Part 6

Cobham now wished to retire from the sea, but Maria urged him to further efforts, as she had set her heart on his buying her a beautiful place in England called Mapleton Hall, near Poole.

Maria's last act at sea was to poison the whole crew of an Indiaman, who were prisoners in irons aboard the pirate ship.

Cobham having made a vast fortune, at last decided to settle down, and he bought a large estate near Havre from the Duc de Chartres. It was on the coast, and had a snug little harbour of its own, where the retired pirate kept a small pleasure yacht in which he and Maria used to go for fishing expeditions. One day, when they were out on one of these picnics, a West India brig lay becalmed near by, and Cobham and his crew went on board to visit the captain of the merchant ship. But the temptation proved too strong, and Cobham suddenly shooting the captain, Maria and the yacht's crew quickly despatched the rest. Carrying the prize to Bordeaux, he sold her for a good price. This was Cobham's last act of piracy, and soon afterwards he was made a magistrate, and presided at the county courts. Maria, it was thought, possibly owing to remorse, poisoned herself with laudanum and died. Cobham lived to a good old age, and eventually passed away, leaving many descendants, who, a hundred years ago, "were moving in the first grade at Havre."

COBHAM, MRS. MARIA.

A bloodthirsty and ambitious woman pirate, the wife of Captain Cobham, late of Poole in Dorset.

COCKLYN, CAPTAIN THOMAS.

In 1717 was in the Bahama Islands when Woodes Rogers arrived at New Providence Island with King George's offer of pardon to those pirates who came in and surrendered themselves. Cocklyn, like many others, after surrendering, fell again into their wicked ways, and ended by being hanged. Only a year after receiving the royal pardon we hear of him being in company with Davis and La Bouse and several other notorious pirates at Sierra Leone, when he was in command of a tall ship of twenty-four guns.

Cocklyn ended his life on the gallows.

COFRECINA, CAPTAIN.

A notorious Spanish-American pirate who was very troublesome in the South Atlantic in the early part of the last century. Eventually captured by Midshipman Hull Foot of the U.S. Navy in March, 1825, at St. Thomas Isle. Executed in Porto Rico by the terrible Spanish method of the garotte.

COLE, CAPTAIN JOHN.

Commander of the _Eagle_, _alias_ the _New York Revenge's Revenge_. Tried, condemned, and hanged in 1718 at Charleston. His was a brilliant career while it lasted, but was cut short after a brief and meteoric spell.

COLE, SAMUEL.

One of Captain Fly's crew. Tried and condemned for piracy at Boston in 1726. On the way to the gallows the culprits were taken to church, where they had to listen to a long sermon from Dr. Colman, bringing home to the wretched creatures their dreadful sins and their awful future.

COLLIER, CAPTAIN EDWARD.

Commanded the _Oxford_, a King's ship, which was sent from England to Jamaica at the earnest request of Governor Modyford, for a "nimble frigate," to help keep control over the increasingly turbulent buccaneers. Collier's first act was to seize a French man-of-war, a privateer called the _Cour Volent_, of La Rochelle, commanded by M. la Vivon, his excuse being that the Frenchmen had robbed an English vessel of provisions. Collier was appointed to be Morgan's Vice-Admiral, and a few days later the _Oxford_ was blown up accidentally while a conference of buccaneer captains was taking place.

In 1670, with six ships and 400 men, the buccaneers sailed for the Spanish Main and sacked the city of Rio de la Hacha. Collier led the left wing in the famous and successful attack on Panama City with the rank of colonel.

Richard Brown reports that Collier could on occasions be very cruel, and that he even executed a Spanish friar on the battlefield after quarter had been given to the vanquished. On their return to the coast after the sacking of Panama, Collier was accused, with Morgan and the other commanders, of having cheated the seamen of their fair share of the plunder, and of deserting them, and then sailing off in the ships with the supplies of food as well as the plunder.

COLLINS, THOMAS.

This Madagascar pirate was a carpenter by trade, who had by 1716 retired from the sea and lived in splendour in that island. Collins was made Governor of the pirate colony, and built a small fort for its defence, which the pirates armed with the guns taken out of their ship, which had by long use grown old and crazy, and was of no further use to them.

COMRY, ADAM.

