Commonwealth of Pyrate's First Revolution

Read the quote above one more time. Those few words carry great meaning and may have been Capt. Charles Johnson's (pseudonym for Nathaniel Mist) crowning achievement in A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates. Mist warned the whole of the British Empire of that insane world across the seas, that provincial wilderness of America – a lascivious world "beyond the lines of amity" that had long filled with villains and desperadoes kicked out of civilization – a collection of criminals who had completely lost all veneer of civilization. These people had forsaken God and goodness, king and country, privilege and right. 

“Commonwealth of Pyrates” alluded directly to America, a forsaken land where “Wickedness” equates to “Gallantry.” Americans, colonials, provincials, or simply... “them” envied this “Wickedness.” And, this commonwealth attempted its first revolt during the Golden Age of Piracy.

What went wrong in America? 

For nearly a century, America developed under the more imperialistic and conservative Stuarts. In 1688, the Glorious Revolution occurred and more liberal Whigs slowly came to power. Eventually, England's Parliament forced a German ruler to the throne, still trying to reduce the power of the monarchy and resist the old Tory conservatism of the Stuart Dynasty. Americans had been growing apart from their mother country for a century, but these actions accelerated the widening gap. They wholly resented the change. Britain began enacting legislation against piracy, but Americans resisted them. Americans still viewed their domain from the old Stuart perspective - militarily, a martial land of feudalism where Christianity became a force of evil intent upon subjugating slaves. They still revered and needed piracy. Americans frightened the liberalizing, civilizing world. They learned to depend upon and even worship their pirates and resent British efforts against them! The British rightly worried of the loss of their tremendous investment in America - a land previously stolen from Spain... and soon to be lost to the wickedness across the sea.

Even by 1700, Americans were no longer British...

The Johnson-Mist quote described a rogue population of criminality - indeed, England had exiled their criminal population to America for decades. The quote did not inspire patriotic unity under the Union Jack. At best, it expressed division. This evil, villainous band of miscreants across the ocean needed to be corrected – and their society as well. America had to be righted – brought to heel. Blackbeard and his society needed to face the king’s justice or be removed!  

Blackbeard may have been the George Washington of the first American Revolution... one that failed and devolved into rebellion...

None of the political speculation or depth appeared in A General History, but then, that might detract from its direct point – its ghastly charm - of America as a place where uncouth degenerates lived. The argument was easy to make that America had become an evil place - pirates and slavery were everywhere. Stuart conservatives continued to conduct their business without regulation. 

Nathaniel Mist wrote this book as historical fiction - and made some good points like this one - still, he sold the book as history, fact – a popular criminal biography based on recent events, and sold to a hungry audience of mariners sure to be at sea for weeks at a time. It was liberal propaganda to reduce piracy and its accompanying evils so that Britain could regain control. 

These travelers to the virtual "hell" across the seas had time to absorb his infectious words, craving entertainment, and would spread the word that pirates there were evil and "notorious." The propaganda would spread across the Atlantic community like a computer virus in software. The wild stories attracted the gullible masses and were often not subtle in their anti-historicity, despite lightly sardonic affirmations of sincerity. A General History was not a history. The ardent wordsmith found it useful to treat the numerous gaps in sources as a blank canvas on which to paint Blackbeard’s “black” infamy and delight his indiscriminate audience - to convince America not to follow pirates, many of them former privateers, into battle against Britain.

A General History delighted in and, yet, admonished Edward “Blackbeard” Thache – for a reason. According to Johnson-Mist, Blackbeard was born in Bristol. His rise begins sometime in late 1716, just prior to the Admiralty’s strongest efforts to put an end to American piracy and regain control over their foreign plantations in the wilds of America. His wealthy family descended from a substantial Anglican minister in Gloucestershire is never mentioned by Johnson-Mist. His service in the Royal Navy on HMS Windsor, totally neglected. His gentlemanly qualities were erased... and, today we assume that discovering pirates' pasts are almost impossible! But, this is simply not true. Quest for Blackbeard tells the past of several of these pirates...

