The Pirates' Who's Who Part 11

In 1717 was in the Bahama Islands when Woodes Rogers arrived at New Providence Island with King George's offer of pardon to those pirates who came in and surrendered themselves. c.o.c.klyn, like many others, after surrendering, fell again into their wicked ways, and ended by being hanged. Only a year after receiving the royal pardon we hear of him being in company with Davis and La Bouse and several other notorious pirates at Sierra Leone, when he was in command of a tall s.h.i.+p of twenty-four guns.

c.o.c.klyn ended his life on the gallows.

COFRECINA, CAPTAIN.

A notorious Spanish-American pirate who was very troublesome in the South Atlantic in the early part of the last century. Eventually captured by Mids.h.i.+pman Hull Foot of the U.S. Navy in March, 1825, at St. Thomas Isle.

Executed in Porto Rico by the terrible Spanish method of the garotte.

COLE, CAPTAIN JOHN.

Commander of the _Eagle_, _alias_ the _New York Revenge's Revenge_. Tried, condemned, and hanged in 1718 at Charleston. His was a brilliant career while it lasted, but was cut short after a brief and meteoric spell.

COLE, SAMUEL.

One of Captain Fly's crew. Tried and condemned for piracy at Boston in 1726. On the way to the gallows the culprits were taken to church, where they had to listen to a long sermon from Dr. Colman, bringing home to the wretched creatures their dreadful sins and their awful future.

COLLIER, CAPTAIN EDWARD.

Commanded the _Oxford_, a King's s.h.i.+p, which was sent from England to Jamaica at the earnest request of Governor Modyford, for a "nimble frigate," to help keep control over the increasingly turbulent buccaneers.

Collier's first act was to seize a French man-of-war, a privateer called the _Cour Volent_, of La Roch.e.l.le, commanded by M. la Vivon, his excuse being that the Frenchmen had robbed an English vessel of provisions.

Collier was appointed to be Morgan's Vice-Admiral, and a few days later the _Oxford_ was blown up accidentally while a conference of buccaneer captains was taking place.

In 1670, with six s.h.i.+ps and 400 men, the buccaneers sailed for the Spanish Main and sacked the city of Rio de la Hacha. Collier led the left wing in the famous and successful attack on Panama City with the rank of colonel.

Richard Brown reports that Collier could on occasions be very cruel, and that he even executed a Spanish friar on the battlefield after quarter had been given to the vanquished. On their return to the coast after the sacking of Panama, Collier was accused, with Morgan and the other commanders, of having cheated the seamen of their fair share of the plunder, and of deserting them, and then sailing off in the s.h.i.+ps with the supplies of food as well as the plunder.

COLLINS, THOMAS.

This Madagascar pirate was a carpenter by trade, who had by 1716 retired from the sea and lived in splendour in that island. Collins was made Governor of the pirate colony, and built a small fort for its defence, which the pirates armed with the guns taken out of their s.h.i.+p, which had by long use grown old and crazy, and was of no further use to them.

COMRY, ADAM.

Surgeon to the s.h.i.+p _Elizabeth_, taken by Captain Bartholomew Roberts's squadron. Gave evidence at the trial of George Wilson and another sea-surgeon, Scudamore, that the former had borrowed from Comry a "clean s.h.i.+rt and drawers, for his better appearance and reception." When visiting Captain Bartholomew Roberts's s.h.i.+p, Comry was forced to serve as surgeon on board one of Roberts's vessels.

CONDENT, CAPTAIN, _also_ CONGDON or CONDEN.

Born at Plymouth in Devons.h.i.+re.

Condent was quartermaster in a New York sloop, at the Island of New Providence, when Governor Woodes Rogers arrived there in 1718. The captain of the sloop seems to have thought best to leave rather than wait to welcome the new Governor. When only a few days out, one of the crew, an Indian, who had been cruelly treated, attempted, in revenge, to blow up the s.h.i.+p. This was prevented by Condent, who with great courage leapt into the hold and shot the Indian, but not before the latter had fired at him and broken his arm. The crew, to show the relief they felt at being saved from a sudden death, hacked to pieces the body of the Indian, while the gunner, ripping open the dead man's belly, tore out his heart, which he boiled and ate.

Turning their attention from cannibalism to piracy, the pirates took a prize, the _Duke of York_, but disputes arising, the captain and part of the crew sailed in the prize, while Condent was elected captain of the sloop, and headed across the Atlantic for the Cape Verde Islands, where he found the salt fleet, of twenty small vessels, lying at anchor off the Island of Mayo, all of which he took. Sailing next to the Island of St.

Jago, he took a Dutch s.h.i.+p. This proving a better s.h.i.+p than the sloop, Condent transferred himself and crew into her, and named her the _Flying Dragon_, presenting the sloop to the mate of an English prize, who he had forced to go with him. From thence Condent sailed away for the coast of Brazil, taking several Portuguese s.h.i.+ps which, after plundering, he let go. After cleaning the _Flying Dragon_ on Ferdinando Island, the pirates took several more prizes, and then one day met with a Portuguese man-of-war of seventy guns. Coming up with her, the Portuguese hailed the pirates, and they answered "from London bound for Buenos Ayres." The man-of-war, to pay a compliment to the s.h.i.+p of her English ally, manned the shrouds and cheered him, and while this amicable demonstration of marine brotherly feeling was taking place, Captain Condent came up alongside and suddenly fired a broadside and a volley of small arms into the man-of-war, and a smart engagement followed, in which the pirates were worsted, and were lucky to escape.

