On this day in history...

[William Brand]

April 25 -

On this day in 1680, buccaneers under Harris, Sharp and Cook plundered the mining town of Santa Maria (east of Panama City) and set fire to the town. Then using canoes they rowed downstream to the Pacific.

Also on this day in 1719, Daniel Defoe first published Robinson Crusoe. This first edition credited the work's fictional protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a travelogue of true incidents. It was published under the considerably longer original title The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver'd by Pyrates. Epistolary, confessional, and didactic in form, the book is a fictional autobiography of the title character (whose birth name is Robinson Kreutznaer)—a castaway who spends years on a remote tropical island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and mutineers before being rescued.

[Red John]

That's what was great about the old days, the way they always kept things simple, straight, and to-the-point . . . especially book titles and such . . .

[William Brand]

April 26 -

On this day in 1717, English pirate Captain 'Black Sam' Samuel Bellamy died. Though his known career as a pirate captain lasted little more than a year, he and his crew captured at least 53 ships under his command – making him the wealthiest pirate in recorded history – before his death at age 28. Called "Black Sam" in Cape Cod folklore because he eschewed the fashionable powdered wig in favor of tying back his long black hair with a simple band, Bellamy became known for his mercy and generosity toward those he captured on his raids. This reputation earned him another nickname, the "Prince of Pirates". He likened himself to Robin Hood, with his crew calling themselves "Robin Hood's Men".

Also on this day in 1717, near Chatham, Massachusetts, the Whydah approached a thick, gray fog bank rolling across the water – signaling inclement weather ahead.

That weather turned into a violent nor'easter, a storm with gale force winds out of the east and northeast, which forced the vessel dangerously close to the breaking waves along the shoals of Cape Cod. The ship was eventually driven aground at Wellfleet, Massachusetts. At midnight she hit a sandbar in 16 feet (5 m) of water about 500 feet (152 m) from the coast of what is now Marconi Beach. Pummeled by 70 mph (110 km/h) winds and 30-to-40 ft (9-to-12 m) waves, the main mast snapped, pulling the ship into about 30 ft (9 m) of water, where she violently capsized.[14] The 60+ cannon on board ripped through the overturned decks of the ship and quickly broke it apart, scattering parts of the ship over a 4-mile (6.4 km) length of coast. One of the two surviving members of Bellamy's crew, Thomas Davis, testified in his subsequent trial that "In a quarter of an hour after the ship struck, the Mainmast was carried by the board, and in the Morning she was beat to pieces."

By morning, hundreds of Cape Cod's notorious wreckers (locally known as "moon-cussers") were already plundering the remains. Hearing of the shipwreck, then-governor Samuel Shute dispatched Captain Cyprian Southack, a local salvager and cartographer, to recover "Money, Bullion, Treasure, Goods and Merchandizes taken out of the said Ship." When Southack reached the wreck on May 3rd, he found that part of the ship was still visible breaching the water's surface, but that much of the ship's wreckage was scattered along more than 4 miles (6.4 km) of shoreline. On a map that he made of the wreck site, Southack reported that he had buried 102 of the 144 Whydah crew and captives lost in the sinking (though technically they were buried by the town coroner, who surprised Southack by handing him the bill and demanding payment).

According to surviving members of the crew – two from the Whydah and seven from the Mary Anne, another of Bellamy's fleet which ran aground in the storm – at the time of its sinking, the ship carried from four and a half to five tons of silver, gold, gold dust, and jewelry, which had been divided equally into 180 50-pound (23 kg) sacks and stored in-between the ship's decks. Though Southack did salvage some nearly worthless items from the ship, little of the massive treasure hoard was recovered. Southack would write in his account of his findings, that, "The riches, with the guns, would be buried in the sand." With that, the exact location of the ship, its riches and its guns were lost, and came to be thought of as nothing more than legend.

[William Brand]

April 27 -

On this day in 1702, Jean Bart, French Privateer, died of pleurisy and was buried in the Eglise Saint-Eloi in Dunkirk.

[William Brand]

April 28 -

On this day in 1655, English admiral Blake beat the Tunen pirate fleet.

And on this day in 1770, Captain James Cook, sailing aboard the Endeavour, landed at Botany Bay in Australia.

[William Brand]

April 29 -

On this day in 1623, 11 Dutch ships departed for the conquest of Peru.

1707 - And on this day in 1707, the English and Scottish parliaments accepted the Act of Union; forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain.

Also on this day in 1729, Ingela Olofsdotter Gathenhielm née Hammar, a Swedish privateer in service of King Charles XII of Sweden during the Great Northern War, died.

[William Brand]

April 30 -

On this day in 1562, the first French colonists in North America, including Jean Ribault and other colonists, arrived in Florida.

[William Brand]

May 1 -

On this day in 1596, Jacob van Neck's merchant fleet departed for Java.

And on this day in 1625, a Portuguese & Spanish expedition recaptured Salvador (Bahia).

[William Brand]

May 2 -

On this day in 1670, King Charles II of England granted a permanent charter to the Hudson's Bay Company, made up of the group of French explorers who opened the lucrative North American fur trade to London merchants. The charter conferred on them not only a trading monopoly but also effective control over the vast region surrounding North America's Hudson Bay.

Although contested by other English traders and the French in the region, the Hudson's Bay Company was highly successful in exploiting what would become eastern Canada. During the 18th century, the company gained an advantage over the French in the area but was also strongly criticized in Britain for its repeated failures to find a northwest passage out of Hudson Bay. After France's loss of Canada at the end of the French and Indian Wars, new competition developed with the establishment of the North West Company by Montreal merchants and Scottish traders. As both companies attempted to dominate fur potentials in central and western Canada, violence sometimes erupted, and in 1821 the two companies were amalgamated under the name of the Hudson's Bay Company. The united company ruled a vast territory extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and under the governorship of Sir George Simpson from 1821 to 1856, reached the peak of its fortunes.