Surgeon to the ship _Elizabeth_, taken by Captain Bartholomew Roberts's squadron. Gave evidence at the trial of George Wilson and another sea-surgeon, Scudamore, that the former had borrowed from Comry a "clean shirt and drawers, for his better appearance and reception." When visiting Captain Bartholomew Roberts's ship, Comry was forced to serve as surgeon on board one of Roberts's vessels.

CONDENT, CAPTAIN, _also_ CONGDON or CONDEN.

Born at Plymouth in Devonshire.

Condent was quartermaster in a New York sloop, at the Island of New Providence, when Governor Woodes Rogers arrived there in 1718. The captain of the sloop seems to have thought best to leave rather than wait to welcome the new Governor. When only a few days out, one of the crew, an Indian, who had been cruelly treated, attempted, in revenge, to blow up the ship. This was prevented by Condent, who with great courage leapt into the hold and shot the Indian, but not before the latter had fired at him and broken his arm. The crew, to show the relief they felt at being saved from a sudden death, hacked to pieces the body of the Indian, while the gunner, ripping open the dead man's belly, tore out his heart, which he boiled and ate.

Turning their attention from cannibalism to piracy, the pirates took a prize, the _Duke of York_, but disputes arising, the captain and part of the crew sailed in the prize, while Condent was elected captain of the sloop, and headed across the Atlantic for the Cape Verde Islands, where he found the salt fleet, of twenty small vessels, lying at anchor off the Island of Mayo, all of which he took. Sailing next to the Island of St. Jago, he took a Dutch ship. This proving a better ship than the sloop, Condent transferred himself and crew into her, and named her the _Flying Dragon_, presenting the sloop to the mate of an English prize, who he had forced to go with him. From thence Condent sailed away for the coast of Brazil, taking several Portuguese ships which, after plundering, he let go. After cleaning the _Flying Dragon_ on Ferdinando Island, the pirates took several more prizes, and then one day met with a Portuguese man-of-war of seventy guns. Coming up with her, the Portuguese hailed the pirates, and they answered "from London bound for Buenos Ayres." The man-of-war, to pay a compliment to the ship of her English ally, manned the shrouds and cheered him, and while this amicable demonstration of marine brotherly feeling was taking place, Captain Condent came up alongside and suddenly fired a broadside and a volley of small arms into the man-of-war, and a smart engagement followed, in which the pirates were worsted, and were lucky to escape.

Sailing away round the Cape of Good Hope, Condent arrived at the pirate stronghold at the Island of Johanna, where he took on board some of Captain Halsey's crew, and, reinforced by these skilled masters in the craft of piracy, took several rich East Indiamen off the Malabar coast.

Calling in at the Isle of St. Mary, one of the Mascerenas group, he met with another Portuguese ship of seventy guns, which he was fortunate enough to make a prize of. In this ship they found amongst the passengers the Viceroy of Goa. Carrying this rich prize to Zanzibar, they plundered her of a large amount of money.

Having now gathered a vast fortune, they thought it time to give up piracy, so they returned to the Island of St. Mary, where they made a share of their plunder, and the company broke up, many of them settling down amongst the natives. Captain Condent and some others sent from here a petition to the Governor of Mauritius asking for a pardon, and received answer that he would take them into his protection if they would destroy their ships. Having done this, they sailed to Mauritius, where they settled down, and Captain Condent married the Governor's sister-in-law.

A few years later the captain and his wife left the island and sailed to France, settling at St. Malo, where Condent drove a considerable trade as a merchant.

COOK, CAPTAIN EDWARD, or EDMUND.

Was on the Pacific coast with Captains Sharp and Sawkins, 1680. Being unable to keep order amongst his unruly crew, he resigned his ship and command to Captain John Cox, a New Englander. He commanded a barque in the successful sacking of Porto Bello in the same year in company with Sharp, Coxon, and others.

On land engagements his flag was a red one striped with yellow, on which was a device of a hand and sword.

COOK, GEORGE, _alias_ RAMEDAM.

An English renegade amongst the Barbary pirates of Algiers. Was gunner's mate when captured in the _Exchange_ in 1622. Brought to Plymouth and hanged.

COOK, WILLIAM.

Servant to Captain Edmund Cook, and was found, on being searched, to have on him a paper with the names of all his fellow pirates written on it, and was suspected of having prepared it to give to some of the Spanish prisoners. For this, Captain Walters put him in irons on January 7th, 1681.

