 Preface an introduction of The Pirate's Own Book. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Pirate's Own Book by Charles Elms. Preface. In the mind of the Mariner, there is a superstitious whore connected with the name of Pirate, and there are few subjects that interest and excite the curiosity of mankind generally, more than the desperate exploits, foul doings, and diabolical career of these monsters in human form. A piratical crew is generally formed of the desperados and marina gates of every climbing nation. The pirate, from the perilous nature of his occupation, when not cruising on the ocean, the great highway of nations, selects the most lonely isles of the sea for his retreat, or secretes himself through the shores of rivers, bays, and lagoons of thickly wooded and uninhabited countries, but if pursued, he could escape to the woods and mountain glens of the interior. The islands of the Indian Ocean and the east and west coast of Africa, as well as the West Indies, have been their haunts for centuries, and vessels navigating the Atlantic and Indian Oceans are often captured by them. The passengers and crew murdered, the money and most valuable part of the cargo plundered, the vessel destroyed, the so obliterating all trace of their unhappy fate, and leaving friends and relatives to mourn their loss from the inclinancies of the elements when they were butchered and cold blooded by their fellow men, who by practically adopting the maxim that dead men tell no tales, enable themselves to pursue their diabolical career with impunity. The pirate is truly fond of women and wine, and when not engaged, robbing keeps him manned with intoxicating liquors, and passes his time into vouchery, singing old songs with choruses like, Drain, drain the bowl of each fearless soul, the world wag as it will, let the heavens growl, let the devil howl, drain, drain the deep bowl and fill. Thus his hours of relaxation are passed in wild and extravagant frolics amongst the lofty forests of palms and spicy groves to the torrid zone, and amidst the aromatic and beautiful flowering vegetable productions of that region. He has fruits delicious to taste, and as companions the unsophisticated daughters of Africa and the Indies. It would be supposed that his wild career would be one of delight, but the apprehension and foreboding of the mind when under the influence of remorse are powerful, and every man, whether civilized or savage, has interwoven in his constitution a moral sense, which secretly condemns him when he is committed in atrocious action, even when he is placed in situations which raise him above the fear of human punishment for, Conscience, the torture of the soul unseen, does fiercely brandish a sharp scourge within. Severe decrees may keep our tongues in awe, but to our minds what edicts can give law. Even you yourself to your own breast shall tell your crimes and your own conscience be your hell. What the name of pirate is also associated ideas of rich plunder, caskets of buried jewels, chests of gold ingots, bags of atlantic coins secreted in lonely out-of-the-way places, or buried about the wild shores of rivers and unexplored seacoasts, near rocks and trees bearing mysterious marks indicating where the treasure was hid. And as it is his invariable practice to secrete and bury his booty, and from the perilous life he leads, being often killed or captured, he can never revisit the spot again. Immense sums remain buried in those places and are irrecoverably lost. Search is often made by persons who labor in anticipation of throwing up with their spade and pickaxe of gold bars, dine-and-crosses sparkling amongst the dirt, bags of golden doubloons, and chests wedged close with moiders, duckets, and pearls. But although great treasures lie hid in this way, it seldom happens that any is so recovered. Introduction By the universal law of nations, robbery or forcible depredation upon the high seas, on a mooforandi, is piracy. The meaning of the phrase, high seas, embraces not only the waters of the ocean, which are out of sight of land, but the waters on the seacoast below the low watermark, whether within the territorial boundaries of a foreign nation or of a domestic state. Blackstone says that the main sea or high sea begins at low watermark. But between the high watermark and low watermark, where the tide ebbs and flows, the common law and the admiralty have divisum imperium, an alternate jurisdiction, one upon the water when it is full sea, the other upon the land when it is end. He doubtless here refers to the waters of the ocean on the seacoast and not in creeks and inlets. Lord Hale says that the sea is either that which lies within the body of a country or without. That which lies without the body of a country is called the main sea or ocean. So far, then, as regards the states of the American Union, high seas may be taken to mean that part of the ocean which washes the seacoast and was split out the body of any country according to the common law and so far as regards foreign nations any waters on their seacoast below low watermark. Piracy is enough fence against the universal law of society, a pirate being, according to Sir Edward Coke, hostess who money juneurs. As therefore he has renounced all of the benefits of society and government and has reduced himself to the savage state of nature by declaring war against all mankind. All mankind must declare war against him so that every community has a right by the rule of self-defense to inflict that punishment upon him which every individual would in a state of nature otherwise have been entitled to do for any invasion of his person or personal property. By various statutes in England and the United States, other offenses are named piracy. Thus, if the subject of either of those nations commit any act of hostility against a fellow subject on the high seas, under color of a commission from any foreign power, this act is piracy. So if any captain of any vessel or mariner run away with the vessel or the goods or yield them up to a pirate voluntarily or if any seaman lay violent hands upon his commander to hinder him from fighting a defense of the ship or goods committed to his charge or make a revolt in the ship, these offenses are acts of piracy by the laws of the United States and England. In England, by the Statute of 8th George I, Chapter 24, the trading or correspondence with known pirates or the forcibly boarding any merchant vessel though without seizing her or carrying her off and destroying any of the goods on board are declared to be acts of piracy and by the Statute 18th George II, Chapter 30, any natural-born subject or denizen who in time of war shall commit any hostilities at sea against any of his fellow subjects or shall assist an enemy on that element is liable to be punished as a pirate. By Statute of George II, Chapter 25, the ransoming of any neutral vessel which had been taken by the captain of a private ship of war is declared piracy. By the act of Congress, April 30th, 1790, if any person upon the high seas or in any river, haven or bay out of the jurisdiction of any particular state commit murder or robbery or any other offense which if committed within the body of a country would but a law of the United States be punishable by death. Such offender is to be deemed a pirate. By the act of Congress, 1820, Chapter 113, if any citizen of the United States being of the crew of any foreign vessel or any person being of the crew of any vessel owned in whole or part by any citizen of the United States shall be engaged in the foreign slave trade. He shall be adjudged a pirate. Notwithstanding the expression used in this statute the question, says Chancellor Kent, remains to be settled whether the act of being conserved in the slave trade would be adjudged piracy within the code of international law. In England, by the act of parliament past March 31st, 1824, the slave trade is also declared to be piracy. An attempt has been made to effect a convention between the United States and Great Britain by which it should be agreed that both fusions should consider the slave trade as piratical but this attempt has hitherto been unsuccessful. In the time of Richard III by the laws of Oberon all infidels were regarded as pirates and their property liable to seizure were ever found. By the law of nations the taking of goods by piracy does not divest the actual owner of them. By the civil institutions of Spain and Venice ships taken from pirates become the property of those who would take them. Piracy is everywhere pursued and punished with death and pirates can gain no rights by conquest. It is of no importance for the purpose of giving jurisdiction in cases of piracy on whom or where a piratical offense is committed. A pirate who is won by the law of nations may be tried and punished in any country where he may be found, for he is reputed to be out of the protection of all laws. But if the statute of any government declares an offense committed on board one of their own vessels to be piracy such an offense will be punished exclusively by the nation which passes the statute. In England the offense was formerly cognisable only by the Admiralty courts which proceeded without a jury in a method founded on the civil law. But by the statute of Henry VIII, Chapter 15, it was enacted that piracy should be tried by commissioners nominated by the Lord Chancellor, the indictment being first found by a grand jury of twelve men and afterwards tried by another jury as a common law. Among the commissioners there are always some of the common law judges. In the United States pirates are tried before the circuit court of the United States. Piracy has been known from their modest antiquity. For in the early days every small maritime state was addicted to piracy and navigation was perilous. This habit was so general that it was regarded with indifference and whether merchant, traveler or pirate the stranger was received with the rights of hospitality. Thus mystery having given mentor in Telemachus a plentious repast remarks that the banquet being finished it was time to ask his guests out to their business. Are you, demands the aged prince, merchants destined to any ports or are you merely adventurers and pirates who roam the seas without any place of destination and live by rapine and ruin. End of Preface and Introduction Chapter 1 The Danish and Norman Pirates The Saxons of people supposed to be derived from the Symbry uniting the occupations of the pirates. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Barry Eads The Pirates Own Book by Charles Elms Chapter 1 Uniting the occupations of fishing and piracy commenced at an early period the ravages in the German ocean and the shores of Gaul and Britain were for ages open to their depredations. About the middle of the fifth century the unwarlike Vortigern then king of Britain embraced the fatal resolution of requesting these hardy warriors to deliver him from the harassing inroads of the Picts and Scots and the expedition of Hengist was the consequence. Our mention of this memorable epoch is not for its political importance great as that is but for its effects on piracy for the success attending such enterprises seems to have turned the whole of the northern nations towards sea warfare. The Danes, Norwegians and Swedes from their superior knowledge of navigation gave into it most and on whatever coast the winds carried them they made free with all that came in their way. Knuth IV endeavored in vain to repress these lawless disorders among his subjects but they felt so galled by his restrictions that they assassinated him. On the king of Sweden being taken by the Danes permission was given to such of his subjects as chose to arm themselves against the enemy pillage his possessions and sell their prizes at Ribnitz and Gaulnitz. This proved a fertile nursery of pirates so formidable under the name of Vectelian Brodders that several princes were obliged to arm against them and hang some of their chiefs. Even the females of the north caught the epidemic spirit and proudly betook themselves to the dangers of sea life. Saxo Gramaticus relates an interesting story of one of them Al Wilda the daughter of Sinardis a Gothic king to deliver herself from the violence imposed on her inclination by a marriage with Alph the son of Sageris king of Denmark embraced the life of a rover and attired as a man she embarked in a vessel of which the crew was composed of other young women of tried courage dressed in the same manner. Among the first of her cruises she landed at a place where a company of pirates were bewailing the loss of their commander and the strangers were so captivated with the air and agreeable manners of Al Wilda that they unanimously sent her for their leader. By this reinforcement she became so formidable that Prince Alph was dispatched to engage her. She sustained his attacks with great courage and talent but during a severe action in the Gulf of Finland Alph boarded her vessel and having killed the greatest part of her crew seized the captain, namely herself whom nevertheless he knew not because she had a cask which covered her visage. He was surprised on removing the helmet to recognize his beloved Al Wilda and it seems that his valor had now recommended him to the fair princess for he persuaded her to accept his hand, married her on board and then led her to partake of his wealth and share his throne. Charlemagne, though represented as naturally generous and humane had been induced in his extravagant zeal for the propagation of those tenets which he had himself adopted to enforce them throughout Germany at the point of the sword and his murders and decimations on that account disgrace humanity. The more warlike of the Pagans flying into Jutland from once the Saxons had issued forth were received with kindness and furnished with the means of punishing their persecutor by harassing his coasts. The maritime towns of France were especially ravaged by those pirates called Normans or men of the North and it was owing to their being joined by many malcontents in the provinces since called Normandy that the district acquired its name. Charlemagne, roused by this effrontery besides fortifying the mouths of the great rivers determined on building himself a fleet which he did, consisting of four hundred of the largest galleys then known, some having five or six benches of oars. His people were, however, extremely ignorant of marine time affairs and in the progress of having them taught he was suddenly called to the south by the invasion of the Saracens. Another division of Normans some years afterwards in the same spirit of emigration and thirsting, perhaps, to avenge their injured ancestors burst into the provinces of France which the degeneracy of Charlemagne's posterity and the dissensions which prevailed there rendered an affair of no great difficulty. Louis Le Debanier had taken every means of keeping on good terms with them annually persuading some to become Christians and then sending them home so loaded with presence that it was discovered they came to be baptized over and over again merely for the sake of the gifts as Duchesne tells us. But on the subsequent division of the empire among the undutiful sons of Louis the pirates did not fail to take advantage of the general confusion braving the sea almost every summer in their light coracles sailing up the Seine, Soumay and Lois and devastating the best parts of France almost without resistance. In 845 they went up to Paris pillaged it and were on the point of attacking the royal camp at St. Denis. But receiving a large sum of money from Charles the Bald they retreated from thence and with the new means thus supplied them ravaged Bordeaux and were there joined by Pepin the king of Aquitaine. A few years afterwards they returned in great numbers. Paris was again sacked and the magnificent Abbey of St. Germain de Prez burnt. In 861 Weyland a famous Norman pirate returning from England took up his winter quarters on the banks of the Lois devastated the country as high as terrain shared the women and girls among his crews and even carried off the male children profession. Charles the Bald not having the power to expel him engaged the freebooter for 500 pounds of silver to dislodge his countrymen who were harassing the vicinity of Paris. In consequence of this subsidy Weyland with a fleet of 260 sail went up the Seine and attacked the Normans in the Isle of Wazel after a long and obstinate resistance they were obliged to capitulate and aid 6000 pounds of gold and silver by way of ransom had leave to join their victors. The riches thus acquired rendered a predatory life so popular that the pirates were continually increasing in number so that under a sea king called Eric they made a descent in the Elbe Investor pillaged Hamburg penetrated far into Germany and after gaining two battles retreated with immense booty. The pirates thus reinforced on all sides long continued to devastate Germany, France and England some penetrated into Andalusia and Hitruria where they destroyed the flourishing town of Looney whilst others descending the denapre penetrated even into Russia. Meanwhile the Danes had been making several attempts to effect allogiment in England and allured by its fertility were induced to try their fortune in various expeditions which were occasionally completely successful in other times most fatally disastrous. At length after a struggle of several years their success was so decided that King Alfred was obliged for a time to abandon his kingdom as we all know to their ravages. They immediately passed over to Ireland and divided it into three soverenties. That of Dublin fell to the share of Olof that of Waterford to Sitra and that of Limerick to Yavar. These arrangements dispersed the forces of the enemy and watching his opportunity Alfred issued from his retreat fell on them like a thunderbolt and made a great carnage of them. This prince, too wise to exterminate the pirates after he had conquered them sent them to settle North Umberland which had been wasted by their countrymen and by this humane policy gained their attachment and services. He then retook London, embellished it equipped fleets, restrained the Danes in England and prevented others from landing. In the twelve years of peace which followed his 56 battles this great man composed his body of laws divided England into counties, hundreds and tithings and founded the University of Oxford. But after Alfred's death fresh swarms of pirates visited the shores among the most formidable of whom were the Danes who spread desolation and misery along the banks of the Thames the Severn, the Tamar and the Avon for more than a century though repeatedly tempted to desist by weighty bribes raised by an oppressive and humiliating tax called Dengeld from its object and which like most others were continued long after it answered its intent. About the end of the ninth century one of the sons of Roggenwald Count of the Orcades named Horrof or Rolo having infested the coast of Norway with piratical descents was at length defeated and banished by Harold, king of Denmark. He fled for safety to the Scandinavian island of Sodoro where finding many outlaws and discontented fugitives he addressed their passions and succeeding in placing himself at their head. Instead of measuring his sword with his sovereign again he adopted the wiser policy of imitating his countrymen and making his fortune by plundering the more opulent Europe. The first attempt of this powerful gang was upon England where finding out for too powerful to be coped with he stood over to the mouth of the Sain and availed himself of the state to which France was reduced. Horrof however did not limit his ambition to the acquisition of booty. He wished permanently to enjoy some of the fine countries he was ravaging and after many treaties made and broken received the duchy of Normandy he chose the simple as a fife together with Gisla the daughter of the French monarch in marriage. Thus did a mere pirate found the family which in a few years gave sovereigns to England, Naples and Sicily and spread the fame of their talents and prowess throughout the world. Nor was Europe open to the depredations of the northern pirates only. Some Asiatic Muslims having seized on Syria immediately invaded Africa and their subsequent invaders in Spain facilitated their eruption into France where they pillaged the devoted country with but few substantial checks. Masters of all the islands in the Mediterranean their corsairs insulted the coasts of Italy and even threatened the destruction of the eastern empire. While Alexis was occupied in a war with Pancenasies on the banks of the Danube, Zacus a Saracen pirate scoured the archipelago having with the Abel Smyrnaio constructed a flotilla of 40 brigantines and some light fast rowing boats manned by adventurers like himself. After taking several of the surrounding islands he established himself sovereign of Smyrna, that place being about the center of his newly acquired dominions. Here his fortunes prospered for a time and Solomon, Sultan of Nicaea son of the Grand Solomon sought his alliance and married his daughter about A.D. 1093. But in the following year young Solomon being persuaded that his father-in-law had an eye to his possessions with his own hand stabbed Zacus to the heart. The success of this free-booter shows that the eastern emperors could no longer protect or even assist their islands. Maritime pursuits had now revived the improvement of nautical science was progressing rapidly and the advantages of predatory operations, especially when assisted and massed by commerce, led people of family and acquirements to embrace their profession. The foremost of these were the Venetians and Vigenoes, among whom the private adventurers stimulated by an enterprising spirit fitted out armaments and volunteered themselves into the service of those nations who thought proper to retain them. Or they engaged in such schemes of plunder as were likely to repay their debts. About the same time the Roxalani, or Russians became known in history, making their debut in the character of pirates, ravenous for booty and hungry for the pillage of Constantinople, a longing which nine hundred years have not yet satisfied. Pouring hundreds of boats down the baristinies, the Russian marauders made four desperate attempts to plunder the city of the Caesars in less than two centuries and appear only by the dreadful effects of the celebrated Greek fire. England in the meantime had little to do with piracy, nor had she anything worthy the name of a navy. Yet Cor de Lyon had given maritime laws to Europe. Her seamen, in point of skill, were esteemed superior to their contemporaries, and King John enacted that those foreign ships which refused to lower their flags to that of Britain should, if taken, be deemed lawful prizes. Under Henry III, though Hugh de Burg, the governor of Dover Castle, had defeated a French fleet by casting lime into the eyes of his antagonists, the naval force was impaired to such a degree that the Normans and Britons were too powerful for the Sincu ports and compelled them to seek relief from the other ports of the kingdom. The taste for depredation had become so general and contagious that privateers were now allowed to be fitted out, which equipment quickly degenerated to the most cruel of pirates. Nay more, on the disputes which took place between Henry and his barons, in 1244 the Sincu ports, who had shown much indifference