George Peterson (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1686–1688) was a pirate active off

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian province ...

and

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native En ...

and in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Great ...

History

Peterson was a known pirate by 1686 when he was sighted near

Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay Europe Ireland *Newport, County Mayo, a town on the ...

Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of the original Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. It was founded by Roger Williams. It was an English colony from 1636 until 1 ...

, where he put in to resupply his ship. He reappeared at Newport in 1688 in a 10-gun 70-man Spanish '' barca longa''. Part of his crew consisted of the remnants of the crews of

Jean Hamlin Jean Hamlin (alternatively spelled Jean Hamlyn, fl. 1682–1684) was a French pirate active in the Caribbean and off the coast of Africa. He was often associated with St. Thomas's pirate-friendly Governor Adolph Esmit. History Hamlin began his ...

and two recently deceased pirates, Jan "Yankey" Willems and Jacob Evertson. Peterson was seized by local authorities and put on trial for piracy. His friends and neighbors made up enough of the grand jury that they refused to indict him or the traders who had helped him. He sold off

prize ship In admiralty law prizes are equipment, vehicles, vessels, and cargo captured during armed conflict. The most common use of ''prize'' in this sense is the capture of an enemy ship and her cargo as a prize of war. In the past, the capturing f ...

s he’d captured in the Caribbean as well as loot he had plundered, including hides and elephant tusks. Some of his men were detained in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

, and two ships which had traded with Peterson were impounded, one of which had helped guide a prize ship of Peterson's into

Martha's Vineyard Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes th ...

. Avoiding the warship HMS ''Rose'' which had been sent to chase him, Peterson headed north toward

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

where he burned the prize ship and took its crew aboard. He took several ships in the vicinity and held the Governor aboard his ship for a time after capturing and sacking the fort at Chebucto. At the Governor's request they left the fort's defenders enough arms and cannon to repulse Indian attacks. Peterson then captured a French ship, releasing it with a message that "French rogues had no business with other people's vessels," and tried to free an English vessel which had been captured by the French. Fleeing HMS ''Rose'' once again, he released sailors he had taken from fishing vessels onto a captured ship. At last report he had collected a hundred men and a year's worth of supplies and prepared to sail to the Gold Coast.

References

Year of birth missing Year of death missing English pirates 17th-century pirates Caribbean pirates {{Pirate-stub

History

See also

References