WIlliam Allen deposed, he knew this Prisoner at Sierraleon, 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, apply’d 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 Jossee, 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 Sierraleon River, where the Prisoner, (as Seignior Jossee assured the Deponent,) entered a Voluntier 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 Pyrates did design to turn Davis away the next Opportunity, as an idle good-for-nothing Fellow.
From Glasby and Lilburn, it was evident, that every Pyrate, while they stay’d at Sierraleon, went on Shore at Discretion. That Roberts had often assured Mr. Glyn and other Traders, at that Place, that he would force no Body; 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 alledged his having been detained against his Will, and says, that returning with Elephants Teeth for Sierraleon, the Pyrate’s Boat pursued and brought him on Board, where he was kept on Account of his understanding the Pilotage and Navigation of that River.
It was obvious to the Court, not only how frivolous Excuses of Constraint and Force were among these People, at their first commencing Pyrates, but also it was plain to them, from these two Deserters, met at Cape Mount, and the discretional Manner they lived in, at Sierraleon; thro’ how little Difficulty several of them did, and others might, have escaped afterwards, if they could but have obtained their own Consents for it. Guilty.
This is the Substance of the Tryals of Roberts’s Crew, which may suffice for others, that occur in this Book. The foregoing Lists, shews, by a * before the Names, who were condemn’d; those Names with a † were referred for Tryal to the Marshalsea, and all the rest were acquitted.
The following Pyrates were executed, according to their Sentence, without the Gates of Cape Corso-Castle, within the Flood-Marks, viz.
The Remainder of the Pyrates, whose Names are under mentioned, upon their humble Petition to the Court, had their Sentence changed from Death, to seven Years Servitude, conformable to our Sentence of Transportation; the Petition is as follows.
To the Honourable the President and Judges of the Court of Admiralty, for trying of Pyrates, sitting at Cape Corso-Castle; the 20th Day of April, 1722.