Chapter 19

This message was just bluff on Sawkins's part, but having heard that the Bishop of Santa Martha was in the city, Sawkins sent him two loaves of sugar as a present, and reminded the prelate that he had been his prisoner five years before, when Sawkins took that town. Further messengers returned from Panama next day, bringing a gold ring for Sawkins from the well-disposed Bishop, and a message from the Governor, in which he inquired "from whom we had our commission and to whom he ought to complain for the damage we had already done them?" To this Sawkins sent back answer "that as yet all his company were not come together; but that when they were come up we would come and visit him at Panama, and bring our commissions on the muzzles of our guns, at which time he should read them as plain as the flame of gunpowder could make them."

After lying off Panama for some while without meeting with any plunder, and their victuals running short, the crews began to grumble, and persuaded Sawkins to sail south along the coast. This he did, and, arriving off the town of Puebla Nueva on May 22nd, 1679, Sawkins landed a party of sixty men and led them against the town. But the Spaniards had been warned in time, and had built up three strong breastworks.

Sawkins, who never knew what fear meant, stormed the town at the head of his men, but was killed by a musket-ball.

Basil Ringrose, the buccaneer who wrote the narrative of this voyage, describes Sawkins as being "a man who was as valiant and courageous as any man could be, and the best beloved of all our company"; and on another occasion he speaks of him as "a man whom nothing on earth could terrifie."

SAWNEY, CAPTAIN.

A pirate of New Providence Island in the Bahamas. In this pirate republic this old man lived in the best hut, and was playfully known as "Governor Sawney."

DE SAYAS, FRANCISCO.

A Spanish pirate hanged at Kingston, Jamaica, in 1823.

SCOT, LEWIS.

Distinguished as being the first pirate to carry on the trade on land as well as at sea. Before this time pirates were never known to be anything but harmless drunkards when on shore, whatever they might be on board their ships. Scot changed all this when he sacked and pillaged the city of Campeachy. So successful was he that his example was quickly followed by Mansfield, John Davis, and other pirates.

SCOT, ROGER.

Born at Bristol.

One of Captain Roberts's crew. Tried for piracy in April, 1722, at Cape Coast Castle, West Africa, after the great defeat of the pirates by H.M.S. _Swallow_. On this occasion no less than 267 pirates were accounted for. The finding of the Honourable the President and Judges of the Court of Admiralty for trying of pirates was as follows:

Acquitted 74 Executed 52 Respited 2 To Servitude 20 To the Marshallsea 17 for tryal

The rest were accounted for as follows:

Killed { In the _Ranger_ 10 { In the _Fortune_ 3 Dy'd { In the passage to Cape Corso 15 { Afterwards in the castle 4 Negroes in both ships 70 ---- 267 ----

A number of the prisoners signed a "humble petition" begging that, as they, being "unhappily and unwisely drawn into that wretched and detestable Crime of Piracy," they might be permitted to serve in the Royal African Company in the country for seven years, in remission of their crimes. This clemency was granted to twenty of the prisoners, of which Scot was one.

A very impressive indenture was drawn up, according to which the prisoners were to become the slaves of the Company for seven years, and this was signed by the prisoners and by the President.

SCOTT, WILLIAM.

One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew in the _Royal James_. Tried for piracy in 1718 at Charleston, South Carolina, and hanged at White Point on November 8th.

SCUDAMORE, CHRISTOPHER.

One of Captain John Quelch's crew. Tried for piracy at the Star Tavern in Hanover Street, Boston, in 1704, and hanged on Charles River, Boston Side, on June 30th. A report of the trial and execution of these pirates, describing Scudamore's conduct on the gallows, says: "He appeared very Penitent since his Condemnation, was very diligent to improve his time going to, and at the place of Execution."

SCUDAMORE, PETER.

Belonging to Bristol.

Surgeon in the _Mercy_ galley, and taken by Captain Roberts in 1721. It was a rule on all pirate vessels for the surgeon to be excused from signing the ship's articles. When the next prize was taken, if she carried a surgeon, he was taken in place of their present one, if the latter wished to leave. But when Scudamore came on board the _Royal Fortune_ he insisted on signing the pirate articles and boasted that he was the first surgeon that had ever done so, and he hoped, he said, to prove as great a rogue as any of them.

