The Pirates' Who's Who Part 14

DANIEL, STEPHEN.

One of Captain Teach's crew. Hanged for piracy in Virginia in 1718.

DANSKER, CAPTAIN.

A Dutch pirate who cruised in the Mediterranean in the sixteenth century, using the North African coast as his base. He joined the Moors and turned Mohammedan. In 1671 Admiral Sir Edward Spragge was with a fleet at Bougie Bay, near Algiers, where, after a sharp fight, he burnt and destroyed a big fleet of the Moorish pirates, amongst those killed being the renegade Dansker.

DARBY, JOHN.

A Marblehead fisherman, one of the crew of the ketch _Mary_, of Salem, captured by Captain Pound. He joined the pirates, and was killed at Tarpaulin Cove.

DAVIS, CAPTAIN EDWARD. Buccaneer and pirate.

Flourished from 1683-1702. According to Esquemiling, who knew Davis personally, his name was John, but some authorities call him Edward, the name he is given in the "Dictionary of National Biography."

In 1683 Davis was quartermaster to Captain Cook when he took the s.h.i.+p of Captain Tristian, a French buccaneer, of Pet.i.t Guave in the West Indies.

Sailed north to cruise off the coast of Virginia. From there he sailed across the Atlantic to West Africa, and at Sierra Leone came upon a Danish s.h.i.+p of thirty-six guns, which he attacked and took. The pirates s.h.i.+fted their crew into this s.h.i.+p, christening her the _Bachelor's Delight_, and sailed for Juan Fernandez in the South Pacific, arriving there in March, 1684. Here they met with Captain Brown, in the _Nicholas_, and together sailed to the Galapagos Islands. About this time Captain Cook died, and Davis was elected captain in his place. Cruising along the coasts of Chile and Peru, they sacked towns and captured Spanish s.h.i.+ps. On November 3rd Davis landed, and burnt the town of Paita. Their princ.i.p.al plan was to waylay the Spanish Fleet on its voyage to Panama. This fleet arrived off the Bay of Panama on May 28th, 1685, but the buccaneers were beaten and were lucky to escape with their lives. At the Gulf of Ampalla, Davis had to put his sick on sh.o.r.e, as spotted fever raged amongst the crew. Davis then cruised for a while with the buccaneer Knight, sacking several towns.

Deciding to return to the West Indies with their plunder, several of the crew, who had lost all their share by gambling, were left, at their own request, on the Island of Juan Fernandez. Davis then sailed round the Horn, arriving safely at Jamaica with a booty of more than 50,000 pieces of eight, besides quant.i.ties of plate and jewels.

At Port Royal, after he had accepted the offer of pardon of King James II., Davis sailed to Virginia and settled down at Point Comfort. We hear no more of him for the next fourteen years, until July 24th, 1702, when he sailed from Jamaica in the _Blessing_ (Captain Brown; twenty guns, seventy-nine men), to attack the town of Tolu on the Spanish Main, which was plundered and burnt. Davis next sailed to the Samballoes, and, guided by the Indians, who were friendly to the buccaneers, but hated the Spaniards, they attacked the gold-mines, where, in spite of most cruel tortures, they got but little gold. The crew next attacked Porto Bello, but found little worth stealing in that much hara.s.sed town.

Davis is chiefly remarkable for having commanded his gang of ruffians in the Pacific for nearly four years. To do this he must have been a man of extraordinary personality and bravery, for no other buccaneer or pirate captain ever remained in uninterrupted power for so long a while, with the exception of Captain Bartholomew Roberts.

DAVIS, CAPTAIN HOWEL.

This Welsh pirate was born at Milford in Monmouths.h.i.+re. He went to sea as a boy, and eventually sailed as chief mate in the _Cadogan_ snow, of Bristol, to the Guinea Coast. His s.h.i.+p was taken off Sierra Leone by the pirate England, and the captain murdered. Davis turned pirate, and was given command of this old vessel, the _Cadogan_, in which to go "on the account." But the crew refused to turn pirate, and sailed the s.h.i.+p to Barbadoes, and there handed Davis over to the Governor, who imprisoned him for three months and then liberated him. As no one on the island would offer him employment, Davis went to New Providence Island, the stronghold of the West India pirates.

