IX: Of Captain Bartho. Roberts, and His Crew

The pirates now drew nigh enough to fire their chase guns; they hoisted the black flag that was worn in Whydah Road, and got their spritsail yard along-ships, with intent to board; no one having ever asked, all this while, what country ship they took the chase to be; they would have her to be a Portuguese, (sugar being then a commodity among them,) and were swearing every minute at the wind or sails to expedite so sweet a chase; but, alas, all turned sour in an instant: it was with the utmost consternation they saw her suddenly bring to, and hawl up her lower ports, now within pistol-shot, and struck their black flag upon it directly. After the first surprise was over, they kept firing at a distance, hoisted it again, and vapoured with their cutlashes on the poop; though wisely endeavouring at the same time to get away. Being now at their wits end, boarding was proposed by the heads of them, and so to make one desperate push; but the motion not being well seconded, and their main-top-mast coming down by a shot, after two hours firing, it was declin’d; they grew sick, struck their colours, and called out for quarters; having had 10 men killed outright, and 20 wounded, without the loss or hurt of one of the King’s men. She had 32 guns, mann’d with 16 Frenchmen, 20 Negroes, and 77 English. The colours were thrown overboard, that they might not rise in judgment, nor be display’d in triumph over them.

While the Swallow was sending their boat to fetch the prisoners, a blast and smoke was seen to pour out of the great cabin, and they thought they were blowing up; but upon enquiry afterwards, found that half a dozen of the most desperate, when they saw all hopes fled, had drawn themselves round what powder they had left in the steerage, and fired a pistol into it, but it was too small a quantity to effect anything more, than burning them in a frightful manner.

This ship was commanded by one Skyrm, a Welsh man, who, though he had lost his leg in the action, would not suffer himself to be dressed, or carried off the deck; but, like Widrington, fought upon his stump. The rest appeared gay and brisk, most of them with white shirts, watches, and a deal of silk vests, but the gold dust belonging to them, was most of it left in the Little Ranger in the bay, (this company’s proper ship,) with the Royal Fortune.

I cannot but take notice of two among the crowd, of those disfigured from the blast of powder just before mentioned, viz. William Main and Roger Ball. An officer of the ship seeing a silver call hang at the waist of the former, said to him, I presume you are boatswain of this ship. Then you presume wrong, answered he, for I am boatswain of the Royal Fortune, Captain Roberts Commander. Then Mr. Boatswain you will be hanged I believe, replies the officer. That is as your honour pleases, answered he again, and was for turning away: but the officer desired to know of him, how the powder, which had made them in that condition, came to take fire.—By G—— says he, they are all mad and bewitch’d, for I have lost a good hat by it. (the hat and he being both blown out of the cabin gallery, into the sea.) But what signifies a hat friend, says the officer.-Not much answer’d he, the men being busy in stripping him of his shoes and stockings.—The officer then enquired of him, whether Roberts’ company were as likely fellows as these.—There are 120 of them, (answered he) as clever fellows as ever trod shoe leather: would I were with them!—No doubt on’t, says the officer.—By G—— it is naked truth, answered he, looking down and seeing himself, by this time, quite striped.

The officer then approached Roger Ball, who was seated in a private corner, with a look as sullen as winter, and asked him, how he came blown up in that frightful manner.—Why, says he, John Morris fired a pistol into the powder, and if he had not done it, I would, (bearing his pain without the least complaint.) The officer gave him to understand he was surgeon, and if he desired it, he would dress him; but he swore it should not be done, and that if anything was applied to him, he would tear it off.—nevertheless the surgeon had good nature enough to dress him, though with much trouble: at night he was in a kind of delirium, and raved on the bravery of Roberts, saying, he should shortly be released, as soon as they should meet him, which procured him a lashing down upon the forecastle, which he resisting with all his force, caused him to be used with the more violence, so that he was tied down with so much severity, that his flesh being sore and tender with the blowing up, he died next day of a mortification.

They secured the prisoners with pinions, and shackles, but the ship was so much disabled in the engagement, that they had once thoughts to set her on fire; but this would have given them the trouble of taking the pirates’ wounded men on board themselves, and that they were certain the Royal Fortune would wait for their consort’s return, they lay by her two days, repaired her rigging and other damages, and sent her into Prince’s, with the Frenchmen, and four of their own hands.

On the 9th in the evening, the Swallow gained the cape again, and saw the Royal Fortune standing into the bay with the Neptune, Captain Hill, of London: a good presage of the next day’s success, for they did not doubt but the temptation of liquor, and plunder, they might find in this their new prize, would make the pirates very confused; and so it happened.

