Samuel Inless (

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 ...

1698–1699) was a pirate captain in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

, best known for serving as Captain over Nathaniel North and George Booth.

History

When captain Robert Colley of the ''Pelican'' took ill and died in 1698, his crew (which included future captains Nathaniel North and George Booth) elected ship's cooper

Joseph Wheeler Joseph "Fighting Joe" Wheeler (September 10, 1836 – January 25, 1906) was a military commander and politician of the Confederate States of America. He was a cavalry general in the Confederate States Army in the 1860s during the American Civil ...

as captain. They sailed briefly with

Dirk Chivers Dirk Chivers (, last name occasionally Shivers) was a Dutch pirate active in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. Early career Dirk Chivers is first recorded as a crew member of the ''Portsmouth Adventure'', , under Captain Joseph Faro (or Farrell) arou ...

and

Robert Culliford Robert Culliford (c. 1666 – unknown; last name occasionally reported as Collover) was a pirate from Cornwall who is best remembered for repeatedly ''checking the designs'' of Captain William Kidd. Early career and capture Culliford and Kidd f ...

, then sailed alone to take three ships off India's

Malabar coast The Malabar Coast () is the southwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. It generally refers to the West Coast of India, western coastline of India stretching from Konkan to Kanyakumari. Geographically, it comprises one of the wettest regio ...

, keeping a 26-gun ship and renaming it ''Dolphin''. Near Mascarenas a hurricane dismasted their ships, so they returned to

Île Sainte-Marie Nosy Boraha , also known as Sainte-Marie, main town Ambodifotatra, is an island off the east coast of Madagascar. The island forms an administrative district within Analanjirofo Region, and covers an area of 222 km2. It has a population e ...

near

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

to make repairs and divide their loot. They found Culliford and Chivers again, alongside several merchantmen. Wheeler and some of the Dolphin's crew gave up piracy and returned with the merchantmen. The rest of the crew elected island resident Samuel Inless as the ''Dolphin’s'' new captain. Inless retained Nathaniel North as quartermaster and George Booth as gunner. Sailing for the

Straits of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, long and from wide, between the Malay Peninsula to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connecting the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean) and the South China Sea (Pa ...

they took several small Moorish ships which were “but of little value to them.” Finally in 1699 they captured a large Danish ship, which they took to the

Nicobars The Nicobar Islands are an archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean. They are located in Southeast Asia, northwest of Aceh on Sumatra, and separated from Thailand to the east by the Andaman Sea. Located southeast of the Indian sub ...

for use in

careening Careening (also known as "heaving down") is a method of gaining access to the hull of a sailing vessel without the use of a dry dock. It is used for cleaning or repairing the hull. Before ship's hulls were protected from marine growth by fasten ...

the ''Dolphin''. They returned to Saint Mary's to divide the plunder, amounting to £400 per share. Shortly afterwards a squadron of British warships under Commodore

Thomas Warren Thomas Warren (fl. 1727–1767) was an English bookseller, printer, publisher and businessman. Warren was an influential figure in Birmingham at a time when it was a hotbed of creative activity, opening a bookshop in High Street, Birmingham arou ...

arrived, offering clemency to all pirates who renounced their ways. Culliford and some others accepted the offer; North fled in a longboat, later joining John Halsey, and Booth escaped to sail with John Bowen. Inless himself refused the pardon and burned the ''Dolphin'', but his ultimate fate is unknown.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Inless, Samuel Year of birth missing Year of death missing Caribbean pirates 18th-century pirates Piracy in the Indian Ocean

History

See also

References