When the African Company's Guinea ship, the _King Solomon_, was taken, Scudamore came aboard and helped himself to their surgeon's instruments and medicines. He also took a fancy for a backgammon board, but only kept it after a violent quarrel with another pirate. It came out at his trial that on a voyage from the Island of St. Thomas, in a prize, the _Fortune_, in which was a cargo of slaves, Scudamore had tried to bring about a mutiny of the blacks to kill the prize crew which was on board, and he was detected in the night going about amongst the negroes, talking to them in the Angolan language. He said that he knew enough about navigation to sail the ship himself, and he was heard to say that "this were better than to be taken to Cape Corso to be hanged and sun dried."

The same witness told how he had approached the prisoner when he was trying to persuade a wounded pirate, one James Harris, to join him in his scheme, but fearing to be overheard, Scudamore turned the conversation to horse-racing.

Scudamore was condemned to death, but allowed three days' grace before being hanged, which he spent in incessant prayers and reading of the Scriptures. On the gallows he sang, solo, the Thirty-first Psalm. Died at the age of 35.

SEARLES, CAPTAIN ROBERT.

In 1664 he brought in two Spanish prizes to Port Royal, but as orders had only lately come from England to the Governor to do all in his power to promote friendly relations with the Spanish islands, these prizes were returned to their owners. To prevent Searle's doing such things again, he was deprived of his ship's rudder and sails. In 1666, Searle, in company with a Captain Stedman and a party of only eighty men, took the Island of Tobago, near Trinidad, from the Dutch, destroying everything they could not carry away.

SELKIRK, ALEXANDER. The original Robinson Crusoe.

Born in 1676 at Largo in Fifeshire, he was the seventh son of John Selcraig, a shoemaker. In 1695 he was cited to appear before the Session for "indecent conduct in church," but ran away to sea. In 1701 he was back again in Largo, and was rebuked in the face of the congregation for quarrelling with his brothers. A year later Selkirk sailed to England, and in 1703 joined Dampier's expedition to the South Seas. Appointed sailing-master to the _Cinque Ports_, commanded by Captain Stradling.

In September, 1704, he arrived at the uninhabited island of Juan Fernandez, in the South Pacific. Selkirk, having quarrelled with the captain, insisted on being landed on the island with all his belongings. He lived alone here for nearly four years, building himself two cabins, hunting the goats which abounded, and taming young goats and cats to be his companions.

On the night of January 31st, 1709, seeing two ships, Selkirk lit a fire, and a boat was sent ashore. These ships were the _Duke_ and _Duchess_ of Bristol, under the command of Captain Woodes Rogers, while his old friend Dampier was acting as pilot. Selkirk was at once appointed sailing-master of the _Duchess_, and eventually arrived back in the Thames on October 14th, 1711, with booty worth £800, having been away from England for eight years. While in England he met Steele, who described Selkirk as a "man of good sense, with strong but cheerful expression." Whether Selkirk ever met Defoe is uncertain, though the character of Robinson Crusoe was certainly founded on his adventures in Juan Fernandez. In 1712 he returned to Largo, living the life of a recluse, and we must be forgiven for suspecting that he rather acted up to the part, since it is recorded that he made a cave in his father's garden in which to meditate. This life of meditation in an artificial cave was soon rudely interrupted by the appearance of a certain Miss Sophia Bonce, with whom Selkirk fell violently in love, and they eloped together to Bristol, which must have proved indeed a sad scandal to the elders and other godly citizens of Largo. Beyond the fact that he was charged at Bristol with assaulting one Richard Nettle, a shipwright, we hear no more of Selkirk until his first will was drawn up in 1717, in which he leaves his fortune and house to "my loving friend Sophia Bonce, of the Pall Mall, London, Spinster." Shortly after this, Alexander basely deserted his loving friend and married a widow, one Mrs. Francis Candis, at Oarston in Devon.

In 1720 he was appointed mate to H.M.S. _Weymouth_, on board of which he died a year later at the age of 45.

Selkirk is immortalized in literature, not only by Defoe, but by Cowper in his "Lines on Solitude," beginning: "I am monarch of all I survey."

SHARP, ROWLAND.

Of Bath Town in North Carolina.

One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew. Tried for piracy at Charleston in 1718 and found "not guilty."

SHASTER, ROGER.

