Captain John Halsey

John Halsey, originally hailed Boston. As a privateers he raided French and Spanish shipping in 1704. In 1705 he received a new commission and turned pirate. He sailed to Madagascar in command of the Charles, which had 10 guns.
In late 1706, he was disposed by his crew who thought him to be a coward after refusing to fire upon a larger Dutch ship in the Indian Ocean. His crew was convinced the ship was nothing more than a merchantman. Halsey's intuition was correct however for the Dutch ship turned on the Charles and fired. Afterwards, Halsey was reinstated as captain.
Next in February, 1707 Halsey seized two coastal traders at the Nicobar Islands. Then Halsey sailed to the Straits of Malacca. He found little success there, as his crew was now afraid to fire upon any ship larger than their own after the encounter with the Dutch ship.
At Madagascar Halsey picked up more crew and Nathaniel North became Quartermaster. While visiting Mocha in the Red Sea, August, 1707, Halsey encountered a British squadron of five ships with a total of 62 guns. Halsey displaying immense courage and attacked the squadron. The largest of the British ships fled and the others scattered in all directions. Halsey captured two of the ships, taking £ 50,000 in cash and cargo.
In January, 1708, Halsey returned to Madagascar. A hurricane struck and destroyed his ships. Halsey was sick with a fever and died soon after. He was buried with great ceremony. Of the ceremony, Daniel Defoe quotes: "He was brave in his Person, courteous to all his Prisoners, lived beloved, and died regretted by his own People. His Grave was made in a Garden of Water Melons, and fenced in with Pallisades to prevent his being rooted up by wild Hogs."

Captain Dirk Chivers

Dirk Chivers was Dutch. Chivers signed aboard the Portsmouth Adventure early 1694, under Captain Joseph Farrell. The ship was leaving Rhode Island for the Red Sea. Once there, Farrell helped Henry Every capture two ships rich in booty around June, 1695. While returning to Rhode Island, the ship was wrecked on Mayotte in the Comoro Islands. Farrell was rescued by Every and continued on with him, but Chivers stayed behind on Mayotte. Toward the end of 1695, Chivers signed aboard the 28 gun ship Resolution. Several months later Chivers was made captain and he renamed her the Soldado. Chivers was very successful, plundering several ships rich with booty.
Chivers sailed in consort with John Hoar taking two East India Company ships. The two captured ships were ransomed. When the governor of Aden refused to pay the ransom, the ships were burned. One of the captives from the seized vessels was Captain Sawbridge. Sawbridge's constant complaining provoked Chiver's crew into sewing up the man's lips with a sail needle.
In November, 1696, Chivers sailed into the harbour at Calcutta. He seized 4 ships with their crews and demanded £ 10,000 random for their return. Chivers sent the following message to governor stating: "We acknowledge no country, having sold our own, and as we are sure to be hanged if taken, we shall have no scruple in murdering and destroying if our demands are not granted in full."
Not swayed by Chivers threat, the governor sent 10 Indian ships. When they sailed into the harbor, Chivers fled, heading for Saint Mary's Island to make repairs and arrived in the summer of 1697.
Chivers captured the Sedgwick, an English ship, in April 1698. The captain of the Sedgwick was very persuasive and Chivers' crew let him keep his ship after he supplied them with rum.
That September, Chivers joined forces Robert Culliford. Together they captured the Great Mohammed and £ 130,000. Chivers took command of the new ship and renamed her the New Soldado. Chivers returned to Saint Mary's Island. When four British battleships arrived at Saint Mary's in September 1699, Chivers sunk the New Soldado in the harbor to block the passage. Chivers was offered a royal pardon which he accepted and returned home on the merchantman Vine.

Captain Henriques the Englishman

Henriques the Englishman, or Henry Johnson, operated around 1730, and was born in Northern Ireland. Little is known of Henry Johnson early life. All we know is that by 1730 he was operating a pirate ship off the coast of Rhode Island. His ship was the Two Brothers a sloop armed with 18 guns and a crew of around 50.
As pirates go, Henry was an odd lot. He picked up the moniker Henriques the Englishman from his crew. Johnson was actually Irish but his mostly Spanish crew considered anyone from the British Isles an Englishman. It was somewhat uncommon for an "Englishman" to command a crew of Spanish pirates. Henriques managed to do this for one very good reason. He was very successful at what he did.
There were other qualities about Henriques that made him stand out from other captains. Often we see pirates in movies who are missing a hand or a leg but rarely do we read such accounts of real pirate captains. Henriques is an exception. Henriques was missing a hand. This did little to slow him down. In battle, he would often start off by balancing his rifle on the stub of his arm and firing his expert accuracy. Afterwards he would drop the rifle and attack like a beserker swinging his cutlass madly at anyone in his way.
This was the case when he attacked the John and Jane off Swan Island near Jamaica. The John and Jane was armed with eight carriage guns and ten swivel guns and possessed a crew of twenty five. After fighting off the pirates for almost five hours, the John and Jane was boarded. Henriques was known as pirate who gave no quarter and asked for none in return. An exception was the John and Jane.
The pirates had stripped the crew and was preparing to hang everyone on board in pairs. Suddenly, from a cabin, Henriques heard the scream of a woman. When Henriques entered the cabin he found a woman stripped of her clothing and about to be raped by a pirate named Pedro Poleas. Henriques fired one of his pistols in the air, dropped it and then drew a second pistol. He then exclaimed "I'll blow out the brains of any man who should raise the least violence to this woman."
The woman was a Mrs. Groves, her husband, a doctor had been killed earlier in the fighting. They had been passengers on the ship. Henriques was so enraged by the actions of Poleas that he made his pirates gather up any personal belongings of Mrs. Groves and her husband and insure that no further sorrow would come to her. Following this Henriques and another pirate named Echlin, stopped the hangings that were about to take place.
Henriques and his pirates then departed the ship leaving much of the booty behind. This was just one sign of the complexity of the "Englishman" who sailed with Spaniards. Henriques was wanted throughout the Americas, by all nations. There was not a safe port for him in anywhere yet he managed to have a long career, confounding all pursuers and terrifying all in his wake. With the exception of his staunch rule against violence against women, he was an extremely blood thirsty pirate. Despite being wanted everywhere, there is no record of him ever being killed or captured.

