Excerpt from "Blackbeard is Not My Name!"

 

Excerpt from Blackbeard is Not My Name!:

A draught of the Bay of Honduras and part of the Musquetto Shore

1764 draught by G. Robertson

 

Roatan Island, Bay of Honduras, 14^th of February, 1717/8

 

Approaching this place, two days hence, captured William Wade in William & Samuel who had loaded logwood from ye mainland shore. He watered here, as most do. As his vessel was needed to careen ours, ordered him to throw logwood into ye sea and accompany us to Truxillo.

Today, we made for Truxillo Bay to careen under ye guns of ye fort. William & Samuel under William Howard’s command.

Ye old Spanish Castillo fortification here fell to ye English decades hence and now, serves as protection against ye Spaniards.

Transferred twelve cannon from brig Marshall to ye shore batteries and burned ye worm-ridden hulk in ye bay. Command post in ye old offices while ye crew refresh themselves in ye Guard House.

Hands and Howard in Two Brothers and William & Samuel pulled QAR over to expose her hull. On ye shore beneath ye guns o’ye fort.

 

Portion of A draught of the Bay of Honduras and part of the Musquetto Shore, showing Trujillo Bay and anchorage. 1764 draught by G. Robertson

 

 

Truxillo Bay, Bay of Honduras, 28^th of February, 1717/8

 

Thru with caulking and cleaning QAR so refloated her. Then, hauled Revenge over and did ye same.

Ye company are fast eating through provisions.

 

 

On board Queen Anne’s Revenge, at Utilla, 7^th of April, 1718

 

After careening, set sayle for Turniff at northward end of Yakatan [Yucatan Peninsula], hoping for word of Veracruz and ye warships. Revenge remained at Truxillo to guard ye fort.

Found here 70-ton Land of Promise of Rhode Island, master Thomas Newton. Ye day after capturing Newton, David Herriot, in 80-ton Adventure came in, flying a red pavilion. His owner, Daniel Axtell of Port Royal seen my letter to Bernard asking for three sloops and sent Herriot to aid us.

Just before sunset, Richards in Revenge alerted us to a large vessel of Boston likely come to cut logwood. They traded fire, but ye ship bested ym and got away.

Herriot says that ye ship must be Protestant Caesar of Boston, Capt. William Wyer, who had left when he did from Port Royal with Jonathan Bernard’s sloops coming also to our aid. Herriot believed QAR to be Wyer when he spied our sayle.

I knew Wyer, but was disturbed by his firing upon Revenge and his being from Boston, that nest of traitors who hanged pirates! Wyer must not brag when he returns to New England that he had beat a Pirate! I have vowed to burn all vessels of Boston who cross my path.

Put prize crew aboard Land of Promise, ordered ym, Richards and Herriot to make sayle immediately for ye main in Honduras Bay. As it is late, it necessitated we put in at Utilla Island for ye night.

Here, we happened upon ye Dolphin, a Spanish sloop coming from ye north. Our courses drew together as we paralleled one another for many leagues.

Their tale was an odd one. Seems they were prisoners being sent from trial in Veracruz to ye Spanish presidio at Pensacola. En route, the prisoners mutinied against their commander James Burchett and ye Spanish passengers left ym on “Combahere Island,” near Pensacola. Afterward, they sayled southward to Utilla.

Ye Spanish watched closely ye Diamond Man-o-War at Vera Cruz and claimed she was weakly manned. No mention of ye other warship there; however Herriot tells us H.M.S. Adventure oft joins Diamond to cruize ye gulf.

In all eagerness, these prisoners joined us as pirates, excepting one passenger [Martin] Preston, who asked to be freed. Feeling pleased and generous I agreed.

I ordered Dolphin to sayle to Truxillo Bay upon ye morn and await me there.

 

 

On board Queen Anne’s Revenge, at ye main in Honduras Bay, 8^th of April, 1718

 

Departed Utilla at 8 of ye clock in morn. Set SWbS course with wind at our backs. Dolphin set out for Truxillo.

In an hour, we spied four sloops to our stern rapidly closing on us. In ye glass, I saw they flew red pavilions and guessed it might be Bernard. Herriot signaled “friends.”

We dropped sayle to await our “friends.”

Soon, Jonathan Bernard’s sloop, Dutchman, appeared with three others, all flying red banners.

Ordered salute fired.

Four came back.

Bernard came in his boat to QAR. Inquiring as to ye health of my family, he assured me all were well. I handed him a letter for them, to send by Bernard.

All slaves from below were brought on deck to be transferred to Bernard’s sloops. It took four boats to transfer ye cargo in a half hour. Some of Dutchman’s crew divided to ye others of Bernard’s sloops.

One of ye sloops come with Bernard from Jamaica was captained by Edward James, a former associate and pirate who had accepted of ye pardon, according to Bernard. I spoke with Bernard about him – to watch him close.