One of Captain Heidon's crew of the pirate ship _John of Sandwich_, which was wrecked on the coast of Alderney. Shaster was arrested and hanged at St. Martin's Point, Guernsey, in 1564.

SHAW, JOHN.

One of Captain Lowther's crew. Hanged at St. Kitts on March 11th, 1722.

SHERGALL, HENRY, or SHERRAL. Buccaneer.

A seaman with Captain Bartholomew Sharp in his South Sea voyage. One October day he fell into the sea while going into the spritsail-top and was drowned. "This incident several of our company interpreted as a bad omen, which proved not so, through the providence of the Almighty."

SHIRLEY, SIR ANTHONY.

In January, 1597, headed an expedition to the Island of Jamaica. He met with little opposition from the Spaniards, and seized and plundered St. Jago de la Vega.

SHIVERS, CAPTAIN.

This South Sea pirate cruised in company with Culliford and Nathaniel North in the Red Sea, preying principally on Moorish ships, and also sailed about the Indian Ocean as far as the Malacca Islands. He accepted the royal pardon to pirates, which was brought out to Madagascar by Commodore Littleton, and apparently gave up his wicked ways thereafter.

SHUTFIELD, WILLIAM.

Of Lancaster.

Hanged at Rhode Island in July, 1723, at the age of 40.

SICCADAM, JOHN.

Of Boston.

One of Captain Pound's crew. Found guilty of piracy, but pardoned.

SIMMS, HENRY, _alias_ "GENTLEMAN HARRY." Pickpocket, highwayman, pirate, and Old Etonian.

Born in 1716 at St. Martin's-in-the-Fields. Sent while quite young to school at Eton, where he "shewed an early inclination to vice," and at the age of 14 was taken from school and apprenticed to a breeches-maker. No Old Etonian, either then or now, would stand that kind of treatment, so Simms ran away, becoming a pickpocket and later a highwayman. After numerous adventures and escapes from prison, he was pressed on board H.M.S. _Rye_, but he deserted his ship at Leith. After an "affair" at Croydon, Simms was transplanted with other convicts to Maryland, in the _Italian Merchant_. On the voyage he attempted, but without success, to raise a mutiny. On his arrival in America he was sold to the master of the _Two Sisters_, which was taken a few days out from Maryland by a Bayonne pirate. Carried to Spain, Simms got to Oporto, and there was pressed on board H.M.S. _King Fisher_. Eventually he reached Bristol, where he bought, with his share of booty, a horse and two pistols, with which to go on the highway.

Hanged on June 17th, 1747, for stealing an old silver watch and 5s. from Mr. Francis Sleep at Dunstable.

SKIPTON, CAPTAIN.

Commanded a pirate ship, in which he sailed in company with Captain Spriggs. Being chased by H.M.S. _Diamond_ off the coast of Cuba, Skipton ran his sloop on to the Florida Reef. Escaping with his crew to an island, they were attacked by the Indians, and many of them were captured and eaten. The survivors, embarking in a canoe, were caught by the man-of-war and taken prisoner.

SKYRM, CAPTAIN JAMES. Welsh pirate.

Hanged at the advanced age--for a pirate--of 44.

Commanded the _Ranger_, one of Captain Roberts's ships that cruised in 1721 and 1722 off the West Coast of Africa. In the fight with the King's ship that took him he was very active with a drawn sword in his hand, with which he beat any of his crew who were at all backward. One of his legs was shot away in this action, but he refused to leave the deck and go below as long as the action lasted. He was condemned to death and hanged in chains.

SMITH, GEORGE. Welsh pirate.

One of Captain Roberts's pirates. Hanged at the age of 25.

SMITH, JOHN.

One of the mutinous crew of the _Antonio_. Hanged at Boston in 1672.

SMITH, JOHN WILLIAMS.

Of Charleston, Carolina.

Hanged in 1718 for piracy, at Charleston.

SMITH, MAJOR SAMUEL. Buccaneer.

At one time a buccaneer with the famous Mansfield.

In 1641 he was sent, by the Governor of Jamaica, with a party to reinforce the troops which under Mansfield had recaptured the New Providence Island from the Spanish. In 1660 he was taken prisoner by the Spanish and carried to Panama and there kept in chains in a dungeon for seventeen months.

DE SOTO, BERNADO.

