On this day in history...

[William Brand]

We've come full circle, but with new materials available all the time, I think we should continue this thread, so if you've been following everything this last year, you're going to see repeats.

November 21 -

On this day in 1724, the pirate ship 'Revenge' attacked the British ship 'Sarah'. Most of the crew was set adrift, though some deemed useful were given the option of joining John Gow's crew. Over the next few months, John Gow attacked several other ships.

Also on this day in 1996, Intersal Inc., a private research firm, discovered the wreck believed to be the 'Queen Anne’s Revenge'. It was located by Intersal's director of operations, Mike Daniel, who used historical research provided by Intersal's president, Phil Masters and archaeologist David Moore. The vessel is in the Atlantic Ocean in shallow water offshore from Fort Macon State Park (34°41′44″N 76°41′20″W), Atlantic BEach, North Carolina. Several of the cannons and more than 16,000 artifacts have been recovered.

[William Brand]

November 22nd -

On this day in history in 1684, French Buccaneer, Raveneau de Lussan, joins other buccaneers under Laurens de Graaf, sailing from Petit-Goâve to try the sweet trade.

Also on this day in 1718, Edward 'Blackbeard' Teach is killed at Ocracoke, a Province of Carolina, having been shot no fewer than five times and cut about twenty.

[William Brand]

November 23 -

On this day in 1718, a force made up of Captain Brand, Colonel Moore, Captain JeremiahVail, and a number of North Carolinians arrived within 3 miles of Bath, North Carolina searching for Edward 'Blackbeard' Teach. Moore went into the town to see if Teach was there, reporting back that he was not, but that the pirate was expected at "every minute", as the force was yet unaware of Teach's death the day before.

[William Brand]

November 24 -

On this day in 1642, Abel Janzoon Tasman discovered Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania).

And on this day in 1718, Captain Brand, unaware of Edward Teach's death, sent two canoes down Pamlico River to Ocracoke Inlet, to see if Edward 'Blackbeard' Teach and his men could be seen. They returned two days later and reported on what had already transpired with the death of Teach.

[William Brand]

November 25 -

On this day in 1500, Governor Francisco De Bobadilla of Santo Domingo captured Columbus on charges and accusations of mismanagement.

[Coastie04]

Yep, keep 'er going. I try to check it out once a week or so (as able). Repeats just help to reinforce the vast amount of information I've been trying to soak up in the past year. I still say that it should be one of those daily calenders.

[William Brand]

November 26 -

On this day in history, the Southern part of England was hit by one of the most sever natural disasters of all time. Called 'The Great Storm of 1703', observers at the time recorded barometric readings as low as 973 millibars (measured by William Derham in south Essex), but it has been suggested that the storm may have deepened to 950 millibars over the Midlands.

In London, approximately 2,000 massive chimney stacks were blown down. The lead roofing was blown off Westminster Abbey and Queen Anne had to shelter in a cellar at St. James's Palace to avoid collapsing chimneys and part of the roof. On the Thames, around 700 ships were heaped together in the Pool of London, the section downstream from London Bridge. HMS Vanguard was wrecked at Chatham. Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell's HMS Association was blown from Harwich to Gothenburg in Sweden before way could be made back to England. Pinnacles were blown from the top of King’s College Chapel, in Cambridge.

There was extensive and prolonged flooding in the West Country, particularly around Bristol. Hundreds of people drowned in flooding on the Somerset Levels, along with thousands of sheep and cattle, and one ship was found 15 miles inland. At Wells, Bishop Richard Kidder was killed when two chimneystacks in the palace fell on the bishop and his wife, asleep in bed. This same storm blew in part of the great west window in Wells Cathedral. Major damage occurred to the south-west tower of Llandaff Cathedral at Cardiff.

At sea, many ships (many returning from helping the King of Spain fight the French in the War of the Spanish Succession) were wrecked, including on the Goodwin Sands, HMS Stirling Castle, HMS Northumberland, HMS Mary, and HMS Restoration, with about 1,500 seamen killed particularly on the Goodwins. Between 8,000 and 15,000 lives were lost overall. A ship torn from its moorings in the Helford River in Cornwall was blown for 200 miles before grounding eight hours later on the Isle of Wight. The number of oak trees lost in the New Forest alone was 4,000.

The storm of 1703 caught a convoy of 130 merchant ships and their Man of War escorts, the "Dolphin", the "Cumberland", the "Coventry", the "Looe", the "Hastings" and the "Hector" sheltering at Milford Haven. By 3pm the next afternoon losses included 30 vessels.

