The Pirates' Who's Who: Giving Particulars Of The Lives and Deaths Of The Pirates And Buccaneers — John Shaqi
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
Having got a vast booty, Avery and his friends sailed towards Madagascar,
and on the way there Avery, as admiral of the little fleet, signalled to
the captain of the other sloops to come aboard his vessel. When they
arrived Avery put before them the following ingenious scheme. He proposed
that the treasures in the two sloops should, for safety, be put into his
keeping till they all three arrived in Madagascar. This, being agreed to,
was done, but during the night, after Avery had explained matters to his
own men, he altered his course and left the sloops, and never saw them
again. He now sailed away with all the plunder to the West Indies,
arriving safely at New Providence Island in the Bahamas, where he offered
the Governor a bribe of twenty pieces of eight and two pieces of gold to
get him a pardon. Avery arrived in 1696 at Boston, where he appears to
have successfully bribed the Quaker Governor to let him and some of his
crew land with their spoils unmolested. But the pirate did not feel quite
safe, and also thought it would be wellnigh impossible to sell his
diamonds in the colony without being closely questioned as to how he came
by them. So, leaving America, he sailed to the North of Ireland, where he
sold the sloop. Here the crew finally dispersed, and Avery stopped some
time in Dublin, but was still unable to dispose of his stolen diamonds.
Thinking England would be a better place for this transaction, he went
there, and settled at Bideford in Devon. Here he lived very quietly under
a false name, and through a friend communicated with certain merchants in
Bristol. These came to see him, accepted his diamonds and some gold cups,
giving him a few pounds for his immediate wants, and took the valuables to
Bristol to sell, promising to send him the money procured for them. Time
dragged on, but nothing came from the Bristol merchants, and at last it
began to dawn on Avery that there were pirates on land as well as at sea.
His frequent letters to the merchants brought at the most but a few
occasional shillings, which were immediately swallowed up by the payment
of his debts for the bare necessities of life at Bideford. At length, when
matters were becoming desperate, Avery was taken ill and died "not being
worth as much as would buy him a coffin." Thus ended Avery, "the Grand
Pirate," whose name was known all over Europe, and who was supposed to be
reigning as a king in Madagascar when all the while he was hiding and
starving in a cottage at Bideford.
AYLETT, CAPTAIN.
This buccaneer was killed by an explosion of gunpowder on board the
_Oxford_ during a banquet of Morgan's captains off Hispaniola in 1669.
BAILY, JOB, or BAYLEY.
Of London.
One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew. Hanged at Charleston in 1718.
BAKER, CAPTAIN.
One of Gasparilla's gang up to 1822, when they were broken up by the
United States Navy. His favourite hunting-ground was the Gulf of Mexico.
BALL, ROGER.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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