The Crewmen

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

iiiThe Boston Newsletter, on March 30, 1733