M. I. Guet on Pirates at Bourbon Island 1721

 LES ORIGINES DE L'ILE BOURBON ET DE LA COLONISATION FRANÇAISE A MADAGASCAR

or

THE ORIGINS OF BOURBON ISLAND AND FRENCH COLONIZATION IN MADAGASCAR

by M. I. GUET

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p. 218-219

A question arises here of itself. In what proportion of the Bourbonnais population came from the bandits established on the island at the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century?

The answer will show that if Mascarene maintained commercial relations with this type of sailors who were commonly called bandits [pirates], the number of these "repentants", later "amnestied", established and married on the Island, was very restricted for a long time.

The documents kept in the Colonial Archives indicate two in 1687 (and the time when the census of the island already shows 308 souls) nine, in 1695; three, in 1702; eleven, in 1705; (year when the census gives a total of 734 souls); seven, in 1706; and, coming from a single ship, one hundred and thirty-five, in 1720. This makes a total of one hundred and sixty-seven rogues introduced into Bourbon in the space of thirty-three years, and even then we cannot affirm, for the last one hundred and thirty-five, that all remained in the island and married there. There is no doubt, however, that there were a certain number of them. Because, as the brief extract below will prove, reproduced from an excellent memoir written in Bourbon, by the knight Sr. Banks, surveyor, the memory of the bandits was still very well preserved at that time on the island.

Several good families who knew that their first ancestor, having established roots in the colony, had this origin, did not consider it a stain to be concealed. It was the same in Saint-Domingue and in general in the French West Indies, where your buccaneers had more than once and successfully united their bravery and intrepidity with those of the colonial militias, for the defense of our possessions.

“A part of the bandits (said M. Banks), to whom the king had granted amnesty, withdrew there (to Bourbon). We welcomed them. There was no reason to repent of it. The gentleness of their morals, their probity, of which traces still remain, clearly prove that they were not fit for the state [piracy] they professed before, and into which they were only led by circumstances of the sequence of which we are not always the master.

The temporary stay or the establishment of the bandits in Bourbon therefore did not awaken any bloodthirsty or dramatic memories among the inhabitants.

There was, however, one exception. The fact is worth mentioning. He gave such good material to a thousand more or less true stories, among which we can include those of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, during his trip to the Indo-African islands, that we would perhaps like to know exactly how the things had happened.

In 1721, a bandit named Olivier Le Vasseur, known as La Buse (true bird of prey), captain and owner of a well-armed ship called the Victorious, already famous for his exploits, surprised in the harbor of Saint-Denis, in front of the cannons of the fort, a Portuguese ship coming from Goa, bringing back to Lisbon the knight of Eryceira, viceroy of the Indies, and the Archbishop of Goa. Upon returning to his capture, the bandit was kind enough to disembark these two persons and their suite in a row, as well as the crew of the captured ship.

The governor received these Portuguese as best he could and consoled them, by his eager welcome, for having been thus dispossessed without a fight of their vessel carrying sixty cannons. Later, after having accommodated them in Saint-Denis, he provided them with the means to repatriate.1

...

A few months later, the same rascal seized himself, similarly in the waters of the island, from a Dutch [Ostend or Flemish] ship called the City of Ostend. That was not all, in May 1721, at the same time and still in sight of the island, the Duchess of Noailles, ship of the [French] East India Company, plundered and burned by this La Buse.

The first two acts of violence had greatly upset the Bourbon government, because they could make the navigators think that it was in the power of the bandits, or at least that the surroundings were not safe.

But your third act filled you with the anger of the agents of the Company & Bourbon. If Le Vasseur did not then hear your threats made against him from the beach of Saint-Denis, it is because he did not want to hear them. The inhabitants were able to smile while witnessing the spectacle of the first two captures, because your victims were foreign ships. But the loss of the Duchess of Noailles was deeply felt by them, and they promised to avenge this crime dearly, if the opportunity ever presented itself.

However, we had the weakness (at least it seemed so) to pass the sponge on the conduct of the pirate and to include him and forty of his people in an amnesty which was granted to Bourbon, by a deliberation of the Superior Council of the , dated January 26, 1723); but on the condition "that the said John Cleyton and his people, nor that the said Captain La Buse and his people, will not commit any act of hostility, on pain of nullity of this present deliberation, and of being punished as pirates, they were caught.”

