Or is it Lewis Guittar? I always find these things when I'm searching for something else. This is an interesting summary of his story, though.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
DNA-Match with Lewis Guittar the French Pirate (1667
Brittany - 1700 London)?
By John
Guittard April 28, 2007 at 07:02:16
THE FRENCH PIRATE LEWIS GUITTAR was
born during the Golden Age of Piracy in Brittany ca. 1667 and spent 20 years in
Santo Domingo in Hispaniola. Guittar later testified he was living at Pointe au
Gravois, when around December 1699 a sloop of pirates ordered him aboard and
forced him -- told him they wanted him to be their captain. A pirate witness
Pelletier later testified that Guittar had refused to join, but that Pelletier
and the other pirates had made Guittar their captain anyway.
Capt. Guittar sometimes wore a golden toothpick on a golden necklace. Described by the master of a captured ship, “The Captain was a man of middle stature, square-shouldered, large jointed, lean, much disfigured with the smallpox, broad speech, thick-lipped, a blemish or cast in his left eye, but courteous."
Capt. Guittar began in the Caribbean and moved on to the Chesapeake Bay, taking at least nine merchant ships, including the Dutch ship La Paix. The pirates took many English prisoners, beating and torturing them to force them to turn pirate. The master of the Friendship of Belfast was killed when the pirates fired on his ship. The Pennsylvania Merchant was plundered and burned for resisting the pirates. Capt. Guittar took four ships in the Chesapeake Bay on 28 April 1700.
Alerted, Capt. John Aldred of the HMS Essex Prize in the Chesapeake Bay came ashore the same day. He told British Governor-General of Virginia Francis Nicholson that a pirate ship was in Lynnhaven Bay of the Chesapeake. Posting a reward of 20 pounds for killing or capturing any pirate, Gov. Nicholson went on board the under-manned 28-gun British guardship HMS Shoreham under Capt. William Passenger with customs agent Peter Hayman, Esq. They sailed up the James River and into Lynnhaven Bay.
Early the next morning the Shoreham fired on Capt. Guittar aboard his 84-foot, 28-gun pirate ship La Paix when many pirates were drunk. Capt. Guittar and his crew fought under the blood red pirate's flag for many hours. After seven hours of courageous conduct, firing into the pirates' ship, Peter Hayman was slain with small shot from the pirates while standing next to Gov. Nicholson on the quarter deck. Maneuvering skillfully back and forth and firing with larger guns, Capt. Passenger finally obtained the advantage after eight hours. The pirate ship, unable to steer and with its masts and sails shot away, became grounded, with 25-30 pirates killed.
The pirates decided to blow up their own ship if they could not go free. Capt. Guittar ordered a captive passenger to swim to the Shoreham and tell them the pirates would blow up their own ship with many innocent captives on board in the hold of the ship if they weren't granted quarter and pardon. (Guittar himself later testifed he had opposed blowing up the ship, and had set two sentinels to guard the powder barrels.) Gov. Nicholson granted quarter, but not pardon, and referred the pirates to the King's mercy. Capt. Guittar then surrendered, giving up 40-50 English captives, and 124 pirates were taken prisoner.
Capt. Guittar and his crew were later put on trial. Four pirate crew members were convicted and hanged on gibbets at various public places around the Chesapeake Bay as a terrible warning to other pirates. Sensitively, the Judge ordered the bodies to be left hanging on a good strong chain or rope "till they rot and fall away." Capt. Guittar and the rest of the crew were transported to England for trial, with special orders that Capt. Guittar be transported on a ship with no other pirates.
Capt. Guittar and the entire crew pleaded quarter as a defense plus the pirate's invariable defense -- "Those other wicked pirates forced me to serve against my will." But, as usual, the forced-to-serve defense failed because the defendants couldn't prove it. The quarter defense failed because quarter was granted only under the illegal threat of murder. Capt. Guittar and his crew were well and truly hanged in 1700 for Piracy on the High Seas.
Capt. Guittar sometimes wore a golden toothpick on a golden necklace. Described by the master of a captured ship, “The Captain was a man of middle stature, square-shouldered, large jointed, lean, much disfigured with the smallpox, broad speech, thick-lipped, a blemish or cast in his left eye, but courteous."
Capt. Guittar began in the Caribbean and moved on to the Chesapeake Bay, taking at least nine merchant ships, including the Dutch ship La Paix. The pirates took many English prisoners, beating and torturing them to force them to turn pirate. The master of the Friendship of Belfast was killed when the pirates fired on his ship. The Pennsylvania Merchant was plundered and burned for resisting the pirates. Capt. Guittar took four ships in the Chesapeake Bay on 28 April 1700.
Alerted, Capt. John Aldred of the HMS Essex Prize in the Chesapeake Bay came ashore the same day. He told British Governor-General of Virginia Francis Nicholson that a pirate ship was in Lynnhaven Bay of the Chesapeake. Posting a reward of 20 pounds for killing or capturing any pirate, Gov. Nicholson went on board the under-manned 28-gun British guardship HMS Shoreham under Capt. William Passenger with customs agent Peter Hayman, Esq. They sailed up the James River and into Lynnhaven Bay.
Early the next morning the Shoreham fired on Capt. Guittar aboard his 84-foot, 28-gun pirate ship La Paix when many pirates were drunk. Capt. Guittar and his crew fought under the blood red pirate's flag for many hours. After seven hours of courageous conduct, firing into the pirates' ship, Peter Hayman was slain with small shot from the pirates while standing next to Gov. Nicholson on the quarter deck. Maneuvering skillfully back and forth and firing with larger guns, Capt. Passenger finally obtained the advantage after eight hours. The pirate ship, unable to steer and with its masts and sails shot away, became grounded, with 25-30 pirates killed.
The pirates decided to blow up their own ship if they could not go free. Capt. Guittar ordered a captive passenger to swim to the Shoreham and tell them the pirates would blow up their own ship with many innocent captives on board in the hold of the ship if they weren't granted quarter and pardon. (Guittar himself later testifed he had opposed blowing up the ship, and had set two sentinels to guard the powder barrels.) Gov. Nicholson granted quarter, but not pardon, and referred the pirates to the King's mercy. Capt. Guittar then surrendered, giving up 40-50 English captives, and 124 pirates were taken prisoner.
Capt. Guittar and his crew were later put on trial. Four pirate crew members were convicted and hanged on gibbets at various public places around the Chesapeake Bay as a terrible warning to other pirates. Sensitively, the Judge ordered the bodies to be left hanging on a good strong chain or rope "till they rot and fall away." Capt. Guittar and the rest of the crew were transported to England for trial, with special orders that Capt. Guittar be transported on a ship with no other pirates.
Capt. Guittar and the entire crew pleaded quarter as a defense plus the pirate's invariable defense -- "Those other wicked pirates forced me to serve against my will." But, as usual, the forced-to-serve defense failed because the defendants couldn't prove it. The quarter defense failed because quarter was granted only under the illegal threat of murder. Capt. Guittar and his crew were well and truly hanged in 1700 for Piracy on the High Seas.
Thank you for this great information on our history
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