John Halsey
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John Halsey (d. 1708) was a colonial American privateer and a later pirate who was active in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans during the early 17th century. Although much of his life and career is unknown, he is recorded by Daniel Defoe in A General History of the Pyrates which states "He was brave in his Person, courteous to all his Prisoners, lived beloved, and died regretted by his own People. His Grave was made in a garden of watermelons, and fenced in with Palisades to prevent his being rooted up by wild Hogs."
Born in Boston, Halsey became a privateer in the service of Great Britain commanding of the 10-gun brigantine Charles during the War of the Spanish Succession, or Queen Anne's War as it was known in the American colonies, and raided French fishing fleets in Newfoundland and later sailed to Fayal in the Azores and the to the Canary Islands where he attacked Spanish ship en route to Barcelona shipping during 1704. During the voyage, several of his men deserted as he put his lieutenant ashore at Cape Verde however they were subsequently returned to Halsey by the Portuguese governor recognizing his commission.
However, as his letter of marque expired the following year, he turned to piracy and sailed to Madagascar. As he made his way through the Cape of Good Hope, he picked up several castaway sailors of the lost Degrave formerly under the command of Captain Young as he put into Augustine Bay for water, wood and other provisions. Leaving Augustine, he sailed for the Red Sea in search of Moorish treasure ships the Great Mogul and operated in the Indian Ocean throughout the year with some success.
In late 1706, he and his gunner were charged cowardice and relieved of command by his crew after refusing to order an attack on a larger Dutch ship, hesitant to attack a European vessel. The crew, who presumed the ship to be a lone merchantman, went forward with their the attack and as they approached their intended victim, the Dutch ship turned to reveal its sixty guns and fired a warning shot towards the Charles, which injured a crew member manning the wheel as well as unstripping the swivel gun and severely damaging the topsail. The attack by the Dutch caught many of the crew off guard casing many to flee into the hold. Although suffering heavy damage, the Charles was able to escape and Halsey was reinstated as commander shortly afterwards.
Seizing two coastal traders off the Nicobar Islands in February 1707, he sailed to the Straits of Malacca fared poorly due to the low morale of the crew following the incident of the Dutch ship.
Returning to Madagascar, Halsey recruited additional men including his Quartermaster Nathaniel North. Setting sail for Mocha, he encountered a British squadron consisting of five warships shortly after entering the Red Sea in August 1707. Despite a combined 62 guns, Halsey chose to engage the British fleet and, after forcing the largest to flee, the remaining warships scattered with Halsey capturing two of the warships, along with £50,000 in money and cargo.
Following his return to Madagascar in January 1708, his entire fleet was virtually destroyed in a hurricane and died of a fever soon after.
[edit] Further reading
- Pringle, Patrick. Jolly Roger: The Story of the Great Age of Piracy. New York: Courier Dover Publications, 2001. ISBN 0-486-41823-5
- Rogozinski, Jan. Pirates!: Brigands, Buccaneers, and Privateers in Fact, Fiction, and Legend. New York: Da Capo Press, 1996. ISBN 0-306-80722-X
- Rogozinski, Jan. Honor Among Thieves: Captain Kidd, Henry Every, and the Pirate Democracy in the Indian Ocean. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 2000. ISBN 0-8117-1529-9
- Seitz, Don Carlos, Howard F. Gospel and Stephen Wood. Under the Black Flag: Exploits of the Most Notorious Pirates. Mineola, New York: Courier Dover Publications, 2002. ISBN 0-486-42131-7
[edit] External links
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