USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina under the proprietary government, 1670-1719, V.2 > Part 17
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It was early in the year 1717 that Bonnet began his piratical career. Being a man of wealth. he had no diffi- culty in finding such a vessel and equipment as he desired ; and one dark night, in company with a crew of seventy desperate men, he sailed across the Bridge- town bar in a sloop of ten guns, which he had named the Revenge -a name, as it has been observed. common in all the pirate fleets of that time. He made directly for the Capes of Virginia, and stationed himself in that great highway of commerce. In a few days he had taken a number of merchant vessels. several of which he burned after plundering them and sending the crews ashore. Preying for a time upon the commerce of New York and
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New England, Bonnet sailed for South Carolina, and came off the bar of Charles Town in August. 1717. He had not waited here long before a sloop belonging to Barbadoes hove in sight. followed almost immediately by a New England brigantine. The brigantine he sent into Charles Town after relieving her of all her valuables ; the sloop he retained for his own use, dismissing the crew.
The brigantine had scarcely crossed the bar of Charles Town when Bonnet weighed anchor and set sail for the coast of North Carolina to refit his vessel for another cruise. The Barbadian sloop he burned. After refitting the Revenge, Bonnet again put to sea. but without any definite determination as to his course. His men had discovered his ignorance of nautical affairs soon after leaving Barbadoes. and it was only by the influence of his superior courage and by means of threats and frequent punishments that Bonnet prevented an open mutiny. The Revenge was now steered for the Bay of Honduras. the great rendezvous of pirates. Here Bonnet met Thatch. and the two entered upon a cruise together. Thatch, soon perceiving that Bonnet knew nothing of seamanship. and deeming him an unsafe man to be in command of so fine a sloop as the Revenge, coolly deposed him, and placing Richards. one of his own officers, in charge, he took Bonnet on board his own vessel, where he gave him a position of ease and security. Bonnet, however indig- nant, was powerless to resist. Thatch, with a desperate crew in sympathy with him and sharing his contempt of Bonnet, was all-powerful.
The first prize taken by Thatch's newly organized squadron was the Adventure from Jamaica, whose mas- ter. David Herriot, himself joining the pirates, was des- tined to play a tragic part in Bonnet's subsequent career. Bonnet, willingly or unwillingly, was in company with
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Thatch on several cruises, including the celebrated one off Charles Town harbor in June, 1718, after which he sailed in the same fleet to Topsail Inlet, North Carolina. where the company was disbanded.
Thus released from the control of Thateh. Bonnet was enabled to resume command and proceed to sea on his own responsibility. Availing himself of the King's proc- lamation of the year before, he proceeded to Bath, where he surrendered to Governor Eden, took the oath, and received a certificate of pardon. At the same time, he procured a clearance for his vessel for the Island of St. Thomas, announcing his intention of applying for a com- mission there as a privateer against the Spaniards. Thus armed with clearance papers and a pardon by a legally constituted authority. in the name of his Majesty. Bomet was prepared to continue his career of crime and blood- shed under better auspices than those enjoyed by any pirate since the time that Kidd sailed from England with the personal sanction of King William himself. Returned to Topsail Inlet, he rescued a number of sailors who had been marooned by Thatch, - that is, put ashore on a desert island and abandoned. - and shipped them on the Revenge under the pretence of taking them to St. Thomas. Having thus procured a good crew, having himself attained considerable proficiency in seamanship, and secured the confidence of his men by his good fight- ing qualities. he determined first to avenge himself upon Thatch. But Thatch had sailed away. Learning that he had gone up the coast, Bonnet followed fast after him, but his quest was unsuccessful; and after cruising about for a few days, he proceeded to the coast of Virginia. On this expedition. Bonnet appointed David Herriot as sail- ing-master of his sloop. Bonnet at this time changed his name to that of " Captain Thomas," - probably from
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fear of the consequences if captured after having so re- cently accepted the King's pardon. He changed also the name of his vessel to that of the Royal James. Having thus prepared himself for the most desperate enterprises. Bonnet announced his true intentions to his crew and declared his purpose to sail up the coast toward New England in search of booty. This announcement was said to have been a surprise to some of the men, and some who were afterwards captured were acquitted on their trial upon the ground that they had not assented to the piracy. Bonnet proceeded up the coast. commit- ting several piracies, and, sailing into Delaware Bay, took several valuable merchantmen and terrorized the whole country. Among the captures in Delaware Bay were those of the sloop Francis. Captain Peter Man- waring. and the sloop Fortune, Captain Thomas Read. These captures were profitable ones, and, satisfied with the result of this cruise, Bonnet returned to Cape Fear, where the fleet arrived in August, 1718, and immediately set his men to overhauling and repairing the sloop for another expedition.
