The Court observed the excuses of these pirates about want of means to escape, was oftentimes as poor and evasive as their pleas of being forced at first; for here, at Sierra Leone, every man had his liberty on shore, and, it was evident, might have kept it, if he, or they, had so pleased. And such are further culpable, who having been introduced into the society by such uncivil methods as whipping, or beating, neglect less likely means of regaining liberty; it shows strong inclinations to dishonesty, and they stand inexcusably. Guilty.
Jo. Mansfield.
It was proved against this prisoner, by Captain Trahern and George Fenn, that he was one of those volunteers who was at the attack and robbery of the Company’s ship called the King Solomon. That he bullied well among them who dared not make any reply, but was very easy with his friends, who knew him; for Moody on this occasion took a large glass from him, and threatened to blow his brains out (a favourite phrase with these pirates) if he muttered at it.
From others acquitted it likewise appeared that he was at first a volunteer among them, from an island called Dominico, in the West Indies, and had, to recommend himself, told them he was a deserter from the Rose man-of-war, and, before that, had been on the highway; he was always drunk, they said, and so bad at the time they met with the Swallow, that he knew nothing of the action, but came up vapouring with his cutlass, after the Fortune had struck her colours, to know who would go on board the prize; and it was some time before they could persuade him into the truth of their condition.
He could say little in defence of himself, acknowledged this latter part of drunkenness; a vice, he says, that had too great a share in ensnaring him into this course of life, and had been a greater motive with him than gold. Guilty.
William Davis.
William Allen deposed he knew this prisoner at Sierra Leone, belonging to the Ann galley; that he had a quarrel with, and beat, the mate of that ship, for which, as he said, being afraid to return to his duty, he consorted to the idle customs and ways of living among the negroes, from whom he received a wife, and ungratefully sold her one evening for some punch to quench his thirst. After this, having put himself under the protection of Mr. Plunket, governor there for the Royal African Company, the relations and friends of the woman applied to him for redress, who immediately surrendered the prisoner, and told them he did not care if they took his head off; but the negroes wisely judging it would not fetch so good a price, they sold him in his turn again to Seignior Jessee, a Christian black, and native of that place, who expected and agreed for two years’ service from him, on consideration of what he had disbursed for the redemption of the woman. But long before the expiration of this time Roberts came into Sierra Leone river, where the prisoner, as Seignior Jessee assured the deponent, entered a volunteer with them.
The deponent further corroborates this part of the evidence, in that he being obliged to call at Cape Mount, in his passage down hither, met there with two deserters from Roberts’s ship, who assured him of the same, and that the pirates did design to turn Davis away the next opportunity as an idle, good-for-nothing fellow.
From Glasby and Lillburn it was evident, that every pirate, while they stayed at Sierra Leone, went on shore at discretion. That Roberts had often assured Mr. Glynn and other traders at that place, that he would force nobody; and, in short, there was no occasion for it; in particular, the prisoner’s row-mate went away, and thinks he might have done the same if he had pleased.
The prisoner alleged his having been detained against his will, and says that, returning with elephants’ teeth for Sierra Leone, the pirates’ boat pursued and brought him on board, where he was kept on account of his understanding the pilotage and navigation of that river.