Joseph Thompson | |
---|---|
Nationality | Cuban |
Occupation | Pirate |
Known for | A single incident involving grenades |
Piratical career | |
Base of operations | Caribbean |
Commands | Eagle |
Joseph Thompson (died 1719) was a pirate from Trinidad, Cuba, [1] and was active in the Caribbean. He is primarily known for a single incident involving grenades.
Thompson was among 209 pirates on New Providence who declared to Captain Vincent Pearse their intention to accept a 1718 offer of amnesty and pardon. Along with Charles Vane and a few others, he soon returned to piracy. [2] After picking up additional crew for his sloop Eagle (some of whom had served with William Moody), he captured and looted several ships in the vicinity. [3] In December 1718 in full view of Port Royal [4] Thompson captured a ship called Kingston whose cargo was worth over £20,000. The ship's owners complained to Jamaican Governor Nicholas Lawes, but there were no Royal Navy warships available. [5]
Instead Lawson issued commissions to two sloops in the harbor, [4] promising them a share of the pirates' treasure in addition to the rewards guaranteed by King George's September 1717 proclamation to combat piracy. [5] The two sloops sailed before year's end, encountering the pirate ship and another captured vessel. The pirate vessel under Captain Thompson raised a black flag and moved to attack. [1]
Thompson's ship came alongside one of the pirate-hunters and "threw vast numbers of powder flasks, granado shells, and stinkpots into her which killed and wounded several, and made others jump overboard." [5] The other pirate-hunter picked up the survivors, whose stories of the fight "so disheartned the men on board ye other vessell, the pyrate having a superior force, that they made the best of their way back to Port Royal." [5] Thompson's 150-man crew, "banditti of all nations," marooned the remaining sailors on the Cayman Islands. [5]
Jamaica's merchants pleaded again with Lawes to do something about Thompson. Lawes commissioned four more 10-gun, 80-man sloops with help from the merchants, [6] and after refitting another in Port Royal plus the arrival of the fifth-rate frigate [7] HMS Ludlow Castle, divided his forces to protect incoming merchants and hunt down Thompson. Four of the sloops soon cornered Thompson's ship, killing him and recovering the Kingston. [6] Some of his surviving crew were captured to await trial in Bermuda, where they were found guilty and hanged in 1720. [3]
Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's North American colonies. Little is known about his early life, but he may have been a sailor on privateer ships during Queen Anne's War before he settled on the Bahamian island of New Providence, a base for Captain Benjamin Hornigold, whose crew Teach joined around 1716. Hornigold placed him in command of a sloop that he had captured, and the two engaged in numerous acts of piracy. Their numbers were boosted by the addition to their fleet of two more ships, one of which was commanded by Stede Bonnet, but Hornigold retired from piracy toward the end of 1717, taking two vessels with him.
John Rackham, commonly known as Calico Jack, was an English pirate captain operating in the Bahamas and in Cuba during the early 18th century. His nickname was derived from the calico clothing that he wore, while Jack is a nickname for "John".
Captain Benjamin Hornigold (1680–1719) was an English pirate who operated during the tail end of the Golden Age of Piracy.
Stede Bonnet was a Barbadian-born pirate and military officer, known as the Gentleman Pirate for the reason that he was a moderately wealthy landowner before turning to a life of crime. Bonnet was born into a wealthy English family on the island of Barbados, and inherited the family estate after his father's death in 1694. Despite his lack of sailing experience, Bonnet decided he should turn to piracy in the winter of 1716 or spring of 1717. He bought a sailing vessel, the Revenge, and travelled with his paid crew along the Eastern Seaboard of what is now the United States, capturing other vessels and burning other Barbadian ships.
Thomas Anstis was an early 18th-century pirate, who served under Captain Howell Davis and Captain Bartholomew Roberts, before setting up on his own account, raiding shipping on the eastern coast of the American colonies and in the Caribbean during what is often referred to as the "Golden Age of Piracy".
Charles Vane was an English pirate who operated in the Bahamas during the end of the Golden Age of Piracy.
Henry Jennings was an 18th-century English privateer from the colony of Bermuda, who served primarily during the War of the Spanish Succession and later served as leader of the pirate haven or "republic" of New Providence.
Richard Worley was a pirate who was active in the Caribbean Sea and the East Coast of the American Colonies during the early 18th century.
The Battle of Cape Fear River, also known as the Battle of the Sandbars, was fought in September 1718 between two sloops from the Province of South Carolina led by William Rhett and a group of pirate ships under the command of Stede Bonnet. Rhett's sloops defeated the pirates in the Cape Fear River estuary which led to Bonnet's eventual execution by hanging in Charleston, South Carolina.
The capture of John "Calico Jack" Rackham was a single-ship action fought between English pirate Calico Jack and British privateer Jonathan Barnet. The battle was fought in the vicinity of Negril, Jamaica and ended with the capture of Rackham and his crew.
John Martel was a French pirate active in the Caribbean.
The West Indies Anti-Piracy Operations were a series of military operations and engagements undertaken by the United States Navy against pirates in and around the Antilles. Between 1814 and 1825, the American West Indies Squadron hunted pirates on both sea and land, primarily around Cuba and Puerto Rico. After the capture of Roberto Cofresi in 1825, acts of piracy became rare, and the operation was considered a success, although limited occurrences went on until slightly after the start of the 20th century.
The Republic of Pirates was the base and stronghold of a loose confederacy run by privateers-turned-pirates in Nassau on New Providence island in the Bahamas during the Golden Age of Piracy for about twelve years from 1706 until 1718. While it was not a republic in a formal sense, it was governed by an informal pirate code, which dictated that the crews of the Republic would vote on the leadership of their ships and treat other pirate crews with civility. The term comes from Colin Woodard's book of the same name.
The Flying Gang was an 18th-century group of pirates who established themselves in Nassau, New Providence in the Bahamas after the destruction of Port Royal in Jamaica. The gang consisted of the most notorious and cunning pirates of the time, and they terrorized and pillaged the Caribbean until the Royal Navy and infighting brought them to justice. They achieved great fame and wealth by raiding salvagers attempting to recover gold from the sunken Spanish treasure fleet. They established their own codes and governed themselves independent from any of the colonial powers of the time. Nassau was deemed the Republic of Pirates as it attracted many former privateers looking for work to its shores. The Governor of Bermuda stated that there were over 1,000 pirates in Nassau at that time and that they outnumbered the mere hundred inhabitants in the town.
Josiah Burgess (1689–1719) was an English pirate active in the Caribbean. He is best known as one of the heads of New Providence’s “Flying Gang.”
Robert Deal was a pirate active in the Caribbean. He is best known for his association with Charles Vane.
Matthew Luke was a pirate active in the Caribbean.
Daniel Stillwell was a minor pirate in the Caribbean, best known for his association with Benjamin Hornigold.
The Proclamation for Suppressing of Pirates was issued by George I of Great Britain on 5 September 1717. It promised a royal pardon for acts of piracy committed before the following 5 January to those pirates who surrendered themselves to the correct authority before a deadline. Originally, the surrender had to occur on or before 5 September 1718; this was later extended by a second proclamation to 1 July 1719.