British Anti-piracy efforts and Blackbeard’s simultaneous appearance were probably not coincidental. Johnson-Mist completely confused Thache’s entry into pirate history, perhaps intentionally. He probably knew more than he wrote about Thache’s past. Furthermore, Arne Bialuschewski had pondered the change in tone of the reports coming from the first and quite new colonial news media of the day: the Boston News-Letter. He suspected that propaganda probably infiltrated these news reports, especially the month after Burchett’s instructions against pirates to the colonial fleet – another coincidence? This author of A General History was also financially in trouble and seen as a likely candidate for recruitment by Secretary Joseph Addison’s patron, Lord Sunderland and the Whig ministry, then in charge of Britain. 

Obviously, Britain's efforts only worked for a short time... by 1776, America declared independence on more solid ground and this time, beat the liberal Whigs soundly!

For whatever reason, A General History took great license to alter history and turn Blackbeard, and other conservative American heroes, into villainous monsters. It was an easy transition, though. Still, the book's continued use is a serious problem in history today.

Propaganda is a serious problem in any century. A General History has long been extolled as a reliable source, but it cannot be. The book isn't even necessary for telling pirate history. Johnson-Mist’s sources for his historically-accurate segments are available elsewhere – he used the same sources that we would today. He used the same sources that I used to write Quest for Blackbeard; though, thanks to modern advances in technology, I had many more. The part that annoys all historians, including myself, is that perhaps not all of the sources he used still remain. Still, taking into consideration the liberties, obfuscations, and outright lies that Johnson-Mist used intermingled with the facts, perhaps it is best to largely ignore his book as a historical source and rely upon the primary sources still available. 

After all, America, like its pirate heroes, is concerned with profit... not the truth.

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"Quest for Blackbeard" has finally been approved for Global Distribution which means that it will be available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Alibris, and other online booksellers very soon. Look for it on my Lulu site at: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/bcbrooks
 
It is already previewable on Google Books.

Isle of Jersey's Connection to Bath Town, North Carolina

Guernsey and Jersey - Channel Islands

A 22-year resident of Britain's Channel Islands described his little island home of Jersey, "a pleasant little island with super-rich people and an awful lot of crime." Alistair Mitchell is a geographer at  Le Rocquier School on Jersey, "dear little Jersey," just 14 miles off the Normandy coast of France and 100 miles from the south coast of England. 

This is the island exile of Victor Hugo in the nineteenth century and the place on which he wrote Les Miserables over the course of nine years. In 1853, the author began a series of more than one hundred secret séances there in order to connect with his dead daughter, Leopoldine. 

For North Carolina and its early port town of Bath, however, the Isle of Jersey holds an early eighteenth-century significance as the birthplace of one of its more well-known maritime residents. 

About Jersey's history - William I, having conquered England in 1066, brought Jersey and the other French isles, as part of Normandy, into the English domain. On the conquest of William's home of Normandy by the French, an attempt was made to reduce these islands back into French control, but most of them, including Guernsey and Jersey, remained part of England. 

A Topographical Dictionary of England, ed. Samuel Lewis (London, 1848) stated that landowners "as had possessions both in the isles, and on the main land of Normandy, were compelled to make choice of those they wished to retain, and abandon all claim to the rest."

Lewis, writing in Hugo's time, further provided that "arbitrary and tyrannical conduct of English governors and their deputies, and the rancorous broils which prevailed among the resident seigneurs under the feudal system," were effectually ended in the reign of Henry VII., "who with that view obtained from the pope a comminatory bull, and issued ordinances, comprised in thirty-three articles, for the government of the island, which continued in force until superseded by a regular code of laws in 1771."