to their royal requisitions, openly espoused the cause of the revolted nobles, and under the orders of Simon de Montport burnt Portsmouth. From this, forgetful of their motives for arming, they proceeded to commit various acts of piracy, and considering nothing but their private interests extended their violence not only against the shipping of all countries unfortunate enough to fall in their way but even to perpetrate the most unwarrantable ravages on the property of their own countrymen. Nor was this confined to the Sincu port vessels only. The example and the profits were too stimulating to the restless, and one daring association with Lincolnshire seized the Isle of Ely, and made it their receptacle for the plunder of all the adjacent countries. One William Marshall fortified the little island of Lundy in the mouth of the Severn, and did so much mischief by his piracies that at length it became necessary to fit out a squadron to reduce him, which was accordingly done and he was executed in London. Yet the example did not deeter other persons from similar practices. The Severn, however, did not possess sufficient naval means to suppress the enormities of the great predatory squadrons, and their ravages continued to disgrace the English name for upwards of twenty years when the valor and conciliation of the gallant Prince Edward brought them to that submission which his royal parent had failed in procuring. Those harem scarum expeditions, the crusades, were perhaps lacking piracy, although the ravel that composed the majority of them had as little principle as the worst of the free-booters. From the time that Peter the Hermit set Europe in a blaze, all ranks and all nations streamed to the east, so that few vessels were otherwise employed than in conveying the motley groups who sought the shores of Palestine, some from religious zeal, some from frantic fanaticism, some from the desire of distinction, some from the numberless privileges which the crusaders acquired, and the rest and greater portion for the spoil and plunder of which they had a prospect. The armaments fitted in no fewer than nine successive efforts were mostly equipped with such haste and ignorance, and with so little choice that ruinous delays, shipwrecks, and final discomforture were naturally to be expected. Still the effect of such incredible numbers of people making themselves to foreign countries advanced civilization, although vast means of forwarding its cause were buried in the east, and those who assert that no benefit actually resulted cannot deny that at least some evils were thereby removed. Montesquieu says that Europe then required a general shock to teacher, by the sight of contrast, the theorems of public economy most conducive to happiness, and it is evident that notwithstanding, these follies wasted the population of Europe, squandered its treasures, and infected us with new vices and diseases. Still the crusades diminished the bondage of the feudal system by augmenting the power of the king and the strength of the commons, while they also occasioned a very increased activity in commerce. Thus taming the veracity of men's spirits, increasing agriculture in value from the safety it enjoyed, and establishing a base for permanent prosperity. End of Chapter 1 Chapter 2 of the Pirates Own Book This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Jane Greensmith The Pirates Own Book by Charles Elms Chapter 2 Adventures and Exploits of Captain Avery Containing an account of his capturing one of the great mogul ships laden with treasure, and an interesting history of a colony of pirates on the island of Madagascar. During his own time the Adventures of Captain Avery were the subject of general conversation in Europe. It was reported that he had married the great mogul's daughter, who was taken in an Indian ship that fell into his hands, and that he was about to be the founder of the colony. That he gave commissions in his own name to the captains of his ships and the commanders of his forces and was acknowledged by them as their prince. In consequence of these reports it was at one time resolved to fit out a strong squadron to go and take him and his men. And at another time it was proposed to invite him home with all his riches by the offer of his Majesty's pardon. These reports, however, were soon discovered to be groundless, and he was actually starving without a shillie while he was represented as in the possession of millions. Not to exhaust the patience or lessen the curiosity of the reader the facts of Avery's life shall be briefly related. He was a native of Devonshire, England and at an early period sent to sea advanced to the station of a mate in a merchantman, he performed several voyages. It happened previous to the peace of Rhyswick, where there existed an alliance between Spain, England, Holland, and other powers against France that the French and Martinique carried on a smugly trade with the Spaniards on the continent of Peru. To prevent their intrusion into the Spanish dominions a few vessels were commanded to cruise upon that coast, but the French ships were too strong for them. The Spaniards therefore came to the resolution of hiring foreigners to act against them. Accordingly, certain merchants of Bristol fitted out two ships of 30 guns, well man, and provided with every necessary munition and commanded them to sail for Caruna to receive their orders. Captain Gibson commanded one of these ships and Avery appears to have been his mate in the year 1750. He was a fellow of more cunning than courage and insinuating himself into the confidence of some of the boldest men in the ship, he represented the immense riches which were to be acquired upon the Spanish coast and proposed to run off with the ship. The proposal was scarcely made when it was agreed upon and put in execution at ten o'clock the following evening. Captain Gibson was one of those who mightily love their bottle and spent much of his time on shore but he remained on board that night which did not however frustrate their design because he had taken his usual dose and so went to bed. The men who were not in the Confederacy went also to bed, leaving none upon deck but the conspirators. At the time agreed upon, the long boat of the other ship came and Avery hailing her in the usual manner he was answered by the men in her is your drunken boat swaying on board which was the watchword agreed between them. Avery, replying in the affirmative, the boat came alongside with sixteen stout fellows who joined in the adventure. They next secured the hatches and softly weighed anchor and immediately put to sea without bustle or noise. There were several vessels in the bay besides a Dutchman of forty guns the captain of which was offered a considerable reward to go in pursuit of Avery but he declined. When the captain awoke he rang his bell and Avery and another conspirator going into the cabin found him yet half asleep he inquired saying what is the matter with the ship? Does she drive? What weather is it? Supposing that it had been a storm and that the ship was driven from her anchors No, no answered Avery we're at sea with a fair wind and a good weather. At sea, said the captain, how can that be? Come, answered Avery don't be in a fright but put on your clothes and I'll let you in into a secret. You must know that I am captain of this ship now and this is my cabin. Therefore you must walk out. I am bound to Madagascar with the desire of making my own fortune and that of all the brave fellows joined with me. The captain having a little recovered his senses began to understand his meaning. However, his fright was as great as before which Avery perceiving desired him to fear nothing for, said he, if you have a mind to make one of us we will receive you and if you turn sober and attend to business perhaps in time I may make you one of my lieutenants. If not, here's a boat and you shall be set on shore. Gibson accepted of the last proposal and the whole crew being called up to know who was willing to go on shore with the captain. There were only about five or six who chose to accompany him. Avery proceeded on his voyage to Madagascar and it does not appear that he captured any vessels upon his way. When he arrived at the northeast part of that island he found two sloops at anchor which, upon seeing him, slipped their cables and ran themselves ashore while the men all landed and concealed themselves in the woods. These were two sloops which the men had run off with from the east Indies and seeing Avery's ship propose that he had been sent out after them. Suspecting who they were he sent some of his men on shore to inform them that they were friends and to propose a union for their common safety. The sloops men being well armed had posted themselves in a wood and placed sentinels to observe whether the ship's men were landing to pursue them. The sentinels, only observing two or three men coming towards them unarmed did not oppose them. Upon being informed that they were friends the sentinels conveyed them to the main body where they delivered their message. They were at first afraid that it was a stratagem to entrap them but when the messengers assured them that their captain had also run away with his ship and that a few of their men along with him would meet them unarmed to consult matters for their common advantage, confidence was established and they were mutually well pleased as it added to their strength. Having consulted what was most proper and attempted, they endeavored to get off the sloops and hastened to prepare all things in order to sail for the Arabian coast. Near the river Indus the man at the mast had to spy to sail upon which they gave chase as they came nearer to her they discovered that she was a tall vessel and might turn out to be an East Indian man. She however proved a better prize for when they fired at her she hoisted mogul colors and seemed to stand up upon her defense. Avery only canonated distance when some of his men began to suspect that he was not the hero they had supposed. The sloops however attacked, the one on the bow and another upon the quarter of the ship and so boarded her. She then struck her colors. She was one of the great moguls own ships and there were in her several of the greatest persons in his court among whom it was said was one of his daughters going upon a pilgrimage to Mecca and they were carrying with them rich offerings to present at the shrine of Mahoman. It is a well known fact that the people of the East travel with great magnificence so that these had along with them all their slaves in attendance with a large quantity of vessels of gold and silver and immense sums of money to defray their expenses by land. The spoil therefore which they received from that ship was almost incalculable. Taking the treasure on board their own ships and plundering their paris of everything invaluable they then allowed her to depart. As soon as the mogul received this intelligence he threatened to send a mighty army to extirpate the English from all their settlements upon the Indian coast. The East India Company were greatly alarmed but found means to calm his resentment by promising to search for the robbers and deliver them into his hands. The noise which this made over all Europe gave birth to the rumors that were circulated concerning Avery's greatness. In the meantime our adventurers made the best of their way back to Madagascar intending to make that place the deposit of all their treasure to build a small fort and to keep always a few men there for its protection. Avery however disconcerted this plan and rendered it altogether unnecessary. While steering their course Avery sent a boat to each of the sloops requesting that the chiefs would come on board his ship to