On the 10th, in the morning, the man-of-war bore away to round the cape. Roberts’ crew discerning their masts over the land, went down into the cabin, to acquaint him of it, he being then at breakfast with his new guest, Captain Hill, on a savory dish of Solomon Gundy, and some of his own beer. He took no notice of it, and his men almost as little, some saying she was a Portuguese ship, others a French slave ship, but the major part swore it was the French Ranger returning, and were merrily debating for some time, on the manner of reception, whether they should salute, or not; but as the Swallow approached nigher, things appeared plainer, and though they were stigmatiz’d with the name of cowards, who showed any apprehension of danger, yet some of them, now undeceived, declared it to Roberts, especially one Armstrong, who had deserted from that ship, and knew her well: those Roberts swore at as cowards, who meant to dishearten the men, asking them if it were so, whether they were afraid to fight, or no? And hardly refrained from blows. What his own apprehensions were, till she hawled up her ports, and hoisted their proper colours, is uncertain; but then being perfectly convinced, he slipped his cable, got under sail, and ordered his men to arms, without any show of timidity, dropping a first rate oath, that it was a bite, but, at the same time, resolved, like a gallant rogue, to get clear, or die.

There was one Armstrong, as I just mention’d, a deserter from the Swallow, whom they enquired of concerning the trim and sailing of that ship; he told them she sail’d best upon a wind, and therefore, if they designed to leave her, they should go before it.

The danger was imminent, and time very short, to consult of means to extricate himself; his resolution in this strait, was as follows: to pass close to the Swallow, with all their sails, and receive her broadside, before they returned a shot; if disabled by this, or that they could not depend on sailing, then to run onshore at the point, (which is steep to) and everyone to shift for himself among the Negroes; or failing in these, to board, and blow up together, for he saw that the greatest part of his men were drunk, passively courageous, unfit for service.

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 pair of pistols hanging at the end of a silk sling, flung over his shoulders (according to the fashion of the pirates;) and is said to have given his orders with boldness, and spirit; coming, according to what he had purposed, close to the man-of-war, received her fire, and then hoisted his black flag, and returned it, shooting away from her, with all the sail he could pack; and had he took Armstrong’s advice, to have gone before the wind, he had probably escaped; but keeping his tacks down, either by the winds shifting, or ill steerage, or both, he was taken aback with his sails, and the Swallow came a second time very nigh to him: he had now perhaps finished the fight very desperately, if death, who took a swift passage in a grapeshot, had not interposed, and struck him directly on the throat. He settled himself on the tackles of a gun, which one Stephenson, from the helm, observing, ran to his assistance, and not perceiving him wounded, swore at him, and bid him stand up, and fight like a man; but when he found his mistake, and that his captain was certainly dead, he gushed into tears, and wished the next shot might be his lot. They presently threw him overboard, with his arms and ornaments on, according to the repeated request he made in his lifetime.

Roberts was a tall black man, near forty years of age, born at Newey-bagh, nigh Haverfordwest, in Pembrokeshire, of good natural parts, and personal bravery, though he applied them to such wicked purposes, as made them of no commendation, frequently drinking d——n to him who ever lived to wear a halter. He was forc’d himself at first among this company out of the Prince, Captain Plumb at Anomabu, about three years before, where he served as second mate, and shed, as he us’d to tell the fresh men, as many crocodile tears then as they did now, but time and good company had wore it off. He could not plead want of employment, nor incapacity of getting his bread in an honest way, to favour so vile a change, nor was he so much a coward as to pretend it; but frankly own’d, it was to get rid of the disagreeable superiority of some masters he was acquainted with, and the love of novelty and change, maritime peregrinations had accustom’d him to. In an honest service, says he, there is thin commons, low wages, and hard labour; in this, plenty and satiety, pleasure and ease, liberty and power; and who would not balance creditor on this side, when all the hazard that is run for it, at worst, is only a sour look or two at choking. No, a merry life and a short one, shall be my motto. Thus he preach’d himself into an approbation of what he at first abhorr’d; and being daily regal’d with music, drinking, and the gaiety and diversions of his companions, these deprav’d propensities were quickly edg’d and strengthen’d, to the extinguishing of fear and conscience. Yet among all the vile and ignominious acts he had perpetrated, he is said to have had an aversion towards forcing men into that service, and had procured some their discharge, notwithstanding so many made it their plea.

When Roberts was gone, as though he had been the life and soul of the gang, their spirits sunk; many deserted their quarters, and all stupidly neglected any means for defence, or escape; and their mainmast soon after being shot by the board, they had no way left, but to surrender and call for quarters. The Swallow kept aloof, while her boat passed, and repassed for the prisoners; because they understood they were under an oath to blow up; and some of the desperadoes showed a willingness that way, matches being lighted, and scuffles happening between those who would, and those who opposed it: but I cannot easily account for this humour, which can be term’d no more than a false courage, since any of them had power to destroy his own life, either by pistol, or drowning, without involving others in the same fate, who are in no temper of mind for it: and at best, it had been only dying, for fear of death.

