Speaker 1: Chapter twenty nine of Buccaneers and Pirates of Our Coasts.
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Speaker 1: Buccaneers and Pirates of Our Coasts by Frank R. Stockton,
Speaker 1: Chapter twenty nine. A pirate from boyhood about the beginning
Speaker 1: of the eighteenth century. There lived in Westminster, England, a
Speaker 1: boy who very early in life made a choice of
Speaker 1: a future career. Nearly all boys have ideas upon this subject,
Speaker 1: and while some think they would like to be presidents
Speaker 1: or generals of armies, others fancy that they would prefer
Speaker 1: to be explorers of unknown countries, or to keep candy shops.
Speaker 1: But it generally happens at these youthful ideas are never
Speaker 1: carried out, and that the boy who would wish to
Speaker 1: sell candy because he likes to eat it, becomes a
Speaker 1: farmer on the western prairie, where confectionery is never seen,
Speaker 1: And the would be general determines to study for the ministry.
Speaker 1: But Edward Low, the boy under consideration was a different
Speaker 1: sort of a fellow. The life of a robber suited
Speaker 1: his youthful fancy, and he not only adopted it at
Speaker 1: a very early age, but he stuck to it until
Speaker 1: the end of his life. He was much stronger and
Speaker 1: bolder than the youngsters with whom he associated, and he
Speaker 1: soon became known among them as a regular land pirate.
Speaker 1: If a boy possessed anything which ned Low desired, whether
Speaker 1: it happened to be an apple, a nut, or a farthing,
Speaker 1: the young robber gave chase to him and treated him
Speaker 1: as a pirate treats a merchant vessel which he has boarded.
Speaker 1: Not only did young Low resemble a pirate in him
Speaker 1: his dishonest methods, but he also resembled one in his
Speaker 1: meanness and cruelty. If one of his victims were supposed
Speaker 1: by him to have hidden any of the treasures which
Speaker 1: his captor believed him to possess, Low would inflict upon
Speaker 1: him every form of punishment which the ingenuity of a
Speaker 1: bad boy could devise, in order to compel him to
Speaker 1: confess where he had concealed the half penny which had
Speaker 1: been given to him for holding a horse, or the
Speaker 1: ball with which he had been playing. In the course
Speaker 1: of time, this young street pirate became a terror to
Speaker 1: all boys in that part of London in which he lived,
Speaker 1: and by beginning so early, he acquired a great proficiency
Speaker 1: in dishonest and cruel practices. It is likely that young
Speaker 1: Low inherited his knavish disposition, for one of his brothers
Speaker 1: became a very bold and ingenious the things Anne invented
Speaker 1: a new kind of robbery, which afterwards was popular in London.
Speaker 1: This brother grew to be a tall fellow, and it
Speaker 1: was his practice to dress himself like a porter, one
Speaker 1: of those men who in those days carried packages and
Speaker 1: parcels about the city. On his head, he poised a basket, and,
Speaker 1: supporting this burden with his hands, he hurriedly made his
Speaker 1: way through the most crowded streets of London. The basket
Speaker 1: was a heavy one, but it did not contain any
Speaker 1: ordinary goods, such as merchandise or marketing. But instead of
Speaker 1: these it held a very sharp and active boy seven
Speaker 1: years old, one of the younger members of the Low family.
Speaker 1: As the tall brother pushed rapidly here and there among
Speaker 1: the hurrying people on the sidewalks, the boy in the
Speaker 1: basket would suddenly stretch out with his wiry young arm
Speaker 1: and snatch the hat or the wig of some man
Speaker 1: who might pass near enough for him to reach him.
Speaker 1: This done, the porter and his basket would quickly be
Speaker 1: lost in the crowd. And even if the astonished citizen,
Speaker 1: suddenly finding himself hatless and wigless, beheld the long legged Low,
Speaker 1: he would have no reason to suppose that that industrious
Speaker 1: man with the basket on his head had anything to
Speaker 1: do with the loss of his head covering. This new
Speaker 1: style of street robbery must have been quite profitable, for
Speaker 1: of course the boy in the basket was well instructed
Speaker 1: and never snatched at a shabby hat or a poor
Speaker 1: looking wig. The elder low came to have a good
Speaker 1: many imitators, and it happened in the course of time
Speaker 1: that many a worthy citizen of London wished there were
Speaker 1: some harmless way of gluing his wig to the top
Speaker 1: of his head, or that it were the custom to
Speaker 1: secure the hat by means of strings tied under the chin.
