Having found it impossible to right the pink, Low went to sea in the schooner and for lack of water, which could not be obtained at the Triangles, they soon were in bad shape. For sixteen days only half a pint of water a day was allowed each man. They tried to reach Tobago but the winds were light and the current strong and at last they stood away for the French island of Grand Grenada. When the port officers came on board they saw only men enough to man the ship. The rest were hidden below. Low told the Frenchmen that he was from Barbadoes and that his water casks had sprung aleak so he was obliged to put in for a supply. The story was swallowed and Low was permitted to send men ashore but after a time the Frenchmen became suspicious and the next day fitted out a large Rhode Island-built sloop and with thirty men aboard they sailed out into the harbor and had nearly come alongside the schooner before Low understood their intention. He at once called up his men on deck, some ninety in all, and with his eight guns to the Frenchman’s four, the sloop soon fell an easy prey.
Low now took over the sloop and gave the command of the schooner to Francis Farrington Spriggs, who had been his quartermaster, and they cruised together for some time, capturing seven or eight sloops and a rich Portuguese ship called “Nostra Signiora de Victoria.” Low tortured several of her men to compel them to disclose where the money was concealed on board and soon learned that during the chase of the ship the Portuguese captain had hung out of a cabin window, a canvas bag containing about eleven thousand gold moidores, the equivalent of nearly fifteen thousand English pounds, and when the ship was captured the captain cut the rope and let the bag drop into the sea. Low raved like a fury when he discovered what he had lost and ordered the unfortunate captain to be tied to the mast, when he slashed off the poor man’s lips with his cutlass and had them broiled before the galley fire and then compelled the Portuguese mate to eat them while hot from the fire. Captain and crew were then murdered, thirty-two persons in all.
Among the vessels captured about this time was the snow “Unity” from New York bound for Curacao, Robert Leonard, master, which was taken within sight of her destination. A man on board, who once belonged to a man-of-war, they whipped unmercifully and two of the crew were forced, viz.: Richard Owen and Frederick Van der Scure, both living in New York. The snow was taken on Jan. 25, 1723. Low also captured a snow bound from London for Jamaica, part of the cargo being wines shipped at Madeira, of which a generous stock was taken on board the sloop and the schooner.[110] Other captures were Captain Craig, in a sloop from the Bay of Honduras bound for New York, whom Low afterwards released so that he reached New York on April 27th. Captain Simpkins of New York on a sloop bound for Curacao, was taken in sight of the island and shortly released. The pink “Stanhope,” Andrew Delbridge, master, for Boston from Jamaica, was less fortunate and was burnt because of Low’s hatred for New England men.
After a time Low came to anchor off the island of Santa Cruz and while laying there took it into his head that he wanted a new doctor’s chest. Shortly before he had captured two French sloops which were then at anchor near him. So putting four Frenchmen in one of the sloops and handing them some money, he ordered them to make all haste to buy a doctor’s chest at St. Thomas, about twelve leagues distant, swearing that if they didn’t bring back the chest the other sloop should be burnt and the rest of the Frenchmen killed. To his great amusement within twenty-four hours they returned with the chest and according to promise the sloops and Frenchmen were then allowed to go.
From Santa Cruz, Low sailed for Curacao, meeting on the passage two sloops which outsailed him and got away. He then ranged the coast of New Spain and in the Gulf of Darien, about half-way between Carthagena and Porto Bello, sighted two ships which afterwards turned out to be the “Mermaid,” British man-of-war, and a large Guinea-man. Low was in the Rhode Island sloop that he had taken at Grand Grenada and Spriggs was in command of the Marblehead schooner “Fancy,” captured at Port Roseway the previous year. With them was the snow “Unity,” Captain Leonard, late commander, a recent capture. For some time Low made sail after the two ships until he came so near that he discovered his mistake and then there was nothing for him to do but to turn tail and run. The man-of-war of course gave chase and slowly overhauled Low’s fleet which was rapidly making towards the shoal water near the coast. Deciding to rid himself of the snow, the more unreliable of the forced men were put aboard and she was abandoned and Low and Spriggs took separate courses. As the sloop was the larger and carried more men, the “Mermaid” stood after her and was within gun-shot when she ran aground on a shoal. This happened because one of the men with Low knew of this uncharted shoal and telling him what course to steer the whole company thereby escaped hanging.[111] Spriggs, meanwhile, got safely into Pickaroon Bay, about eighteen leagues from Carthagena, and afterwards made sail for the Bay of Honduras and came to anchor near a small island called Utilla, about seven or eight leagues from the large island of Roatan and here the schooner was hove down and cleaned.
