TRAGEDIES OF THE SEA.

NZ Truth, Issue 144, 21 March 1908, Page 8

TRAGEDIES OF THE SEA.

THE PIRATE TEACH.

Scourge of the American Coast?

BURNS THE PROTESTANT CjESAR,

Nemesis Overtakes Him at Last.

O, then began the it'empesf to my * soul ! 1 passed, methought,< the melancholy ; flood, i ,itVith that grim ferryman which poets write of, XJnto the kingdom of perpetual night. —Shakespeare.

One of the first pirates, and probably one of the worst blackguards jwho ever floated on the old ocean to forey upon his fellow men, was CapIfcain Edward Teach, alias Blackboard, ja native of Bristol, England. Teach began his apprenticeship to the sea Tjy serving on a privateer off the Boast of Jamaica, but, though daring, fie did not gain any command till 1756, when a Captain Benjamin HortiygoH put "him into a sloop he had' ih»Sae a prize of, and continued his Jpartner m piracy until he surrendered. " It was m the spring of 1717 that this precious pair sailed from Provil dence, R/hode Island, for the mainland of . America, and took on their ]fray a small vessel from Havana, fiden with flour, with which they Supplied themselves. From a Bernlutian sloop they next obtained wine, tend from a ship bound from Madeira . they also got plunder. V After cleaning on the coast of Virginia, fhey returned to the West Inidies, wherey m lat. 24, they captured A FRENCH GMJINEAMAN, bound for Martinique. With Hornygold's consent, Teach took command iDf this prize; and went on a cruise In her. Hornygold, returning to Pro'^idence, and hearing/ of the advent of Governor Rogers, . the new Governor, Surrendered himself to mercy', pursuant to King George I.'s proclamation.' ' /Teach, meanwhile, had mounted 40 jguns on the Guineaman, and christented her the Queen Anne's Revenge. ; {Cruising off the island of St. . Vinwent, he took a large ship called the ; Sfreat Allen, and after plundering her set the men ashore on the island, filed the ship, and let her drift to sea. .K. few days later he fell m with the Scarborough,, a man-of-war, mounting 90 guns, who engaged him for «ome hours ; but, finding the pirate, iwell manned, she- drew off to her station at Barbadoes and left Teach to Continue his voyage to the Spanish ibain. Dn his way Teach fell m with a 'pirate sloop of ten guns, commanded Sfy one Major Bonnet, a gentleman Iftanter turned pirate. The pair joinsi forces, but after a few days Teach, failing that the Major knew nothing S naval affairs, deposed him. and $ook him. aboard his own ship, telling him. that, as he had not been used *O . . . ■ '..;." <TH£ CARES AND FATIGUES . v *f such .a post, it would be better ■'&r- him' to live easy and do no duty. j$L the Gulf of Honduras the pirates 'ifeok m. f rest waiter, and, while at; anchor there, saw a sloop coming So, whereupon one Richards, who had Jfaen pot* m command of Major Bonfeet's sloop, slipped his cable arid ran Slut to meet her. But the stranger, 6n seeing the black flag, at once surrendered:" Sh6 "was the- Adventure, Sjirom Jamaica. " They took the capSain, DfcVid Harriot, and his men on JJoard Teaeh's 'ship, and manned tVe ferlze with a crew of their o?/n. J A,t Honduras they found a ship and .lour sloops lying—some from Jamaica and som'e from Boston. " The ship tyaiß called the Protestant Caesar, JCaptain Wyfer. Teach ran up his fclack .flag and 'fired a gun, whereupon Wyer> and all his men scuttled out of fcheir sMp and pulied ashore, m a JJjDat. Teach's "'quartermaster, with feigjit men, took of! her, iwEile Richards ' secured all the sloops, one of which they burnt to spite 5 its owner. The Protestant Caesar they also burnt, because she came from 'Boston," • -Mass . ,• where • some friends of "theira had been HANGED' FOR PIRACY. other three, sloops were let. go. jThe? now sailed for the island of ■;Grand .Cayman,., hence to Carolina, jcapturing a .hrigan'tine and two on their, way. For, six days ithey lay, off th_e,bar at. Charlestown, Ttaking many vessels, including a torigjantine with a cargo of negroes. The jieople of Charlestown, who had lately, been visited by Vane, another notorious pirate, were given up to terror. No vessel dared put m or out, and trade stood still. Teach detained ;ali the ships "and prisoners, resolving ±o demand a chest of medicines, from the 'Government of the province. Accordingly Richards, with : two or three more pirates! Were sent ' along with one Marks, one of the prisoners, and threatened that if the Government did not immediately send the chest of medicines, and allow the men to return without harm, they vrould murder ail their prisoners, send up their heads to the Govern6r, and set the ships they had taken -on 'fire.- The Government did not hesitate, but sent aboard a chest Valued at £400. Teach thereupon released his prisoners and the ships, -'out of which, however, he had first v taken £150Q and provisions. #Rom the bar ol Charlestown. they sailed to North Carolina. Teach iby . ibis time was fairly rich, and now l?#gan to scheme how he might" break up the partnership and secure THE WHOLE OF THE MONEY for himself and a few pals. Running into an in-let to clean, he purposely grounded his ship, and Israel Hands, ' iiis accomplice, on one of the sloops, ran ashore by his side on pretence of going to help. The pair? then, with if) men, took possession of the third vpssel, and marooned 17 of her crew upon a small sandy island, "where they would have died of starvation hAd not Majpv Bonnet come . along Wd days afterwards and tjUken them