Speaker 1: As the neblow grew up to be a strong young fellow,
Speaker 1: he also grew discontented with the pilferings and petty plunders
Speaker 1: which were possible to him in the London streets, and
Speaker 1: so he went to sea and sail to America. He
Speaker 1: landed in Boston, and, as it was necessary to work
Speaker 1: in order to eat, for opportunities of a dishonest livelihood
Speaker 1: had not yet opened themselves before him, he undertook to
Speaker 1: learn the trade of a rigor. But as he was
Speaker 1: very badly suited to any sort of steady occupation, he
Speaker 1: soon quarreled with his master, ran away, and got on
Speaker 1: board a vessel bound for Honduras. For a time he
Speaker 1: earned a livelihood by cutting logwood, but it was not
Speaker 1: long before he quarreled with the captain of the vessel
Speaker 1: for whom he was working, and finally became so enraged
Speaker 1: that he tried to kill him. He did not succeed
Speaker 1: in this dastedly attempt, but as he could not commit murder,
Speaker 1: he decided to do the next worst thing, and so,
Speaker 1: gathering together twelve of the greatest rascals among his companions,
Speaker 1: they seized a boat, went out to the captain's schooner,
Speaker 1: which was lying near shore, and took possession of it.
Speaker 1: Then they hoisted anchor, ran up the sail, and put
Speaker 1: out to sea, leaving the captain and his men who
Speaker 1: were with him, to take care of themselves the best
Speaker 1: that they could, and live on logwood leaves if they
Speaker 1: could find nothing else to eat. Now, young Low was
Speaker 1: out upon the ocean, in possession of a vessel and
Speaker 1: in command of twelve sturdy scoundrels, and he did not
Speaker 1: have the least trouble in the world in making up
Speaker 1: his mind what he should do next. As soon as
Speaker 1: he could manufacture a black flag from materials he found
Speaker 1: on board, he flung this ominous ensign to the breeze
Speaker 1: and declared himself a pirate. This was the summit of
Speaker 1: his ambition, and in this new profession he had very
Speaker 1: little to learn. From a boy thief to a man pirate,
Speaker 1: the way is easy enough. The logwood schooner, of course,
Speaker 1: was not provided with the cannon, cutlasses, and pistols necessary
Speaker 1: for piratical undertakings, and therefore Low found himself in the
Speaker 1: position of a young man beginning business with a very
Speaker 1: small capital. So, in the hopes of providing himself with
Speaker 1: the necessary appliances for his work, Low sailed for one
Speaker 1: of the islands of the West Indies, which was a
Speaker 1: resort for pirates and there he had very good fortune,
Speaker 1: for he fell in with a man named Louth, who
Speaker 1: was already well established in the profession of piracy. When
Speaker 1: Low sailed into the little port with his home made
Speaker 1: black flag floating above him, Lootha received him with the
Speaker 1: greatest courtesy and hospitality, and shortly afterwards proposed to the
Speaker 1: newly fledged pirate to go into partnership with him. This
Speaker 1: offer was accepted, and Low was made second in command
Speaker 1: of the little fleet of two vessels, each of which
Speaker 1: was well provided with arms, ammunition, and all things necessary
Speaker 1: for robbery on the high seas. The partnership between these
Speaker 1: two rascals did not continue very long. They took several
Speaker 1: valuable prizes, and the more booty he obtained, the higher
Speaker 1: became Low's opinion of himself, and the greater his desire
Speaker 1: for independent action. Therefore, it was that, when they had
Speaker 1: captured a large brigantine, Low determined that he would no
Speaker 1: longer serve under any man. He made a bargain with Lootha,
Speaker 1: by which they dissolved partnership, and Low became the owner
Speaker 1: of the brigantine. In this vessel, with forty four men
Speaker 1: as a crew, he again started out in the black
Speaker 1: flag business on his own account, and parting from his
Speaker 1: former chief officer, he sailed northward. As Low had landed
Speaker 1: in Boston and had lived some time in that city,
Speaker 1: he seems to have conceived a fancy for New England,
Speaker 1: which however, was not at all reciprocated by the inhabitants
Speaker 1: of that part of the country. Among the first feats
Speaker 1: which Low performed in New England waters was the capture
Speaker 1: of a sloop about to enter one of the ports
Speaker 1: of Rhode Island. When he had taken everything out of
Speaker 1: his vessel which he wanted, Low cut away the yards
Speaker 1: from the masts and stripped the vessel of all its
Speaker 1: sails and rigging. As his object was to get away
Speaker 1: from these waters before his presence was discovered by the
Speaker 1: people on shore. He not only made it almost impossible
Speaker 1: to sail the vessel he had despoiled, but he wounded
Speaker 1: the captain and others of the peaceful, so that they
Speaker 1: should not be able to give information to any passing craft.