Le Vasseur, suspicious, perhaps not without reason, preferred not to take advantage of the amnesty. He continued the fruitful profession in which he had acquired such a fine reputation.

But, to continue his exploits, he had counted without a French ship, la Meduse, which came stationed in these areas, in order to ensure navigation between Bourbon and the coasts of Madagascar, where the trade was then actively carried out. for the benefit of our colony.

1 It was Captain Garnier de Fougeray, commanding the Triton, who brought them back to Lisbon. He had just renewed his possession of the Ile de France, as we will see later.

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L’ILE BOURBON PENDANT LA RÉGENCE - DESFORGES BOUCHER - LES DÉBUTS DU CAFÉ (1956)

BOURBON ISLAND DURING THE REGENCE - DESFORGES BOUCHER - THE BEGINNINGS OF COFFEE (1956)

by Albert LOUGNON, Docteur ès-Lettres

p. 165:

They intended to reach Sainte Marie de Madagascar where they flattered themselves of being supplied by a mixed race from Jamaica married to the daughter of a king of Antongil Bay21.

21 Declaration, reported by the Council of Pondicherry, of four Englishmen who had been victims of bandits in Guinea and whom the Virgin of Grace had taken on board during her passage to Anjouan, in 1720 (the Council of Pondicherry to the directors of the Company , February 18, 1721. AOMN, C2 72, fos 79 et seq.). According to a memorandum submitted to the French consul in Lisbon, on March 26, 1720, by Borelly, officer of the Portuguese royal navy (AOMN, C5 A, box 1), the mixed race in question would have built, not in Sainte-Marie itself, but on the mainland, in a place called Tellenare - Baie de Tintingue or Baie d'Antongil, thinks GRANDIDIER - a fortress of 44 pieces of cannon with a garrison of 250 men. “As he is absolutely strong in the country,” the memoir continues, “he has, when he pleases, all the provisions he needs to embark on the bandits. » Was it the famous Plantain, also from Jamaica and married to the granddaughter of a Sakalave king?

Who was Pirate Jasper Seager and Did he Use an Alias?

These details reference those pirates involved in the taking of Cassandra, an East India Company vessel under the command of James Macrae in the summer of 1720, in the bay of Anjouan or Johanna, just off the north-western tip of Madagascar.

First of all... Jasper Seager was NOT the same pirate as Edward England! 

Why would anyone think that, anyway? "Jasper" is no nickname for "Edward" that I've ever heard! "Seager" doesn't sound anything like "England." Presumably, some writers assume that pirates used aliases and this explains the comparison.

I read this all the time in various references - presumably because people today anachronistically believe that pirates used aliases on a regular basis. They really did not. There are a couple of rare examples, but it was by no means a common practice. Moreover, the common reference of "alias" in records of this time period simply meant "also known as" - perhaps a nickname commonly used - and was not a term necessarily to indicate an attempt by them to hide their true identity by taking on a completely different name. That's more of a 20th and 21st-century assumption about criminality and the modern concept of "alias."

Yes, pirates committed crimes, but the 18th century was far from a crime-free time period - much more crime-ridden than society today. The British government of older times often endorsed criminality themselves and often openly outside of Great Britain and especially in America - the land "beyond the lines of amity!" So, let's put this England-Seager false comparative assumption to rest once and for all!

Primary-source records - indeed, eyewitness accounts - can assure us that Jasper Seager and Edward England are not the same man:

John Barnes, the 1st mate of Greenwich, captain Richard Kirby, while in Johanna Bay, wrote in his journal entry for August 7, 1720 that Greenwich, Cassandra, and an Ostend vessel (220-ton Stahremberg, Capt. Richard Gargan) came under attack by two pirates: 46-gun French-built Victory, commanded by "Capt. England" and 36-gun Dutch-built Fancy, captained by "Capt. Seager." Barnes clearly understood that there were two different pirate captains named England and Seager.

Barnes' journal entry for August 7, 1720

Again, note that John Barnes' journal was an eye-witness account - and, therefore, a primary record! Most of the secondary sources - especially non-cited references, lacking in source notes - are definitely NOT primary sources! In my opinion, many 18th-century newspaper articles are highly suspect secondary sources - often derived from hearsay, printed quickly, and with little or no vetting. Many of those not trained in proper historical research techniques can misunderstand these subtle, but important, distinctions. Thus, a lot of popular pirate literature are bursting with errors and false assumptions.

