FOOTNOTES
[177] This was the man who enticed Anne Bonny to go to sea with him and become a female pirate.
[178] Advertisement. John Smith of Boston in New England late Mate of the Briganteen Rebecca of Charlestown burthen’d about Ninety Tuns whereof James Flucker was late Commander and Charles Meston of Boston aforesaid Mariner, late belonging to the said Briganteen, severally Declare and say, That the said Briganteen in her Voyage from St. Christophers to Boston, on the Twenty-eighth of May last past, being in the Latitude of Thirty Eight Degrees and odd Minutes North, the said Briganteen was taken by a Pirate Sloop, Commanded by one Lowther, having near one Hundred Men, and Eight Guns mounted. The Day after the said Briganteen was taken, the said Pirate parted their Company. Forty of them went on Board the said Brigantine Commanded by Edward Loe of Boston aforesaid, Mariner; and the rest of the said Pirates went on board the Sloop, Commanded by the said Lowther. And Declarants further say, That Joseph Sweetser of Charlestown aforesaid, and Richard Rich and Robert Willis of London, Mariners, all belonging to the said Brigantine, were forced and compelled against their Wills to go with the said Pirates, viz. Joseph Sweetser and Richard Rich on board the Brigantine, & Robert Willis on Board the Sloop. The said Willis having broke his Arm by a Fall from the Mast, desired that considering his Condition they would let him go; but they utterly refused and forced him away with them.
Signum John Smith
Charles Meston
Suffolk ss. Boston, June 12, 1722.
The abovenamed John Smith and Charles Meston personally appearing, made Oath to the Truth of the aforewritten Declaration.
Coram me J. Willard, Secr. & J. Pac.
—New England Courant, June 18, 1722.
[179] Johnson, History of the Pirates, London, 1726.
[180] By the old English law the clergy were exempted from trial before a secular judge. This privilege was afterwards extended, for many offences, to all laymen who could read. The legal recognition of the “Benefit of the Clergy” was not wholly repealed until 1827.
[181] Calendar of State Papers, America and West Indies, 1699, p. 746.
[182] The origin of this emblem is not known but it dates back at least to the fourteenth century. The existing silver oar of the High Court of Admiralty in England is believed to be of Tudor date, and that of the Cinque Ports, now preserved at Dover Castle, England, is of an earlier period. The silver oar had inscribed on its blade, the Royal Arms, an anchor, or some similar device. Miniature silver oars were also in use as badges of authority when effecting arrests under the order of an Admiralty Court. See an article on “The Jurisdiction of the Silver Oar of the Admiralty,” in the Nautical Magazine, Vol. XLVI (1877).—W. G. Perrin, The Library, Admiralty, London. Admiralty Courts in America continue to use the oar as an emblem of authority. The oar preserved in the Federal Building, Boston, is made of wood.
[183] This was because the Admiralty Courts, in theory and practice, had authority over acts committed on the sea and that control ceased at high-water mark.
APPENDIX
I
Captain Ploughman’s Privateering Commission
Joseph Dudley, Esq; Captain General and Governour in Chief, in and over Her Majesties Provinces of the Massachusetts Bay, and New-Hampshire in New-England in America, and Vice-Admiral of the same. To Capt. Daniel Plowman, Commander of the Briganteen Charles of Boston, Greeting.