Speaker 1: Then he sailed away as rapidly as possible in the
Speaker 1: direction of the open sea. In spite, however, of all
Speaker 1: the disadvantages under which they labored. The crew of the
Speaker 1: merchant vessel managed to get into Block Island, and from
Speaker 1: there a small boat was hurriedly rowed over to Rhode Island,
Speaker 1: carrying intelligence of the bold piracy which had been committed
Speaker 1: so close to one of its ports. When the governor
Speaker 1: heard what had happened, he quickly sent out drummers to
Speaker 1: sound the alarm in the seaport towns and to call
Speaker 1: upon volunteers to go out and capture the pirates. So
Speaker 1: great was the resentment caused by the audacious deed of Low,
Speaker 1: that a larger number of volunteers hastened to offer their
Speaker 1: services to the governor, and two vessels were fitted out
Speaker 1: with such rapidity that although their commanders had only heard
Speaker 1: of the affair in the morning, they were ready to
Speaker 1: sail before sunset. They put all on sail and made
Speaker 1: the best speed they could, and although they really caught
Speaker 1: sight of Low's ship, the pirate vessel was a swifter
Speaker 1: craft than nose in pursuit of her, and the angry
Speaker 1: sailors of Rhode Island were at last compelled to give
Speaker 1: up the chase. The next of Low's transactions was on
Speaker 1: a wholesale scale, rounding Cape Cod and sailing up the coast,
Speaker 1: he at last reached the vicinity of Marblehead, and there
Speaker 1: in the harbour called in those days Port Rosemary, he
Speaker 1: found at anchor a fleet of thirteen merchant vessels. This
Speaker 1: was a grand site, as welcome to the eye of
Speaker 1: a pirate as a great nugget of gold would be
Speaker 1: to a miner, who, for weary days had been washing
Speaker 1: yellow grains from the pay dirt which he had laboriously
Speaker 1: dug from the hard soil. It would have been easy
Speaker 1: for Low to take his pick from these vessels quietly
Speaker 1: resting in the little harbour, for he soon perceived that
Speaker 1: none of them were armed, nor were they able to
Speaker 1: protect themselves from assault. But his audacity was of an
Speaker 1: expansive kind, and he determined to capture them all. Sailing
Speaker 1: boldly into the harbor, he hoisted the dreadful black flag,
Speaker 1: and then, standing on his quarter deck with his speaking trumpet,
Speaker 1: he shouted to each vessel as he passed it that
Speaker 1: if it did not surrender, he would board it and
Speaker 1: give no quarter to captain or crewe. Of course, there
Speaker 1: was nothing else for the peaceful sailors to do but
Speaker 1: to submit, and so this greedy pirate took possession of
Speaker 1: each vessel in turn, and stripped it of everything of
Speaker 1: value he cared to take away. But he did not
Speaker 1: confine himself to stilling the goods on board these merchantmen,
Speaker 1: as he preferred to command several vessels instead of one.