She had 40 guns, and 157 men, 45 whereof were Negroes; three only were killed in the action, without any loss to the Swallow. There was found upwards of 2,000 £ in gold dust in her. The flag could not be got easily from under the fallen mast, and was therefore recover’d by the Swallow; it had the figure of a skeleton in it, and a man portray’d with a flaming sword in his hand, intimating a defiance of death itself.

The Swallow returned back into Cape Lopez Bay, and found the Little Ranger, whom the pirates had deserted in haste, for the better defence of the ship: she had been plunder’d, according to what I could learn, of 2,000 £ in gold dust, (the shares of those pirates who belonged to her;) and Captain Hill, in the Neptune, not unjustly suspected, for he would not wait the man-of-war’s returning into the bay again, but sail’d away immediately, making no scruple afterwards to own the seizure of other goods out of her, and surrender’d, as a confirmation of all, 50 ounces at Barbados, for which, see the article at the end of this book.

All persons who after the 29th of Septem. 1690, etc.

To sum up the whole, if it be considered, first, that the sickly state of the men-of-war, when they sail’d from Prince’s, was the misfortune that hindered their being as far as Sierra Leone, and consequently out of the track the pirates then took. That those pirates, directly contrary to their design, in the second expedition, should get above Cape Corso, and that nigh Axim, a chase should offer, that inevitably must discover them, and be soon communicated to the men-of-war. That the satiating their evil and malicious tempers at Whydah, in burning the Porcupine, and running off with the French ship, had strengthened the Swallow with 30 men. That the Swallow should miss them in that road, where probably she had not, or at least so effectually obtained her end. That they should be so far infatuated at Cape Lopez, as to divide their strength, which when collected, might have been so formidable. And lastly, that the conquest should be without bloodshed: I say, considering all these circumstances, it shows that the hand of providence was concerned in their destruction. As to their behaviour after they were taken, it was found that they had great inclinations to rebel, if they could have laid hold of any opportunity. For they were very uneasy under restraint, having been lately all commanders themselves; nor could they brook their diet, or quarters, without cursing and swearing, and upbraiding each other, with the folly that had brought them to it.

So that to secure themselves against any mad desperate undertaking of theirs, they strongly barricado’d the gun-room, and made another prison before it; an officer, with pistols and cutlashes, doing duty, night and day, and the prisoners within, manacled and shackled.

They would yet in these circumstances be impudently merry, saying, when they viewed their nakedness, that they had not left them a halfpenny, to give old Charon, to ferry them over Styx: and at their thin commons, they would observe, that they fell away so fast, that they should not have weight left to hang them. Sutton used to be very profane; he happening to be in the same irons with another prisoner, who was more serious than ordinary, and read and pray’d often, as became his condition; this man Sutton used to swear at, and ask him, what he proposed by so much noise and devotion? Heaven, says the other, I hope. Heaven, you fool, says Sutton, did you ever hear of any pirates going thither? Give me H‑ll, it’s a merrier place; I’ll give Roberts a salute of 13 guns at entrance. And when he found such ludicrous expressions had no effect on him, he made a formal complaint, and requested that the officer would either remove this man, or take his prayerbook away, as a common disturber.

A combination and conspiracy was formed, betwixt Moody, Ashplant, Magnes, Mare, and others, to rise, and kill the officers, and run away with the ship. This they had carried on by means of a mulatto boy, who was allow’d to attend them, and proved very trusty in his messages, between the principals; but the evening of that night they were to have made this struggle, two of the prisoners that sat next to Ashplant, heard the boy whisper them upon the project, and naming to him the hour they should be ready, presently gave notice of it to the captain, which put the ship in an alarm, for a little time; and, on examination, several of them had made shift to break off, or lose, their shackles, (no doubt for such purpose;) but it tended only to procure to themselves worse usage and confinement.

In the same passage to Cape Corso, the prize, Royal Fortune, was in the same danger. She was left at the island of St. Thomas, in the possession of an officer, and a few men, to take in some fresh provisions, (which were scarce at Cape Corso) with orders to follow the ship. There were only some of the pirates’ Negroes, three or four wounded prisoners, and Scudamore, their surgeon; from whom they seemed to be under no apprehension, especially from the last, who might have hoped for favour, on account of his employ; and had stood so much indebted for his liberty, eating and drinking constantly with the officer; yet this fellow, regardless of the favour, and lost to all sense of reformation, endeavoured to bring over the Negroes to his design of murdering the people, and running away with the ship. He easily prevailed with the Negroes to come into the design; but when he came to communicate it to his fellow prisoners, and would have drawn them into the same measures, by telling them, he understood navigation, that the Negroes were stout fellows, and by a smattering he had in the Angolan language, he had found willing to undertake such an enterprise; and that it was better venturing to do this, run down the coast, and raise a new company, than to proceed to Cape Corso, and be hanged like a dog, and sun dry’d. One of them abhorring the cruelty, or fearing the success, discovered it to the officer, who made him immediately a prisoner, and brought the ship safe.