Whereas Her Sacred Majesty ANNE by the Grace of GOD, of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, QUEEN, Defender of the Faith, &c. Hath an Open and Declared War against France and Spain, their Vassals and Subjects. And Forasmuch as you have made Application unto Me for Licence to Arm, Furnish and Equip the said Briganteen in Warlike manner, against Her Majesties said Enemies, I do accordingly Permit and Allow the same; And, Reposing special Trust and Confidence in your Loyalty, Courage and good Conduct, Do by these Presents, by Virtue of the Powers and Authorities contained in Her Majesties Royal Commission to Me granted, Impower and Commissionate you the said Daniel Plowman, to be Captain or Commander of the said Briganteen Charles, Burthen Eighty Tuns or thereabouts: Hereby Authorizing you in and with the said Briganteen and Company to her belonging, to War, Fight, Take, Kill, Suppress and Destroy, any Pirates, Privateers, or other the Subjects and Vassals of France, or Spain, the Declared Enemies of the Crown of England, in what Place soever you shall happen to meet them; Their Ships, Vessels and Goods, to take and make Prize of. And your said Briganteens Company are Commanded to Obey you as their Captain: And your self in the Execution of this Commission, to Observe and Follow the Orders and Instructions herewith given you. And I do hereby Request all Governors and Commanders in Chief, of any of Her Majesties Territories, Islands, Provinces or Plantations, where the said Captain or Commander shall arrive with his said Vessel and Men: And all Admirals, Vice-Admirals and Commanders of Her Majesties Ships of War, and others, that may happen to meet him at Sea; Also all Officers and Subjects of the Friends or Allies of Her said Sacred Majesty, to permit him the said Captain or Commander with his said Vessel, Men, and the Prizes that he may have taken, freely and quietly to pass and repass, without giving or suffering him to receive any Trouble or Hindrance, but on the contrary all Succour and Assistance needful. And this Commission is to continue in Force for the Space of Six Months next ensuing (if the War so long last) and not afterwards. Given under my Hand and Seal at Arms at Boston the Thirteenth Day of July: In the Second Year of Her said Majesties Reign, Annoque Domini, 1703.
By His Excellencies Command,
Isaac Addington, Secr.
II
Captain Ploughman’s Instructions
Province of the Massachusetts
Bay in New-England.
By His Excellency Joseph Dudley, Esq; Captain-General
and Governour in Chief, &c.
Instructions to be Observed by Capt. Daniel Plowman, Commander of the Briganteen Charles of Boston, In Pursuance of the Commission herewith given him.
First, You are to keep such good Orders among your said Briganteen’s Company, that Swearing Drunkenness and Prophaneness be avoided, or duly Punished; And that GOD be duly worshipped.
2dly, You are upon all Occasions to Endeavour the maintaining of Her Majesties Honour, and to give Protection to Her Subjects, by endeavouring to secure them in their Trade, and in no wise to hurt or injure any of Her Majesties Subjects, Friends or Allies.
3dly. You are to take, seize, sink, or destroy any of the Ships, Vessels or Goods belonging to France or Spain, their Vassals or Subjects, the Declared Enemies of the Crown of England. And all such Ships and Vessels with their Lading, Goods, and Merchandizes, which you shall happen to seize or take, you are to carry or send into some Port or Ports within Her Majesties Kingdom or Dominions, to be proceeded against and adjudged: And if near this Coast, then to bring or send them to Boston, your Commission Port.
4thly. You are to take effectual Care, That no Money, Goods, Merchandizes, or what else shall be taken by you in any Ship, Vessel, or otherwise, be Imbezelled, Purloyned, Concealed, or Conveyed away. And that Bulk be not broken until the same be first adjudged to be Lawful Prize: And Order given for the landing and securing thereof, as by Law is directed. And likewise you are carefully to preserve all Books, Papers, Letters and Writings which shall be found in any Ship or Vessel to be by you taken, to the intent a more clear Evidence and Discovery may be made to what Persons such Ship or Vessel and her Lading did belong.
5thly. You are to take care, That no Person or Persons taken or surprized by you in any Ship or Vessel as aforesaid, though known to be of the Enemies side, be in cold Blood killed, maimed, or by Torture or Cruelty inhumanly treated contrary to the Common Usage or Just Permission of War.
6thly. You are to keep a fair Journal of all your Proceedings, That so you may be the better enabled to give a Copy thereof when you shall be thereunto duly required.
7thly. You may not at any time wear on Board your said Briganteen, by Virtue of the said Commission, any other Jack than that Ordered by Her Majesties Royal Proclamation, of the Eighteenth of December 1702, to be worn by such Ships as have Commission of Mart or Reprizal; and upon meeting with any of Her Majesties Ships of War, you are to pay all Customary Respect unto them, according to the Laws and Orders of the Sea.