Speaker 1: He took possession of some of the best of the ships,
Speaker 1: and compelled as many of their men as he thought
Speaker 1: he would need to enter his service. Then, as one
Speaker 1: of the captured vessels was larger and better than his brigantine,
Speaker 1: he took it for his own ship, and at the
Speaker 1: head of the little pirate fleet, he bid farewell to
Speaker 1: marble Head and started out on a grand cruise against
Speaker 1: the commerce of our coast. It is wonderful how rapidly
Speaker 1: this man Low succeeded in his business enterprises. Beginning with
Speaker 1: a little vessel with a dozen unarmed men, he found
Speaker 1: himself in a very short time at the head of
Speaker 1: what was perhaps the largest piratical force in American waters.
Speaker 1: What might have happened if nature had not taken a
Speaker 1: hand in this game, It is not difficult to imagine.
Speaker 1: For our sea board towns, especially those of the south,
Speaker 1: would have been an easy prey for Low and his fleet.
Speaker 1: But sailing down to the West Indies, probably in order
Speaker 1: to fit out his ships with guns, arms and ammunition
Speaker 1: before beginning a naval campaign. His fleet was overtaken by
Speaker 1: a terrible storm, and in order to save the vessels,
Speaker 1: they were obliged to throw overboard a great many of
Speaker 1: the heavier goods they had captured at Marblehead. And when
Speaker 1: at last they found shelter in the harbor of a
Speaker 1: small island, they were glad that they had escaped with
Speaker 1: their lives. The grasping and rapacious Low was not now
Speaker 1: in a condition to proceed to any rendezvous of pirates
Speaker 1: where he might purchase the arms and supplies he needed.
Speaker 1: A great part of his valuable plunder had gone to
Speaker 1: the bottom of the sea, and he was therefore obliged
Speaker 1: to contend himself with operations upon a comparatively small scale.
Speaker 1: How small and contemptible this scale was, it is scarcely
Speaker 1: possible for an ordinary civilized being to comprehend. But the
Speaker 1: soul of this ignoble pirate was capable of extraordinary baseness.
Speaker 1: When he had repaired the damage to his ships, Low
Speaker 1: sailed out from the island, and before long he fell
Speaker 1: in with a wrecked vessel, which had lost all its
Speaker 1: masts in a great storm and was totally disabled, floating
Speaker 1: about wherever the winds chose to blow it. The poor
Speaker 1: fellows on board greatly needed succor, and there is no
Speaker 1: doubt that when they saw the approach of sails their
Speaker 1: hopes rose high. And even if they had known what
Speaker 1: sort of ships they were which were making their way
Speaker 1: toward them, they would scarcely have suspected that the commander
Speaker 1: of these goodly vessels was such an utterly despicable scoundrel
Speaker 1: as he proved to be. Instead of giving any sort
Speaker 1: of aid to the poor shipwrecked crew, Low and his
Speaker 1: men set to work to plunder their vessel, and they
Speaker 1: took from it a thousand pounds in money and everything
Speaker 1: of value which they could find on board. Having thus
Speaker 1: stripped the unfortunate wreck, they departed, leaving the captain and
Speaker 1: crew of the disabled vessel to perish by storm or starvation,
Speaker 1: unless some other vessel manned by human beings and not
Speaker 1: pitiless beasts, should pass their way and save them. Lo
Speaker 1: now commenced a long series of piratical depredations. He captured
Speaker 1: many merchantmen and committed the vilest cruelties upon his victims,
Speaker 1: and in every way proved himself to be one of
Speaker 1: the meanest and most black hearted pirates of whom we
Speaker 1: have any account. It is not necessary to relate his
Speaker 1: various dastardly performances. They were all very much of the
Speaker 1: same order, and none of them possessed any peculiar interest.
Speaker 1: His existence is referred to in these pages because he
Speaker 1: was one of the most noted and successful pirates of
Speaker 1: his time, and also because his career indicated how entirely
Speaker 1: different was the character of the buccaneers of previous days
Speaker 1: from that of the pirates who in the eighteenth century
Speaker 1: infested our coast. The first might have been compared to
Speaker 1: bold and dashing highwaymen, who at least showed courage and daring,
Speaker 1: but the others resembled sneak thieves, always seeking to commit
Speaker 1: a crime if they could do it in safety, but
Speaker 1: never willing to risk their cowardly necks in any danger.
