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John Leadstone
John Leadstone (fl. 1704-1721) was a pirate and slaver active off the west coast of Africa. Often called “Captain Crackers” or “Old Captain Cracker,” he is best known for his actions against the English Royal African Company and for his brief involvement with Bartholomew Roberts. History Leadstone was hired by the Royal African Company in the early 1700s at their factory on Bunce Island at the mouth of the Sierra Leone River. He soon deserted, stealing over a thousand bars of iron, and helped pilot a French force upriver in 1704 which bombarded the Bunce factory. Captured by natives after he began illicitly trading on his own, he was freed by the Portuguese, whom he served for a time. The Portuguese Governor at Cacheo (in Gambia) gave him a trading mission but Leadstone repeated his earlier tactics: he stole the trade goods, murdered a man, and escaped to Sierra Leone. He passed the time raiding ashore from small boats, in one 1715 incident stealing slaves from a local s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Captain Crackers From The 1948 Leaf Pirate Trading Cards Set
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, etc. In militaries, the captain is typically at the level of an officer commanding a company or battalion of infantry, a ship, or a battery of artillery, or another distinct unit. The term also may be used as an informal or honorary title for persons in similar commanding roles. Etymology The term "captain" derives from (, , or 'the topmost'), which was used as title for a senior Byzantine military rank and office. The word was Latinized as capetanus/catepan, and its meaning seems to have merged with that of the late Latin "capitaneus" (which derives from the classical Latin word "caput", meaning head). This hybridized term gave rise to the English language term captain and its equivalents in other languages (, , , , , , , , , kapitány, K ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape Coast Castle
Cape Coast Castle ( sv, Carolusborg) is one of about forty "slave castles", or large commercial forts, built on the Gold Coast of West Africa (now Ghana) by European traders. It was originally a Portuguese "feitoria" or trading post, established in 1555, which they named ''Cabo Corso''. However, in 1653 the Swedish Africa Company constructed a timber fort there. It originally was a centre for the trade in timber and gold. It was later used in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Other Ghanaian slave castles include Elmina Castle and Fort Christiansborg. They were used to hold enslaved Africans before they were loaded onto ships and sold in the Americas, especially the Caribbean. This "gate of no return" was the last stop before crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Cape Coast Castle, along with other forts and castles in Ghana, are included on the UNESCO World Heritage List because of their testimony to the Atlantic gold and slave trades. Trade history The large quantity of gold dus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Year Of Birth Missing
A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hours of daylight, and, consequently, vegetation and soil fertility. In temperate and subpolar regions around the planet, four seasons are generally recognized: spring, summer, autumn and winter. In tropical and subtropical regions, several geographical sectors do not present defined seasons; but in the seasonal tropics, the annual wet and dry seasons are recognized and tracked. A calendar year is an approximation of the number of days of the Earth's orbital period, as counted in a given calendar. The Gregorian calendar, or modern calendar, presents its calendar year to be either a common year of 365 days or a leap year of 366 days, as do the Julian calendars. For the Gregorian calendar, the average length of the calendar ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
18th-century Pirates
The 18th century lasted from January 1, 1701 ( MDCCI) to December 31, 1800 ( MDCCC). During the 18th century, elements of Enlightenment thinking culminated in the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions. During the century, slave trading and human trafficking expanded across the shores of the Atlantic, while declining in Russia, China, and Korea. Revolutions began to challenge the legitimacy of monarchical and aristocratic power structures, including the structures and beliefs that supported slavery. The Industrial Revolution began during mid-century, leading to radical changes in human society and the environment. Western historians have occasionally defined the 18th century otherwise for the purposes of their work. For example, the "short" 18th century may be defined as 1715–1789, denoting the period of time between the death of Louis XIV of France and the start of the French Revolution, with an emphasis on directly interconnected events. To historians who expand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Plaintain
James Plaintain (fl. 1720–1728, John or James, last name also Plantain) was a pirate active in the Indian Ocean. He is best known for using his pirate wealth to found a short-lived kingdom on Madagascar. History Plantain was English, born in Jamaica, and served as a sailor aboard Edward England’s pirate flotilla (having once served on Christopher Condent's ''Dragon'') which captured the East India Company ship ''Cassandra'' from Captain James Macrae in 1720. After looting the ship the collected pirates sailed to Madagascar, divided their plunder, and sailed their separate ways. Plantain and a number of others remained behind, some voluntarily and some not. With two others he moved to Ranter Bay (site of modern Rantabe), spending his plunder and befriending the Malagasay natives to build a settlement. He styled himself “King of Ranter Bay.” He organized the locals to make war against their neighbors, using firearms to swing the battles his way. He kept himself and his al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abraham Samuel