8thly. You may not enter or retain on Board your said Briganteen any Mens Sons under Age, or Servants, contrary to the Law of this Province: And before you depart with your said Briganteen from the same, you are to deliver into the Secretaries Office a List by you signed, of the Names of the Company belonging to your said Briganteen with the Place of their Respective Dwellings, or Aboad, as near as you can learn; and such of them as are Inhabitants, or belonging to this Province, you are to bring back with you to the same, or use your best Endeavours so to do, not willingly leaving any of them behind in other Parts.
9thly. You are to take care, That the Prisoners which you shall take in any Prize Ship or Vessel, or so many of them as you may be able to keep under Command (especially the Officers or more Principal of them) be brought or sent into your Commission Port, or where else within Her Majesties Dominions you send your Prizes: To the intent there may be the more full Evidences for Condemning the same, and also an advantage for the Exchange of Prisoners.
Lastly. You are carefully to observe and keep all the foregoing Articles and Instructions, and not to make any breach thereof, or of Her Majesties Laws, respecting Letters of Reprisal, and Prize Ships and Goods; and to see that the full and just Parts and Shares of all such Vessels and Goods as shall be taken and seized by you, by Law accruing unto Her Majesty, and the Lord High Admiral, be duly and truly answered and paid.
Given under my Hand at Boston, the Thirteenth Day of July, in the Second Year of Her Majesties Reign, Annoque Domini, 1603.
Copy of the Instructions given unto me J. DUDLEY.
Daniel Plowman.
Register.
III
The Dying Speeches of Captain Quelch and his Companions
An Account of the Behaviour and last Dying
SPEECHES
Of the Six Pirates, that were Executed on Charles River, Boston side, on Fryday June 30th. 1704. Viz.
Capt. John Quelch, John Lambert, Christopher Scudamore, John Miller, Erasmus Peterson and Peter Roach.
The Ministers of the Town, had used more than ordinary Endeavours, to Instruct the Prisoners, and bring them to Repentance. There were Sermons Preached in their hearing, Every Day: And Prayers daily made with them. And they were Catechised; and they had many occasional Exhortations. And nothing was left, that could be done for their Good.
On Fryday the 30th. of June 1704. Pursuant to Orders in the Dead Warrant, the aforesaid Pirates were guarded from the Prison in Boston, by Forty Musketeers, Constables of the Town, the Provost Marshal and his Officers, &c. with Two Ministers, who took great pains to prepare them for the last Article of their Lives. Being allowed to walk on Foot through the Town, to Scarlets Wharff; where the Silver Oar being carried before them; they went by Water to the Place of Execution, being Crowded and thronged on all sides with Multitudes of Spectators. The Ministers then Spoke to the Malefactors, to this Effect.
“We have told you often, ye we have told you Weeping, That you have by Sin undone your selves; That you were born Sinners, That you have lived Sinners, That your Sins have been many and mighty; and that the Sins for which you are now to Dy, are of no common aggravation. We have told you, That there is a Saviour for Sinners, and we have shewn you, how to commit your selves into His Saving and Healing Hands. We have told you, That if He Save you, He will give you an hearty Repentance for all your Sins, and we have shown you how to Express that Repentance. We have told you, What Marks of Life, must be desired for your Souls, that you may Safely appear before the Judgment Seat of God. Oh! That the means used for your Good, may by the Grace of God be made Effectual. We can do no more, but leave you in His Merciful Hands!
“When they were gone up upon the Stage, and Silence was Commanded, One of the Ministers Prayed.”...
They then severally Spoke, Viz.