Captain Edward Mansfield

Edward Mansfield (a Dutchman) was in command of a four-gun brigantine when he took part in Sir Christopher Myngs' assault on San Fransisco de Campeche in Mexico in 1663.
Between August 1665 and July 1667 the Dutch and England were at war with each other. During this time, the Jamaican Governor, Modyford, assembled buccaneers to attack the Dutch islands in the Caribbean. This first attack was led by Sir Edward Morgan, but only the islands of Saint Eustatius and Sabo were defeated. Consequently, Modyford organized a second expedition in November 1664 and Mansfield was elected admiral of the fleet.
Santo Spirito, Cuba being their first target, was sacked and burned in December. Even though Santo Spirito was a Spanish possession it was considered a valid target after several pirate captains produced documents showing Portuguese privateering commissions issued by the French governor at Tortuga. It is speculated that Pierre Le Grand is responsible for the raid upon Santo Spirito.
In January 1665, Mansfield's fleet sailed toward Curacao. The journey took them against the Eastern trade winds, so the journey took a lot of time. Along the route Mansfield sent various ships off to pursue other prey, causing several of the pirate captains to become disenchanted with him. Faced with mutiny, Mansfield changed course and headed for Boca del Toro along the border between Panama and Costa Rica. But this change wasn't enough to appease all of the captains under his command and several ships and crew who deserted. By the time Mansfield arrived at Costa Rica had only about 600 men left. They proceeded to march on the city of Cartago. Along the way, at Turrialbo, which was 90 miles inland, they encountered stiff resistance. Running low on supplies and unsuccessful in their attemp to penetrate Turrialbo's defences they turned back and sailed back to Baca del Toro. When they arrived, several more pirates left Mansfield command.
With only a small amount of booty and few men, Mansfield opted to attack Providence Island off the Honduran coast. Mansfield's fleet of four ships was joined by two French ships. His force attacked the island with more than 200 men. They took the garrison easily on May 16th. Their plunder was 55,000 and 150 slaves, some of which were free men and an officer from the garrison.
Mansfield left about 50 pirates to secure the garrison and returned to Jamaica around June 1665. Providence was recaptured by the Spanish in August.
There are two accounts of Mansfield's death, one according to Esquemelin within his book "The Buccaneers of America" has Manfield quarreling with Modyford at Jamaica and going to Tortuga where he died soon afterwards. The other has Manfield being captured and put to death at Havana.

The River Pirates on the Thames

The London bobby on the beat is probably the most famous figure of the hundreds of police forces worldwide.
When home secretary Robert Peel finally forced through his Metropolitan Police Bill in 1828, after six years of Parliamentary and public resistance, he established a properly organised, city-wide law enforcement service for the first time.
Their distinctive blue uniform and top hats were chosen to emphasise to a hostile populace that this wasn’t an army set up to control the general public. Despite riots and attacks on the new force, the ‘Peelers’ were here to stay.
But it’s a common misconception that the Met – replacing the rag bag of detective agencies, watchmen and Bow Street Runners which patrolled the old London – was the first modern force. That honour goes to the Thames River Police, established some 30 years earlier. As so often before, the East End led the way, and certainly had a more pressing crime problem!

Silks, rum, tobacco

In the 1700s, London became the busiest and most important port in the entire world, sitting as it did at the hub of a huge new empire. The West Indies, the Americas, the Far East and India – all were stations in this huge global enterprise by British merchants. And as a result, tea, coffee, sugar, rum, spices, silks, furs, tobacco and many other valuable commodities flooded through the wharves of Wapping.
The East End had a valuable inshore trade, too, with coal from Newcastle and fishing fleets landing hauls from the North Sea. The merchants of Wapping flourished… but so did the thieves.
Some of the inbound ships never made it to the Pool of London. Pirates operating further down the Thames toward Tilbury would waylay the vessels as they came in.
Wapping locals would have all the time in the world to observe craft being laden with outgoing goods during the working day and would brief the pirates, who would intercept the unfortunate captains at night. Robbery with violence was the norm – any resistance would be dealt with at knifepoint.

