Piracy in the North Atlantic after the wreck of the Whydah

"John Newman to Governor Shute" Gloucester. May 12, 1717. Massachusetts Archives 51:290.

May it please yr. Excelonsy,

            This morning my Self & some of the malitia of our town received Information of a sloop that was come into our town this morning that gave an account that they had bin taken by the pirates and Immediately we sent for two of the men that came in the Sloop, whos names are John Pearce & Richard Martin who gave the following account & Information, who say, that they being on bord a Sloop of which one Mr. Daniel Collins was master belonging to this town of Glocestor and in their way to the Eastward on a fishing voyage on the tenth day of this instant about Eight of the clock in the morning we being about fourty Leagues to the Eastward of Cape Ann we saw a small sloop  to windward of us of about twenty five Tuns which we tooke to be a fisherman & she bore down towards us & we saw but four men on bord her & when she came prittey nigh shee hailed us & asked wher wee belonged & we told them to Cape Ann & we asked wher they belonged they said to Boston & immediately there came up on deck severall men more well armed & Immediately they run us on bord and four of them Jumpt on board our vessell which was a sloope of about fourty tuns & took us prisoners  there was nineteen of the Pirates & they tould us that they ware the only men that Escaped that belonged to the Ship that run on shoar at Cape Cod and that they made there Escape in the long boat & said that they had taken three Shallops & three Scooners that belonged to Marbleh­ead & had sett them att liberty again to goe about there business and did them noe damage. 

            They kept us prisoners about twelve hours in which time they tooke what goods & things that was on bord ther Sloop which was severall Chests Trunks & bail goods and brought them on bord our sloop and then they gave us & two men more which came home with us one of which men belonged to the Sloop they ware in when she was taken, the Sloop which we came home in & bid us make the best of our way home. 

            They Kept our master & two more of our men & the Master that did belong to the Sloop they ware in when they tooke her. And they tould our master that as soon as they could meet with a vessell that they liked they would sett him & his vessell att liberty again & if they did not meete with a vessell in a little time they would sett him & his vessell at Liberty in Twenty five days and that they would sattisfy him well for what damage he should sustain by being put out of his way & then we came away from them, and when we left them they stood away about South South East but did not tell us where they Intended to goe. They also gave us acct. of three sloop more that ware on the Coast of Tenn Gunns apeice & with a hundred & niney men in Each Sloope.

            Our people are prittey much surprized for feare any of said Pirates should come on Shoar and Rob us we haveing noe fortifica­tion to secure Our harbour though we shall be as careful as we can & have Ordered a watch & also designe to Keep aware to see if we can make any discovery. Mr. Allin the hear of who is Ensigne of one of our foott companies was present when the above named persons were Examined  wee would humbly crave your Excelonsy's advice for any thing further that may be done and if we can gain any further Information shall forwith according to my duty acquaint your Exocelensy with it.

Fragment concerning Labous

The

corsair was immediately invited to dine with

the Governor, seating himself between His

Excellency and the Portuguese Viceroy, then

and there arranging for the latter’s ransom,

and,

in spite of the pleasant tale told by

Bemardin de St. Pierre of his refusing to

take anything for the release of so agreeable

a gentleman, actually carrying off the ship in

default of getting the two thousand dollars

demanded, for which misconduct Capitaine

Olivier Levasseur was hanged at Bourbon on

the 17th July, 1730, having failed to get himself

included in the Act of Grace.

Introduction to “Robert Drury’s Journal,” etc., by 

Captain Oliver, R.A. (1890). pp. 24, 25. 

The amnesty granted in 1721 to the pirates 

who chose to become colonists of Bourbon 

did not prevent them from attacking ships, 

even in the roadstead of St. Denis. 


Fragments from The Story of Africa and It's Explorers, Robert Brown, Vol. 1

Levasseur and the Viceroy of Goa

The celebrated author of “Paul and Virginia,” the very capable engineer, M. Bernardin de St. Pierre, who visited Bourbon on his way back from Mauritius in 1770, relates that the French India Company had also a factory at St. Denis, and a governor who lived with them (the pirates) in great circumspection. The Viceroy of Goa, the Comte d’Ericeira, came (on April 8, 1721) to anchor in the road of St. Denis, and was to dine with the Governor, M. Desforges Boucher. He had scarcely set his foot on shore before a pirate ship of fifty guns anchored alongside his vessel and took her. 

The pirate captain landed forthwith, and demanded to dine at the Governor’s. He seated himself at table between him and the Portuguese Viceroy, to whom he declared that he was his prisoner. 

Wine and good cheer having put the Pirate in good humour, Mons. Desforges Boucher asked him at how much he rated the Viceroy’s ransom.

