Roberts's Lieutenants

[The Island]

I am new to this and am still hunting down books to read and further my knowledge on pirates in general. How many different Lieutenants did Bartholomew Roberts have under his command during his career and how many left his command to start on there own? I am finding information that contradicts on other small websites and just want the clear facts. Did these men like Kennedy, Anstis, Phillips, etc leave voluntairly or just take off in Roberts's ships making virtually a enemy with him? I see references that Anstis started off on his own and worked with Fenn starting his own pirate fleet like Roberts. Maybe, i am dumb but wouldnt it have been safer to stay in the fleet with Roberts and enjoy the spoils or was Roberts not as generous as they say? It just seems so risky and foolish to break away to start your own fame and fortune when the odds were agaisnt you espically in a small group. I just hope someone has the time to break down my questions and help create a list of Lt's and what happened to them.

Thanks

[Daniel]

Kenedy (spelled with one "N" in the original sources, I think) and Anstis did indeed waltz away without asking Roberts' leave; indeed, Roberts' famous articles were drawn up after Kenedy's defection, with an eye to discouraging any more desertions. Phillips is a different case; he was a forced man taken by Anstis after Anstis left Roberts, was separted from Anstis's crew, and managed to return safely to England, only to start his own career as pirate captain later. Roberts had other lieuteneants of course, notably James Skyrme, who stayed loyal to him to the end.

Why did Kenedy and Anstis leave Roberts? The same reason many other pirate crews broke up: too many men sharing not enough loot. Roberts had a huge crew, which made this problem especially acute. If I see a fat merchantman on the horizon, I'd rather share it with fifty men than with 400. Any time prizes got scarce, pirates inevitably started talking about splitting up. Blackbeard had the same problem whenever booty, especially alcohol, started running low, as you can see from Johnson's excerpt from his journal: "Such a Day, Rum all out: — Our Company somewhat sober: — A Damn'd Confusion amongst us! — Rogues a-plotting; — great Talk of Separation. — So I look'd sharp for a Prize; — such a Day, took one, with a great deal of Liquor on Board, so kept the Company hot, damn'd hot, then all Things went well again."

[Fox]

"Cannady" in his depositions IIRC.

There's also, of course, the question of personal disagreements. Anstis and his gang left Roberts fairly acrimoniously which suggests some form of personal dispute. I suspect that some of the differences in their respective articles may also be a pointer to this: for example, Roberts articles expressly forbid anyone to even talk about 'breaking up the company', while Anstis' articles state clearly that if a pardon was offered at any time then anyone was free to take advantage of it who wished.

There are other examples of this. Spriggs parted company from Low following a disagreement about the implementation of articles; Cocklyn and Moody parted company over some disagreement or other; Rackham and Vane argued about the taking of a French ship, and both men subsequently pursued their own careers independently; Lane and/or Sample (I forget which off the top of my head) left England's company because they wanted to sail West when he wanted to sail East. The list probably goes on...

[The Island]

Does anyone have a list of names of all Roberts officers?

Thanks

"Cannady" in his depositions IIRC.

There's also, of course, the question of personal disagreements. Anstis and his gang left Roberts fairly acrimoniously which suggests some form of personal dispute. I suspect that some of the differences in their respective articles may also be a pointer to this: for example, Roberts articles expressly forbid anyone to even talk about 'breaking up the company', while Anstis' articles state clearly that if a pardon was offered at any time then anyone was free to take advantage of it who wished.

There are other examples of this. Spriggs parted company from Low following a disagreement about the implementation of articles; Cocklyn and Moody parted company over some disagreement or other; Rackham and Vane argued about the taking of a French ship, and both men subsequently pursued their own careers independently; Lane and/or Sample (I forget which off the top of my head) left England's company because they wanted to sail West when he wanted to sail East. The list probably goes on...

[Daniel]

Does anyone have a list of names of all Roberts officers?

Johnson has a list of the pirates condemned and reprieved at Castle Corso, but unfortuantely it tells us nothing about who was an officer and who wasn't.