Governor Johnson and the people of South Carolina were burning with the desire to avenge the insult inflicted upon the colony the June before; and though the prov- ince was greatly reduced financially by the expenses of the Indian wars, they determined to expend every energy in driving the freebooter from their coast. When the news. therefore, reached the Governor that the pirates were rendezvousing at Cape Fear, it was at once deter- mined not to await their appearance again off the bar of Charles Town, but to seek them out in their place of refuge and destroy them.
Colonel Rhett's seamanship came again to the assistance of the colony. He waited upon the Governor and asked
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permission to fit out two vessels against the pirate, who, rumor said. was in fighting trim with a sloop of ten guns and a hardy crew of sixty men. A commission was issued to Rhett, and he pressed into service two sloops, -- the Henry, Captain John Masters, and the Sea Nymph. Cap- tain Fayrer Hall. The Henry, the larger vessel of the two. was fitted with eight guns and seventy men, and was selected by Rhett as his flagship. The Sea Nymph car- ried the same number of guns and sixty men.
On September 10 Colonel Rhett went on board the Henry. But just as he was about to weigh anchor, the immediate object of his expedition was suddenly changed by a piece of startling intelligence. A small sloop. with one Cook in command. belonging to Antigua. came into port, and reported that she had been overhauled and plun- dered by the most famous pirate of the times. Charles Vane, who had just escaped, as we have seen, from Rogers's fleet, and who now lay in front of the harbor with a brigantine of twelve guns and ninety men. Cook also reported that Vane had captured two other vessels bound for Charles Town, one a Barbadian sloop, Captain Dill commanding, and the other a brigantine from the Guinea coast with a cargo of over ninety negroes. The negroes had been removed from the brigantine and placed on board a sloop commanded by Vane's companion, Yeates, which Vane had been using as a tender. Yeates, finding himself in charge of a good sloop with several guns. a crew of fifteen men, and a valuable cargo, determined to desert Vane, and accordingly at midnight sailed away to the south. Vane discovered the treachery before many hours, and was in hot pursuit, but finding no traces of the fugitive, he had returned to Charles Town just in time to intercept four vessels bound out for London. Two of these escaped and continued their voyage, but the Nep-
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tune, Captain King. carrying sixteen guns, and the Em- peror. Captain Power, with ten guns, were both taken, with valuable cargoes.
The immediate object of Rhett's expedition was thus changed; on the 15th of September. Rhett crossed the bar, and, having learned from Cook that Vane intended going into an inlet to the south to repair, he stood down the coast for several leagues, scouring the rivers and creeks without success ; and, finding no signs of the pirate. and believing all danger from this quarter to be past, he proceeded to the execution of his original design without returning to make report to Governor Johnson.
In the meantime, Charles Town had again been thrown into a state of agitation by the news of the landing of a party of pirates at some distance to the south. The intel- ligence was brought by no other than one of the pirate crew ; and when it was learned that such a character had arrived and requested an audience with the Governor, the people, remembering a similar embassy which had been sent on by Thatch some months previous, were seized with great consternation. It was soon learned, however, that the pirate's errand was a peaceful one. He informed Governor Johnson that Yeates, who had escaped from Vane, had put into North Edisto River with his cargo of negroes, and wished to know if pardon would be granted him and his crew if they came to the city, de- livered up the negroes, and took the oath of allegiance. An affirmative reply was returned, and shortly afterwards Yeates and his fifteen men came in with the negroes, delivered them to the authorities, and received their cer- tificates of pardon.
