USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 1 > Part 59
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concerning piracies which had occurred years before, and in which other Colonies were as much implicated as Rhode Island.1
The Board of Trade, on receiving the charges against Rhode Island, transmitted them, on the 18th of April, to Lord Cornbury, then governor of New York, with instructions to him to investigate them. On the 26th of November his lordship replied to the request, saying that he "would pursue Her Majesty's commands as far as he was able", and continuing as follows :
"The first Article is not observing the laws of trade, and en- couraging illegall trade and piracy. This Article relates to both Gov- ernments. That the people of Connecticut carry on an illegal trade with the East of Long Island, is known to everybody here, and appears by the condemnation of a Sloop belonging to Connecticut, named the Rachel, which was condemned for illegall trade. That they en- couraged piracy, appears by the depositions of Orchard and Hicks to which I beg leave to refer.
"The Next article is that they harbor pirates.
"The next is for harboring and protecting soldiers, seamen and servants, who desert from other Plantations, and refused to deliver them when reclaimed. This will appear by the affidavit of Captain Matthews to which I refer.
"The ninth Article is for refusing to submit to Her Majesty's and His Royal Highness' commissions of Vice-Admiralty, and for commanding their militia. I don't doubt but those who have had the honor to serve the Crown in this Government before me, have given full accounts of that matter in their time. As for my time, I must acquaint your Lordships that two years ago, Colonell Winthrop, who was then, and now is, Governor of Connecticut, came to make me a visit. I then took the opportunity to tell him that I would go into Connecticut and publish my commission for the command of their militia, and my commission to be Vice-Admiral. He told me whenever I would come into Connecticut I would be welcome; but they would not part with their militia.
By Lord Cornbury's letter it will be seen that Rhode Island was not alone in being charged with carrying on illegal capital trade and encouraging piracy ; but that Connecticut was equally implicated. Indeed, his lordship has more to say against Connecticut than Rhode Island. He desired to effect the repeal of the charter of Connecticut and add that province to New York. With this view he resorted to the same means that Dudley did to destroy the charter of Rhode Island; but they both failed in their purposes. As regards privateers
"The various papers embodying these charges are embraced in forty-two documents, and are among the manuscripts in the John Carter Brown library. They were all arranged under the thirteen Articles of Impeachment.
35-1
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we can only account for the number of them in the English colonics from the hostility that existed in them all against the Spanish, French, and Dutch, who had planted colonies in America, and from the fact that they were glad to avail themselves of the slightest pretext to annoy them on the sea, as well as on land and, particularly, to take their ships and cargoes.
In August following the General Assembly, at a special session for the special purpose, adopted an answer to the charges made against the Colony, which had been submitted to that body in a com- munication from the Lords Commissioners, dated at Whitehall, March 26, 1705. This reply was a complete and convincing refutation of the charges which Dudley, Cornbury, and other enemies had made against her. The agents of the Colony in London, too, had faithfully per- formed their part, having appeared before the Board of Trade with the voluminous evidence on both sides. With regard to the refusal of Rhode Island to furnish her quota of troops for the war and to con- tribute her part towards the common cause, the evidence showed that she had within seven years expended more than six thousand pounds in military defenses and operations; that she had furnished her quota of men to Massachusetts, besides "keeping and maintaining scouts upon the frontiers of that Province, whose services had been thank- fully acknowledged by it".
The Board of Trade, in January, 1705-06, in obedience to the Order in Council directing them to enumerate to Her Majesty, Queen Anne, the several misfeazances and illegal proceedings of the Charter and Proprietary Governments in America, made a representation that they had not conformed to the Acts of Trade and Navigation; that the governors of Connecticut and Rhode Island had not taken the oaths required; that they were the refuge of pirates and illegal traders; that they refused to submit to the Royal Commissioners of Vice-Admiralty, etc .; indeed, the procceding was only an enumeration of the old charges preferred by Dudley and others. This, with the letters of Dudley and Cornbury, was submitted to the attorney and solicitor- generals, who gave their opinion that, in certain extraordinary emer- gencies, her majesty "may constitute a Governor of such Province or Colony, as well for the Civil and Military part of the Government, and for the protection and preservation thereof; with the addition only, that as to the Civil Government, such Government is not to alter the rules or methods of proceeding, in civil causes established by their Charters".