ted a very good understanding with Charles Eden, the Governor, nut 10 was only to await a more favorable opportunity to play the game over again. Before toe sailed away on a ship which the Vice-Admiralty Court allowed him to- keep, as a prize won , from the Spaniards, Teach married a young woman of 16, the Governor performing the ceremony. This was understood to be his fourteenth wife, j the others having been abandoned or GOT RID OF IN OTHER WAYS. In June, 1718, Teach put to sea again, and steered for the Bermudas. He met several British vessels, ' and plundered them of provisions only ; but falling m with two French ships, one laden and the other m ballast, he put the crew of the full ship aboard the empty one, and let them go. The other he brought home, with her cargo of cocoa and sugar, to 1 North Carolina. Here; he told the Governor a tale and gave him GO hogsheads of sugar to hold his tongue. He now spent some months on the river, trading his plunder with any ship that he met, and ransacking ! them M they resisted. His nights j were -spent m orgies with the planters ashore," whom he rewarded or bullied according to his mood. ' • , At length the. plundered captains, seeing that there was no hope of redress m North Carolina, secretly sent a deputation to Virginda to lay their grievances 'before the G overuor of itet .colony, and to soli ci-t help. This Governor consulted with the captains of,, two men-of-war, the Pearl and Lima, then lying m James River, and promised to fit out a couple of small sloops if the men-of-war would man them. This was done, and First Lieutenant Robert Maynard, , of the Pearl, given the v . command. The sloops were furnished with , AMMUNITION AND SMALL ARMS, but had no guns mounted. On the. following Sunday. a proclamation was read m every church- m Virginia, and by the sheriffs at their country houses. For Teach's head £100 was offered, if- brought m within a; year ;. for every other pirate captain, £10 ; and for. every, common sailor £10. Maynard was a man of courage, and hunted ' for Teach quickly. On the evening of 21st v Novem ; ber he came to the mouth of the Okerecock Inlet, m the James RfVer, where he sighted tho pirates. Teach had heard several reports that he was being tracked, but as all had turned out to he false, he paid no more attention till he saw the sloops closing on him. He had put 25 of his 40 men onboard, but he cleared for action, and all toeing ready, sat down and spent his last night m a drunken carousal. When Maynard's sloop approached, the pirato let fly a broadside, which killed 20 men on the nearest sloop and nine on the other. Maynard then, fearing another broadside, ordered all Iris men below out of the way, he and the helmsman being the only ones on deck. He bade them get their pistols and swords ready f-or close fighting, and to rush up at his signal. As Maynard's sloop ran alongside, Teach's men threw m grenades made of bottles filled with powder and shot. Through the smoke-, of these grenades Teach looked over to the deck of the sloop, and 'seeing it empty, as soon as he got alongside, jumped aboard, followed by 14 of . his bloodthirsty wretches. Then May-, na'rd gave a signal, his men " SWARMED TO THE DECK, * and charged with a rush. Such a fight had never taken place like it m those waters, the blood running out the scuppers and staining the water for some distance. Teach stood ibis ground savagely and fought till stricken down by over two score wounds. Eight of his men were killed, and the other five jumped' overboard- and called for quarter, Which Was granted, though it only prolonged their lives a few days. ,- As it turned out, the very broadside that did so much damage to Maynard's crew m all probability saved the rest from destruction ; for, 'before that, Teach had little or no hopes of escaping arid had posted a resolute negro 'm the powder room, with orders, to blow it up as soon as ever Maynard and has men should 'hoard, and thus destroy all together. And it was with difficulty that two prisoners m the hold dissuaded the negro from the deed whan he heard of the fate of Teach. Maynard caused Teaoh's head to he cut off ' and hung at the bowsprit end, and sailed with it intn Uath to get relief for his wounded men. As soon as they were pretty well recovered; Maynard sailed back to his warships m James River, wi-th the black head still dangling from the bowsprit ; and 'bringing 15 prisoners, of, whom. \ ONLY TWO ESCAPED HANGING. One of these, Samuel Odell, had been enlisted by the pirates but the night i before the engagement. He was a | jittle unlucky at his first entering I upon his new. trade, and was considered to have suffered sufficiently by being covered with wounds. The other, Israel Hands, was; tried and condemn^ ! ed, but just as he was (about to be executed, a ship arrived at Virginia with a proclamation prolonging the time of the King's pardon to such of the pirates as should surrender by a limited biroe. Notwithstanding the sontencei, Hands pleaded the pardon, and was allowed the (benefit of it. Some years later he was a well-known beggar m London. Some sugar, cocoa, indigo and cotton were found on board the pirate sloops and m a tent on the shore close by. This; with the hogsheads of sugar taken from the Governor and his secretary., and the sale of the sloops, came to. £2500 > besides the rewards paid by the Governor of Virginia. The whole was divided among the companies of the two men-of-war, the men who had fought getting no more than the others. And to jm'ake matters worse, the. rewards I were not paid by the Government till '.four years after which left little fciause for wonder that many of the Pplucky fighters o.f the sloop eventual-* ly; turned pirates themselves.