SEA-ROVERS 



Elizabethan Pirates. 



The naval activities of the Elizabethan fleets did a lot to put down 

 piracy in British waters but as the rovers were driven from the more 

 frequented trade lanes some went down to the Barbary coast and joined 

 the Mohammedans there, while others established themselves in the 

 Shetlands, Hebrides and on the North coast of Ireland, where the agents 

 of the big London merchants would go to purchase their loot. In the 

 Civil War the Sea Tories professed to be Royalists, but as a matter of 

 fact they were out-and-out pirates operating principally in the Scillies 

 and on the South Irish coast. 



The Deep-Sea Pirates. 



The real rovers of romance are the deep-sea pirates who really 

 came into full being in the Stuart period. They were of all nations and 

 it cannot be pretended that the English were not well to the fore. But 

 generally speaking they were not the terrible cut-throats of our imagina- 

 tion, although there were always a fair sprinkling of that kidney. Condi- 

 tions in the royal ships have already been described and they were 

 certainly no better in the merchant service, the average shipowner doing 

 and paying no more than he was absolutely forced to and the forcing 

 machinery being very imperfect. So it came about that many seamen 

 went a-roving to ward off starvation and nothing else ; they generally 

 confined their depredations to rather petty theft pending the opportunity 

 to capture and rule a wonderful country — Mexico for choice — which 

 was an aim which seems to have been in the minds of all of them. When 

 trade boomed they went back to lawful work, but they never lost a 

 chance of getting even with their oppressors and many a brutal captain 

 was flogged, though seldom murdered. Cases were even known where 

 they escorted a ship into safety in order that a " starvation " owner 

 should not profit by her insurance. 



Jienry Mainivaring. 



Comparatively few of the numerous seventeenth-century deep-sea 

 pirates have come down to us with any claim to notice ; in fact they 

 appear to have been a tolerably scurvy crew taken in the main. Captain 

 Henry Mainwaring may be taken as an example of the most noteworthy, 

 and he does not shine. His first exploit was to cut up the fishing fleet 

 on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland in 1614, taking his toll of men 

 and stores. Sailing across the Atlantic he ravaged the Spanish and 

 Portuguese coasts, but soon afterwards he received one of King James's 

 usual free pardons. He was then put in command of a squadron against 

 the Barbary corsairs but immediately threw in his lot with them. 



John Avery. 



One of the first of the really famous pirates of romance is John 

 Avery, although the name is often spelt differently, and he frequently 

 went under an alias. He was mate of a ship which the Spaniards hired 

 in 1694 to transport their treasure from South America and also to act 

 as a coastguard ship, but unfortunately when she and her consort 



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