Alistair Mitchell describes the island today:

The island has its own government and parliament, the States of Jersey, members of which are elected by the population aged 16 and over. It is a self-governing dependency of the UK, a Peculiar of the Crown, which stems from deals done with King John back in 1204. The island is further divided into 12 parishes, under the diocese of Winchester, each with a parish church... And who are the folk who inhabit this rock? There has long been a cultural mix. The locals of French origin were the first, establishing their own dialect of Norman French called Jerriaise, a language that is seeing something of a revival at present. Incoming Brits and Irish swelled the population, and in recent years migrants from Madeira, and more recently from Poland, have made their home here.

Jersey's Seal and Arms

In the eighteenth century, Royal Navy vessels like Greyhound, Portsmouth, Foresight, Assistance, and Swallow Prize have routinely patrolled the Channel Islands, convoying merchants carrying "Wool, Malt, Draperies, etc." Other vessels on patrol there have been Shoreham and Scarborough, of later fame in the Americas against pirates of the Golden Age. 

Parishes of Jersey

Ancestors or kinsmen of one of Jersey's "super-rich" citizens, wealthy former Bailiff of Jersey and member of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom, Alexander Moncrieff Coutanche, Baron Coutanche (9 May 1892 – 18 December 1973) left their island home for the American Colonies in the early eighteenth century.

Michel Coutanche, Sr. (1676-1733) and wife Marguerite Neel , raised a large family of seven boys and four girls in Trinity, St. John Parish, Isle of Jersey, many of whom became mariners by trade: Michel, Jr. (b. Nov 1708), Jean Coutanche (b. Dec 1713), Edouard (b. 1715), Marguerite (b. 1716), Elie/Elias (b. 1719; m. Anne Pipon of St. Helier Parish), Suzanne (b. 1721), Josué (b. 1723), Charles (b. 1724), Phillipe (b. 1726), Catherine (b. 1728), and Elizabeth Coutanche (d. 1728). Some of these would settle Newfoundland in Canada.

Isle of Jersey today - Mont Orgueil Castle, St. Martin.

Jean Coutanche, mariner and master of Providence set sail with his brother Michel for the port of Boston in 1734. 

AMERICAN Weekly Mercury. (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) • From Thursday June 9, to Thursday June 16, 1737 • Page [2]

Jean and Michel Coutanche operated for a few years sailing from Boston to Philadelphia and New Jersey. While living in Boston, Michel met Mary Salter (b. 1718), probable daughter of Thomas and Mary of Charlestown. They announced their intention to marry on July 15, 1736 and wed August 3rd by the Rev. Joseph Sewell. Their son, Michel III was born just over a year later on August 13, 1737. Prior to his birth, on May 12, 1737, however, Michel Coutanche cleared the Boston Custom House for North Carolina for the first time. 

"Michael" Coutanche would make Bath Town his new home. NCPedia tells that "On 5 Mar. 1739, as Captain Michael Coutanche of 'Boston, in New England, Mariner,' he bought lots 24 and 25 in Bath Town," formerly belonging to Admiralty-Judge Edmund Porter.

Porter-Coutanche lots 24 and 25 highlighted in blue on an old map of Bath Town.

Michael's brother Josué, as "Joshua," appears to have also sailed in William, as "master, of North Carolina trade" on May 4, 1743 when he appeared in Greenwich, England and may have occasionally partnered with his brother in Bath Town. William, master Coutanche, also appeared in shipping lists in the Daily Gazetteer of London, sailing from Deal, Kent on July 14th of that same year, bound for Jersey. Josué returned to Pool that November, arriving from Newfoundland. 

