Le Mercure told of a letter dated November 1721 that arrived from
[the island of] Bourbon with the details of Congdon’s experiences after taking the West African
ship full of rubies, diamonds, and specie. Soon arriving back at Madagascar 1
October 1720, Edward Congdon, “who has an arm cut off,” met a Mr. Henry Beker,
master of Cooker, seeking slaves from
Madagascar.
Similar to Capt. Stratton, Beker and Congdon had transacted
some business for wine and liquors at Îsle St. Marie. Suddenly, Congdon then took his
captain, surgeon, and carpenter, and two sailors, as well as some of his cargo.
Congdon, however, had no intention of keeping these people and items. Congdon
wanted to insure that Beker sailed Cooker
to Îsle de Bourbon to deliver a message. He needed the governor there to know that
Congdon wished to surrender and beg for a pardon. He sent three surgeons, one a
Parisian named Du Vernet, a Flemish man, and one English, the latter two taken off
vessels of Ostend, as a measure of good faith.[1]
Beker agreed to his terms, not as if he had a choice. He
sailed from Madagascar and arrived at the port of Saint-Denis on Bourbon on 15
November 1720. Beker and the three surgeons made depositions before Gov. Joseph de Beauvoilier de Courchant,
who had orders from the French East Indies Company, based in L’Orient,
France, to employ all means of
attracting pirates to surrender themselves and settle there. All those who
would hand over their vessels to them and abandon piracy would receive full
pardons. The rich pirates were expected to be quite helpful for the island’s
economy.[2]
Congdon drove a hard bargain, but so did Courchant. Congdon
had ordered Beker to tell the governor that in case there was no amnesty for
them, that his men would fortify in four months, and would do the most harm and
injury, till an amnesty of Europe had been sent. Courchant offered “that the
Pirates had to assure them that if they were granted an Amnesty, they would
come to the Îsle de Bourbon to deliver their ship, arms and ammunition to the
Governor, to submit to his orders, Good & faithful Subjects of the King of
France.”[3] They were to bring with them only peaceable
and mild-mannered slaves. For each of these slaves (and each white man could
retain only one), they were to pay twenty piasters to the French Compagnie
des Indies in L’Orient, in compensation for the loss to their commerce.[4]
Gov. de Courchant assembled the Provincial Council of the
island. After maturely examining the details, they granted Congdon’s wishes,
for the benefit of all nations which traded in India, for the French CDI, and
for their own local economy. Beker returned to Madagascar with an approved and
signed pardon, dated 25 November 1720, for 135 men, accompanied by a letter for
Capt. Congdon.[5]
By the end of December, Congdon returned Beker in Cooker to
tell him that they happily accepted the pardon and were preparing to burn Dragon and proceed to Bourbon in Cooker. Some of the pirates had already
died, of what is unknown, but they were increasingly anxious to leave
Madagascar. They set fire to two other of their ships, after spiking their cannon.
It took twenty-seven days to finish preparations and Beker returned on 3
January 1721 to pick them up.[6]
In the meantime, a plot was brewing amongst the Betsimisaraka
of Îsle St. Marie. They had happily traded through Congdon for a year by then
and desired to keep the merchandise of Dragon
and its crew. Sudden news of his departure was quite unwelcome.
The natives poisoned Congdon’s crew, probably in food that
they prepared for them. Many of Dragon’s
crew took sick and Congdon soon realized what had happened. He ordered his crew
to get aboard Cooker as fast as they
could, but “several of them having dragged themselves to the shores of the sea
to embark, were falling dead before they could set foot in the shallop.”[7] On the
30th of January 1721, 42 out of 135 set sail and left some of their brethren
still dying on the beach. The fleeing 42 were in little better shape, “nearly
all in very bad condition by the poison given them by the blacks of Madagascar.”[8] In the
crossing four of their comrades died, leaving a miserable 38 sickly ex-pirates for
delivery to Bourbon.
[1] G. Cavelier, ed., Le Mercure, May 1722, p 152-156; Joan DeJean, The Essence of Style: How the French Invented Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafés, Style, Sophistication, and Glamour (New York: Free Press, 2005), 47.
[2] Cavelier, Le Mercure.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.; Alfred
Grandidier, (19031907), Collection des Ouvrages
Anciens concernant Madagascar, Vol. 5: 1718-1800 (Paris: Comité de
Madagascar, 1907), 104 n1; Translated: In a manuscript of the Deposit of Maps
and Plans of the Marine of Paris, volume 84 ', Sea of India, Exhibit 17, at the
bottom of page 7, it says: "In 1722, Mangaely [Mamoko Islands, of
Ampasindava] was repaired by pirates, and it is said that there was a massacre
of pirates made there by the blacks of the country, and that the king of
Massailly [Bombetoke Bay], named Ratocaffe [Ratoakafo] sent his soldiers there
to cover all the black men, women and children, even the dogs, and pillaged all
the cattle, and since that time the place has been deserted."
[8] Ibid.
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