When they came to be lodg’d in Cape Corso Castle, their hopes of this kind all cut off, and that they were assured they must there soon receive a final sentence; the note was changed among most of them, and from vain insolent jesting, they became serious and devout, begging for good books, and joining in public prayers, and singing of Psalms, twice at least every day.

As to their trials, if we should give them at length, it may appear tedious to the reader, for which reason, I have, for the avoiding tautology and repetition, put as many of them together as were try’d for the same fact, reserving the circumstances which are most material, with observations on the dying behaviour of such of them, as came to my knowledge.

And first, it may be observed from the list, that a great part of these pirate ships crews, were men entered on the coast of Africa, not many months before they were taken; from whence, it may be concluded, that the pretended constraint of Roberts, on them, was very often a complotment between parties equally willing: and this Roberts several times openly declared, particularly to the Onslow’s people, whom he called aft, and ask’d of them, who was willing to go, for he would force nobody? As was deposed, by some of his best hands, after acquittal; nor is it reasonable to think, he should reject Irish volunteers, only from a pique against Kennedy, and force others, that might hazard, and, in time, destroy his government: but their behaviour soon put him out of this fear, and convinc’d him, that the plea of force was only the best artifice they had to shelter themselves under, in case they should be taken; and that they were less rogues than others, only in point of time.

It may likewise be taken notice of, that the country, wherein they happened to be tried, is among other happinesses, exempted from lawyers, and law-books, so that the office of register, of necessity fell on one, not versed in those affairs, which might justify the court in want of form, more essentially supply’d with integrity and impartiality.

But, perhaps, if there was less law, there might be more justice, than in some other courts; for, if the civil law be a law of universal reason, judging of the rectitude, or obliquity of men’s actions, every man of common sense is endued with a portion of it, at least sufficient to make him distinguish right from wrong, or what the civilians call, malum in se.

Therefore, here, if two persons were equally guilty of the same fact, there was no convicting one, and bringing the other off, by any quirk, or turn of law; for they form’d their judgments upon the constraint, or willingness, the aim, and intention of the parties, and all other circumstances, which make a material difference. Besides, in crimes of this nature, men bred up to the sea, must be more knowing, and much abler, than others more learned in the law; for, before a man can have a right idea of a thing, he must know the terms standing for that thing: the sea-terms being a language by itself, which no lawyer can be supposed to understand, he must of consequence want that discriminating faculty, which should direct him to judge right of the facts meant by those terms.

The court well knew, it was not possible to get the evidence of every sufferer by this crew, and therefore, first of all, considered how that deficiency should be supplied; whether, or no, they could pardon one Jo. Dennis, who had early offered himself, as King’s evidence, and was the best read in their lives and conversations: here indeed, they were at a loss for law, and concluded in the negative, because it look’d like compounding with a man to swear falsly, losing by it, those great helps he could have afforded.

Another great difficulty in their proceedings, was, how to understand those words in the Act of Parliament, of, particularly specifying in the charge, the circumstances of time, place, etc. i.e. so to understand them, as to be able to hold a court; for if they had been indicted on particular robberies, the evidence had happened mostly from the Royal African Company’s ships, on which these gentlemen of Cape Corso Castle, were not qualify’d to sit, their oath running, that they have no interest directly, or indirectly, in the ship, or goods, for the robbery of which, the party stands accused: and this they thought they had, commissions being paid them, on such goods: and on the other side, if they were incapacitated, no court could be formed, the commission absolutely requiring three of them by name.

To reconcile all things, therefore, the court resolved, to bottom the whole of their proceedings on the Swallow’s depositions, which were clear and plain, and had the circumstance of time when, place where, manner how, and the like, particularly specified according to the statute in that case made, and provided. But this admitted only a general intimation of robbery in the indictment, therefore to approve their clemency, it looking arbitrary on the lives of men, to lump them to the gallows, in such a summary way as must have been done, had they solely adhered to the Swallow’s charge, they resolved to come to particular trials.

Secondly, that the prisoners might not be ignorant whereon to answer, and so have all fair advantages, to excuse and defend themselves; the court farther agreed with justice and equanimity, to hear any evidence that could be brought, to weaken or corroborate the three circumstances that complete a pirate; first, being a volunteer amongst them at the beginning; secondly, being a volunteer at the taking or robbing of any ship; or lastly, voluntarily accepting a share in the booty of those that did; for by a parity of reason, where these actions were of their own disposing, and yet committed by them, it must be believed their hearts and hands joined together, in what they acted against His Majesty’s ship the Swallow.