William Brand

Working on a patch design for a privateers group at the moment and packing away my kit for the winter months. Also trying to get pirate get together organized for a new group locally. What piratical stuff are you working on, if one may ask?

November 4 - On this day in 1693, a report was made by M. de Champigny of Quebec regarding the attempted abduction and murder of the Sieur St. Castin. "This intelligence confirming that which had come through the French, who had attempted the abduction or the murder of the Sieur St. Castin, at Acadia, obliged Messrs. de Frontenac, and de Champigny, to hasten the fortifications of Quebec, and of Montreal, in order not to be surprised, and to warn the savages of Acadia to hold themselves in readiness to come to the relief of Quebec — upon the first news they should have of the departure of the fleet." And on this day in 1696, a deadline was set for the purchase of plate silver to examine and reset the coinage value of eight reales in England. This was an ongoing issue as the value of coins varied widely from England to the Colonies and even between ports of the Colonies. "After many problems in England with older clipped coinage William III asked Parliament to consider the situation. Over then next few years the older clipped hammered coinage was demonitized and replaced with new milled coins in what is now known as the "Great Recoinage of 1696-1699." For this recoinage the mint required large quantities of silver. Initially, a law was passed on January 21, 1696 to take clipped coinage out of circulation and send it to the mint for recoining. All clipped English coinage was to be accepted in payment of taxes at full face value through May 4th, also clipped coinage would be accepted at par by the Exchequer in payment of loans through June 24th. This brief window of opportunity brought £4,706,003 of clipped coins to the mint but large quantities remained in circulation. Further, laws were crafted to encourage people to bring plate to the mint by offering a bonus above market value, but the extra inducement was not offered for foreign coins. It was ordered that for a six month period between May 4, 1696 but before November 4, 1696 "Wrought Plate or any vessells or other sort of Manufacture of silver" could be brought to the mint where the individual would obtain a troy ounce of lawful money (that is, 5s2d) for each ounce of sterling silver; additionally, the individual would be given a receipt to be taken to the Exchequer for a supplemental "Reward" of 6d per troy ounce of sterling silver brought to the mint. This act was soon amended so no reward would be given unless the individual made an oath that the plate or other objects brought in had been manufactured on or before March 25, 1696. According to this statute only wrought plate or manufactured products such as vessels were acceptable. The amendment was structured to prohibit individuals from melting any foreign (or English) coins to be turned into plate."

November 3 - After several months' layover in Santa Cruz, on November 3, 1724 the Caroline departed for Genoa, Italy, with a cargo of beeswax, leather, and woolens.[3] The shipboard climate, however, was troubled. There were complaints about the food on board the ship, and Freneau, the captain of the Caroline was accused of treating the other crewmen of the vessel improperly. Grousing of short allowance the crewmen of the Caroline started to disobey some of the captain's orders. The captain realizing that his orders were being disobeyed, he consulted his mate. The two men agreed to stash some small arms in the cabin, so they could defend themselves in case of mutiny. Unfortunately for the captain, two of the conspirators on the upper deck overheard the conversation. Not realizing that Gow was the ring leader of the attempted mutiny, Freneau ordered Gow to prepare arms to defend the crew. Upon hearing this, the mutineers decided to act that night. At ten p.m., after half the ship's company had retired following evening prayer, shots echoed across the deck. Told that someone had fallen overboard, Freneau ran to the rail, where he was stabbed in the neck and shot twice in the stomach by Gow, then thrown overboard by the other conspirators. Still alive, he managed to clutch a rope dangling from the side of the ship, but when the conspirators realized this, they cut the rope and he tumbled into the sea. The next morning, the remainder of the crew was given the option of following their captain or joining the mutineers. Accounts indicate that they all accepted their former position. The ship was renamed Revenge. And on this day in 1821 the following letter was written at St. Barts. " We arrived here, after a rather rough passage, in eighteen days from Boston, all well. We expect to sail again in two or three days. We found here the piratical ship which robbed the Orleans Packet. She is now in possession of the Swedish government. She came into their possession in the following manner : — The crew landed her cargo on a small island near this, from whence it was taken by a schooner to St. Thomas ;— they then run the ship into Five Island Harbour, where all the crew, except two men, deserted her. — The government hearing of her being there, sent a guard and took possession of her, brought her into this harbour, and confined the two men found in. her as pirates. — It is said, Capt. Elton has requested the Governor to allow him to take them to the United States for trial. This piratical ship was originally the U. S. brig Prometheus, which was condemned two years since, and was then sold."

November 1 - On November 1, 1698, three ships and two tenders containing 1,200 men reached the Darien from Leith, and founded the town of New Edinburgh on the Gulf of Calidonia, near Ada. Here they were welcomed by the San Bias Indians who saw in them future allies against the Spaniards. However, the Scots had no intention of fighting, much to the disappointment of the Indians, although they must have known that their invasion would be resisted by the Spaniards.

October 31 - A letter from on board the Hornet, dated at Cape Maise, 31st of October (1821?), read, " The pirate which we took yesterday mounted two long four pounders, and her crew consisted of twenty gallows-looking scoundrels."

