Private Proprietary Pirates - Early Capitalism in America, 1700

A letter from Edward Randolph depicts the arrogance of aristocratic oligarchs known as the Lords Proprietors in England and the negligence they placed upon their private possessions in the American colonies, particularly Carolina, the Bahamas, and New Jersey. This was a prime example of the dangers of private control in the matters of government. Privatization at this level facilitated piracy in the Bahamas as well as multiple abuses across America. Indeed, it began the development of America by the Stuarts of England as a criminal domain, given as gifts to these aristocrats who were charged with the theft of all the possessions of Spain "beyond the lines of amity" or friendship! This attitude remained in America through the reign of the Stuart Dynasty - nearly the entire 17th century - until the ascendancy of the Whigs, or more liberal administrators of England took control after the "Glorious Revolution of 1688." Still, the damage was already done.

These pervasive criminal tendencies involved theft, slavery, murder, extortion, bribery, rampant smuggling so far from authorities, 3,000 miles away in England. It probably infested the nascent United States with the same ubiquitous criminal element and led to the Confederate States of America attempting to maintain this criminal West-Indian society, slavery, and all the abuses that accrued hereto during the Civil War (1861-1865). And, it likely led to many abuses we find in government today under the outlaw Trump Administration. We are indeed, as "Capt. Charles Johnson," the author of A General History of the Pyrates, called us in 1724, a "Commonwealth of Pyrates!"

This is just a small window into the behavior of the men that came to rape Spain's colonial lands - before the development of the "Flying Gang" of Benjamin Hornigold in the Bahamas almost two decades later. Edward Randolph tried to warn the Board of Trade of the dangers still infesting these waters because of these criminal creoles. Many of today's Americans are their descendants.

----------

March 25, 1700  New Providence [separated for readability]

Edward Randolph to the Council of Trade and Plantations. Begins as March 11.

I am, I thank God, in health but not recovered of the lameness I got in gaol at Bermuda. I landed [at New Providence] the 10th inst.[March 1700] and finding Mr. Read Elding (tho'illegally, yet) actually in the possession of the Government,

... the next day, after some debate [I] had with him [Elding], I administered to him the oath, though several objections were at that time made to the contrary, viz. that he assumed the Government by virtue of an illegal commission clandestinely obtained from [Nicholas] Webb, being also contrary to the Lords Proprietors' instructions which direct the method of appointing another Governor, in case of the death or departure of the present.

Besides, Webb went away on a suddaine to Philadelphia, not having first advised with the Council nor had the consent of any one of them about his appointing Elding his Deputy, which was not known to any of them till Webb was under sail, so that the Government is of right invested in Mr. Richard Peterson, a Lords' Deputy and the first in Council.

But they, finding the inhabitants divided and ready to cast off all Government, chose rather to sit still than hazard the peace of the country, and expect the Lords Proprietors' directions in that matter.

But the chief thing before I gave the oath that I scrupled at [had a problem with] was, that Elding, under pretence of a commission to him from Webb to apprehend pirates, etc., piratically seized a briganteen of Boston, John Edwards, Master.

Webb, Elding, and the others to whom he had given the like commissions, shared the money they found aboard.

Elding does not only brave it out [take advantage of?] upon the Commission Webb gave him to be Lieutenant Governor, but supports himself in the lawfulness of the other commission to take pirates, but sets a very high value upon his services by the accidental seizing Hind the pirate and afterwards executing six of his accomplices.

Hind and four of his men were surprised upon an island 10 or 12 leagues from hence by a Bermuda man [Bermuda vessel]: the three others were taken by chance and executed also, but one of the four, having nothing proved against him, [though he] was discharged and sent by Elding to cut logwood at Campeach, run away, and [Elding] believes his good services against Hind, etc., will expiate for his own piracy upon Edwards.

[Elding] a day or two ago caned Mr. Gower, a Lords' Deputy, most severely, and keeps him in prison, for questioning his power to appoint a Judge to try the pirates, a thing questioned by all the Lords' Deputys.

Their Lordships [Lords Proprietors] at home are very careless and ignorant of their own interest and of the good of the inhabitants. Though many complaints upon just grounds are made to them, praying for relief, yet they take no notice of it, nor of the most arbitrary government of Trott and Webb; neither of the late action done by Elding against Edwards, which they had notice of, but discourse him very indifferently upon that matter.

These inhabitants are daily more unsettled, and will give little credit to what their Lordships [Proprietors] say or promise them they will do for their encouragement, when at the same time they sell and dispose of their privileges for very inconsiderable sums, as Hog Island, lying to the north of Providence, which makes the harbour, 'tis, after several grants and confirmations thereof to the inhabitants, sold to [ex-Gov] Mr. Trott for 50l., to the utter ruin to the inhabitants of this town.

Hog Island in the Bahamas - just across Nassau Town Harbor from Nassau, New Providence Island

Their Lordships [Proprietors] have likewise granted away the royalty of the whale fishing and a great part of the Island of Abbico to one Dudgeon, late Secretary and Marshall of Bermuda a sort of stock jobber, for 30 years, as appears upon record here;

... neither do they regard into whose hands the Government of these Islands comes [lawlessness].

I am well informed that for more than seven years past seldom less than four known pirates have been [on] the Council.

I brought Commissions to persons upon the place to be Officers in the Court of Admiralty, but all of them, except Ellis Lightwood, the intended Judge, are either dead or removed.

I find him [Lightwood] an ill man, and was a busy promoter of oppression in Trott's and Webb's time, as appears by the records of the Courts in which he was Judge. Besides, he is the only security for Bridgeman [Henry Bridgham], alias Every's appearing here when demanded, in one bond of 1,000l., and also for 10 or 12 of his company in a like bond of 1,000l. for each of their appearance.

I have suspended the delivery of the Commission to him for that reason. 'Tis expected that orders will be directed to some persons here to put those bonds in suit, ('twill deter others); the securities have got a great deal of money.

I know no man so fit for that service as Mr. Thomas Walker;

... as to Mr. Warren, the Attorney General, he is security also for some of Every's men.

Packer, one of that gang [Henry Avery/Bridgham's], is married to Elding's sister now in town. His Majesty will have little justice done him by Elding and others of his party, who bear all the sway here.

Webb was directed and proved an apt scholar under Trott's discipline and advice: Elding writes after his [Webb's] copy and expects to be made the Governor, by which appears the deplorable and miserable conditions the poor inflicted inhabitants have lived in from the time of their resettlement, after they were drove off and destroyed in 1680 by the Spaniards, who watch an opportunity to do the like again.

The Lords Proprietors laid out money and sent over a few arms with some ammunition to the value of 3,600l. [it actually came to just over 800l., which was the presumed profit of the Bahamas] sterling towards the defence of the country. After all their charge their fort is not serviceable. Certainly the inhabitants will either desert the place or submit to any foreign Power that will protect them.

The interests and the affairs here between the Lords and the inhabitants are so different and distracted that it will require a long time to bring them to a right understanding. From the consideration whereof I humbly propose that His Majesty will please to require Read Elding to answer in England for his piracy against Edwards, and, further, that in the meantime till there be a complete settlement in this and all other the Proprieties, that His Majesty be pleased to direct his Commission to Thomas Walker, Esq., an ingenuous man, one of the Lords' Deputies, to be the President, and to Richard Peterson [father-in-law of Adm. Judge Edmond Porter of North Carolina], a Deputy, Isaac Rush, Richard Tollefero, Thomas Williams, Martin Cook, Samuel Frith, Perient Trott, Jeremiah Wells, and John Bethel, to be the Council and to take upon them the administration of the Government of these Islands, (being all of them settled inhabitants,) during His Majesty's pleasure.