Abraham Samuel, also known as "Tolinar Rex," born in Martinique (or possibly in Anosy, Madagascar), was a mulatto pirate of the Indian Ocean in the days of the Pirate Round in the late-1690s. Being shipwrecked on his way back to New York, he briefly led a combined pirate-Antanosy kingdom from Fort Dauphin (see Tolanaro), Madagascar, from 1697 until he died there in 1705. Life Samuel had been born and raised in Martinique. In 1696 he arrived in the Arabian Sea, serving as quartermaster aboard the pirate ship ''John and Rebecca.'' Decimated by illness, they sailed down the eastern coast of Madagascar, seeking slaves to bring back to the New World with them. In October, 1697, while at anchor in the Fort Dauphin harbor, a storm came up which resulted in their anchor ropes being severed and their ship beached. They took refuge in the abandoned fort while they waited for another ship to come rescue them. However, the elderly princess of the Antanosy king felt Samuel was her son, who h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adam Baldridge
Adam Baldridge (fl. 1690 – 1697) was an English pirate and one of the early founders of the pirate settlements in Madagascar. History After fleeing from Jamaica to escape murder charges, Baldridge sailed to Madagascar and, by 1690, had established a base of operations on the island of St. Mary's. By the following year, Baldridge controlled the inland waterway into St. Mary's having established a virtual stronghold overlooking the island harbour as well as protecting the settlements' warehouses. After he had subdued the local tribes, native chieftains would be forced to pay Baldridge to mediate between warring tribes. Baldridge's settlement had become a popular haven among pirates of the Mediterranean with Baldridge supplying pirates in exchange for high fees. Baldridge's trading supplies came from New York merchant Frederick Philipse, who chartered a number of ships under captains John Churcher, Thomas Mostyn, and others; Baldridge sent slaves back in return. Among his custo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred Edward Woodley Mason
Alfred Edward Woodley Mason (7 May 1865 – 22 November 1948) was an English author and politician. He is best remembered for his 1902 novel of courage and cowardice in wartime, '' The Four Feathers'' and is also known as the creator of Inspector Hanaud, a French detective who was an early template for Agatha Christie's famous Hercule Poirot. His prolific output in short stories and novels were frequently made and remade into films during his lifetime; though many of the silent versions have been lost or forgotten, the productions of ''Fire Over England'' (1937) and '' The Four Feathers'' (1939) remain enduring classics of British cinema. Life Mason was born in Camberwell. He studied at Dulwich College and graduated from Trinity College, Oxford, in 1888. He was a contemporary of fellow Liberal Anthony Hope, who went on to write the adventure novel '' The Prisoner of Zenda''. He was an actor before he became a writer, and took the role of Major Plechanoff in the premiere o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Golden Age Of Piracy
The Golden Age of Piracy is a common designation for the period between the 1650s and the 1730s, when maritime piracy was a significant factor in the histories of the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, the Indian Ocean, North America, and West Africa. Histories of piracy often subdivide the Golden Age of Piracy into three periods: # The buccaneering period (approximately 1650 to 1680), characterized by Anglo-French seamen based in Jamaica and Tortuga attacking Spanish colonies, and shipping in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. # The Pirate Round (1690s), associated with long-distance voyages from the Americas to rob Muslim and East India Company targets in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea. # The post-Spanish Succession period (1715 to 1726), when Anglo-American sailors and privateers left unemployed by the end of the War of the Spanish Succession turned en masse to piracy in the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, the North American eastern seaboard, and the West African coast. Narrower ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Sutton (pirate)
Thomas Sutton (1699-1722) was a pirate from Berwick, Scotland, active off the coast of Africa. He was best known for sailing alongside Bartholomew Roberts. History Thomas Sutton had been a gunner aboard Howell Davis' 32-gun ''Royal Rover'' as they cruised off the Gold Coast taking a number of prizes in 1719. Davis tried tricking the governor of Principe into boarding his ship; the governor saw through his deception, turned the tables, and had his soldiers ambush and kill Davis as he came ashore. The ''Rovers crew elected former prisoner Bartholomew Roberts as their new captain. Sutton continued sailing with Roberts, even as Thomas Anstis and Walter Kennedy abandoned Roberts by stealing the prize ships he had given them to command. Roberts took a large number of prize ships and amassed a huge crew during his cruises. In 1721 near the coast of Guinea two French ships pursued Roberts but were themselves captured. Roberts renamed one ''Little Ranger'' and gave command of it to Ja ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Skyrme
James Skyrme (died 1722, last name occasionally Skyrm) was a Welsh pirate best known for Captaining two of Bartholomew Roberts’ prize ships. History In the summer of 1720 James Skyrme sailed from Bristol as first mate of ''Greyhound''. That October off St. Lucia Bartholomew Roberts took over a dozen vessels, ''Greyhound'' included. Captured, Skyrme signed their Articles and joined Roberts’ crew while Roberts burned ''Greyhound''. Two French ships attacked Roberts in April 1721, but were themselves captured by the pirates. Renaming the vessels, Roberts gave command of ''Ranger'' to Thomas Sutton and gave Skyrme ''Little Ranger'', which Roberts used as a storeship. Sailing alongside Roberts, they captured a number of other ships and their crews. Later that year Roberts put into Cape Lopez to careen, replacing Sutton with Skyrme as captain of ''Ranger''. In February 1722 Captain Chaloner Ogle of HMS ''Swallow'' baited Roberts into attacking his 50-gun warship. Mistaking it f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Kingdom of France, France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the British Armed Forces, UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service. From the middle decades of the 17th century, and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid 18th century, it was the world's most powerful navy until the World War II, Second World War. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing and defending the British Empire, and four Imperial fortress colonies and a string of imperial bases and coaling stations secured the Royal Navy's ability to assert naval superiority ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