Arrived there, he found that Captain Woodes Rogers had only lately come from England with an offer of a royal pardon, which most of the pirates had availed themselves of. Davis got employment under the Governor, on board the sloop, the _Buck_, to trade goods with the French and Spanish settlements. The crew was composed of the very recently reformed pirates, and no sooner was the sloop out of sight of land than they mutinied and seized the vessel, Davis being voted captain, on which occasion, over a bowl of punch in the great cabin, the new captain made an eloquent speech, finis.h.i.+ng by declaring war against the whole world. Davis proved himself an enterprising and successful pirate chief, but preferred, whenever possible, to use strategy and cunning rather than force to gain his ends.

His first prize was a big French s.h.i.+p, which, although Davis had only a small sloop and a crew of but thirty-five men, he managed to take by a bold and clever trick. After taking a few more s.h.i.+ps in the West Indies, Davies sailed across the Atlantic to the Island of St. Nicholas in the Cape Verde Islands. Here he and his crew were a great social success, spending weeks on sh.o.r.e as the guests of the Governor and chief inhabitants. When Davis reluctantly left this delightful spot, five of his crew were missing, "being so charmed with the Luxuries of the Place, and the Conversation of some Women, that they stayed behind."

Davis now went cruising and took a number of vessels, and arrived eventually at St. Jago. The Portuguese Governor of this island did not take at all kindly to his bold visitor, and was blunt enough to say he suspected Davis of being a pirate. This suspicion his crew took exception to, and they decided they could not let such an insult pa.s.s, so that very night they made a sudden attack on the fort, taking and plundering it.

Davis sailed away next morning to the coast and anch.o.r.ed off the Castle of Gambia, which was strongly held for the African Company by the Governor and a garrison of English soldiers. Davis, nothing daunted, proposed to his merry men a bold and ingenious stratagem by which they could take the castle, and, the crew agreeing, it was carried out with so much success that they soon had the castle, Governor, and soldiers in their possession, as well as a rich spoil of bars of gold; and all these without a solitary casualty on either side. After this brilliant coup, many of the soldiers joined the pirates. The pirates were attacked shortly afterwards by a French s.h.i.+p commanded by Captain La Bouse, but on both s.h.i.+ps hoisting their colours, the Jolly Roger, they understood each other and fraternized, and then sailed together to Sierra Leone, where they attacked a tall s.h.i.+p they found lying there at anchor. This s.h.i.+p also proved to be a pirate, commanded by one Captain c.o.c.klyn, so the three joined forces and a.s.saulted the fort, which, after a sharp bombardment, surrendered. Davis was then elected commander of the pirate fleet, but one night, when entertaining the other captains in his cabin, all having drunk freely of punch, they started to quarrel, and blows were threatened, when Davis, with true Celtic eloquence, hiccupped out the following speech:

"Hearke ye, you c.o.c.klyn and La Bouse. I find by strengthening you I have put a rod into your Hands to whip myself, but I'm still able to deal with you both; but since we met in Love, let us part in Love, for I find that three of a Trade can never agree." Alone once more, Davis had prodigious success, taking prize after prize, amongst others the _Princess_, the second mate in which was one Roberts, soon to become a most famous pirate.

Off Anamaboe he took a very rich prize, a Hollander s.h.i.+p, on board of which was the Governor of Accra and his retinue, as well as 15,000 sterling and rich merchandise. Arriving next at the Portuguese Island of Princes, Davis posed as an English man-of-war in search of pirates, and was most warmly welcomed by the Governor, who received him in person with a guard of honour and entertained him most hospitably. Davis heard that the Governor and the chief persons of the island had sent their wives to a village a few miles away, so the pirate and a few chosen spirits decided to pay a surprise visit on these ladies. However, the ladies, on perceiving their gallant callers, shrieked and ran into the woods and, in fact, made such a hullabaloo that the English Don Juans were glad to slink away, and "the Thing made some noise, but not being known was pa.s.sed over."

Davis, ever a cunning rogue, now formed a pretty scheme to take the Governor and chief inhabitants prisoners and to hold them for a big ransom. This plan was spoilt by a Portuguese slave swimming to sh.o.r.e and telling the Governor all about it, and worse, telling him about the little affair of Davis and his visit to the ladies in the wood. The Governor now laid his plans, and with such success that Davis walked unsuspecting into the trap, and was "shot in the bowels," but it is some consolation to know that he "dyed like a game c.o.c.k," as he shot two of the Portuguese with his pistols as he fell.

