Part 21

Was serving with L'Ollonais's fleet off the coast of Yucatan when a mutiny broke out, of which Vanclein was the ringleader. He persuaded the malcontents to sail with him along the coast till they came to Costa Rica. There they landed and marched to the town of Veraguas, which they seized and pillaged. The pirates got little booty, only eight pounds of gold, it proving to be a poor place.

VANE, CAPTAIN CHARLES.

Famous for his piratical activities off the coast of North America, specially the Carolinas.

In 1718, when Woodes Rogers was sent by the English Government to break up the pirate stronghold in the Bahama Islands, all the pirates at New Providence Island surrendered to Rogers and received the King's pardon except Vane, who, after setting fire to a prize he had, slipped out of the bay as Rogers with his two men-of-war entered. Vane sailed to the coast of Carolina, as did other West Indian pirates who found their old haunts too warm for them.

Vane is first heard of as being actively engaged in stealing from the Spaniards the silver which they were salving from a wrecked galleon in the Gulf of Florida. Tiring of this, Vane stole a vessel and ranged up and down the coast from Florida to New York, taking ship after ship, until at last the Governor of South Carolina sent out a Colonel Rhet in an armed sloop to try and take him. On one occasion Vane met the famous Blackbeard, whom he saluted with his great guns loaded with shot. This compliment of one pirate chief to another was returned in like kind, and then "mutual civilities" followed for several days between the two pirate captains and their crews, these civilities taking the form of a glorious debauch in a quiet creek on the coast.

Vane soon had a change of fortune, when, meeting with a French man-of-war, he decided to decline an engagement and to seek safety in flight, greatly to the anger of his crew. For this he was obliged to stand the test of the vote of the whole crew, who passed a resolution against his honour and dignity, and branded him a coward, deprived him of his command, and packed him off with a few of his adherents in a small sloop. Vane, not discouraged by this reverse of fortune, rose again from the bottom rung of the ladder to success, and quickly increased in strength of ships and crew, until one day, being overcome by a sudden tornado, he lost everything but his life, being washed up on a small uninhabited island off the Honduras coast. Here he managed to support life by begging food from the fishermen who occasionally came there in their canoes.

At last a ship put in for water, commanded by one Captain Holford, who happened to be an old friend of Vane's. Vane naturally was pleased at this piece of good fortune, and asked his dear old friend to take him off the island in his ship, to which Holford replied: "Charles, I shan't trust you aboard my ship, unless I carry you as a prisoner, for I shall have you caballing with my men, knock me on the head, and run away with my ship a-pirating." No promises of good behaviour from Vane would prevail on his friend to rescue him; in fact, Captain Holford's parting remark was that he would be returning in a month, and that if he then found Vane still on the island he would carry him to Jamaica to be hanged.

Soon after Holford's departure another ship put in for water, none of the crew of which knew Vane by sight, and he was too crafty to let them find out the notorious pirate he was. They consented to take off the shipwrecked mariner, when, just as all seemed to be going well, back came the ship of friend Holford. Holford, who seems to have been a sociable kind of man, was well acquainted with the captain who was befriending Vane, and Holford was invited to dine on board his ship. As the guest was passing along the deck of his host's ship on his way to the great cabin he chanced to glance down the open hold, and there who should he see but his dear old friend Vane hard at work; for he had already won his new master's good graces by being a "brisk hand." Holford at once informed his host that he was entertaining a notorious pirate, and with his consent clapped Vane in irons, and removed him to his own ship, and when he arrived in Jamaica handed his old friend to the justices, who quickly tried, convicted, and hanged him.

VANHORN, CAPTAIN NICHOLAS. A Dutch filibuster.

Of Hispaniola.