hold a conference. They obeyed and being assembled he suggested to them the necessity of securing the property which they had acquired in some safe place on shore and observed that the chief difficulty was to get it safe on shore adding that if either of the sloops should be attacked alone they would not be able to make any great resistance and thus she must either be sunk or taken with all the property on board. That for his part his ship was so strong so well meant and such a swift sailing vessel that he did not think it was possible for any other ship to take or overcome her. Accordingly he proposed that all their treasure should be sealed up in three chests that each of the captain should have keys and that they should not be opened until all were present. That the chess should be then put on board his ship and afterwards lodged in some safe place upon land. This proposal seems so reasonable and so much for the common good without hesitation agreed to and all the treasure deposited in three chests and carried to Avery's ship. The weather being favourable they remained all three in company during that and the next day. Meanwhile Avery tampering with his men suggested that they had now on board what was sufficient to make them all happy. And what continued he should hinder us from going to some country where we are not known and living on shore all the rest of our days in Boudy. They soon understood his hint and all readily consented to deceive the men of the sloops and fly with all the Boudy. This they effected during the darkness of the following night. The reader may easily conjecture what were the feelings and indignation of the other two crews in the morning when they discovered that Avery had made off with all their property. Avery and his men hastened towards America and being strangers in that country agreed to divide the Boudy to change their names and each separately to take up his residence and live in affluence and honor. The first land they approached was the island of Providence then newly settled. It however occurred to them that the largeness of their vessel and the report that one had been run off with from the groin might create suspicion. They resolved therefore to dispose of their vessel at Providence. Upon this resolution Avery pretending that his vessel had been equipped for privateering and having been unsuccessful he had orders from the owners to dispose of her to the best advantage soon found a merchant. Having thus sold his own ship he immediately purchased a small sloop. In this he and his companions embarked and landed at several places in America where none suspecting them they dispersed and settled in the country. Avery however had been careful to conceal the greater part of the jewels and other valuable articles so that his riches were immense. Arriving at Boston he was almost resolved to settle there but as the greater part of his wealth consisted of diamonds he was apprehensive that he could not dispose of them at that place without being taken up as a pirate. Upon reflection therefore he resolved to sail for Ireland and in a short time arrived in the northern part of that kingdom and his men dispersed into several places. Some of them obtained the pardon of King William and settled in that country. The wealth of Avery however now proved of small service and occasioned him great uneasiness. He could not offer his diamonds for sale in that country without being suspected. Considering therefore what was best to be done he thought there might be some person of Bristol he could venture to trust. Upon this he resolved and going into Devonshire sent to one of his friends to meet him at a town called Bideford. When he had unbosomed himself to him and other pretended friends they agreed that the safest plan would be to put his effects into the hands of some wealthy merchants and no inquiry would be made how they came by them. One of these friends told him he was acquainted with some who were very fit for the purpose and if he would allow them a handsome commission they would do the business faithfully. Avery liked the proposal particularly as he could think of no other way of managing this matter since he could not appear to act for himself. Accordingly the merchants paid Avery a visit at Bideford where after strong protestations of honour and integrity he delivered them his effects consisting of diamonds and some vessels of gold. After giving him a little money for his present subsistence they departed. He changed his name and lived quietly at Bideford so that no notice was taken of him. In a short time his money was all spent and he heard nothing from his merchants though he wrote to them repeatedly. At last they sent him a small supply but it was not sufficient to pay his debts. In short the remittances they sent him were so trifling that he could with difficulty exist. He therefore determined to go privately to Bristol and have an interview with the merchants himself where instead of money he met with a mortifying repulse. Four when he desired them to come to an account with him they silenced him by threatening to disclose his character. The merchants thus proving themselves as good pirates on land as he was at sea. Whether he was frightened by these menaces or had seen some other person who recognized him is not known. However he went immediately to Ireland and from then solicited his merchants very strongly for a supply but to no purpose so that he was reduced to beggary. In this extremity he was determined to return and cast himself upon the mercy of these honest Bristol merchants let the consequences be what it would. He went on board a trading vessel and worked his passage over to Slymyth from whence he traveled on foot to Bideford. He had been there about a few days when he fell sick and died not being worth so much as would buy him a coffin. We shall now turn back and give our readers some account of the other two sloops. Deceiving themselves in the supposition that Avery had out sailed them during the night they held on their course to the place of Rendezvous but arriving there to their sad disappointment no ship appeared. It was now necessary for them to consult what was most proper to do in their desperate circumstances. Their provisions were nearly exhausted and both fish and fowl were to be found on shore yet they were destitute of salt to cure them. As they could not subsist at sea without salt provisions they resolved to form an establishment upon land accordingly making tents of the sails and using the other materials of the sloops for what purposes they could serve they encamped upon the shore. It was also a fortunate circumstance that they had plenty of ammunition in small arms. Here they met with some of their countrymen and as the digression is short we will inform our readers how they came to inhabit this place. Captain George Dew and Thomas Tew had received a commission from the Governor of Bermuda to sail for the river Gambia in Africa that with the assistance of the Royal African Company they might seize the French factory situated upon that coast. Dew in a violent storm not only sprang amassed but lost sight of his companion. Upon this he returned to refit. Instead of proceeding in his voyage Tew made towards the Cape of Good Hope doubled that Cape and sailed for the straits of Babel-Mandeeb. There he met with a large ship richly laden coming from the Indies and bound for Arabia. Though she had onboard 300 soldiers besides Seaman yet Tew had the courage to attack her and soon made her his prize. It is reported that by this one prize every man shared near 3,000 pounds informed by the prisoners that five other ships were to pass that way Tew would have attacked them but was prevented by the remonstrances of his quartermaster and others. This difference of opinion terminated in a resolution to abandon the sea and to settle on some convenient spot on shore and the island of Madagascar was chosen. Tew however and a few others at a time went for Rhode Island and obtained a pardon. The natives of Madagascar are Negroes but differ from those of Guinea in the length of their hair and in the blackness of their complexion. They are divided into small nations each governed by its own prince who carry out a continual war upon each other. The prisoners taken in war are either rendered slaves to the conquerors sold or slain according to pleasure. When the pirates first settled among them the prince was much courted by these princes and those whom they joined were always successful in their wars, the natives being ignorant of the use of firearms. Such terror did they carry along with them that the very appearance of a few pirates and an army would have put the opposing force to flight. By these means they in a little time became very formidable and the prisoners whom they took in war they employed in cultivating the ground and the most beautiful of the women they married. Nor were they contented with one but married as many as they could conveniently maintain. The natural result was that they separated each choosing a convenient place for himself where he lived in a princely style surrounded by his wives, slaves, and dependents. Nor was it long before jarring interests excited them also to draw the sword against each other and they appeared at the head of their respective forces in the field of battle. In these civil wars their numbers and strength were greatly lessened. The servant exalted to the condition of a master generally becomes a tyrant. These pirates unexpectedly elevated to the dignity of petty princes used their power with the most wanton barbarity. The punishment of the very least defense was to be tied to a tree and instantly shot through the head. The Negroes at length exasperated by continued oppression formed the determination of extirpating them in one night. Nor was it a difficult matter to accomplish this now so much divided both in affection and residence. Fortunately however for them a Negro woman who was partial to them ran 20 miles in three hours and warning them of their danger they were united and in arms to oppose the Negroes before the latter had assembled. This narrow escape made them more cautious and induced them to adopt the following system of policy. Convinced that fear was not a sufficient protection and that the bravest man might be murdered by a coward in his mind. They labored to foment wars among the Negro princes while they themselves declined to aid either party. It naturally followed that those who were vanquished fled to them for protection and increased their strength. When there was no war they fomented private discords and encouraged them to wreak their vengeance against each other. Nay even taught them how to surprise their opponents and furnish them with firearms with which to dispatch them more rapidly and expeditiously. The consequences were that the murderer was constrained to fly to them for protection with his wives children and kindred. These from interest became true friends as their own safety depended upon the lives of their protectors. By this time the pirates were so formidable that none of the Negro princes durst attacked them in open war. Pursuing the system of policy in a short time each chief had his party greatly increased and they divided like so many tribes in order to find ground to cultivate and to choose proper places to build places of residence and erect garrisons of defense. The fears that agitated them were always obvious in their general policy for they vied with each other in constructing places of safety and using every precaution to prevent the possibility of sudden danger either from the Negroes or from one another. A description of one of these dwellings will show both the fears that agitated these tyrants and prove entertaining to