Probably the Draft Commissioned below... in the Library of Congress maps

I have the promise of an exact draft of these Islands and of the fort and harbour of of this town, but being presently bound to Carolina in my return to Bermuda, I have recommended the care thereof to Mr. Walker, who will make it his business to see them exactly drawn and transmit them with a complete narrative thereof to your Lordships. Signed, Ed. Randolph, S.G. Endorsed., Recd. July 20, Read July 25, 1700. Holograph. 2½ pp. Enclosed,

    250. i. Abstract of above. 1¼ pp.
    250. ii. Copy of Read Elding's Commission from Gov. Webb to be Deputy Governor of New Providence, etc. April 13, 1699. Endorsed., Recd. July 20, 1700. 1 p.
    250. iii. Copy of a clause in the Lords Proprietors' Commission to their Governor about appointing Deputy Governors, Jan. 12, 1692. ½ p. Same endorsement.
    250. iv. Copy of Gov. Webb's Commission to Read Elding to take pirates, July 13, 1698. 1 p. Same endorsement.
    250. v. Copies of depositions by John Edwards, Master; Ebenezer Dennesse, Mate; and John Stiles, Boatswain; William Gray and John Ashcroft, Mariners, of the Bohemia Merchant, which was chased and piratically seized by Read Elding off Cape Florida, August 2, 1698; and of Daniel Kenney, of the Sweepstakes. 3 pp. Same endorsement.
    250. vi. Copy of letter from Lords Proprietors of the Bahama Islands to Gov. Webb and Council, May 27, 1699. 1¾ pp. Same endorsement.
    250. vii. Copy of an Order of the Grand Council, Nassau, July 8, 1690, making Hogg Island a free Common. On back, Copy of disallowance of the same by the Lords Proprietors. Sept. 21, 1699. Same endorsement. [Board of Trade. Proprieties, 5. Nos. 31, 31.i.–vii.; and (without enclosures), 26. pp. 248–256.]

-------------------------------------------------------------

Just published 2nd Electronic Edition of Quest for Blackbeard!

Some of the poorer sort went aboard pirate ships and sloops as crew, certainly, but they usually were not as well educated as those who navigated them. The tale of these early pirate leaders’ gentlemanly demeanor, formerly wealthy privateers, has been confined, narrowed, and almost eradicated by literary rhetoric. Worse still, modern historians attempt to explain them all as an early form of democratic society, confusing some of these gentlemen with the common people and further skewing their reality. The people we call “pirates” today most resemble those found in the Bahamas after 1715, driven out by 1718, scattered refugees of a barren island and rude maritime subsistence, but the real pirate leaders of the Golden Age were wealthy – the 97% were blamed for the crimes of the 3%! This injustice is where we must begin the true Quest for Blackbeard!

http://www.lulu.com/shop/baylus-c-brooks/quest-for-blackbeard-the-true-story-of-edward-thache-and-his-world/ebook/product-24414312.html
 

Author website:
baylusbrooks.com 

----------------------------------------------------------------

Only $0.99... so, please read. Understand the need for #Resistance

https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Republican-Political-History-America-ebook/dp/B082XJ3ZVZ/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=trump+commonwealth&qid=1579900044&s=digital-text&sr=1-4

Whistleblower Complaint on Audiobook!

Listen to an audiobook of the #WhistleblowerComplaint..

Yeah.. one has already been made! lol

https://soundcloud.com/penguin-audio/the-whistle-blower-complaint-released-by-the-house-intelligence-committee-9262019

#Extortion #treason #criminal #dictator #racism #ConcentrationCamps #CrimesAgainstHumanity
#ForProfitPrisons #TrumpIsADisgrace #TrumpIsANationalSecurityThreat

Mueller Report recap on YouTube: https://bcbrooks.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-mueller-report-watch-as-we-read.html

Racism - the Door is Now WIDE Open

"My own Southern mother recently called me a 'full-fledged Democrat,' but the flying spit and venom made it feel like 'Damn Yankee!'.. a phrase I have heard come from her lips on many an occasion! Earlier, she called me a 'died-in-the-wool Democrat' which has a specifically Confederate meaning.. Rebel wool uniforms were grey because they couldn't afford the blue die that the Union could, thus... a died wool uniform was worn by a Yankee."

Key point for Trump's Confederate fans: Democrat = Yankee

This is what Trump has brought to full fruition! This is also what Civil War did to us the first time... not surprisingly over the same damned White Supremacist issues!

My mother and her family are from an area of North Carolina which I have researched for many years.. the Lower Cape Fear - an area that retained more of a South Carolina flavor than the rest of the state.

As I grew up, I had witnessed many clues to the white-supremacy of this region and have often felt the hatred and resentment of the old war had never died.

Understand that the Old South had never truly relinquished any significant amount of sovereign supremacy to the Union - the United States of America after 1865. You may have heard, as I have many times, that "The South Will Rise Again!" This is the cultural stubbornness that I witnessed on those many trips from my home in Fayetteville (a large city) to the rural Lower Cape Fear (LCF) to see my grandmother - we all have seen it in the plethora of Confederate statues at courthouses across the United States! Understand that this is virtual worship of a defeated traitorous nation.. on our current government soil! It would be merely uncomfortable anywhere else, but outrageous on government property!

Why did we allow this? I'll never quite understand that... 

Illustrating Southern intransigence, there comes another personal tale. I once lived about two years with my cousin in the LCF, and my cousin had an aunt on the paternal side - descended from the aristocratic Hollingsworths in the Duplin-Pender County area. She was visiting with us one day when a guy I worked with in Wilmington (a large city in the LCF) had stopped by to tell me something. This fellow - I'll call him "John" - had always seemed like anyone else, regardless of his color (he was of African American descent). He, too, was from the Pender County area where we then lived.

As soon as John walked through the front door and saw the aristocratic iconic Southern woman - like Scarlett O'Hara - in all her glorified Southern majesty -minus the mint julep - in the center of the room, he immediately began to behave differently. They had obviously known each other.

Remember, I worked with John for months and he behaved like everyone else, so his mutation into... this something truly archaic was unbelievable!

I looked at him like he was a different person... had John lost his mind??! He was genuflecting strongly, his voice had altered to something resembling that of a child, or at least something quite subservient, and he was repeating the phrase "Yes, Miss Pearl, why it's good to see you Miss Pearl." The oddest part.. he sounded like a 19th century slave on the plantation!!! My cousin (from Fort Lauderdale, Florida) and I were both shocked that his demeanor would have changed so drastically.

After John left, the aristocratic Pender County socialite woman announced to us all - in a surprisingly tender way - that John had "always been such a nice young nigger boy!"

My citified mind went: Wham!!! John was 60 years old!!! The LCF was a virtual time capsule! But, it wasn't just in the LCF...

This was the paternal sense of white supremacy that has always pervaded the South - ever since Carolina was founded in 1671 by crude slaving Barbadians. Southerners of that ideology absolutely cannot see any other way to be! For them, whites are designated by God himself to rule over Blacks, Hispanics, Indians, and anyone else of color - until the end of time - which they would gladly welcome over "Negro Rule!"

 

My mother and her family have marinated in this hateful ideology all their lives. And, the election of Barack Obama to two terms as president of the United States simply confirmed to them how USA has defied God and his divine order! It is no surprise that these vengeful white supremacists elected Donald Trump - a man more like their biblical version of the "Anti-Christ" or "Deceiver," or "Man of Sin" in Revelations. Compare this "White Jesus" or Satan with the Socialist Jesus of Matthew 14, who fed the hungry, housed the homeless, and healed the sick... all non-grate, for no pay whatsoever!

After caging brown children for fear's sake, Trump just identified as "un-American" (read: "anti-Trump") four Congresswomen (two of whom are of Islamic origin) - as if they were enemies!! He was quite un-presidential and un-American when he pointed these women out to his violent followers. He, the South's "Anti-Christ" has just - after a whole 2.5 years of semantic shell-game - finally revealed the racist violent truth of his presidency - and their Confederacy!

Trump and his followers also see that their minority of racist voters will always stay in the minority and that American democracy - or rule by majority - will always disfavor them, so they need democracy to end! To equally-violent-minded "Lost Cause" adherents of the Old South, it was high time for another Civil War or perhaps the End of the World! So, bring on the Anti-Christ Donald Trump, no matter he chooses to collude with!

------

A reflection on my grandfather's life experience with racism at the turn of the 20th century is quite instructive: https://bcbrooks.blogspot.com/2019/05/my-grandpa-progressive-liberal-minister.html
#Racism #WhiteSupremacy

RED ALERT! Christian-GOP Dominionism and Donald Trump

This is a thread from "Mr. Spock" on twitter about one of the greatest threats our democracy has ever faced! These are America's Dark Ages!

You will note several similarities in the following thread that may sound familiar if you are used to studying history - particularly the Civil War. This is the racist "white man's" theology of the South's "god of the slavemaster".. now the dominant domain of Republican political ideology!

1898 caption from the Raleigh News & Observer - annotated by the author

The continuous criminality of the South and the GOP: Over 100 Years of GOP Crime & Fascism: https://youtu.be/qBU3lBlecaI

------

In Star Trek, one of the core story lines was the Dominion war. But it was mostly in Deep Space Nine. It was originally aired in the 1990s. But it was really speaking to America. Because America is truly at war with the Dominion, here and now. Dominion theology is Christian [in origin].

