Indian Antiquary Vol 49

SR No.: 032541
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 252
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 34 MB

Page 42

38
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[MARCH, 1920
than that they used it as threatening death, for as late as 1723, Captain Hawkins, when a prisoner in the hands of pirates, ascertained that they used it as a sign only of their occupation, and that they hoisted the Red Flag when they intended to give no quarter. It is true that they called it the Jolly Roger, a name of which no satisfactory derivation has yet been given, but if one supposes that that name was originally applied to the Red Flag there is not much difficulty in supposing it to be an English or American perversion of the French "Joli Rouge" (a name which French seamen may well have ascribed to it), which became transferred by English seamen to the Black Flag in ignorance of its exact meaning. There is, however, no documentary evidence which I can produce to prove that this supposition is correct, and there are at least half a dozen other possible derivations which I will not
trouble to enumerate.
1.
The Cassandra taken by Pirates, 7 August 1720.
"The account 17 which the Captain of the Cassandra gives to the India Company of the loss of his ship is in substance as follows:-That about the latter end of July last (1720) he with the Greenwich and an Ostender18 went to water at the isle of Johanna, near the Coast of Madagascar, where they had intelligence that some pirates 19 were at work to fit out a small pirate ship at Ayanotta [? Mayotta], another island about three leagues off, which they resolved to go and destroy. That on the 7th of August in the morning about 8 o'clock they discovered a sail standing into the Bay of.Johanna, upon which they immediately unmoored and made clear ships, both Captains having mutually engaged to stand by each other, not doubting but to give a good account of them. The Cassandra weighed and got under sail. The Greenwich cut and did the like, the Pirates then within a mile of them. The Cassandra being under the high land had but a broken wind, but the Greenwich, being open to the valley, had a true breeze and made the best of his way from the Cassandra. They had an Ostender in their company of 22 guns, whose Captain promised heartily to engage with them, and 'tis believed would, had he not seen the Greenwich make the best of his way from them, which he seeing, did the same, leaving the Cassandra engaged with both Pirates, who called several times to the Greenwich to bear down to his assistance and fired two guns at him, but all to no purpose; but when he got about a league from the Cassandra, he brought to and looked on.
The largest of the Pirates had but 34 guns, and the lesser 30, which encouraged the Cassandra's men to see them of so small force, not doubting but if the Greenwich would have fought to have taken both the Pirates, who having taken just before two rich prizes from Judea [? Jeddah], which had the value of £200,000 on board, but the Cassandra having no assistance was left to the fury of both the Pirates, from whom no quarter was to be expected, their black and bloody flags being all the time displayed; who notwithstanding their superiority engaged them both above three hours, during which the largest of them received some shot between wind and water, which made him keep at a little distance to stop his leaks; the other endeavoured to board him by the help of his oars, but by good fortune the Cassandra shot his oars to pieces and prevented him, and by consequence saved all their lives.
"About 4 o'clock all the officers and men placed on the Quarter-Deck and Poop being killed or wounded and none left there but the Captain, the other Pirate made up
17 Macrae's own account is given in Johnson's General History of the Pirates, I, 119. This account adds one or two details.
18 A ship of the Ostend Company, which was not, however, formally incorporated until 1722. For a note on its history, see C. R. Wilson, Old Fort William in Bengal, II, 178 n.-ED.
10 Apparently the crew of the pirate ship Indian Queen (Captain Oliver de la Bouche or Levasseur), which had been wrecked.