As Bernard’s sloops were mine to use as I please for now, I then ordered Adventure, and Land of Promise to return to Truxillo Bay with Edward James in Eagle sloop. Osbourne and Herriot might well handle whatever they meet at ye bay and fort. I gave them strict orders not to let James out of sight. Ye other two of Bernard’s sloops, and ye Dutchman, accompanied QAR and Revenge to ye shore to hunt for Protestant Caesar.

Raised sayles and made all speed for ye main.

Made ye main shore at 11 of ye clock.

Holding within half league of ye shore, we changed course directly west and followed ye coast.

At noon and a half, we spied sayle on ye main. A large three-masted vessel. Herriot signaled it be our prey.

Then, we drew together tightly and sayled SW into ye shore with our black and red pavilions flying. 

A boat came out to meet us. Wyer’s men easily recognized ye Revenge, and likely quaked in fear at ye chilling sight of 40-gun QAR with her “Devil” in command!

As my quartermaster [William] Howard had predicted, Wyer surrendered on ye spot. A man surprised is half-beaten. My Devil won ye day!

 

Early MAGA: Rev. Richard Roach in the Cary Rebellion

 Excerpt from Defining North Carolina: a Political Sketch and Biography of Surveyor-General Edward Moseley, by Baylus C. Brooks:

p. 295-299

A somewhat ignored figure in the [Cary] rebellion is Richard Roach. Spotswood describes him as a merchant who had been sent by John Danson – Archdale’s son-in-law who recently inherited his share in the Proprietorship – from England with “a dozen or fourteen great guns and ammunition, under pretence of building a ship.”[1] A Richard Roach (1662-1730) and his wife Anne associated with “Philadelphians” for a time; Anne apparently died in 1708. “Philadelphian” was a sect begun in 1694 in Norfolk, England by Jane Leade, who died in 1704. Much in common with Quakers, they rejected the idea that they were a church, calling themselves a “society” and discouraged participation in the Anglican Church. Roach, at one time, an Anglican minister “interested in alchemy and spiritual transformation” and his wife Anne – as well as “Archdale, Mr. (fl. 1707)” – appear on “List of Philadephians and Associates Known to Have Joined or Interacted with the French Prophets in England.”[2] Camisards or “French Prophets” were Huguenots from Cévennes, France. J. Laursen, in Histories of Heresy in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, writes that – coincident with the Cary Rebellion – “At the end of 1708, there were 400 followers of the French Prophets in the London area.”[3] Roach also believed in a “female embassy” that would usher in the last days, or the return of Christ.[4] Richard Roach explained that “it has pleased God, in this last age, to visit many persons of both sexes, but more especially the female, with his extraordinary powers; who have been, as Mary Magdalen was in her time, ambassadresses of the resurrection of Christ.”[5] Roach fell out with the French Prophets, describing them uncomfortably – similar to charismatic Pentecostals of later America – with “speaking in violent agitations of Body.”[6] Roach died while Anglican rector of St. Augustine at Hackney, Middlesex in 1730.[7]

It could be this Richard or perhaps a son who made quite an impression in Carolina in his sloop Anne & Katherine. Merchant-mariner Richard Roach in the Cary Rebellion may have been the son (b. 18 Jul 1662) of the mariner Richard Roach of Lower Shadwell, Middlesex. He may have married Anne Cocker in 1677. Roach’s connections to Christian mysticism, Quakers, and Archdale point to this association.[8]

Spotswood insinuated that Danson had been aiding the rebels and supplied them with a ship. Roach, he said, stole guns and powder from his client’s cargo to supply the rebels. Gov. Hyde told him that Cary’s men were “fortifying the house of one Roach, where is the rendezvous of his drunken crew.”[1] Spotswood also thought it necessary to add a detailed paragraph about this Richard Roach:

 

I think it necessary to acquaint your lordships that no man has appeared more active in these commotions than this Roach, — a wretched fellow, who being sent in lately with a cargo of goods, belonging to some merchants in London, no sooner came into the country but he declared himself against the government, without examining which side was in the wrong, and has been, all along, a principal incendiary ; and had it not been for his furnishing the mob with trading guns out of his store, and ammunition belonging to his employers, these commotions would never have got to the head they are now arrived at.[2]

 

Rev. John Urmstone, on 17 July 1711, wrote to the SPG a similar tale: “Danson sent hither from England one Roach with some goods, and a dozen or fourteen great guns and ammunition, under pretence of building a ship, but it is verily believed they were designed for our ruin.”[3] Urmstone insinuated that Danson had great influence over the other Proprietors and that he was the culprit. Urmstone also alleged that Von Graffenreid’s Swiss would have joined Hyde’s government, but Cary’s faction and his Indian allies prevented it. To Urmstone, Cary’s rioters, including John Porter, were working with the Tuscarora to kill English inhabitants! Historian Francis Hawks agreed with this assessment, saying that Cary and perhaps Roach were “instigating the savages to commence a war against such of the whites as were opposed to him.” He added his belief “that Carey was the chief instrument in causing the Indian war of 1711, we have but little doubt.”[4]