The year 1706 opened with renewed activity on the part of the Colony to repel the French, who with a powerful flect were known to be in the West Indies, where they had sacked and plundered the islands of St. Christopher's and Nevis, and were momentarily expected on the coast. Everything was put upon a war footing; large numbers
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of volunteers were enrolled in the militia; scouts were placed along the whole line of the coast, and a body of troops was stationed on Block Island. "These precautions were necessary," wrote the Gov- ernor and Council to the Board of Trade, "as the French General and Admiral has given out threatenings against these parts, so that we are upon the wateh, and raised up several breastworks and batteries about the town of Newport, in order to prevent the enemy landing near the town". In addition to these the Colony had several vessels on the eoast to guard against privateers, as well as to give early notice of the approach of any of the hostile fleet.
In June of this year a French privateer, near Block Island, took a sloop laden with provisions. The partieulars of the eapture were immediately sent by express to the governor at Newport. Proelama- tion was at once made for volunteers, and within two hours two sloops, fitted and manned with one hundred and twenty men, under command of Captain John Wanton, were sent in pursuit of the enemy. In three hours Captain Wanton eame up with the French privateer, at onee gave her battle and eaptured her; retook the prize she had taken, and brought both safely to Newport. The privateer was manned with forty men and was hastening with her prize to Port Royal, where they were in great want of provisions.
The suecess of this gallant affair gave great satisfaction through- out the country and added fresh laurels to the naval flag of this Colony. The General Assembly, in session at Newport in July, voted £200 toward defraying the expense of the expedition and for support- ing the prisoners taken. They also acknowledged the great service rendered by the governor in his prompt action and voted him a "pres- ent gratuity" of five pounds ; in addition they empowered him, "in case of invasion, to press any vessels for the Colony's service, with other necessaries as may be by his Honor judged needful". The ves- sels so taken up were to be appraised by two men, one chosen by the governor and one by the owners. Byfield, judge of admiralty, in giv- ing an account of this exploit by Captain Wanton to the ministry, said he condemned the prize without exacting the legal fee, "in order to encourage so brisk an action".
It is now necessary to go back a little in the story to notice briefly the eapture of Bloek Island in July, 1689. On that occasion a large bark, a small bark, two sloops, and some smaller craft, all French privateers, appeared off the island, greatly alarming the inhabitants. When the vessels came in near the shore a boat put off from one of them and landed, where the crew were met by the islanders in large numbers; the latter had come down to the shore armed, not knowing whether their visitors were friends or foes. In reply to inquiry as to who they were, whenee they came, and the name of their commander, they were answered by one William Trimming, an Englishman, who
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said their commander was George Asten, a man who was well known to the islanders as a privateersman whose exploits among the Span- iards and French had given him fame. Trimming further said they were Englishmen, but that their crews were French and Spanish; that their captain's name was Pekar [probably Picor, or Piquard] ; that they came from Jamaica and were bound for Newport; they added that they wanted a pilot to take them into that harbor where they might purchase wood, provisions, and obtain water. The story was plausible and the islanders believed it; this belief was strengthened by a stranger then on the island who claimed acquaintance with Captain Asten, and who sent his compliments to him.
