Tags
HMS Greyhound versus Captain Edward “Ned” Low
Captain Edward “Ned” Low, also Lowe or Loe, (c. 1690 – c. 1724) was a notorious English pirate during the latter days of the Golden Age of Piracy, in the early 18th century. He was born around 1690 into poverty in Westminster, London, and was a thief and a scoundrel from a young age. Low moved to Boston, Massachusetts, as a young man. His wife died in childbirth in late 1719. Two years later, he became a pirate, operating off the coasts of New England and the Azores, and in the Caribbean.
He captained a number of ships, usually maintaining a small fleet of three or four. Low and his pirate crews captured at least a hundred ships during his short career, burning most of them. Although he was active for only three years, Low remains notorious as one of the most vicious pirates of the age, with a reputation for violently torturing his victims before killing them. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle described Low as “savage and desperate,” and a man of “amazing and grotesque brutality”. The New York Times called him a torturer, whose methods would have “done credit to the ingenuity of the Spanish Inquisition in its darkest days”. The circumstances of Low’s death, which took place around 1724, have been the subject of much speculation.
Low, Charles Harris his right hand man, and their ships left the Azores for the Carolinas. On 10 June 1723, they suffered a resounding defeat in a battle with HMS Greyhound, a heavily armed man of war. The Greyhound had been dispatched under the command of Peter Solgard to hunt down Low and his fleet. Low fled in the Fancy with a skeleton crew and £150,000 on board and headed back to the Azores, leaving Harris and the Ranger behind. Twenty-five of the crew of the Ranger, including the ship’s doctor, were tried between 10 July and 12 July, with Solgard giving evidence and recounting the battle. The men were hanged for felony, piracy and robbery, near Newport, Rhode Island, on 19 July 1723. Harris was sent back to England and hanged at Wapping. When Solgard returned to New York, he was presented with the freedom of the city and a gold snuffbox for his part in bringing some of Low’s crew to justice.
Sailing in company with one companion vessel,—for he had discarded the greater part of his pirate fleet,—Low sighted a good-sized ship at a considerable distance, and he and his consort immediately gave chase, supposing the distant vessel might prove to be a good prize. It so happened, however, that the ship discovered by Low was an English man-of-war, the Greyhound, which was cruising along the coast looking for these very pirates, who had recently committed some outrageous crimes upon the crews of merchant vessels in those waters.
When the two ships, with the black flags floating above them and their decks crowded with desperate fellows armed with pistols and cutlasses, drew near to the vessel, of which they expected to make a prize, they were greatly amazed when she suddenly turned in her course and delivered a broadside from her heavy cannon. The pirates returned the fire, for they were well armed with cannon, and there was nothing else for them to do but fight, but the combat was an extremely short one. Low’s consort was soon disabled by the fire from the man-of-war, and, as soon as he perceived this, the dastardly Low, without any regard for his companions in arms, and with no thought for anything but his own safety, immediately stopped fighting, and setting all sail, sped away from the scene of combat as swiftly as it was possible for the wind to force his vessel through the water.
The disabled pirate ship was quickly captured, and not long afterwards twenty-five of her crew were tried, convicted, and hung near Newport, Rhode Island. But the arrant Low escaped without injury, and continued his career of contemptible crime for some time longer. What finally became of him is not set down in the histories of piracy. It is not improbable that if the men under his command were not too brutally stupid to comprehend his cowardly unfaithfulness to them, they suddenly removed from this world one of the least interesting of all base beings.
From - Buccaneers and Pirates of Our Coasts
By FRANK R. STOCKTON
There are conflicting reports on the circumstances of Edward Low’s death. Charles Johnson—considered by some to be Daniel Defoe writing under a pseudonym—stated in his A General History of the Pyrates, at odds with other sources, that Edward Low and the Fancy were last sighted near the Canaries and Guinea but at the time of his 1724 book, no further reports had surfaced. He noted one rumour that Low was sailing for Brazil and another that Low’s ship sank in a storm with the loss of all hands. The National Maritime Museum in London states that he was never caught, ending his days in Brazil.
The Pirates Own Book and Ossian both suggest that Low was set adrift without provisions by the crew of the Merry Christmas, in a mutiny brought about by Low’s murdering of a sleeping subordinate following an argument. Low was subsequently rescued by a French ship; when the French authorities learned of his identity he was brought to trial, and was hanged in Martinique, in 1724.
HMS Swallow versus Bartholomew Roberts
Born John Roberts (May 17, 1682 – February 10, 1722), Bartholomew Roberts, also known as Black Bart Roberts, was a Welsh pirate who raided shipping off the Americas and West Africa between 1719 and 1722. He was the most successful pirate of the Golden Age of Piracy, capturing far more ships than some of the best-known pirates of this era such as Blackbeard or Captain Kidd. He is estimated to have captured over 470 vessels. He is also known as Black Bart (Welsh: Barti Ddu), but this name was never used in his lifetime.
On 5 February H.M.S. Swallow, commanded by Captain Chaloner Ogle, came upon the three pirate ships, the Royal Fortune, the Ranger and the Little Ranger careening at Cape Lopez. The Swallow veered away to avoid a sandbank, making the pirates think that she was a fleeing merchant ship. The Ranger, commanded by James Skyrme, departed in pursuit. Once out of earshot of the other pirates, the Swallow opened her gun ports and an engagement began. Ten of the pirates were killed and Skyrme had his leg taken off by a cannon ball, but refused to leave the deck. Eventually the Ranger was forced to strike her colours and the surviving crew were captured.
On 10 February the Swallow returned to Cape Lopez and found the Royal Fortune still there. The previous day Roberts had captured the Neptune, and many of his crew were drunk and unfit for duty just when he needed them most. The pirates at first thought that the approaching ship was the Ranger returning, but a deserter from the Swallow recognized her and informed the captain. Roberts was breakfasting in company with Captain Hill, the master of the Neptune, when he was given the news. As he usually did before action, he dressed himself in his finest clothes:
Roberts himself made a gallant figure, at the time of the engagement, being dressed in a rich crimson damask waistcoat and breeches, a red feather in his hat, a gold chain round his neck, with a diamond cross hanging to it, a sword in his hand, and two pairs of pistols slung over his shoulders … - Johnson, Charles (1724). A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates (1998 ed.). Conway Maritime Press.
The pirates’ plan was to sail past the Swallow, which meant exposing themselves to one broadside. Once past, they would have a good chance of escaping. However the helmsman failed to keep the Royal Fortune on the right course, and the Swallow was able to approach to deliver a second broadside. Captain Roberts was killed by grapeshot cannon fire, which struck him in the throat, while he stood on the deck. Before his body could be captured by Ogle, Roberts’ wish to be buried at sea was fulfilled by his crew, who weighed his body down and threw it overboard after wrapping it in his ship’s sail. It was never found. His death was very shocking to the pirate world.
