From an engraving in Johnson’s “General History of the Pirates,” London, 1725, in possession of George Francis Dow.
[ Nix’s Mate, Boston Harbor, in 1775, where Captain Fly was gibbetted in 1726] 368
From an engraving in the “Atlantic Neptune,” Part III, London, 1781, in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
[ Monument on the shoal, formerly Nix’s Mate, in 1637 an island of more than ten acres] 368
From a photograph made about 1900.
[ Map of Cape Cod in 1717, showing the location of the pirate wreck] Back end-paper
From a chart surveyed and published by Capt. Cyprian Southack of Boston, now in possession of John W. Farwell.
INTRODUCTION
Why did men go a-pirating, or “on the account” as the pirates called it? The sailors said it was few ships and many men, hard work and small pay, long voyages, bad food and cruel commanders. “Hard ships make hard men.” “Many sailed but few returned.” “No kind words on deep water.” “No law off soundings.” “We live hard and die hard and go to Hell afterwards.” These are some of the sea sayings that have come down to us from long ago, and they go to prove that the narrow channel of sailor men was narrow indeed and full of rocks and shoals which could only be cleared by very careful steering.
The sea was ever a hard calling, especially in the days of which this work treats. The men before the mast were little better than slaves: “Growl you may but go you must” was the saying. Small pay (which they “earned like horses and spent like asses”), scanty food and often stinking water with generally hard usage turned many an honest sailorman into a desperate pirate.