Sullivan Dickens

> *''In all my years of travelling I have never seen anything like this before''*
>
>

~Sullivan Dickens describing the newly found Precursor site

Sullivan Dickens (1638-1696) was an English merchant, first person to find precursor site on Tobago and the first owner of a ship called Red Bounty.

## Sullivan Dickens

### Aliases

SullyMr. Dickens

Red God (Great Inagua citizens)

### Relatives

Unnamed motherUnnamed father

Judith Travers

## Physical description

### Gender

Male

Born in 1638 London, England, Sullivan had wealthy parents who were close friends with many high-ranking people in London, including king, Charles I of England. From early age Sullivan wanted to explore the world and discover new and secret places, however, growing up, his father decided for him to be a merchant captain. When king was executed in 1649, Sullivan's parents were imprisoned along with many other wealthy citizens of London. After this he was taken into orphanage, where he would spend the next 12 years of his life.

## Becoming a merchant

In 1661 he started learning about sailing and trading, as Sullivan started working in London harbor and not too soon he found out about contrabandists as he followed them into a sewer tunnel. There he found their storage, but was caught and brought to their leader. Sullivan was clever enough to tell them that he wishes to learn more about the ways of contraband. Next few months he worked in the same harbor, but after hours worked in the tunnels helping with the shipment and earning extra money. Within time he could afford to move out of orphanage and rent an apartment in Lambeth. In 1664 he was recognized by Charles II of England, because of his parents, he invited Sullivan for a dinner. During the dinner, Sullivan asked about his parents whereabouts, but king said the they were secretly released from prison in 1658 and then disappeared. By this time he knew everything needed to be aproper sailor and a merchant, all he needed now was a vessel and a crew.

## The first ship

During 1665 he sailed aboard ''Negotiator'' as one of the crew members until late of the same year, when they were attacked by pirates off the coast of Ireland. Their attacker was captain John Morris, a close friend of then young captain Henry Morgan, who had just returned to England to take care of his own personal business and also to plunder local ships. Most of the men aboard ''Negotiator'' were killed, rest were left alive, either exiled on the nearby land, or taken as crew men. Sullivan managed to slip away with other comrades to the rowboat. After a long rowing they finally reached the shore. From there, they could see what was left of ''Negotiator'', floating in the water with some cargo that they decided to take to make a bit of profit.

## Searching for parents

Sullivan arrived to Scotland in 1666 in search of his parents, seeing as, his father used to live near Edinburgh. He went to the old house and found that everything was abandoned since the civil war. However, in the basement he found a note left behind in a handwriting he could recognise, it was his father's. In the note he had written about him and his wife leaving to a place only their son could find, but leaving behind, in another location 12000 pounds worth of money, which was to be found. Sullivan found this in favor for himself - find his parents and a lot of money to buy a vessel. He traveled to Edinburgh, where in a local tavern recruited men to help him on his expedition.

2 months had passed since they strted their travels and Sullivan was feeling unwell. He never had been to Scotland before and wasn't ready for the wet, cold climate it had. They set up a camp and he now was on his sick bed while other men gathered food for next days. After week of staying in the camp, some men started to get impatient, since they didn't have the money yet promised by Sully. Others finally got local doctor to check Sullivan. He said that he can help him, but if he wishes it to be faster process, doctor expects extra cash. Sullivan agreed and in couple days time was able to walk normally. Yet some men were still waiting for their money.

Next week they arrived at an old church near an abandoned town. Sullivan was relieved to meet the local priest whom he told about his parents and money. Priest said that he did meet Sullivan's parents and they left him a heavy bag, which he hid in the old basement. Priest gave this bag to Sullivan and then showed him his parents. Two tombstones in the graveyard next to church with their names on. Sullivan was angry and sad about this reveal. Priest said that he can't help him further and left them all. Men got their money and parted ways. From the grand prize of 12000 pounds, Sullivan was left now with only 6000 pounds.

## Partnership with East India Company

Sullivan bought a proper schooner with a crew and headed back to London. There he was given an opportunity by Charles II of England to work with East India Company in India. Sullivan accepted the offer and set sail for India. Once there, he met Sir Josiah Child, who was governing over East India Company at that time and gave him their terms regarding to trading and delivering. At this point Sullivan finally had a proper job as a merchant, however he did not know about the slave trafficking to Caribbean, which was one of their main ways of earning money.