Political ideologies that seek to institute a nation governed by Christians based only on their personal understanding of Biblical law. Dominionism is a label that only applies to certain groups of Christians within the United States, nowhere else on Earth does this apply. [One particularly anti-American - and Southern neo-Confederate - one is "Church of God Evangelistic Association" operated by David J. Smith]

Dominionism is a radical movement, it cloaks itself in the mantle of Christian faith and American Patriotism, when what it is actually trying to do is dismantle democracy. These people put themselves on a pedestal and dictate the morals of a country based on their limited subjective views that they cherry pick from the Bible and ignore the parts that would effect them. So for example, they will press for oppression of LGBTQ, but not divorce or adultery. They are raping the faith of millions and calling themselves moral whilst acting amorally.

Dominionism has a belief in magic along with adoration of a leader - sound familiar? They believe in the supremacy of a master race, this master race is the bastardised version of American Christianity where Jesus is white and protects only America 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

But most importantly, the give away is not on what they say, but on how they act. The Dominion movement is a totalitarian movement, exploiting those of faith, but of people that don’t truly understand their faith. They will use religious and patriotic language, usually combined. For example, one cannot be truly a patriot American unless you are a Christian, but not true Christianity, it has to be the White bastardised version of Christianity. Everyone else is the enemy. Everyone else is evil and must be eradicated. One must do as they say..

It is the only way to be a Christian and American [according to Dominionism]. Adhere to all of their rhetoric. Find a leader to adore, no matter how unethical he is [GOP's Donald Trump in this case].

So what is their ultimate goal? A legal system based on “Christian Values.” Labor unions & Civil rights movements will be abolished. It will form the basis of the educational system. Women will be removed from the workforce to stay at home [if this reminds you of the "Handmaid's Tale" series on Hulu, you're not wrong!].

Seen these women protestors dressed in red robes? That's from "Handmaid's Tale"

The most important book for the Dominionist is the “Institute of Biblical Law,” which calls for a Christian society that is harsh, unforgiving and violent.

It calls for the death penalty of LGBTQ, blasphemy, astrology and incorrigible juvenile delinquency and women only to be chaste before marriage. The book calls for the Christian United States. There are 2000 radio stations feeding this in America and 6 TV channels. Right now!

So who are the poster boys of Dominionism? Well Pat Robertson for one and I’m sure that surprises no one.

Here’s an article from 2006 which speaks of the rise of Dominionism.

This is why WE HAVE TO STICK TOGETHER. We cannot ever allow this Draconian society to occur. This is why we must call out this fake version of Christianity which is all about white straight men having all of the power. We must say no. Never surrender.

The enemies of morality will not stop and will not back off. The Left cannot and will not change.

"If the Democrats in the Senate try again to usurp the President's constitutional authority by filibustering, there will be a battle of enormous proportions from sea to shining sea." —James Dobson

[more Civil War news & rhetoric by Robert Reich, Franklin Graham,

Politics is religion, and the right is getting ready for the end times

Pete Buttigieg: "Hypocrisy" of Evangelical Christians Supporting Trump

The Evangelical Civil War: An Interview With Russell Moore - Bloomberg ]

Can you understand why tRump is so important to them and their movement?

So the religious right now have 30 million active voters. They go out and vote no matter what. This is why we must ALWAYS VOTE.

None of my tweets I must add are attacking Christians. Real Christians. Not at all. Christians are needed to push back, to speak the truth, to say no to the cheapening of their daily spirituality. I think America needs true Christians now more than ever, to speak out more.

Why Christian nationalists love Trump

------------------

My thanks to Mr. Spock for his ever logical and fascinating analysis!

I have written a quite a few blog entries myself on Southern conservatism combined with theology and originating from early American piracy and crime:

North Carolina: The Subtle Politics of Slavery Before and After the Civil War 

Progressive Liberal Minister Born in the Confederacy!  

"Quest for Blackbeard" and the "Counterfactual" Politics of the South 

Why do Poor White Voters Vote Against Themselves?

North Carolina's Political Pirate Nest

Really! Pirates and Tea Party Conservatism 

Carolana to Carolina: Imperialism, Science, and Early Huguenot Interest in Bath County

Pirates and Capitalists: Two Sides of the Same Coin 

The National Rifle Association in a Culture of Terrorism

A Proud North Carolina Tradition!

North Carolina: The Subtle Politics of Slavery Before and After the Civil War

Republicans were Liberal Before the Confederacy Took Them Over!

North Carolina's Most Amusing Governor and Wilmington Founder 

Political Agenda of "Redeemer Historians" in North Carolina

Responsibility in Business: Imperialism, Africans, and Rice in the South Carolina Trade

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Mueller Report: Watch As We Read The Whole Thing Live

A 12-hour long reading of the Mueller Report... it starts slowly, so be patient.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G73iRRgoLKg

Capt. Frances Hume - Pirate Hunter in a Commonwealth of Pyrates!

32-gun fifth rate frigate

Naval historians N.A.M. Rodgers and Rif Winfield generally regard fifth-rate frigates of the early eighteenth century Royal Navy, "were small two-deckers, generally either 40-gun ships with a full battery on two decks, or "demi-batterie" ships, carrying a few heavy guns on their lower deck (which often used the rest of the lower deck for row ports) and a full battery of lesser guns on the upper deck." HMS Scarborough was one such frigate of the Royal Navy, commissioned in 1711. She had a lower deck with four 9-pounders, a top deck with twenty-two 6-pounders, and a quarterdeck with six 4-pounders.

Her first captain was Francis Cooper, for half a year in 1711, then Edmund Hooke for a year, and back to Francis Cooper for almost two more years. Her next commander from 1715-1718 was a Scotsman of a quite controversial family! Capt. Francis Hume (1682-1753) would make his name as a "pirate hunter" in the Windward and Leeward Islands during the Golden Age of Piracy in what Charles Johnson referred to as a "Commonwealth of Pyrates!" He was referring to that colonial backwater across the pond - in America.

Capt. Francis Hume came from the Scottish Homes* of Blackadder, a family that split radically on two sides: loyal and traitorous Jacobite, after the Glorious Revolution of 1688! Another Francis Hume of Quixwood, was transported/exiled to Virginia in 1716 for his involvement in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715, an event that favored James Francis Edward Stuart or the "Pretender" over German-speaking King George I. This event also encouraged many Stuart conservatives in Great Britain as well as the Americas to turn against their government just as the Golden Age of Piracy began with a hurricane on 30 July 1715 in the Bahama or Florida Straits.

*The name is spelled "Home," but is pronounced "Hume" in Scotland. Thus, those serving in England were usually recorded as "Hume." 

Alexis Simon Belle, Portrait of James Francis Edward Stuart (1688-1766) - dated 1712

A George Hume was tried at Marshalsea in September 1716 and hanged for "High-Treason." A "Mr. Hume of Witfield" had also been found guilty and hanged, as was a brother to Earl Hume. Genealogy can be encouraging, however, and demonstrates that not all of one family were necessarily traitors. David Hume, the famous Scottish philosopher and atheist also comes from this same family.  

Capt. Francis Hume had left Scotland for London, became a mariner in the Royal Navy and avoided all those troubles - including the noose! The West Indies in the Golden Age gave him the opportunity to prove himself a loyal and faithful warrior subject of King George I - even though he was a German who spoke no English!

Scarborough was stationed at her home port of Sheerness, Kent through 1714 and most of 1715, undergoing repairs. By October 1715 the repairs, amounting to £1987.17.9d, came to completion. About the same time, Captains Edward Holland of the Bedford Galley, Francis Hume of the Scarborough and Digby Dent of the Lynn sought a tender to procure men and paper for muster records. 

While Barbados underwent a massive hurricane, Capt. Hume, of Edinburgh, Scotland, that October 1715 had just been assigned to Scarborough as her commanding officer. There was much to do to finalize the repairs -he immediately set to work inspecting them and making last-minute adjustments while manning and provisioning his ship. These final efforts still took time. Purser Thomas Townshend came aboard and Hume asked for a ship's master to be appointed. By 9th of November, Scarborough had moved to the Downs where Hume replaced his damaged longboat. By the middle of January 1716, Scarborough had docked in the Hamoaze at Plymouth and sent in her muster reports. She took on provisions there and later at Portsmouth, making her final preparations for her voyage to Barbados in the early summer of 1716. After a mountain of preparation, the warship under Capt. Hume's command finally sailed for her station - Carlisle Bay of Barbados in the West Indies, carrying the new governor, Robert Lowther.