[William Brand]

November 27 -

On this day in history the 'Great Storm of 1703' began to subside, but not before exacting a heavy toll.

Winstanley's tower (known as the first Eddystone Lighthouse) was almost completed erased from existence. Winstanley himself was on the lighthouse, completing additions to the structure. No trace was found of him, or of the other five men in the lighthouse.

In the English Channel, fierce winds and high seas had swamped some vessels outright and drove others onto the Goodwin Sands, an extensive sand bank situated along the southeast coast of England and the traditional anchorage for ships waiting either for passage up the Thames estuary to London or for favorable winds to take them out into the Channel and the Atlantic Ocean. The Royal Navy was badly affected, losing thirteen ships, including the entire Channel Squadron, and upwards of fifteen hundred seamen drowned.

- The third rate Restoration was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands; of the ship's company of 387 not one was saved.

- The third rate Northumberland was lost on the Goodwin Sands; all 220 men, including 24 marines were killed.

- The third rate (battleship) Stirling Castle was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands. Seventy men, including four marine officers, were saved, but 206 men were drowned.

- The fourth rate Mary was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands. The captain and the purser were ashore, but Rear Admiral Beaumont and 268 other men were drowned. Only one man, whose name was Thomas Atkins, was saved. His escape was very remarkable - having first seen the rear admiral

get onto a piece of her quarter-deck when the ship was breaking up, and then get washed off again, Atkins was tossed by a wave into the Stirling Castle, which sank soon after. From the Stirling Castle he was swept into a boat by a wave, and was rescued.

- The fifth rate Mortar-bomb was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands and her entire company of 65 were lost.

- The sixth rate advice boat Eagle was lost on the coast of Sussex, but her ship's company of 45 were all saved.

- The third rate Resolution was lost at Pevensey on the coast of Sussex; all her ship's company of 221 were saved.

- The fifth rate Litchfield Prize was wrecked on the coast of Sussex; all 108 on board were saved.

- The fourth rate Newcastle was lost at Spithead. The carpenter and 39 men were saved, and the other 193 were drowned.

- The fifth rate fire-ship Vesuvius was lost at Spithead; all 48 of her ship's company were saved.

- The fourth rate Reserve was lost by foundering off Yarmouth. The captain, the surgeon, the clerk, and 44 men were saved; the other 175 members of the crew were drowned.

- The second rate Vanguard was sunk in Chatham harbour. She was not manned and had no armament fitted; the following year she was raised for rebuilding.

- The fourth rate York was lost at Harwich; all but four of her men were saved.

Lamb (1991) claimed 10,000 seamen were lost in one night, a far higher figure, about 1/3 of all the seamen in the British Navy. HMS Shrewsbury narrowly escaped a similar fate. Over 40 merchant ships were lost.

The Great Storm also coincided with the increase in English journalism, and was the first weather event to be a news story on a national scale. Special issue broadsheets were produced detailing damage to property and stories of people who had been killed.

Daniel Defoe produced his full-length book, The Storm, published in July 1704, in response to the calamity, calling it "the tempest that destroyed woods and forests all over England." He wrote: "No pen could describe it, nor tongue express it, nor thought conceive it unless by one in the extremity of it." Coastal towns such as Portsmouth "looked as if the enemy had sackt them and were most miserably torn to pieces." Winds of up to 80mph destroyed more than 400 windmills. Defoe reported in some the sails turned so fast that the friction caused the wooden wheels to overheat and catch fire.

[William Brand]

November 28 -

On this day in 1520, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan entered the Pacific Ocean with three ships, becoming the first European explorer to reach the Pacific from the Atlantic.

And on this day in 1717 - Captain Benjamin Hornigold captured the slave ship La Concorde de Nantes, which would later become the Queen Anne's Revenge near the island of Martinique. Hornigold turned her over to one of his men —Edward Teach, later known as Blackbeard—and made him her captain.

And also on this day, Ann Bonny and Mary Read were convicted of piracy.

[William Brand]

November 29 -

On this day in 1791, the Chatham Islands were sighted by the first European, William Broughton, commanding the HMS Chatham.

[William Brand]

November 30 -

On this day, Captain Cook begin his third and last trip to the Pacific (South Seas).