Speaker 1: The buccaneers of the olden days were certainly men of
Speaker 1: the greatest bravery. They did not hesitate to attack well
Speaker 1: armed vessels manned by crews much larger than their own,
Speaker 1: and in later periods they faced cannon and conquered cities.
Speaker 1: Their crimes were many and vile, but when they committed cruelties,
Speaker 1: they did so in order to compel their prisoners to
Speaker 1: disclose their hidden treasures. And when they attacked a Spanish
Speaker 1: vessel and murdered all on board, they had in their
Speaker 1: hearts the remembrance that the Spanish naval forces gave no
Speaker 1: quarter to buccaneers. But pirates such as Edward Lowe showed
Speaker 1: not one palliating feature in their infamous characters. To rob
Speaker 1: and desert a shipwrecked crew was only one of Lowe's
Speaker 1: contemptible actions. It appears that he seldom attacked a vessel
Speaker 1: from which there seemed to be any probability of resistance,
Speaker 1: and we read of no notable combats or sea fights
Speaker 1: in which he was engaged. He preyed upon the weak
Speaker 1: and defenseless, and his inhuman cruelties were practiced not for
Speaker 1: the sake of exhorting a gain from his victims, but
Speaker 1: simply to gratify his spite and love of wickedness. There
Speaker 1: were men among Low's followers who looked upon him as
Speaker 1: a bold and brave leader, for he was always a
Speaker 1: blusterer and a braggot, and there were honest seamen and
Speaker 1: merchants who were very much afraid of him. But time
Speaker 1: proved that there was no reason for anyone to so
Speaker 1: pose that Edward Low had a spark of courage in
Speaker 1: his composition. He was brave enough when he was attacking
Speaker 1: an unarmed crew, but when he had to deal with
Speaker 1: any vessel capable of inflicting any injury upon him, he
Speaker 1: was a coward. Indeed, sailing in company with one companion vessel,
Speaker 1: for he had discarded the greater part of his pirate fleet,
Speaker 1: Low sighted a good sized ship at a considerable distance,
Speaker 1: and he and his consort immediately gave chase, supposing the
Speaker 1: distant vessel might prove to be a good prize. It
Speaker 1: so happened, however, that the ship discovered by Low was
Speaker 1: an english Man of war, the Greyhound, which was cruising
Speaker 1: along the coast looking for these very pirates who had
Speaker 1: recently committed some outrageous crimes upon the crews of merchant
Speaker 1: vessels in those waters. When the two ships, with the
Speaker 1: black flags floating above them, and and their decks crowded
Speaker 1: with desperate fellows armed with pistols and cutlasses, drew near
Speaker 1: to the vessel, of which they expected to make a prize.
Speaker 1: They were greatly amazed when she suddenly turned in her
Speaker 1: course and delivered a broadside from her heavy cannon. The
Speaker 1: pirates returned the fire, for they were well armed with cannon,
Speaker 1: and there was nothing else for them to do but fight.
Speaker 1: But the combat was an extremely short one. Low's consort
Speaker 1: was soon disabled by the fire from the man of war,
Speaker 1: and as soon as he perceived this, the dastardly Low,
Speaker 1: without any regard for his companions in arms, and with
Speaker 1: no thought for anything but his own safety, immediately stopped
Speaker 1: fighting and setting all sails, sped away from the scene
Speaker 1: of combat as swiftly as it was possible for the
Speaker 1: wind to force his vessel through the water. The disabled
Speaker 1: pirate ship was quickly captured, and not long afterwards twenty
Speaker 1: five of her crew were tried, convicted, and hung near Newport,
Speaker 1: Rhode Island. But the arrant Low escaped without injury and
Speaker 1: continued his career of contemptible crime for some time longer.
Speaker 1: What finally became of him is not set down in
Speaker 1: the histories of piracy. It is not improbable that if
Speaker 1: the men under his command were not too brutally stupid
Speaker 1: to comprehend his cowardly unfaithfulness to them. They suddenly removed
Speaker 1: from this world one of the least interesting of all
Speaker 1: base beings. End of Chapter twenty nine.