October 29 - On this day in 1758, prisoners of the East Indiamen 'York' purposely mis-piloted and wrecked the ship.

Sup?

October 27 - On this day in 1699, the Board of Trade discussed the matter of pirates along the coasts of Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas before the king. And on this day in 1702, English troops plundered St. Augustine in Spanish Florida.

Welcome aboard, Benedict!

October 26 - On this day in 1588, the galley Girona foundered and sank off Lacada Point, County Antrim. Also on this day in 1707 the fourth rate 'HMS Romney' succumbed to the sea after striking Bishop Rock at the Scilly Isles. She went down with all but one of her crew. The sole survivor was George Lawrence, who had worked as a butcher before joining the crew of Romney as quartermaster

Thank you, Mission. Obviously I should have known you'd have done a mermaid page by now. The trick is finding one you haven't.

October 24 - On this day in 1718, Stede Bonnet and David Heriot escaped the custody of Colonel William Rhett, but were recaptured on Sullivan's Island.

The mermaid craze at pirate events continues to grow to such a degree that I feel it's time that we discuss the mythology in historic context. Too often I hear pirate event organizers tout the idea of adding mermaids to one event or another using the reasoning that 'pirates and mermaids go together', so let's discuss that. First, this isn't an attempt to prove that mermaids exist with historic conjecture. No. This is to discuss the historic believe and also fears of mermaids from the point of view of sailors in the Golden Age of Pyracy. Second, if you love dressing up as a mermaid, don't take this personally. This is just a candid discussion about mermaid folklore as viewed from that specific time period. Period. So to begin, while it is true that people romanticize the mermaid to a fault in todays' popular culture, a trend which gained early momentum as far back as 1837, when Hans Christian Andersen published 'The Little Mermaid', they do so with the naive belief that it was ever so. When people ask me about mermaids as an 'obvious addition' to events and ask me what I think, the conversation usually gets a little gruesome when I explain the deep seeded fears pirates had about being dragged down to murderous depths and being eaten alive. The most generous excuse a sailor of the Golden Age might apply to a mermaid is some naive belief that sailors could breath under water like themselves, which again is only speculative, because mermaids are pure MYTH. To be fair, there are stories about people having conversations with mermaids without ill effects, but many of these conversations are about omens and warnings. But I digress. Let's look at some historic citations. First there is a mid-18th century balled simply called 'The Mermaid', where a ship cites a mermaid as a portent that the ship will be wrecked and has various stanzas where different, specific crew members talk longingly of home and ports they'd rather be in than the 'bottom of the sea'. The ship does indeed sink as it attempts a return to port. Next, this little poem that warns about being lured by mermaids from 'The Beginning, progress and end of man' of 1688. Eyes not look on the mermaids face, and Ears forbear her song; Her Face hath an alluring Grace, more charming is her Tongue. A citation from Thomas Blount and his dictionary called the 'Glossographia' of 1656. "Mermaid, Seamaid, or Siren, whereof the Poets had three, Parthenope, Leucosia and Ligea; the first used her voyce, the second a Citern, the third a Pipe; and so are said to entice Marrinersmusick, and then to destroy them. The upper part of their bodies, was like a beautiful Virgin, the neather was fishy. By these Syrens, pleasures are emblematically understood, from which unless a man abstain, or at least use moderately, he shall be devoured in their waves." Some other random citations… In 1673, John Jocelyn reported that his friend, Mr. Miller, had sighted a merman in Maine's Casco Bay. The merman put a hand over one side of his canoe, threatening to capsize it. Miller chopped off the hand with a hatchet, and the merman disappeared into the water, "dyeing the water purple with its blood." May 1, 1714, Francois Valentyn, captain of a ship, came upon what he believed to be a shipwrecked person, but saw a man with a "monstrous long tail" that dove into the ocean. The best that can be said of mermaids in most folklore is that they can be bribed with gifts in exchange for prophecy, but the prophecy given is often an ill portent of doom, especially if one breaks a deal with a mermaid. Please feel free to post your mermaid citations as you find them.

October 23 - On this day in 1644, William Penn was born. He would later write a 'Proclamation Against Pirates'. The Earl of Bellamont wrote to the Lords of Trade on this day in 1699 to report that Burke (Van Belle) had bought protection from the Danish government with the proceeds of Kidd's spoils. Also on this day in 1702, English and Dutch forces destroyed the Spanish treasure fleet at Vigo Bay in Spain. And on this day in 1707, the first Parliament of Great Britain met for the first time.

October 22 - On this day in 1707, the second rate ship 'HMS Association', the third rate 'Eagle', and the fireship 'Firebrand' were wrecked during the Scilly naval disaster killing well over 800 men. And on this day in 1720, Calico Jack Rackham, Mary Read, Anne Bonny, and others were captured. And also on this day in 1728, Woodes Rogers was reappointed as governor of the Bahamas following the publication of a 'General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates', published under the pseudonym Captain Charles Johnson. The publication had helped Rogers regain the favor of King George I, and the favor of the king's son George the II.