He died on board ship on Monday, February 14th, 1681, off the coast of Chile.

COOKE, CAPTAIN JOHN.

This buccaneer was born in the Island of St. Christopher. "A brisk, bold man," he was promoted to the rank of quartermaster by Captain Yankey. On taking a Spanish ship, Cooke claimed the command of her, which he was entitled to, and would have gone in her with an English crew had not the French members of the crew, through jealousy, sacked the ship and marooned the Englishmen on the Island of Avache. Cooke and his men were rescued by another French buccaneer, Captain Tristram, and taken to the Island of Dominica. Here the English managed to get away with the ship, leaving Tristram and his Frenchmen behind on land. Cooke, now with a ship of his own, took two French ships loaded with wine. With this valuable cargo he steered northward, and reached Virginia in April, 1683. He had no difficulty in selling his wine for a good price to the New Englanders, and with the profits prepared for a long voyage in his ship, the _Revenge_. He took on board with him several famous buccaneers, including Dampier and Cowley, the latter as sailing master. They first sailed to Sierra Leone, then round the Horn to the Island of Juan Fernandez. Here Cooke was taken ill. His next stop was at the Galapagos Islands. Eventually Cooke died a mile or two off the coast of Cape Blanco in Mexico. His body was rowed ashore to be buried, accompanied by an armed guard of twelve seamen. While his grave was being dug three Spanish Indians came up, and asked so many questions as to rouse the suspicions of the pirates, who seized them as spies, but one escaping, he raised the whole countryside.

COOPER, CAPTAIN.

Commanded a pirate sloop, the _Night Rambler_. On November 14th, 1725, he took the _Perry_ galley (Captain King, commander), three days out from Barbadoes, and the following day a French sloop, and carried both prizes to a small island called Aruba, near Curaçao, where they plundered them and divided the spoil amongst the crew. The crews of the two prizes were kept on the island by Cooper for seventeen days, and would have starved if the pirate's doctor had not taken compassion on them and procured them food.

Upton, boatswain in the _Perry_, joined the pirates, and was afterwards tried and hanged in England.

COOPER, CAPTAIN.

On October 19th, 1663, he brought into Port Royal, Jamaica, two Spanish prizes, one the _Maria of Seville_, a royal azogue carrying 1,000 quintals of quicksilver for the King of Spain's mines in Mexico, besides oil, wine, and olives. Also a number of prisoners were taken, including several friars on their way to Campeachy and Vera Cruz. The buccaneers always rejoiced at capturing a priest or a friar, and these holy men generally experienced very rough treatment at the hands of the pirates.

Cooper's ship was a frigate of ten guns, and a crew of eighty men.

CORBET, CAPTAIN.

Sailed with Captain Heidon from Bantry Bay in the _John of Sandwich_ in 1564 to search for a good prize in which he might go a-pirating on his own account. The ship was wrecked on the Island of Alderney, and all the crew arrested. Corbett and several others escaped in a small boat.

CORNELIUS, CAPTAIN.

A contemporary of Howard Burgess North and other Madagascar pirates.

DE COSSEY, STEPHEN JAMES.

With three other pirates was tried and convicted in June, 1717, before the Vice-Admiralty Court at Charleston. The President of the Court was Judge Trot, a terror to all pirates, as he never failed to hang a guilty one. De Cossey and the other prisoners were found guilty of piratically taking the vessels _Turtle Dove_, _Penelope_, and the _Virgin Queen_.

COWARD, WILLIAM.

In November, 1689, with three men and a boy he rowed out to the ketch _Elinor_ (William Shortrigs, master), lying at anchor in Boston Harbour, and seized the vessel and took her to Cape Cod. The crew of the ketch could make no resistance as they were all down with the smallpox. The pirates were caught and locked up in the new stone gaol in Boston. Hanged on January 27th, 1690.

COWLEY, CAPTAIN C.

M.A. Cantab.

A man of high intelligence and an able navigator. In the year 1683 he sailed from Achamach or Cape Charles in Virginia for Dominica as sailing master of a privateer, the _Revenge_ (eight guns and fifty-two men), in company with Dampier and Captain John Cooke. As soon as they were away from the land, they turned buccaneers or pirates, and sailed to Sierra Leone in West Africa. Thence to the coast of Brazil, round the Horn, where Cowley mentions that owing to the intense cold weather the crew were able, each man, to drink three quarts of burnt brandy a day without becoming drunk.