Sailed from England in 1681 in command of the _Mary and Martha_, _alias_ the _St. Nicholas_, a merchant ship. Vanhorn soon showed his hand by putting two of his merchants ashore at Cadiz and stealing four Spanish guns. Next he sailed to the Canary Islands, and then to the Guinea coast, plundering ships and stealing negroes, until November, 1682, when he arrived at the city of San Domingo. In April, 1683, he picked up some 300 buccaneers at Petit Goave, and joined the filibuster Laurens in the Gulf of Honduras with six other buccaneer captains, who were planning an attack on the rich city of Vera Cruz. The fleet arrived off the city in May, and the pirates, hearing that the Spaniards were expecting the arrival of two ships from Caracas, they crowded a landing party of 800 men into two ships, and, displaying Spanish colours, stood in boldly for the city. The inhabitants, imagining these were the ships they were expecting, actually lit bonfires to pilot them into the harbour. Landing on May 17th two miles away, they soon found themselves masters of the town and forts, all the sentinels being asleep. For four days they plundered the churches, convents, and houses, and threatened to burn the cathedral, in which they had put all the prisoners, unless more booty was forthcoming. An Englishman found the Governor hiding in some hay in a loft, and he was ransomed for 70,000 pieces of eight. While this was taking place a Spanish fleet of fourteen ships had arrived from Cadiz, and anchored just outside the harbour, but would not venture to land nor to attack the buccaneer ships. The buccaneers, feeling it was time to depart, sailed right past the fleet without opposition to a cay not far off, and there divided the spoils; each of the 1,000 sailors getting 800 pieces of eight as his share, while Vanhorn's own share, was 24,000 pieces of eight. This division of the spoil did not take place without some bickering, and the two leaders, Vanhorn and Laurens, came to blows, and Vanhorn was wounded in the wrist. Although the wound was little more than a scratch, he died of gangrene a fortnight later.

It is significant that Vanhorn had originally been sent out by the Governor of Hispaniola to hunt for pirates, but once out of sight of land and away from authority the temptation to get rich quickly was too great to resist, so that he joined the pirates in the expedition to sack Vera Cruz.

VEALE, CAPTAIN.

On July 1st, 1685, he arrived at New London in a sloop, but was compelled to hurry away, being recognized as a pirate by one of the crew of a ship he had previously taken in Virginia.

VEALE, THOMAS.

One of four New England pirates who in the middle of the seventeenth century rowed up the Saugus river and landed at a place called Lynn Woods. The boat contained, besides the pirates, a quantity of plunder and a beautiful young woman. They built a hut on Dungeon Rock, dug a well, and lived there until the woman died. Three of the pirates were captured, and ended their days on the gallows in England.

Thomas Veale escaped and went to live in a cave, where he is supposed to have hidden his booty, but he continued to work as a cordwainer. In the earthquake of 1658 the cave was blocked up by pieces of rock, and Veale was never seen again.

VERPRE, CAPTAIN. French filibuster.

His ship _Le Postillion_ carried a crew of twenty-five men and was armed with two guns.

VIGERON, CAPTAIN. French filibuster.

Of San Domingo.

Commanded a bark, _La Louse_, thirty men and four guns.

VILLA RISE.

In the year 1621 this Moorish pirate commanded a small squadron of five vessels which took an English ship, the _George Bonaventure_ (Captain John Rawlins, Plymouth), in the Straits of Gibraltar. One of the finest deeds ever achieved by English sailors was the escape of Rawlins and some of his crew from the Moors at Alexandria in a stolen ship.

VAN VIN, MOSES. Buccaneer.

One of L'Ollonais's officers. After burning Puerto Cavallo and torturing and murdering the inhabitants, L'Ollonais marched away to attack the town of San Pedro with 300 of his crew, leaving van Vin as his lieutenant to govern the rest of his men during his absence.

VIRGIN, HENRY.

Of Bristol.

One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew of the _Royal James_. Hanged for piracy at White Point, Charleston, South Carolina, on November 8th, 1718, and buried in the marsh below low-water mark.

VIVON, CAPTAIN M. LA. French filibuster.

Commanded the _Cour Valant_ of La Rochelle. In December, 1668, his ship was seized by Captain Collier for having robbed an English ship of provisions.

WAFER, LIONEL. Surgeon, buccaneer, and author.

Believed to have been born about the year 1660.

He could speak Gaelic and also Erse, which languages he had learnt during his childhood, which was spent partly in the Highlands of Scotland and partly in Ireland.

In 1677 he sailed as mate to the surgeon of the _Great Ann_, of London (Captain Zachary Browne), bound for Java.

Two years later, he again sailed as surgeon's mate on a voyage to the West Indies. He deserted his ship at Jamaica and set himself up as a surgeon at Port Royal, but one day meeting with two noted buccaneers, Captain Linch and Captain Cook, he agreed to sail with them as ship's surgeon.