the reader. They selected a spot overgrown with wood near a river and raised a rampart or ditch around it so straight and steep that it was impossible to climb it, more particularly by those who had no scaling ladders. Over that ditch there was one passage into the wood. The dwelling which was a hut was built in that part of the wood which the prince thought most secure but so covered that it could not be discovered until you came near it. But the greatest ingenuity was displayed in the construction of the passage that led to the hut which was so narrow that no more than one person could go abreast and it was contrived in so intricate a manner that it was a perfect labyrinth. The way going round and round with several small crossways so that a person unacquainted with it might walk several hours without finding the hut. Along the sides of these paths certain large thorns which grew from a tree in that country were stuck into the ground with their points outwards and the path itself being serpentine as before mentioned if a man should attempt to approach the hut at night he would certainly have struck upon these thorns. Thus like tyrants they lived dreading and dreaded by all and in this state they were found by Captain Woods Rogers when he went to Madagascar in the Dilesia a ship of 40 guns with the design of purchasing slaves. He touched upon a part of the island at which no ship had been seen for seven or eight years before where he met with some pirates who had been put upon the island above 25 years. There were only 11 of the original stock then alive surrounded with the numerous offspring of children and grandchildren. They were struck with terror upon the site of the vessel supposing that it was a man of war sent out to apprehend them. They therefore retired to their secret habitations but when they found some of the ship's crew on shore without any signs of hostility and proposing to treat with them for slaves they ventured to come out of their dwellings attended like princes. Having been so long upon the island their cloaks were so much worn that their majesties were extremely out at elbows. It cannot be said that they were ragged but they had nothing to cover them but the skins of beasts in their natural state not even a shoe or stocking so that they resembled the picture of Hercules in the lion skin. And being overgrown with beard and hair upon their bodies they appeared the most savage figures that the human imagination could well conceive. The sale of the slaves in their possession soon provided them with more suitable clothes and all other necessaries which they received in exchange. Meanwhile, they became very familiar when frequently on board and were very eager in examining the inside of the ship talking very familiarly with the men and inviting them on shore. Their design was to surprise the ship during the night. They had a sufficient number of men in boats to affect their purpose but the captain suspecting them kept so strong a watch upon deck that they found it in vain to hazard an attempt. When some of the men went on shore they entered into a plan to seize the ship but the captain observing their familiarity prevented any one of his men from speaking to the pirates and only permitted a confidential person to purchase their slaves. Thus he departed from the island leaving these pirates to enjoy their savage royalty. One of them had been a waterman upon the Thames and having committed a murder fled to the West Indies. The rest had all been formist men nor was there one among them who could either read or write. The Pirate's Own Book This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Kay The Pirate's Own Book by Charles Elms Chapter 3 The Remarkable History of the Josemey Pirates of the Persian Gulf Containing a description of their chief town Ras Al Qaimah the capture of several European vessels and the barbarous treatment of their crews with interesting details of the several expeditions sent against them and their final submission to the troops of the English East India Company. The line of coast from Case Musindam to Bahrain on the Arabian side of the Persian Gulf had been from time immemorial occupied by a tribe of Arabs called Josemys. These, from local position were all engaged in maritime pursuits. Some traded in their own small vessels to Basara, Boshair, Muscat and even India. Others annually fished in their own boats on the pearl banks of Bahrain and a still greater number hired themselves out as sailors to navigate the coasting small craft of the Persian Gulf. The Josemys at length perceiving that their local position enabled them to reach a rich harvest by plundering vessels in passing this great highway of nations commenced their periodical career. The small coasting vessels of the Gulf from their defenseless state were the first object of their pursuit and these soon fell an easy prey until emboldened by success they directed their views to more arduous enterprises and having tasted the sweets of plunder in the increase of their wealth had determined to attempt more promising victories. About the year 1797 one of the East India Company's vessels of war, the Viper of 10 guns, was lying at anchor in the inner roads of Boshair. Some dowes of the Josemys were at the same moment anchored in the harbor but as their warfare had hitherto been waged only against what are called native vessels and they had neither feared or respected the British flag no hostile measures were ever pursued against them by the British ships. The commanders of these dowes had applied to the Persian agent of the East India Company there for a supply of gunpowder and cannon shot for their crews and as this man had no suspicions of their intentions he furnished them with an order to the commanding officer on board for the quantity required. The captain of the Viper was on shore at the time in the agent's house but the order being produced the powder and shot were delivered and the dowes waited and made sail. Crew of the Viper were at this moment taking their breakfast on deck and the officers below when on a sudden a cannon aiding was opened on them by two of the dowes who attempted also to board. The officers leaping on deck called the crew to quarters and cutting their cable got sail upon the ship so as to have the advantage of maneuvering. A regular engagement now took place between this small cruiser of four dowes all armed with great guns and full of men. In the contest Lieutenant Carothers the commanding officer was once wounded by a ball in his loins but after girding a handker shift around his waist he still kept the deck till a ball entering his forehead he fell. Mr. Salter, the midshipman on whom the command devolved, continued the fight with determined bravery and after a stout resistance beat them off chased them some distance out to sea and subsequently regained the anchorage in safety. Several years elapsed before the wounds of the first defeat were sufficiently healed to induce a second attempt on vessels under the British flag though a constant state of warfare was still kept up against the small craft of the gulf. In 1804 the East India company's cruiser Fly was taken by a French privateer off the island of Ken in the Persian gulf but before the enemy boarded her she ran into Shoal water near that island and sunk the government dispatches and some treasure with which they were charged in about two and a half fathoms of water taking marks for the recovery of them if possible at some future period. The passengers and crew were taken to Bushire where they were set at Liberty and having purchased a country dow by subscription they fitted her out and commenced their voyage down the gulf bound for Bombay. On their passage down as they thought it would be practical to recover the government packet and treasure sunk off Ken they repaired to that island and were successful after much exertion in recovering the former which being in their estimation of the first importance as the dispatches were from England to Bombay they sailed with them on their way thither without loss of time near the mouth of the gulf they were captured by a fleet of josemite boats after some resistance in which several were wounded and taken into their chief port at Rashalkaima here they were detained in hope of ransom and during their stay were shown to the people of the town as curiosities no similar beings having been before seen there within the memory of man. The josemite ladies were so minute in their enquiries indeed that they were not satisfied without determining in what respect an uncircumcised infidel differed from a true believer. Unfortunate Englishmen had remained for several months in the possession of the Arabs and no hope of their ransom appeared it was determined to put them to death and thus rid themselves of unprofitable enemies an anxiety to preserve life however induced the suggestion on their part of a plan for the temporary prolongation of it at least. With this view they communicated to the chief of the pirates the fact of their having sunk a quantity of treasure near the island of Ken and of their knowing the marks of the spot by the bearings of objects on shore with sufficient accuracy to recover it if furnished with good divers they offered therefore to purchase their own liberty by a recovery of this money for their captors and on the fulfillment of their engagement it was solemnly promised to be granted to them. They soon sailed for the spot accompanied by divers accustomed to that occupation on the pearl banks of Bahrain and on their anchoring of the precise points of bearing taken they commenced their laborers the first divers who went down were so successful that all the crew followed in their turns so that the vessel was at one time almost entirely abandoned at anchor as the men too were all so busily occupied in their golden harvest the moment appeared favorable for escape and the still captive Englishman were already at their stations to overpower the few on board cut the cable and make sail their motions were either seen or suspected as the divers repaired on board in haste and the scheme was thus frustrated they were now given their liberty as promised by being landed on the island of Ken where however no means offered for their immediate escape the pirates having at the same time landed themselves on the island commenced a general massacre of the inhabitants in which their release prisoners fearing they might be included fled for shelter to clefs and hiding places in the rocks during their refuge here they lived on such food as chanced through their way moving out under cover of the night to steal a goat and drag it to their haunts when the pirates had at length completed their work of blood and either murdered or driven off every former inhabitant of the island they quitted it themselves with the treasure which they had thus collected from the sea and shore the Englishman now ventured to come out from their hiding places and to think of devising some means of escape their good fortune in a moment of despair threw them on a wreck of a boat which was still capable of repair in searching about the now deserted town other materials were found which were of use to them and sufficient plank and logs of wood for the construction of a raft these were both completed in a few days and the party embarked on them in two divisions to effect a passage to the Persian shore one of these rafts was lost in an attempt and all aboard her perished while the raft with the remainder of the party reached land having gained the mainland they now set out on foot towards Bushire following the line of the coast for the sake of the villages and water in this way they are said to have suffered incredible hardships and privations of every kind no one knew