Jacob Collaart or Collaert (floruit ca. 1625-1637) was a Flemish admiral who served as privateer and one of the Dunkirkers in Spanish Habsburg service during the Dutch Revolt. He was responsible for the capture of destruction of at least 150 fishing vessels, bringing 945 captured sailors back to his base in Dunkirk for ransom. A leading admiral over the next decade, he would have later encounters with other Dutch corsairs of the period including Captain Claes Compaan who escaped from him after sighting the corsair off the Spanish coast.

From 1633 until 1637, Collaart served as Vice Admiral with the Royal Squadron operating out of Dunkirk and, in 1635, his attacks against Dutch herring redders would cost the city of Flushing over two million guilders in income.

Although the city of Dunkirk was under a Dutch blockade during early 1635, the blockade was temporarily weakened as several warships under Lieutenant-Admiral Philips van Dorp were supporting French naval forces in the Gulf of Biscay and, on 14 August, Collaert sailing out of Dunkirk successfully broke through the Dutch blockade with a fleet of twenty-one vessels.

Within three days, Collaart's fleet located a herring fleet numbering 160 under the guard of a single man-of-war, armed with 39 guns and an 85-men crew. Easily disabling the escort, 74 vessels were either sunk or set afire with the surviving vessels escaping to the Vlie.

On 19 August, after chasing off the six men-of-war escorts, Collaart's forces destroyed around 50 herring boats near Doggersbank. Of the surviving fishermen, 150 sailors including wounded as well as the young and the elderly were put on a merchant vessel from Hamburg and returned to the Dutch Republic while the remaining 775 were held captive for ransom.

After this latest attack, a Dutch fleet was soon raised by the States-General of the Netherlands who ordered all available vessels to set out after the Collaart's fleet. Sailing from Rotterdam, its commander Willem Codde van der Burch was ordered to rendez-vous at the Texel with Philips van Dorp, recently returning from La Rochelle, and Vice Admiral Quast.

Collaart soon encountered the Dutch fleet of Van der Burch and Van Dorp, consisting of a combined twenty warships, and managed to damage four before the arrival of Quast's fleet forced Collaart to abandon the fight. In part due to bad weather, Collaart was able to escape to Dunkirk, arriving with 975 captive fisherman on 8 September 1635.

The following year, while sailing with two other privateers, Collaart and Mathieu Romboutsen were captured (the third captain managing to escape to an English port) near Dieppe after a five hour battle against Captain Johan Evertsen on 29 February 1636.

Collaart died of an illness at La Coruña in August 1637. He had a son who was also a privateer, Jacques Collaert the Younger, and was the father-in-law of the later English Vice-Admiral Edward Spragge.

Claes Gerritszoon Compaen (1587, Oostzaan, North Holland - February 25, 1660, Oostzaan), also called Claas Compaan or Klaas Kompaan, was a 17th century Dutch corsair and merchant. Dissatisfied as a privateer for the Dutch Republic, he later turned to piracy capturing hundreds of ships operating in Europe, the Mediterranean and West Africa during the 1620s.

Born in Oostzaan, his father was an alleged member of the Geuzen of Dirck Duyvel housed in Zaanstreek allied other nobleman in opposition of Spanish rule. Compaen went to sea at an early age and eventually became a successful merchant as a trader along the coast of Guinea. He later used the profits from these voyages to refit his ships for privateering activities against the Spanish. Based from Oostende and Duinkerken, he was initially successful capturing several Spanish prizes within a short period of time, however, several of the ships were later released by Dutch authorities. One of these captured ships was over 200 tons, fitted with 17 guns and manned by a crew of 80 men.

Sometime around 1621, he left port with a letter of marque from the Dutch Admiralty leaving them to pay his debt of 8,000 gilders to the widow of Medemblik ship owner Captain Pieter Gerritszoon, from whom he had purchased his ship. He soon stopped a fishing boat, taking its cargo of herring and salted fish, and used letter of credit issued by Dutch authorities although the Admiralty refused to compensate the fishermen. He seized the cargo of another ship before taking shelter in Vlissingen from an approaching storm. While in port, he took on 50 additional crew members. Shortly after leaving Vlissingen, he resorted to open and indiscriminate piracy selling his cargo in England and the Barbary coast.

In 1625, he began operating from the Duchy of Clare. He was a close friend of the local governor as well as the Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford and freely operated in the Irish Sea and the English Channel under their protection for some time. Compaen later turned up in the Mediterranean, selling captured ships and their cargo at the Moroccan ports of Saffi, Mogador and Salé.

While at Salé, he sold most of his prizes to Simon the Dancer, Jr., son of the famed Dutch privateer Simon the Dancer who had been active in the area during the previous decade. The heavy costs of dealing with him eventually caused Compaen to do business with his chief rival Jan Janszoon. This caused a major disagreement, with Simon sending a fleet to attack him while at port. Compaen was warned of the attack ahead of time and was able to successfully defeat the attackers as well as capture one of the Simon's ships. During the raid, Simon's flagship was reportedly so badly damaged it was forced to retreat from the battle. Following this defeat, Simon was forced to leave Salé seeking asylum in the Dutch Republic. Receiving a pardon from the Netherlands, he eventually becoming a corsair himself.