On February 14th the buccaneers were abreast of Cape Horn, and in his diary Cowley writes: "We were choosing valentines and discoursing on the Intrigues of Woman, when there arose a prodigious storm," which lasted till the end of the month, driving them farther south than any ship had ever been before; "so that we concluded the discoursing of Women at sea was very unlucky and occasioned the storm." Cowley, who was addicted to giving new names to islands, not only named one Pepys Island, but when he arrived at the Galapagos Islands, he rechristened them most thoroughly, naming one King Charles Island, while others he named after the Dukes of York, Norfolk, and Albemarle, and Sir John Narborough. Feeling, no doubt, that he had done enough to honour the great, and perhaps to have insured himself against any future trouble with the authorities when he returned home, he named one small island "Cowley's Enchanted Isle."

The Earl of Alington, Lord Culpepper, Lord Wenman, all had islands in this group christened with their names and titles.

In September, 1684, Cowley, now in the _Nicholas_, separated from Davis, and sailed from Ampalla for San Francisco, and then started west to cross the Pacific Ocean. On March 14th, 1685, at seven o'clock in the morning, after a voyage of 7,646 miles, land was at last seen, which proved to be the Island of Guan.

The Spanish Governor was most friendly to the visitors, and when complaint was made to him that the buccaneers had killed some of his Indian subjects he "gave us a Toleration to kill them all if we would." Presents were exchanged, Cowley giving the Governor a valuable diamond ring, one, no doubt, taken off the hand of some other loyal subject of the King of Spain. Here the pirates committed several atrocious cruelties on the Indians, who wished to be friends with the foreigners.

In April they arrived at Canton to refit, and while there, thirteen Tartar ships arrived laden with Chinese merchandise, chiefly valuable silks. Cowley wanted to attack and plunder them, but his crew refused to do so, saying "they came for gold and silver, and not to be made pedlars, to carry packs on their backs," to Cowley's disgust, for he complains, "had Reason but ruled them, we might all have made our Fortunes and have done no Christian Prince nor their subjects any harm at all." Thence they sailed to Borneo, the animals and birds of which island Cowley describes. Sailing next to Timor, the crew mutinied, and Cowley and eighteen others bought a boat and sailed in her to Java, some 300 leagues. Here they heard of the death of King Charles II., which caused Cowley to get out his map of the Galapagos Islands, and to change the name of Duke of York Island to King James Island. At Batavia Cowley procured a passage in a Dutch ship to Cape Town. In June, 1686, he sailed for Holland after much health drinking and salutes of 300 guns, arriving in that country in September, and reaching London, "through the infinite Mercy of God," on October 12th, 1686.

COX, CAPTAIN JOHN. Buccaneer.

Born in New England, and considered by some of his fellow buccaneers "to have forced kindred upon Captain Sharp"--the leader of the fleet--"out of old acquaintance, only to advance himself." Thus he was made Vice-Admiral to Captain Sharp, in place of Captain Cook, whose crew had mutinied and refused to sail any longer under his command. Cox began his captaincy by getting lost, but after a fortnight rejoined the fleet off the Island of Plate, on the coast of Peru, "to the great joy of us all." This island received its name from the fact that Sir Francis Drake had here made a division of his spoils, distributing to each man of his company sixteen bowlfuls of doubloons and pieces of eight. The buccaneers rechristened it Drake's Island.

Cox took part in the attack on the town of Hilo in October, 1679, sacked the town and burnt down the large sugar factory outside. He led a mutiny against his relative and benefactor, Captain Sharp, on New Year's Day, 1681, being the "main promoter of their design" to turn him out. Sharp afterwards described his old friend as a "true-hearted dissembling New-England Man," who he had promoted captain "merely for old acquaintance-sake."

COXON, CAPTAIN JOHN. Buccaneer.

One of the most famous of the "Brethren of the Coast."

In the spring of 1677, in company of other English buccaneers, he surprised and plundered the town of Santa Marta on the Spanish Main, carrying away the Governor and the Bishop to Jamaica.