When Trimming saw that his story was believed he took his de- parture, joined his vessel and the fleet made sail towards Newport. They had not gone far when they saw a pilot boat at a distance, which they signaled and brought her to their assistance. But no sooner had the pilot and his crew got aboard the vessel than they were made prisoners, driven into the hold, and there questioned as to the strength of Newport and Block Island. The situation was now apparent; but finding the town stronger than they had anticipated, and believing they had quieted the fears of the Block Islanders, they determined to return, take possession of the island and plunder it. Three boats. (periaugers) were manned with about fifty men each, their guns placed in the bottoms of the boats, and they pushed for the shore. Landing, they were again met by a body of the islanders, who, says the narrator, "were something amused at their number". Neverthe- less, believing them to be friendly Englishmen, they directed the visitors to the best landing-place. No sooner had they reached this spot than the men in the boats sprang to their feet, seized their guns and presenting them at the astonished inhabitants told them if they showed the least resistance they would be shot. Thus they became prisoners to their supposed friends. The pirates, as they had proved themselves to be, disarmed the islanders, broke their guns in pieces on the rocks and led them to the large house of Captain James Sands, which stood near the landing-place; here they were confined under a guard, and the pirates set to work plundering the houses, killing cattle, sheep, and hogs, not only to feed upon, but to impoverish the people and lay the island waste.
The people now saw the deception practiced on them by Trim- ming. He was the only Englishman in the party and was used as a. decoy when the pirates wished to board an English vessel; on such occasions he was sent on board the vessel to deceive the crew as he did the Block Island people.
News was at once sent to the mainland that the island had fallen into the hands of the French; beacon-fires were lighted along the coast from Pawcatuck Point to Scaconnet, and the whole country was
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aroused. For a week the piratical crews remained in quiet possession of the island, plundering the houses and despoiling everything movable. One narrator states that they committed great abuses upon Simon Ray, an aged man and one of the most prominent men on the island. Mr. Ray and his son, on seeing the enemy approach, and while yet at a distance, took their money and valuable effects out of the house and concealed them. The pirates having ascertained that chests and other articles had been suddenly removed, demanded their restora- tion, together with the Rays' money. On his refusal to give them up they became enraged and beat him over the head with a rail, and would have killed him on the spot but for the interference of his wife. In- deed, so covered with blood was her husband as he lay senseless on the floor that she believed him dead. He finally recovered and lived many years. The pirates also abused John Rathbun, who, they were told, had money ; mistaking the son for the father, they tied him up and whipped him unmercifully in the vain endeavor to extort from him the place where they supposed he had concealed his money.
Among other atrocities of the pirates was the killing of two negro men, one belonging to Mr. Ray, before mentioned, the other to Captain John Sands. Two of the servants of Dr. John Rodman ran away from him and joined the French. This Dr. Rodman, writes the narrator, Rev. Samuel Niles, "was a gentleman of great ingenuity and of an affable, engaging behavior, of the profession of then called Quakers. He also kept a Meeting in his house, on the Sabbaths, with exhortations unto good works, after the manner of teachers of that society, but more agreeably than I suppose is common with them, judging from the meetings I had often attended in my younger time". When the Frenchman came to Dr. Rodman's "one of them essayed to lead his wife, a very desirable gentlewoman, into a private room, but the Doc- tor stepped into the doorway, and prevented him". Upon this the ruffian cocked his pistol and threatend to shoot him: whereupon the Doctor opened his clothes on his breast and said: "Thou mayest do it if thou pleasest, but thou shalt not abuse my wife."
While the piratical fleet lay riding at anchor off the island they took two vessels bound up the sound, one of which being laden chiefly with steel, they sunk; the other had a cargo of wine and other liquors.
The great bonfires before spoken of along the coast of the main- land naturally led the pirates to believe that the country had taken alarm and might send out a force against them; at any rate, they became satisfied from what they could learn that it would be useless for them to make any attempt on Newport, which was the populous town and protected by fortifications. They then determined to make an attack on New London, which they imagined would be less prepared for them. For this port they accordingly sailed and entered its har- bor; but the country having been warned of their approach, large
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numbers of men from the bordering towns had come to New London for its relief. This place, like Newport, had its well-built fort as protection from the Indians. The piratical fleet had scarcely reached its harbor when a volley from the great guns on the fort was fired upon them with good effect. This being a reception for which they were not prepared, they hastily drew off, and made sail, intending to return to Block Island, there to renew their work of plunder.
