The Pirates' Who's Who: Giving Particulars Of The Lives and Deaths Of The Pirates And BuccaneersGosse, Philip
History
The Pirates' Who's Who: Giving Particulars Of The Lives and Deaths Of The Pirates And Buccaneers
Gosse, Philip
Pirates
Owing to a quarrel with Captain Roberts, Kennedy went off in his ship, the
_Rover_, and sailed to Barbadoes. His first prize, a Boston ship, was a
distinct novelty, being commanded by one Captain Knot, a Quaker, who lived
up to the principles of his sect by allowing no pistol, sword, or cutlass,
or other weapon aboard his vessel. The crew, finding Kennedy had no
knowledge whatever of navigation, threatened to throw him overboard, but
because he was a man of great personal courage they did not in the end
carry out their threat. The crew next decided to give over piracy and to
set sail for Ireland. This island they altogether missed through bad
navigation, and they ran the ship ashore on the north of Scotland. The
crew landed and passed themselves off as shipwrecked mariners, but owing
to their drinking and rioting in each village they came to, the whole
countryside was soon roused. Kennedy slipped away and reached Ireland.
Having soon spent all his ill-gotten gains in Dublin, he came to Deptford
and set up a house of ill-fame, adding occasionally to his income from
this source by a little highwaymanry. One of the ladies of his house at
Deptford, to be revenged for some slight or other, gave information to the
watch, and Kennedy was imprisoned at Marshalsea and afterwards tried for
robbery and piracy. Kennedy turned King's evidence against some of his old
associates, but this did not save his neck, for he was condemned and
hanged at Execution Dock.
KHEYR-ED-DIN. Corsair.
Brother of the famous Barbarossa. When the latter was defeated and killed
by the Spaniards, Kheyr-ed-din sent an ambassador to Constantinople,
begging for help to protect Algiers. He was appointed Governor of Algiers
by the Sultan of Turkey in 1519. Now greatly increased both in ships and
power, he scoured the whole Mediterranean for Italian and Spanish prizes.
He raided the Spanish coast and carried off slaves from the Balearic
Islands. He next took and destroyed the fortress of Algiers, and employed
7,000 Christian slaves to build a new one and also a great mole to protect
the harbour. Invited by Solyman the Magnificent to help him against the
Christian Admiral Andria Doria, in August, 1533, he sailed from Algiers
with his fleet, being joined on the way by another noted corsair,
Delizuff.
A year afterwards, at the age of 73, Kheyr-ed-din set out from
Constantinople with a vast fleet, sacking towns and burning all Christian
ships that were so unfortunate as to fall in his way. He returned to the
Bosphorus with huge spoil and 11,000 prisoners. He sacked Sardinia, then
sailed to Tunis, which he vanquished.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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