[William Brand]

December 1 -

On this day in 1718, the HMS Lyme reported the following (From page 263 of "The Last Battle").

"Soon after dawn on Thursday, December 1, lookouts on board the two British warships spotted two sloops approaching from seaward. It was Maynard, returning in triumph, with Blackbeard's head still swinging from the bowsprit of the Jane. The log of HMS Lyme recorded the event in the usual nonchalant, understated manner adopted by the Royal Navy: "Light Wind, Fair Visability, Wind WSW. This Morn. Sloops returned from ye exhibition in N. Carolina." Over two hundred sailors raced into the rigging and lined the sides of the two warships, cheering the arrival of their victorious shipmates. The battered men of Maynard's command cheered back. They had plenty to cheer about. They had survived a hard-fought battle with the pirates, they had been promised a bonus - and they expected a share of the plunder."

Also on this day in 1968, Pirate Radio Modern (259) began transmitting in England.

[William Brand]

December 2 -

On this day in history, 1547, Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro died at Castilleja de la Cuesta, Castile.

Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca; 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century. Cortés was part of the generation of Spanish colonizers that began the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.

Born in Medellín, Spain, to a family of lesser nobility, Cortés chose to pursue a livelihood in the New World. He went to Hispaniola and later to Cuba, where he received an encomienda and, for a short time, became alcalde (magistrate) of the second Spanish town founded on the island. In 1519, he was elected captain of the third expedition to the mainland, an expedition which he partly funded. His enmity with the Governor of Cuba, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, resulted in the recall of the expedition at the last moment, an order which Cortés ignored. Arriving on the continent, Cortés executed a successful strategy of allying with some indigenous people against others. He also used a native woman, Doña Marina, as an interpreter; she would later bear Cortés a son. When the Governor of Cuba sent emissaries to arrest Cortés, he fought them and won, using the extra troops as reinforcements. Cortés wrote letters directly to the king asking to be acknowledged for his successes instead of punished for mutiny. After he overthrew the Aztec Empire, Cortés was awarded the title of Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca, while the more prestigious title of Viceroy was given to a high-ranking nobleman, Antonio de Mendoza. In 1541 Cortés returned to Spain, where he died peacefully but embittered, six years later.

Because of the controversial undertakings of Cortés and the scarcity of reliable sources of information about him, it has become difficult to assert anything definitive about his personality and motivations. Early lionizing of the conquistadors did not encourage deep examination of Cortés. Later reconsideration of the conquistadors' character in the context of modern anti-colonial sentiment also did little to expand understanding of Cortés as an individual. As a result of these historical trends, descriptions of Cortés tend to be simplistic, and either damning or idealizing.

And on this day in 1677, Jacob Binckes of Koudum, Holland, and Fleetcommander in service of the Amsterdam Admiralty, died.

He had fought in seabattles against the English in 1666 and in the infamous war-raid to Chatham in 1667. Binckes distinguished himself in actions against Barbary corsairs. He also worked as an admiral in 1676 until his death in Caribbean waters. He once captured Tobago and withstood an attack by a French esquadron lead by d’Estrées. Once, he ordered his captain J.E. Reyning to take a British ship, though England and Holland were not warring at that moment. Reyning played so much havoc on the poor vessel that she burst into flames, capsized and sank.

Also on this day in 1717, the two ships, Ranger and Jane, under command of Maynard sailed for Williamsburg, the head of Blackbeard still hanging from the bowsprit of the Jane.

And finally on this day in 1755, the second Eddystone Lighthouse was destroyed by fire.

[William Brand]

December 3 -

On this day in 1679, William Coles, Jon Baxter and Joseph Bullivant committed acts of piracy under command of Guyther when taking a Galliot-Hoy (called De Liefde of Rotterdam) bound from Bordeaux , Franceto Dordrecht, Netherland and laden with 160 tun of wine, and prunes. They were committed to the Marshalseas Prison, London.

And on this day in 1775, the first official US flag (Grand Union Flag) was raised aboard naval the vessel USS Alfred.

[William Brand]

December 4 -

On this day in 1619, 38 colonists from Berkeley Parish in England disembarked in Virginia and gave thanks to God. This is considered by many to be the first Thanksgiving in the Americas.

[William Brand]

December 5 -

On this day in 1492, Columbus discovered Hispaniola.

On this same day in 1578, Drake reached Valparaiso, Chili, and from sheer joy captured a rich prize and sacked the town.