After Canada was granted dominion status in 1867, the company lost its monopoly on the fur trade, but it had diversified its business ventures and remained Canada's largest corporation through the 1920s.

Also on this day in 1724, the Post-Boy newspaper suggested that George Lowthers did not die in 1723. The newspaper, the only known original still in existence, was owned by Eric Bjotvedt and reported:

"The last Letters from S. Christopher bring Advice, that on the 20th of February, the Eagle Sloop, h ted out from that Island, had brought in thither the Pyrate Sloop she had taken from Lowther, with twenty of the Men that were on board, (Lowther himself and many of the Crew having made their Escape) and it was believed that twelve or thirteen of them would be convicted of Pyracy, and that the others would be clear’d, as being forced into the said Pyrates Service."

[William Brand]

May 3 -

Peter Harris (the elder) died on this day in 1680. He was a British buccaneer, one of the captains (along with Bartholomew Sharp and Edmund Cook) in the Pacific Adventure, a privateering expedition headed by Richard Sawkins and John Coxon. After plundering the mining town of Santa Maria (east of Panama City) on April 25, 1680, the buccaneers set fire to the town and using canoes rowed downstream to the Pacific. On May 3, the "expedition" reached the port at Perico island off the coast of Panama City, finding there a Spanish fighting force of several barques and other ships. Although eventually victorious, the buccaneers lost twenty men, among them Captain Harris.

Another Buccaneer called Peter Harris, apparently a nephew of the one mentioned above, was active in the same area during 1684–1685.

[William Brand]

May 4 -

On this day in 1634, Johan van Walbeeck's fleet departed to the West Indies.

And on this day in 1686, the Municipality of Ilagan was founded in the Philippines.

[William Brand]

May 5 -

On this day in 1494, on his 2nd voyage to New World, Christopher Columbus sighted Jamaica, which would one day be home to many a pirate.

[JS1990]

I think this is my favorite thread. Thank you all for the wonderful information!
Regards,
JS

[Red John]

Jamaica, which also became the Columbus' family private island as granted by the Crown of Spain, in part reward for his services in exploring and early settlement of what became the Spanish Empire in the New World. Thus it was an area outside the law of any established government from nearly its very beginning . . . although the Spanish eventually asserted some minor control, not thinking the place very valuable compared to the rest of the Spanish Main and West Indies . . . that is, until the English took it by force, and defended it for many years with private men and ships, privateers as it were, better known as "Buccaneers" . . .

Granted, these two are secondary sources, but highly recommend the very enjoyable read "Empire of Blue Water" about Morgan and his Buccaneers, and "Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean" about the Island of Jamaica in particular and its fascinating history - and in large part the history of the region - from the earliest Spanish times until the end of the GAoP.

[William Brand]

I think this is my favorite thread. Thank you all for the wonderful information!

Regards,

JS

Thank you.

May 6 -

On this day in 1626, Dutch colonist Peter Minuit bought Manhattan Island from local the indigenous people for 60 guilders worth of trinkets.

[William Brand]

May 7 -

On this day in 1624, Admiral Hermites' conquering fleet reached Callao at Lima, Peru.

Also on this day in 1638, Cornelis S. Goyer took possession of the uninhabited Mauritius.

And on this day in 1718, the city of New Orleans was founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville.

[William Brand]

May 8 -

On this day in 1541, Hernando de Soto, became the first European to discover the Mississippi River.

[William Brand]

May 9 -

On this day in 1502, Columbus left Spain on his 4th & final trip to New World.

And on this day in 1738, England routed the fleet in the Mediterranean Sea & West-Indies.

[William Brand]

May 10 -

On this day in 1497, Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci left on his first voyage to the New World.

Also on this day in 1503, Columbus discovered the Cayman Islands.

And in 1534, French navigator Jacques Cartier reacheed Newfoundland.

And also on this day in 1624, Dutch admirals Jacob Willekens & Piet Heyn conquered Salvador da Bahia (Brazil).

And finally in 1655, Jamaica was captured by the English.

[William Brand]

May 11 -

On this day in 1678, French admiral Jean d'Estrees' fleet ran aground on Aves-islands, Curacao.

And in 1690, English troops of W. Phips conquered Port Royal, Nova Scotia.

[William Brand]

May 12 -

On this day in 1701, William Kidd sent a pleading letter from prison to Robert Harley, the Tory speaker of the House of Commons, trying once again to exchange his treasure of one hundred thousand pounds for his freedom.

[William Brand]

May 13 -

On this day in 1607, English colonists, led by John Smith, landed near the James River in Virginia.

And on this day in 1624, Admiral Hermites' fleet blockaded Lima, Peru.

Also on this day in 1654, the Venetian fleet under Adm Adeler beat Turkish forces.

[William Brand]

May 14 -

On this day in 1607, the 1st permanent English settlement in New World was started at Jamestown, Virginia.

And in 1747, the British fleet under Admiral George Anson defeated the French at the first battle of Cape Finisterre.

[William Brand]

May 15 -

On this day in 1602, English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold became the first European to reach Cape Cod.

[William Brand]

May 16 -

A piratical vessel, and her crew of thirty-eight men were captured off Matanzas on the 16th May, 1825, by a British cutter and a steamboat fitted out at that place. Several of the pirates were killed, and the rest sent to Havana for trial. It was ascertained that some of them had assisted in capturing more than twenty American vessels, whose crews were murdered.