Book Title: Indian Antiquary Vol 48
Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications
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224
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(DBORXDBR, 1919
cattle from them, and were most of them to the best of my knowledge men that came in several ships as Captain Raynor, Captain Coats, Captain Tew, Captain Hore and the Resolution and Captain Chivers.
ADAN BALDRIDGE.
Sworn before me in New York 5 May 1699.
True Copy.
BELLAMONT. (Colonial Office Records, 5/1942, No. 30, i.)
XIV.
THE CRUISE OF HENRY EVERY, 1693-6. Henry Every (Avery or Avory) alias Bridgman, was the most famous pirate of bis day. Mate of the ship Charles (Captain Gibson) which had been hired with other ships by the Spanish Government, through Sir James Houblon, to assist in the protection of the Spanish American colonies, ho persuaded a part of the crew to mutiny at Corunna 66 in May 1691 and took possession of the ship. Renaming her the Fancy, he carried her first to the West Indies, where he completed his crew, and then via Madagascar to the Red Sea. He attempted to fix a base at Perim, but, finding no water, proceeded to St. Mary's in Madagascar, where he built a kind of fort and established friendly relations with the natives, though the stories of his ruling like a king amongst them are probably wild exaggerations, for his total stay in the Indian Reas cannot have been longer than some eighteen months.
In 1695 he captured the Gunsway, a rich pilgrim ship, on board of wbich there were many Indian ladies of distinction, who appear to have been very shamefully treated. He is said to have married one of them, a royal Princess, and to have had by her a son who was living in Madagascar in 1720, though the poor Jady herself speedily died. The booty taken on this occasion was enormous-it is said to have been more than £200,0001 At any rate Every And his crew were now satisfied to go out of business. In April 1696 they arrived at the Island of Providence, in the Bahamas, where they were well received by the Governor, Nicholas Trott. Having divided their booty, they scattered, and a number of them made for England. There some were identified, tried and executed, but Every escaped detection and having been cheated of his booty by the men wbom he employed to turn it into cash, died in great poverty at Bideford in the year 1727.
As Every impudently claimed the right to use Captain Gibson's commission, he flew St. George's flag, using the red flag only when his victims persisted in resistance. Apparently he never, in the Indian Scas, attacked Lis own countrymen or, in fact, any but Indian vessels. He is said to have carried the Mughal flag taken on the Gunsway to America, where
it was flown by the pirate Captain John James of the Providence Galley in 1899. Probably • James was a former member of his crew.
# Called by English sailors the Groyno.