On this day, Henry Carle, while in command of the ship Philip wrote that "on the Vth of December last 16[?], near Cape St. Vincent, did set upon and take St. Mary", a Portuguese ship of 180 tons burden ("and had a new gallery and was painted red besides, and had a new foremast and a new bowspritte in her, and two overloppes (...) in her XXVI great chests of sugar, one hundreth and twenty kintalls of brasill woode and a pipe and a haulfe of St. Tomas sugar, for the accompte of the poor of Zeeland.") The ship, bound for Venice, was owned in Middelburg in Dutch Zeeland (Sealand). After the ship was taken her master was "stripped and searched to his skin. And that night X of XII of his men were stripped naked on borde and pushed into pinnaces while their blood sprung oute." Apparently the Philip-crew had found nothing worthwhile for their efforts; with stripping and wounding and shoving them naked in small boats they probably hoped "to cause them to confess where every pearle, every jewell and money were stored." Carle did not have either a commission or a letter of reprisal or whatever to justify his deed.

Also on this day in history, French buccaneer, Charles François d’Angennes, Marquis de Maintenon is born. As the oldest son of Louis d’Angennes de Rochefort de Salvert, Marquis de Maintenon et de Meslay, and Marie Le Clerc du Tremblay, and as oldest son, he inherited the title of Marquis de Maintenon and the castle which came with the title. He chose not to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors and sold the castle and joined the Navy in 1669.

And on this day in 1715, the seventeenth-century pirate and former officer under Henry Avery, Alexander Dalzeel was hanged. Dalzeel was born in Port Patrick, Scotland, Dalzeel and went to sea as a child. By the age of 23, he was captain of his own ship with six successful voyages to his credit. Earning a reputation for dishonesty, Dalzeel arrived in Madagascar in 1685 and soon enlisted into the ranks of Captain Avery. According to pirate lore, Dalzeel participated in the capture of the treasure ship Ganj-i-Sawai, which carried The Great Mogul's daughter to her arranged marriage. Avery, who had decided to take her as his own wife, gave Dalzeel his own ship and crew within Avery's fleet. Dalzeel would continue to serve under Avery until finally leaving for the West Indies on his own.

His final words to the prison chaplain… “[He] would not attend in the Chapel nor receive any public or private admonition from me [chaplain P. Lorrain] but with his dying breath declared that I was the cause of his death, and he would do me some mischief or other before he died or haunt me afterwards.”

Also this same day in 1717, Edward Teach stopped the merchant sloop Margaret off the coast of Crab Island, near Anguilla. Her captain, Henry Bostock, and crew, remained Teach's prisoners for about eight hours, and were forced to watch as their sloop was ransacked. Bostock, who had been held aboard Queen Anne's Revenge, was returned unharmed to Margaret and was allowed to leave with his crew.

Biddy, Robert Biddy of Liverpool, England and a sailor in the sloop Margaret of St. Christopher when boarded and taken after a single shot over the bow by Edward Teach wrote that the pirates "did not seem to want provisions" but did seize a number of live cattle and hogs as well as books [on navigation], instruments, cutlasses and firearms." Blackbeard’s vessel was "a 36-gun Dutch built guinea man, manned by a crew of 300," Margaret’s master later reported. Three men were forced to serve aboard the pirate. Biddy joined Blackbeard ("a tall sparse man with a very black beard which he wore very long") voluntarily.

And finally on this day in 1719, two piraguas full of armed men under the command of Shelvoke, landed on a small island commanding the harbor mouth (Isla Mancera) supported by two powerful castles at both sides of the entrance (Niebla and Amargos), built there after 1645 to repel Dutch invaders. A governor assumed Shelvocke was a pirate and asked him to leave immediately, which was what Shelvocke did, after getting provisions from Indian plantations and farms. He had the decks packed with live cattle (including guanacos, or lama), poultry and plenty of wheat, barley, potatoes, maize – enough for four months rations.

[William Brand]

December 6 -

On this day in 1677, D'Estrees arrived at Tobago, having destroyed the Dutch slaving station of Goree in West Africa while en route.

Also on this day in 1699, the House of Commons convened to discuss the subject of William Kidd's original commission and its legality. The subject was so hotly debated between the Tories and Whigs that it went on for over nine hours and candles had to be brought in to light Parliament after dark. That first vote went in Kidd's favor with 189 votes for him and 133 against.

