A Pirate Betrayed.

Te Aroha News, Volume VIII, Issue 394, 17 August 1889, Page 3

A Pirate Betrayed.

I A prominent .pirate of tho seventeenth cen t tury'.was Captain Charles Vane, the details ) of wjiose carper would, however, read much ■ like some already given in the lives of r earlier freebooters. One incident ab tho j end of his life is presented, to show how > much distrust often existed among the , pirates themselves. Vane was at last r wrecked on a small uninhabited island near » tho Bay of Honduras ; his vessel was coraE pletely lost and most of his mon drowned. > He resided there some weeks, being res duced to great straits. While Van was - upon this island a ship put in from Jamaica ; for wator, the captain of which, ono Holford, an old pirate, happened ■to be an aci quaiutance of Vane's. He thought this a good opportunity to get off, and accordingly i applied to his friend ; bub Holford absolutely refused him, saying to him — ' Charles) I can'b trust you on board my i ship unles3'l carry' you as a prisoner, for I shall Have' you- caballing with my men, knocking 'me on the -headj and running : away with lnyship pirating.' Vane made all fho protestations ofjhonour in the world to him ; but it seems Captain* ■ ' Holford was too intimately acquainted -with him to place any confidence in his words or. oaths. He told him that he might easily get off if he had a mind to it. ' 'I am going down the bay,' said he, and shall return hither in about a month ; and if i find you on the island when I come back, I will cany you to Jamaica and there hang you !' * How can I get away?' answered Vane.' ' Are there not fishermen's dories upon the beach. Can't you take one of them ?' replied Holford. ' What !' replied Vane, ' would you have me steal a dory, then ?' ' Do you make it a matter of conscience,' replied Holford, ' to steal a dory, when you have been a common robber and jpirate, stealing ships' and cargoes, and plundering all mankind thab fell in your way ? -Stay here if you are* so squeamish,' and he left him to consider the matter. After, Captain Holford*3 departure another ship put into the small island on her way home for some water. None of the company knowing Vane, he easily passed his examination, and shipped for the voyage. , One would be apt to think that Vane was .now pretty safe, and likely to .escape the fate whioh his crimps had merited ; bub here a cross accident happened which. ruined- all. .-, Holford, returning from the bay, .was, met by this, ship, an'd the captains being very well acquainted^ with each other, .Holford was- invited.*todine aboard, which he .did. As ha paaSe.d, along to the cabin he chanced to cast his eye down in the hold, and there 'saw Charles Vane ab work. He itrkn'ediatoly spoke to the captain, saying, * Do- -you know whom you have aboard thore ?' 'Why,' said he, 'I shipped the man t,he other day ab an island where he ha,d been cast away, and he seems to be a briskhand.' ' I tell you,' replied Captain Holford, ' it, is Vane, the notorious pirate.' 'If it be he,' replied the other, ' I won't keep him.' • Why, then,' said Holford, * I'll send and ?ake him aboard, and surrender him at Jamaica.' . - This being settled, Captain Holford^.as 'soon as he returned to his ship, sent his. mate armed, to Vane, \\Bb had his' rjfst^l ready " cocked, and told him he was his prisoner. No man daring to make opposition, he was brought aboard and pub into irons ; and when Captain Holford arrived I'at Jamaica be delivered up his old acquaintance to justice, ab which place he wastried, convicted, and executed, as was some time before Vane's., companion, Roberb Deal, who was brought thither by one of the men-of-war. 'It is clear,' says the original narrator, ' ' from this how little ancient friendship will avail a greab villain when he is deprived of the power thab had before supported and rendered him formidable.' — From. .' Tho .Sea : its Stirring Story of Advenburej P6ril y and He.rbism',' for June. -