good Master to his Men, they said, he should have an easy Death, and so shot him thro’ the Head. They took some few Things out of the Snow, but gave the Vessel and all her Cargo to Howel Davis the Mate; and the rest of the Crew, as will be hereafter mentioned in the Chapter of Captain Davis.
Captain England took a Ship called the Pearl, Captain Tyzard Commander, for which he exchanged his own Sloop, fitted her up for the piratical Account, and new christen'd her, the Royal James, with which he took several Ships and Vessels of different Nations at the Azores and Cape de Verd Islands.
In the Spring, 1719, the Rovers returned to Africa, and beginning at the River Gambia, sailed all down the Coast; and between that and Cape Corso, took the following Ships and Vessels.
The Eagle Pink, Captain Rickets Commander belonging to Cork, taken the 25th of March, having 6 Guns and 17 Men on Board, seven of which turned Pyrates.
The Charlotte, Captain Oldson, of London, taken May the 26th, having 8 Guns and 18 Men on Board, 13 of which turned Pyrates.
The Sarah, Captain Stunt, of London, taken the 27th of May, having 4 Guns and 18 Men on Board, 3 of which turned Pyrates.
The Bentworth, Captain Gardener, of Bristol, taken the 27th of May, having 12 Guns and 30 Men on Board, 12 of which turned Pyrates.
The Buck Sloop, Captain Sylvester, of Gambia, taken the 27th of May, having 2 Guns and 2 Men on Board, and both turned Pyrates.
The Carteret, Captain Snow, of London, taken the 28th of May, having 4 Guns and 18 Men on Board, 5 of which turned Pyrates.
The Mercury, Captain Maggott, of London, taken the 29th of May, having 4 Guns and 18 Men on Board, 5 of which turned Pyrates.
The Coward Galley, Captain Creed, of London, taken the 17th of June, having 2 Guns and 13 Men on Board, 4 of which turned Pyrates.
The Elizabeth and Katherine, Captain Bridge of Barbadoes, taken June the 27th, having 6 Guns and 14 Men on Board, 4 of which turned Pyrates.
The Eagle Pink being bound to Jamaica, the Sarah to Virginia, and the Buck to Maryland, they let them go, but the Charlotte, the Bentworth, the Carteret, and the Coward Galley, they burnt; and the Mercury, and the Elizabeth and Katherine were fitted up for Pyrate Ships, the former was new nam'd Queen Ann's Revenge, and commanded by one Lane, and the other was call'd the Flying King, of which Robert Sample was appointed Captain. These two left England upon the Coast, sail'd to the West-Indies, where they took some Prizes, clean'd, and sail'd to Brasil in November; they took several Portuguese Ships there, and did a great deal of Mischief, but in the height of their Undertakings, a Portuguese Man of War, which was an excellent Sailor, came a very unwelcome Guest to them, and gave them Chace; the Queen Ann's Revenge got off, but was lost a little while after upon that Coast; and the Flying King, giving herself over for lost, ran ashore: There were then 70 Men on Board, 12 of which were kill'd, and the rest taken Prisoners, of whom the Portuguese hang'd 38, of which 32 were English, three Dutch, two French, and one of their own Nation.
England, in going down the Coast, took the Peterborough Galley of Bristol, Captain Owen; and the Victory, Captain Ridout; the former they detained, but plundered the latter, and let her go. In Cape Corso Road, they saw two Sail at Anchor, but before they could reach them, they slipp'd their Cables and got close under Cape Corso Castle, these were the Whydah, Captain Prince, and the John, Captain Rider: The Pyrates upon this made a fire Ship of a Vessel they had lately taken, and attempted to burn them, as tho’ they had been a common Enemy, which if effected, they could not have been one Farthing the better for it; but the Castle firing warmly upon them, they withdrew, and sail'd down to Whydah Road, where they found another Pyrate, one Captain la Bouche, who getting thither before England arrived, had forestall'd the Market, and greatly disappointed their Brethren.
Captain England, after this Baulk, went into a Harbour, clean'd his own Ship, and fitted up the Peterborough, which he call'd the Victory; they liv'd there very wantonly for several Weeks, making free with the Negroe Women, and committing such outragious Acts, that they came to an open Rupture with the Natives, several of whom they kill'd, and one of their Towns they set on Fire.
When the Pyrates came out to Sea, they put it to a Vote what Voyage to take, and the Majority carrying it for the East-Indies, they shap'd their Course accordingly, and arrived at Madagascar, the Beginning of the Year 1720. They staid not long there, but after taking in Water and Provisions, sail'd for the Coast of Malabar, which is a fine fruitful Country in the East-Indies, in the Empire of the Mogul, but immediately subject to its own Princes: It reaches from the Coast of Canara to Cape Camorin, which is between 7° 30, and 12° North Lattitude, and in about 75° East Longitude, counting from the Meridian of London. The old Natives are Pagans, but there are a great Number of Mahometans inhabiting among them, who are Merchants, and generally rich. On the same Coast, but in a Province to the Northward lies Goa, Surat, Bombay, where the English, Dutch, and Portuguese have Settlements.
Hither our Pyrates came, having made a Tour of half the Globe, as the Psalmist says of the Devils, Going about like roaring Lions, seeking whom they might devour. They took several Country Ships, that is, Indian Vessels, and one European, a Dutch Ship, which they exchanged for one of their own, and then came back to Madagascar.
They sent several of their Hands on Shore with Tents, Powder, and Shot, to kill Hogs, Venison, and such other fresh Provision as the Island afforded, and a Whim came into their Heads to seek out for the Remains of Avery's Crew, whom they knew to be settled somewhere in the Island. —— Accordingly some of them travell'd several Days Journey, without hearing any Intelligence of them, and so were forc'd to return with the Loss of their Labour, for these Men were settled on the other Side of the Island, as has been taken Notice of under the Chapter of Avery.
They stay'd not long here, after they had clean'd their Ships, but sailing to Juanna; they met two English, and one Ostend India Men, coming out of that Harbour, one of which, after a desperate Resistance, they took; the Particulars of which Action is at length related in the following Letter, wrote by the Captain from Bombay.
A LETTER from Captain Mackra, dated at Bombay, Nov. 16, 1720.
WE arrived the 25th of July last, in Company of the Greenwich, at Juanna, (an Island not far from Madagascar) putting in there to refresh our Men, we found fourteen Pyrates that came in their Canoes from the Mayotta, where the Pyrate Ship to which they belong'd, viz. the Indian Queen, two hundred and fifty Tons, twenty eight Guns, and ninety Men, commanded by Capt. Oliver de la Bouche, bound from the Guinea Coast to the East-Indies, had been bulged and lost. They said they left the Captain and 40 of their Men building a new Vessel to proceed on their wicked Design. Capt. Kirby and I concluding it might be of great Service to the East-India Company to destroy such a Nest of Rogues, were ready to sail for that Purpose the 17th of August, about Eight o'Clock in the Morning, when we discovered two Pyrate Ships standing into the Bay of Juanna, one of thirty four, and the other of thirty Guns. I immediately went on Board the Greenwich, where they seem'd very diligent in Preparations for an Engagement, and I left Capt. Kirby
