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Captain Edward England

Posted by Under The Black Flag Captain Edward England 2:39 π.μ.

Captain England was an officer on a Jamaican sloop which was captured by Christopher Winter, after which he joined the pirates. An English privateer, Woodes Rogers, attacked the pirates stronghold in the Bahamas. Captain England managed to escaped & while sailing along the coast of Africa & the Azores & Cape Verde islands, he took many prizes.

Captain England traded his sloop for a larger ship & renamed her the Pearl & returned to Africa in the spring of 1719. He was very successful, plundering two dozen ships. One of which the pirates kept, renaming her the Victory in which Captain John Taylor was made the captain.

In 1720 the Pearl & Victory sailed along the Malabar coast of India. It was during this time that the Pearl was exchanged for a ship armed with thirty-four guns which was renamed the Fancy.

Captain England then sailed for Johanna Island near Madagascar & they encountered 3 large English & Dutch ships which were trading with the East Indies. Two of the ships escaped but the Cassandra captained by James Macrae stayed to engage Captain England's force. A fierce battle lasted for several hours. Both the Cassandra & the Fancy were grounded, but continued to fire upon one another relentlessly.

Leaving behind a cargo worth £75,000, Captain Macrae fled to the shore. The Cassandra had 37 casualties while Captain England's force had lost more than 90. After 10 days of hiding, Captain Macrae went aboard the Victory hoping for mercy. Captain Taylor wanted to kill him but Captain England wanted to spare his life and was able to persuade Captain Taylor after several drinks of rum. Captain Macrae was given the badly damaged Fancy.

Captain Macrae & forty-three others sailed for Bombay. During their seven week voyage they were plagued by hunger & thirst. Upon reaching Bombay, Captain Macrae was given a hero's welcome & eventually became the governor of Madras in 1725 & remained so until 1730. During that time he collected £800,000 in bribe money.

Captain England's crew was much grieved by the decision to let Captain Macrae go & turned against Captain England. Captain England was removed as captain & put ashore on Mauritius with three others, eventually making his way to Saint Augustine's Bay where he would die a pauper having lived off the charity of other pirates.