“I must have a thousand dollars,” said the Pirate. 

“That is far too little,” said the astute M. Boucher to the Pirate, Olivier Levasseur (surnamed La Buse, of Calais), “for a brave freebooter like yourself to accept from a grand lord like the Viceroy Ask something handsome, or ask nothing.”

“Well said,” cried the Corsair, “I shall ask nothing; the Viceroy is free to go.”

“The Viceroy,” says St. Pierre, “re-embarked instantly, and set sail, happy at having escaped on such good terms.”

Unfortunately the records spoil St. Pierre’s good story; for it is related that the crew of the Portuguese ship were landed, as the ransom of two thousand dollars was not forthcoming, and that Capitaine Olivier Levasseur took off his ship, for which act of piracy he was hung subsequently on July 17, 1730, at Bourbon, having failed to get himself included in the amnesty.

Madagascar or Robert Drury's Journal during Fifteen Years Captivity on that Island

written by himself

London , p. 94

What happened after separating from Bellamy

Something interesting about the Whydah I found while surfing around Wkipedia:

Abenaki Indians called it Matinicus, meaning "far-out island." The French used it as an early fishing station.

In early May 1717, several pirates from their snow (a type of two masted vessel), the Anne, raided several vessels that were off the shore of Matinicus at the time. The Anne had originally been captured off the Virginia Capes in April by the pirate Samuel Bellamy in the Whydah, which wrecked in a storm on the night of April 26, 1717, off of Cape Cod. The Anne made it through the storm with another captured vessel, the Fisher (which was soon abandoned and the pirates aboard her transferred to the Anne). The pirates arrived at Monhegan Island, Maine, on April 29 and waited for the Whydah, for the pirates had not seen or heard about the Whydah wrecking in the storm of the night of April 26. The pirates eventually realized the Whydah was lost, and proceeded to attack vessels in the area. Several of the pirates set out in a launch from the Anne and proceeded to Matinicus:

"...where they took a sloop belonging to Colonel [Stephen] Minot, one shallop belonging to Capt. [John] Lane and three Schooners. They brought the Sloop and Shallop and (as we are informed) the sails and compasses of the 3 schooners to Menhagen [Monhegan], whereupon they manned the last mentioned Sloop with ten hands..."

The pirates soon departed the area on May 9, 1717, on the 25-ton sloop formerly belonging to Colonel Minot, with a pirate crew of 19.[6]

"Deposition of Ralph Merry and Samuel Roberts" Boston. May 11, May 16, 1717. in Jameson, John Franklin. "Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents." New York: Macmillan Company, 1923, pp. 301-302; "John Newman to Governor Shute" Gloucester. May 12, 1717. Massachusetts Archives 51:290

Some words of Cotton Mather concerning the execution of the pirates of the Whydah

"Diary of Cotton Mather"  MHS Collections, Series Seven Vol.8 (herinafter Cited as MD) p.481.

October 17, 1717: G.D. Tho' Satan by frequent Assaults upon me, designs and labours to discourage my unceasing Projections to serve the Kingdom of God; for I am satisfied, I should not suffer what I do from him, and his Instruments, if my continual contrivances to do Good were not such as they are: Yett, I will in this way make myself much more vile; and be stedfast and immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; beleeving a good Issue of all.

            What I now think of, is; how to render the conditon of the poor Pyrates, who are coming on their Trial, serviceable unto the Interests of piety in the World.

MD:481

October 21, 1717: G.D. I would entertain the Flock, with a discourse agreeable to the Said Occasion given, in a Number of Wicked Pirates, who are speedily to be destroyed among us. A Discourse on the Folly of getting Riches, and not by Right.

MD:491.

November 26, 1717: I had sometimes made a Prayer, that the Condition of the late Pirates, might be so ordered, as to furnish me with some special Opportunities to do Service for the Kingdome of GOD. After the Execution of the Criminals, I had some thoughts of writing down the conference I had with them in the way from the Prison to the Gallows: adding the strange story of their capture, and the Sermon I preached unto my Flock on their occasion. But my thoughts were so feeble and flitting that I laid them aside. However, I resumed them; and remaining still entirely at a loss what to do, I betook myself unto the Lott. I wrote one Bitt of Paper, "Proceed," on another, "Forbear," and after a solemn Invocation of the glorious Lord, I drew the Lott, which fell to be "Proceed." I sett myself to the Work, and in a few Hours I made a Strange Dispatch of it. The Bookseller for whom I intended the Work, declined it; which caused me to wonder at my Direction to Proceed. But some other Booksellers, from whom I least expected it, without any offer of Mine to them, accepted it, and print no less than twelve hundred of them; and the Cause of Piety, is likely to be more than a little served.