Five weeks had passed since Spriggs parted from Low and the day that he was ready to sail out of Utilla a large sloop was discovered bearing down on them. At first sight Spriggs thought her to be a Spanish privateer full of men and being much weaker in both guns and men he made sail and tried to get away. Low, who was in the sloop, had recognized the schooner at once and when she tried to escape imagined that she had been captured from Spriggs, so he fired a shot that struck the schooner in the bow. Spriggs, still failing to recognize the sloop, continued on his course and Low then hoisted his pirate colors and discovered who he was, to the uproarious joy of them all. The next day the two vessels went into Roatan harbor where Low careened and cleaned the bottom of the sloop, the crews meanwhile living on shore in booths which they built for shelter. There was much drinking and carousing. By Saturday, the 9th of March, all was in readiness for another foray and the long-boat brought off the last of the casks from the watering place. It was here that Philip Ashton, a Marblehead fisherman who had been forced at Port Roseway, the previous year, made his escape into the forest growth, where he lived a solitary existence for nine months, as will be told in another chapter.
By the Boston newspapers of May, 1723, it appears that Low and Spriggs were not the only pirates ranging the Bay of Honduras at that time. On the 10th of March, 1723, quite a fleet of New England vessels were there busily engaged in loading logwood. Three sloops hailing from Newport, Rhode Island, commanded by Captains Benjamin Norton, John Madbury and Jeremiah Clark, were nearly ready to sail. In addition there was a Boston sloop commanded by Capt. Edward Lyde, and a brigantine from the same port; a ship and a snow; and two or three other sloops that hailed from New York, one commanded by Captain Spafforth and another by Captain Craig. That morning a Spanish privateer of six guns and about sixty men came upon the small fleet that lay there at anchor. One of the Boston captains, Lyde, immediately cut his cables and made sail and although chased by the privateer succeeded in getting away safely. He lacked fresh water for the homeward passage, however, and so stood in for a small creek farther up the coast and while there learned from some Bay men that the Spaniard had taken all the other vessels. But this victory was short-lived for only four hours later Captains Low and Spriggs came sailing in to the anchorage flying Spanish colors which were hauled down as they came near the privateer and the black flag hoisted. Low fired a broadside and boarded at once. The Spaniards were greatly outnumbered and made no resistance, so Low’s men fell to plundering the vessel, soon finding the New England captains confined in the hold. When Low learned of the captures made by the Spaniards it was decided after a short discussion to kill the entire company, so they fell to with their cutlasses, pollaxes and pistols and soon wiped out nearly all of them. Some who jumped overboard were knocked in the head by men who manned the canoe belonging to the sloop. Seven of the younger and more active men did succeed in reaching the shore and escaped into the forest growth in more or less wounded condition. In one account of this affair it is related that while Low’s men were on shore carousing, one of the unfortunate Spaniards who reached shore, in his extremity came crawling out to them begging for God’s sake they would give him quarter. One of the crew took hold of him and said, “G— d— you, I will give you good quarters presently,” and forcing the unfortunate Spaniard to his knees, pushed the muzzle of his fusil into his mouth and fired down his throat.
ONE OF LOW’S CREW KILLING A WOUNDED SPANIARD
From an engraving in Johnson’s “Historie der Engelsche Zee-roovers,” Amsterdam, 1725, in the Harvard College Library
The captains who had been confined in the hold of the privateer Low ordered released and restored to their vessels, but made them solemnly promise not to steer for Jamaica for fear that a man-of-war should learn of his whereabouts. He threatened them with instant death in case they met again, should they violate their promise. The carpenter of the snow he forced and after burning the privateer sloop, the pirate sailed boisterously away steering for the Leeward Islands.