piracy from 1782-1798

[red sam flint]

I belong to a historicle society in northern Minnesota, I portray an ex-privateer/pirate from Nova Scotia who is adventuring the interior of North America. I have come across a North West Co. fur post having a rondezvous and am spending some time there.

I like to back up my storys with actual history, and would like to know what kind of piracy was going on from 1782-1798, and which i could have been from?

In 1780-81 I was a privateer aboard the schooner "adventure" from Halifax, Nova Scotia. I would have liked to have done some piracy after that.

Can anyone help me with my persona?

Thanks,

Jaymes William Byrd (a.k.a. Red Sam Flint)

[Rumba Rue]

I have a book called, "Pirates and Outlaws of Canada, 1610 to 1932",

by Harold Horwood and Ed Butts. (I found it when I was in Toronto, last Sept.)

I've seen it offered at Amazon.com

You'll find a number of pirate stories in it regarding piracy around Nova Scotia and Eastern Canada. Unfortunately it's not all about pirates, there's stuff about people who were outlaws on land too.

There's not a whole lot on piracy in Nova Scotia, but it certianly was there! Not knowing where you live, but if you are up in that area, I'm sure there's libraries that would have more information on piracy there.

Hope I've been of some help.

[Fox]

Does it give any sources for the Cobham story Rumba?

[Rumba Rue]

Ok, here's what is says in the book (pg. 102-105), just a bit edited for length.

Eric Cobham was born in Poole, one of the Channel ports of England and went to sea as a boy.

Possibly worked in the Newfoundland fisheries at the age of 14/15, but by his late teens he was a member of a smuggling gang running brandy from France to England.

He was caught at the age of 19 and sent to Newgate prison where he was there for about two years.

Upon his release he got a job working at an Inn in Oxford. He succeeded in robbing wealthy men. The innocent innkeeper was hanged for theft while Cobham moved south to Plymouth and bought a small ship.

In Plymouth he met Maria Lindsey and stayed with her the rest of his life.

Shortly after they met they enlisted a fresh crew of renegades and sailed for Nantucket. They took their first ship there and went north and discovered the supply route to Quebec, where money going upriver and furs coming downriver provided a virtually untouched area by other pirates.

There's more, but I'm not going to type it all in.

[red sam flint]

Thanks Rumba;

My persona dosn't have to be limited to Nova Scotia, as a sea port, I could have gone any where in those 10 years.

I will also look for that book, sounds fantastic!!

Thanks again,

RSF

[Fox]

But does it give any sources Rumba?

[Cire]

Being in Poole, I have never seen a shred of information regarding Cobham. Considering the amount of stuff there is on smuggling in the area, one would think he would get a mention, if not for his piracy, his smuggling. I am going to the Local History Museum on thursday, and while I am there I shall see if they have any information, though I doubt it.

[Rumba Rue]

Ok, here's the list of libraries and Institutions that are acknowledged in the book.

The Public Archives of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edwards Island, Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia and Glenbow Institute.

Public Archives of Massachesetts, National Library of Canada, British Public Records Office, the Arts Library, University of Waterloo, Gosling Memorial Library, St. John's, the Conception Bay Museum, Harbour Grace, the Maritime Museum, Boston, the Newfoundland Historical Society, Metropolitan Toronto Police Museum, Library of Congress; Confederation Life Art Collection, Toronto.

Remington Art Museum, Odensburn, New York, the New Your Historical Society, New Yor Central Library and the Public Libraries of Metropolitan Toronto, Owen Sound, Sault Ste, Marie :(Ontario), Kitchener, Hanover and Goderich.

I could not find a source for just Cobham, but I suspect any place on the eastern shores of Canda, hence Newfoundland/Nova Scotia would be where the information is.

[Fox]

Thanks RR!

Personally I suspect that the information on the Cobhams isn't anywhere. There doesn't seem to be any evidence they actually existed until Gosse wrote about them in the 30s.

Just thought maybe if they quoted sources... never mind.

[Cire]

I know all about your views on the Cobhams Foxe. Doesn't stop me looking around to help you prove it. :)

[Fox]

Not in the slightest! I'd really love the stories to be true, that's why I asked if Horwood and Butts gave any actual sources.

On the other hand, if we search and search in all the right places and still turn up zilch (as has happened so far - no sign of them in Poole, Newgate or Le Havre, no records of their apparently monumental piracies, certain elements of their story obivously false or erroneous...) then we can say with a reasonable degree of certainty that the whole thing is a fiction and consign it to the Gaspar/Shirland pile...

Hunt away, and please turn something up!