[Illustration: VIEW OF THE HARBOR AND TOWN OF BOSTON IN 1723 From an engraving in the British Museum after a drawing by William Burgis] THE PIRATES OF THE NEW ENGLAND COAST 1630-1730 By GEORGE FRANCIS DOW Curator of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities and JOHN HENRY EDMONDS Massachusetts State Archivist INTRODUCTION BY CAPT. ERNEST H. PENTECOST, R.N.R. [Illustration] MARINE RESEARCH SOCIETY SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 1923 PUBLICATION NUMBER TWO OF THE MARINE RESEARCH SOCIETY SALEM, MASS. COPYRIGHT, 1923, BY THE MARINE RESEARCH SOCIETY PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY THE JORDAN & MORE PRESS BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED TO THE MARINERS AND MERCHANTS OF NEW ENGLAND WHO SUFFERED LOSS OF LIFE OR PROPERTY AT THE HANDS OF PIRATES PREFACE There is scarcely a sandy beach on New England’s long and deeply indented coastline that has not connected with it some traditionary tale of the landing of pirates or their buried treasure. Many of these half-forgotten tales may have had an origin in the operations of early smugglers or in the evasion of the British Navigation Acts, but it is undoubtedly true that pirates did frequent this coast, beginning with the early days of its settlement, and during their periodical appearances, robbed and destroyed shipping almost at will. In gathering material relating to this subject no attempt has been made to include the traditionary lore. The public records of the time supply an astonishing amount of detailed information, but the principal source for first-hand information on the operations of pirate vessels during the first twenty-five years of the eighteenth century, the period when piracy was most frequent and least controlled, is the “History of the Pirates” by Capt. Charles Johnson. It has been claimed that the author at one time sailed in a pirate ship and therefore wrote from a personal knowledge of many of the events described. It seems impossible that anyone could have obtained such a circumstantial narrative of illicit life on the open sea unless he had lived in intimate personal acquaintance with a number of those who took part in the stirring actions recounted. Some of his tales are so extraordinary that they seem improbable--impossible of belief. And yet, the portion of his history relating to the North Atlantic coast has been verified