In 1679 Coxon, with Sharp and others, was fitting out an expedition in Jamaica to make a raid in the Gulf of Honduras, which proved very successful, as they brought back 500 chests of indigo, besides cocoa, cochineal, tortoiseshell, money, and plate.

Coxon was soon out again upon a much bolder design, for in December, 1679, he met Sharp, Essex, Allinson, Row, and other buccaneer chiefs at Point Morant, and in January set sail for Porto Bello. Landing some twenty leagues from the town, they marched for four days, arriving in sight of the town on February 17th, "many of them being weak, being three days without any food, and their feet cut with the rocks for want of shoes." They quickly took and plundered the town, hurrying off with their spoils before the arrival of strong Spanish reinforcements. The share of each man in this enterprise came to one hundred pieces of eight. A warrant was issued by Lord Carlisle, the Governor of Jamaica, for the apprehension of Coxon for plundering Porto Bello, and another was issued soon after by Morgan, when acting as Governor, but nothing seems to have resulted from these. Sailing north to Boca del Toro, they careened their ships, and were joined by Sawkins and Harris. From this place the buccaneers began, in April, 1680, to land and cross the Isthmus of Darien, taking the town of Santa Maria on the way. Quarrels took place between Coxon, who was, no doubt, a hot-tempered man, and Harris, which led to blows. Coxon was also jealous of the popular young Captain Sawkins, and refused to go further unless he was allowed to lead one of the companies. After sacking the town of Santa Maria, the adventurers proceeded in canoes down the river to the Pacific. Seizing two small vessels they found there, and accompanied by a flotilla of canoes, they steered for Panama, and, with the utmost daring, attacked, and eventually took, the Spanish fleet of men-of-war--one of the most remarkable achievements in the history of the buccaneers.

Coxon now quarrelled again with his brother leaders, and began a march back across the isthmus; his party of seventy malcontents including Dampier and Wafer, who each published accounts of their journey. By 1682 Coxon seems to have so ingratiated himself with the Jamaican authorities as to be sent in quest of a troublesome French pirate, Jean Hamlin, who was playing havoc with the English shipping in his vessel, _La Trompeuse_.

Later in the same year Coxon procured letters of marque from Robert Clarke, the Governor of New Providence Island, himself nothing better than a pirate, to go cruising as a "privateer." Coxon was continually being arrested and tried for piracy, but each time he managed to escape the gallows. We do not know the name of the ship Coxon commanded at this date, but it was a vessel of eighty tons, armed with eight guns, and carrying a crew of ninety-seven men.

COYLE, CAPTAIN RICHARD.

Born at Exeter in Devonshire.

An honest seafaring man until, when sailing as mate with Captain Benjamin Hartley, they arrived at Ancona with a cargo of pilchards. Here the captain took on board a new carpenter, called Richardson, who soon became a close friend of the mate's. These two brought about a mutiny, attacked the captain, and threw him, still alive, over the side to drown. Coyle was elected captain, and they sailed as pirates, in which capacity they were a disgrace to an ancient calling. After a visit to Minorca, which ended with ignominy, they sailed to Tunis, where Coyle told such a plausible yarn as to deceive the Governor into believing that he had been the master of a vessel lost in a storm off the coast of Sardinia. The pirates were supplied with money by the British Consul in Tunis; but Coyle, while in his cups, talked too freely, so that the true story of his doings got to the Consul's ears, who had him arrested and sent to London to be lodged in the Marshalsea Prison. Tried at the Old Bailey, he was sentenced to death, and was hanged at Execution Dock on January 25th, 1738.

CRACKERS, CAPTAIN.

A retired pirate who settled at Sierra Leone, and was living there in 1721. He had been famous in his day, having robbed and plundered many a ship. He owned the best house in the settlement, and was distinguished by having three cannons placed before his door, which he was accustomed to fire salutes from whenever a pirate ship arrived or left the port. He was the soul of hospitality and good fellowship, and kept open-house for all pirates, buccaneers, and privateersmen.

CRISS, CAPTAIN JOHN, _alias_ "JACK THE BACHELOR."

A native of Lorne in the North of Ireland.

His father was a fisherman, and little Jack used to go out with him, and then help him sell his fish at Londonderry. The lad grew up into a bold and handsome young fellow, "and many a girl cocked cap at him and he had great success amongst the ladies, and intrigued with every woman that gave him any encouragement."