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William Read (pirate)
William Read (died 1701, last name occasionally Reed) was a pirate active in the Indian Ocean near Madagascar. He is best known for rescuing fellow pirate captains John Bowen and Thomas White. History Read was captain of ''Alexander'', a 60-ton brigantine based out of Madagascar. Around 1701 he stopped near the settlement of a local native king. Thomas White and John Bowen had been aboard a French pirate ship which wrecked nearby and had been in the care of the king for over a year. The king was hospitable but insisted they leave on the first ship to arrive. Read took them aboard and proceeded around the Madagascar coast, picking up stranded European sailors to increase his crew. Bowen was elected sailing master and handled navigation for ''Alexander''. Now with 40 to 60 men they sailed to the Persian Gulf and took a 200-ton grab loaded with bale goods. Thinking the bales worthless, the pirates threw them overboard, not realizing the ship's crew had hidden their gold and valuab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by the Southern Ocean or Antarctica, depending on the definition in use. Along its core, the Indian Ocean has some large marginal or regional seas such as the Arabian Sea, Laccadive Sea, Bay of Bengal, and Andaman Sea. Etymology The Indian Ocean has been known by its present name since at least 1515 when the Latin form ''Oceanus Orientalis Indicus'' ("Indian Eastern Ocean") is attested, named after Indian subcontinent, India, which projects into it. It was earlier known as the ''Eastern Ocean'', a term that was still in use during the mid-18th century (see map), as opposed to the ''Western Ocean'' (Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic) before the Pacific Ocean, Pacific was surmised. Conversely, Ming treasure voyages, Chinese explorers in the Indian Oce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa across the Mozambique Channel. At Madagascar is the world's List of island countries, second-largest island country, after Indonesia. The nation is home to around 30 million inhabitants and consists of the island of Geography of Madagascar, Madagascar (the List of islands by area, fourth-largest island in the world), along with numerous smaller peripheral islands. Following the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, Madagascar split from the Indian subcontinent around 90 million years ago, allowing native plants and animals to evolve in relative isolation. Consequently, Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot; over 90% of wildlife of Madagascar, its wildlife is endemic. Human settlement of Madagascar occurred during or befo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Bowen (pirate)
John Bowen (16?? – 1704) was a pirate of Créole origin active during the Golden Age of Piracy. He sailed with other famous contemporaries, including Nathaniel North (who would succeed him as captain of Bowen's final ship, the ''Defiant'') and George Booth, who was his captain when he was a crewman aboard the ''Speaker''. Over a four-year period, Bowen took about £170,000 in goods and coinage and retired to Bourbon for a brief period of time before his death in 1704. Early life Born on Bermuda, Bowen later moved to the proprietary colony of Carolina, where he signed on an English ship, serving as a petty officer. Bowen's ship was attacked and he was captured by French pirates. The pirates crossed the Atlantic Ocean, heading to Madagascar, but they ran aground near Elesa on the south of the island. Bowen and the other English prisoners managed to seize the ship's longboat and they sailed the 15 leagues (45 miles) to St. Augustine. Bowen remained at St. Augustine for the nex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas White (pirate)
Thomas White (died 1708) was an English pirate active in the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean. He was only briefly a captain on his own, but served under several more prominent captains such as George Booth (pirate), George Booth, John Bowen (pirate), John Bowen, Thomas Howard (pirate), Thomas Howard, John Halsey (privateer), John Halsey, and Nathaniel North. History Originally a Royal Navy sailor, White made his way from Plymouth to Barbados where he captained the merchant trading vessel ''Marigold''. Off of Guinea in 1698 his ship was captured by French pirates. They killed a number of English crewmen but a sympathetic French pirate spared him. The French pirates kept the ''Marigold'' and burned their own ship, then burned the ''Marigold'' when they took another vessel. Some sources say the French pirates had been captured by John Bowen and George Booth. White refused to join them as a pirate and they made him a slave instead. White escaped when Booth and Bowen wrecked their sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brigantine
A brigantine is a two-masted sailing vessel with a fully square-rigged foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts. Older usages are looser; in addition to the rigorous definition above (attested from 1695), the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' has about 1525 definitions of "a small vessel equipped both for sailing and rowing, swifter and more easily manœuvred than larger ships" and "(loosely) various kinds of foreign sailing and rowing vessels, as the galleon, galliot, etc." Modern American definitions include vessels without the square sails on the main mast. Mediterranean brigantines In the Mediterranean Basin during the 13th century, a brigantine referred to a sail- and oar-driven war vessel. It was lateen rigged on two masts and had between eight and twelve oars on each side. Its speed, maneuverability, and ease of handling made it a favourite of Mediter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sailing Master