In 1626, Compaen began looking to request a pardon from the Dutch so as to return to his homeland. On July 5, two ships belonging to the Dutch East India Company were sighted. These ships, the Hollandia and the smaller yacht Grootenbroek, had been separate from the main fleet which had gone ahead to the Verdian Isles without them while the Hollandia was escorted to Sierra Leone to repair a leak (another account claims it stopped to stock up on limes for its crew suffing from scurvy). Compaen ordered his four ships to attack the stragglers although he was forced to withdraw after his flagship suffered severe damage from the Hollandia under Captain Wybrant Schram. Seventy of his men had also been killed in battle. When Schram's logbook was later published, Compaen gained particular notoriaty from the battle whose reputation was established as "the most notorious Dutch pirate".

With his other three ships guarding the harbor, both protecting the flagship and preventing the two East India ships from leaving, Compaen managed to sail his ship into Sierra Leone for repairs. Although tensions were high between the two parties while in port, he left peacefully with his fleet once repairs had been completed. The Hollandia and the Grootenbroek were allowed to leave and eventually arrived in Batavia in December 1626.

Compaen, at certain times, often found it difficult to control his large crew who were given to heavy drinking and survived on poor rations being short of supplies. In one incident, he attacked a Spanish settlement because his fleet were running low on provisions. He and his crew were unable to defeat the Spanish defenders however and ended up retreating with heavy losses. While sailing along the Spanish coast, he also encountered the pirate Colaert of Duinkerken. Despite his fleet being outnumbered 4 to 1, he was able to escape from the stronger Colaert.

In 1626 or 1627, Compaan returned to Salé with a number of recently captured prizes. While there, he was told he had been granted a pardon from the Netherlands. He sailed immediately for home, only four days before a Dutch fleet arrived looking to apprehend him. Stopping to drop off some of his crew in Ireland, he arrived in Vlie and officially received his pardon from Prince Frederik Hendrik in the Hague. He apparently found less success in his later years, eventually dying a pauper in Oostzanen on February 25, 1660.

A biography on his piratical career, The Life of Claes G. Compaen, was published in Amsterdam by De Groot in 1715.

François or Francis Le Clerc, known as Jambe de Bois ('Peg Leg'), was a 16th century French privateer, originally from Normandy. He is credited as the first pirate in the modern era to have a "peg leg".

He was often the first to board an enemy vessel during an attack or raid. It was this brazen style that eventually caused him to suffer the loss of a leg and severe damage to one arm while fighting the English at Guernsey in 1549. Although many pirates would have had their careers ended by such an injury, le Clerc refused to retire and instead expanded the scope of his piracy by financing the voyages and attacks of other pirates as well.

Despite his wounds, Le Clerc led major raids against the Spanish, who nicknamed him "Pie de Palo" ("Peg Leg"). In 1553, he assumed overall command of seven pirate craft and three royal vessels, the latter commanded by himself, Jacques Sores and Robert Blundel. This same year he attacked the port of Santa Cruz de La Palma, in the Canary Islands, which he looted and set on fire, destroying a large number of buildings.

This strong fleet raided San Germán in Puerto Rico and methodically looted the ports of Hispaniola (Cuba) from south to north, stealing hides and cannon as they travelled. They sacked Santiago de Cuba in 1554, occupied it for a month, and left with 80,000 pesos in treasure. So completely devastated was Cuba's first capital that it was soon completely eclipsed by Havana and never recovered its former prosperity.

Richer booty was taken on the return voyage as the corsairs plundered Las Palmas on Grand Canary Island and captured a Genoese carrack.

He and his crew of 330 men were the first Europeans to settle the island of Saint Lucia, and used the nearby Pigeon Island to target Spanish treasure galleons.
In 1560, while awaiting a Spanish treasure fleet carrying a cargo of bullion, he caused a great deal of damage to settlements along the coast of Panama.

In April 1562, Protestants in several Norman cities rebelled against their Roman Catholic king. Queen Elizabeth I of England dispatched British troops to occupy Le Havre until June 1563. Le Clerc joined the English invaders and ravaged French shipping. In March 1563, he asked for a large pension as a reward for his actions. Wounded in his pride when Elizabeth turned down his request, he sailed for the Azores Islands. He was killed there in 1563, while hunting down Spanish treasure ships

David Marteen (fl. 1663-1665) was a Dutch privateer based in Tortuga during the mid-17th century, known primarily as the sole non-English Captain who participated in the raids against Spanish strongholds in present-day Mexico and Nicaragua during 1663 until 1665.

Although raids against the Spanish were prohibited under British law, he agreed to join Sir Henry Morgan's expedition and soon set sail from Port Royal along with John Morris and Captain's Jackman and Freeman under letters of marque issued by Governor Thomas Modyford.

After reaching the Grijalva River, Marteen and the others led their men 50 miles overland and successfully looted Villa Hermosa in a surprise raid. Returning to the coast, they discovered a Spanish patrol had captured their ships and, after a fierce battle, they managed to retake two barques and four Indian canoes. Marteen eventually made his way back with the others, raiding Spanish villages on the way, until their arrival in Port Royal in November 1665. Although Marteen served as a pirate hunter under Modyford during the next year , nothing more is known of his activities after this time.

There have been reports that Marteen led a group that later established a base in Connecticut, near the Farmington River and were wiped out during King Philip's war in 1676. There are a few treasure hunters seeking the evidence of Marteen's settlement and possible remnants of any undiscovered treasure.

Baltazar de Cordes (16th century–17th century), the brother of Simon de Cordez, was a Dutch corsair who fought against the Spanish during the early 17th Century.