Few details have been learned about this merchant Roach or where on the Pamlico sat his “house.” Spotswood specifically named and identified Richard Roach as one of Cary’s men, arguing a detailed and fabricated plea with the Proprietors at Craven House – particularly Danson. They claimed that their (meaning Roach’s employer’s) supplies were commandeered by government forces, by the illicit actions of Gov. Hyde. These merchants “claim[ed] that effects seized by Gov. Hyde had caused losses as determined by Roach, and resolution that the goods seized [be] restored” as well as possible.[5] If Roach’s report had been true, then the Proprietors were partly responsible for the violence of Cary’s Rebellion and the Tuscarora War, and even encouraged it from resident Quakers. Still, the next month, the Proprietors requested that Roach return to England or to the Admiralty court in Charles Town for questioning.[6] They also granted that “the goods seized by Govr Hyde or his order should be restored as far as legally they can be.”[7] Roach most likely stole them; certainly not Hyde.

These “goods” may refer to the gunpowder that Spotswood alleged Roach had stolen and used against government forces. Furthermore, Spotswood said that Roach had been leading the Quaker faction and attempted to prevent the success of the Swiss in New Bern, a great desire of the Proprietors that symbolized John Lawson’s great success. “Roach and the Quakers,” he said, “reported that the baron had no credit in England, nor had he any money anywhere.”[8] Roach probably was not interested in helping Quakers, though. Spotswood simply took every opportunity to blame dissenters for everything that went wrong. Furthermore, the Family and their allies simply used the Quakers for their own nefarious purposes.

These rebels: Moseley, Porter, and Roach may have had a long-term relationship. About thirty years later, all of these names can all be found in the Lower Cape Fear, living in Moore’s Brunswick Settlement. Richard Roach or a possible family member named Nicholas, who had purchased lot #11 in Bath by March 1717, received land in the Lower Cape Fear amongst the oligarchic Family’s Brunswick Settlement (see figure 13 below). Most likely, he purchased this land from another because he does not appear to have been granted it by the government.[9] 

Figure 13: A portion of Moseley’s map of 1733 showing the location of “Roach” property – This strategically-placed property for a mariner – directly associated with an inlet – is just southeast of the location of the nascent “Newton,” or the current Wilmington, indicated by the notation of “[John] Watson.” This land (formerly warrant #167) had been Maurice Moore’s until it was voided by Gov. George Burrington. Note that “S[arah] Porter,” the widow of John Porter Jr., is shown just south of Wilmington as well.  

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[1] Ibid., 423.

[2] Ibid., 423-424.

[3] Francis L. Hawks, History of North Carolina, V.II (Spartanburg, S.C.: Reprint Co., 1961), 383.

[4] Ibid., 526.

[5] National Archives of London, “Craven House, Minutes of meeting of the lords Proprietors, 24 Jan. 1711/2,” Minutes of Council (Lords Proprietors), Colonial Office, America and West Indies: Carolina (Propriety), Sessional Papers. (CO 5/292). 

[6] National Archives, “Craven House, Minutes of meeting of the lords Proprietors, 12 Feb.1711/2,” Minutes of Council (Lords Proprietors), Colonial Office, America and West Indies: Carolina (Propriety), Sessional Papers. (CO 5/292).

[7] “Minutes of a meeting of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina” (January 24, 1712), NCCR, 1: 832.

[8] Hawks, History, Vol. II, 384.

[9] Beaufort Deed Bk. 1: 250; Mar. 25, 1717; "America and West Indies: July 1722," in Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 33, 1722-1723, ed. Cecil Headlam (London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1934), 99-117; this Richard Roach may have been the same mariner who gave a deposition against Gov. Woodes Rogers in the Bahamas in 1721.

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[1] Ibid., 383.

[2] Ariel Hessayon, Jane Lead and Her Transantional Legacy (), 232-234.

[3] J. Laursen, Histories of Heresy in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: For, Against, and Beyond Persecution and Toleration (Springer, 2016), 40.

[4] Brian J. Gibbons, Gender in Mystical and Occult Thought: Behmenism and Its Development in England (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 143-62; Schwartz, The French Prophets in England, 210-11.

[5] Richard Roach, The Imperial Standard of Messiah Triumphant (London, 1727), 48.

[6] O.E. The shaking-prophets alarm'd, in beholding a lighted candle... (Dublin, 1711), 1;

[7] "Hackney, Middx.: lease of the rectory to the Rev. Richard Roach," Correspondence and papers on the administration of the diocese of London, Papers of Edmund Gibson, Bishop of London, Fulham Papers, ff. 4-5.

[8] "England, Middlesex Parish Registers, 1539-1988," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSF7-K2GQ?cc=3734475 : 25 March 2021), > image 1 of 1; London Metropolitan Archives, England; Boston News-Letter, Aug 24, 1713, 2; see also “Papers of the Revd. Mr. Richard Roach,” Rawlinson MSS D., Bodleian Library, Oxford.