the language of the country perfectly and the roads and places of refreshments still less they were in general destitute of clothes and money and constantly subject to plunder and imposition poor as they were their food was therefore often scanty and always of the worst kind and they had neither shelter from the burning sun of the day nor from the chilling dues of night the Indian sailors, Sipakis and servants of whom a few were still remaining when they set out had all dropped off by turns and even Europeans had been abandoned on the road in the most effecting way taking the last adieu of their comrades who had little else to expect but soon to follow their fate one instance is mentioned of their having left one who could march no further at the distance of only a mile from a village and on returning to the spot on the morrow to bring him in nothing was found but his mangled bones as he had been devoured in the night by jackals the packet being light was still however carried by turns and preserved through all obstacles and difficulties and with it they reached at length the island of Buship crossed over in a boat from the main here they were detained by the Sheik but at length he provided them with a boat for the conveyance of themselves and dispatches to Bushire from this place they proceeded to Bombay but of all the company only two survived a Mr. Jowl an officer of a merchant ship and an English sailor named Penmal together with the bag of letters and dispatches in the following year the English Briggs, the Shannon Captain Babcock and the Trimmer, Captain Cummings were on their voyage from Bombay to Basara these were both attacked near the islands of Polior and Ken by several boats and after a slight resistance on the part of the Shannon only were taken possession of and a part of the crew of each cruelly put to the sword Captain Babcock, having been seen by one of the Arabs to discharge a musket during the contest and by them on shore and after a consultation on his fate it was determined that he should forfeit the arm by which this act of resistance was committed it was accordingly severed from his body by one stroke of a saber and no steps were taken either to bind up the wound or to prevent his bleeding to death the Captain himself had yet sufficient presence of mind left however to think of his own safety and there being left near him he procured this to be heated and while yet warm thrust the bleeding stump of his arm into it it had the effect of lessening the effusion of blood and ultimately of saving a life that would otherwise most probably have been lost the crew were then all made prisoners and taken to a port of Arabia from whence they gradually dispersed and escaped the vessels themselves were additionally armed one of them mounting twenty guns manned with Arab crews and sent from Rashal Qaimah to crews in the Gulf where they committed many piracies in the year 1808 the force of the Josemes having gradually increased and becoming flushed with the pride of victory weren't their insulting attacks on the British flag were more numerous and more desperate than ever the first of these was on the ship Minerva of Bombay on her voyage to Bussara the attack was commenced by several boats for they never cruise singly and a spirited resistance in a running fight was kept up at intervals for several days in succession a favorable moment offered however for boarding the ship was overpowered by numbers and carried amidst a general massacre the captain was said to have been cut up into separate pieces and thrown overboard by fragments the second mate and carpenter alone were spared probably to make use of their services and an Armenian lady the wife of Lieutenant Taylor then at Boshire was reserved perhaps for still greater sufferings but was subsequently ransomed for a large sum a few weeks after this one of the East India Company's cruisers of 60 tons and mounting 8 guns was accompanying the mission under Sir Hartford Jones from Bombay to Persia when being separated from the rest of the squadron she was attacked in the gulf by a fleet of dowes these bore down with all the menacing attitude of hostility but as the commander, Lieutenant Graham had received orders from the Bombay Government not to open his fire on any of these vessels until he had been first fired on himself the ship was hardly prepared for battle and the colors were not even hoisted to apprise them to what nation she belonged the dowes approached through their long overhanging prowls a swift silph beam and pouring in a shower of stones on her deck beat down and wounded almost everyone who stood on it they then boarded and made the ship an easy prize before more than a single shot had been fired and in their usual way put everyone whom they found alive to the sword Lieutenant Graham fell covered with wounds down the four hatch way of his own vessel where he was dragged by some of the crew into a storeroom and barricaded the door with a crowbar from within the cruiser was thus completely in the possession of the enemy who made sail on her and were burying her off in triumph to their own port in company with their boats soon after however the Commodore of the Squadron in the narrowed frigate Hove in sight and perceiving this vessel in company with the dowes judged her to be a prize to the pirates she accordingly gave them all chase and coming up with a brig the Arabs took to their boats and abandoned her the chase was continued after the dowes but without success these repeated aggressions at length opened the eyes of the East India Government and an expedition was accordingly assembled at Bombay the naval force consisted of La Chiffon frigate Captain Wainwright as Commodore the Caroline of 38 guns and 8 of the East India Company's cruisers namely Wellington, Turnate, Aurora Prince of Wales Ariel, Nautilus Vestal and Fury with 4 large transports and the Strumboli bomb catch the fleet sailed from Bombay in September and after a long passage they reached Muscat where they remained for many days to refresh and arrange their future plans they sailed and soon reached Rashal Khima the chief port of the pirates within the Gulf here the squadron anchored a breast of the town and the troops were landed under cover of the ships and boats the inhabitants of the town assembled in crowds to repel the invaders but the firm line the regular volleys and the steady charge of the troops at the point of the bayonet overcame every obstacle and multiplied the heaps of the slain a general conflagration was then ordered and a general plunder to the troops was permitted the town was set on fire in all parts and about 60 sails of boats and dows with the Minerva a ship which they had taken then lying in the roads were all burnt and destroyed the complete conquest of the place was thus affected with very trifling loss on the part of the procedures and some plunder collected though it was thought that most of the treasure and valuables had been removed into the interior this career of victory was suddenly damped by the report of the approach of a large body of troops from the interior and although none of these were seen this ideal reinforcement induced the besiegers to withdraw the embarkation took place a daylight in the morning and while the fleet remained at anchor during the whole of the day parties were still seen assembling on the shore displaying their colors brandishing their spears and firing muskets from all points so that the conquest was scarcely as complete as could be wished since no formal act of submission had yet been shown the expedition now sailed to Linga a small port of the Josemes and burnt it to the ground the force had now become separated the greater portion of the troops being sent to Muscat for supplies or being deemed unnecessary and some of the vessels were sent on separate services of blockading passages and etc. the remaining portion of the blockading squadron consisting of Lachafone frigate and four of the cruisers the Mornington, Ternate, Nautilus and Furi and two transports with 500 troops from Linga then proceeded to looft another port of the Josemes as the channel here was narrow and difficult of approach the ships were warped into their stations of anchorage and a summon sent on shore as the people had not here abandoned their town but were found at their posts of defense in a large and strong castle with many batteries, redoubts and etc the summon being treated with disdain the troops were landed with Colonel Smith at their head and while forming on the beach a slight skirmish took place with such of the inhabitants of the town as fled for shelter to the castle the troops then advanced towards the fortress which is described to have had walls 14 feet thick pierced with loopholes and only one entrance through a small gate well cased with iron bars and bolts in the strongest manner with a howitzer taken for the occasion it was intended to have blown this gate open and to have taken the place by storm but on reaching it while the ranks opened and the men sought to surround the castle to seek for some other entrance at the same time they were picked off so rapidly and unexpectedly from the loopholes above that a general flight took place the howitzer was abandoned even before it had been fired and both the officers and the troops sought shelter by lying down behind the ridges of sand and little hillocks immediately underneath the castle walls an Irish officer jumping up from his hiding place and calling on some of his comrades to follow him in an attempt to rescue the howitzer was killed in the enterprise such others as even raised their heads to look around them were picked off by the musketry from above and the whole of the troops lay therefore hidden in this way until the darkness of night favored their escape to the beach where they embarked after sunset the enemy having made no sally on them from the fort was sent to the chief in the castle threatening to bombard the town from a nearer anchorage if he did not submit and no quarter afterwards shown with the dawn of morning all eyes were directed to the fortress when to the surprise of the whole squadron a man was seen waving the British Union flag on the summit of its walls it was Lieutenant Hall who commanded the fury which was one of the vessels nearest the shore during the night he had gone on shore alone taking a Union Jack in his hand and advanced singly to the castle gate the fortress had already been abandoned by the greater number of inhabitants but some few still remained there these flooded the approach of an individual supposing him to be the herald of those who were to follow be this as it may the castle was entirely abandoned and the British flag waved on its walls by this daring officer to the surprise and admiration of all the fleet the town and fortifications were then taken possession of after sweeping around the bottom of the gulf the expedition returned to Muscat on the sailing of the fleet from hence the forces were augmented by a body of troops belonging to the Iman of Muscat destined to assist in the recovery of a place called Shanaaz on the coast taken by the josephes on their arrival at this place a summons was sent commanding the fort to surrender which being refused a bombardment was open from the ships and boats but without producing much effect on the following morning the whole of the troops were landed and a regular encampment formed on the shore with sand batteries and other necessary works for a siege after several days bombardment in which about 4000 shots and shells were discharged against the fortress to which the people had fled for refuge after burning down the town a breach was reported to be practicable the vessel was accordingly stormed the resistance still made was desperate the