Born in the Netherlands in the mid-16th century, Baltazar de Cordes began sailing for the Netherlands against Spain during the Eighty Years' War. Baltazar possibly arrived in the Pacific during the 1598 Magellano Company expedition attempting to circumnavigate South America. This expedition, under the command of Admiral Jacques Mahu, consisted of five ships. One of the vessels, the Liefde ("Love" or "Charity"), reached Japan in 1600, pilot William Adams among the surviving crew. He succeeded Captain Jurriaan van Bokholt (or Van Boekhout) who died around August 23, 1599 shortly after crossing the Straits of Magellan.

In early 1600, (whether this occurred before or after the capture of Chiloe is unknown), Cordes occupied the Spanish colony of Castro, Chile. In April 1600, with combined Dutch and native forces, Cordez organized the capture of the island of Chiloé off the coast of Patagonia (Chile). However Cordez's forces suffered heavy losses upon the recapture of the city by the Spanish, executing all but 23 Dutch and over 300 natives (thought to be Huilliches). Cordes ship the Trouw (Faith) sailed to the Portuguese colony of Tidore, an East Indies trading post, with the surviving sailors, where they were imprisoned in January 1601.

Jacques de Sores was a French pirate who attacked and burnt Havana, Cuba in 1555.

Other than his attack on Havana, little is known of de Sores. He was nicknamed "The Exterminating Angel" ("L'Ange Exterminateur"). He was the leader of a band of Huguenot pirates and a lieutenant or former lieutenant of another French pirate, François le Clerc, who was called "Pegleg" or "Jambe de Bois" on account of his wooden leg. Le Clerc and Sores had set out from France in 1553 with three royal ships and a number of privateers under commission from Francis I of France who was envious of the riches returning to Spain from the New World. Le Clerc had raided Santiago de Cuba in 1554, and some accounts mention a raid on Santiago de Cuba by de Sores, although whether this was as part of the attack by le Clerc is not clear. He may have used Cayo Romano and Cayo Coco in the archipelago of Jardines del Rey adjacent to the northern Cuban coast as a base of operations.

Details of the attack on Havana are also sketchy: the number of ships that de Sores used in the attack varies in different accounts from 2 to 20. Regardless of the number of ships involved, de Sores had little trouble in capturing the lightly defended town. Most accounts make it clear that he was expecting to find stores of gold in the town, while some claim he ransomed important members of the population. All agree that whatever his intention he was frustrated: he did not find vast reserves of gold in the city, and if he ransomed the population the ransom was mostly not paid. He destroyed the fortress of La Fuerza Vieja in today's Calle Tacón and burnt most of the town. He also burnt the shipping in the harbour and laid waste to much of the surrounding countryside, and seems to have found time to organise a play "to insult the pope". The ease with which de Sores had captured the town prompted the Spanish crown to start a massive fortification programme. The Castillo de la Real Fuerza was built to replace the Vieja Fuerza and later the Castillo de los Tres Reyes Magos del Morro and the smaller Castillo de San Salvador de la Punta were built on opposite sides of the entrance to Havana habour.

In 1570 he murdered 40 Jesuit missionaries and threw their bodies into the sea off Tazacorte in the Canary Islands of La Palma- crosses on the sea floor still mark the site at Malpique today.

John Nutt (fl. 1620–1632) was a 17th-century English pirate. He was one of the more notorious brigands of his time raiding the coast of southern Canada and western England for over three years before his capture by Sir John Eliot in 1623. His arrest and conviction caused a scandal in the English court, Nutt having paid Eliot £500 in exchange for a pardon, and was eventually released by the Secretary of State George Calvert.

Born in Lympstone, near Exmouth in Devon, England, John Nutt arrived in Newfoundland as a gunner on a Dartmouth ship around 1620. He decided to settle in the area permanently and moved his family to live in Torbay, Newfoundland and Labrador. He soon organized a small crew with whom he seized a small French fishing boat as well as two other French ships (another account claims the ships were English and Flemish) during the summer of 1621 before returning to the western coast of England. He would continue using unemployed sailors, particularly those conscripted to press gangs, and actually lured away a significant number from the Royal Navy paying regular wages and commissions. He would also offer his services to protect French and English settlements including the Colony of Avalon then under the leadership of George Calvert.

He would continue raiding shipping both in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Irish Sea for over three years, often avoiding attempts to apprehend him, before he requested a royal pardon from John Eliot, the Vice Admiral of Devon. Eliot agreed in exchange for a £500 bond, however he was arrested by Eliot and imprisoned once back in England. Tried and convicted for piracy, Nutt was about to be hanged when George Calvert, then Secretary of State, intervened on his behalf having been a friend and associate of his while Nutt and his family were living in the Avalon Colony. Nutt was given his pardon and also granted £100 in compensation while Eliot, for his betrayal, was charged with malfeasance in office and imprisoned.

Sir James Lancaster (died 1618) was a prominent Elizabethan trader and privateer. Lancaster came from Basingstoke in Hampshire. In his early life, he was a soldier and a trader in Portugal. On the 10th of April 1591 he started from Torbay in Devon, with Raymond and Foxcroft, on his first great voyage to the East Indies; this fleet of three ships is the earliest of English oversea Indian expeditions. Reaching Table Bay (1 August 1591), and losing one ship off Cape Corrientes on 12 September, the squadron rested and refitted at Zanzibar (February 1592), rounded Cape Comorin the following May, and reached the Malay Peninsula in June. During this voyage, Lancaster's ships attacked for plunder every ship they encountered.

