The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-06-18
PIRATES OF CAROLINA.
The Fl eebooters Who Infested Our Shores--Their
Daring Deeds of Observation-Disclosures
Meets His Match in Lieutenant Maynard--The
Desperate Fight Which Ends This Famous
Pirates Career.
(By W. G.. Allen.)


curity so far as molestation by pirates
is concerned. Today the sailor from
New York to Havana does not antici-
pate any Interference from robbers on
the high seas; but makes provision, on
setting out, to combat only the winds
and waves, the common enemies of
n~avigators. He is not on the lookout
constantly for freebooters on his right
hand or his left. Teach's hole on the
coast Of North Carolina, one time the
terror of all ~coasting vessels, has no
special interest to the navigator now
more than the fact that, at one time,
it was the trysting place of nan ma
rauders Of the seas.
There was a time hen things were
different. From 1890 to 1920 the entire
coast from Maine to Cuba was infested
by bold and blood thirsty buccaneers.
They roamed the seas as lords of the
deep, and committed their depredatiOns
with impunity; for there was no force
adequate to the task of coping with
them. The merchant vessel that ran
the gauntlet of these desperadOes was
esteemed %tun Many were cap
IuTeu anu DluIucItu, dlu lie Z
either slaughtered or sent adrift to
perish in the deep. The booty hat
they obtained was enormous. Their
adherents on land aided them material
ly in hiding the treasure as it was
brought into the place of rendezvous.
1t is believed in some places that large
quantities of gold and silver, buried
during those times. still remain con-
cealed along the coast Of the United
States.
About ITO a formidable band of these
f~reeboOters entered into a compact to
act together for mutual profit and safe
ty. Edward Teach, better known by
the name of Blackboard, was
der-in-chief; and three noted pirates,
namely, Henry Vane, Steed Bonnet,
and Richard WOrley were his chief
lieutenants. Teach was the soul of
the band and the dictator Of all their
movements His fleet consisted at first
Of six heavily armed vessels of war,
thu of Teach himself carrying forty
guns and manned by a hundred sturdy
sea rovers, each man ready at any
time to give his life in defense of his
commander. There were no vessels in
American waters at that time that
could match those terrOrs of the sea.
With these Formidable enemies of
mankind securing the seas and fire.
ouenting the coasts, the Of
the New World was almost destroyed.
They confined their depredatiOns most
" to the southern colonies, though fire.
Quently they made bold daShes into the
northern seas and carried off immense
treasure almost in sight of Boston har-
Dor. Their headquarters were estab-
1ished upon one of the small islands of
the Bahamas, with places of rendez-
vOus in the Cape Fear and PamlicO
rivers in North Carolina and others
of less note on the coasts of South
Carolina and Georgia. Here they met
at stated times and formulated their
daring schemes Of murder and plumber.
1t was a, time favOrably suited to
the purpose of the pirates. The coun-
try was sparsely settled, Georgia being
vet a wilderness with no white settler
within her borders, and the mother
country had her navy employed in pro-
tecting her interests in other parts OF
the world. While the laws against pi-
racy were stringent, they could not be
enforced. The temptations upon the
seas were so great that many of the
boldest in each colony forsoOk the
peaceful haunts of their homes and
sought ill-gotten fortunes upon the
water.
The northern colonies had been for a
long time afflicted with the same
trouble that then annoyed their south
ern sisters. Only a few years before
that time, in 1896, Captain Kidd had
become a pirate n a terror to the
northern seas. Before becoming a free
booter he was a sort Of ~privateer. a
kind of sea rover. neither fish. flesh,
nor foul. 1t is a very short step from
privateering to piracy, and Captain
Kidd was not a man to strain at a
gnat.
When the d~epredations of the Cor
~o{~o III olnr~ khn Atlantic Goa f no.
came unbearable, Kidd, with a strong
fleet, arrived with a royal commission,
and stOutly supported by all the north
ern colonies, was sent against them, on
the theory that it takes a rogue to
catch other rogues. He went out with
great gusto to chastise the lawbreak-
ers, but became dazzled by the oppor-
tunity thus thurst upon him, n be-
came a freebooter himself. creating
more terror among sailors than all
previous cOrSairS had done.
He rOamed over the seas both along
the shores Of the English colonies and
among the Spaniards of the far south.
With cargoes Of rich spoil from the
Spanish Main and the West Indies, he
would sail into the port of Boston and
dispose Of them with the Droverbial
lavishness Of a freebooter. On board
his vessels were the sumptous luXuries
of the tropics, the gaudy trappings of
the Spanish nobles, and the precious
gems from the Brazilian mines. In
CONSEQUENCE of his liberality in hand
ling stolen goods and beStOwing them
upon others, he was gladly received by
many New England people whenever
he chose to dwell in their midst. The
great outlaw was finally captured
while walking along a street in Bos-
ton, and soon thereafter paid the PEN
atty of his high handed deeds. His
capture broke up to a large extent the
bands of northern pirates, but those of
the south still remained as a menace
to all traffic by sea.
At last something like an organized
effort was made to break up the gang
Of desperadoes that prowled about the
seas. Captain Woods Rogers, a brave
and trusted officer of the Kings navy.
was sent against them with a fleet of
sufficient size to strike terror into the
hearts of the ~freebooters, He came to
the island Of Providence in the Bahia
mas, where Teach and his gang had
fixed their headquarters. AS Rogers