Thus died a man noted during his lifetime by his contemporaries for his "affability and good nature," which only goes to show how one's point of view is apt to be influenced by circ.u.mstances.

DAVIS, GABRIEL.

Tried for piracy at the Star Tavern in Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts, in 1704.

DAVIS, WILLIAM.

A Welshman.

Arrived at Sierra Leone in honest employ in the _Ann_ galley. Quarrelling with the mate, whom he beat, he deserted his s.h.i.+p and went to live ash.o.r.e with the negroes, one of whom he married, with whom he settled down. One evening, the weather being hot, and Davis being very thirsty, he sold his bride for some punch. His wife's relations, being indignant, seized Davis, who told them, being, perhaps, still a little under the influence of the punch, that he did not care if they took his head off. But his "in-laws"

knew a more profitable way of being revenged than that, and sold him to Seignior Joffee, a Christian black. Soon afterwards Captain Roberts, in the _Royal Fortune_, arrived in the bay, and Davis ran away and joined the pirates.

Hanged at the age of 23.

DAWES. Corsair.

An English renegade.

When Roberts was cast away on June 12th, 1692, in Nio, a small island in the Grecian Archipelago, in His Majesty's hired s.h.i.+p the _Arcana_ galley, most of the crew escaped in a French prize they had taken. Roberts remained behind, hoping to save some of his valuables, which were in the _Arcana_. But on June 15th a crusal, or corsair, appeared in the harbour, which Roberts's five companions went on board of. Various designs were made by the corsair captain to induce Roberts to come aboard. Eventually an Englishman named Dawes (a native of Saltash in Cornwall) was sent ash.o.r.e. He had served for eight years in the corsair until taken out of her a short time previously by the _Arcana_. Roberts writes, in his frank style: "But Dawes, like a Dog returning to his Vomit, went on Board again." Eventually a party of the corsair's landed under the leaders.h.i.+p of Dawes, and captured Roberts and carried him on board the pirate craft, where for many years he worked as a slave.

DAWES, ROBERT.

One of the mutineers on the brig _Vineyard_ in 1830. It was the full confession of Dawes that brought about the conviction and execution of the ringleader, Charles Gibbs.

DAWSON, JOSEPH.

One of Captain Avery's crew of the _Charles the Second_. Tried at the Old Bailey in 1696 for piracy, and convicted. He pleaded to be spared and to be sent to servitude in India, but was hanged at Execution Dock.

DEAL, CAPTAIN ROBERT.

Mate to Captain Vane in 1718. He was very active off the coast of Carolina and New England, taking many prizes. In November, 1718, when cruising between Cape Meise and Cape Nicholas, on the lookout for s.h.i.+ps, he met with and fired on a vessel that appeared to be a merchantman, at the same time running up the Jolly Roger. The apparently peaceful merchantman replied with a broadside, and proved to be a French man-of-war. A quarrel took place amongst the pirates, Vane and some of the crew, including Deal, being for running away for safety, while the rest, headed by Rackam, were in favour of fighting it out. Vane insisted on their escaping, which they did, but next day he, Deal, and some others were turned out of the s.h.i.+p and sent away on their own in a small sloop. Deal was put in command of this sloop, but was soon afterwards captured by an English man-of-war and brought to Jamaica, where he was tried, convicted, and hanged.

DEANE, CAPTAIN JOHN. Buccaneer.

Commanded the _St. David_. He was accused by the Governor of Jamaica in 1676 of having held up a s.h.i.+p called the _John Adventure_ and of taking out of her several pipes of wine and a cable worth 100, and of forcibly carrying the vessel to Jamaica. Deane was also reported for wearing Dutch, French, and Spanish colours without commission, and was tried and condemned to suffer death as a pirate. Owing to various legal, or illegal, quibbles, Deane was reprieved.

DEDRAN, LE CAPITAINE. A French filibuster of French Domingo.

Commanded, in 1684, the _Cha.s.seur_ (120 men, 20 guns).

DEIGLE, RICHARD.

An Elizabethan pirate. Wrecked in the _John of Sandwich_ at Alderney in 1564, when he was arrested, but escaped in a small boat.