Contest winner photo!

Back in December Festival Des Pirates did a giveaway. The winner got a signed copy of The Whydah Pirates Speak. Today I was sent a photo of the winner and friends posing with the prize:

 

Deposition of Thomas Fitzgerald & Alexander Mackonochie

The Deposition of Thomas Fitz Gerald, Marriner, aged about 19 years, and late Mate of the Pink Mary Anne, belonging to Dublin (whereof Andrew Crumsty was lately Commander) and Alexander MacKonothy late Cook of the said Pink, aged 55 years.  

These Depon'ts Testify and say That on the 24th day of April last past, they sailed from Nantasket harbour bound for New York, and on the 26th day of the said month, being friday, in the morning about nine of the clock, they discovered a large Ship, and her Prize, which was a Snow, astern, and the large Ship came up with the said Pink Mary Ann, between nine & ten, and ordered us to strike Our Colours, which accordingly we did, 

and then they shot ahead of us, and braced too, and hoisted out her boat and sent seven Men on board, Armed with their Musquets, Pistols and Cutlashes (which Men are now in Boston Gaol) and they commanded the said Capt. Crumpsty to take his Papers, and go aboard the said Ship with five of his hands and accordingly the said Crumpsty with 5 of his Men rowed aboard the Said Pyrates Ship and the Seven Men tarryed aboard the Pink, and soon after the Pyrates sent their boat on board the said Pink with 4 hands to get some of the Wine which they were Informed was on board the Pink, 

and accordingly they hoisted the pinks boat off of the hatches & opened the hatches and then went into the hold, but the Cable being Quoiled in the hatchway, they found it difficult to come to the Wines in the hold, and so returned to their Own Ship without any wine, Except five bottles of green wine which they Found in the Pinks Cabbin and carryed away, with some of the cloaths which belonged to the Pink's Company, and presently after the Pyrates had hoisted their boat on board the great Ship, they gave orders to the Pyrates on board the Pink to steer North-North West after them, which course they followed till about four a clock in the afternoon, and then the large Ship whereof Capt. Samuel Bellaime was Commander, and the Snow and the pink lay to, it being very thick foggy Weather, 

And about half an hour after four a Clock a sloop came up with Capt. Bellaimes Ship and he hoisted out his boat and sent several men on board the Sloop and soon afterwards, vizt, about five a Clock, the Commander of the Snow bore away, and came under the stern of Capt. Bellaimes Ship and told him that they saw the Land; And thereupon Capt. Bellaime Ordered the Pyrates On board the Pink to steer away North which they did, and as soon as it began to be dark the sd. Capt. Bellaime's Ship put out a light astern and also the Snow and the Sloop and the pink had their lights out; and about ten a clock the weather grew thick and it lightned and rained hard and was so dark, that the pink's Company could not see the shore till they were among the breakers, when the Depon't FitzGerald was at the helm, and had lost sight of the Great Ship, Snow and Sloop; and being among the breakers we thought it most proper and necessary to wear the Pink, and before we could trim the head sails we run ashoar opposite to Slutsbush at the back of Stage harbour to the Southward of Cape Codd between 10 & 11 a clock at night, 

and the 7 Pyrates together with the Depon't and a young man named James Donovan tarryed on board the Said Pink till break of day and then found the Shoar side of the Pink dry and so all of them went on Shoar upon the Island called Pouchy beach, and there tarryed till about ten a clock when two Men came over in a Canno Namely John Cole and William Smith, who Carryed the seven Pyrates over to the Mainland, and then Cole came again to the Deponts & Inquired who they (meaning the pyrates) were, & the Depont, 

MacKconothy Answered they were pyrates & had taken the sd. pink, and soon after the sd John Cole Informed Mr. Justice Doane of Barnstable thereof by virtue of whose Warrant that the sd. seven pyrates were Apprehended; and the Deponts Journeyed with them to Boston where they are now in Custody of the Keeper of His Majties Goal as is aforesaid. And Further the Deponts say not; but that the sd. Pink is Bilged on Shoar so that it is impossible to get her off.

"Deposition of Thomas Fitzgerald & Alexander Mackonochie" Boston. May 6, 1717. Jameson:#109 (pp.296-297). Original in Suffolk County Files, Massachusetts Archives 11945.

Richard and Jeremiah

Read my latest article about more of the pirates of the Whydah Galley!

Richard and Jeremiah: Two Pirates Who would be Pardoned 

 

Where and what is Salturtuda?