[William Brand]

December 7 -

On this day in 1716, Alonso Felipe de Andrade exited Campeche with 100 soldiers and 280 volunteers under privateer Captain Sebastian Garcia, sailing aboard the hired frigate Nuestra Senora de la Soledad, two other frigates, a sloop, two coast guard galliots under Captain Jose de Leon, plus a pair of piraquas, toward the English logwood establishments in the Laguna de Terminos. En route, his flotilla was joined by another sloop and two piraquas from Tabasco, bearing an additional 220 men.

[William Brand]

December 8 -

On this day in 1671, at Port Royal, Jamaica, acting Captain John Wilgress was dismissed from command of the largest Royal Navy warship, a 40 gun frigate named HMS Assistance for "wicked, drunken behavior,"

[William Brand]

December 9 -

On this day in 1658, Dutch troops occupied the harbor city Quilon (Coilan) India.

On this day in 1718, Peter Courant and Josias Burgess, two pardoned pirate captains, had their crew drawn up in two lines to greet the new governor, Woodes Rogers upon his arrival in the Bahamas. Nothing more is known about him Peter Courant, except that he served as one of eight judges in the court of the new governor. Woodes Rogers, convened his court in the guardroom of his still unfinished fort and there brought the ten men captured by Captain Hornigold to trial. Nine were convicted, and Rogers had eight hanged three days later, reprieving the ninth on hearing he was of good family. One of the condemned, Thomas Morris, quipped as he climbed the gallows, "We have a good governor, but a harsh one." The executions so cowed the populace that when, shortly after Christmas, several residents plotted to overthrow Rogers and restore the island to piracy, the conspirators attracted little support. Rogers had them flogged, then released as harmless.

William Dowling of Ireland was among those tried by Woodes, he was a mariner based in Nassau, New Providence in the Bahama’s. He was captured by Hornigold at the island of Exuma, 130 sm Southeast of New Providence. Along with Bunce and Morris, William Dowling had boarded the sloop Lancaster and Mary, on the 5th or 6th 5 of October 1718. Bunce asked for a bottle of beer for each of the men in their sloop Batchelor’s Adventure, which was given. “Then took up arms and took the captains and some loyal men prisoner and forced them to go ashore at Green Key Island, a desolate place.” William Dowling stood trial Tuesday December 9, 1718 with nine others. One of the charges against them was a damning one: having accepted a royal pardon, yet returning to piracy, combining together to mutiny, steal and take the vessels Batchelors Adventure, Lancaster and Mary, their cargoes, provisions and tackle and also having marooned some people on Green Cay.

[William Brand]

December 10 -

In the 16th century. Francis Derham was arrested on a charge of piracy but tried because he “had carnal knowledge of the Queen [Katheryne] before her marriage.” He was sentence to be hanged at Tyrburn, cut down alive, disemboweled and beheaded.” He died thus the 10th day of December.

On this day in 1652, at the sea battle at Dungeness, lt-admiral Maarten Tromp beat the English fleet.

On the same day in 1672, New York Governor Lovelace announced monthly mail service between New York and Boston.

Then on this day In 1690, Mass Bay became the first American colonial government to borrow money.

And on this day in 1718, Stede Bonnet was hanged at White Point Garden, Charleston.

Records of the day state that the hanging on December 10, 1718 took place near the corner of Water and Meeting Streets, also called White Point, Charleston, "another landmark in the war against piracy". Accompanied by the drumbeat sounding his death knell, the cart bore a stooped young man, holding a wilted bouquet in manacled hands and loosing a last shred of dignity when he nearly fainted as he approached the scaffold. The militia pirate was held upright by the deputies as the noose was tightened around his neck. His body and those of 29 of his crew (only 3 were acquitted) were all buried within the flowing of the sea "which had witnessed so many of their dark deeds".

Then there is this account from that same year about the piracies and cruelties of John Augur, WiU Ham Cunningham, Dennis Mackarthy, William Dowling, William Lewis, Thomas Morris, George Bendall, and William Ling, who were tried, condemned, and executed at Nassau, on Friday, the 10th of December. Also, some account of the pirates, Vane, Rackham, and others.