Rhett sailed for Cape Fear about September 20. He spent some time in exploring the coast in search of Vane, and it was not until the evening of the 20th that he
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sighted the great headland from which North Carolina's chief river derives its name. The mouth of the stream was obstructed by sand bars which could not be crossed with safety without an experienced pilot, and the pilot whose services Rhett had engaged seems to have had no knowledge whatever of the channel. The sloops had scarcely entered the mouth of the river when both ran aground, but not before they had sighted the topmasts of the pirate and his two prizes over a point of land some distance up the stream. Rhett could not get his vessels afloat until late in the night, and was therefore compelled to wait for dawn before making any hostile movement.
The pirates were not found off their guard. The watch. posted to give timely warning of the approach of any vessel. reported the appearance of Rhett's fleet im- mediately after it crossed the bar. In the growing dusk it was impossible to distinguish whether or not they were merchantmen, and Bonnet, or Thomas, as he now called himself, manned three armed boats and sent them to reconnoitre. They had not come within gunshot when, perceiving the character of Rhett's ships. they hastened back to the Royal James and reported the result of their observations.
Bonnet understood at once that the break of day would bring on a fight that would be to the death, and he began preparations immediately for the heaviest combat of his piratical career. All night the crew, incited to constant vigilance and unceasing labor by alternate threats and promises, worked clearing the decks and making ready for action.
On board the Henry and the Sea Nymph no less active preparations were made. When Bonnet's men came down the river early in the evening, the South Carolinians antici-
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pated an immediate attack, and, fearing that it might yet be made, they lay on their arms all night.
The sun hed barely risen above the headlands which command the entrance to the river. on Saturday the 27th. when the South Carolinians, looking across the point of land behind which the pirates lay. saw the sails of the Royal James being run up the masts and heard the rattle of the chains as the anchors were hoisted to the deck. A moment later the pirate craft swung round before the breeze, which was blowing straight off the land. and with all sail set came flying down the river in the attempt to pass the place where the two sloops lay at anchor.
Bonnet's design was evident. He saw that his oppo- nents outnumbered him two to one. and he determined to maintain a running conflict as he drove through to reach the open sea. Rhett saw his purpose, and both sloops weighed anchor and made for Bonnet as he rounded the shelving point of land. Taking a position on either quarter of the Royal James. with a view to boarding. the Henry and the Sea Nymph bore down in such a direc- tion as to force Bonnet to steer close to the shore. Rhett had planned this movement without any knowledge of the river, and it proved as disastrous to his own vessels as to that of the enemy. In a few moments the Royal James was aground, and the attacking sloops, unable to come about with sufficient dispatch, ran into the same shoal water, and were soon hard and fast on the sandy bottom of the channel. The Henry grounded within pistol shot of the pirate. on the latter's bow, while the Sea Nymph, in her endeavor to cut off the fight, struck the bank so far ahead as to be completely out of range, and was of no service un- til five hours later, when she floated off on the rising tide.
As soon as it was found impossible to get the Henry afloat, Colonel Rhett gave orders for a heavy fire to be
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opened, and the sloop, with her ten guns, began pouring broadsides into the pirate, while the crew kept up a con- tinual fire with small arms. which did almost as much execution as the heavier fire from deck. During this part of the fight the South Carolinians were at a tre- mendous disadvantage. When the Henry and the Royal James went aground, both careened in the same direction, so that the deck of the pirate was turned away from the Henry, while every foot of the latter's deck was merci- lessly exposed. The heavy shot from the South Caro- linians could only take effect on the hull of the pirate, while their own deck could be swept from end to end at every discharge. Lying in these positions, the two ves- sels maintained for five hours a continuous and bloody contest. The South Carolinians, though under the most trying conditions, conducted themselves with the most dauntless courage. Exposed as was their position, it would seem certain death to man the guns ; but notwith- standing this. every man stood to his post without a thought of flinching, and the conflict was not permitted to languish for a single moment.