I cannot say this enough, but Charles Johnson's counterfactual hit-piece A General History of the Pyrates is clearly secondary - quite faulty - and NOT a primary source! Yes, it was all that was handily available for nearly 300 years, but that fact does not magically give it precedence over valid primary sources readily available now! It also did not stop thousands of writers elaborating greatly upon the untold facts - again, over 300 years!

There are quite enough primaries available today that make using faulty references like Johnson's quite ill-advised (~175 transcribed primary records are available for all to use on the "Pirate Reference" tab of my website at http://baylusbrooks.com). Nothing in print can be trusted without detailed valid citations to indicate precisely where the author got his information. Otherwise, it might as well be rumors, religion, hearsay but certainly not history!

Okay... climbing down from the soapbox....

From Sailing East: West-Indian Pirates in Madagascar:

Jasper Seager is an historical enigma. His name does not appear in documents related to this particular group of pirates before sailing to Madagascar in 1720. He appears not to have come from the African Coast with the others. Still, he assumes command of Fancy, and possibly as commodore over both of the two ships that take Cassandra. If his name had not appeared in Chief Mate John Barnes’ journal from Greenwich as the captain of Fancy on the dated entry for 7 August 1720, before hostilities began on the 8th, he would not have been considered as all that important. His credit from historians is undeservedly and comparatively slight after taking Cassandra. He is not as perceptible in most narratives after the pirates take the Viceroy’s ship (see Chapter Five) at La Bourbon, despite the Viceroy’s own account – Richard Lasinby’s account, of course, came from aboard Victory and not Cassandra, then under Seager’s command. 

Owing purely to speculation, Seager may be regarded as an older man of great experience, perhaps already a pirate inhabitant of Madagascar when the others arrived. It is known that one Thomas Seager was in Henry Every’s crew, had not returned with others, and had possibly settled on Madagascar in the mid-1690s.  Perhaps another Seager served in Every’s crew or in Kidd’s? To his credit, Charles Johnson predicted that Edward England’s crew searched for Every’s old crew when they arrived at Île Saint-Marie. Evolving from this reasonable speculation, it may also be that later pirate crews [in the East Indies] consisted of mixes between elder pirate residents of Madagascar and the recent arrivals to the island. Charles Grey also alludes to this in Pirates of the Eastern Seas. As an older pirate residing on Madagascar who once possibly served with Henry Every, Jasper Seager could have been viewed by these younger pirates as legendary as Every himself. It should be noted that an early article by Grey, published in Bombay, India on the “Taking of Cassandra” gave Jasper Seager the primary credit for her capture, not Edward England. Indeed, from Barnes’ journal, it was Seager in Fancy who engaged Macrae for so long and so diligently while England in Victory chased Kirby’s Greenwich.

John Barnes Journal - entry for August 8, 1720

The entry in my Dictionary of Pyrate Biography for Jasper Seager is as follows:

