Giles Shelley (born May 1645 (?), died 1710, last name occasionally Shelly) was a pirate trader active between New York and Madagascar.
Giles Shelley (born May 1645 (?), died 1710, last name occasionally Shelly) was a pirate trader active between New York and Madagascar.
Shelley commanded the 4-gun or 6-gun vessel Nassau [lower-alpha 1] on supply runs between New York and the pirate trading posts of Madagascar, including Ile Ste.-Marie. He delivered goods in demand by pirates such as gunpowder and alcohol, returning with slaves as well as merchandise stolen from East India Company ships. Backed by New York merchants such as Stephen Delancey, the voyages were immensely profitable: a pipe of Madeira wine bought for £19 in the American colonies sold for £300 on Madagascar. [2] Despite not engaging in direct piracy of his own, Shelley’s trips were not always safe: in 1696 pirates who had come aboard posing as merchants robbed the Nassau. [3]
His best-known voyage took place in early 1698, one that made his backers over £30,000. With Delancey’s investment he made the usual trip around Africa to Madagascar and sold his cargo. For the return trip in December he took aboard over fifty pirates who wanted to retire in New England, each of which paid for their passage in captured gold. [4] Many of the pirates had sailed under Dirk Chivers, Robert Culliford, or William Kidd. Among the pirates he carried were Otto Van Tuyl and Paul Swan. [5] Culliford sent a treasure chest back with Shelley along with a letter addressed to the widow of one of his crew, explaining that the gold was her late husband’s share of their loot. [6]
After a brief stop at Cayenne to drop off some of the pirates, he sailed back to Cape May in early 1699. Several pirates trying to avoid authorities were put ashore there, while a sloop met the Nassau at sea and took aboard several more who wanted to avoid New York entirely. Shelly beached the Nassau to offload the rest of the pirates and crew and their treasure. [7] Many of the transported pirates were arrested by local authorities; New Jersey Governor Jeremiah Basse personally boarded a sloop to apprehend a group of them, though New York’s Governor Bellomont later accused him of having taken bribes to let them go. [4]
While offshore Shelley wrote a letter to Delancey detailing the voyage, a letter which was seized by authorities attempting to arrest the pirates:
Giles Shelley to Mr. Delencie, or, in his absence, Mr. John Barbarie in New York. Cape May, May 27, 1699. At St. Mary's in Madagascar I sold the goods for muslin, calicoes, a ton of elephants' teeth and 2 or 3 cwt. of opium. I took on board 75 passengers: 24 went ashore at Fort Dolphin, where I bought a few negroes and some pigs of tooth and egg (sic). Most of the passengers design for Virginia and Horekills with Andrew Graverard. I have for their passages about 12,000 pieces of eight and about 3,000 Lyon dollars. I hear there is no man-of-war at New York, and design to come to Sandy Hook. Capt. Burgess arrived at St. Mary's the day I sailed, and sold his goods very well. Signed, Giles Shelley. [8]
Bellomont had Shelley arrested and accused of piracy. Through his lawyer Edward Antill, Shelley was released on bail then cleared of all charges. Shelley went on to become a respected merchant in New York and purchased a number of properties in the state. [9] He was married but had no children, adopting Anthill’s son after the elder Antill died. Shelley died in 1710, leaving a great deal of land and money to his adopted son as well as various friends and relatives; his widow died in 1718. [lower-alpha 2] [10]
William Kidd, also known as Captain William Kidd or simply Captain Kidd, was a Scottish sea captain who was commissioned as a privateer and had experience as a pirate. He was tried and executed in London in 1701 for murder and piracy.
Robert Culliford was a pirate from Cornwall who is best remembered for repeatedly checking the designs of Captain William Kidd.
Adventure Galley, also known as Adventure, was an English merchant ship captained by Scottish sea captain William Kidd. She was a type of hybrid ship that combined square rigged sails with oars to give her manoeuvrability in both windy and calm conditions. The vessel was launched at the end of 1695 and was acquired by Kidd the following year to serve in his privateering venture. Between April 1696 and April 1698, she travelled thousands of miles across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans in search of pirates but failed to find any until nearly the end of her travels. Instead, Kidd himself turned pirate in desperation at not having obtained any prizes. Adventure Galley succeeded in capturing two vessels off India and brought them back to Madagascar, but by the spring of 1698 the ship's hull had become so rotten and leaky that she was no longer seaworthy. She was stripped of anything movable and sunk off the north-eastern coast of Madagascar. Her remains have not yet been located.
Captain Samuel Burgess was a member of Captain William Kidd's crew in 1690 when the Blessed William was seized by Robert Culliford and some of the crew, with William May named as captain.
Edward Coates was a colonial American privateer in English service during King William's War and later a pirate operating in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
Adam Baldridge was an English pirate and one of the early founders of the pirate settlements in Madagascar.
Dirk Chivers was a Dutch pirate active in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
James Gilliam, or James Kelly was an English pirate and buccaneer active off the coasts of Spanish South and Central America and later in the Indian Ocean. He sailed under several different pirate captains but is best remembered for his brief association with William Kidd.
See also 1698 in piracy, 1700 in piracy, and Timeline of piracy.
Quedagh Merchant, also known as the Cara Merchant and the Adventure Prize, was an Indian merchant vessel famously captured by Scottish privateer William Kidd on 30 January 1698.
Nathaniel North was a Bermuda-born pirate during the Golden Age of Piracy, operating in the Indian Ocean under John Bowen and then as captain of the Defiant following Bowen's retirement in 1704. After losing the Defiant he ruled a pirate colony at Ambonaivo made up of his former crew before returning to sea. Retiring with great wealth in 1709, North settled in Madagascar and married a local woman, but was murdered by her family.
Abraham Samuel, also known as "Tolinar Rex," born in Martinique, was a mulatto pirate of the Indian Ocean in the days of the Pirate Round in the late-1690s. Being shipwrecked on his way back to New York, he briefly led a combined pirate-Antanosy kingdom from Fort Dauphin, Madagascar, from 1697 until he died there in 1705.
Edward Antill was a colonial plantation owner, attorney, and early politician in the Province of New Jersey. His early work in cultivating grapes and producing wine received an award of the Royal Society of Arts and makes him among the earliest winemakers in Britain's North American colonies.
Thomas Mostyn was a sea captain and slave trader active between New York and the Indian Ocean, and later in the Caribbean. He was one of the traders employed by New York merchant Frederick Philipse to smuggle supplies to the pirates of Madagascar.
John James was a Welsh pirate active near Madagascar, Nassau, and the American east coast.
William Mayes was a pirate active in the Indian Ocean. He was best known for taking over William Kidd’s ship Blessed William and sailing with Henry Avery.
Joseph Wheeler was a pirate active in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea. He is best known for sailing alongside Dirk Chivers and Robert Culliford.
Tempest Rogers was a pirate trader active in the Caribbean and off Madagascar. He is best known for his association with William Kidd.
Evan Jones was a Welsh-born pirate from New York active in the Indian Ocean, best known for his indirect connection to Robert Culliford and for capturing a future Mayor of New York.
Edward Welch was best known for leading a pirate settlement and trading post at Madagascar.