During 1668 he went to Singapore with other merchants working for the company to make a deal with locals. One thing they didn't know, was that they were pirates and it was an ambush set to capture men, in order to get to the company itself. It turned out into a battle through the city, which caused a sum of it to burn down. Half of the merchants died and others escaped back to India. Governor was angry and suprised about this encounter. Sullivan decided to talk to Governor about his position in the company, he said that he wishes to earn more money, so that in 2 years time he could get back to England and buy himself proper land. Governor gave him an opportunity to deliver some cargo to Madagascar, which he didn't reveal to Sullivan. He accepted the offer and was given a frigate to command, because cargo was big. After arriving to Madagascar, Sullivan found out that cargo was actually slaves, he had a thought in his mind for a moment to wield his sword and kill everyone there because of this. But he resisted and waited until he could return back to India to negotiate with governor.

Once returning back, he had an argument with the governor of tricking him into delivering slaves. Governor was suprised, that Sullivan wasn't pleased with this and understood, if Sullivan doesn't like slave trafficking, then he has no place anymore in East India Company. Sullivan went back to England with his schooner, with little more money in his pockets, but not satisfying enough yet.

## Becoming a masterful merchant

Next few years he studied to become better and earned more money. After time Sullivan was a part of high society of London. He became respectable just like his parents once were. Sullivan bought himself an apartment in Westminster in 1673 and quickly learned its underground world connections. He created his own journal to help him with his travels around Europe. Sullivan did in fact wish to see Caribbean, ever since everyone was talking about it, but he didn't have big enough of a ship to travel across Atlantic Ocean and simply had too much work to do at the moment. In 1674 he was appointed Charles II of England as a privateer in England to destroy pirates. King said that it would be favourable for both of them - Sullivan and other merchants would be able to trade easier and faster and also he and King Charles would earn more money. Sullivan accepted the offer and was appointed as a captain of a Royal Navy brig. Following the next 2 years, Sullivan destroyed many pirate ships and gained expierence of a war from these 2 years. Sullivan believed that his work was done as a privateer, and king, without hesitation rewarded Sullivan with a sum of 15000 pounds. In 1677 he finished his teachings of becoming a much better merchant. Afterwards he decided that he had enough with London's underground dealings and left them with some money as a head start.

## Golden years

In 1678, Sullivan moved to Cornwall because he decided to have some rest from the lousy London and have some fresh country air. Once continuing his career as a merchant in Cornwall, he became very popular among folk around there and was one of the richest. After time he moved into a mansion at the north end of Cornwall. After 29 years he was once again living in a mansion. He realized, that one of the things he hadn't done in his life was making his legacy, thus finding a woman, whom he would marry. During the same year he met another merchant, Elizabeth Cotton. They started working together and after some time started living together. In 1679 they married and had a child, sadly, the child died in 2 months time from the local diseases.

In 1680, Sullivan's aunt arrived in Cornwall to meet him after many years of living in Paris. She stayed there till 1681. Shortly after Elizabeth divorced with Sullivan saying that she couldn't forget the tragedy of their child. Even heartbroken, sad and lonely, Sullivan still made money but riches made him more miserable.

After time he forgot about these incidents and decided to once again expand his business by making factories. This turned out to be succesful and more money started coming in. Now instead of sailing by himself with the cargo he could send his owned ships to do the job. In 1683 his mansion was burned down by local robbers. Sullivan regrouped to a new house in Truro. During the same year he started to have problems with local highwaymen robbing his carriages transporting goods across the country, months later king sent some men to help with these troubles. In 1685, Sullivan left Cornwall to head for London after hearing that king has died.

## New age

James II of England, the brother of Charles II was elected as the next king and in couple months time he changed the rules and parliament. Sullivan hoped, that James would recognize him as his brother's friend, but king decided to ignore him and not help him anymore. Now without protection, Sullivan went back to the London's underground, where he was greeted back happily because of the small donation he left there 7 years ago.

In 1686 he found a secret organisation within the parliament planning to overthrow the king because they believed he was a poor one. Sullivan joined these renegades and aided them in their cause for the next 2 years. After James II of England was overthrown, his place was taken by Mary II of England and William III of England. Sullivan now gained their trust, although more of Mary's rather than William's. And thus he could finally continue to operate normally in Thames and across the whole England.

In 1689, Sullivan was given a journal by his aunt Judith, she said it once was his parents. Although almost empty, Sullivan decided to write down in this journal for next years to come.

## First voyage to The New World

In 1691 Mary II of England allowed Sullivan to go to The New World, most specifically Caribbean Sea. He was given a frigate from the fleet and a crew to go to Caribbean and come back a year later with a full report of it.