One of the crew of the schooner _Panda_ that took and plundered the Salem brig _Mexican_. The crew of the _Panda_ were captured by an English man-of-war and taken to Boston. De Soto was condemned to death, but eventually fully pardoned owing to his heroic conduct in rescuing the crew of an American vessel some time previously.

DE SOTO, CAPTAIN BENITO.

A Portuguese.

A most notorious pirate in and about 1830.

In 1827 he shipped at Buenos Ayres as mate in a slaver, named the _Defenser de Pedro_, and plotted to seize the ship off the African coast. The pirates took the cargo of slaves to the West Indies, where they sold them. De Soto plundered many vessels in the Caribbean Sea, then sailed to the South Atlantic, naming his ship the _Black Joke_. The fear of the _Black Joke_ became so great amongst the East Indiamen homeward bound that they used to make up convoys at St. Helena before heading north.

In 1832 de Soto attacked the _Morning Star_, an East Indiaman, and took her, when he plundered the ship and murdered the captain. After taking several more ships, de Soto lost his own on the rocky coast of Spain, near Cadiz. His crew, although pretending to be honest shipwrecked sailors, were arrested, but de Soto managed to escape to Gibraltar. Here he was recognized by a soldier who had seen de Soto when he took the _Morning Star_, in which he had been a passenger. The pirate was arrested, and tried before Sir George Don, the Governor of Gibraltar, and sentenced to death. He was sent to Cadiz to be hanged with the rest of his crew. The gallows was erected at the water's edge, and de Soto, with his coffin, was conveyed there in a cart. He died bravely, arranging the noose around his own neck, stepping up into his coffin to do so; then, crying out, "Adios todos," he threw himself off the cart.

This man must not be confused with one Bernado de Soto, who was tried for piracy at Boston in 1834.

SOUND, JOSEPH.

Of the city of Westminster.

Hanged, at the age of 28, at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1723.

SPARKS, JAMES.

A Newfoundland fisherman.

In August, 1723, with John Phillips and three others, ran away with a vessel to go "on the account." Sparks was appointed gunner.

SPARKES, JOHN.

A member of Captain Avery's crew, and described by one of his shipmates as being "a true cock of the game." A thief, he robbed his fellow-shipmates, and from one, Philip Middleton, he stole 270 pieces of gold.

Hanged at Execution Dock in 1696.

SPRATLIN, ROBERT.

Was one of Dampier's party which in 1681 crossed the Isthmus of Darien, when he was left behind in the jungle with Wafer. Spratlin was lost when the little party attempted to ford the swollen Chagres River. He afterwards rejoined Wafer.

SPRIGGS, CAPTAIN FRANCIS FARRINGTON.

An uninteresting and bloody pirate without one single redeeming character.

He learnt his art with the pirate Captain Lowther, afterwards serving as quartermaster with Captain Low and taking an active part in all the barbarities committed by the latter.

About 1720 Low took a prize, a man-of-war called the _Squirrel_. This he handed over to some of the crew, who elected Spriggs their captain. The ship they renamed the _Delight_, and in the night altered their course and left Low. They made a flag, bearing upon it a white skeleton, holding in one hand a dart striking a bleeding heart, and in the other an hourglass. Sailing to the West Indies, Spriggs took several prizes, treating the crews with abominable cruelty. On one occasion the pirates chased what they believed to be a Spanish ship, and after a long while they came alongside and fired a broadside into her. The ship immediately surrendered, and turned out to be a vessel the pirate had plundered only a few days previously. This infuriated Spriggs and his crew, who showed their disappointment by half murdering the captain. After a narrow escape from being captured by a French man-of-war near the Island of St. Kitts, Spriggs sailed north to the Summer Isles, or Bermudas. Taking a ship coming from Rhode Island, they found her cargo to consist of horses. Several of the pirates mounted these and galloped up and down the deck until they were thrown. While plundering several small vessels of their cargo of logwood in the Bay of Honduras, Spriggs was surprised and attacked by an English man-of-war, and the pirates only escaped by using their sweeps. Spriggs now went for a cruise off the coast of South Carolina, returning again to Honduras. This was a rash proceeding on Spriggs's part, for as he was sailing off the west end of Cuba he again met the man-of-war which had so nearly caught him before in the bay. Spriggs clapped on all sail, but ran his ship on Rattan Island, where she was burnt by the _Spence_, while Captain Spriggs and his crew escaped to the woods.