Michael Coutanche, later sailing in the sloop Dolphin, transported Edward Salter, Jr. from North Carolina to attend school in Boston under the care of Capt. James Gold or Gould. Young Edward was likely the son of Edward Salter, the cooper, who formerly sailed on the 20-gun sixth-rate HMS Speedwell, Capt. George Moulton of Wapping, London with Martin Towler, who was serving on Henry Bostock’s Margaret when she was taken by Edward "Blackbeard" Thache on December 5th, 1717, just after they captured La Concorde, the slaver that they renamed the Queen Anne's Revenge. Edward Salter, Sr. remained in Bath Town where he lived a remarkably wealthy life, owning at least three ships, and one with £1200 worth of cargo in 1734, when he died. The executor for Salter's will was North Carolina surveyor and controversial politician, Edward Moseley.

Speculation of many is that Salter gained a portion of the gold dust or prize money from Edward Thache after wrecking the QAR in Beaufort Inlet on June 10, 1718. Another Salter family researcher's speculation concerning Edward Salter, Jr. is that he went to Boston - where his relatives lived - for his education, and that Michael Coutanche, as an in-law, transported him there. This would mean that Edward Salter was a kinsman to the family of Henry Salter of Massachusetts. 

Michael's wife, Mary Salter Coutanche, appears to have died around the time of his arrival in Bath Town. Michael then married Sarah Pilkington, daughter of wealthy merchant Seth Pilkington and his wife, Sarah Porter, the daughter of John Porter and widow of John Lillington. Incidentally, Edward Salter's daughter, Sarah lived with John's widow, Sarah Porter in the Lower Cape Fear for a number of years, alluding to the Salter-Porter-Pilkington-Coutanche connection.

An inventory of Pilkington's estate, conducted by Michael Coutanche on February 27, 1754, shows that Pilkington operated a general store in Bath Town. He sold stockings, felt hats, shot and powder, tallow, deer skins, sugar, molasses, all manner of general tools, and canoe sails with other maritime supplies. His three-and-a-half page inventory also included the usual possessions of a mariner of the times, including anchors, a "Mariners Compass," and copies of the Merchants Magazine. His membership in the 1% was well established by the ownership of twenty-six slaves and four white apprentices and his education by the numerous books and the map of North America in his possession.

Michael Coutanche was the executor to various wills and deeds of family and friends in Bath, including Richard Evans, Henry West, and James Brown. He also constructed the house known as the Palmer-Marsh House in Bath Town, which still survives today. 

Palmer-Marsh House in Bath, NC

Michael Coutanche served as Beaufort County representative from 1744-1745 when he was joined by Wyriot Ormond. Together, they represented the county until 1761/2, when Coutanche passed away. His will is in the North Carolina State Archives, but the best copy available was made by Wyriot Ormond and sent to the Isle of Jersey because of Michael's bequeathal of half of his estate in Jersey to go to his brother Josué's children: son Josué, Jr. and daughters Elizabeth, Marguerite, and Marie, and the other half, worth "10 cabots of wheat of rente" to the poor of St. John's Parish, sold in 1766 - common for Jersey wills of the time.  

Michael Coutanche's will copy of 9 Mar 1758 from Jersey Archives, page 1

Michael Coutanche's will copy of 9 Mar 1758 from Jersey Archives, page 2

Seymour Tower, Grouville, Isle of Jersey

12th Century Lady of the Dawn Christian Chapel is Superimposed on La Hogue Bie Dolmen, an Ancient Pagan Tomb on the British Isle of Jersey

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Read about North Carolina's piratical birthpangs in the Brunswick Town & Wilmington affair and the hero that saved the Port of Wilmington from the Family's political opposition, Capt. James Wimble: 

Both can be found at the author's Amazon page and at Lulu.com

And, coming on August 15, 2016 at lulu.com:

From the author of Blackbeard Reconsidered! 

 

North Carolina's Political Pirate Nest

"An Eclipse signifies an intense time of energy, which can spark the beginning or end of relationships and situations" according to a fairly recent New York Daily News article. This article involved horoscopes. While I'm not overly enthusiastic about such things, other people are. This enthusiasm and knowing about such an event can create something of a self-fulfilling prophecy - you may act a certain unusual way because of these thoughts and thereby create the weirdness through no fault of nature itself. 