Stolen goods

The processing of the stolen booty was a highly organised Wapping business in itself, with 12 factories in the town receiving the goods and selling them on throughout the City.
But the greatest criminal element was within the docks themselves. There were around 33,000 lumpers, as the 18th century dockers were known, and 11,500 of them were known thieves. With no organised force to patrol the river, the assorted band of mudlarks, long apron men, scuffle hunters, light horsemen and heavy horsemen (as the various types of thief were colourfully known) were free to steal without fear of capture.
The Rum Boat Act of 1761 was intended to prevent theft but was never enforced. Fortunately, in 1797, a man came along with a vision and a plan to establish law and order on the river.
John Harriot, a mariner and a ‘man of many parts’, constructed a plan for a force and took it to the Lord Mayor of London. The Mayor, also Conservator of the River, amazingly declared it to be of ‘no concern to London’.
Undeterred, Harriot teamed up with Patrick Colquhoun, an energetic Scot from Dumbarton who had founded the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, the first in the UK. Colquhoun was now a London magistrate and worked with Harriot to set up the Marine Police Establishment. On July 26, 1798, the office was set up at 259 Wapping New Stairs – as near as possible to the vulnerable incoming craft.
Businessmen such as the West India Planters, which alone reckoned to be losing an astonishing £250,000 a year from theft, breathed a sigh of relief. The first modern police force had been born.
Patrols in rowing galleys commenced from Wapping, and the present headquarters of Thames Division still occupies this site.
The force cut cargo losses and led to the arrest of so many criminals that on October 16, 1798, a riot took place and an attempt was made to destroy the court building. During the riot two police officers were shot – one in the hand and the other subsequently died from his wounds.
The police officers were ordered by Harriot to fire into the crowd. The crowd dispersed and Dr Colquhoun set a legal precedent by allowing one hour to elapse before pursuing the ring leaders of the riot who were by this time known to the authorities. One was hanged and a further six were transported.
The Marine Police became an officially recognised body in 1800 when parliament passed a Bill to run for seven years. This was extended for a further seven years in 1806.
In 1907 a petrol/paraffin engine was developed at Wapping and was first installed into the rowing galleys. This unfortunately affected the balance of the craft and several capsized – leading to the death of one officer.
In 1914, purpose-built craft were in use, and a civilian engineering and carpenters workshop was opened, releasing the police officers to do what they do to this day: patrolling the river, keeping users safe and catching crooks.

Cornwall Smugglers

It is difficult to separate the myth from the reality with smugglers. Were they free traders, organised crime, villans, pirates,local heroes?
Cornwall was suitable for smuggling in that it had a long expanse of rocky, virtually uninhabited coast, with few revenue men to patrol it. The goods smuggled included tea, brandy, gin, rum and tobacco. Following numerous increases in tea tax, tea could be bought in Europe for 1/6th of the price in Britain, while French brandy was only 1/5th of the price.
Initially, smuggling took place fairly openly with cargoes landed directly on the shore. This was made possible by the involvement of all sections of the community, from the local landowner downwards. The involvement of the gentry would range from turning a blind eye, to full scale involvement. The Killigrew family who established Falmouth, was one family whose money and influence came from smuggling and piracy.
Smuggling boomed until the end of the 18th century. Some souces say 500,000 gallons of French brandy per year were sumggled into Cornwall. In addition ships returning from the far east would heave to off shore and sell china, silk and cotton goods free of tax to local boats. In 1763, three East Indiamen in Falmouth harbour, are said to have sold £20,000 of goods in this way.
However from around 1800 the Revenue men became more organised and proactive. Smuggled goods had to be dropped off in remote coves, and picked up again when the coast was clear. Tunnels and passages were dug out of the rocks to expedite movement.
The risks involved in smuggling were high. A minimum penalty of transportation to colonies such as Australia, was common, and often the penalties were much more severe. Robert Lang, a smuggler from Veryan, is recorded as being hung at the crossroads of Ruanlanihorne and St. Mawes as an example to others.
Once landed, much of the contraband made its way up country. On the windswept wastes of Bodmin Moor Jamaica Inn is perhaps the best known of all smuggling haunts, thanks to Daphne Du Maurier's novel. It is surrounded by barren country and often hemmed in by chill winds and thick mists, and the approach is perhaps more spectacular than the building itself.
Smugglers
Perhaps most famous of the smugglers at this time was the Carter family of Prussia Cove, where John the eldest son, because it is said, of his deep admiration for Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, named the cove so. His activities were legendary, but he eventually "retired in the early 1800s..
The brother and sister team, Fyn and Joan, were notorious smugglers, who used Looe Island as their base. Black Joan, as she was known, was the more violent of the two and is believed to have murdered a Negro whose ghost now haunts the island. Looe Island has had various owners, it was an ecclesiastical centre, then it passed to the Mayows in the 16th century and the Trelawneys from c 1600, and it was tenants of Trelawney who ran the trade in smuggled goods from the Channel Islands to Looe for over 80 years from the 18th to the 19th century. One story names tthe pair as Hamram, and his daughter 'Tilda; another account makes them brother and sister, Fyn and Black Joan. The pair stored contraband in a hidden and the smugglerso paid a fee for each tub concealed.
Baring-Gould in "A Book of Cornwall" relates a story of a tavern keeper, an evil faced man, who had been a smuggler in his day: He and his men were rowing a cargo ashore they were pursued by a revenue boat. Tristam Davey,the smuggler, knew this bit of coast perfectly. There was a reef of short slate rock that ran across the little bay, Tristam knew how to clear the reef,but the revenue boat following did not. It hit the reef, and Tristam shot the mate of the revenue boat, leaving the rest to fend for themselves in the water.
Another legendary smuggler was "Cruel Coppinger",whose biography was written by Rev RS Hawker. reputed to have coerced villagers through fear and intimidation, into smuggling, when he came to live in Cornwall after shipwrecking on the safe houses, in villages throughout the north coast. His son is said to have inherited his barbarous ways and to have laughingly killed his playmate as a young child.
Smugglers Beaches in Cornwall
In 1765 a beach 2 miles west of Padstow was in use as a landing point, and William Rawlings wrote in that year to the earl of Dartmouth that his servants encountered 60 horses carrying a cargo from the beach some 3 miles from St Columb...'having each three bags of tea on them of 56 or 58lbs weight'
When pepper was taxed heavily, it became a popular item for the Cornwall smugglers, and tiny Pepper Cove a little way north of Porthcothan takes its name from the boatloads of spice that were landed there. 4 miles south of Padstow. Walk across the beach, and South along the cliff path for about 600 yards. Pepper Cove is the 3rd inlet. It's an archetypical smugglers' cove: the entrance from the sea is narrow, and fringed with jagged rocks; once inside, a smuggler's vessel would be totally hidden by the high cliffs, so that unloading could be a safe and leisurely activity. The beach is sandy and free of rocks, and the gradient is sufficiently gentle that even a large boat could have been beached quite easily. Nearby is Wills Rock where smugglers left a revenue man on the rock to drown in the rising tide; but the officer lived to tell the tale.
On the coast north of Hayle, the B3301 coast road to Portreath passes several landing points: Hell's Mouth some 5 m from Hayle,was a landing spot; and Ralph's Cupboard (named after a smuggler), a mile outside Portreath at was used for storage. And there is a report of James Bawden of Gwithian being tried in 1801 for smuggling.
Hayle was a landing place for smugglers, and in the garden of a house that was formerly the local youth hostel there is a tunnel that was probably used for smuggling. A sloping trench leads down from ground level to the arched tunnel entrance, where the hinges for a gate or door can still be seen. The tunnel is still open, and runs due north for hundreds of yards. It is possible to walk along it. It seems authentic as any: it is the right shape; it runs towards the coast; it even has a drainage gulley along its length to keep the flat floor dry.
At St Ives Bay, the collector of customs was a John Knill, who dabbled in smuggling a little himself. When he was mayor (in 1767) he paid for the fitting out of a privateer, which was used as a smuggler. One story links Knill to a boat loaded with china that ran aground at the Hayle side of Carrack Gladden. The crew escaped, and someone removed the ship's papers since they implicated Knill and a squire from Trevetho. Roger Wearne, the customs man of the time, helped himself to some of the cargo, but as he was climbing down from the vessal , one of the locals noticed his bulging clothes, and a few well-aimed blows ensured that the china was worthless.
The Blue Bell Inn at St Ives was once the haunt of a Dutch smuggler called Hans Breton. It was said that he was in league with the devil, and that he paid duty on only one keg of brandy. This, however, never seemed to empty, and lasted him 22 years.
Also at St Ives in 1851, a notorious local smuggler called James 'Old Worm' Williams landed smuggled Irish whisky close to the St Ives breakwater, and hid the barrels in fishing boats and pig sties near the water. Later that night, three carts collected the haul, a coastguard drinking in the George and Dragon in the market place noticed them, but he was bound and gagged by locals. After some time, though, he managed to free himself, but could not find the carts full of contraband. T he case was dismissed for lack of evidence.