I. Capt. John Quelch. The last Words he spake to One of the Ministers at his going up the Stage, were, I am not afraid of Death, I am not afraid of the Gallows, but I am afraid of what follows; I am afraid of a Great God, and a Judgment to Come. But he afterwards seem’d to brave it out too much against that fear: also when on the Stage first he pulled off his Hat, and bowed to the Spectators, and not Concerned, nor behaving himself so much like a Dying man as some would have done. The Ministers had in the Way to his Execution, much desired him to Glorify God at his Death, by bearing a due Testimony against the Sins that had ruined him, and for the ways of Religion which he had much neglected: yet now being called upon to speak what he had to say, it was but thus much; Gentlemen, ’Tis but little I have to speak: What I have to say is this, I desire to be informed for what I am here, I am Condemned only upon Circumstances. I forgive all the World: So the Lord be Merciful to my Soul. When Lambert was Warning the Spectators to beware of Bad-Company, Quelch joyning, They should also take care how they brought Money into New-England, to be Hanged for it!
II. John Lambert. He appeared much hardened, and pleaded much on his Innocency: He desired all men to beware of Bad Company; he seem’d in a great Agony near his Execution: he called much and frequently on Christ, for Pardon of Sin, that God Almighty would Save his innocent Soul: he desired to forgive all the World: his last words were, Lord, forgive my Soul! Oh, receive me into Eternity! blessed Name of Christ receive my Soul.——
III. Christopher Scudamore. He appeared very Penitent since his Condemnation, was very diligent to improve his time going to, and at the place of Execution.
IV. John Miller. He seem’d much concerned, and complained of a great Burden of Sins to answer for; Expressing often, Lord! What shall I do to be Saved!
V. Erasmus Peterson. He cryed of injustice done him; and said, it is very hard for so many mens Lives to be taken away for a little Gold. He often said, his Peace was made with God; and his Soul would be with God: yet extream hard to forgive those he said wronged him: He told the Executioner, he was a strong man, and Prayed to be put out of misery as soon as possible.
VI. Peter Roach. He seem’d little concerned, and said but little or nothing at all.
Francis King was also Brought to the place of Execution, but Repriev’d.
Printed for and Sold by Nicholas Boone, at his Shop near the Old Meeting-House in Boston, 1704.
IV
John Fillmore’s Narrative
In 1802, there was published at Suffield, Conn., a pamphlet of twelve pages with the following title, viz:—
“Narrative of the Singular Sufferings of John Fillmore and others on board the noted Pirate Vessel Commanded by Captain Phillips”....
This pamphlet was reprinted at Johnstown in 1809 and at Aurora, N. Y. in 1837, and again, in the “Publications of the Buffalo Historical Society,” Volume X. It was written when John Fillmore was an old man and the testimony given at the trial of the pirates shows it to be inaccurate in some particulars. It preserves, however, biographical details which are probably correct.
Fillmore relates that his father was a sailor who was taken into Martinico by a French frigate where he was imprisoned and suffered many hardships so that when sent home in a French cartel he died on the voyage. Young Fillmore was apprenticed to a carpenter and across the road from where he lived was a tailor who had an apprentice named William White who afterwards went to sea. When young Fillmore met him again it was on board Phillips’ pirate vessel off the Newfoundland coast.
When seventeen years old Fillmore went to sea in the sloop “Dolphin,” Captain Haskell, and was taken by Phillips soon after reaching the fishing grounds. “Having heard of the cruelties committed by Phillips,” he refused to go on board his vessel until White came back with an order to bring him on board “dead or alive.” He states that while with Phillips he was assigned the helm for much of the time, and on one occasion when a fine merchant ship was sighted, Captain Phillips “walked the deck with his glass in his hand” and damned young Fillmore for not steering as well as he thought he should and at last struck him over the head with his broadsword, cutting his hat. The merchant was light and a better sailer and so got away.
When Fern, the carpenter, attempted to get away the second time, Phillips ran his sword through his body and then blew out his brains with a pistol. Phillips also killed a young friend of Fillmore’s in the same manner.
