On the whole, the court was of opinion artists had the best pretension to the plea of force, from the necessity pirates are sometimes under of engaging such, and that many parts of his own defence had been confirmed by the evidence, who had asserted he acted with reluctance, and had expressed a concern and trouble for the little hopes remained to him, of extricating himself. That he had used all prisoners (as they were called) well, at the hazard of ill usage to himself. That he had not in any military capacity assisted their robberies. That he had twice endeavoured his escape, with the utmost danger. Acquitted him.
Captain James Skyrm
It appeared from the evidence of several prisoners acquitted, that this Skyrm commanded the Ranger, in that defence she made against the King’s ship; that he ordered the men to their quarters, and the guns to be loaded and fired, having a sword in his hand, to enforce those commands; and beat such to their duty whom he espied any way negligent or backward. That although he had lost a leg in the action, his temper was so warm, as to refuse going off the deck, till he found all was lost.
In his defence, he says, he was forced from a mate’s employ on board a sloop call’d the Greyhound, of St. Christopher’s, . The pirate having drubbed him, and broke his head, only for offering to go away when that sloop was dismissed. Custom and success had since indeed blunted, and, in some measure, worn out the sense of shame; but that he had really for several months past been sick, and disqualified for any duty, and though Roberts had forced him on this expedition much against his will, yet the evidence must be sensible, the title of captain gave him no preeminence, for he could not be obeyed, though he had often called to them, to leave off their fire, when he perceived it to be the King’s ship.
The sickness he alleged, but more especially the circumstance of losing his leg, were aggravations of his fault, showing him more alert on such occasions, than he was now willing to be thought: as to the name of captain, if it were allowed to give him no precedence out of battle, yet here it was proved a title of authority; such an authority as could direct an engagement against the King’s colours, and therefore he was in the highest degree, Guilty.
John Walden
Captain John Trahern, and George Fenn, deposed, the prisoner to be one of the number, who, in an open boat, piratically assailed, and took their ship, and was remarkably busy at mischief, having a poleaxe in his hand, which served him instead of a key, to all the lock’d doors and boxes he come nigh: also in particular, he cut the cable of our ship, when the other pirates were willing, and busied at heaving up the anchor, saying, Captain, what signifies this trouble of yo-hope and straining in hot weather; there are more anchors at London, and besides, your ship is to be burnt.
William Smith, (a prisoner acquitted,) says Walden was known among the pirates mostly, by the nickname of Miss Nanney (ironically it’s presumed from the hardness of his temper) that he was one of the twenty who voluntarily came on board the Ranger, in the chase she made out after the Swallow, and by a shot from that ship, lost his leg; his behaviour in the fight, till then, being bold and daring.
The president, called for Harry Glasby, and bid him relate a character of the prisoner, and what custom was among them, in relation to these voluntary expeditions, out of their proper ship; and this of going on board the Ranger, in particular.
And he gave in for evidence, that the prisoner was looked on as a brisk hand, (i.e. as he farther explained it, a stanch pirate, a great rogue) that when the Swallow first appeared in sight, everyone was willing to believe her a Portuguese, because sugar was very much in demand, and had made some jarring and dissention between the two companies, (the Fortune’s people drinking punch, when the Ranger’s could not) that Roberts, on sight of the Swallow, hailed the new Ranger, and bid them right ship, and get under sail; there is, says he, sugar in the offing, bring it in, that we may have no more mumbling; ordering at the same time the word to be pass’d among the crew, who would go to their assistance, and immediately the boat was full of men, to transport themselves.
| President | Then everyone that goes on board of any prize, does it voluntarily? Or were there here any other reasons for it? |
| H. Glasby |
Every man is commonly called by list, and insists, in his turn, to go on board of a prize, because they then are allowed a shift of clothes, (the best they can find) over and above the dividend from the robbery, and this they are so far from being compelled to, that it often becomes the occasion of contest and quarrel amongst them: but in the present, or suchlike cases, where there appears a prospect of trouble, the lazy and timerous are often willing to decline this turn, and yield to their betters, who thereby establish a greater credit. The prisoner, and the rest of those men who |