Of course, the events of January 7, 1730 in Edenton, North Carolina may not have depended upon such an unusual event as a total solar eclipse. That was still four days away from the wintry and weird events of this cold Saturday afternoon, but perhaps the eerie howling of the wind foretold an omen. All of these events occurred nearly three hundred years ago, following just after the Golden Age of Piracy.

Perhaps the maritime residents of this fledgling backwater, yet growing colonial outpost of Great Britain felt an eeriness due to the building affects of the prescient natural phenomenon. Then again, perhaps the illusion of power and position in the ever-humbling, diseased, and mosquito-infested swamps of early North Carolina played a bigger part in their reactions. 

Still, it was winter, a time of reprieve from disease as well as working fields - and the self-induced hysteria of January 11, 1730 was still four days away.

No... the assassins probably had no excuses for attempting to murder Vice-Admiralty Judge Edmund Porter. But, it would not be the last time that an attempt would be made on North Carolina's admiralty officers...

Unsurprisingly, the backgrounds of two men involved in these events were gorged with wealth, status, power, and piracy. 

Miles Gale, master of the sloop Two Brothers, who made regular runs from North Carolina to Boston, was the son of Chief Justice Christopher Gale, who had served in that capacity both in North Carolina and in the Bahamas. Christopher Gale captained the Delicia, the vessel that carried former privateer Gov. Woodes Rogers from London to his new station as first royal governor of the Bahamas. Rogers had been appointed the daunting task of ridding that dilapidated island of the "Flying Gang" of pirates, led by Benjamin Hornigold, who infested that chain of nearly 700 islands. Still, Rogers depended upon ex-pirates like Hornigold to aid in capturing unrepentant ones... and the ex-pirates often returned to piracy themselves.

As for Edmund Porter, he came from a Virginian family of Quakers, son of John Porter. John was as much a controversial figure as Bahamian pirates. He led the Quaker faction against the legal Anglican government of North Carolina, reinvigorated in their state-supported religious resolve in the Vestry Act of 1701 against dissenters or Quaker "heathens" like Porter. The Cary Rebellion (1708-1711) collapsed the government and initiated the Tuscarora Indian War of 1711-1715. Edmund probably found it more comfortable to go with Gale to the home of the pirate gangs. There, he met Elizabeth Peterson, daughter of Bahamian planter Richard Peterson. Edmund and Elizabeth married and he returned to North Carolina a decade later and took the position of Admiralty Judge in the capital of Edenton. 

North Carolina was between governors at this time in 1730. George Burrington last filled that position, but due to his irascible nature, alienated much of the colony and left for the Lower Cape Fear in 1725, then for home in 1726. Sir Richard Everard, Bart. filled his place during the interim. It appears that Miles Gale and his partner Mr. James Chamberlain took issue with Everard and Porter, probably for political and/or financial reasons - maybe even due to affects of the coming eclipse. Well, probably not.

Whatever the reason, these issues broiled almost an entire year, well past the eclipse on January 11th, from a sneak attack and attempted murder of Judge Porter that month to outright attack in broad daylight on the marshal and his deputy in October. The Judge escaped with his life because he was warned and placed mock judges and court officials in place of the real ones to fool the attackers. The open attack in October appeared rather erratic in nature. It begs the question of just what emotional catastrophe must have befallen these fellow Carolinians.  

Pre-1801 Union Flag flies at Fort York, a former British Army base in Toronto

On October 4, 1730, the sloop Two Brothers had recently offended acting governor Everard by "lately at Several times in a very insulting manner, wore the Union Jack; pendant in the Harbour and Port of Edenton; has also in a Dareing Manner fired Guns and Hoisted up an Union Jack or Flag at Mast Head at three Several times (vizt) first on or about the last of August, and on the 18th and 19th of September last in the Harbour aforesd." The governor stated that Miles Gale had been cautioned about this insult to the "Jurisdiction of the Admiralty," but continued it nevertheless.