Arabs fighting as long as they could wield the sword and even thrusting their spears up through the fragments of towers in whose ruins they remained irrevocably buried the loss and killed and wounded was upwards of 1000 men notwithstanding that the object of this expedition might be said to be incomplete in as much as nothing less than a total extirpation of their race could secure the stability of these seas yet the effect produced by this expedition was such as to make them reverence or dread the British flag for several years afterwards at length in 1815 their boats began to infest the entrance to the Red Sea and in 1816 their numbers had so increased on that coast that a squadron of them commanded by a chief called Amir Ibrahim captured within sight of mocha four vessels bound from the port to that port richly laden and navigating under the British flag and the crews were massacred a squadron consisting of His Majesty's ship Challenger Captain Bridges and the East India Company's cruisers, Mercury, Ariel and Vessel were dispatched to the chief port of the Josemes Raschalkaima Mr. Buckingham, the great oriental traveler, accompanied the expedition from Bashar upon their arrival at Raschalkaima a demand was made for the restoration of the four Surat vessels and their cargoes or in lieu thereof twelve lakhs of rupees also that the command of the paratical squadron Amir Ibrahim should be delivered up for punishment the demand was made by letter an answer being received Captain Bridges determined to go on shore and have an interview with the pirate chieftain Mr. Buckingham says he requested me to accompany Mr. Buckingham on shore as an interpreter a readily assented we quitted the ship together around nine o'clock and pulled straight to the shore sounding all the way as we went and gradually shoaling our waters from six to two fathoms within a quarter of a mile of the beach where four large dow lay at anchor ranged in a line with their head seward each of them mounting several pieces of cannon and being full of men on landing on the beach we found its whole length guarded by a line of armed men some bearing muskets but the greater part armed with swords shields and spears most of them were negroes whom the josemies spare in their wars looking on them rather as property and merchandise than in the light of enemies we were permitted to pass this line and upon our communicating our wish to see the chief we were conducted to the gate of the principal building nearly in the center of town but by the pirate chieftain attended by fifty armed men I offered him the Mahometan salutation of peace which he returned without hesitation the chief Hassan Ben-Rama whom we had seen was a small man apparently about forty years of age with an expression of cunning in his looks and something particularly sarcastic in his smile he was dressed in the usual Arab garments with a cashmere shawl, turban and garlet banish of the Persian form to distinguish him from his followers they were habited in the plainest garments one of his eyes had been wounded but his other features were good his teeth beautifully white and regular and his complexion very dark the town of Rosh Al Qaima stands on a narrow tongue of sandy land pointing to the northeastward presenting its northwest edge to the open sea and its southeast one to a creek which runs up within it to the southwestward and affords a safe harbor for boats there appeared to be no continued wall of defense around it though round towers and portions of walls were seen in several parts probably once connected in a line but not yet repaired since their destruction the strongest points of defense appear to be in the fortress at the northeast angle and a double round tower near the center of the town in each of which guns are mounted the towers appear to afford only shelter for musketeers the rest of town is composed of ordinary buildings of unhewn stone and huts of rushes and long grasses with narrow avenues winding between them the present number of hidden habitants may be computed at 10,000 at least there are thought to have been at present in 1816 60 large boats out from their own port manned with crews from 80 to 300 men each and 40 other boats that belong to other ports their force concentrated would probably amount to at least 100 boats and 8,000 fighting men after several fruitless negotiations the signal was now made to weigh and stand closer in towards the town it was then followed by the signal to engage the enemy the squadron bore down nearly in line under easy sail and with the wind right aft or on shore the mercury being on the starboard bow the challenger next in order in the center of the vessel following in the same line as the aerial completing the division a large fleet of small boats were seen standing in from Cape Musindom at the same time but these escaped by keeping closer along shore and at length passing over the bar and getting into the backwater behind the town the squadron continued to stand on in a direct line toward the four anchored dowes gradually shoaling from the depth of our anchorage to two and a half fathoms where stream anchors were dropped under foot with springs on the cables so that each vessel lay with her broad sides to the shore a fire was now opened by the whole squadron directed at the four dowes these boats were full of men brandishing their weapons in the air their whole number exceeding probably 600 some of the shot from the few long guns of the squadron reached the shore and were buried in the sand others fell across the boughs and near the hulls of the dowes to which they were directed but the cannonades all fell short as we were then fully a mile from the beach the Arab colors were displayed on all the forts crowds of armed men were assembled on the beach bearing large banners on poles and dancing around them with their arms as if rallying around a sacred standard so that no sign of submission or conquest was witnessed throughout the aerial continued to discharge about 50 shots after all the others had desisted but with as little avail as before and thus ended this wordy negotiation and the bloodless battle to which it eventually led in 1818 these pirates grew so daring that they made an eruption into the Indian Ocean and plundered vessels and towns on the islands and coasts a fleet was sent against them and intercepted them off a shlola island proceeding to the westward in three divisions and drove them back into the gulf the Eden and Psyche fell in with two trankies and these were so closely pursued that they were obliged to drop a small captured boat they had in tow the feats was one day kept in close chase by 17 vessels but they were enabled to get away owing to their superior sailing the cruisers met with the josemes 17 times and were constantly employed in hunting them from place to place at length in 1819 they became such a scourge to the commerce that a formidable expedition under the command of Major General Sir W. Grant Kier sailed against them it arrived before the chief town in December and commenced operations in his dispatches General Kier says I have the satisfaction to report the town of Rachelechima after a resistance of six days was taken possession of this morning by the force under my command on the 18th after completing my arrangements at Muscat the liver pool sailed for the rendezvous at Kishmi on the 21st we fell in with the fleet of the Persian Gulf and anchored off the island of Larac on the 24th of November as it appeared probable that a considerable period would elapse before the junction of the ships which were detained at Bombay conceived it would prove highly advantageous to avail myself of all the information that could be procured respecting the strength and resources of the pirates we had to deal with no time was lost in making the necessary preparations for landing which was affected the following morning without opposition at a spot which had been previously selected for that purpose about two miles to the westward of the town the troops were formed across the Isthmus connecting the peninsula on which the town is situated with the neighboring country and the whole of the day was occupied in getting the tents on shore to shelter the men from rain landing engineers, tools, sandbags, etc and making arrangements preparatory to commencing our approaches the next day on the morning of the 4th our light troops were ordered in advance supported by the pickets to dislodge the enemy from bank within 900 yards of the outer fort which was expected to afford good cover for the men the whole of the light companies of the force under Captain Backhouse moved forward and drove the Arabs with great gallantry from a date grove and over the bank close under the walls of the fort followed by the pickets under Major Molesworth who took posts at the sandbanks whilst the European light troops were skirmishing in front the enemy kept up a sharp fire of musketry and cannon during these movements Major Molesworth a gallant officer was here killed the troops kept their position during the day and in the night affected a lodgement within 300 yards of the southern morose tower and erected a battery of 4 guns together with a mortar battery the weather having become rather unfavorable for the disembarkation of the stores required for the siege but this important object being affected on the morning of the 6th we were enabled to open 3 18 pounders on the fort a couple of howitzers and 6 pounders were also placed in the battery on the right which played on the defenses of the towers and nearly silenced the enemy's fire who during the whole of our progress exhibited a considerable degree of resolution and withstanding and ingenuity in counteracting our attacks sallied out at 8 o'clock this evening along the whole front of our entrenchments crept close up to the mortar battery without being perceived and entered it over the parapet after spearing the advance entries the party which occupied it were obliged to retire but being immediately reinforced charged the assailants who were driven out of the battery with great loss the enemy repeated his attacks toward morning but was vigorously repulsed during the 7th every exertion was made to land and bring up the remaining guns and mortars which was accomplished during the night they were immediately placed on the battery together with 2 24 pounders which were landed from the liver pool and in the morning the whole of the ordinance opened on the fort and fired with scarcely any intermission till sunset when the breach of the curtain was reported nearly practicable and the towers almost untenable immediate arrangements were made for the assault and the troops ordered to move down to the entrenchments by daylight the next morning the party moved forward about 8 o'clock and entered the fort through the breaches without firing a shot and appeared the enemy had evacuated the place the town was taken possession of and found almost entirely deserted only 18 or 20 men and a few women remaining in their houses the expedition next proceeded against Rumps a piratical town 8 miles north of Rochelkaima but the inhabitants abandoned the town and took refuge in the hill fort of Zaya which is situated at the head of a navigable creek nearly 2 miles from the sea coast this place was a resistance of Hussein bin Ali a sheik of considerable importance among the josemite tribes and a person who from his talents and lawless habits as well as from the strength and advantageous situation of the fort was likely to attempt the revival of the piratical system upon the first occasion it became a desirable object to reduce the power of this chieftain on the 18th December the troops embarked at Rochelkaima at daybreak in the boats of the fleet under command of Major Warren