32-gun fifth-rate HMS Scarborough, would make quite a name for herself as a pirate fighter in the West Indies. Even anti-government pirates themselves often held this ship as the iconic warship to be beaten as a test of their pirate metal. But, first, Hume dealt with a lack of crew and those he had were sick and growing sicker. No rest for the weary, as they say. Gov. Robert Lowther, in December 1716, got word that "there were several pirates in those partes [Antigua], and that they had not only taken several vessels, but also greatly molested the Colonies." Thus, he:

... order'd Captain Humes Commander of H.M.S. the Scarborough to go immediately in quest of them, but he represented that his ship was so much disabled by the mortality and desertion of his mariners, that he had not men sufficient to navigate her: upon this representation my friends and I gave him so much mony as inabled him to get pretty nigh his complement of men.

Gov. Walter Hamilton of the Leeward Islands also requested of Gov. Robert Lowther on Barbados "desiring he would order H.M. ship attending that station to cruize among these Islands for some time," to "to disperse those vermine." Capt. Hume sailed Scarborough to St. Christophers by 4th of January. Hamilton "immediatly ordered an officer, with 40 of H.M. troops on board, the better to enable Capt. Hume to secure his ship, and to annoy the pirates in case he met them." Hume was not only low on men - approx. 120 - but many of those were still sick. On January 16th, Hume "had the good fortune to find some of them [pirates] in the harbour of St. Croix, with a ship and a sloop."

Hume cut his teeth on these pirates, vessels of Jean Martel, a French pirate masquerading as an Englishman, who had decided to water at St. Croix in January 1717, some months after Scarborough's arrival in the Virgin Islands - from Antigua west to St. Croix. 

Colin Woodard, in Republic of Pirates, best tells this tale. He asserts there were six vessels in all belonging to Jean Martel and begins his tale on page 153,

Scarborough anchored at the mouth of the harbor and began battering [the pirates'] vessels with her guns. The pirates fought back from the four-gun battery they had set up on shore, but the Scarborough's guns soon took them out of action. For a short time, the pirates thought they might be spared: The fifth-rate frigate was too big to enter the harbor and retreated. The pirates piled aboard Martel's flagship, the twenty-two gun John & Marshall, to make a run for it, only to run aground on a reef.  Seeing the Scarborough tacking back toward them, Martel ordered the men to abandon and burn the galley.

Martel and about nineteen of his pirates mad their escape in the smaller prize sloop they had taken there. About 100 others, white, black, slave [from Greyhound Galley?], and otherwise, escaped in St. Croix's inland forests. Hume was not able to capture any pirates, but he was able to restore the English vessels to their respective masters. Hume became a local hero and built his reputation as a pirate fighter, but his greatest feat was a year and a half away! . 

Still, Hamilton warned of their nearly missing Samuel Bellamy in a 26-gun ship with Paul Williams in a 14-gun sloop. Hamilton requested of the Admiralty that they send him something bigger than the sloop currently on station in the Leeward Islands (St. Christophers and Nevis). That spring, however, also revealed that many English captains had also fallen prey to Spanish guarda-costas. Hostilities were once again building up that would soon break out in war.

The Admiralty responded on 4th of March. The 20-gun sixth-rate HMS Seaford had been dispatched. Admiralty Secretary Josiah Burchett wrote:

I am to acquaint you, that orders are sent to the Captains of H.M. ships employ'd at Jamaica, Barbadoes, and the Leeward Islands, upon intimation of any pirates in those parts, to advise with the respective Governours, and proceed in quest of them as shall be thereupon thought proper, and to use their utmost endeavours to seize or destroy them; the Seaford that sailed for the Leeward Islands in Dec. last was provided with Instructions of this nature, and must in all probability ... have reach'd her station; we are now fitting ships for the Colonies of Virginia, New England, and New York, and their Commanders will also have particular Instructions with relation to pirates. Signed, J. Burchett.

In April, Alexander Spotswood. Lt. Gov. of Virginia, reported Samuel Bellamy in Whydah raiding ships off his coast. In about two more weeks, Whydah wrecked off Cape Codd and most of her pirate crew was killed. Only a handful remained, were imprisoned, and later hanged. Still, a former consort of Samuel Bellamy's had earlier parted from him in the Leewards and sailed to the coast of Brazil: Olivier LeVasseur de la Buse would soon face Francis Hume's Scarborough. 

Meanwhile, in May 1717, two English traders complained that Marquis de la Varenne, the new governor of the French Islands in the Windwards, had arrested them simply for trying to water at Martinique. Varenne asurred Gov. Walter Hamilton that they had attempted to trade with the inhabitants, yet another violation of law. Nevertheless, one of these English captains had apparently come from Hamilton's government and he wrote to the Board that he "only anchor[ed] in their Roads without having in the least traded," which was probably not true. English traders were notoriously trading in those French Islands. 

Gov. Hamilton, also imperialistically inclined, complained that her majesty's warships were not allowed to fly his own flag on their masts! After all, warships belonged to the king and not to the king's arrogant colonies in America. He wrote:

... this Captain Rose, Commander of H.M. Seaford, has orders from the Admiralty board not to hoyst a flag on board of his ship for the Governour upon any account whatsoever which I take to be a diminution of the honour due to H.M. Commission besides that the Lt. Governours of the respective Islands can never have any notice of the approach of the Chief Governour till he is actually at anchor in their roads or harbours.

The Admiralty apparently had heard some warnings of colonial administrators assuming too much authority in the West Indies and told their captains not to fly any other flag but the British Jack. They may have given them further warnings about these untrustworthy provincial administrators as well... Hamilton may not have planned a revolt against Britain, but the mere suggestion of such imperialistic intent was deemed improper. Capt. Hume would later encounter even greater intransigence from Gov. Robert Lowther of Barbados.

Add to these troubles that the Dutch clandestinely shipped slaves into the islands as well, which damaged the English slave market to their own islands. Capitalism or private free-trade and raiders of a pecuniary sort caused its own problems, not unlike the problems we still face today in America!

Meanwhile, merchants in Bristol made a coordinated effort to alert the Board of Trade to the increasing pirate problem - and, of course, their annoyance. Southern Secretary Joseph Addison wrote to the Council of Trade and Plantations "report to H.M. what expedient you shall think proper for suppressing the pirates in those parts." Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood argued for the pirate nest of the Bahamas as the locus of the problem (a problem he exacerbated himself by commissioning his own man to raid the Spanish wrecks on the coast of Florida - a man soon captured by the Spanish) and the Board repeated this belief:

They further proposed that H.M. be graciously pleased to pardon the said pirates provided they come in and surrender by a certain time to be limited. They took notice to us, that the pirates had made a lodgement at Harbour Island, one of the Bahamas, where they raised a battery and kept a guard of 50 men; and that their usual retreat was at Providence the principal of those Islands, and the general receptacle for pirates at all times.

Warships to America in 1717

Former Jamaican privateer Capt. Matthew Musson was commissioned again by South Carolina to gain intelligence of the "Flying Gang" of pirates at the Bahamas. He reported back in July:

... five pirates made ye harbour of Providence their place of rendevous vizt. [Benjamin] Horngold, a sloop with 10 guns and about 80 men; [Henry] Jennings, a sloop with 10 guns and 100 men; [Josiah] Burgiss, a sloop with 8 guns and about 80 men; White, in a small vessell with 30 men and small armes; [Edward "Blackbeard"] Thatch, a sloop 6 gunns and about 70 men.

The Board was firmly convinced that the Bahamas must be brought under submission to the crown, but they were determined that a pardon, or Act of Grace, combined with a new company of capitalists who would take over the island and bring it to order, would do the job. They responded by late August of that year, which resulted in the vessels being sent to America in the notice shown. Scarborough, already stationed at Barbados, might no longer be as thinly spread as before. Jamaica, maritime trade's crown jewel of the West Indies would get the most support - or scrutiny, depending on your point of view.

Capt. Bartholomew Candler of 20-gun HMS Winchelsea (stationed then at Jamaica) reported from Virgin Gorda, in the Virgin Islands, that:

When we came they hid themselves in the Rocks, one Ham a notorious villain living on Beef Island was on board of [Samuel] Bellame the Pirate when he was here, and as soon as they fired a gun at Virgin Gorda, he betook himself to a Bermuda boat he has and his negroes, and lurkt about the creeks and islands, until we were gone, there are no other Islands here inhabited by H.M. subjects, but those three, nor by any other people except St. Thomas, which is pretty well improved, they have a good harbour, and a fort of about 40 guns, belonging to the King of Denmark, but all rogues and pirates and are compounded of all nations, and yet poor they make some sugar but not good.

Joseph Addison then wrote to Gov. Walter Hamilton of the Leewards that Marquis de la Varenne, the new governor at Martinique, had just suffered a coup d'etat and to warn the English governors not to encourage the rebellion. The Board noted this occurrence nervously and reaffirmed their decision about flying flags just as they sent Tryal sloop to assist in the Leewards! 