Wafer's subsequent adventures are recounted by Basil Ringrose in his "Dangerous Voyage and Bold Assaults of Captain Bartholomew Sharp and Others," and by William Dampier in his "New Voyage Round the World." After taking part in 1679 in the futile expedition of the buccaneers to Panama, Wafer joined the party of malcontents who left Captain Sharp and returned on foot across the Isthmus of Darien. Wafer was accidentally wounded in the knee by an explosion of gunpowder on May 5th, 1681, which he recounts in his narrative as follows: "I was sitting on the ground near one of our Men, who was drying of Gunpowder in a Silver Plate: But not managing it as he should, it blew up and scorch'd my knee to that degree, that the bone was left bare, the Flesh being torn away, and my Thigh burnt for a great way above it. I applied to it immediately such Remedies as I had in my knapsack: and being unwilling to be left behind by my companions, I made hard shift to jog on."

The whole story of these adventures is told by Wafer in a book he wrote, and which was published in London in 1699. It is called "A New Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of America, giving an Account of the Author's Abode there," and is illustrated by some quaint copperplates.

Wafer and his companions suffered extreme hardships as they struggled through the dense tropical jungle during the wettest season of the year.

On one occasion when in danger of his life, Wafer was spared by the Indians owing to his skill as a phlebotomist, after he had been allowed to exhibit his skill to an Indian chief called Lacentra, when he bled one of his wives so successfully that the chief made Wafer his inseparable companion, to the no little discomfort of the buccaneer, who wished to reach the Atlantic and rejoin his companions who had left him behind.

Wafer described the birds, animals, fishes, and insects with considerable minuteness, although it is obvious that he had no special training in, or great gift for, natural history. Wafer eventually reached Philadelphia, where he availed himself of King James's general pardon to pirates.

WAKE, CAPTAIN THOMAS.

A notorious pirate, one of those particularly named in the Royal Warrant issued in 1695 to Captain Kidd, authorizing him to go in search of the American pirates.

WALDEN, JOHN, _alias_ "MISS NANNEY."

Born in Somersetshire.

Taken in the _Blessing_, of Lymington, by Roberts in Newfoundland, he joined the pirates, and was later on hanged at the age of 24 in West Africa. Walden was one of Captain Roberts's most active men. On taking Captain Traher's ship, Walden carried a pole-axe with which he wrenched open locked doors and boxes. He was a bold and daring man, of violent temper, and was known amongst his shipmates by the nickname of Miss Nanney. He lost a leg during the attack on the _Swallow_. After the pirates took the _King Solomon_, Walden had to get up the anchor, but he cut the cable, explaining to the captain that the weather was too hot to go straining and crying "Yo Hope," and he could easily buy another anchor when he got to London.

WANSLEY, THOMAS.

A negro steward on the brig _Vineyard_, he mutinied and assisted to murder the captain and mate, afterwards becoming one of Captain Charles Gibbs's crew. Hanged at New York in February, 1831.

WANT, CAPTAIN.

A Carolina pirate who was referred to at the trial of Captain Avery's crew at London in 1696.

WARD.

One of the first English pirates to establish himself on the Barbary coast in North Africa. By the year 1613 some thirty others had their headquarters at the mouth of the Sebu River.

WARD, CAPTAIN.

As a poor English sailor he went to Barbary, turned Mohammedan, offered his services to the Moors, and became captain of a galley. He grew to be very rich, and "lived like a Bashaw in Barbary."

WARREN, WILLIAM.

Joined Captain Pound's crew from Lovell's Island.

WATERS, JOHN.

Of Devonshire.

Quartermaster to Captain Charles Harris. Tried and hanged at Newport, Rhode Island, on July 19th, 1734. Aged 35.

WATKINS, JOHN.

An English soldier stationed at Fort Loyal, Falmouth, Maine. Deserted and sailed with the pirate Pound. Killed at Tarpaulin Cove in 1689.

WATLING, CAPTAIN JOHN. Buccaneer.

When Bartholomew Sharp's crew mutinied on New Year's Day in 1681 on the _Most Holy Trinity_, they clapped their captain in irons and put him down below on the ballast, and elected an old pirate and a "stout seaman," John Watling, in his place. One of the reasons for the revolt was said to be the ungodliness of Captain Sharp.

