A General History of the Pirates

Ostend India men, coming out of that harbour, one of which, after a desperate resistance, they took; the particulars of which action is at length related in the following letter, wrote by the captain from Bombay.

A Letter from Captain Mackra dated at Bombay, Nov. 16, 1720

We arrived the 25th of July last, in company of the Greenwich, at Juanna, (an island not far from Madagascar) putting in there to refresh our men, we found fourteen pirates that came in their canoes from the Mayotte, where the pirate ship to which they belong’d, viz. the Indian Queen, two hundred and fifty tons, twenty-eight guns, and ninety men, commanded by Capt. Oliver de la Bouche, bound from the Guinea coast to the East Indies, had been bulged and lost. They said they left the captain and 40 of their men building a new vessel to proceed on their wicked design. Capt. Kirby and I concluding it might be of great service to the East India Company to destroy such a nest of rogues, were ready to sail for that purpose the 17th of August, about eight o’clock in the morning, when we discovered two pirate ships standing into the Bay of Juanna, one of thirty-four, and the other of thirty guns. I immediately went on board the Greenwich, where they seem’d very diligent in preparations for an engagement, and I left Capt. Kirby with mutual promises of standing by each other. I then unmoor’d, got under sail, and brought two boats ahead to row me close to the Greenwich; but he being open to a valley and a breeze, made the best of his way from me; which an Ostender in our company, of 22 guns, seeing, did the same, though the captain had promised heartily to engage with us, and I believe would have been as good as his word, if Capt. Kirby had kept his. About half an hour after twelve, I called several times to the Greenwich to bear down to our assistance, and fir’d shot at him, but to no purpose. For though we did not doubt but he would join us, because when he got about a league from us, he brought his ship to, and look’d on, yet both he and the Ostender basely deserted us, and left us engaged with barbarous and inhuman enemies, with their black and bloody flags hanging over us, without the least appearance of escaping being cut to pieces. But God, in his good providence, determin’d otherwise; for notwithstanding their superiority, we engaged ’em both about three hours, during which, the biggest received some shot betwixt wind and water, which made her keep off a little to stop her leaks. The other endeavoured all she could to board us, by rowing with her oars, being within half a ship’s length of us above an hour; but by good fortune we shot all her oars to pieces, which prevented them, and by consequence saved our lives.

About four o’clock, most of the officers and men posted on the quarterdeck being killed and wounded, the largest ship making up to us with all diligence, being still within a cable’s length of us, often giving us a broadside, and no hopes of Capt. Kirby’s coming to our assistance, we endeavoured to run ashore; and though we drew four foot water more than the pirate, it pleased God that he stuck fast on a higher ground than we happily fell in with; so was disappointed a second time from boarding us. Here we had a more violent engagement than before. All my officers, and most of my men, behaved with unexpected courage; and as we had a considerable advantage by having a broadside to his bow, we did him great damage, so that had Capt. Kirby come in then, I believe we should have taken both, for we had one of them sure; but the other pirate (who was still firing at us) seeing the Greenwich did not offer to assist us, he supplied his consort with three boats full of fresh men. About five in the evening the Greenwich stood clear away to sea, leaving us struggling hard for life in the very jaws of death; which the other pirate, that was afloat, seeing, got a-warp out, and was hauling under our stern; by which time many of my men being killed and wounded, and no hopes left us from being all murdered by enraged barbarous conquerors, I order’d all that could, to get into the longboat under the cover of the smoke of our guns; so that with what some did in boats, and others by swimming, most of us that were able got ashore by seven o’ clock. When the pirates came aboard, they cut three of our wounded men to pieces. I, with a few of my people, made what haste I could to the King’s-Town, twenty-five miles from us, where I arrived next day, almost dead with fatigue and loss of blood, having been sorely wounded in the head by a musket ball.

At this town I heard that the pirates had offered ten thousand dollars to the country people to bring me in, which many of them would have accepted, only they knew the King and all his chief people were in my interest. Meantime, I caused a report to be spread, that I was dead of my wounds, which much abated their fury. About ten days after, being pretty well recovered, and hoping the malice of our enemies was nigh over, I began to consider the dismal condition we were reduced to, being in a place where we had no hopes of getting a passage home, all of us in a manner naked, not having had time to get another shirt, or a pair of shoes.

Having obtained leave to go on board the pirates, and a promise of safety, several of the chief of them