Gov. Robert Lowther wrote that there were many problems with Royal Navy warships that he had witnessed: they were prone to sickness, laziness, and complained bitterly "as the law now stands can any mariner in the West Indies be impressed into the King's service upon any account whatever[?]" He also complained that pirates couldn't be tried outside of Great Britain, but that was untrue since 1690 with the advent of Vice-Admiralty Courts.

By February 1718, Capt. Vincent Pearse in HMS Phoenix, arrived at the Bahamas with the King's Act of Grace. He wrote 3 June 1718 that 209 pirates surrendered to him. Gov. Benjamin Bennet of Bermuda also wrote to the Board of the surrender of Henry Jennings, who had raided Spanish Florida on Christmas of 1715, which originally alerted the Board to the troubles caused by the wrecks.Still, these defiant actions of pirates fueled yet another war with Spain...

On the 1st of April 1718, Capt. Frances Hume had been ordered to proceed to Puerto Rico to collect on a debt owed to a slave merchant in London named Richard Harris, second only to Humphrey Morice of the Bank of England. But, Hume would encounter a serious problem. Capt. Hume wrote "So Soon as I arrived before the City I sent my Officer with the pinnis [pinnace; a small boat, with sails or oars] to acquaint them the Reason of my Coming there, and to Desire a Pilote." But the Spanish officers would not allow them even to land their boat. They told him that they "had orders from the King of Spain which" came "about the Second of Aprill, Directing that no English Shipp whatever Should be Admitted to come into any of His harbours and that if I would Come in I must expect to fforce My Way Through 200 pr Cannon." This was no small threat. Hume wondered why the Spanish officers at Puerto Rico would tell him this... unless they had already had enough!

Note: Capt, Hume would receive another communication on 22nd of April 1718 from the Admiralty relating to his dealings with Gov. Robert Lowther at his station of Barbados. This would be of great help to him quite soon when dealing with the legalities involved in the taking of another pirate!

War was then brewing again between England and Spain. As I write in the second e-version of Quest for Blackbeard (to be published later this year), 

The outbreak of war, which caused the seizure of English goods,” noted Elizabeth Donnan, “may be dated from the spring of 1718, though there was no official declaration of war until December.”  Even Johnson-Mist referred to Stede Bonnet planning his return to piracy in Revenge, then renamed Royal James, just after the grounding of QAR in Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina about 10th of June 1718 and wrote “War was now broke out between the Tripple Allies and Spain.”  Johnson-Mist referred here to the last step before war broke out in the War of the Quadruple Alliance, finally declared on 17th of December 1718.

Ejected from Puerto Rico, Hume took Scarborough to the northern South American coast. He made a week-long stop in Amsterdam Harbor of Curaçao in late April, "Chaueven on the Main" by May 8th, past La Guira, spent a week at Awalla Bay 16-23 May, along the north coast of Barcelona, moving east on his way back to his home waters. They watered at "Baratyras" or perhaps Borracha from 2-5 June, to Santa "Fez"/Fe Bay where they careened the 10th of June. Their northward course taken the 11th of June from the bay after careening soon brought him past the western end of Isla Margarita to Isla La Blanquilla, known at this time as the "Island of Blanco." [Analysis of the log records confirm this as the location of "Island of Blanco," as opposed to "Isla Morro Blanco," a little more to eastward.]

On the 13th of June, 1718, Scarborough entered from the western shore of Blanco, and reported in his log "We Saw Ridng under ye West Eand of ye Isle of Blanko a Ship & a Sloop." The Ship was a pirate vessel, ironically named Blanco and the sloop was Boneta of Nevis, Capt. James Davis. The pirate vessel was manned with 70-80 men and commanded by "Lewis Le Bour" or Olivier LeVasseur de la Buse, "a ffrench Man." Thomas Hall, from Scarborough's boarding party, testified "he Was ye Second Person that boarded The Said Pirate Ship w.ch Said Pirate Ship Was Mounted w:th Six Gunns."

La Buse had taken Davis' Boneta the day before who was turtling in those waters, as James Moor testified that Le Buse took "ye Said Sloop Boneeta And Did Put on Board her Same Goods & Went aboard her Armed w.th Musketts Cutlasses & Pistolls." Edward Hunt, a mariner aboard Boneta, testified on 5th of July "Said Pirates finding they Could not With Stand ye Man of Warr Quitted [Blanco] & Went aboard the Said Sloop & Made their Escape Therein haveing first put on board her a Considerable Quantity of Gold & Silver."

After taking Blanco and Boneta, with seventeen captured pirates in their hold, Hume sailed northward for St. Christophers, reaching within five leagues of the east end of St. Croix on the 17th, where they caught Jean Martel the year before. Then, setting course eastward, they reached Saba by the 24h, and finally St. Christophers or St. Kitts on Sunday, the 29th.

Portion of Moll's Map of St. Christophers Ialand

Capt. Hume immediately sent a letter ashore at Basseterre, but the council and assembly were not available. John Davis wrote back to Capt. Hume that day, telling him "We have Noe Preson [Prison] Nor Any Where To Secure the Pirats in [and] Soe Dare Not Medle w.th them." Davis also told him that it would be Thursday, or four more days until he could meet with them. He suggested that Hume go back northward to Antigua, where "there is Proper Accomadations" for his seventeen prisoners.

Annoyed, Hume still waited until Thursday, 3rd of July. Refused again, he wrote "Shall carry them to Nevis, where they have likewise a power to try them and, afterwards Shall Proceed to my Station [Barbados]." They made Nevis on the 5th and a trial for the pirate ship commenced.

Blanco was condemned at Nevis on the 5th of July by William Woodropp, Vice Admiralty Judge surrogate. Still, Nevis' Council also refused to take the prisoners:

... our Act Cant Possibly give any Jursidiction farther them the Legislative Power Your Island reaches, and your letter having Informed us that they were Taken at the Island Blanco, which is West and by South at Least one hundred and fifty Leagues of all the Leeward Islands it must be Absolutely out of our Jurisdiction.

Barbados was closer - why come to the Leewards before Barbados?

Hume departed Nevis with his condemned prize and seventeen pirates growing "gamey" locked in his hold, on the 10th for Montserrat, moved south passed St. Vincent the 13th and St. Lucia the 14th, still with Blanco. Carrying his prize, he made an eastward or larboard turn and moored in Carlisle Bay at 7 pm on the 22nd of July.

Analysis of captain's and master's log data for HMS Scarborough

On the 24th of July, Hume informs that he has brought the pirate ship Blanco "his Maj:ties Court of Admiralty in ye Island of St. Christophers Condemn'd ye Said Ship Blanco as a prize To him." Barbados Collector Henry Lascelles said that "Frances Hume has brought Said Ship Blanco into Carlisle Bay & has refused To Surrend.r her To me for his Maj[es[ties Use but Gives out that he will Dispose of her as a prize," which deprived Lowther and his cronies of the spoils.

The imperial Robert Lowther did not like such defiance - even from a Royal Navy captain! He wrote to Lascelles, ordering him "In his Majestys Name To Command You ye Said Henery Lascelles To Seize Forthwith ye Sd Ship Blanco Now Rideing at Anchor in Carlisle Bay... w.th all her Lading Gunns Tackle Apparell & furniture & To Secure ye Same for his Majesties Use Till You Receive my further Directions." Lowther was probably more concerned with securing the goods for his own use. Just to drive the point home, he also told Lascelles to use "all & Singular, ye Justices of the Peace Majestrat Custome House officers Marshalls Constables & all ye Rest of his Majesties faithfull Ministers officers Subjects And Leise? People Within ye Maritime Jurisfictions of Vice Admiralty of Barbados To Assist & Obey You the Said Henery Lascelles in ye Execution of the Premises... Und:r ye Penalty of the Law!" Lowther would have that ship and its cargo - which included "on Board abundance of Chests of Gold and Silver" all totaling upwards of £4,000 - if he had to rip it from the bay!

Word of pirate ship Blanco reaches Boston - Capt. MacDowell apparently relayed some blustery information and got a few details wrong. Capt. Bedlow (below) fared little better, although he got the "17" prisoners part right and suggested (new info) they were all French! He was probably right about Blanco having been a Portuguese ship taken on the coast of Brazil.

