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
Mounting four guns and christening their little vessel the _Scowerer_,
they set sail for Hispaniola. Good luck immediately followed, as on the
very next day they took their first prize, a Spanish sloop, an
extraordinarily rich prize for her size, for the crew were able to share a
sum of L150 a man. For a while all was _coleur de rose_, prize after prize
simply falling into their hands. But an unhappy accident was soon to bring
an end to Evans's career. The boatswain was a noisy, surly fellow, and on
several occasions the captain had words with him about his disrespectful
behaviour. The boatswain on one of these occasions so far forgot himself
as not only to use ill language to his captain but to challenge him to a
fight on the next shore they came to with pistol and sword. On reaching
land the cowardly boatswain refused to go ashore or to fight, whereupon
the captain took his cane and gave him a hearty drubbing, when the
boatswain, all of a sudden drawing a pistol, shot Evans through the head,
so that he fell down dead. Thus was brought to a tragic and sudden end a
career that showed early signs of great promise. The boatswain jumped
overboard and swam for the shore, but a boat put off and brought him back
to the vessel. A trial was at once held, but the chief gunner, unable to
bear with the slow legal procedure any further, stepped forward and shot
the prisoner dead.
The crew of thirty men now shared their plunder of some L9,000 and broke
up, each going his own way.
EVERSON, CAPTAIN JACOB, _alias_ JACOBS.
In January, 1681, Sir Henry Morgan, then Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica,
received information that a famous Dutch buccaneer, Everson, was anchored
off the coast in an armed sloop, in company with a brigantine which he had
lately captured. This was more than the ex-pirate Governor could tolerate,
so he at once set out in a small vessel with fifty picked men. The sloop
was boarded at midnight, but Everson and a few others escaped by leaping
overboard and swimming to the shore. Most of the prisoners were
Englishmen, and were convicted of piracy and hanged.
EXQUEMELIN, ALEXANDER OLIVIER, or ESQUEMELING in English, OEXMELIN in
French. Buccaneer.
A surgeon with the most famous buccaneers, Exquemelin will always be known
as the historian who recorded the deeds of the buccaneers in his classic
book, "Bucaniers of America, or a true account of the assaults committed
upon the coasts of the West Indies, etc.," published by W. Cooke, London,
1684. This book was first published in Dutch at Amsterdam in 1678, then in
German in 1679, in Spanish in 1681. Since then almost innumerable editions
and reprints have appeared.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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