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
A soldier, one of the guard at Fort Loyal, Falmouth, Maine. Deserted in
1689 and went to sea with the pirate Captain Pound.
NELSON, CAPTAIN.
Born on Prince Edward Island, where his father had a grant of land for
services rendered in the American war. He was a wealthy man, a member of
the Council and a Colonel of the Militia. In order to set his son up in
life he bought him a captaincy in the Militia and a fine farm, where young
Nelson married and settled down. Buying a schooner, he used to sail to
Halifax with cargoes of potatoes and fruit. He seems to have liked these
trips in which he combined business with pleasure, for we learn that on
these visits to Halifax he "was very wild, and drank and intrigued with
the girls in an extravagant manner." Getting into disgrace on Prince
Edward Island, and losing his commission, he went to live near Halifax,
and became a lieutenant in the Nova Scotia Fencibles, while his wife
remained on the island to look after his estates, which brought him in
L300 a year. Meeting with a Scotchman called Morrison, together they
bought a "pretty little New York battleship," mounting ten guns. Manning
this dangerous toy with a crew of ninety desperate characters, the
partners went "on the account," and began well by taking a brig belonging
to Mr. Hill, of Rotherhithe, which they took to New York, and there sold
both ship and cargo.
They next cruised in the West Indies, taking several English and Dutch
ships, the crews of which they treated with the greatest brutality.
Landing on St. Kitts Island, they burnt and plundered two Dutch
plantations, murdering the owners and slaves. Sailing north to
Newfoundland they took ten more vessels, which they sold in New York.
After further successful voyages in the West Indies and off the coast of
Brazil, Nelson felt the call of home ties becoming so strong that he
ventured to return to Prince Edward Island to visit his wife and family,
where no one dared to molest him.
By this time Nelson had been a pirate for three years and had, by his
industry, won for himself a fortune worth L150,000, but his Scotch
partner, Morrison, being a frugal soul, had in the meantime saved an even
larger sum. Eventually their ship was wrecked in a fog on a small barren
island near Prince Edward Island, and Morrison and most of the crew were
drowned, but Nelson and a few others were saved. At last he reached New
York, where he lived the rest of his life in peaceful happiness with his
wife and family.
NICHOLLS, THOMAS, _alias_ NICHOLAS.
Of London.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew in the _Royal James_. Tried for piracy at
Charleston on November 8th, 1718, and found "not guilty."
NONDRE, PEDRO.
Hanged at Kingston, Jamaica, in February, 1823. At the time of execution
it was observed that he was covered with the marks of deep wounds. On the
scaffold he wept bitterly. An immensely heavy man, he broke the rope, and
had to be hanged a second time.
NORMAN, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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