Capt, Hume wrote back two days later informing Lowther that his instructions from the Admiralty received "of late Aprill ye 22d 1717 thatt Pyrates Goods now perqussites [responsibility] of Adm:ty and thatt I Should [take?] his care To [allow] no embezelments," including from the governors themselves! Apparently, HMS Shoreham's dealings in South Carolina in 1716 had made some changes in Admiralty rules (see Quest for Blackbeard) Furthermore, Hume told him "I adrestt his Maj:e judge of ye Admiralty then att Stt Christophers for a legall tryall of the prize, her Condemnation I herewith Send a Copy."

I had wondered why Capt. Frances Hume carried his pirate prize to the Leewards, rather than directly to his station of Barbados. This was the reason:

Hume, and likely the Board of Trade and Admiralty (re: 22 April 1718 instructions), suspected that the governor would "embezzle" whatever prize Hume took - including the £4,000 worth of ship and goods - for himself and his friends. Hume had the ship condemned first and then took the vessel to Barbados where it would already have been legally placed in his hands by a court of law. Hume's plan was brilliant! Hume also wrote that he ordered the "Officer on b[oar]d here to use no resistance butt to oversee ye Collectors directions when he orders ye people outt of the Ship" to make certain that, if anyone on Barbados committed a piracy of the pirate ship, it would be a clear violation of the law.

Lowther and Lascelles grumbled for days while they debated how much trouble they could actually handle. They made repeated attempts to sway Capt. Hume. Finally, on 6 August 1718, Capt. Frances Hume made a formal protest against:

... all manner of Proceedings Stopage or Seizure had, made, or done, or caused to be had made, or done, by His Excellen:y Rob:t Lowther Esq:r Gov:r of Barbados or Henry Lascelles Esq:r Collector of the Customes here, or any Marshall, Agent or Agents, by them Employed or Directed as well for all Losses Damages Dettriments, or Hindrances whatsoever, that may in any wayes happen or Accrue to him the said Francis Hume, Officers and Ships Company, by any wayes or means whatsoevewr in, or by Seizing or causing to be Seized the Ship Blanco Pyrate... All which proceedings of the s:d Rob:t Lowther & Hen:y Lasscelles & the ?? of their Agents is hereby declared contrary to Law & Justice.

Barbados' Notary Public, John Lenoir, had received this protest of Hume's in his office and must have read it with wide eyes. He wrote back to Hume:

Finding some Scruples within my self, whether I ought to act as a Notary Publick here - not knowing any Authority for soe doeing; and Likewise observing that you was pleas'd to leave Evidences to take Notice that you tender'd your Protest to me, and Desired to have it Recorded in the Notary's Books in the Secretary's Office, I thereupon applied my self to the Kings Attorney Gen:ll Who is of opinion, that I cannot act as Notary Publick, and that I ought not to Record the Paper you left Yesterday, in the Office.

The same day, he sent his letters and paybooks home by way of a merchant vessel, March Catt, Capt. Thomas Ward.

The very next day, Hume wrote the governor and made excuse: that, because of the dangers of this hurricane season, he was moving Scarborough and, by association with, Blanco pirate ship and its treasures. A week went by without hearing from Lowther, so Hume wrote again. This time, he suggested that he may need to go to St. Lucia to better "Secure his Maj:tie Ship Und.r my Com:d the better from bad Accidents of that Nature." Finally, by the 20th of August, Hume - still with pirate prisoners aboard - wrote "Att My first Arrival from Leeward [Nevis and St. Christophers] I Acquainted Your Excellency that I had on board 17 Prisoners Taken on board the Pirate Ship[.] You Was pleased To Tell me that there were No Commissions To try Them" which was not true and Hume knew it. Hume Was going to have the prisoners off his ship and into a Barbados prison! He shamed the governor, but gave him a way out when he wrote "I hereby Conceive that in Case Yo.r Excellancy Wil Direct the proper officer for their being Committed To the Common Goale [Jail] of this Island it Will the better Enable me on all Urgent Ocassions To Answer the Service."

That same day, Hume heard from a sloop from Tobago that he was taken there by pirates, but upon investigating at Tobago, Hume determined that the ships were Spanish guarda-costas, for there were no pirates heard of in that locale.

What happened with the seventeen prisoners is still not known! 

Scarborough continued his cruise around the Caribbean. Hume visited Curacao again by February 1719 and sent his "Muster Books with the Captain of the Harper Galley." By that August, HMS Scarborough was back in Deptford, England, leaving a properly chastised pirate-governor Robert Lowther behind him.

Sorta makes Donald Trump appear fairly common, huh? In America, that is - our "Commonwealth of Pyrates!"

--------------------------------------------------------

admiralty, adventure, Africa, african, alternative facts, appalachee, arcadia, art glass, bahamas, bar harbor, Barbados, barham, baylus, baylus brooks, bbc, blackbeard, bonnet, book, boston, boston news-letter, bourbon, bristol, British, brooks, burgaw, burrington, buse, calusa, cape fear, capitalism, caribbean, carolana, carolina, castillo, charles johnson, church, cimaroon, cimarroon, clone, cnn, cocklyn, colchester, colonial, condent, confederacy, confederate, congdon, conservative, corruption, Davis, democrat, depression, document, dunn, dutch, east carolina, east indies, ecu, England, fake news, family, florida, french, gale, Gambia, genealogy, genetics, glass, grovesnor, hispaniola, historian, history, hornigold, howell davis, indians, iron gall, itchetucknee, jamaica, jersey, jesus knocking, jolly roger, kkk, la concorde, lawler, lawson, levasseur, liberal, lighthouse, lillington, lyme, lyndon, madagascar, maine, Manhattan, maritime, maroon, martel, maynard, McLaggin, mist, moore, mortar, moseley, mount desert, New York, newfoundland, newspaper, north carolina, original, painting, panama, paper, pearl, pender, pestle, phenney, philadelphia, phoenix, piracy, pirate, pirates, plantation, politics, privateer, profit, progressive, pyrate, QAR, racism, rebel, republican, rice, robert e. lee, rogers, romance, rothschild, Royal African, royal navy, Salem Towne, sawtelle, seager, seal cove, seminole, shark, Sierra Leone, slave, slavery, smithsonian, south, south carolina, southern, spanish, St. Augustine, st. helena, stained glass, staines, symonds, Taylor, teach, thache, thatch, theach, timberlake, time travel, timucua, traitor, treason, treasure, trump, victory, walker, west indies, windows, windsor, witchcraft, witches, woodard, worley, wrecking, write

BLACKBEARD: 300 YEARS OF FAKE NEWS.
from BBC Radio Bristol
300 years ago on Thursday - 22 November 1718 - Bristol born Edward Teach (aka Blackbeard, the most famous pirate in the history of the world), was killed in a violent battle off the coast of North America. And after 300 years we can finally separate the truth from the myth. You can hear the whole story this Thursday at 9am in a one off BBC Radio Bristol special: BLACKBEARD: 300 YEARS OF FAKE NEWS. With new research by Baylus C. Brooks, narrated by Bristol born Kevin McNally - Joshamee Gibbs in PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, and produced by Tom Ryan and Sheila Hannon this is a very different Blackbeard from the one in the story books...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnaYDaNoufE&t=6s

Previously at https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/bbc_radio_bristol

Author Spotlight

#Blackbeard #pirate #twitterstorians


Also:

Three Centuries After His Beheading, a Kinder, Gentler Blackbeard Emerges - Smithsonian Online

By Andrew Lawler
smithsonian.com
November 13, 2018



Read about the final end of Edward Thache:
Murder at Ocracoke! Power and Profit in the Killing of Edward "Blackbeard" Thache



In commemoration of "Blackbeard 300 Tri-Centennial":

As always, drop by baylusbrooks.com and check out the primary source transcriptions

Who is Pirate Advocate Richard Fitzwilliam?

Dictionary of Virginia Biography (DVB) notes: 

Richard Fitzwilliam (d. by 19 April 1744), member of the Council, was probably the son of Thomas Fitzwilliam and Mary Luttrell Fitzwilliam of County Dublin, Ireland. Very little is known about his personal life, including the dates of his birth and death and whether he married or had children.

"Very little is known about his personal life"... sound familiar? Isn't this the exact same thing that people used to claim about Edward "Blackbeard" Thache? A genealogical-historical study proved the formerly "mysterious" pirate quite an average wealthy British-American gentleman with a large Jamaican family - even a daughter and also a conservative grandfather who studied the ministry at Oxford! - not such an unknown or "villainous" enigma.

Well, again, let's blow this "very little is known" thing apart, shall we?

The same source also noted that: "Vain, self-centered, stubborn, inflexible, and greedy, Fitzwilliam often found fault with others, and his combative willfulness annoyed numerous influential Virginians."