Fillmore represents that he played a very active part in the overthrow of the pirates, which he initiated the evening before by burning the soles of the feet of White and Archer, as they lay dead drunk below deck, so that they were unable to come on deck the next day. At the time of the attack the master was preparing to take an observation and “the quartermaster was in the cabin drawing out some leaden slugs for a musket.” Fillmore relates that he split open the head of the boatswain with a broadax, hit the captain on the head and stunned him and when the quartermaster, hearing the noise, came running out of the cabin with a hammer in his hand he “gave him a blow on the back of his head cutting his wig and neck almost off so that his head hung down before him.” As Archer was the quartermaster of the vessel and was supposed to be suffering with burned feet and unable to come on deck, Fillmore at this point seems to add embroidery to his narrative. He also states that three of the pirates were sent to England for trial and hanged there.
James Cheeseman returned to England where he was rewarded by the Government, says Fillmore, and enjoyed until his death the office of quartermaster in the dockyard at Portsmouth.
V
An “Act of Grace”
From time to time proclamations were published granting a gracious pardon to those guilty of acts of piracy who would surrender themselves to the authorities on or before a certain date. These offers of pardon were known as “Acts of Grace.” The proclamation made in 1717, which brought about the great surrender of pirates in the Bahamas, is here reprinted.
By the King
A PROCLAMATION for Suppressing of PYRATES
“Whereas we have received information, that several Persons, Subjects of Great Britain, have, since the 24th Day of June, in the Year of our Lord, 1715, committed divers Pyracies and Robberies upon the High-Seas, in the West-Indies, or adjoyning to our Plantations, which hath and may Occasion great Damage to the Merchants of Great Britain, and others trading into those Parts; and tho’ we have appointed such a Force as we judge sufficient for suppressing the said Pyrates, yet the more effectually to put an End to the same, we have thought fit, by and with the Advice of our Privy Council, to Issue this our Royal Proclamation; and we do hereby promise, and declare, that in Case any of the said Pyrates, shall on, or before, the 5th of September, in the Year of our Lord 1718, surrender him or themselves, to one of our Principal Secretaries of State in Great Britain or Ireland, or to any Governor or Deputy Governor of any of our Plantations beyond the Seas; every such Pyrate and Pyrates so surrendering him, or themselves, as aforesaid, shall have our gracious Pardon, of, and for such, his or their Pyracy, or Piracies, by him or them committed, before the fifth of January next ensuing. And we do hereby strictly charge and command all our Admirals, Captains, and other Officers at Sea, and all our Governors and Commanders of any Forts, Castles, or other Places in our Plantations, and all other our Officers Civil and Military, to seize and take such of the Pyrates, who shall refuse or neglect to surrender themselves accordingly. And we do hereby further declare, that in Case any Person or Persons, on, or after, the 6th Day of September, 1718, shall discover or seize, or cause or procure to be discovered or seized, any one or more of the said Pyrates, so refusing or neglecting to surrender themselves as aforesaid, so as they may be brought to Justice, and convicted of the said Offence, such Person or Persons, so making such Discovery or Seizure, or causing or procuring such Discovery or Seizure to be made, shall have and receive as a Reward for the same, viz. for every Commander of any private Ship or Vessel, the Sum of 100 l. for every Lieutenant, Master, Boatswain, Carpenter, and Gunner, the Sum of 40 l. for every inferior Officer, the Sum of 30 l. and for every private Man, the Sum of 20 l. And if any Person or Persons, belonging to, and being Part of the Crew, of any Pyrate Ship and Vessel, shall, on or after the said sixth Day of September, 1718, seize and deliver, or cause to be seized or delivered, any Commander or Commanders, of such Pyrat Ship or Vessel, so as that he or they be brought to Justice, and convicted of the said Offence, such Person or Persons, as a Reward for the same, shall receive for every such Commander, the Sum of 200 l. which said Sums, the Lord Treasurer, or the Commissioners of our Treasury for the time being, are hereby required, and desired to pay accordingly.
“Given at our Court, at Hampton-Court, the fifth Day of September, 1717, in the fourth Year of our Reign.
GEORGE R.
“God save the KING.”
Boston harbor from the survey in the “English Pilot,” Part IV. London, 1707
From an original in the Harvard College Library.
Map of Cape Cod in 1717, showing the location of the pirate wreck
From a chart surveyed and published by Capt. Cyprian Southack of Boston, now in possession of John W. Farwell.