John Julian – The Teenage Pirate
by Laura Nelson
There were only two
known survivors of the wreck of the Whydah Galley, commanded by Sam
Bellamy, in April, 1717: Thomas Davis, 22, a carpenter, and John
Julian, 16, a pilot. Listed in the majority of historical records as
a Cape Cod Indian, further research by the team which is recovering
artifacts from the wreck site of the Whydah has revealed that he may
have actually been a Miskito Indian from the region of Nicaragua and
Honduras in South America.
There is not a lot
of recorded information about John, but he does appear to have been
one of the earliest members of Sam Bellamy's crew. At the time of the
wreck of the Whydah, history records him as being about 16 years old.
Since Bellamy had been operating as a pirate for nearly two years at
the time, John was probably about 14 or 15 when he joined up with the
pirates.
According to
William Dampier, who interacted with the Moskito [sic] Indians circa
1687, “Their chiefest employment in their own country is to
strike fish, turtle, or manatee... For this they are esteemed and
coveted by all privateers; for one or two of them in a ship will
maintain 100 men; so that when we careen our ships we choose commonly
such places where there is plenty of turtle or manatee for these
Moskito men to strike; and it is very rare to find privateers
destitute of one or more of them when the commander or most of the
men are English.” (Dampier, locations 878-93.)
So it can be
surmised that somewhere in his travels along the coast of South
America, Sam Bellamy also interacted with some Miskito Indians, and
that was how John Julian came to be a member of their crew.
In
addition to their fishing skills, Dampier also says that, “They
are very ingenious at throwing the lance, fishgig, harpoon, or any
manner of dart,”
(Dampier, locations 878-93), skills which would have been very
valuable to a pirate. Dampier also goes on to comment that “They
often come with the seamen.”
(Dampier, locations 909-23.) So that it is apparently not uncommon
for Miskito Indians to join fishing and privateering crews of their
own will. So John was simply following a tribal tradition when he
took up with Sam Bellamy. He had survival and weapons skills and
knowledge of the local bays and coast, making him a prime addition to
Bellamy's crew.
So at 16 years old
John set out to travel the known world of the time and learned what
it was to have a vote in matters that directly affected his life and
to be accepted as a man and be judged for his abilities as a sailor
and a pilot, not for the color of his skin.
While sailing with
Bellamy, he traveled to such places as the Gulf of Honduras,
Portobello, Panama, Baya Honda, Cuba, Cape Corrientes and the Isle of
Pines, Puerto Rico and the north coast of Haiti, St. Croix and La
Isla Blanquilla, Venezuela. (Real Pirates, pgs. 52-58.)
Along the way he
would participate in capturing and plundering of ships and
experience what it meant to dress in fine clothes and have a pocket
full of money. He would also have had his name or initials or mark on
a treasure chest full of booty.
There is no
historical record mentioning John again until after the wreck of the
Whydah Galley on April 26, 1717. Nine pirates were arrested and put
on horse-back to be taken to Boston Gaol after the wreck. There were
the seven who survived the wreck of the prize ship Mary Anne:
Hendrick Quintor, Thomas South, Peter Cornelius Hoof, John Shuan,
John Brown, Thomas Baker, and Simon Van Vorst. Numbers eight and nine
were John and Thomas Davis. There also is not any specific
information available about how John was captured.
But unlike his
comrades, John did not stand trial for piracy. “Like many other
captured black and Native American pirates, the 16-year-old Miskito
Indian was separated from his mates and sold into slavery,”
(Real Pirates, pg. 137) The generally accepted story is that he was
sold to John Quincy (the grandfather of John Quincy Adams of Amistad
Fame), as “Julian the Indian.”ii
So
after having learned what it was to be treated and respected as a
man, you can imagine what it must have been like for him when his
prison guards and probably some others showed up at his cage to
announce he was being taken away to be sold into slavery.
He
must have fought, he must have screamed. Perhaps they had to knock
him on the back of the head to keep him quiet until they reached the
auction blocks. Did his former shipmates try to rescue him, or holler
for the to stop? It's possible, but there would have been very little
they could have done to stop them, being prisoners themselves. Or
perhaps they had simply been in jail so long that they no longer had
the spirit to speak up or fight.
And
what was it like for him on the auction block? People shouting out
prices as though he were livestock. In that era, he would have been
seen as pretty much just that: property to be bought and sold. Did he
stand quietly on the auction block, or did someone have to stand by
him to keep him restrained while the bidding went on?
Being
sold into slavery was a common fate for men of color who were
captured off of pirate ships. In 1722, the 75 black members of Bart
Roberts' crew were sold into slavery. (Real Pirates, pg. 146)
Not
surprisingly, John is reported to have not made a very good slave.
Imagine growing into manhood as someone's property; how many nights
did he spend lying awake in his hut or shack in someone's slave
quarters remembering the days of freedom and democracy as a pirate,
or his days of freedom in his boyhood in his native land?
There is a newspaper blurb reporting his upcoming execution. He is
said to have killed a bounty hunter while trying to escape. In the
blurb, he is described as an unhappy criminal. If this is the same
John Julian, he found freedom by dying.
It
was a scene that would play itself out over and over for almost 200
more years in the United States: the slave with the indomitable
spirit who runs away from his Master to seek a life as a free man and
a human being instead of someone's property.
And
what about the man who bought him? Why buy such an obviously
strong-willed youngster? Did he believe that he was so dominating and
John so young that he could beat the spirit out of him as was done to
Kunta Kinte to make him accept his white man's name of Toby in Roots?
Or did he truly believe that John, being colored, would simply
accept his situation and position in life and give in?
After
his execution, his body was turned over to “several young Students
in Physick, Surgery, etc.” and thereafter dissected as a learning
exercise.iii
Bibliography
Dampier, William, A
New Voyage Round the World, reprinted 1937 and published by A and
C Black, Ltd., Amazon Kindle DX edition. (Chapter 3 in the print
edition.)
Clifford, Barry, and
Kenneth J. Kinkor with Sharon Simpson, Real
Pirates, The Untold Story of the Whydah from slave ship to pirate
ship, National Geographic, Washington, D.C.
iWww.nationalgeographic/whydah/com/realpirates
Expedition Whydah/Biographies of the Pirates
iiWww.nationalgeographic/whydah/com/realpirates
Expedition Whydah/Biographies of the Pirates