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
Sailed in 1679 to the West Indies. A year later Ringrose had joined the
buccaneers at their rendezvous in the Gulf of Darien, where they were
preparing for a bold enterprise on the Spanish Main. They landed and
marched to the town of Santa Maria, which they plundered and burnt.
Thence they travelled in canoes down the river to the Bay of Panama. After
attacking the Spanish fleet and laying siege to the city, the buccaneers
cruised up and down the West Coast of South America for eighteen months,
sacking towns and attacking Spanish ships. All this while Ringrose kept a
very full and graphic journal, in which he recorded not only their
exploits, but also their hardships and quarrels, and gave descriptions as
well of the various natives and their customs, and drew charts and
sketches.
In 1681 Ringrose was still with Captain Sharp, and sailed through the
Straits of Magellan, and on January 30th of the same year anchored off
Antigua. Here he got a passage in a ship to England, landing safely at
Dartmouth on March 26th.
A year later he published an account of his voyage, as a second volume to
Esquemeling's, "Bucaniers of America." In 1684 he went to sea again in the
_Cygnet_ (Captain Swan), to traffic with the Spanish colonies. But the
Spaniards refused to trade with them. In October, 1684, they met the
famous Captain Edward Davis at that favourite haunt of the buccaneers, the
Isle of Plate. The two captains agreed to join forces and to go together
"on the account," so all the cargo was thrown overboard the _Cygnet_, and
the ships set out to make war on any Spanish ships they might meet with.
In February, 1686, Ringrose with one hundred men took the town of Santiago
in Mexico, but while returning with the plunder to their ship were caught
by the Spaniards in an ambush, and Ringrose was killed.
Ringrose never attained any rank among the buccaneers beyond occasionally
being put in charge of a boat or a small company on shore, but as a
recorder of the doings of his companions he proved both careful and
painstaking. Dampier had a great regard for him, and in his book he
writes: "My ingenious friend Ringrose had no mind to this voyage, but was
necessitated to engage in it or starve."
The title of Ringrose's book, first published in 1685, is "The Dangerous
Voyage and Bold Assaults of Captain Bartholomew Sharp and Others."
Written by Mr. Basil Ringrose.
Printed for William Crooke, 1685.
ROACH, PETER.
When Captain Quelch was captured with his crew, Roach escaped near the
Cape by Snake Island. He was afterwards captured and thrown into the gaol
at Salem. Tried for piracy at the Star Tavern at Boston, and on June 30th,
1704, was hanged. At the place of execution Roach disappointed the
onlooking crowd, as, instead of the expected and hoped-for repentant
speech, "he seemed little concerned, and said but little or nothing at
all."
ROB, ALEXANDER.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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