October 21 - On this day in 1697, the Council of Trade and Plantations in Maryland discussed the conflicting laws of transporting convicts, so that merchants and privateers alike could transport convicts to some colonies, but not others. The problem of trafficking convicts as cargo to various colonies would continue well into the 18th century. And on this day in 1707, French privateers Claude de Forbin and Rene Duguay-Trouin defeated the English convoy in the Battle of the Lizard, during the War of the Spanish Succession near Lizard Point, Cornwall.

October 19 - On this day in 1693, Thomas Tew arrived at Madagascar aboard the Amity. And on this day in 1696, six members of Henry Every's crew were indicted on charges of piracy. One of the witnesses for the defense during the trial was William Dampier. They were exonerated, but later retried on charges of mutiny and theft of the Charles II and found guilty.

October 17 - On this day in 1720, George Shelvocke and his men escaped their marooning at Juan Fernandez Island aboard a makeshift pinnace they had built after the wreck of their ship 'Speedwell'.

October 16 - On this day in 1707, Defoe, never one to shrink from a chance to question local government, made a commentary on 'pyrates' concerning the local English commercial institutions… "It would make a sad Chasm on the Exchange of London, if all the pyrates should be taken away from the Merchants there, whether we be understood to speak of your Literal or Allegorical Pyrates; whether I should mean the Clandestine Trade Pyrates, who pyrite upon fair trade at home; the Custom-stealing Pyrates, who pyrite upon the Government; the Owling Pyrates, who rob the Manufacturers , the privateering Pyrates, who rob by Law."

October 15 - On this day in 1672, the fourth rate frigate, HMS Kent, sank off Cromer. And on this day 1696, A report from the East India Company's factory at Bombay indicated the serious concern the Company displayed to the disruption of trade being caused by pirates: “Besides the Gunsway, the Mogul's own ships were robbed last year near Surat, and barbarously used. Abdul Gophoor has had a ship robbed of a great sum of money in the Gulf of Persia, and today we have news from Mocha, of two of the Company's ships being taken. The loss of one of them in which was 60,000 rupees, has almost broke some of the mer­chants in Bombay, as the loss amounts to £75,000. The East India Company lost 80 tons of good new coffee in her. They were taken by two small pirates, of 13 and 14 guns, each with 150 Englishmen as crew".

October 14 - The ship 'Swan' bearing tobacco, and under command of David Robertson, was forced into an involuntary landing by privateers and wrecked at Lough Swain, or Swinna, in Scotland. He petitioned the Lords of the Treasury for compensation on this day in 1698. They recommend ½ penny a pound to be taken for the tobacco-saved. Also on this day the following year in 1689, there is this historic note about the purchase of 'saltpetre', or potassium nitrate used in the making of gunpowder. "Letter from the Officers of Ordnance to the Lords of the Treasury, expressing the opinion that we ought to have a thousand tons of saltpetre in store at least, and having but 300 tons, submitting it to their Lordships whether they had not better contract for 500 tons with the East India Company." And on this day in 1711, Woodes Rogers’ expedition returned home after circumnavigating the world and capturing a Manila galleon.

Oh I know, that's what makes the monster-izing of the past so unfair at times. We look back from our air-conditioned homes in front of high speed internet, but through a glass darkly and angrily judge those who came before. It so easy to misjudge a people who had the knowledge they were limited to from a seat of comfortable survival. I'm no hunter-gatherer. I had orange juice, hashbrowns and two delicately fried eggs this morning while surfing the net. But it's like anything. Take the 'well' wars of the Bible for instance. Tribes going to war over a well in the middle of nowhere. It's so easy to judge from a place of indoor plumbing, but when you're in the desert...your perspective becomes thirsty and focused really damn quick. The British Empire gets the enemy card a lot. Some of it's deserved, but even then, we're placing blames from the perspective and enlightenment we have now, not then. Hindsight and all that. Are we wandering too far from your original question? Mission and I could go back and forth all day. You should join us for gate duty.

October 8 - On this day in 1717, William Rhett of Charleston, South Carolina attacked the Stede Bonnet's pirate ship Royal James. The pirates were defeated and captured. Ignatius Pell, Stede's boatswain, was pardoned after agreeing to testify against his fellow shipmates.

We also call 'evil' what once was common. For example, it was common in colonization to move into an area and eat local, available food and fauna to extinction. Sailers and settlers alike would destroy local fish & bird populations, an idea that most people would find horrible today, but was seen as pragmatic survival then without regard to eco systems. Movies turn a hard microscope on previous practice and we could go back in time and find a lot of what we consider 'evil' everywhere, but biased and educated evil. Look at Mission. He's studied enough period medicine to know that there's more voodoo and hoodoo in period medicine than healing. It's horrific stuff.

October 7 - On this day in 1492, Christopher Columbus missed Florida when he changed course. And on this day in 1571, the Turkish fleet was defeated by Spanish and Italians in the Battle of Lepanto.