A St Ives in the 1870s a local boat called Old Duchy smuggled rum from Holland. The trips ended when the excisemen put spies among the fishermen.
At Trencrom Hill, Lelant, one of two granite cottages once known as Newcastle was used as a 19th century kiddlewink — a beershop. Smugglers excavated a cave alongside for the concealment of contraband. The cottages still stand on the hill, but are private houses — there is no public access to them. The church at Lelant was also used for the storage of contraband spirits.
At St Just, a short two smugglers - Oats and Permewan - were active around 1818. They temployed a middle-man, who paid the merchants in France. But the middle-man, Pridham, got greedy, kept the payments and threatened to report the smugglers to the authorities. An eventual court case never got anywhere.
Sennen was a centre of the free-trade. The inn was owned by the farmer who ran local smuggling operations, with the help of the landlady of the inn, Ann George, and her husband. The Georges fell out with their landlord, and later trestified against smugglers in a court case. In 1805 when the excise men impounded a large cargo — 1000 gallons each of brandy, rum and gin, and a quarter of a ton of tobacco. The owner of the cargo eventually appeared in court. The main witness for the prosecution was Ann George, but she was regarded as such a malicious gossip that the case was dismissed.
The Penzance revenue men were ineffective in early years. In 1767 nine smugglers' vessels, including armed sloops, sailed from Penzance harbour in broad daylight; a man of war looked on, powerless to stop them. Five years later a customs boat from Penzance was plundered and sunk by smugglers, and in the same year, another smugglers' boat captured the revenue cutter Brilliant, which was lying in Penzance harbour with seized goods on board. The excisemen were weak, and the smugglers had strong local support. In 1770 the Mayor of Penzance was bound over with a large financial surety, to cease smuggling.
At Ludgvan, two miles north east of Penzance, the customs officers could not sell seized liquor in 1748, because of the vast quantity smuggled in. Smugglers were asking 3/3 a gallon for the illegally imported liquor: the reserve price on the seized goods was 5/6.
Mousehole is the most westerly of the Mount's Bay smuggling villages. Contraband was carried around openly during the day — when asked why he had not apprehended the villains, the preventive assigned to the town said he had been pelted with stones, and lay in his bed recovering. Around 1780 charges were brought against the Mousehole officials for accepting bribes and cooperating with the smugglers. Richard 'Doga' Pentreath of Mousehole was described by the Penzance Collector of Customs as 'an honest man in all his dealings though a notorious smuggler'. Another smuggler, Thomas Mann, was also described as honest.
Buildings at Helston were frequently pressed into service to house smuggled goods in transit from the coast. George Michell drove a cart load of silk up to the Angel In pub, but the landlady warned him of a party of searchers, awaiting his arrival. Michell sent his son round to the yard with the cart, walking brazenly into the bar, and bought the crowd of searchers a drink. Michell spun out the conversation for a good while, eventually, they heard a rumble of cart wheels, and, rushing to the window, the searchers saw an old horse-drawn hearse driving off which they dismissed as a pauper's funeral. Not surprisingly when the officers eventually got round to searching Michell's cart, they found only innocent provisions.
Mullion Cove at the east of Mounts Bay was a favourite landing place for contraband. On one occasion, Billy of Praow was bringing brandy ashore, when the cargo was captured by a government brig. News of this spread, and the local people raided an armoury at Trenance, and opened fire on the brig in the bay until the cargo was returned.
The Spotsman, a prominent local smuggler was returning from France with a cargo of brandy, and landed the goods between Predannack Head and Mullion Cove, at a spot called locally 'the Chair'. On discovering that the excisemen were planning to raid his beach, he hid the casks in a mineshaft. On another occasion the Spotsman was slow to reply to a challenge by another smuggler, and was mistaken for a revenue man and shot. Fortunately he lost only his thumb in the encounter. There is further background on this smuggler in this information.
Lieut Drew, the chief Coastguard for the Mullion area, is credited with smashing the smuggling ring in the district. Drew and a fellow coastguard interrupted a run, and hauled in 100 tubs that had been hidden at sea. Later Drew interrupted another attempt to run goods in at Angrowse Cliffs and recovered nearly 100 tubs that had been sunken by the ship. By 1840 the game was effectively up.
At Gunwalloe a little way to the north, caves on the beach were said to be linked by a tunnel to the belfry of a nearby church, and another passage joined the Halzephron inn to Fishing Cove, the home of a local smuggler called Henry Cuttance.
Porthleven. Local legend tells that tunnels connect caves in the cliffs to Methleigh Manor a mile or so away. The Ship Inn at Porthleven was rumoured to have numerous escape routes; these must be very cunningly concealed, because a search by the present landlord revealed no trace.
Falmouth area. The smugglers of Falmouth operated on an extraordinary scale. In 1762 three East Indiamen returning to Britain from China anchored in the bay, and for a fortnight held a regular on-board bazaar, selling silk, muslin, dimityes, china, tea, arrack, handkerchiefs and other goods. The Falmouth postal packet ships were also heavily implicated in smuggling. War led to larger crews on the packet boats, and this in itself was good for trade in Falmouth. In 1739 one commentator could scarcely conceal his glee at the prospect of imminent war with Spain...