The master, or sailing master, is a historical rank for a naval officer trained in and responsible for the navigation of a sailing vessel. The rank can be equated to a professional seaman and specialist in navigation, rather than as a military commander. In the Royal Navy, the master was originally a warrant officer who ranked with, but after, the lieutenants. The rank became a commissioned officer rank and was renamed navigating lieutenant in 1867; the rank gradually fell out of use from around 1890 since all lieutenants were required to pass the same examinations. When the United States Navy was formed in 1794, master was listed as one of the warrant officer ranks and ranked between midshipmen and lieutenants. The rank was also a commissioned officer rank from 1837 until it was replaced with the current rank of lieutenant, junior grade in 1883. Russia Until 1733 the sailing masters in the Imperial Russian Navy were rated as petty officers, but in that year the rank of ''Mas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical NameWorking Paper No. 61, 23rd Session, Vienna, 28 March – 4 April 2006. accessed October 9, 2010 It is connected to the Gulf of Oman in the east by the Strait of Hormuz. The Shatt al-Arab river delta forms the northwest shoreline. The Persian Gulf has many fishing grounds, extensive reefs (mostly rocky, but also Coral reef, coral), and abundant pearl oysters, however its ecology has been damaged by industrialization and oil spills. The Persian Gulf is in the Persian Gulf Basin, which is of Cenozoic origin and related to the subduction of the Arabian Plate u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grab (ship)
A grab was a type of ship common on the Malabar Coast in the 18th and 19th centuries. The name derives from ''"ghurāb"'' or ''"ghorāb"'', Arabic for raven, which in turn came into Marathi and Konkani as ''"gurab"''. The ''ghurāb'' was originally a galley, but the type evolved. The grab combined an indigenous hull form with a pointed prow, with or without a bowsprit, combined with European rigging on two to three masts. A description from 1750 states that the grabs of Angria's fleet narrowed from the middle forward and instead of a bow had the prow of a Mediterranean galley, covered with a strong deck level with the main deck but separated from it by a bulkhead. The grab pitched violently when sailing against a head sea so the prow sides were open to permit water easily to run off. On the main deck under the forecastle there were two 6 or 9-pounder guns pointing forward through port-holes cut in the bulkhead and firing over the prow. The grabs then had 6 or 9-pounder guns on the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nathaniel North
Nathaniel North (ca. 1671 - ca. 171?) was a Bermuda-born pirate during the Golden Age of Piracy, operating in the Indian Ocean under John Bowen (pirate), John Bowen and then as captain of the ''Defiant'' following Bowen's retirement in 1704. After losing the ''Defiant'' he ruled a pirate colony at Ambonaivo made up of his former crew before returning to sea. Retiring with great wealth in 1709, North settled in Madagascar and married a local woman, but was murdered by her family. Early life In 1689 North was a crewman aboard an English privateer attacking French shipping during the War of the Grand Alliance. He was impressment, impressed into the Royal Navy but made his way to Jamaica. There he again met British press gangs, but escaped by jumping overboard and swimming to shore. By 1696 North was a crewman in a band of privateers (which included future captain George Booth (pirate), George Booth) who captured the 18-gun brigantine called ''Pelican'' off Newfoundland (island), New ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Harris (pirate)
Charles Harris (1698-1723) was an English pirate active in the 1720s. He is best known for his association with George Lowther and Edward Low. History Harris was ship's mate and navigator aboard the logwood hauler ''Greyhound'' in January 1722 when it was seized by pirate George Lowther aboard the ''Happy Delivery'' between Honduras and Boston. The ''Greyhound’s'' captain Benjamin Edward fought Lowther for a time but eventually surrendered. In retaliation for their resistance the pirates killed many of the ''Greyhound’s'' crew; the remainder were forced aboard the ''Happy Delivery''. Unlike most of the crew, Charles Harris willingly signed Lowther's Articles to join his pirates. Lowther soon gave Harris command of a small prize ship, while granting another captaincy (the brigantine ''Rebecca'') to Lowther's own lieutenant Edward Low. Harris and Low sailed in concert with Lowther for a time; Harris's ship was lost at sea and he came aboard Low's ship. When Low deserted Lowth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Low
Edward "Ned" Low (also spelled Lowe or Loe; 16901724) was a notorious pirate of English origin during the latter days of the Golden Age of Piracy, in the early 18th century. Low was born into poverty in Westminster, London, and was a thief from an early age. He moved to Boston, Massachusetts, as a young man. His wife died in childbirth in late 1719. Two years later, he became a pirate, operating off the coasts of New England and the Azores, and in the Caribbean. Low captained a number of ships, usually maintaining a small fleet of three or four. Low and his pirate crews captured at least a hundred ships during his short career, burning most of them. Although he was active for only three years, Low remains notorious as one of the most vicious pirates of the age with a reputation for violently torturing his victims before murdering them. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle described Low as "savage and desperate," and a man of "amazing and grotesque brutality." ''The New York Times'' called hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Booth (pirate)
George Booth (died 1701) was an English pirate who was active in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. Counted among his crew were several pirates who would later become prominent captains including Nathaniel North, Thomas Howard and Booth's eventual successor, John Bowen. History He is first recorded as a gunner aboard the ''Pelican'' under captain Robert Colley about 1696, and later on the ''Dolphin'' under captain Samuel Inless, both operating in the Indian Ocean. While he was a gunner on the ''Dolphin'', it and several other pirate vessels were trapped at St. Mary's Island by a British fleet in September 1699. The crewmen were offered a pardon by the British commander, Thomas Warren. Some of the pirates such as Robert Culliford accepted the offer, but Booth, North, and others escaped after burning the ''Dolphin''. They captured a French merchant ship by pretending to be merchants, asking to trade liquor and other goods for slaves. Booth was elected their captain, and the pir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