After a later crossing to Ceylon, the crews insisted on returning home. The return voyage was disastrous with only twenty-five officers and men surviving to reach England in May 1594. Lancaster himself reached Rye on 24 May 1594. His Indian voyage, like Ralph Fitchs overland explorations and trading, was an important factor in the foundation of the East India Company. In the same year he led a privateering expedition against Pernambuco. Unlike the East Indies voyage, this was (according to Hakluyt's account) highly professional in its conduct and very successful; after picking up a chance-met separate squadron under Captain Middleton, he led an assault landing, seized the town and (with the assistance of a flotilla of Dutch traders who also threw in their lot with him) held it for several weeks and embarked the carrack's cargo along with local produce such as Brazil-wood (source of a valuable red dye used in the woolen textile industry).

In 1600 he was given command of the company's first fleet (which sailed from Torbay towards the end of April 1601); his vessel was the Red Dragon. He was also accredited as Queen Elizabeth's special envoy to various Eastern potentates. Going by the Cape of Good Hope (1st of November 1601) Lancaster visited the Nicobars (from 9 April 1602), Aceh and other parts of Sumatra (from 5 June 1602), and Bantam in Java. An alliance was established with Aceh, the first English East India Company factory established at Bantam and a commercial mission despatched to the Moluccas. The return voyage from 20 February to 11 September 1603 was speedy and prosperous, and Lancaster (whose success both in trade and diplomacy had been brilliant) was rewarded with a knighthood in October 1603.

Lancaster continued to be one of the chief directors of the East India Company until his death in May 1618. Most of the voyages of the early Stuart time both to India and in search of the Northwest Passage were undertaken under his sponsorship and direction. In July 1616, Lancaster Sound, north-west of Baffin Bay (74° 20' N.), was named by William Baffin after Sir James.

His will (dated 18 April 1618)[1] established two charitable trusts administered by the Skinners' Company. One was for the benefit of officials and poor people in Basingstoke, and was subsequently transferred by court order to Basingstoke Corporation in 1717. The other was for poor divinity students at Oxford and Cambridge, to whom the Skinners' Company still makes grants today.

Emanuel Wynn (or Emanuel Wynne) was a French pirate of the 18th century, and is often considered the first pirate to fly the Jolly Roger. His design incorporated an hourglass beneath the bones to represent that time was running out.

British Admiralty Records, in the Public Records Office in the UK show, in a report dated 18 July 1700, that HMS Poole, commanded by Captain John Cranby, engaged Wynn's ship off the Cape Verde islands. Cranby chased Wynn into a cove at Brava Island but, assisted by Portuguese soldiers, Wynn escaped Poole.

Most historians agree that Cranby's account is the first mention of a Jolly Roger, which Cranby described as "a sable ensign with cross bones, a death's head, and an hour glass." Wynne is believed to be the first (or some sources contend one of the first) pirate to fly the now familiar form of the jolly roger.

His flag, showing the distinctive skull and crossbones motif, was augmented with another common pirate symbol: an hourglass (meant to signify to his prey that only by timely surrender could they evade death).

Wynne began his piratical career raiding English merchantmen off the coast of the Province of Carolina near the end of the 17th century. He later moved to the more profitable waters of the Caribbean, attacking both English and Spanish ships.

Richard Worley set out from New York with eight others in a small open boat; they were ill equipped and carried a few supplies. The crew set out in late September 1718. Their ship was hardly seaworthy so they set out down the coast and up the Delaware River where they captured a shallop laden with household goods (this was not constituted as piracy, but rather burglary since it did not take place upon the sea). 

The next prize taken by these men was more in keeping with their needs, a sloop out of Philadelphia. They took the sloop and increased the size of their band to 12. Within a couple more days they had taken another slop that they felt more well kept than the prior ship and transferred to it.

At this time the governor issued a proclamation for the apprehension of all pirates who had not availed themselves of the King's pardon, and ordered out the Phoenix, a ship of 20 guns, to enforce this proclamation. However, Worley and his band set out to sea and missed the Phoenix which was searching for them in the coastal waters.

Six weeks later the pirates returned, having taken another sloop and a brigantine among the Bahama Islands. The company had increased to 25 during this trip and their sloop now mounted 6 guns. Captain Worley and his crew had also adopted the skull and crossbones in their ensign. Articles were signed and the crew were officially 'on account' that they would fight to the end, no quarter asked or given.

They were next sighted off North Carolina where they paused to clean and refit their ship. The governor received this information and outfitted two ships of 8 and 6 guns to trap the pirates, but to no avail as they were gone by the time the ships arrived. Unfortunately, Worley came in sight of the ships and mistaking them for merchants moved to prevent them from entering the James Town harbor. Instead of preventing their entry, he ended up trapping himself in the harbor with two ships blocking his escape. True to their articles the pirates fought to the end, taking a broadside from one of the Carolina ships before being boarded. All of the pirates died on board, except for the captain and one other, who were very seriously wounded. Both captured pirates were hanged the next day, February 17th 1719, for fear that their wounds might prevent them from receiving the punishment that was felt due.

We see what amounts to a five month run for these pirates, if I had to speculate on their earlier lives, I would guess that they had been employed as ship hands or privateers, having been let off in New York they spent all of their money and found themselves without the means of survival. The small boat they set out in was most likely stolen and the best they could get given limited time before the season changed and weather worsened. Their start was meager but they soon found the means to pursue their goal. If they had not had some seamen skills it is unlikely that they would have survived out on the open seas.

William Fly's origins are unknown, although it is probable that he is of British decent. He does not appear to have been very educated or even terribly skilled as a seaman. He first surfaces as a boatswain aboard the snow Elizabeth of Bristol bound from Jamaica for the Guinea coast in April of 1726. By May of that same year he appears to have convince some like minded souls that they should take the ship and go on the account. The evening of the 27th of May the mutineers lightened the ship by the tune of one captain and one mate by tossing them over the side, ignoring their entreaties for mercy.