Seager, Jaspar – possibly found at Madagascar by Edward England et al when they arrived in 1720; may be related to Henry Avery’s crewman, Thomas Seager; commanded Victory at Island of Johanna in the East Indies [Anjouan Island in the Comoros, NW of Madagascar], Edward England in Fancy with Richard Taylor aboard took East Indian vessel (8 Aug 1720; 17 Aug 1720 in misprinted Post Boy article) Cassandra, Capt. James Macrae [Mackra in Post Boy], 380 tons, 26 guns, 76 men (left Portsmouth, England 21 Mar 1720) – England is deposed by his crew and left at Madagascar – England then retires on Ile Saint Marie; Possibly an older man, Jasper Seager was made captain of Cassandra; met with Bombay Fleet, late 1720; proceeded to Dutch fort of “Cochins” [southwest coast of India, burial place of Vasco de Gama], Christmas 1720; see greater detail in Olivier LeVasseur and Richard Taylor; word that seven Indian ships sought them and hid at uninhabited island called “Morashes” [Mauritius] – cleaned and caulked badly leaking Victory; Seager in Cassandra, Taylor as quartermaster and LeVasseur made captain of Victory, Feb 1720; LeVasseur and Seager went to “Don Maskareene” [island group just east of Madagascar - Mascarene Islands: Mauritius, Réunion, and Rodrigues] – made for Bay of Bourbon or St. Denis, Réunion and arrived c. Easter Sunday [13 Apr; Moor says 8 Apr], 1721; Luís Carlos Inácio Xavier de Meneses, Viceroy of the East Indies, sailing on a Portuguese vessel, Nossa Senhora do Cabo [Guelderland - Vierge de Cap[1]] from Goa to France, after weathering a storm that blew down all masts and left them with 21 canons, captured by LeVasseur in Victory and Seager in Cassandra [Ericiera calls her Fantasie, variant of "Enchantress," a synonym for the meaning of "Cassandre"] in Bay of Saint-Denis, Isle de Bourbon (a booty equivalent to ten million Euros today, in diamonds, gold, silver coin, bar or ingot), 11/16 April 1721; to leeward [west] of island, captured Dutch ship City of Ostend (former Greyhound), 21/26 Apr 1721; arguments over the Nossa Senhora do Cabo ensued - returned to Madagascar with City of Ostend to clean and sell slaves - desired to split company; Seager died at Madagascar while avoiding British fleet under Comm. Matthews - Olivier LeVasseur took his place as captain of Cassandra.[2]

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[1]Research conducted by Baneto and Verazzone at Les Archives Nationales Portugaises de la Torre do Tombo. LISBOA – Portugal, http://ybphoto.free.fr/diamants_goa_ch2.html; This royal frigate was named after the DNS Zeelandia, DNS Gelderland and DNS Galderland. It was a second-class warship and was bought and renamed the Nossa Senhora do Cabo (“Our Lady of the Cape” called Vierge de Cap or “Celebrate the Cape” in Dutch by Comte d’Ericiera) by Portugal in 1717.

[2]“Captain Mackra’s ship taken by Edward England, Post Boy, 25 & 27 Apr 1721, “Richard Lazenby, a prisoner of Taylor,” “The Examination of Richard Moor, 31 October 1724 (addenda 5 November 1724), HCA 1/55, ff. 94-97,” “The Examination of John Matthews, 12 October 1722, HCA 1/55, ff. 201-21” in E. T. Fox, Pirates in Their Own Words (Fox Historical, 2014), 271-276, 276-285, 207-213, 192-195; “Jaques du Bucquoy” in Alfred Grandidier, Collection des Ouvrages Anciens concernant Madagascar, Vol. 5(Paris: Comité de Madagascar, 1888), 61-72; L. Robert, “Description, in general and in detail, of the island of Madagascar, made on the best memoirs of the old officers who lived in this island [at] the Port Dauphin; all checked exactly on the spot by the sieur ROBERT; Part 1. The discovery of the island. - 2nd part. The detail of each kingdom or provinces. - 3rd part. The Dauphin Port. - 4th part. The rancidity of the pirates; the great advantages that there would be in forming colonies there." (1730), No. 196, Manuscript 3755, Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque du Service Historique de la Défense, Bibliothèques de la Marine (Vincennes, Val-de-Marne, France), 4^th part, ff. 109-117; La Gazette de Paris, Bureau d'adresse (Paris), 23 May 1722;“Relation of Count Ericiera” in G. Cavelier, Le Mercure, May 1722, 54-68; both translated by Baylus C. Brooks.

 

Carpenter's Bay and the Mystery Tomb of Mauritius

Northwest Port and Tombeau, Brow’s, or Peter Butts Bay from “A chart of the Island of Mauritius” by John Thornton, made 1702-1707.

 

In writing Sailing East: West-Indian Pirates in Madagascar, a reference came up often about a tomb on the shores of the East-Indian island of Mauritius at a place called "Brown's Bay" or "Carpenter's Bay." This tomb became the apparent reason for the changing of the name of that bay to "Bay of Tombs" or "Baie de Tombeau" in French. This tomb also was so large, that it was visible for miles and often used as a navigational aid by ship's masters:

HMS Salisbury log - 28-30 March 1722 at Mauritius

The tomb was used by pirates to scribble a message in charcoal for probably Capt. James Macrae, former commander of the East-Indiaman Cassandra, whom the pirates believed was chasing them. Earlier, the pirates had taken this vessel from him.. an important man who would soon be president at Fort Madras. Thing is... Commodore Thomas Matthews thought the message had been written for him by these same pirates as he sailed for Madagascar from Bombay to find them. 

