Nicolás de la Concepción (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for '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 indic ...

1720, also known as "Nicholas of the Conception") was a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

privateer A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...

active off the

New England New England is a region consisting of 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 (state), New York to the west and by the ...

coast. An escaped slave, he was one of the few black or

mulatto ( , ) is a Race (human categorization), racial classification that refers to people of mixed Sub-Saharan African, African and Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the ...

pirate captains.

History

Sailing from his base in

Saint Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman province), Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced th ...

as a Spanish ''

guarda costa ''Guarda costa'' or ''guardacosta'' ("coast guard") was the name used in the Spanish Empire during the 17th and 18th centuries for the privateers based off their overseas territories, tasked with hunting down piracy, contraband and foreign private ...

, de Concepcion’s 140-man multi-national crew captured several ships near the

Virginia Capes The Virginia Capes are the two capes, Cape Charles to the north and Cape Henry to the south, that define the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay on the eastern coast of North America. The importance of the Chesapeake Bay in American history has lo ...

and

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...

in late 1720. Using a Spanish

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. Ol ...

they captured a sloop out of Philadelphia, then a second vessel, then their third, a

pink Pink is a pale tint of red, the color of the Dianthus plumarius, pink flower. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, p ...

from Virginia. All three de Concepcion kept as prize ships, sending each back to Saint Augustine in turn. Shortly afterwards he captured the ''Planter'' out of Liverpool. The ''Planter'' was recaptured on its way back to Saint Augustine and its papers searched. Onboard was found a forged

privateering A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since Piracy, robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sover ...

commission from the Governor of Saint Augustine, dated after the

War of Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict fought between 1701 and 1714. The immediate cause was the death of the childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700, which led to a struggle for control of the Spanish ...

and the

War of the Quadruple Alliance The War of the Quadruple Alliance, 1718 to 1720, was a conflict between Spain and a coalition of Austria, Great Britain, France, and Savoy, joined in 1719 by the Dutch Republic. Most of the fighting took place in Sicily and Spain, with minor engag ...

were long over. de Conception escaped attempts to apprehend him and his crew. When the

ended in early 1720, British and Spanish officials agreed to return ships captured by each other's privateers; the Spanish at St. Augustine agreed to make restitution for ships captured by

Richard Noland Richard Noland (floruit, fl. 1717-1724, last name occasionally Holland or Nowland) was an Ireland, Irish Piracy, pirate active in the Caribbean. He was best known for sailing with Samuel Bellamy before working for the Spanish Empire, Spanish as ...

, but "as for others which they say were taken by Nicholas of the Conception, they did not come here, excepting a sloop loaden with flower, the which was returned to the Captain and afterwards bought on the account of the King, the payment of which hath not been yet made by reason, that the persons have not come that are interested in the same."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Concepcion, Nicholas de 18th-century pirates Year of birth missing Year of death missing Spanish pirates Spanish privateers 18th-century Spanish criminals People of the War of the Quadruple Alliance

History

See also

References