I had quite a time trying to locate an island called Salturtuda for my most recent article about Jeremiah Higgins and Richard Caverley. 

Along the way, I found a web site and a reference and thought I would share those with you here.

“Tavern” by the Saltpan: New England Seafarers and the Politics of Punch on La Tortuga Island, Venezuela, 1682–1781

New England seafarers from small merchant ships visited the natural saltpans of the Venezuelan island of La Tortuga from the late seventeenth century up until 1781. The liminal space of the island set the stage for the creation of an improvised “tavern” where the communalism of shipboard life was suddenly changed to more markedly vertical relations. Drawing from archaeological excavations and original documentary sources it is argued that, while on land, captains no longer worked alongside their crews who now labored extracting salt. With leisure time available to them, punch drinking offered captains a means of discursive practice through the manipulation of fashionable material culture and an opportunity to negotiate their social position among peers. When given to the crew, punch served as a labor incentive and a way of obfuscating the sudden change in customary captain-crew relations while on the island.

There is also this article about excavations of La Tortuga:

Historical archaeology of the Dutch salt enterprise on La Tortuga Island Venezuela, 1624-38 

 

Christmas Carols in 1700

I thought it would be interesting this year to put together a list of Christmas Carols that existed around the early 1700's. These might have been sung by ship's crews as part of a Christmas celebration. At the end is a You Tube video of a boy's choir singing A Coventry Carol.

Enjoy!

"While Shepherds Watched" dates back to 1703. The words for While shepherds watched were written by Nahum Tate, who was the Poet Laureate in the reign of Queen Anne, and Nicholas Brady. Only the Psalms of David were sung in the Anglican Church prior to that time. Tate and Brady were the first to paraphrase the psalms for singing in rhyme which then became distinctive of their work. The familiar melody used for While Shepherds Watched was taken from "Siroe," an opera by George Frederick Handel. On a lighter note children love to parody the words “While shepherds watched their flocks by night” and replacing them with “While Shepherds wash their socks by night!” 

From : 10 Christmas Carols of The 18th Century

Written by Rick Brainard

Parent Category: 18th Century History Articles

Category: Society and Culture

The Origin of Christmas Carols & Music

Carols are banned but bounce back
Christmas carols were banned between 1649 and 1660 in England by Oliver Cromwell who thought that Christmas should be a solemn day. (Cromwell also abolished the monarchy.) When Protestants, inspired by Martin Luther, took to the joy of Christmas carols, many had to flee Europe under pressure from the Catholic Church. They took the Christmas carols with them to their new homes across the world. In 1649, John de Brebeur wrote the first American Christmas carol, called Jesus is Born.
Fortunately, in Europe, when carols couldn't be sung in Churches, they found a stage elsewhere. The world's most famous religious play, the Passion Play, was staged in Oberammergau, Germany in 1634 (and has been performed every 10 years since). In the 1700s, the music by Mendelssohn and Händel was adapted and used as Christmas carols.

SOURCE: http://www.didyouknow.cd/xmas/xmascarols.htm

Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful) - 1700's: The text to the Carol O Come All Ye Faithful was originally written in Latin (Adeste Fideles) and was intended to be a hymn, it is attributed to John Wade, an Englishman. The music to O Come All Ye Faithful was composed by fellow Englishman John Reading in the early 1700s. The tune was first published in a collection known as "Cantus Diversi" in 1751. In 1841 Rev. Frederick Oakley is reputed to have worked on the familiar translation of O Come All Ye Faithful which replaced the older Latin lyrics "Adeste Fideles". (SOURCE: http://www.carols.org.uk/o_come_all_ye_faithful.htm)

Coventry Carol - 1534: The words and lyrics of the' Coventry Carol' were written by Robert Croo in 1534 for the traditional Coventry Plays and included in the Pageant of the Shearman and Tailors Guild which depicted Herod's slaughter of the innocents. The composer of the music is unknown but is also believed to date back to the 1500's. Henry Ramsden Bramley (1833-1917) and John Stainer (1840-1901) were the first to attribute the Coventry Carol which they included in 'Christmas Carols New and Old' in 1878.

I Saw Three Ships - 1666: Words: Traditional; First Publication Date: John Forbes' Cantus, 2nd. ed. (1666), Music: Traditional English.

Pat-A-Pan - 1700's: Words and Music: Guillô, Pran Ton Tamborin, Bernard de la Monnoye, c. 1700 (1641-1728)

From: http://www.digitalgothic.net/Sanctuary/carols.htm

Listen to A Coventry Carol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIvH5GdY4JE