1765 Jacques N. Bellin Map

So, more than one level of confusion existed over this tomb and its message!

One such quandary concerned whose tomb this was and when they were buried, and under what conditions. My investigations revealed more than one possible answer. 

Part of Sailing East: West-Indian Pirates in Madagascar, Chapter Six reads:

Comm. Mathews Again
Visits Madagascar

After witnessing Gov. Boone’s retirement and the succession of John Pitts as governor of Bombay for the EIC, and after removing Sir Robert Johnson as captain of HMS Exeter for violating orders, the fleet departed Bombay in February 1722 – Exeter, then under Capt. Samuel Braithwaite. They followed the Indian west coast or Malabar in the south. They were bound for Madagascar and, so then branched west and made for Mauritius, as Downing wrote:

In February 1721-2 we left the Coast of Malabar, and took our Departure from Cape Commeron [Comorin] in the Latitude of 7 Deg. 10. M. Northerly, and shaped our Course for the Island of Moroslas [Mauritius], but made no Stay there; tho' we here found writ on Capt. Carpenter's Tomb with a Piece of Charcoal, [“]We were here in the Cassandra and Victory [not Defense; This was written when the pirates repaired Victory Feb-April 1721, not 1722], expecting your Coming; we left this Place on the 28th of February [confusing; if 1721, they arrived about that date – had they left this message for Macrae when they arrived?], and are now on our Voyage for Port Dolphin [Dauphin], on the Island of Madagascar.[“ Was this another misdirection intended for Macrae?]

The Commodore and his men, however, almost missed the pirates’ message, which appears to have been written instead for James Macrae, who the pirates believed followed behind them as they sailed south from the Malabar Coast. As Lion’s log recorded, the fleet made sail on 15 March for Bourbon, “where some of our People disposed of several Casks of Arrack, and Madera Wine, &c. for very good Profit.”

The fleet then left Bourbon for Madagascar. Lion’s log told, however, that weather alternated for weeks between fair, rainy, and contrary winds – Lion, Exeter, and Salisbury made little headway. There came a strong lightning storm thirty miles northwest of Round Island, a small island about fourteen miles north of Mauritius. The storm separated Lion from her consorts and split her mizzen topsail “from head to foot.”
 
Blown six leagues back southeast, Lion’s crew made sight of Round Island four leagues away. They knew they were close to Mauritius and decided at nightfall to return to that destination for resupply and to make repairs. The next afternoon, 28 March at 3 pm, Lion anchored in the northwest harbor of Mauritius, likely where the pirates had made their repairs to Victory the year before. Salisbury and Exeter had landed there as well. On 29 March, the fleet made for the next bay north, or Carpenter’s Bay [“Brown’s Bay,” “Pieter Both Bay,” “Peter Butts Bay,” “Baye de Tombeau,” or “Bay of Tombs”], to “wood and water.”

This bay was apparently where they found the message written on Capt. Carpenter’s tomb by the pirates – perhaps a large white marble tomb erected during the Dutch occupation period (until 1710) – which the Navy men believed was a taunt written for their benefit, not Macrae’s, urging them to find the pirates who took Cassansdra at Port Dauphin.  As HMS Salisbury’s log makes clear, Carpenter’s tomb was large and obvious enough so as to function as a navigational feature, seen from aboard ship. Salisbury’s log mentions “wee finde here 2 french Ships that brought people to Settle this place” to join with an unknown number of English pirates already there, probably in the former dwellings of the previous Dutch residents.  Lion and Salisbury mounted forty and thirty-six guns. Mathews informed the Admiralty that they brought twelve shore guns, but were “in a very bad condition, and no way provided with Men sufficient, or Provisions, or, indeed, with any necessaries to preserve them from the attempts of the Pirates.”  After nearly a week at Mauritius, the fleet resupplied and weighed anchor on 4 April to resume her voyage, now for Port Dauphin, following the misunderstood message of the pirates, to find them at Madagascar, not at Île Saint-Marie, but at the location to which they hoped to misdirect Macrae.*