'There is something to be hoped, past experience teaching us that the Town will flourish in a French war'
1743, though, brought an unexpected crack-down which strangled Falmouth trade. A Times report of 1786 tells of a skirmish between the "Happy Go Lucky", a smugglers boat from Falmouth, and the revenue cutters.
Newspaper reports for 24 May 1839 tell of a schooner loaded with coal docking in the harbour. The coals were gradually unloaded. But a suspicious customs officer bored holes in the hull with a gimlet. Withdrawing the gimlet, the customs officer received a face-full of brandy, from a tub stowed in a cavity between the false interior of the hull and the outside. Altogether there 276 barrels of brandy and gin in the space. The ship had been operating for 3 years without detection.
The creeks south of Falmouth, notably at Gweek and Helford, also proved useful to smugglers seeking privacy for their activities, as did the beaches and small fishing ports at Porthallow, Porthoustock, Godrevy Cove, Coverack, Black Head and Kennack Sands. Smugglers. In September 1840 a 30-strong gang of smugglers using several carts broke open the custom-house at Helford, and removed 126 half ankers of Brandy, which had been confiscated a few days before at Coverack. They worked from 1 to 1.30, but generously left 3 barrels for the excisemen. The customs-man on station heard the doors being forced, but was powerless to do anything. The tubs had been seized from the Teignmouth — they were lashed to the outside of the boat (although this technique was common in Kent, it was less convenient for the long crossing to Cornwall). When the vessel reached the beach at Gweek, the crew hailed two men on the beach for help — they proved to be customs officers, who drew their pistols and arrested crew, ship and cargo.
Just to the south of Mylor, at Penrhyn, local legend tells of a tunnel linking the shore to St Gluvias' Vicarage, and farther down the creek on the south side, there are two caves used for storage. A tunnel on the same site has now been blocked. Near to one of these creeks in 1801 a mounted smuggler carrying two ankers of spirits was surprised by a customs man. The smuggler rode off at speed and eventually plunged into the water to escape. The smuggler escaped, but his horse drowned and with the help of the ferry-man the preventive rescued the barrels.
Close to Truro, Sunset Creek, opposite Malpas, was the site of Penpol Farm, which featured a sunken road, and hiding places in caves and woodland. Tresillian Creek to the east and Mylor creek to the south were also popular landing places: at Mylor can still be seen a memorial dated 1814 to a fishermen who had the misfortune to be shot in error by revenue men.
Smuggling stories here centre around the St Anthony's Head, and the peninsula of land leading to it. One story tells of a St Mawes customs officer who realized that the Porthscatho smugglers operating in Gerrans Bay kept watch on hills overlooking St Mawes harbour, so that they had time to disperse if a revenue boat approached around the headland. By carrying a small boat across the isthmus, he mounted a surprise attack.
St Mawes was the base for Robert Long, a seventeenth century smuggler who met an untimely end — he was executed, and his body was hung in chains on the road from the town to Ruan Lanihorne.
Like Cawsand, Mevagissey was a town renowned for its boat builders. The large vessels built here in the 18th century when smuggling still took place relatively openly were capable of tremendous speeds, and could make the crossing from Roscoff in France in a day or less.
Fowey. The story of an abortive 1835 landing close to Fowey and its court sequel is interesting. Two coastguards from Fowey went to Lantick Hill, and hid in bushes near Pencannon Point. After a wait, at least 100 men arrived on the beach — 20 of them batsmen. One of the coastguards went to get help, and when reinforcements arrived the party of six preventives challenged the smugglers, and there was a fierce battle; one of the coastguards was knocked unconscious, but 5 smugglers were eventually arrested. A party from the revenue cutter Fox eventually met up with the six coastguards, and captured 484 gallons of Brandy. When the case came to court, the defense argued that the clubs were just walking sticks, the local vicar was called as a character witness for one of the accused, and local farmers vouched for the good name of the others. The jury acquitted, adding that they did not consider the clubs to be offensive weapons. Contraband from this abortive landing may have been headed the Crown and Anchor Inn on the quayside at Fowey, since the smuggler Richard Kingcup was at one time the landlord there.
Polperro The Polperro smuggling museum houses a small collection of pictures and other items associated with the free-trade.
A colourful Polperro legend involves 'Battling Billy', who ran the Halfway House Inn. Billy used a herarse to carry his contraband inland. One day while brandy was being loaded by daylight, the revenue arrived, Billy was shot in the neck and he was killed instantly, but his whip-hand continued to urge the horses on. When they reached Polperro, the dead man drove straight down the main street, off the quayside and into the harbour. Battling Billy's ghost still haunts the narrow cobbled streets. Another tale involves the Lottery, a Polperro smuggling vessel wanted by the customs authorities. When the Cawsand customs men saw the ship becalmed half a mile from Penlee Point, they put to sea several rowing boats. The crew of the Lottery, opened fire when they were still some distance away. One of the crew in the King's boat died of his wounds. The crew of the Lottery became outlaws in their home town. Eventually the prime suspect, Tom Potter was arrested and executed.

