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
"Before he had the Misfortune of having them on Board, his Ears were never
grated with hearing the Name of the great Creator profaned, tho' he, to
his Sorrow, had often since heard his own Men guilty of that Sin, which
administer'd neither Profit nor Pleasure, and might draw upon them a
severe Punishment: That if they had a just Idea of that great Being, they
wou'd never mention him, but they wou'd immediately reflect on his Purity,
and their own Vileness. That we so easily took Impression from our
Company, that the Spanish Proverb says: 'Let a Hermit and a Thief live
together, the Thief wou'd become Hermit, or the Hermit thief': That he saw
this verified in his ship, for he cou'd attribute the Oaths and Curses he
had heard among his brave Companions, to nothing but the odious Example of
the Dutch: That this was not the only Vice they had introduced, for before
they were on Board, his Men were Men, but he found by their beastly
Pattern they were degenerated into Brutes, by drowning that only Faculty,
which distinguishes between Man and Beast, Reason. That as he had the
Honour to command them, he could not see them run into these odious Vices
without a sincere Concern, as he had a paternal Affection for them, and he
should reproach himself as neglectful of the common Good, if he did not
admonish them; and as by the Post which they had honour'd him, he was
obliged to have a watchful Eye over their general Interest; he was obliged
to tell them his Sentiments were, that the Dutch allured them to a
dissolute Way of Life, that they might take some Advantage over them:
Wherefore, as his brave Companions, he was assured, wou'd be guided by
reason, he gave the Dutch Notice, that the first whom he catch'd either
with an Oath in his Mouth or Liquor in his Head, should be brought to the
Geers, whipped and pickled, for an Example to the rest of his Nation: As
to his Friends, his Companions, his Children, those gallant, those
generous, noble and heroick Souls he had the Honour to command, he
entreated them to allow a small Time for Reflection, and to consider how
little Pleasure, and how much Danger, might flow from imitating the Vices
of their Enemies; and that they would among themselves, make a Law for the
Suppression of what would otherwise estrange them from the Source of Life,
and consequently leave them destitute of his Protection."
This speech had the desired effect, and ever afterwards, when any one of
the crew had reason to mention the name of his captain, he never failed to
add the epithet "Good" before it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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