The pirates saw their advantage from the beginning. and availed themselves of it in every possible way. For some time it seemed certain that the victory would be theirs, and, in spite of the spirit displayed by Rhett and his men, Bonnet considered it but a matter of a few hours when the pirate ensign would triumph over the colors of the King. They " made a wiff in their bloody flag," says a contemporary account, "and beckoned with their hats in derision of our people to come on board them ; which they ouly answered with cheerful huzzas and told them it would soon be their turn. " 1
1 Mr. Hughion, whose graphic story of this battle between the South Carolinians and the pirates we have taken almost verbatim, says, in a note,
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Both sides were confident ; but the pirates, who enjoyed such an advantage at the beginning of the conflict. had a great disappointment in store for them. The issue of the battle now depended on the tide ; victory would with- out doubt be with the party whose vessel was first afloat. For five hours the flood poured up the river, and it was late in the day before it was high enough to lift the ves- sels from their stranded positions. The pirates under- stood the situation fully, and one can imagine the con- sternation which seized upon the crew of the Royal James when they saw the Henry slowly righting herself as the rising flood swept higher and higher around her bows. Many of the crew declared for immediate surrender, but Bonnet refused to listen to such counsel. Under the stress of excitement. the courage which failed him so ignominiously at the last was roused to a desperate pitch. He swore, according to the testimony of one of his party who turned State's evidence, he would fire the ship's magazine and send the entire crew to the bottom before he would submit ; and, drawing his pistols, he threatened to scatter the deck with the brains of any man who would not resist to the last should Rhett attempt to come on board. Bonnet's courageous con- duct did not avail, however. There were spirits in her crew as determined as he, who preferred to take the
that his account is taken from a pamphlet written from Charles Town, and published in London in 1719, entitled Tryals of Major Stede Bonnet and Other Pirates. The account of these trials given by llowell ( Stute Trials, vol. XV, 1231), he observes, is evidently taken from this pamphlet. Mr. Hughson states that through the courtesy of Mr. Daniel Ravenel of Charleston he had been enabled to make fall extracts from this rare pub- lication. Through the courtesy of Mr. Daniel Bovenel, son of the former. the author of this work has been enabled also to peruse this valuable pamphlet, and thus to verify Mr. Hughson's admirable account of the battle, which he has adopted.
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' chances of a trial or a pardon rather than to brave the death a further resistance would immediately incur, and surrender was determined upon.
While the pirates were angrily debating the course they should pursue, Rhett set his crew to work and tempo- rarily repaired the damage sustained by the rigging ; and. assuring himself that the hull of the Henry was intact. he stood for the Royal James with the intention of boarding her promptly if this should be necessary to force a surrender. At this juncture, however, a flag of truce was received. and, after a few minutes of parley, the Royal James surrendered unconditionally. On board- ing her, Rhett, who had not known who was the pirate chief, was surprised to learn that his captive-Captain Thomas, as he was styled -was none other than the notorious Stede Bonnet, whose name was now known along the coast of every colony from Jamaica to New- foundland.
As the Henry had borne the brunt of the fight, her loss was far greater than that of her companion sloop. She had ten killed and fourteen wounded, several of whom died afterwards of their injuries. The Sea Nymph had two killed and fourteen wounded. Several of the wounded of this vessel also died subsequently. for Judge Trott, in passing sentence upon Bonnet. stated that eighteen South Carolinians had lost their lives in this expedition. The pirates, in consequence of their sheltered position, suffered much less severely. Seven of the crew were killed and four wounded, two of whom died soon afterwards. There is a tradition that Rhett was shot through the body, but circumstances do not countenance the story.1
When the struggle of the 27th was at an end and
1 Hist. Sketches of No. Ca. (Rivers), 285, note.
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Rhett examined his little fleet, he found that it had been much injured by the pirate guns, and would require considerable repair before it could be trusted to stand the return voyage down the coast to Charles Town. He accordingly remained at Cape Fear for three days, and on September 30, with the Fortune and the Francis, which had been taken by Bonnet, and the pirate sloop as prizes, sailed for Charles Town. where he arrived on October 3, " to the great joy of the whole province."