The village of Talland was at one time a thriving community, and the bay was a favourite landfall for smuggling boats from the continent. All that now remains of the village is the church high on the steep hill above Talland Bay.
Near the door of the church in the south west corner there is an interesting tombstone commemorating Robert Mark. Local legends differ about Mark's identity. One story has it that while on a smuggling trip he died from wounds inflicted by a revenue man's pistol ball. A smuggler of the same name was sentenced in May 1799 for resisting arrest when the smuggling vessel Lottery was captured. However, another account makes him not a free-trader but a revenue man who was shot in a cellar on dry land; Jonah Puckey, the ringleader of a smuggling gang, reputedly fired the shot that killed him.
The open beaches of Whitsand Bay made a fine landing when the coast was sufficiently clear for covert runs, but smugglers seeking a more discreet approach headed for Looe, and brought the goods ashore on Looe Island. In West Looe Ye Olde Jolly Sailor was a smuggler's haunt, and here too the story is told of how the quick-thinking landlady once concealed an illicit keg beneath her petticoats during an unexpected search. While the preventives searched, she calmly knitted.
Cawsand and Kingsand. The vast natural harbour of Plymouth had a naval presence throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The city itself formed the largest market for contraband in Cornwall, so it's not surprising to find some notorious villages nearby. Goods brought in to the twin villages of Cawsand and Kingsand there could be easily ferried across the harbour to Plymouth. A Times report of 1785 tells of a naval officer killed by smugglers. Both towns were hotbeds of smuggling — in 1804 the revenue services estimated that 17,000 kegs of spirits had been landed here in just one year. Harry Carter, a famous Cornwall smuggler, often used Cawsand for his smuggling activities, and on one of these trips his boat was boarded by sailors from a man-of-war anchored nearby. In the hand-to-hand fighting that ensued, he sustained a cutlass wound that almost killed him.