SPRINGER, CAPTAIN.

He fought gallantly with Sawkins and Ringrose in the Battle of Perico off Panama on St. George's Day in 1680. He gave his name to Springer's Cay, one of the Samballoes Islands. This was the rendezvous chosen by the pirates, where Dampier and his party found the French pirate ship that rescued them after their famous trudge across the Isthmus of Darien.

STANLEY, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.

With a few other buccaneers in their stronghold at New Providence Island in 1660, withstood an attack by a Spanish fleet for five days. The three English captains, Stanley, Sir Thomas Whetstone, and Major Smith, were carried to Panama and there cast into a dungeon and bound in irons for seventeen months.

STEDMAN, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.

In 1666, with Captain Searle and a party of only eighty men, he took and plundered the Dutch island of Tobago. Later on, after the outbreak of war with France, he was captured by a French frigate off the Island of Guadeloupe. Stedman had a small vessel and a crew of only 100 men, and found himself becalmed and unable to escape, so he boldly boarded the Frenchman and fought for two hours, being finally overcome.

STEPHENS, WILLIAM.

Died on January 14th, 1682, on board of Captain Sharp's ship a few days before their return to the Barbadoes from the South Seas. His death was supposed to have been caused by indulging too freely in mancanilla while ashore at Golfo Dulce. "Next morning we threw overboard our dead man and gave him two French vollies and one English one."

STEPHENSON, JOHN.

Sailed as an honest seaman in the _Onslow_ (Captain Gee) from Sestos. Taken in May, 1721, by the pirate Captain Roberts, he willingly joined the pirates. When Roberts was killed on board the _Royal Fortune_, Stephenson burst into tears, and declared that he wished the next shot might kill him. Hanged in 1722.

STILES, RICHARD.

Hanged in Virginia in 1718 with the rest of Captain Teach's crew.

STOREY, THOMAS.

One of William Coward's crew which stole the ketch _Elinor_ in Boston Harbour. Condemned to be hanged on January 27th, 1690, but afterwards reprieved.

ST. QUINTIN, RICHARD.

A native of Yorkshire.

One of M'Kinlie's crew that murdered Captain Glass and his family in the Canary ship. Afterwards arrested at Cork and hanged in chains near Dublin on March 19th, 1765.

STURGES, CAPTAIN.

An Elizabethan pirate, who had his headquarters at Rochelle. In company with the notorious pirate Calles, he in one year pillaged two Portuguese, one French, one Spanish, and also a Scotch ship. His end is not known.

O'SULLIVAN, LORD. Receiver of pirate plunder.

The Sulivan Bere, of Berehaven in Ireland.

A notorious friend of the English pirates, he bought their spoils, which he stored in his castle. He helped to fit out pirate captains for their cruises, and protected them when Queen Elizabeth sent ships to try and arrest them.

SUTTON, THOMAS.

Born at Berwick in 1699.

Gunner in Roberts's ship the _Royal Fortune_. At his trial he was proved to have been particularly active in helping to take a Dutch merchantman, the _Gertruycht_. Hanged in chains at Cape Coast Castle in April, 1722, at the age of 23.

SWAN, CAPTAIN.

Commanded the _Nicholas_, and met Dampier when in the _Batchelor's Delight_ at the Island of Juan Fernandez in 1684. The two captains cruised together off the west coast of South America, the _Nicholas_ leaving Dampier, who returned to England by way of the East Indies.

SWAN, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.

Of the _Cygnet_. Left England as an honest trader. Rounded the Horn and sailed up to the Bay of Nicoya, there taking on a crew of buccaneers who had crossed the Isthmus of Darien on foot. Dampier was appointed pilot or quartermaster to the _Cygnet_, a post analogous to that of a navigating officer on a modern man-of-war, while Ringrose was appointed supercargo. Swan had an adventurous and chequered voyage, sometimes meeting with successes, but often with reverses. Eventually he sailed to the Philippine Islands, where the crew mutinied and left Swan and thirty-six of the crew behind. After various adventures the _Cygnet_, by now in a very crazy state, just managed to reach Madagascar, where she sank at her anchorage.

SWITZER, JOSEPH.

Of Boston in New England.

Tried for piracy at Rhode Island in 1723, but found to be "not guilty."

SYMPSON, DAVID.

Born at North Berwick.