Having taken the ship they then set sail for the coast of North Carolina. Here after some trickery they took the sloop John and Hannah, although they appear to have run it aground and set fire to it out of spite. The 5th of June they sighted the John and Betty and took very little of value, some sails and small arms, as well as six men. They next took a sloop off Delaware Bay and after finding little of value let her go. Proceeding for Martha's Vineyard, they missed and found themselves off Nantucket and next took a fishing schooner off Brown's Bank. Using this vessel they then tried to take another schooner, leaving only Fly and three pirates on board the snow, along with some fifteen forced men. The forced men seeing the odds so greatly in their favor revolted and captured Fly and the other pirates and sailed for and arrived at Great Brewster on June 28th, 1726.

The pirates were given a trial and all were sentenced to die. The execution was performed on July 12th, and Fly's body was hung in chains at the mouth of Boston harbor. Fly approached the hanging with complete disdain and even reproached the hangman for doing a poor job, showing him how to mange the ropes more efficiently.

The average career of a pirate during the Golden Age was under two years, Fly seems to have been one of the ones to bring the average down with a career length of about two months. His career also illustrates the fact that, contrary to popular mythology, most acts of piracy failed to turn up masses of gold doubloons or pieces of eight. Most plunder was of much more mundane quality, ranging from bundles of tobacco, logwood, cloth, or spices. If pirates were lucky they would find enough food and shipboard supplies to meet their own needs let alone to sell and get rich.

Jan Jacobsen (1588/89 – 1622) was a Flemish naval commander and Dunkirker during the Eighty Years' War. He became a posthumous hero when, after battling an enemy fleet for over 13 hours, he destroyed his own ship rather than surrender.

He was the son of Admiral Michiel Jacobsen and great-uncle of Jean Bart. On 3 October 1622 Jacobsen put out from Ostend on his first expedition as a captain of one of the king's frigates. His ship was part of a three-ship flotilla, with the intention of locating the Dutch Baltic convoy, accompanied by Spanish privateers Pedro de la Plesa and Juan Garcia. Jacobsen failed to elude the Dutch blockaders patrolling off the Flemish coast and was soon in a running battle with nine Dutch warships which was to last for thirteen hours. He disabled two of them before finally fought to a standstill with his mast, rudder and sweeps shot away.

The Dutch called upon Jacobsen to surrender and offered quarter, but, rather than let one of the king's ships fall into the hands of the enemy he exploded his powder store. In doing so he crippled the two Dutch ships alongside and caused considerable loss of life on board them but at the cost of destroying himself, his ship and much of what remained of his crew.Initial reports had Jacobsen putting the match to the powder himself, but at least one later account records that he had been shot through the thigh and gave the order to explode the powder store to one of his men. Surviving members of his 170-man crew  that were picked up were hanged as pirates.

This incident was comparable to English admiral Sir Richard Grenville and the Revenge and created a mystique around the Dunkirkers, and the figure of Jacobsen in particular, at the very beginning of the second phase (1621-1648) of the Eighty Years' War^. The event was reported in contemporary newspapers, such as the Nieuwe Tijdinghen printed in Antwerp,and was the subject of at least one contemporary ballad, Kapiteyn Jacobus, that likened Jacobsen to Samson.

Juan Garcia (fl. 1622) was a 17th century Spanish privateer. He was among several other Spaniards who worked with Dunkirkers in the service of Spain during the Eighty Years' War. Both he and Pedro de la Plesa were caught by the Dutch Republic in a failed attempt to break through the imposed blockade at Dunkirk, he and de la Plesa leaving Captain Jan Jacobsen to face nine pursuing Dutch warships.

In October 1622, he and Pedro de la Plesa left Duinkerken with Jan Jacobsen attempting to break through the blockade imposed on the city by the Dutch Republic. However, a Dutch yacht spotted Pedro de la Plesa as he sailed out of Oostende. The ship's captain, Jacob Volckertzoon Vinck, immediately sailed to a small fleet stationed nearby.

Its commander, Admiral Harman Kleuter, set off after the blocade runners at once and was later joined by another squadron under Captain Lambert Hendrikszoon. Garcia and Pedro de la Plesa fled instantly upon encountering the fleet, however Jacobsen stayed behind to fight the nine pursuing warships. Both because of his heroic stand, as well as allowing his Spanish allies to escape to England, Jacobsen and his crew became a national hero.

Pedro de la Plesa (fl. 1622) was a 17th century Spanish privateer. He served alongside Dunkirkers in the service of Spain during the Eighty Years' War. He and Juan Garcia accompanied Captain Jan Jacobsen in his final battle against the Dutch Republic, he and his Spanish comrade leaving Jacobsen to his fate.

In October 1622, he left from Duinkerken along with Juan Garcia and Jan Jacobsen in an attempt to break through the enemy blockade. However, de la Plesa was immediately sighted by a passing Dutch yacht as he sailed out of Oostende. The ship's captain, Jacob Volckertzoon Vinck, cut his mooring lines and sailed out to a nearby fleet under Admiral Harman Kleuter. Being informed of the Dunkirkers activities, he set out after them at once.

He was later joined by another squadron from Den Briel under the command of Captain Lambert Hendrikszoon. As the combined fleet appeared, the two Spaniards realizing they were outnumbered chose to retreat. Heading for England, Jan Jacobsen chose to fight the nine pursuing warships. Weither Jacobsen had decided to make a final stand or to protect the retreat of Juan Garcia and Pedro de la Plesa is uncertain, however he died in the ensuing battle.