Sailing away round the Cape of Good Hope, Condent arrived at the pirate stronghold at the Island of Johanna, where he took on board some of Captain Halsey's crew, and, reinforced by these skilled masters in the craft of piracy, took several rich East Indiamen off the Malabar coast.

Calling in at the Isle of St. Mary, one of the Mascerenas group, he met with another Portuguese s.h.i.+p of seventy guns, which he was fortunate enough to make a prize of. In this s.h.i.+p they found amongst the pa.s.sengers the Viceroy of Goa. Carrying this rich prize to Zanzibar, they plundered her of a large amount of money.

Having now gathered a vast fortune, they thought it time to give up piracy, so they returned to the Island of St. Mary, where they made a share of their plunder, and the company broke up, many of them settling down amongst the natives. Captain Condent and some others sent from here a pet.i.tion to the Governor of Mauritius asking for a pardon, and received answer that he would take them into his protection if they would destroy their s.h.i.+ps. Having done this, they sailed to Mauritius, where they settled down, and Captain Condent married the Governor's sister-in-law.

A few years later the captain and his wife left the island and sailed to France, settling at St. Malo, where Condent drove a considerable trade as a merchant.

COOK, CAPTAIN EDWARD, or EDMUND.

Was on the Pacific coast with Captains Sharp and Sawkins, 1680. Being unable to keep order amongst his unruly crew, he resigned his s.h.i.+p and command to Captain John c.o.x, a New Englander. He commanded a barque in the successful sacking of Porto Bello in the same year in company with Sharp, c.o.xon, and others.

On land engagements his flag was a red one striped with yellow, on which was a device of a hand and sword.

COOK, GEORGE, _alias_ RAMEDAM.

An English renegade amongst the Barbary pirates of Algiers. Was gunner's mate when captured in the _Exchange_ in 1622. Brought to Plymouth and hanged.

COOK, WILLIAM.

Servant to Captain Edmund Cook, and was found, on being searched, to have on him a paper with the names of all his fellow pirates written on it, and was suspected of having prepared it to give to some of the Spanish prisoners. For this, Captain Walters put him in irons on January 7th, 1681.

He died on board s.h.i.+p on Monday, February 14th, 1681, off the coast of Chile.

COOKE, CAPTAIN JOHN.

This buccaneer was born in the Island of St. Christopher. "A brisk, bold man," he was promoted to the rank of quartermaster by Captain Yankey. On taking a Spanish s.h.i.+p, Cooke claimed the command of her, which he was ent.i.tled to, and would have gone in her with an English crew had not the French members of the crew, through jealousy, sacked the s.h.i.+p and marooned the Englishmen on the Island of Avache. Cooke and his men were rescued by another French buccaneer, Captain Tristram, and taken to the Island of Dominica. Here the English managed to get away with the s.h.i.+p, leaving Tristram and his Frenchmen behind on land. Cooke, now with a s.h.i.+p of his own, took two French s.h.i.+ps loaded with wine. With this valuable cargo he steered northward, and reached Virginia in April, 1683. He had no difficulty in selling his wine for a good price to the New Englanders, and with the profits prepared for a long voyage in his s.h.i.+p, the _Revenge_. He took on board with him several famous buccaneers, including Dampier and Cowley, the latter as sailing master. They first sailed to Sierra Leone, then round the Horn to the Island of Juan Fernandez. Here Cooke was taken ill. His next stop was at the Galapagos Islands. Eventually Cooke died a mile or two off the coast of Cape Blanco in Mexico. His body was rowed ash.o.r.e to be buried, accompanied by an armed guard of twelve seamen. While his grave was being dug three Spanish Indians came up, and asked so many questions as to rouse the suspicions of the pirates, who seized them as spies, but one escaping, he raised the whole countryside.

COOPER, CAPTAIN.

Commanded a pirate sloop, the _Night Rambler_. On November 14th, 1725, he took the _Perry_ galley (Captain King, commander), three days out from Barbadoes, and the following day a French sloop, and carried both prizes to a small island called Aruba, near Curacao, where they plundered them and divided the spoil amongst the crew. The crews of the two prizes were kept on the island by Cooper for seventeen days, and would have starved if the pirate's doctor had not taken compa.s.sion on them and procured them food.

Upton, boatswain in the _Perry_, joined the pirates, and was afterwards tried and hanged in England.

COOPER, CAPTAIN.

On October 19th, 1663, he brought into Port Royal, Jamaica, two Spanish prizes, one the _Maria of Seville_, a royal azogue carrying 1,000 quintals of quicksilver for the King of Spain's mines in Mexico, besides oil, wine, and olives. Also a number of prisoners were taken, including several friars on their way to Campeachy and Vera Cruz. The buccaneers always rejoiced at capturing a priest or a friar, and these holy men generally experienced very rough treatment at the hands of the pirates.

Cooper's s.h.i.+p was a frigate of ten guns, and a crew of eighty men.

CORBET, CAPTAIN.