The following is the sentence pronounced upon the prisoners : —

"THE COURT having duly considered of the evidence which hath been given both for and against you the said John Augur, William Cunningham, Dennis Mackarthy, William Dowling, William Lewis, Thomas Morris, George Bendall, William Ling, and George Rounsivel ; and having also debated the several circumstances of the cases, it is adjudged, that you the said John Augur, William Cunningham, Dennis Mackarthy, William Dowling, William Lewis, Thomas Morris, George Bendall,. William Ling, and George Rounsivel, are guilty of the mutiny, felony, and piracy, wherewith you and every of you stand accused. And the Court doth accordingly pass sentence, that you the said John Augur, William Cunningham, Dennis Mackarthy, William Downing, William Lewis, Thomas Morris, George Bendall, William Ling, and George Rounsivel, be carried to prison from whence you came, and from thence to the place of execution, where you are to be hanged by the neck till you shall be dead, dead, dead; and God have mercy on your souls. Given under our hands this 10th day of December, A. D. 1718."

Here is an added account of John Augur, John…

John was an indecisive person who first appeared pompous, then foolish. He accepted the 1718 New Providence-pardon but took to piracy hardly one week later when sharing a mutiny led by Phineas Bunce. He lost his ship to Spanish coast guards , but escaped to Long Island. Governor Rogers had Augur arrested through two ex-searovers, Hornigold and Cockran. One day after the trial, December 10 1718, Augur and some others "looked through the hemp window", a pirate's last chance to attract attention and to live on in the memories and tales of the living. Augur did not make a brilliant impression. He drank a small glass of a bottle of wine and toasted on the success of New Providence and governor Rogers. But alas, his neck remained in the noose, the governor extended the royal hand of mercy to George Rounsivil. The crowd, for the best part his former shipmates and a load of harlots, mockingly told Augur he better repent of his wicked ways of life. John Augur replied angrily: "I do heartily repent I have not done more mischief; and that we did not slit the throats of them that took us, and I am extremely sorry that you can't all be hang'd as well as we."

[William Brand]

December 11 -

Also on this day in 1695, Bellomont, who was now governing New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, asked the "trusty and well beloved Captain Kidd" to attack Thomas Tew, John Ireland, Thomas Wake, William Maze, and all others who associated themselves with pirates, along with any enemy French ships. This request, if turned down, would have been viewed as disloyalty to the crown, the perception of which carried much social stigma, making it difficult for Kidd to have done so. The request preceded the voyage which established Kidd's reputation as a pirate, and marked his image in history and folklore.

Also on this day in 1719, the first recorded display of Aurora Borealis in the Colonies.

[William Brand]

December 12 -

On Friday, December 12,1718 gallows were erected in New Providence of the Bahamas for the hanging of nine pirates, captured by Benjamin Hornigold (the pirate turned pirate hunter). The group of nine pirates included William Cunningham and James Bendall.

William Cunningham had served under Teach through 1716 and into 1717 as a gunner aboard the schooner Batchelor’s Adventure. He had refused the royal pardon offered at New Providence in 1717, but had accepted a pardon one year later, in July of 1718. Cunningham returned to piracy with John Augur because "he was asleep when Bunce went on board the Scooner [to which he belonged] at green Key, and that Bunce brought him punch and told him, that he must either join him or be put upon a maroon key, alias a desolate key."

James Bendall was also offered a pardon by the English king and indeed "received the benefit of His Majesty’s most gracious pardon...bestowed to deliver from his former unlawful course of life", but could not resist the call of freedom and carried on his piracies around the Bahama’s and Virgin Islands. Bendall was captured at the island of Exuma after having "feloniously" taken three ships: Mary, Batchelor’s Adventure and Lancaster, "their cargoes and tackle; and further that they had marooned James Kerr, merchant, and others on Green Cay." During his trial, Kerr (aka Carr) was recalled to speak for him. Under oath Kerr declared that he "heard the prisoner [bendall] say that he wished he’d begun the life sooner for he thought it a pleasant one, that is the life of a pirate. He also said that he had a strong inclination to have smothered John Gravers Esq his Majesty’s Collector for the Islands as he lay ill and weak in his bed for the prisoner was for a short time a servant of mr. Graves before he shipped himself for the intended voyage and joined the other prisoners in their mutiny and piracy."

Woodes Rogers, now governor, captain-general and judge of the local vice-admiralty (having debated the several circumstances of the cases), sat among the authorities awaiting the spectacle. A small crowd, composed of seamen, women and ex-pirates, milled about. A party of 100 soldiers escorted the condemned men to the fatal spot. They were charged with "Mutiny, Felony, Piracy". People say that William Cunningham behaved "very penitent and conscious of his guilt", but that James Bendall was totally unrepentant, behaved in a sullen and moody manner, his last words were that he repeated he had "wish’d he had begun the Life [of a pirate] sooner, for he thought it a pleasant one."

