A Pirate's Discipline

1895

The Rules of Conduct Observed on Board a Buccaneer.

The customs and regulations most commonly observed on board a buccaneer are worth noting. Every pirate captain doubtless had his own set of rules, but there are certain traditional articles that seem to have been generally adopted. The captain had a state cabin, a double vote in elections, a double share of booty. On some vessels it was the captain who decided in what direction to sail, but this and other matters of moment were often settled by a vote of the company, the captain's vote counting for two.

The officers had a share and a half or a share and a quarter of the plunder and the sailors one share each. Booty was divided with scrupulous care, and marooning was the penalty of attempting to defraud the general company, if only to the amount of a single goldpiece. Every man had a full vote in every affair of importance.

Arms were always to be clean and fit for service, and desertion of the ship or quarters in battle was punished with death. On one famous pirate's ship a man who was crippled in battle received $800 out of the common stock, and a proportionate sum was awarded for lesser hurts. Another allowed $725 for the loss of a limb, and other captains instituted a sort of tariff of wounds which extended to ears, fingers and toes.

In chase or battle the captain's power was absolute. He who first spied a sail, if she proved to be a prize, was entitled to the best pair of pistols on board her over and above his dividend. Those pistols were greatly coveted, and a pair would sell for as much as $150 from one pirate to another.

In their own commonwealth the pirates were reported to have been severe upon the point of honor, and among one crew it was the practice to slit the ears or nose of any sailor found guilty of robbing his fellow. — New York Dispatch.

Bold Pirates Attack Ships Near Mexico

1920

Modern Red Rovers Recall Days of Captain Kidd — U. S. May Act to End Ravages

Buccaneers and pirates are swarming in the Pacific off the west coast of Mexico — freebooters in high leather boots, who swear terrible oaths and carry huge swords. Just as if they had stepped out of the pages of story books or had come to life again from the days of Captain Kidd, these marine highwaymen are waging their nefarious trade much as did the pirates of the old Spanish Main. From Mazatlan the Mexican government has dispatched a naval expedition equipped for two months' service and which it is hoped will be able to rout the outlaws.

From time to time into the ports on the Pacific coast of the United States, in the places where sailormen gather, there have come rumors of these bands of pirates. Mostly they have been put down to overindulgence in forbidden liquor or a desire to shine in the spotlight with wild and improbable tales. But now the discovery has been made that these pirates actually are infesting the seas and the stories that once were sneered at or dismissed with a pitying smile are avidly listened to.

Small Vessels Their Victims

In wild and almost inaccessible caves on the lonely islands off the Mexican coast these buccaneers have their hiding places. Tramp steamers, coastwise trading vessels and sailing ships with small crews are their victims. They appear at the break of dawn, sail boldly up to their prey, swarm over the sides, battle the crews and loot the ships. Then they sail away with their holds loaded with booty, to hide it in their caves until a favorable opportunity presents itself to smuggle the loot into the United States at some lonely point on the coast or into one of the less usually watched parts.

Who are these men and where do they come from? They do not seem to belong to any one nationality. Americans, Europeans, Mexicans, a Jap and a Chinese or two — these make up the motley crew of the pirate ships, according to J. C. Robinson, who recently arrived at San Francisco, Cal., with a thrilling tale of his capture and his adventures at the hiding place of the gang.

Pirates Overcame Crew

"They took me off the sailing ship Marie Penman," says Robinson. "I had stood my watch and was in my bunk in the forecastle. I learned afterward there had been a battle on deck and that the pirates had overcome the crew, but I was so tired I didn't hear any of the noise of the scuffle. The first I knew was when I was roughly shaken and awoke to find a pirate holding me by the shoulder. I rubbed my eyes and believed that I was dreaming, because he looked just like the pirates of whom I had read in my boyhood days. But I quickly saw that it was no dream, for I was jerked to my feet and ordered on deck.

"There the pirate chief, a big, black-mustached man who wore big boots to above his knees, carried a huge cutlass and swore the most blood-curdling oaths, put me to work helping transfer some of our cargo to the pirate ship. I was frightened and I worked hard, and when the pirates left they took me with them. Why I do not know.

"A day or two later we made port in a lonely island. I haven't the least idea where it was. The pirate ship just sailed straight toward it, and just when I was beginning to think that we were going to bump square into a huge cliff an opening appeared and our ship twisted through it into a little bay. Back in the edge of the hills, a half mile from the sandy shore where we landed the cargo, there was quite a settlement of these pirates. Evidently the ship which had attacked the Marie Penman was only one of several pirate vessels.

U. S. May Take Action

"They didn't pay much attention to me — just let me run around and do what I wanted to. I heard a lot of their plans, ate with them, slept with them and it seemed they had forgotten I did not belong to the band. When the chief who had captured me sailed away the next time he took me along. We raided a small schooner, and when the pirate ship was leaving I managed to remain aboard the schooner, upon which I worked my way back to a port in Lower California, from which I worked my way to Frisco." Robinson has been asked to tell his story to Navy officials, who say that if such a pirate nest exists the United States may take a hand in helping to wipe it out.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1900, p. 1.

A Famous Pirate

1916

On the 23d of May, 1706, Captain William Kidd, the famous pirate, was executed at Execution dock, London. Several others of Kidd's company were executed with him. The summary putting to death of these pirates did much to rid the seas of piracy. Kidd, who was the most daring of all the pirates of history, exemplified the worst of his kind.

Although his exploits have been greatly exaggerated, there is no doubt that he was guilty of desperate crimes. His daring led others to emulate him, and the commerce of the world suffered much because of the depredations of the pirates.

England was the principal sufferer at the hands of the high sea raiders, and accordingly England was most interested in their capture. Kidd's execution began a new era of commercial activity on account of the greater security enjoyed by merchantmen on the high seas.

Captain Kidd's Ghost Sells His Treasure Farm

Trenton, New Jersey, 1919
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CAPT. KIDD'S SPOOK SWINDLE

Pirate's Ghost Induces "Suckers" to Purchase Farm -- Found No Treasure.

Trenton, N. J. -- Capt. Kidd's spirit is not a reliable witness as to where the redoubtable pirate buried his treasure, in the opinion of Sophie Sauter and Marie Blumer of Paterson and Fred Laechers of Elizabeth, who appealed to the supreme court against both the spook and his alleged sponsor, Daniel Balsinger of Oakland, N. J.

The three took a chance and bought a farm from Balsinger in May, 1913, on the strength of his assurance that Capt. Kidd's spirit had appeared to him in the night and revealed the exact spot on the farm where he had buried whole chests of pieces of eight.

They do not wish to pay the balance due now because they have dug up the entire farm without finding a single doubloon.

--The Van Wert Daily Bulletin, Van Wert, Ohio, September 4, 1919, page 2.