As the fleet was passing out to sea, some of the company landed on Fisher's Island, upon which there was then but a single house. Trim- ming, the Englishinan before spoken of, who was one of the party, having mentioned his intention to stop there, the people of Stonington got wind of it, when a party of seventeen men determined to intercept him. They accordingly set off, and by landing on another part of the island, approached the house spoken of before they were discovered by the pirates, who had already arrived. Trimming now came out in an apparently friendly manner, with his gun concealed behind his back, to receive them; whereupon the Stonington party demanded whence they came. Trimming replied that they had been shipwrecked. One of the Englishmen from Stonington then said, "If you are friends, lay down your guns, and eome behind us". Upon this Stephen Richard- son, fearing an attack of the pirates, leveled his gun and shot Trim- ming dead on the spot, an aet for which he was much blamed. "Thus," writes the honest Niles, "he that delighted in falsehood in his life died with a lie in his mouth; and received, it seems, the just reward of his perfidious, villainous, and multiplied treaeheries".
While the French privateers were engaged in their futile attempt upon New London, the people of Newport were busily engaged in fit- ting out an armed force of volunteers, with two sloops, with which to attack them; and, supposing they were still at Bloek Island, they sailed thither. The expedition was under the command of Captain, or Com- modore, Paine, as he was sometimes called, a daring fellow, who had, some years before, "followed the privateering design", a very mild term for a freebooter, and who, notwithstanding his occupation, still enjoyed the confidence of his fellow-citizens at Newport. The second in command was Capt. John Godfrey, a brave and energetic offieer, who had also seen aetive serviee, and was eager to try his hand with the piratical crew. Arriving at Block Island, they found the Frenchmen had taken their departure, and learning that when they sailed they had taken a northwesterly course in the direction of New London, they stood off to the westward, in the hope of intercepting them in case they should be beaten off. The Block Island vessels had not proceeded far when they discovered a small fleet standing eastward, which proved to be the piratical vessels. Preparations were now hastily made to receive the enemy-the erews prepared their small arms, and their great guns were all brought to bear on one side, that their first dis-
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charge might be the more effectual. The Frenchmen discovered the approaching sloops, which they imagined to be unarmed merehant vessels, and made all sail, expecting soon to seeure them as prizes. As they approached, a periauger full of men was sent by the pirates to demand the surrender of the sloops. Captain Paine's gunner urged him to fire on them at once; but the captain proposed waiting for their nearer approach. He at length sent a shot at them, which was seen to skip over the water and strike the bank, as they were not far from the shore. This unexpected shot alarmed the pirates and brought them to a stand, when they pulled off as fast as possible to await the eoming up of their ships.
As the Frenehmen approached they bore down upon the Rhode Island vessels, the great bark leading the way, and poured into them a broadside with small arms. They were quiekly answered with the same, followed with shouts and huzzas from our vessels; and the action now beeame general. The larger sloop now followed, the eaptain of which was a most violent and daring fellow. "He took a glass of wine", says the narrator, "and wished it might be his damnation if he did not board the English immediately". While drinking, a bullet struek him in the neck, when he fell dead, as they afterwards learned from the prisoners. The other vessels now passed in course, each dis- charging a broadside, then taeked, and brought their opposite guns to bear. In this manner the fight was kept up on both sides until dark- ness came on and put an end to the confliet. The piratical captain and several of his men were killed, and some of them driven on shore. On the part of the English but one man, an Indian, was killed and six white men wounded. It seems that the enemy aimed too high, as numbers of their eannon and musket-balls were picked up on the ad- jacent shore.
A second encounter was expected on the following morning, as the French lay at anchor all night at a short distance; but the fight was not renewed, perhaps beeause their ammunition had run short. A reason current in Newport why the Frenehmen did not renew the combat was that Peckar, their eaptain, had been informed that in eneountering the English or Rhode Island vessels, he had been fighting with Captain Paine; and that he had said he "would as soon fight the devil as Paine". It is understood, too, that Paine and Peekar had sailed together in privateering expeditions in former wars, the former as captain and the latter as lieutenant, which is quite probable.