with the 65th regiment and the flank companies of the 1st and 2nd regiment and at noon arrived within 4 miles of their destination this operation was attending with considerable difficulty and risk owing to the heavy surf that beat on the shore and which was the occasion of some loss of ammunition and of a few boats being upset and stove in at half past 3pm having refreshed the men as Major Warren, we commenced our march and fording the creek or backwater took up our position at sunset to the north eastward of the fort the enemy firing at us as we passed not withstanding that our messenger whom we had previously sent in to summon the sheik was still in the place and I lost no time in pushing our riflemen and pickets as far forward as I could without exposing them too much to the firing of the enemy whom I found strongly posted under secure cover in the date tree groves in front of the town Captain cock with the light company of his battalion was at the same time sent to the westward to cut off the retreat of the enemy on that side at daybreak the next morning finding it necessary to drive the enemy still further in to get a near view of his defenses I move forward the rifle company of the 65th regiment and after a considerable opposition from the enemy succeeded in forcing him to retire some distance but not without disputing every inch of ground which was well calculated for resistance being intersected at every few yards by banks and water courses raised for the purpose of irrigation and covered with date trees the next morning the riflemen supported by the pickets were again called into play and soon established their position within three and four hundred yards of the town which was the base of the hill was so completely surrounded as to render the escape of any of the garrison now almost impossible this advantage was gained by a severe loss two 24 pounders and the two twelves the landing of which had been retarded by the difficulty of communication with the fleet from which we derived all our supplies having been now brought on shore we broke ground in the evening and not withstanding the rocky soil had them to play next morning at daylight aware however that the families of the enemy were still in the town and humanity dictating that some effort should be made to save the innocent from the fate that awaited the guilty and opportunity was afforded for that purpose by an offer to the garrison of security to their women and children should they be sent out within the hour but the infatuated chief either from an idea that his fort on the hill was not to be reached by our shot or with the vain hope to gain time by procrastination returning no answer to our communication while he detained our messenger we opened our fire at half past eight in the morning and such was the precision of the practice that in two hours we perceived the breach would soon be practicable I was in the act of ordering the assault when a white flag was displayed and the enemy after some little delay in assembling from the different quarters of the place marched out without their arms with Hussein bin Ali at their head to the number of three hundred and ninety eight and at half past one p.m. the British flags were hoisted on the hill fort and at the sheik's house the women and children to the number of four hundred were at the same time collected together in a place of security and sent on board the fleet together with the men the service has been short but arduous the enemy defended themselves with great obstinacy and ability worthy of a better cause from two prisoners retaken from the josemies they learned that the plunder is made a general stock and distributed by the chief but in what proportions the deponents cannot say water is generally very scarce there is a quantity of fish caught on the bank upon which and dates they live there were a few horses camels cows sheep and goats the greatest part of which they took with them they were in general lean as a sandy plane produces little or no vegetation except a few dates and coconut trees the pirates who abandoned rachel kyma encamped about three miles in the interior ready to retreat into the desert at a moment's warning the sheik of rumps is an old man but looks intelligent and is said to be the man who advises upon all occasions the movements of the different tribes of pirates on the coast and when he was told that it was the wish of the company to put a stop to their piracy and to make an honest people of them by encouraging them to trade seemed to regret much that those intentions were not made known as they would have been most readily embraced rumps is the key to rachel kyma and by its strength is defended from a strong bandit infesting the mountains as also the Bedouin Arabs who are their enemies a British garrison of 1200 men is stationed at rachel kyma and a guard ship the outer places sent in tokens of submission as driven out of their fortresses on the margin of the sea they had to contend with the interior hostile tribes end of chapter 3 chapter 4 of the pirates own book this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the pirates own book by Charles Elms chapter 4 the barbarous conduct and romantic death of the Jossamy chief Rama Ben Jabeer the town of Bousheer on the Persian Gulf is seated in a low peninsula of sand extending out of the general line of the coast so as to form a bay on both sides one of these bays was in 1816 occupied by the fleet of a certain Arab named Rama Ben Jabeer who has been for more than 20 years the terror of the Gulf and who was the most successful and the most generally tolerated pirate perhaps that ever infested any sea this man by birth was a native of grain on the opposite coast and nephew of the governor of that place his fellow citizens had all the honesty however to declare him an outlaw from a boar hands of his profession but he found that aid and protection at Bousheer which his own townsmen denied him with 5 or 6 vessels most of which were very large and manned with crews of from 2 to 300 each he sailed forth and captured whatever he thought himself strong enough to carry off as a prize his followers to the number of 2000 where maintained by the plunder of his prizes and as the most of these were his own bought African slaves and the remainder equally subject to his authority he was sometimes as prodigal of their lives in a fit of anger as he was of his enemies whom he was not content to slay the battle only but basely murdered in cold blood after they had submitted an instance is related of his having put a great number of his own crew who use mutinous expressions into a tank on board in which they usually kept their water and this being shut close at the top the poor wretches were all suffocated and afterwards thrown overboard this butcher chief like the celebrated jazar of acre affecting great simplicity of dress manners and living and whenever he went out could not be distinguished by a stranger from the crowd of his attendants he carried this simplicity to a degree of filthiness which was disgusting as his usual dress was a shirt which was never taken off to be washed from the time it was first till worn out no drawers or coverings for the legs of any kind and a large black goat's hair cloak wrapped over all with a greasy and dirty handkerchief called a kephia thrown loosely over his head infamous as was this man's life and character he was not only cherished and courted by the people of bushier who dreaded him but he consciously received and respectfully entertained whenever he visited the British factory on one occasion says Buckingham at which I was present he was sent forward to give some medical gentlemen of the navy and company's cruisers an opportunity of inspecting his arm which had been severely wounded the wound was at first made by grape shot and splinters and one mass of blood about the part for several days while the man himself was with difficulty known to be alive he gradually recovered however without surgical aid and the bone of the arm between the shoulder and the elbow being completely shivered to pieces the fragments progressively worked out and the singular appearance was left of the forearm and elbow connected to the shoulder by flesh and skin and tendons without the least vestige of bone this man when invited to the factory for the purpose of making an exhibition of his arm was himself admitted to sit at the table and take some tea as it was breakfast time and some of his followers took chairs around him they were all as disgustingly filthy in appearance and some of them did not scruple to hunt for vermin on their skins of which there was an abundance and throw them on the floor Rama Benjabir's figure presented a meager trunk with four lank members all of them cut and hacked and pierced with wounds of sabers, spears and bullets in every part to the number perhaps of more than 20 different wounds had besides a face naturally ferocious and ugly and now rendered still more so by several scars there and by the loss of one eye when asked by one of the English gentlemen present with a tone of encouragement and familiarity whether he could not still dispatch an enemy with his boneless arm he drew a crooked dagger or jambéa from the girdle around his shirt and placing his left hand which was sound to support the elbow of the right which was the one that was wounded he grasped the dagger firmly with his clenched fist and drew it backward and forward twirling it at the same time and saying that he desired nothing better than to have the cutting of as many throats as he could effectively open with his lame hand instead of being shocked at the uttering of such a brutal wish and such a savage triumph at still possessing the power to murder unoffending victims I knew not how to describe my feelings of shame and sorrow when a loud rower of laughter burst from the whole assembly when I ventured to express my descent from the general feeling of admiration for such a man illustration of Rama Benjabir a jossamine chief this barbarous pirate in the year 1827 at last experienced the fate characteristic of the whole course of his life his violent aggressions having united the Arabs of Bahrain and Ratif against him they blockaded his port of Damon from which Rama Benjabir having left a garrison in the fort under his son had sailed in a well-appointed bungalow for the purpose of endeavoring to raise a confederacy of his friends in his support having failed in this object he returned to Damon and in spite of the boats blockading the port succeeded in visiting his garrison and immediately re-embarked taking with him his youngest son on arriving on board his bungalow he was received by his followers with a salute which decisive indication of his presence immediately attracted the attention of his opponents one of whose boats commanded by the nephew of the sheik of Bahrain proceeded to attack him a desperate struggle ensued and the sheik finding after some time that he had lost nearly the whole of his crew by firing of Rama's boat retired for reinforcements these being obtained he immediately returned singly to the contest the fight was renewed with redoubled fury when at last Rama being informed for he had been long blind that his men were falling fast around him mustered the remainder of the crew and issued orders to close and grapple with his opponent when this was effected after embracing his son he was led with a lighted torch to the magazine which instantly exploded blowing his own boat to atoms and setting fire to the sheiks which immediately afterwards shared the same fate sheik Ahmed and few of his followers escaped to the other boats but only one of Rama's brave crew was saved and it is supposed that the men were killed in this heroic contest end of chapter 4