• 
  Condemned:
  William Magnes 35 Minehead.
  Richard Hardy 25 Wales.
  David Sympson 36 North-Berwick.
  Christopher Moody 28
  Thomas Sutton 23 Berwick.
  Valentine Ashplant 32 Minories.
  Peter de Vine 42 Stepney.
  William Philips 29 Lower-Shadwell.
  Philip Bill 27 St. Thomas's.
  William Main 28
  William Mackintosh 21 Canterbury.
  William Williams 40 nigh Plymouth.
  Robert Haws 31 Yarmouth.
  William Petty 30 Deptford.
  John Jaynson 22 nigh Lancaster.
  Marcus Johnson 21 Smyrna.
  Robert Crow 44 Isle of Man.
  Michael Maer 41 Ghent
  Daniel Harding 26 Croomsbury in Somersetshire.
  William Fernon 22 Somersetshire.
  Jo. More 19 Meer in Wiltshire.
  Abraham Harper 23 Bristol.
  Jo. Parker 22 Winfred in Dorsetshire.
  Jo. Philips 28 Alloway in Scotland.
  James Clement 20 Jersey.
  Peter Scvdamore 35 Bristol.
  James Skyrm 44 Wales.
  John Walden 24 Somersetshire.
  Jo. Stephenson 40 Whitby.
  Jo. Mansfield 30 Orkneys.
  Israel Hynde 30 Bristol.
  Peter Lesley 21 Aberdeen.
  Charles Bunce 26 Excter
  Robert Birtson 30 Other St. Maries Devonshire.
  Richard Harris 45 Cornwall.
  Joseph Nosuter 26 Sadbury in Devonshire.
  William Williams 30 Speechless at Execution.
  Agge Jacobson 30 Holland.
  Benjamin Jefferys 21 Bristol.
  Cuthbert Goss 21 Topsham.
  John Jessup 20 Plymouth.
  Edward Watts 22 Dunmore.
  Thomas Giles 26 Mine-head.
  William Wood 27 York.
  Thomas Armstrong 34 London, executed on board the Weymouth.
  Robert Johnson 32 at Whydah.
  George Smith 25 Wales.
  William Watts 23 Ireland.
  James Philips 35 Antegoa.
  John Coleman 24 Wales.
  Robert Hays 20 Liverpool.
  William Davis 23 Wales.
  Sentenced to seven years' hard labor in Africa:
  THomas How of Barnstable, in the County of Devon.
  Samuel Fletcher of East-Smithfield, London.
  John Lane of Lombard-Street, London.
  David Littlejohn of Bristol.
  John King of Shadwell Parish, London.
  Henry Dennis of Bidiford.
  Hugh Harris of Corf-Castle, Devonshire.
  William Taylor of Bristol.
  Thomas Owen of Bristol.
  John Mitchel of Shadwell Parish, London.
  Joshua Lee of Leverpool.
  William Shuren of Wapping Parish, London.
  Robert Hartley of Leverpool.
  John Griffin of Blackwall, Middlesex.
  James Cromby of London, Wapping.
  James Greenham of Marshfield, Gloucestershire.
  John Horn of St. James's Parish, London.
  John Jessop of Wisbich, Cambridgshire.
  David Rice of Bristol.
  Convicted but reprieved:
  Thomas Oughterlaney
  George Wilson
  

Of these, James Skyrm was certainly an officer, commanding the Ranger when the Swallow captured her. Valentine Ashplant had served on a tribunal on some escaped prisoners. Ashplant, Sympson, and Anstis were members of Roberts' "House of Lords," and at the trial Sutton, Moody, Bill, Hardy, Dennis, Rice, Williams, Harris, Smith, Watts, Mitchell and Barrow were identified as belonging "most of them to the House of Lords." Who exactly is a "lieutenant" is open to debate: pirate ships rarely used the rank of lieutenant, Quelch being the only "lieutenant" I know of on a privateer/pirate ship.

These men would not necessarily include all Roberts' officers: 28 of Roberts' crew had died before being brought to trial, many from wounds suffered in the battle, and some of these may have been Lords. Nor is it known if any of the blacks were Lords: all 70 of the black prisoners were summarily enslaved without trial, and their names are lost.

It remains a controversial question whether Israel Hynde was the same man as Blackbeard's Israel Hands. Hands had served Blackbeard as an officer, commanding one of his subordinate ships, but that does not prove he was an officer for Roberts, even if he was the same man. Also, Johnson claimed that Hands was still alive in London when the General History of the Pirates went to print, and he would have to be wrong about this for Hands to be the same man as Hynde.

Foxe is, of course, correct that violent personal differences could also be a reason for breaking up a crew, and may well have figured in Roberts' problems. Roberts at one point killed a pirate who insulted him. Jones, a friend of the dead man, cursed Roberts. Roberts stabbed Jones, who then threw Roberts over a gun and beat him up. The crew sided with Roberts and ordered Jones flogged, but there was considerable dissension about it, and Jones later deserted with Anstis.

[Fox]

Who exactly is a "lieutenant" is open to debate: pirate ships rarely used the rank of lieutenant, Quelch being the only "lieutenant" I know of on a privateer/pirate ship.

Snelgrave wrote 'the pirates had all other officers as is usual board Men of War', concerning Davis' crew, which became Roberts' crew on Davis' death. Ned Low is described somewhere as serving as Lowther's lieutenant, Gow had a lieutenant called Williams and I'm sure there are other examples beside Kennedy. Also, the 1717 and 1718 proclamations offering rewards for captured pirates mention lieutenants.

I wouldn't like to say that the following is a full list of Roberts' officers, but here's a few, mostly taken from the trial account:

Thomas Anstis - captain of consort vessel

James Skyrm - captain of consort vessel

Walter Kennedy - lieutenant

David Simpson - quartermaster, voted out of office and replaced by

William Magnes - quartermaster (who was considered by some 'too honest' for the job)

Richard Hardy - quartermaster of the Ranger under Skyrm

Henry Glasby - master

William Guineys - mate of the Ranger under Skyrm

Thomas Oughterlaney - pilot (navigator)

William Main - boatswain (described as 'acting briskly... like a man of war's officer)

Thomas Sutton - gunner

Valentine Ashplant - 'patroon of the Pirates' boat' [presumably meaning something like a coxswain]

Benjamin Jeffreys - boatswain's mate

Isaac Russel - boatswain's mate

James Harris - gunner's mate

John Griffin - carpenter's mate

Thomas Petty - sailmaker

Abraham Harper - cooper ('always had a rattan like an officer in his hand, directing about the provisions, and what else immediately related to his office']

John Francois - Yeoman of the boatswain's stores

Edited March 5, 2010 by Foxe

[The Island]

I was reading Breverton's book and he had a list of names of Roberts crew and the LORDS such as Henry Dennis was the only Lord spared being Hanged in chains. He did 7 years on a plantation. I wonder, what made him be reprieved espically being with Davis and then Roberts?

[Fox]

Further to my last post: according to The Weekly Journal or Saturday's Post 2 May 1724, Thomas Jones was made boatswain at the same time as Roberts was made captain.