A Smuggler's Song by Rudyard Kipling

If you wake at Midnight, and hear a horse's feet,
Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street,
Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie.
Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!
Five and twenty ponies
Trotting through the dark -
Brandy for the Parson.
'Baccy for the Clerk;
Laces for a lady, letters for a spy,
And watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!
Running round the woodlump, if you chance to find
Little barrels, roped and tarred, all full of brandy-wine,
Don't you shout to come and look, nor use 'em for your play.
Put the brushwood back again - and they'll be gone next day!
Five and twenty ponies …
If you see the stable door setting open wide;
If you see a tired horse lying down inside;
If your mother mends a coat cut about and tore;
If the lining's wet and warm - don't you ask no more!
Five and twenty ponies ...
If you meet King George's men, dressed in blue and red,
You be careful what you say, and mindful what is said.
If they call you "pretty maid", and chuck you 'neath the chin,
Don't you tell where no one is, nor yet where no one's been!
Five and twenty ponies ...
If you do as you've been told, 'likely there's a chance,
You'll be given a dainty doll, all the way from France,
With a cap of pretty lace, and a velvet hood -
A present from the Gentlemen, along o' being good!
Five and twenty ponies ...
Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie -
Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!

Sir Christopher Myngs

Sir Christopher Myngs was born at Norfolk and joined the royal navy as a cabin-boy. Staying with the navy he would rise through the ranks to become captain. Myngs, in January 1656, brought the 44-gun frigate "Marston Moor" to Jamaica which had been recently occupied by English forces. From here he took part in a raid upon Santa Marta, Venezuela in May, 1656. In January, 1657 he took command of the naval squadron anchored at Jamaica. In October 1658, Myngs having his eye on the Spanish treasure fleet, hid his squadron along the Central American coast. When the treasure fleet arrived however, Myngs' forces were not up to full strength for several English ships had left to obtain fresh water. The "Marston Moor" and another ship passed through the 29 Spanish ships trying to scatter them but they were unsuccessful. With his plan failing, the English fleet burned Tolu ( now in Columbia ), captured two large ships in the harbor, and devastated Santa Marta.
In 1659 he sailed east against prevailing head winds in a daring effort to take Spanish colonists by surprise. His plan worked, for Myngs taking only the "Marston Moor" and two other warships, plundered Cumana, Puerto Caballos, and Coro in Venezuela. (Myngs' booty was the largest haul ever taken into Jamaica, estimated at £ 200,000 to £ 300,000.) At Jamaica, the booty was split and Myngs refused to give the government any share in the prize. He was arrested by the governor of Jamaica and sent back to England to be tried for his offense. When word of the huge plunder got out, dozens of pirate captains from all ports of call, came to Port Royal, wanting to be among those who sailed with Myngs.
Now, back in England, King Charles II was returned to power and during the confusion, Myngs' charges were dropped. He returned to Jamaica in command of the "Centurion" in 1662. In October 1662, Myngs had captured Santiago which was Cuba's second largest city. The Spanish fortress was blown up and six ships were captured. Myngs next with government consent launched a second expedition. His fleet consisted of 12 pirate ships and 1,500 buccaneers. His force was comprised of English, French, and Dutch men. His reputation of bringing in large hauls attracted notable captains such as Edward Mansfield and Abraham Blauvelt as well as younger pirates such as Henry Morgan, John Morris and John Rackham.
In February 1663, Myngs' force had taken control of San Francisco in the Bay of Campeche. San Francisco was a large town which had never been attacked. 14 Spanish ships were taken as well as 150,000 pesos. The Spanish government was outraged at the sacking of San Francisco and Santiago and halted the sailing of the treasure fleet until warships could arrive. The Spanish protests to the English government were persuasive for King Charles II forbade any future assaults in April 1663. Myngs not having any reason to stay in the Caribbean went back to England in 1665, where he became vice-admiral of a squadron fighting the Dutch forces in the English Channel. For his actions for the crown, Myngs was knighted in the same year. In 1666 he was wounded in battle and died as a result of his wounds.
A product of his times Myngs carried on the heritage of Francis Drake and other English privateers and pirates. He continued the practice of attacking the Spanish settlements as a means to loot the wealth being collected for the Spanish crown. While operating with the blessings of the local governor in Jamaica (at least while providing a cut of the plunder) he nevertheless toed a thin line between privateering and outright piracy, and like so many others before him achieved legitimacy through bravery on the seas in service to the English Crown. His influence on Henry Morgan set the stage for the peak of buccaneering.

"Hoist the Colors"

Were there real pirate flags? Yes! They were not ancient myths or legends! Pirate flags were not introduced in pirate movies! Pirate flags were not the figments of imagination from writers like Robert Louis Stevenson who wrote Treasure Island. Pirates flew real pirate flags! The real pirate flags were customised for a specific pirate captain and crew such as the real pirate flags flown by Blackbeard and Calico Jack Rackham. Every pirate ship wanted to fly its own version of a pirate flag! Pirate Flags History The most famous of the pirate flags was the 'Jolly Roger' but there were many other different designs and pirate flags. Flags were used by legitimate sailing vessels. During the great age of exploration it was imperative to be able to distinguish enemy ships from friendly ships. The Elizabethan English ships sailed with flags showing the National emblem such as the Tudor Rose whilst the Spanish ships were distinguished by Catholic crosses. The history of flags developed and National flags were adopted. Pirates had their own Code of Conduct and their own traditions. Adopting their own pirate flags was a natural progression in the pirate culture and history. The pirate flags were used to wage 'Psychological warfare' on their enemies. Pirate flags were designed to threaten, intimidate and spread fear & dread amongst all that encountered the pirate. Pirate flags history was an important element in building the fearsome reputation of the pirate vessels. The Colors of Pirate Flags - the Red Pirate Flags and the Black Pirate flags The background colors of real pirate flags were either red or black. Although black is most associated with pirate flags, the very first pirate flags were in fact red! The colors of red and black both held symbolic significance. The early pirates sailed under the Red Flags. The color red in pirate flags symbolised bloodshed. Red pirate flags also symbolised a warning. The red pirate flags were a symbol that little or no quarter ( mercy ) would be given. The pirates were looking for an early surrender and an easy conquest through fear and intimidation. The French name for the red flag was the Jolie Rouge ( a cynical term translated as Pretty Red ). The red pirate flags were quickly replaced by black pirate flags. It was a natural progression for the pirates. The color black symbolised death. Black flags were traditionally flown on Plague ships as a warning to other ships. The pirates flew under flags called the 'banner of King Death'. The black and red pirate flags were further embellished with more graphic symbols of death... Pirate Skull Flags - the Skull and Crossbones The pirate flags were designed to threaten, intimidate and spread fear & dread amongst all that encountered the pirate ships. The black pirate flags were further embellished by other graphic symbols of death and destruction: The Skull Crossed bones - crossbones A Skeleton Spears Swords Cutlass An Hourglass ( indicating the enemies time was up) Clothing or Apparel associated with pirates and the initials of the Pirate captain Pirates believed to be those flying the "skull and crossbones" were Edward England and Edward Teach - Blackbeard. A skull and crossbones is still a modern symbol used as a warning for something that is dangerous or deadly, usually poison.