Gov. Everard explained: Gale's actions, he said were "contrary to the holsom Orders and Ordinances of the Treaty of Union [1 May 1707] and the Queens [Anne] Proclamation in pursuance thereof our Merchant Ships or Vessels, wearing Flaggs, Jacks, or any Pendants whatsoever, without particular warrant from the Lord High Admiral or the Lords Comrs. of the Admiralty." Everard, "conceiving the Offense to be attended with ill consequence" demanded on October 4th a citation be issued for Miles Gale to appear in Vice-Admiralty Court.  

Treaty of Union (1 May 1707), adopted under Queen Anne

Soon after, Samuel Snowden, Marshall of the Admiralty and son of Thomas Snowden who had recently passed away (1728), went with his deputy in a small boat one afternoon to the sloop, laying at anchor just off Edenton. Snowden carried the citation for Miles Gale, sole owner of the vessel Two Brothers from Judge Porter. Miles Gale's crew again insulted the authority of admiralty officers.

As Snowden and his deputy crossed the calm cool waters of Albemarle Sound before the docks of Edenton, they approached from astern. James Chamberlain, then master of Two Brothers  and another man saw their approach, ducked into the cabin, and brought out muskets. Chamberlain told Snowden that if "he came one foot farther, he was a dead man." Before Snowden could negotiate with Chamberlain, he asked someone for a match to fire the cannon, forcing Snowden to retreat back to the shore. 

Sauthier's map of Edenton, 1769. Edenton was formerly “The Towne on Queen Anne’s Creek" and was named "Edenton" in 1722 to honor Gov. Charles Eden who had just died that year.

Capt. Joseph Kidder, whose vessel was anchored nearby when Snowden and deputy approached Two Brothers, confirmed Marshall Snowden's testimony and added that Chamberlain at first presented a small arm that he had on his person before ordering the muskets to be brought up.

Shortly afterward, on October 16, 1730, Gale, Chamberlain, and three of their men came on shore, armed with pistols and cutlasses. They swore that "they valued the Govr. no more than they did the Judge of Admty." Gale claimed that Porter had no authority over him, that admiralty jurisdiction, he claimed, was "His Father's business." And, he added that "no man else had any thing to do wth such things or things of that nature but his Father [Christopher Gale]."

Edmund Porter ordered Gale and his men to appear in court on the 24th to answer these further charges. 

No further records exist to illuminate the end results, but since Miles Gale and Edmund Porter survived past them, few people were probably killed and the howling wind died down a bit. 

Why did Miles Gale begin his acting out or protests in favor of his father that August 1730? 

Politics - plain and simple.  

Biographer George Stevenson explained the events that alienated George Burrington from Chief Justice Christopher Gale in the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography. Everything was copacetic in April 1724 when Gov. George Burrington first became governor. He put Gale and his brother Edmund on his council. The trouble centered around Gov. Charles Eden's (deceased in 1722) will and, when July 1724 came around, the Gale-Burrington relationship began to unravel:

Toward the end of July 1724 Burrington received a petition asking him to grant redress in his capacity as ordinary of the colony. The petition was from Eden's niece, Margaret Pugh, and Ann and Roderick Lloyd. They denounced the will said to be Eden's as a fraud and alleged that Lovick had obtained it illegally. On 31 July, Burrington carried the petition to a meeting of the council that was attended by both Lovick and Gale. The governor explained that the council would proceed in the matter as a Court of Ordinary. An order-in-council was issued requiring the recordation of the London petition and power in the records of the General Court. (The court was then in session.) It must have been an exhilarating occasion. To have proceeded in the matter would have meant an examination and scrutiny of Lovick, Clayton, the Badhams, and possibly Gale himself.