The piratical fleet now stood off to sca, pursued by two Rhode Island sloops under Paine and Godfrey; but the Frenehmen, being more expert sailors, left them far astern. The prize vessel, loaded with wines, which the latter had taken, not being so good a sailor as the fleet, fell behind, and fearing the English would come up and re- capture her, her eaptors fired a eannon ball through her bottom.
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When the English came up with her they found her sinking and merely secured as a trophy the long boat at her stern.
Block Island, though these privateers had departed, was not wholly forgotten by them, as it appears that before the end of the year some of the same company, with others, landed one night, sur- prised the inhabitants in their beds and proceeded in the same manner as they had before; they plundered houses, killed cattle, and committed other depredations, but killed no one. The Rev. Samuel Niles, who has left the fullest aeeount of the visits of these privateers, was one of the sufferers on the occasion of this second visit, and was maltreated and left bound on his bed. On the first visit Mr. Niles and many others took refuge in the great swamp.
During the continuanee of the war with Franee the pirates made a third visit to Block Island, but at just what time does not appear, and met with no opposition. James Sands and his family, whose house had been their headquarters on previous occasions, took to the woods to avoid a repetition of former outrages. Mr. Niles, who was a grand- son of Mr. Sands, accompanied his family and was followed by others. The pirates landed on a Sunday morning, and, forming a long train in two files, with colors flying and trumpets sounding, marehed up and took possession of the island. "Thus they came", says Mr. Niles, "in triumph and as absolute lords of the soil, and all belonging thereto, as indeed they were for the time." They set up their standard on the hill, after which they set to work killing geese, pigs, ete., and fired several shots at particular houses.
The operations of the piratieal crews were soon arrested by the appearance of a large English man-of-war, the Nonesuch, Captain Dobbins. This ship lay at anehor about a league away, where she had been eoneealed by a dense fog; henee, neither the pirates nor the islanders had discovered her until the fog cleared away. As soon as the Frenehmen discovered the Nonesuch they hurried on board their own vessels, and after sending ashore a number of English prisoners, made sail. Among these prisoners was Captain Rodney and his wife. They were from the West Indies and possessed a large fortune, most of which he had with him in money and which was taken by the pirates. He was on his way to establish a home in the northern colonies.
Soon after leaving the island both the piratical vessels and the English man-of-war in pursuit disappeared in the fog; but both took the same course to the northeast and the pirates were finally overtaken in Buzzard's Bay. Finding there was no chance of escape by sea, about forty of them landed in the vain hope of concealing themselves or of eseaping by land; but they were soon seized and disarmed by the people who dwelt near and who may have heard of their acts on the coast. They were sent to Boston as prisoners. The remainder
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with their vessels fell into the hands of Captain Dobbins. The prizes, which proved to be very rich, were sent to Newport, where they were condemned.
In 1708 French privateers again appeared on the coast, which awakened anew the naval spirit of the Colony. "On the eighth of September", writes Governor Cranston to the Board of Trade, "upon intelligence given me by an express from Martha's Vineyard, that a Privateer had chased and taken a Sloop, and chased a Briganteen on shore, upon said island, I despatched (within three hours thereof) two Sloops under command of Major William Wanton and Captain John Cranston. The enemy fearing a sudden expedition, being well ac- quainted with our dispatch on such occasions, burnt his prize, and made the best of his way into the sea, so that our people could not get any sight of him".
A fourth time certain pirates, but whether French or otherwise was unknown to Rev. Samuel Niles, who narrates the story, made an attack upon Block Island, and were driven off without loss of life to the inhabitants.
At this time there were twenty-nine vessels belonging to the Colony, its trade having increased much within a few years. These vessels were engaged in trade with Madeira, Fayal, the West Indies, and Spanish Main. The cause of this increase was attributed by Governor Cranston in his letter to the Board of Trade "to the inclina- tion the youth on Rhode Island have to the sea". "The land on the island", he adds, "is all taken up and improved in small farms, so that the farmers are compelled to place their children to trades or callings ; but their inclination being to navigation, the greater part betake them- selves to that employment". The number of inhabitants in the Colony was, at this time, seven thousand one hundred and eighty-one, of which four hundred and twenty-six were blacks.
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