Samuel Axe was an English privateer in Dutch service during the early 17th century.
Serving with English forces in the Netherlands during the Dutch War of Independence, Axe traveled to the British colony of Providence Island, in the western Caribbean Sea, where he assisted in the construction of its central fortress in 1629.

However, after a disagreement with Daniel Elfrith (possibly over the capture of Spanish and Portuguese slavers during the early 1630s , he soon left the island with Abraham Blauvelt and Sussex Camock and sailed for Honduras in 1633.

In 1635, he accepted Dutch letters of marque despite being in the employ of the Providence Island Company and, from 1636 to 1641, acted as a privateer for the English trading company.
Although briefly returning to Providence to assist the island's defense against Spanish attacks in 1636, Axe had a successful privateering career delivering a captured prize, with a cargo including gold, silver, jewels, indigo and cochineal, as he returned to England in May 1640.

Following the capture of Providence by Spain in 1641, the Providence Island Company was dissolved. Escaping to St. Kitts, Axe would later take part in a privateering expedition under Captain William Jackson to the West Indies from 1642 to 1645, in which the privateers managed to capture Jamaica.

Daniel Elfrith (fl. 1607–1641) was a 17th-century English privateer, colonist and slave trader. In the service of the Earl of Warwick, Elfrith was involved in privateering expeditions against the Spanish from his base in Bermuda. He was particularly known for capturing Spanish slave ships bound for the Spanish Main and selling the slaves himself to rival colonies in the Caribbean and the American colonies.

He and John Jupe were the first men to arrive in the Colony of Virginia to sell slaves. Arriving only four days ahead his partner, Jupe had sold the first African slaves in the American colonies in exchange for provisions, however Elfrith's arrival sparked considerably more controversy and was turned away by the colony.

He is also one of the earliest Englishmen, along with Sussex Camock, to discover and later take part in the initial settlement of Providence Island in 1629. A personal friend of the Earl of Warwick, his son-in-law Philip Bell became the island's first governor while he assumed the position of its admiral

An active privateer in the West Indies as early as 1607, Elfrith commanded the Treasurer (owned by the Earl of Warwick) for several years. In mid-1613, Elfrith arrived in Bermuda with a Spanish caravel full of grain for the starving island colonists. As England and Spain were not at war, this was technically considered an act of piracy although this fact went unnoticed by the colony. However, the ship also contained black rats which escaped from the ship as the grain was being unloaded in a harbor off St. George's.

They quickly bred and were soon nesting in palm trees as well as the thatched roofs of cottages, churches and storehouses. The rats dug holes in the soft coral, feeding on corn and wheat in storehouses and eating the crops and other plants grown by the colony. Despite the colonists attempts to exterminate them, which included using traps, hunting dogs and setting cats into the wild, the rats plagued the colony for several years before the problem was finally brought under control.








In early 1618, Elfrith was hired by Sir Robert Rich, Lord de la Warr and others to captain the Treasurer for a privateering expedition to the West Indies. His employers managed to obtain a privateering commission from Charles Emmanuel I through his ambassador to England, Count Scarnafissi. He left England in late April or early May and arrived at the Colony of Virginia shortly after the Neptune under Captain Henry Spelman.

Their arrival was said to have "brought a most pestilent disease (called the bloody flux) which infected almost all the whole colony. That disease, notwithstanding all our former afflictions, was never known before amongst us". Five years later, a lawsuit was brought before the court of admiralty in which the Earl of Warwick was accused by Edward Brewster and other colonists of outfitting the Neptune and the Treasurer with arms and ammunition instead of the badly needed provisions and supplies, such as fishing tackle, that they were promised.



In mid-July 1619, he and John Jupe of the White Lion captured the Portuguese slaver Sao Joao Bautista carrying around 370 Angolans taken prisoner during Portugal's war in Luanda. The two privateers intercepted the ship as it sailed towards Vera Cruz and escaped with at least 200 slaves, Elfrith taking the majority of them as his ship was larger while Jupe took less than 30 men and women.

They both headed towards the Colony of Virginia, a known safe haven for English privateers under Governor Samuel Argall, with Jupe reaching the colony four days ahead of Elfrith and successfully selling his cargo of slaves. Elfrith's arrival was far less welcoming, learning that Charles Emmanuel I had made peace with Spain (thus invalidating his privateering commission) and that Governor Argall had been replaced by Edwyn Sandys (a rival of the Earl of Warwick), and left the colony almost as soon as he arrived. He instead returned to Bermuda where the slaves were put to work on the estate of his employer the Earl of Warwick.




However, he did return to Virginia periodically while on privateering voyages against the Spanish during the next year. Acting under orders from Governor Argall, who may have misrepresented the Earl of Warwick to justify his activities, he continued raiding Spanish shipping. Nathaniel Butler, governor of Bermuda and protege of the Earl of Warwick, wrote to the Earl reporting that Elfrith's vessel was "in an unseaworthy condition and with her a number of negros" when he arrived in the island later that year. He further stated that

“

..he had disposed of his lordships negroes according to instructions, but that the Treasurer's people were dangerous-tongued fellows and had given out secretly that, if they were not paid to their uttermost penny of wages, they would go to the Spanish Ambassador [Diego Sarmiento d'Acuna de Gondomar] and tell all.