I certainly do not doubt that Richard Fitzwilliam was a controversial man, but many English gentlemen (the 1% in any century) who gave up everything that such privileged blowhards enjoyed about their ancient English (and Irish) civilization to make their lives and futures in the jungle wilderness of early America did often exhibit similar characteristics!

Also, when's the last time you considered living in the Amazon rain-forest... without internet or cellphones?

Still, many American historians have difficulty contemplating that a wealthy, privileged man like Richard Fitzwilliam - or Edward Thache, for that matter - would ever venture to this godforsaken and remote cesspool of European religious detritus, with wild unknown beasts and Jacobite rebel prisoners - a land which Native Americans liked, understood well, lived upon for thousands of years, and from which they simply wished Europeans would just bugger off!

Fitzwilliam Museum Interior

This bias often crept into their analyses. A similar bias infects our British cousins who tend to think that absolutely no British Fitzwilliam ever had anything to do with America! And... if you look at the interior of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England, you could hardly believe that any British family who inspired such artistic grandeur could ever have lived in a remote provincial backwater like early 18th-century America!

Likewise, the American-focused DVB saw Richard Fitzwilliam as an "outsider," just another foreign Blackbeard-ish interloping enigma: "January 1715 Fitzwilliam received an appointment as comptroller of customs in Currituck, North Carolina. A year or two later he moved to Virginia to be collector of customs for the lower district of James River. On 13 August 1717 Fitzwilliam petitioned the governor and Council for a grant of land in Hampton and permission to erect a wharf there."

Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood (essentially another foreign interloper and relative of the king) regarded Fitzwilliam's customs accounts - and his favor of pirates (specifically, Edward Thache's quartermaster, but also a few others at New Providence Island) - as contrary to his service "to his Majesty" and on 18 August 1719 informed the commissioners of customs in London that he was "guilty of malfeasance." A Royal Navy ally of Spotswood, Capt. Ellis Brand of HMS Lyme, mentioned in a letter to the Admiralty of "One [Richard] Fitzwilliams a Costom house Officer in Virginia as being an Agent for the pyrats and in what Manner we ware perplext with law Suits...." For Brand and Spotswood, Virginia, much like North Carolina, was wholly filled with pirates and their supporters, for Brand also regarded the Virginian Judge of Vice-Admiralty, John Holloway, as if he were a corrupt Donald Trump appointee, bearing a huge conflict of interest, actually serving as a lawyer for pirate William Howard, Blackbeard's quartermaster! Holloway also had Capt. George Gordon of HMS Pearl arrested for false arrest of William Howard and fined ₤500!

Fitzwilliam eventually left the office of collector of customs on 17 November 1720, obviously (from a modern point-of-view) because of the "contrary and factious people" of Virginia, but he returned to that position on 1 April 1721.

Why were Virginians seen by Spotswood and modern Americans as "contrary and factious"? The subject of piracy in America involves a complicated political-historical and intentional misunderstanding, involving early media and both sides of the Atlantic, deftly hiding the early beginnings of our nation... you'll just have to read my book to fully understand what I mean.

It's not a stretch to say that the wealthy English-appointed govermor Spotswood had a particularly low opinion of the average Virginia "ignorant" citizen, as he styled them on 22 December 1718, when he explained to the Board of Trade why he illegally assassinated Edward Thache in North Carolina - not in his own colony (actually, a privately-owned one), by the way. The very English (and anti-American) Spotswood also called Fitzwilliam, who "undertook" the cause of pirates, and his ilk "knavish," causing the citizens to choose "such Representatives as are agreable to them."Clearly, Spotswood saw Americans as a low class sort.

The DVB then tells:

The conflicts with officials [actually local Burgesses] in Virginia did no injury to Fitzwilliam's career. By late in July 1725 he was appointed surveyor general of customs for the southern district of America, which included the mainland colonies from Pennsylvania southward and also the Bahamas and Jamaica.

Eventually, as the DVB also notes, Fitzwilliam left Virginia after even the House of Burgesses censured him, "relinquished his position as surveyor general of customs in September 1731 and by 3 January 1733 had received an appointment as governor of the Bahamas... Richard Fitzwilliam died four years later, probably in Dublin, and was buried there on, or shortly before, 19 April 1744 in the Parish of Donnybrook."

 Yes... he was appointed to yet another supposedly grandiose position - though the Bahamas were even more remote and lacking in resources than the mainland American wilderness!

Richard, 5th Viscount FitzWilliam of Merrion's will in England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858 - PROB 11; Piece: 732 - dated 20 April 1744

Imagine my surprise at finding Richard, 5th Viscount FitzWilliam of Merrion's will in England and Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858 - PROB 11; Piece: 732 - dated 8 January 1743, but probated in 20 April 1744! Remember the death date of 19 April 1744 given by the DVB? Burke's Peerage, as quoted on the Wikipedia page, imagines the 5th Viscount Fitzwilliam to be a totally different person (but, certainly not): "Richard FitzWilliam, 5th Viscount FitzWilliam PC [a member of the Privy Council of Ireland] (c. 1677 – 6 June 1743) was an Irish nobleman and politician. The will was written and dated several months before this latest date of death assessment, so it does not disqualify the comparison with the Virginian collector Fitzwilliam.

In reality, the family's history is well-preserved. From this genealogical perspective (with little, if any political bias), Richard was the only son of Thomas FitzWilliam, 4th Viscount FitzWilliam and his first wife Mary Stapleton, daughter of the English statesman Sir Philip Stapleton." Still, I think I know why 19 April 1744 was assumed by the DVB to be his date of death... I'll come back to this.

Thomas 4th Viscount and Mary Stapleton Fitzwilliam, parents of Richard 5th Viscount Fitzwilliam. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK.

Moreover, Thomas and Mary "Luttrell" Fitzwilliam (as quoted by the DVB) versus Thomas and Mary "Stapleton" Fitzwilliam (quoted by Burkes)? Why the confusion? Well, the Luttrells were related, but not that way: Thomas Luttrell married Richard Fitzwilliam's aunt Mary, sister of Thomas 4th Viscount Fitzwilliam. Mary Stapleton (shown in the picture above) was clearly Richard's mother.

The first line of this will states "Richard Fitzwilliam Esquire late Governor of the Bahama Islands in America," and his wife is shown as "Right honourable Frances [Shelley] Lady Viscountess Fitzwilliam" so if there's any question about whether this is the same Richard Fitzwilliam who gave Spotswood multiple ulcers, let's just settle that question here and now! It's our guy!

Portrait of Richard (5th Viscount FitzWilliam of Merrion) & Frances Shelley FitzWilliam, b. circa 1677; 1685, d. 06 June 1743; aft 1762. Frances separated from her husband c.1730. She entered a convent abroad. The fact that she entered a convent indicates that she stayed Catholic, even as her children were bapt. Protestant. Source: Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK.

Again, the history given by Wikipedia (about the English statesman) for Richard, 5h Viscount Fitzwilliam states that he "became a member of the Irish Privy Council in 1715. He was elected Member of Parliament for Fowey in 1727, a seat he held until 1734."

It might surprise the reader that I have no dispute with these dates or the positions which he held.

According to the DVB, he received a commission in January 1715 as "surveyor of Elizabeth River" and "comproller of customs in Currituck, NC" but that he moved to America within the next two years and settled instead in Virginia. These positions he received as a result of patronage, or favor, and they carried a definite financial reward:

Richard FitzWilliams, Surveyor of Elizabeth River, Virginia; same time	₤22	10	0
Richard FitzWilliams, Comptroller at Currituck, North Carolina; 11 July 1715 to Midsummer 1716	₤47	17	6

Note that he simply collected the money - he never had to actually assume the responsibility. This is similar to the corruption that later sparked the American Revolution. For example, you may not realize that Alexander Spotswood was not actually the governor of Virginia in Blackbeard's time, but the "Lt. Gov." The actual governor at this time was George Hamilton, Lord Orkney, who had responsibilities to the Prince of Wales at the time and never left England for America! He still received the appointment as a political favor and still collected his ₤2000 salary, though! Spotswood's salary was only half of Orkney's despite the fact that he is the one who actually administered Virginia for the Crown!

Even the Treasury assumed that Lord Orkney would not actually assume the governorship of Virginia - perhaps they did not expect the refined aristocratic gentleman to travel to such a dangerous and remote wilderness - but they didn't mind paying him for it!:

    September 1711:

George, Earl of Orkney, Lieutenant and Governor General: by letters patent: with the salary of 2,000l. per an.
    Alexander Spotswood, Lieutenant Governor: by royal commission: with an allowance of half the Governor's salary in the latter's absence.