Watling began his command by giving orders for the strict keeping of the Sabbath Day, and on January 9th the buccaneers observed Sunday as a day apart, the first for many months. One of the first acts of this godly Captain Watling was to cruelly shoot an old man, a prisoner, whom he suspected, quite wrongly, of not telling the truth.

On January 30th Watling headed a surprise attack on the town of Arica in North Chile, but it turned out later that the Spaniards had three days' warning of the intended attack, and had gathered together no less than 2,000 defenders. A furious attack was made, with great slaughter of the Spanish defenders and considerable loss amongst the pirates. In one attack Watling placed 100 of his prisoners in front of his storming party, hoping this would prevent the enemy firing at them. After taking the town, the buccaneers were driven out owing to the arrival of a number of Lima soldiers. During the retreat from the town Watling was shot in the liver and died. Perhaps he gave his name to Watling Island in the Bahama Islands, the first spot of America that Christopher Columbus ever saw, and a great resort of the buccaneers.

WATSON, HENRY.

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

WATTS, EDWARD.

Born at Dunmore.

One of Captain Roberts's crew. Hanged in 1722 at the age of 22.

WATTS, SAMUEL.

Of Lovell's Island.

One of Captain Pound's crew.

WATTS, WILLIAM.

An Irishman.

Hanged, at the age of 23, along with the rest of Roberts's crew.

WAY, JOHN.

Tried at Boston in 1704 for piracy with the rest of the crew of the _Charles_ brigantine.

WEAVER, CAPTAIN BRIGSTOCK.

Of Hereford, England.

One of Captain Anstis's crew in the _Good Fortune_ when he took the _Morning Star_. After the prize had been converted for Anstis's use, Weaver was given command of the _Good Fortune_. He proved himself to be a capable pirate captain, taking between fifty and sixty sailing ships in the West Indies and on the Banks of Newfoundland.

Here are particulars of a few of his prizes:

In August, 1722, he took a Dutch ship, and out of her got 100 pieces of holland, value £800, and 1,000 pieces of eight. On November 20th in the same year he plundered the _Dolphin_, of London (Captain William Haddock), of 300 pieces of eight and forty gallons of rum.

Out of the _Don Carlos_ (Lot Neekins, master) he stole 400 ounces of silver, fifty gallons of rum, 1,000 pieces of eight, 100 pistols, and other valuable goods.

Out of the _Portland_, ten pipes of wine valued at £250.

This period of prosperity came to an end, for in May, 1723, Weaver, dressed in rags, was begging charity at the door of a Mr. Thomas Smith in Bristol, telling a plausible tale of how he had been taken and robbed by some wicked pirates, but had lately managed to escape from them. The kindly Mr. Smith, together with a Captain Edwards, gave Weaver £10 and provided him with a lodging at the Griffin Inn. Being now dressed in good clothes, Weaver enjoyed walking about the streets of Bristol, until one day he met with a sea-captain who claimed former acquaintance and invited him into a neighbouring tavern to share a bottle of wine with him. Over this the captain reminded the pirate that he had been one of his victims, and that Weaver had once stolen from him a considerable quantity of liquor; but at the same time he had not forgotten that the pirate had used him very civilly, and that therefore, if he would give him four hogsheads of cider, nothing further would be said about the matter. Weaver would not, or could not, produce these, and was apprehended, brought to London, and there tried and sentenced to death, and hanged at Execution Dock.

WELLS, LIEUTENANT JOSEPH.

An officer on board Captain John Quelch's _Charles_ galley. Attempted to escape at Gloucester, Massachusetts, in the _Larimore_, but was captured by Major Sewell and brought to Salem, and there secured in the town gaol until tried for piracy at Boston in June, 1704.

WEST, RICHARD.

One of Captain Lowther's crew. Hanged at St. Kitts in March, 1722.

WETHERLEY, TEE.

A Massachusetts pirate, with only one eye. Captured in 1699 with the pirate Joseph Bradish and put in prison. They escaped two months later. A reward of £200 was offered for the recapture of Wetherley, which was gained by a Kennekeck Indian called Essacambuit, who brought him back to prison. He was taken, in irons, to England in H.M.S. _Advice_ in 1700, and tried and hanged in London.

WHETSTONE, SIR THOMAS, or WHITSTONE. Buccaneer.