Jolly Roger Pirate Flags
The Jolly Roger is the general name given to pirate flags. The Jolly Roger is the most famous of all pirate flags.
Description of the Jolly Roger Pirate flag...
Black Background
White graphic on the center of the black flag picturing a white skull
Underneath the skull are two crossed bones (crossbones)
The Jolly Roger pirate flags are also called the Skull and Crossbones
There are a number of theories about the origin of the Jolly Roger name - the truth is that its probably a combination of most of them!
The Jolly Roger was derived from the English pronunciation of the 'Jolie Rouge'
The Jolly Roger was a derivation of word rogue describing a vagabond, beggar or thief
The Jolly Roger was a derivation of the English colloquialism 'Old Roger' which was an English slang term for the Devil

The Pirate Flags of Calico Jack Rackham
The Pirate flags of Calico Jack Rackham included the picture of a skull with crossed cutlasses on a black background.
The Pirate Flags of John Avery ( aka Avary )
The pirate flags of John Avery (AKA Every, Long Ben) the included the skull and crossbones. The skull was further embellished with an earring and a bandana which was strongly associated with traditional Pirate Clothing.

The Pirate Flags of Blackbeard
Blackbeard is one of the most famous and notorious pirates of all time. His pirate flag featured a skeleton holding an hourglass in one hand, a spear in the other hand standing beside a bleeding heart.

The Flag of the U.T.B.F. Created again for those that are in the brotherhood and seek Freedom!!

~Capt'n. Gabriel Black

Elizabeth Shirland

Elizabeth Shirland was born around 1577 in Devonshire, England. Elizabeth and some of her family joined a group of settlers to live on a colony founded by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1585. Elizabeth was known as a very beautiful yet vigorous and energetic girl, and maybe that is the reason for her career after the mysterious happenings on Roanoke Island. Some chapters of Elizabeth Shirland's life are suspected to be fictional, especially when it comes to the mystery of her lost booty. Hidden treasures always inspired the fantasies of story tellers who passed on the legends of secret wealths.
Historical background:
Although John Cabot (ca. 1450-1499) established an English claim to the North American continent as early as 1497-1498, more than half a century elapsed before Englishmen turned their attention to the new lands. The most well-known early colony was founded by Sir Walter Raleigh (ca. 1554-1618) on Roanoke Island, off the coast of present-day North Carolina. In 1585, Raleigh's men settled on the small island. Raleigh sent groups of settlers for three years, beginning in 1584. (Raleigh's initiative was successfully imitated by a group of London investors who founded Virginia in 1607.)
Relations with the Native American inhabitants were peaceful at first, but as the colonists' supplies dwindled, amity dwindled too. The colonists left in 1586 after beheading the local Indian chief, Wingina.
Raleigh arranged for Governor John White and a group of families to return to live in peace with the natives in 1587. Violence, however, is not easily forgotten. Within one month, hostilities resumed, and White was forced to return to England to ask Raleigh for reinforcements. Time was not on White's side. When the war with Spain erupted, White could not return to the colony for three years. When he set foot on Roanoke Island in August 1590, he searched frantically for the settlers, including his daughter and granddaughter, the first English New World baby, named Virginia Dare.
All that could be found was the remains of a village and a mysterious word, "CROATOAN," engraved on a tree. White concluded there must be a connection between the word and a nearby Indian tribe, but before he could investigate, a violent storm forced him out to sea and back to England.
Left for three years, the 117 men, women, and children had disappeared mysteriously. This lost colony remains one of the greatest mysteries of the colonial period. Although Raleigh sent an expedition to search for them, the colonists are never found and their fate remains unknown.
However, it is known that Elizabeth Shirland was amongst those settlers. It is rumored that after being left behind the colonists built a wall around their homes for protection from the Indians. This was the wall that John White found on his return to Roanoke Island in 1590. The men would leave the fort to hunt and fish as the colonist's food supply eventually ran out. The Indians ambushed and killed each man as they left the fort. In time all the men were killed and the Indians captured the women and children. The Indians took the hostages to their villages to live and work as slaves.
Elizabeth was raised by Indians and left the island 1589 on board of a Spanish ship after she was picked up by Spanish soldiers. It is said that she was held captive and raped several times by the soldiers before she killed her sentinel with his own knife during the turmoil of a pirate attack a few weeks later.
Disguised as a young man she had served under the command of Sir Francis Drake, before she returned to England and got married in 1595. However, she could not stand the life of a housewife and soon left her husband and went to sea again. Little is known about her life and destiny from that point forward. She returned to York, England again once or twice, where she gave birth to a little son. Soon afterwards she left her family for good.
Elizabeth had prepared her own career as a woman pirate. It is safe to assume that she was inspired by the criminal career of the famous woman pirate Grace O'Malley. When she was captain on her own ship, she disclosed her sex to her crew and she commanded and ruled them with her iron will and her strong ability to assert herself. She used men from the crew for her sexual pleasure, and some of them left the ship with a cut throat. Due to that fact and her ability to master the blade she was also known as the Cutlass Liz.
Cutlass Liz was not too successful as a pirate captain, and hardly anything is known about her operations. The only successful strike reported was the capturing of a Spanish merchant in 1604, where Cutlass Liz looted silk and gold before burning the captured ship. A few weeks afterwards she was betrayed to the Spanish by two members of her crew and was arrested while making love to one of her traitors. As the Spaniards dragged the naked woman pirate from the bed, she was suddenly aware of the treason and managed to stab her lover with the dagger she had hidden beneath her pillows. She was instantly killed by the soldiers, what spared her from public humiliation and the painful death of hanging.
However, her only mentionable booty - gold and goods worth at least £ 30,000 - was not on board of her ship anymore and could never be retrieved.