”

While on a privateering expedition with Captain Sussex Camock of the bark Somer Ilands in 1625, Elfrith and Camock discovered two islands off the coast of Nicaragua, both separated 50 miles apart from each other. Camock stayed with 30 of his men to explore one of the islands, San Andreas, while Elfrith took the Warwicke back to Bermuda bringing news of Providence Island. Governor Bell wrote on behalf of Elfrith to Sir Nathaniel Rich, a businessman and cousin of the Earl of Warwick, who presented a proposal for colonizing the island noting its strategic location "lying in the heart of the Indies & the mouth of the Spaniards". Although this also meant the island would be subject to Spanish attacks, Bell assured Rich that the island would become invincible once fortified and make a highly valued base for privateers. Bell also pointed out that San Andreas, lower and more favorable for farming, could never be made "half so strong".

Elfrith was appointed admiral of the colony's military forces in 1631, and Black Rock Fort the following year, remaining the overall military commander for over seven years. During this time, Elfrith served as a guide to other privateers and sea captains arriving in the Caribbean. As early as 1631, he warned of places where English ships might be attacked by natives or escaped slaves including the areas of Dominica and Trujilo.



That same year, he left on an unauthorized expedition to Central America where he attacked and captured a Spanish frigate in Cape Gracias a Dios although he was forced to leave behind a pinnace before returning to Providence Island. This attack was considered an act of piracy as he did not have a letter of marque from the Providence Island Company.

The incident was also condemned by the colonists, concerned that the colony might be seen as a base for privateering, and wrote to friends and family in England believing Elfrith's reckless behavior was endangering the colony. Elfrith's raid not only revealed the colony's presence to the Spaniards but left the colony open to attack before adequate fortifications could be built. It is speculated that Elfrith may have tried to intentionally provoke the Spaniards to attack the colony believing the privateering commissions would be granted in order to retaliate. Later that year, Elfrith entertained the Dutch privateer Diego El Mulato in the colony further angering the residents and the PIC.

Although an enemy of the Spanish and a well-known officer under Piet Hein, it was thought dangerous to invite any privateer into the colony to see its defenses.
In an effort to make peace with the company, he gave them his rudders which contained an elaborate manuscript describing the coastlines and the navigation directions of the Caribbean. Considered by modern editors and cartographers as "remarkably accurate", Elfrith wrote that he had compiled this information during his exploration and privateering voyages for his own use and felt that he should make it available to English captains as many of the other "ancient seamen" who also knew these charts were now dead and that the "drafts and platts made in England were very false". Also included were details for the approaches of the Mosquito Coast and the Bay of Trujilo as well as Providence Island itself.

In 1632, he and Samuel Axe, the other principal military commander, became involved in an argument resulting in Axe leaving the colony and the PIC. A dispute between the two first arose at the first harvest of the island's first tobacco crop. The PIC had made a vague mention of Elfrith, Axe and Bell receiving a portion for their efforts in establishing the colony with Elfrith and Axe arguing over their shares. The two also disagreed of the strategic value of Warwick Fort. Axe ultimately decided to leave the colony because of this dispute.

In 1636, Elfrith resumed privateering upon receiving a letter of marque from the PIC. He was replaced by Governor Robert Hunt in April 1638, however he continued as a privateer until 1641.

Richard Sawkins or Hawkins (died May 22, 1680) was a British buccaneer who participated in the Pacific Adventure, a privateering expedition headed by Captain John Coxon.
Although little is known of his early life, Sawkins was captured by HMS Success and later imprisoned in Port Royal while awaiting trial for piracy as late as December 1, 1679. He was apparently released however as he is later recorded commanding a small 16-ton vessel with a crew of 35 men and one gun. Along with Peter Harris, he joined up with Captain John Coxon's privateering expedition near Bocca del Toro in late-March and was one of 330 buccaneers who landed on the coast of Darien with Coxon and Bartholomew Sharp. Marching overland through the jungle, Sawkins participated in a surprise attack and looting of Santa Marta, later crossing the isthmus in Indian canoes, and sailing down the Santa Maria River eventually making their way to the Pacific Ocean.
Arriving with his own group soon after, flying a red flag with yellow stripes, Sawkins soon captured two small Spanish vessels before sailing with his group towards Panama City. As they neared the city, Sawkins encountered a Spanish fleet of eight ships and, after a fierce battle, Sawkins was celebrated by his crew for his bravery and skill in their victory in what was later known as the Battle of Perico.
However, some of the party began arguing amongst themselves, and John Coxon eventually left the expedition with his seventy men and returned across the isthmus on foot. With the departure of Coxon, the remaining privateers elected Sawkins as head of the expedition while Sharp was out on a separate voyage.
After his victory over the Spanish fleet, Sawkins sailed towards Panama City and blockaded the harbor. Forced to negotiate with Sawkins, the Governor of Panama demanaded to know Sawkins intentions. Sawkins responded by demanding five hundred pieces of eight for each of the crew, and a further one thousand for each of his officers. In addition to this, Sawkins also demanded an end to the harassment and exploitation of the local native tribes. He later learned that the Bishop of Santa Martha, who had been Sawkins' prisoners five years earlier, was present in the city and sent him a present of two loaves of sugar. Although he received a gold ring from the Bishop, he received no response from the governor and the crew, soon growing restless, eventually persuaded Sawkins to abandon his blockade and continued sailing south along the coast.
Landing with a party of sixty men, Sawkins led an attack against the town of Puebla Nueva on May 22, 1680. However, having prior knowege of the privateers' presence in the area, three well-fortified breastworks had been constructed by the time of his arrival. Despite having lost the element of surprise, Sawkins continued his attack on the town and was killed by a musket-ball while at the head of his men.