Later, Fitzwilliam became a collector for the lower district of James River - which brought him into direct contact with pirates not even a year later. "On 13 August 1717 Fitzwilliam petitioned the governor and Council for a grant of land in Hampton and permission to erect a wharf there." So, there's no evidence that he was in America much before this date.

Being elected a member of the Irish parliament for Fowey in 1727 appears to pose more difficulty - probably also due to a misunderstanding of how patronage worked. DVB states "On 14 December 1727 the governor and Council appointed him one of the commissioners to survey and settle the boundary between Virginia and North Carolina. He offered to sell the colony a tent for the expedition, suggesting that his interest was more mercenary than altruistic. Fitzwilliam's investment in an iron foundry the following year [1728] reflects a similar desire for personal profit without regard for improving Virginia's infrastructure.

No dispute that he was a corrupt rich guy! 

But, this appointment did not prevent him from assuming his position in Parliament. Again, such appointments were often political and not pragmatic positions. Indeed, The Excise Crisis: Society and Politics in the Age of Walpole, in its Appendix C shows "Richard Fitzwilliam, Viscount Fitzwilliam, Fowey" on a list of "Absent Members." He did not have to actually live and serve in Ireland in 1727! Still, the survey of the Virginia-North Carolina boundary did not actually begin until spring of 1728. He really could have been anywhere in 1727 - at least until he accompanied his fellow commissioners on the 1728 survey! Furthermore, another peerage account showed that he served on "his Majesty's Privy-Council" since September 1714, marrying Frances, only daughter of Sir John Shelley of Michalgrove in Sussex - another position for which he was no doubt absent. He apparently ignored a lot of his "official" responsibilities! I have to wonder if his wife accompanied him in America for any of these remote appointments - perhaps he ignored her, too! After all, she later left him for a convent and I did compare him to Donald Trump... lol.

Location of "Mount Fitzwilliam," still the official governor's residence in Nassau, New Providence, the Bahamas

Mount Merrion House (Dublin, Ireland) - The Fitzwilliams built Merrion Castle on lands which are today the property of the Sisters of Charity and St Mary's Home and School for the Blind. By 1710 Merrion Castle was in such a bad state of repair that Richard, the 5th Viscount Fitzwilliam, selected 100 acres (0.4 km²) on which he built Mount Merrion House, surrounding the house by an 8-foot-high (2.4 m) granite wall. The house was completed in 1711 and served as a new seat by the 5th Viscount Fitzwilliam on the hill at Mount Merrion. The Fitzwilliam family left for England (Dover Street in St. George, Hanover Square, Middlesex) around 1726. Although the family no longer lived in Mount Merrion House, they retained possession of it, and rented the house out. "Mount Merrion and Its History" by Francis Elrington Ball, in The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Fifth Series, Vol. 8, No. 4 (Dec. 31, 1898), pp. 329-344.

Fitzwilliam was removed from his "absent" responsibilities in Fowey in 1733, about the time he became governor of the Bahamas (replacing Woodes Rogers), where, despite making a lot of useful lime in his kilns and building his home on his newly purchased "Mount Fitzwilliam" estate (reflecting the name of his "Mount Merrion" estate in Dublin) in Nassau, was considered a controversial governor and later removed. As Michael Craton and Gail Saunders wrote in Islanders in the Stream: A History of the Bahamian People,

The records in general were in a deplorable state. “Tis impossible to get an exact Account of the Persons born, christen’d or buried yearly in this Government,” complained Fitzwilliam, “because no Register has hitherto been kept thereof, nor could the Inhabitants be prevailed upon to acquaint anybody appointed by the Governor [Rogers] when any such happened.”

Efforts to repair the records were made through the SPG-appointed Reverend William Smith, and Governor Fitzwilliam set about making a census with his customary mixture of force and tactlessness. The New Providence free coloreds were especially incensed by the governor and council’s decision to list them separately.

Note that Englishmen of this day were nowhere near as racist as Americans after the Civil War, so this bias against African-Bahamians happened to carry a strongly conservative tone in the 18th century. 

His eldest son, Richard succeeded him as Viscount upon his death on 20 June 1743, which is the date shown on the Wikipedia page. His will was not probated until 20 April 1744, but this is not at all uncommon at this time - Fitzwilliam had possessions in three countries, requiring administration with long letter response times. Thus, the DVB's date of death assumed as "19 April 1744." This demonstrates a modern, if inexperienced, historical presentism. Past historians, inexperienced in modern genealogical methods, obviously assumed that he died the day before, as is most common today. Better training in genealogical methods for historians could easily cure this.

Researched by Baylus C. Brooks - 2019

Henry Herbert, 10th Earl of Pembroke (died 1794), husband of Mary, daughter of Richard 5th Viscount Fiztwilliam. At the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK.

Obviously, the Virginian statesman and pirate favorite was the same man as the wealthy Irish member of the Privy Council and Parliament. Admittedly, Irish records were quite sparse for the early 18th century, but this Fitzwilliam was well known and recorded in England, as well - he actually died in his home on Dover Street in St. George Hanover Square in Middlesex, England - not in Dublin! So, we can now establish that he was born about 1677, died 20 June 1743 (the date given by Wikipedia and from English records), and had his will (written 8 January 1743 with codicil 12 January) probated 20 April 1744. His mother was Mary Stapleton Fitzwilliam... NOT Luttrell! That was simply an honest genealogical mistake! The confusion, I hope, is finally over! Now, somebody go and fix the DVB and Wikipedia pages!


-------------------------

admiralty, adventure, Africa, african, alternative facts, appalachee, arcadia, art glass, bahamas, bar harbor, Barbados, barham, baylus, baylus brooks, bbc, blackbeard, bonnet, book, boston, boston news-letter, bourbon, bristol, British, brooks, burgaw, burrington, buse, calusa, cape fear, capitalism, caribbean, carolana, carolina, castillo, charles johnson, church, cimaroon, cimarroon, clone, cnn, cocklyn, colchester, colonial, condent, confederacy, confederate, congdon, conservative, corruption, Davis, democrat, depression, document, dunn, dutch, east carolina, east indies, ecu, England, fake news, family, florida, french, gale, Gambia, genealogy, genetics, glass, grovesnor, hispaniola, historian, history, hornigold, howell davis, indians, iron gall, itchetucknee, jamaica, jersey, jesus knocking, jolly roger, kkk, la concorde, lawler, lawson, levasseur, liberal, lighthouse, lillington, lyme, lyndon, madagascar, maine, Manhattan, maritime, maroon, martel, maynard, McLaggin, mist, moore, mortar, moseley, mount desert, New York, newfoundland, newspaper, north carolina, original, painting, panama, paper, pearl, pender, pestle, phenney, philadelphia, phoenix, piracy, pirate, pirates, plantation, politics, privateer, profit, progressive, pyrate, QAR, racism, rebel, republican, rice, robert e. lee, rogers, romance, rothschild, Royal African, royal navy, Salem Towne, sawtelle, seager, seal cove, seminole, shark, Sierra Leone, slave, slavery, smithsonian, south, south carolina, southern, spanish, St. Augustine, st. helena, stained glass, staines, symonds, Taylor, teach, thache, thatch, theach, timberlake, time travel, timucua, traitor, treason, treasure, trump, victory, walker, west indies, windows, windsor, witchcraft, witches, woodard, worley, wrecking, write

BLACKBEARD: 300 YEARS OF FAKE NEWS.
from BBC Radio Bristol
300 years ago on Thursday - 22 November 1718 - Bristol born Edward Teach (aka Blackbeard, the most famous pirate in the history of the world), was killed in a violent battle off the coast of North America. And after 300 years we can finally separate the truth from the myth. You can hear the whole story this Thursday at 9am in a one off BBC Radio Bristol special: BLACKBEARD: 300 YEARS OF FAKE NEWS. With new research by Baylus C. Brooks, narrated by Bristol born Kevin McNally - Joshamee Gibbs in PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, and produced by Tom Ryan and Sheila Hannon this is a very different Blackbeard from the one in the story books...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06s6zfx

You can hear it at https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/bbc_radio_bristol

Author Spotlight

#Blackbeard #pirate #twitterstorians


Also:

Three Centuries After His Beheading, a Kinder, Gentler Blackbeard Emerges - Smithsonian Online

By Andrew Lawler
smithsonian.com
November 13, 2018



Read about the final end of Edward Thache:
Murder at Ocracoke! Power and Profit in the Killing of Edward "Blackbeard" Thache



In commemoration of "Blackbeard 300 Tri-Centennial":

As always, drop by baylusbrooks.com and check out the primary source transcriptions