Gale refused to give Badham the order and Burrington went ballistic. Burrington threatened to "ruin Mr. and Mrs. Badham and declared that he would have Lovick and Gale in irons. In fact, he announced his intention to crop Gale's ears and slit his nose like a common felon." Burrington had denounced Gale on the bench as a rogue and a villain before the entire General Court. He even planned to assail Gale at his house, only to discover that he had left the colony. 

Stevenson assures that it was an easy matter for Gale to have Burrington removed, which did happen only a couple of years later. In the meantime,

Burrington and the council declared Gale's offices vacant on 24 Oct. 1724 and filled his seat on the council as well as the office of chief justice. Gale's son-in-law Henry Clayton was dismissed as provost marshal, his brother Edmund was turned off the General Court, and after the October term Badham was replaced as clerk of the court by Samuel Swann. 

In essence, Gale was publicly and officially humiliated within North Carolina. Things had calmed down once Burrington left the colony in 1725 and replaced in the interim with Sir Richard Everard:   

The peremptory removal of Burrington ended any real threat from Eden's English heirs. The heirs petitioned the Court of Chancery for relief in April 1725, Burrington presiding; their bill was thrown out in July 1725, Sir Richard presiding, when the death of one of the plaintiffs was falsely suggested.

There had been political divisions and struggles in the colony before now, but none of them equaled the fight that arose upon the removal of Burrington and the substitution of Sir Richard Everard as governor. Gale resumed his seat as chief justice, Little was restored as attorney general, and Gale gave back to Badham his old office as clerk of the General Court. For a time the coalition of Everard, Lovick, Gale, and Little ruled the colony. The General Court became first a political tool in the hands of Gale and his faction, then an object of contempt in the province. Similarly, the Court of Vice-Admiralty in the hands of Edmond Porter (who had been one of the attorneys for Eden's heirs-at-law) became a tool of political opposition against Gale's faction.

The Lords Proprietors of Carolina ignored any possible mishandling of the Eden will probate. They had much more with which to concern themselves at the time - ridding themselves of their other "nest of pirates," after the Bahamas in 1718 and South Carolina in 1719.

The Proprietors had negotiated to resume North Carolina under royal, as opposed to private, control by July 1729. Maybe this way, they could get some sleep. Never was a more fervent argument proposed against privatization!

The next governor would be the first royal governor of North Carolina. The sitting Secretary of State, the Duke of Newcastle, argued for that governor to be - George Burrington! They officially made the announcement that August 1730, but Newcastle's intentions had already been known for months, even before January. 

Chief Justice Gale's hated enemy would be returning as commander-in-chief of North Carolina. This undoubtedly prompted Miles Gales' defense of his father's authority. Then, an apparently "unknown" assailant attempted to murder Admiralty Judge Edmund Porter, Burrington's old ally, on January 7, 1730. As if defiantly slapping the Gale family in the face, on that same day, the Duke of Newcastle wrote to the Board of Trade and Plantations:

                                                Whitehall Janry 7th 1729/30.

My Lords,

His Majesty having been pleased to appoint George Burrington Esqr Governor of North Carolina has commanded me to signify to your Lordships His Pleasure, that you prepare a Commission and Instructions for him accordingly
                                                 I am
                                                 My Lords
                                                 Your Lordships most obedient humble servant
                                                 HOLLES NEWCASTLE

As for George Burrington, the "Family" friends that he had earlier made in the Lower Cape Fear settlement of Brunswick, before he left North Carolina in 1726, characteristically became his certain enemies almost immediately upon his return. He began his mission to found the enormously successful port town of Wilmington, in direct opposition to the Family's Brunswick Town.  He won, but at great expense to his own reputation.

The Family took their vengeance upon Burrington - even in death!  But that's another North Carolina pirate tale!
 

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Read about North Carolina's piratical birthpangs in the Brunswick Town & Wilmington affair and the hero that saved the Port of Wilmington from the Family's political opposition, Capt. James Wimble: 

Both can be found at the author's Amazon page and at Lulu.com

From the author of Blackbeard Reconsidered!