They were hanged at ten o’clock in the morning and the execution of these pirates marked the end of New Providence as a pirate stronghold.

William Dowling of Ireland was one of nine pirates hanged by order of Woodes Rogers on Friday December 12. Described as a hardened pirate “who had lived a wicked life” and as having made a fearsome confession during the trial: “I killed my mother. She spoke harshly to me, but I should not have split her skull with a coal scuttle.”

[William Brand]

December 13 -

On this day in 1577, after years of financial and political preparations, Drake set sail with his small fleet bound for the Strait of Magellan. With the support of the queen, high officials and investors, he launched the voyage with 160 seaman and a dozen of what they then called “gentlemen adventurers”, in casu “angry, young men”, who also had invested in the enterprise. The fleet consisted of one large ship, the Pelican, later re-named Golden Hind, and four smaller ones.

Also on this day in 1621, under the care of Robert Cushman, the first American furs were exported from the continent bound for England aboard the Fortune.

One month before, Cushman and the Fortune had arrived at Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts with 35 settlers, the first new colonists since the settlement was founded in 1620. During Cushman's return to England, the Fortune was captured by the French, and its valuable cargo of furs was taken. Cushman was detained on the Ile d'Dieu before being returned to England.

Within a few years of their first fur export, the Plymouth colonists, unable to make their living through cod fishing as they had originally planned, began concentrating almost entirely on the fur trade. The colonists developed an economic system in which their chief crop, Indian corn, was traded with Native Americans to the north for highly valued beaver skins, which were in turn profitably sold in England to pay the Plymouth Colony's debts and buy necessary supplies.

And on this day in 1642, Dutch navigator Abel Tasman becomes the first European explorer to sight the South Pacific island group now known as New Zealand. In his sole attempt to land, several of Tasman's crew were killed by warriors from a South Island tribe, who interpreted the Europeans' exchange of trumpet signals as a prelude to battle. A few weeks earlier, Tasman had discovered Tasmania, off the southeast coast of Australia. Tasman had named the island Van Diemen's Land, but, like the Tasman Sea between New Zealand and Australia, it was later renamed Tasmania in the explorer's honor.

New Zealand, named after the Dutch province of Zeeland, did not attract much additional European attention until the late 18th century, when English explorer Captain James Cook traveled through the area and wrote detailed accounts of the islands. Whalers, missionaries, and traders followed, and in 1840 Britain formally annexed the islands and established New Zealand's first permanent European settlement at Wellington.

And in 1720, George Shelvocke and his men departed Gorgona Island aboard the Jesus Maria, and operating under majority rule they attempted to steer Westward across the Pacific.

[William Brand]

December 14 -

On this day in 1577, Sir Francis Drake set sail from England to circumnavigate the world.

And on this day in 1604, "On the sea near the Islands of Bayon [-ne] five marauders attacked the Portuguese ship called Nuestra Señora de Concepción." Our Lady carried a valuable cargo of timber, sacks of hides and "an Alexandrian traveling carriage belonging to Gonsalvo." Gonsalvo's importance in society is not explained, but he might have been anyone of consequence from an ambassador downward. In the end of the verdict it is read: "Jennings, Curtys and Carbyn were hanged". The place of the execution is given as Wapping, but no date.

Then on this day in 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted the South Island of present day New Zealand; initially he called it Staten Landt and changes it a year later to Nieuw Zeeland.

Also on this day in 1679, William Cammock one of Sharp’s men, died at sea off the coast of Chili. "His disease was occasioned by a sunfit, gained by too much drinking on shore at La Serena; which produced in him a celenture, or malignant fever and a hiccough." He was buried at sea with the honors of "three French vollies".

And on this day in 1720, one of Roberts’ men, John Clark, and a seaman aboard the snow Eagle when taken by Roberts were hanged. "The said Roger Hewer and John Clark to be taken to the Sands of Leeth within the floodmark upon the second Wednesday of December next being the 14th of the said month between the hours of two and four o’clock in the afternoon and there to be hanged by the neck upon a gibbet till they be dead."

The pirates blew out their last painful breath "within the floodmark" (infra fluxum ac refluxum) because piracy was theft at sea and thus a crime against the admiralty, whose jurisdiction extended to the low tide mark. This writ extended throughout England.