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* The investigations revealed:

“The Manuscripts of P. Edward Tillard, Esq., of the Holme, Godmanchester,” Fifteenth Report, Appendix, Part X (London: Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, 1899), 79; Cemetery location and fauna detail from the observations of William Tillard, 17 May 1699 at Carpenter’s Bay, Mauritius: “There is verry good fresh water about half-a-mile up ye river from Carpenters bay w[h]ere we lay with our ship, so yt we made 3 turns with fresh water every day, & yt with ease. There is a tomb built at ye entrance of ye river [Terre Rouge or Rivière du Tombeau], a little way from ye shore, where lyes one Welden [Tillard assumed this to be George; will prob. 11 March 1698 - PROB 11/444/239; “Will of George Weldon, Merchant of the East Indies bound on Ship Benjamin“], who died on this Isld abt 2 yrs since, returning home in ye Benja [British hired storeship of 450 tons – captain John Brown] from Bombay.

I looked at the will of George Weldon, but found nothing to indicate his date of date, just the probate of his will on 11 March 1698, which did mean that he died before this date, and while on Benjamin, so it worked. 

But, Weldon was not the only person suggested to be buried in that tomb:

Another reference made in 1709 by Jean de la Roque (1661-1745) in A voyage to Arabia Felix through the Eastern Ocean and the streights of the Red-Sea, being the first made by the French in the years 1708, 1709 and, 1710…, page 151, states "As we drew near the Sea Shore, we found by the side of a little Torrent, a very handsome Tomb of Freestone, cover’d with a Marble [table or tablet], with an Inscription, which gave us to understand, that it was the Tomb of the wife of a Dutch General who dy’d in this Island going to the Indies;” 

De la Roque gave a wonderful description of the tomb and why it was so obvious from ships off shore. And, his reasoning was close - at least it involved a woman! Still, de la Roque apparently couldn't tell the difference between English and Dutch! Thus, he also missed, as the woman buried here was the widow of a British East India Company official...

The actual journal of Benjamin shows that “Lady Susannah Child” had died 26 March 1697 and was buried on the shore of Mauritius and that Capt. John Brown fired 20 guns in her honor:

Journal entry from 26 March 1697

 

"Portrait Of A Lady, Said To Be Lady Susannah Child" oil on Canvas, by Maria Verelst.
Lady Susannah Child was the wife of Sir John Child, who was deputy Governor of Bombay from 1679-1681 and President of Surat from 1682 until his death in 1690.

The storeship Benjamin was listed as: 450/468 tons, 30 guns, 90/93 crew.

Voyages:

(1) 1688/9 St Helena, Bombay and Sumatra. Capt Leonard Browne. Downs 7 May 1689 - 19 Jul Madeira 8 Aug - 6 Jan 1690 St Helena - 28 May Bombay 26 Sep - 8 Oct Surat - Jul 1691 Acheh - Oct Malacca - 29 Jan 1692 Acheh - 26 Apr Onore - 10 May Karwar 23 Sep - Goa - 16 Oct Surat 14 Feb 1693 - 16 May Cape 2 Jun - 18 Sep Ascension - 31 Oct Plymouth.

(2) 1693/4 Surat. Capt John Brown. 22 Jul 1694 - 13 Oct São Tiago - 1 Mar 1695 Moheli - Bombay 16 Sep 1696 - 11 Nov Bandar Abbas - 17 Dec Bombay - 10 Jan 1697 Karwar - Bombay 18 Feb - 22 May Mauritius - Cape 5 Aug - 30 Sep St Helena - 27 Jan 1698 Margate.

(3) 1698/9 Madras. Capt John Brown. Downs 29 Oct 1698 - 20 Dec Cadiz - 2 Mar 1699 Cape - 2 Jun Fort St David - 4 Jun Madras - 24 Jul Fort St David - 1 Aug Pondicherry - 4 Aug Madras - 26 Aug Masulipatam - 30 Aug Vizagapatam - 16 Sep Balasore - 25 Dec Vizagapatam - 30 Jan 1700 Masulipatam - 3 Feb Madras - 17 Jun St Helena - 27 Sep Downs.

Pirate Edward Congdon retires...

Excerpt from the soon-to-be-released Sailing East: West Indian Pirates in Madagascar:

 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.

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[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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