The Execution Dock, where John Gow's adventures came to an end

John Gow is a name that one hears frequently in the “annals of piracy”. Despite a few distinctions that line him up with some of the more colorful and well documented pirates of the Golden Age, Bartholomew Roberts and William Kidd most notably, there is very little documentation about Gow himself. Aside, that is, from his rather hideous death.

The place and date of Gow’s birth are the first things up for debate. Some researchers simply go with “unknown” while others state where and when. The general consensus is that he was born in the later part of the 1690s and the port city of Stromness, Orkney seems proud to claim him as a native son. Gow’s education is also a mystery. There are writers who mention him having “school mates” which would lead one to believe he actually went to school. The area he grew up in and his family’s station in a highly class oriented society puts that theory on wobbly legs as well. What is certain is that Gow went to sea at a young age.

By the summer of 1724, Gow was on the books of the merchant vessel Caroline as Second Lieutenant. Her home port was listed as Dunkirk and her Captain was a Frenchman named Ferneau or Furneaux who seems to have followed the general pattern of merchant captains of the era. He shipped a surprisingly small crew, put in light and at least partially rotten stores and kept his people hard at work to meet delivery deadlines. By fall, things aboard Caroline were anything but pleasant. As the crew began to mutter about mutiny over their salt horse, Ferneau doled out pistols to his Lieutenants for protection against the men.

After delivering cargo in November, Caroline lay at anchor off Vera Cruz when the discontent among her crew came to a head. Late on the evening of the 3rd, crewmen slit the throats of the First Lieutenant, Master and ship’s doctor while they lay asleep. The doctor managed to stagger up on deck and sound the alarm before being thrown overboard. Captain Ferneau came up to see what was amiss and was shot in the face by John Gow. Though certain writers spend a lot of words arguing that Gow was more or less drawn into the mutiny against his better judgment, three facts tend to argue against that scenario. The first is that Gow killed his Captain, the second is that Gow was elected commander by the mutineers and the third is that Gow led his men straight into prize taking. It could easily be argued that Gow led the mutiny himself and perhaps even proposed turning pirate thereafter.

On November 18th Caroline, now renamed Revenge, took a small fishing or merchant vessel off Cape St. Vincent. Everything – including men – was commandeered and Gow had the prize scuttled. Thus began a series of progressively larger vessels taken, boarded, ransacked for plunder and then sunk by Gow aboard Revenge. The Bay of Biscay was a particular favorite hunting ground and within two months the French Navy was hot on the trail of the pirate ship Revenge.

Knowing the political situation between Britain and France, Gow turned his ship home to Orkney where he figured the French would not follow. His hunch paid off. Revenge – again renamed, this time as George – masqueraded as a merchant and dropped anchor in the port of Hamnavoe in January of 1725. Gow went ashore as Mr. Smith, owner but not captain of George, and spent money like landed gentry. The authorities began to take note of this odd behavior when a member of Gow’s crew deserted to another merchant vessel and told the bloody tale of the former Caroline’s exploits.

Gow weighed anchor and began to cruise the local coast, raiding wealthy homes rather than taking prizes on the water. The authorities issued warrants against Gow and his men after they plundered the country home of Robert Honeyman of Gramersay taking away plate and linen and scaring if not actually accosting the gentleman’s wife and daughter. This ill advised act was followed by the kidnapping and brutalization of two girls from the village of Cava. Gow then planned another land raid, seemingly without thought of repercussion, but this time his luck ran out.

Revenge grounded within sight of Gow’s target, Carrick House, and the King’s guards rushed in to take the ship. Gow escaped with some of his crew, but they were hunted down, put in chains and shipped to London’s Marshalsea Prison. Most of the prisoners confessed their crimes out right and all pointed to Gow as their commander. For his part, John Gow refused to plead guilty or not guilty. In the legal jargon of the era, this meant that the courts could not mount a trial against Gow. The only recourse was torture.

The thumbscrews were used first to no effect. Apparently years at sea hardened a man to certain discomforts. When the bailiff became frustrated and threatened Gow with the torture of pressing – being laid out naked on a stone floor with a board the size of a door on top of one whereon progressively heavier weights would be piled until one died – the pirate cracked. Hanging must have seemed far more attractive than days of misery under the press board. Gow pleaded not guilty.

The outcome of the subsequent trial at the Old Bailey was a foregone conclusion. Gow and his men were found guilty and sentenced to hang on June 11, 1725. Gow must still have had a few coins in his pockets because he paid off the executioner to have a man hang on his legs while he dangled at the end of the rope to ensure a quicker, death. The plan backfired when the rope broke. Gow, dazed and purple, was herded back up the gallows, fitted with a new noose and hung again, this time without benefit of added weight. He reportedly continued to kick for some eight minutes.

Gow’s body was tarred, gibbeted and displayed on the banks of the Thames for over a year. A romantic story sprang up during that time that Gow’s lady love from Stromness sailed and then walked to London. There she found her intended’s body and touched its hand in order to release herself from the promise they had made to marry at the so called Odin Stone near Stenness, Orkney. What became of the lady, whose name is given as Helena Gordon, is unknown.

John Gow’s short and decidedly brutal career is not terribly unusual in the big scheme of piratical events. But his name is remembered and, in large part thanks to Sir Walter Scott’s poem The Pirate in which Gow becomes the elegant Captain Cleveland, his legend lives on.

http://paulinespiratesandprivateers.blogspot.com/2010/11/people-orkney-pirate.html