In 1663 he commanded a ship, a Spanish prize, armed with seven guns and carrying a crew of sixty men. In August, 1666, Sir Thomas was with a small English garrison of some sixty men in the buccaneer stronghold of New Providence in the Bahama Islands. Suddenly a Spanish fleet arrived from Porto Bello, and after a siege of three days the garrison capitulated. The three English captains were carried prisoners to Panama and there cast into a dungeon and bound in irons for seventeen months.

WHITE, CAPTAIN THOMAS. South Sea pirate. An Englishman. Born at Plymouth.

As a young man he was taken prisoner by a French pirate off the coast of Guinea. The French massacred their prisoners by painting targets on their chests and using them for rifle practice. White alone was saved by an heroic Frenchman throwing himself in front of him and receiving the volley in his own body. White sailed with the French pirates, who were wrecked on the coast of Madagascar. White himself managed to escape, and found safety with a native, King Bavaw, but the French pirates were all massacred. White not very long afterwards joined another pirate ship, commanded by a Captain Read, with whom he sailed, helping to take several prizes, amongst others a slave ship, the _Speaker_. White soon found himself possessed of a considerable fortune, and settled down with his crew at a place called Methelage in Madagascar, marrying a native woman, and leading the peaceful life of a planter. The call of piracy at length proving irresistible, he sailed before the mast with Captain Halsey, then returned to his native wife and home, shortly afterwards to die of fever.

In his will, he left legacies to various relatives and friends, and appointed three guardians for his son, all of different nationalities, with instructions that the boy should be taken to England to be educated, which was duly done.

White was buried with the full ceremonies of the Church of England, his sword and pistols being carried on his coffin, and three English and one French volley fired over his grave.

WHITE, JAMES.

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

WHITE, ROBERT.

One of Captain George Lowther's crew. Hanged on March 22nd, 1722, at St. Kitts.

WHITE, WILLIAM.

A Newfoundland fish-splitter. With John Phillips and three others, he stole a fishing-boat at St. Peter's Harbour in Newfoundland in August, 1723. The other four were made officers in the pirate craft, White having the distinction of being the only private man in the crew of five. He appears to have been a man lacking in ambition, as he never showed any desire to become even a petty officer amongst the pirates; in fact, we hear no more of William until June 2nd, 1724, when he was hanged at Boston and "dy'd very penitently, with the Assistance of two grave Divines that attended him."

WHITTING, WILLIAM.

One of Captain Quelch's crew. In 1704 we read that he "lyes sick, like to dye, not yet examined" in the gaol at Marblehead, when awaiting trial for piracy.

WIFE, FRANCIS.

An unwilling mutineer with Philip Roche in a French vessel sailing from Cork in 1721.

WILES, WILLIAM.

One of John Quelch's crew of the brigantine _Charles_. Tried at Boston in 1704.

WILGRESS, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.

Of Jamaica.

Sent by the Governor of Jamaica in 1670 to search for, and capture or sink, a Dutchman called Captain Yallahs, who had entered the Spanish service to cruise against the English logwood cutters. But Wilgress, instead of carrying out his orders, went a-buccaneering on his own account, chasing a Spanish vessel ashore, stealing logwood, and burning Spanish houses along the coast.

WILLIAMS, CAPTAIN JOHN, _alias_ "YANKY." Buccaneer.

In 1683, when the pirate Hamlin in his famous ship, _La Trompeuse_, was playing havoc with the English shipping around Jamaica, Governor Lynch offered Williams a free pardon, men, victuals, and naturalization, and £200 as well if he would catch the Frenchman.

WILLIAMS, CAPTAIN MORRIS. Buccaneer.

In November, 1664, he applied to Governor Modyford to be allowed to bring into Port Royal, Jamaica, a rich prize of logwood, indigo, and silver, and, in spite of the Governor's refusal, he brought the ship in. The goods were seized and sold in the interest of the Spanish owner. At this time the English Government was doing all it could to stamp out the pirates and buccaneers.

WILLIAMS, CAPTAIN PAUL.

A Carolina pirate, who began as a wrecker with the pirate Bellamy in the West Indies. He later on took to piracy and ended a not too glorious career by being hanged at Eastman, Massachusetts. Williams was one of the pirates who accepted King George's offer of pardon at New Providence Island in 1718.

WILLIAMS, DAVID.