma-

ny Prifoners, that in Cafe of a Fight they Ihould

not be fafe with them -, but that they lliould take

them and tye them Back to Back, and throw them

ail over board into the Sea.

I T ihould not be emitted here alfo in the Cafe

rf Gow himfelf, that as I have obferv'd in the

Introduction, that Gow had long meditated the

kind of Villainy which he now put in Practice,

^nd that it was his Refolution to turn Pyrate the

firft Opportunity he (hould get, whatever Voy-

age he undertook, and that I obferv'd he had in«

tended it on Board a Ship in w^hich he came home

from Lisbon, but faii'd only for want of making

^ fufficient Party•,

fo this Refolution of his, is

Confirm'd by the Teftimony and Confeffion of

James Belvin^ on.e of his fellow Criminals, who

upon the Tryai declared, that he knew that Gow

(and he added thQ Crew of the George Galley)

liad a Delign to turn Pyrates from the beginning,

^nd added, that he difcover'd to George Dobfon hi

^ivtiliei-davi^ before the Ship went out to Sea;

ibr the Confirmation of this, Dobfon wascall'd up

agaiu



again, after he Bad given his Evidence upon the

Irysiis, and being confronted with Belvht, he

did acknowledge that Belvin had faid fb, and

that ill particular he had faid, the Boatfwaiiiand feveral Others had fudi a Deiigo, and in es-

pecial Manner, that the faid Boatfwaiii had 2

Delign to Murther the Mafter, and fbme O-

thers, and run away with the Ship 5 and being

ask'd what was the Reafon why he did not im-

mediately Difrover it to the Mafter Captain

Ferneau 5 he anlwer'd, that he heard him Belvin

tell the Mate of it, and that the Mate told the

Captain of it j but that the Captain made light

of it ; and that the' he was perfuaded not to

let the Boatfwain go along with them, yet the

Captain faid, he fear'd them not, and would

ftill take him 5 but that the Boatfwain finding

himfelf Di(':over'd refus'd to go 5 upon which

Gow was nam'd for Boatfv/ain, but was made

fecond Mate, and then Belvin was made Boat-

fwain, and had he been as Hoiieft afterward, as

before, whereas on the contrary, he was as forr

ward and aftive as any of them, except thathe was not in the firft Secret, nor in the Mur-thers, he might have efcap'd what afterwards

becan-ie fo juftly his Due : But as they .^Adted

together, Juftice required they lliould Suffer,

and accordingly Gow and Williams^ Belvin, Mel-

virtj Wiyitsr, Peterfon^ Rollfoyi, Mackawley^ re-

ceiv'd the Reward of tlicir Cruelty and Blood at

the Gallows, being all Executed together the

jith, of jfmie.

N, B. GO jy as if Providence had direfled

that he iliould be twice Hang'd, his Crimes be-

ing of a Tv/o-Fold Nature, and both Capital .

foon after he was turn'd oif, fell down from

the



t 62 1

ITie Gibbef, ihe Rope breaking by the WeigTit of

fome that puU'd his Legs to put him out of Pain;

he was ftill alive and fenfible, tho' he had Hung

four Minutes, and able to go up the Ladder the

fecond Time, which he did with very little Con-

cern'd, and was Hang'd again ^ and lince that a

third Time (viz.) in Chains over-againft Green*

wkh, as ^in/d(W5 is over-againft BlackwalL

FINIS.

anonymous - an account of the conduct and proceedings of the late john gow alias smith, captain of...

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