Two days later Bonnet and his erew of over thirty men were landed and delivered into the custody of Captain Nathaniel Partridge, the Provost Marshal of the province. There was no prison in the province, - Governor Johnson, it will be remembered, had called attention to this want, - there was only a watch-house, which stood where the old postoffice now stands. All of the pirates but Bonnet were placed in this guard-house with a military guard posted over them. The authorities agreed to permit Bonnet to remain in the custody of the Marshal at the latter's residence, two sentinels being placed on guard at the Marshal's house every evening at sunset. A few days later David Herriot, the sailing-master, and Igna- tius Pell, the boatswain, who had agreed to become evidence for the Crown, were also removed to the resi- dence of the Marshal.1
1 Preface to Tryals of Major Stede Bonnet, etc. (pamphlet).
CHAPTER XXVII
1718-19
UPON the capture of the pirates De Cossey and others the year before, Governor Daniel and his Council had pro- ceeded under the act of 1712. which had made of force in this province the statute of Henry VIII. It appears to have been deemed advisable, however, before proceeding to the trial of Bonnet and his crew, to revise that act, and the Assembly must have been called together for the special purpose. for the act adopted the 17th of October, 1718. was the only one enacted at that time. There are no existing journals of this year, however, to show that this was positively so. The title of the act indicates that it was passed to meet an immediate emergency. Its title is " An act for the more speedy and Regular Trial of Pirates."1 It provided that a commission. in the name of the Palatine and the rest of the true and absolute Lords Proprietors of the province. should be directed to the judge or judges of admiralty of the province and to such other substantial persons as the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Council, should appoint, four of whom should constitute a quorum, who should have power to inquire of piratical offences, and upon the oaths of twelve men to put the offenders upon trial. The act provided lists of persons, out of which lists the juries, grand and petit, should be drawn.
1 Statutes of So. ('a., vol. III, 41.
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On the 21st of October Governor Johnson wrote to the Commissioners of Trade giving an account of the appearance of the pirates. their insolent conduct, and Colonel Rhett's successful expedition against them. He expressed his apprehensions that the pirates, who infested the coast in great numbers, would be much irritated at this action on the part of the colony, and that its trade would be much endangered. He asked, therefore, that a vessel should be sent for the protection of the commerce of the province.1
Governor Johnson's apprehensions were immediately realized. Before a court could be organized under the act just passed. and while Bonnet and his crew were wait- ing their trial, news was brought that another noto- rious pirate. one Moody, was off the bar with a vessel carrying fifty guns and 200 men. and that he had already taken two vessels bound from New England to Charles Town. The Governor, on the receipt of this intelligence. at once convened his Council. He represented to its members the danger of invasion and the hopelessness of
expecting aid from England. No assistance had come in reply to his letter of the 18th of June. Notwithstand- ing the impoverished condition of the province, by reason of the Indian wars, and the former expedition against the pirates. another must at once be organized and fitted out against these new-comers. The coast of Carolina must be cleared for her commerce at her own expense. The Council approved Governor Johnson's prompt and decisive action and unanimously decided to equip an armament of sufficient weight to cope with Moody and his fifty guns.
There were nearly a score of trading vessels in the harbor. and to these the Governor turned for aid. The
1 Coll. Hist. Soc. of So. Ca., vol. II, 257.
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captains had, however, no authority to volunteer to run the vessels belonging to others into so great danger, and it was therefore found necessary to press the required ships into the public service. Upon an inspection of the vessels in port, the Council selected the Mediterranean, Arthur Loan, master ; the King William, John Watkinson, master ; and the Sea Nymph, Fayrer Hall, master, for the perilous expedition. To this fleet was added the Royal James, captured from Stede Bonnet, which was held in Charles Town as a prize. She was placed in command of Captain John Masters, former master of the Henry, Rhett's flagship in the Cape Fear expedition. Eight guns were mounted between her decks, and the old pirate craft, says Hughson, was for once in her lifetime fitted out for honest work. The Mediterranean was mounted with twenty-four guns, the King William with thirty, and the Sen Nymph with six. Having secured the neces- sary fleet, the Council issued a proclamation calling for volunteers and promising them all the booty that might be taken.
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