A FEMALE PIRATE. 67 



Vessel after vessel was taken by him, the commanders of which were generally patted 

 on the back by Misson for their gallant defence, and always treated with courteous hospi- 

 tality. His greatest prize, among dozens of others, was a Portuguese vessel of fifty guns. 

 The vessels were locked together. His crew found that instead of having it all their own 

 way, they were vigorously attacked. Expecting no quarter, they contended fiercely, 

 cleared the decks, and a number followed the Portuguese on board their own ship. Misson 

 seeing this called out, " Elle est a nous j a I'abordage ! " and a crewd of his men boarded. 

 He engaged the captain, struck him so that he fell down the main-hatch, and the Portuguese 

 almost immediately struck. Misson lost fifty-six men, and netted nearly 200,000 for 

 himself and crew.* 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE PIRATES OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 



Mary Read, the Female Pirate As Male Servant, Soldier, and Sailor Her Bravery and Modesty The Pirate Vane- 

 No Honour among Thieves Delivered to Justice The brief Career of Captain Worley-The Biter Bit A more 

 than usually Brutal Pirate Captain Low's Life of Villainy His Wonderful Successes An unfortunate Black 

 Burned to Death Torture of a Portuguese Captain Of Two Portuguese Friars -The Results of Sympathy Low's 

 Cupidity Defeated by a Portuguese Eleven Thousand Moidores dropped out of a Cabin Window An Unpunished 

 Fiend. 



ONE of the most remarkable pirates of the century imder review was, strange as it may 

 appear, a female ! Mary Read acted first as a male page, then volunteered as a sailor, 

 was afterwards a cadet in a Flanders regiment, and eventually returned to the sea to 

 become a pirate. Her first impersonation of a boy was undertaken at her mother's com- 

 mand. The latter had been twice married, and a son born of the first husband had died. 

 When the poor woman was in great destitution she thought of that husband's mother, 

 who was in easy circumstances, and passed off her second child Mary as a boy, thereby 

 obtaining some pecuniary assistance. In the army Mary Read is said to have behaved with 

 great bravery, and when she retired she married a young Fleming who had been a com- 

 rade in the field. They set up a restaurant, or tavern, and for a time nourished in their 

 business, but the husband dying suddenly, and peace being concluded, she was obliged to 

 seek some other employment, and after a short lapse of time we find her a sailor on a 

 vessel bound to the West Indies. This ship was captured by English pirates, and Mary 

 was found to be the only English person on board, so they detained her, letting the rest 

 go, after they had stripped the vessel of all they wanted. This was her first introduction 

 to such company, and it is said that in after life she stated that it was compulsion and 

 necessity which led her to follow the career of a pirate, and not any desire on her part. 



* The account is derived from a French source, and although in all probability veracious in most points, cannot 

 be implicitly believed. For this reason the author has not gone further into the most romantic story of this high- 

 principled pirate. Misson is said to have later gone down with his vessel, while Caraccioli was killed in an affray 

 with natives. 



