The Pirates' Who's Who Part 20

GOSS, CUTHBERT.

Born at Topsham in Devon.

The compiler of these biographies regrets to have to record that this pirate was hanged, at the comparatively tender age of 21, outside the gates of Cape Coast Castle, within the flood-marks, in 1722. He was one of Captain Roberts's crew, having been taken prisoner by Roberts at Calabar in a prize called the _Mercy_ galley, of Bristol, in 1721.

GOW, CAPTAIN JOHN, _alias_ SMITH, _alias_ GOFFE. A Scotch pirate, born at Thurso.

Although the short career of this pirate made a great noise at the time, he did little to merit the fame which he achieved. He had the honour of having an account of his piratical activities written by Defoe, and ninety years later was made the hero in a novel by Walter Scott, as Captain Cleveland.

Gow sailed from Amsterdam as a foremast hand in the _George_ galley, commanded by Captain Ferneau, a Guernsey man. Being a brisk and intelligent man, he was soon promoted to be second mate. They called at Santa Cruz in Barbary to take in a cargo of beeswax to deliver at Genoa.

Sailing from Santa Cruz on November 3rd, 1724, Gow and a few others conspired to mutiny and then to go "upon the account." The captain, as was his custom, had all hands, except the helmsman, into his cabin at eight o'clock each night for prayers. This particular night, after it was dark, the conspirators went below to the hammocks of the chief mate, the supercargo, and the surgeon and cut all their throats. They did the same to the captain, who was then thrown overboard though still alive.

Gow being now elected captain and one Williams, a thorough rogue, mate, they renamed the vessel the _Revenge_, armed her with eighteen guns, and cruised off the coast of Spain, taking an English sloop with a cargo of fish from Newfoundland, commanded by Captain Thomas Wise of Poole. Their second prize was a Glasgow ship loaded with herrings and salmon.

They next sailed to Madeira, where Gow presented the Governor with a box of Scotch herrings. About this time Williams, the first mate, insulted Gow by accusing him of cowardice because he had refused to attack a big French ship, and snapped his pistol at him. Two seamen standing near shot Williams, wounding him severely, and to get rid of him they put him aboard one of their prizes. Discussions now took place as to where to sail, and Gow, who was in love with a la.s.s in the Orkney Islands, suggested sailing thither, as being a good place to traffic their stolen goods.

On arriving at Carristown they sold most of their cargo, and one of the crew, going on sh.o.r.e, bought a horse for three pieces of eight and rode to Kirkwall and surrendered himself. Next day ten more men deserted, setting out in the long-boat for the mainland of Scotland, but were taken prisoners in the _Forth_, of Edinburgh. By now the whole countryside was alarmed. Gow's next move was to land his men and plunder the houses of the gentry. They visited a Mrs. Honnyman and her daughter, but these ladies managed to get their money and jewellery away in safety. Gow's crew marched back to their ship with a bagpiper playing at their head.

They now sailed to Calfsound, seized three girls and took them aboard.

Then to the Island of Eda to plunder the house of Mr. Fea, an old schoolmate of Gow's. Arriving there on February 13th, by bad management they ran their vessel on the rocks. The bo'son and five men went ash.o.r.e and met Mr. Fea, who entertained them at the local public-house. By a simple stratagem, Mr. Fea seized first the bo'son and afterwards the five men. Soon after this, Fea trapped Gow and all the rest of his crew of twenty-eight men. Help was sent for, and eventually the _Greyhound_ frigate arrived and took Gow and his crew to London, arriving off Woolwich on March 26th, 1725. The prisoners were taken to the Marshalsea Prison in Southwark, and there found their old companion, Lieutenant Williams. Four men turned King's evidence--viz., George Dobson, Job Phinnies, Tim Murphy, and William Booth.

The trial at Newgate began on May 8th, when Gow was sullen and reserved and refused to plead. He was ordered to be pressed to death, which was the only form of torture still allowed by the law. At the last moment Gow yielded, and pleaded "not guilty." Gow was found guilty, and hanged on June 11th, 1725, but "as he was turned off, he fell down from the Gibbit, the rope breaking by the weight of some that pulled his leg. Although he had been hanging for four minutes, he was able to climb up the ladder a second time, which seemed to concern him very little, and he was hanged again."

[Ill.u.s.tration: PRESSING A PIRATE TO PLEAD.

To face p. 140.]

His body was then taken to Greenwich and there hanged in chains, to be a warning to others.

GRAFF, LE CAPITAINE LAURENS DE. Filibuster.

Commanded _Le Neptune_, a ship armed with fifty-four guns and a crew of 210 men, in the West Indies in the seventeenth century.

GRAHAM, CAPTAIN.

Commanded a shallop, with a crew of fourteen men, in 1685. Sailed in company with Captain Veale up and down the coast of Virginia and New England.

GRAMBO.

Was "boss" of Barataria, the smugglers' stronghold off the Island of Grande Terre, near Louisiana, until shot by Jean Lafitte in 1811.

GRAMMONT, SIEUR DE. French filibuster.

One of the great buccaneers. Born in Paris, he entered the Royal Marines, in which he distinguished himself in several naval engagements.

He commanded a frigate in the West Indies, and captured near Martinique a Dutch ship with a cargo worth 400,000, which he carried to Hispaniola, but there lost all of it through gambling, and, not daring to return to France, he joined the buccaneers.

He sailed to Curacoa in 1678 with the Count d'Estrees' fleet, which was wrecked on a coral reef off the Isle d'Aves. De Grammont was left behind to salve what he could from the wreck. After this, with 700 men he sailed to Maracaibo, spending six months on the lake, seizing the shipping and plundering all the settlements in the neighbourhood.

In June, 1680, de Grammont, with an obsolete commission and a small party of men, made a brilliant night a.s.sault on La Guayra, the seaport of Caracas. Only forty-seven men took part in the actual attack on the town, which was guarded by two forts and by cannon upon the walls. The pirates were attacked next day by 2,000 Spaniards from Caracas, but with the greatest skill and bravery de Grammont got almost all his party away, though wounded himself in the throat. He carried away with him amongst his prisoners the Governor of the town.

He retired to the Isle d'Aves to nurse his wound, and later went to Pet.i.t Goave.

In 1683 took part in the successful English and French attack on Vera Cruz, and afterwards, when Vanhorn died of gangrene, de Grammont, his lieutenant, carried his ship back to Pet.i.t Goave. In 1685 he received a fresh commission from de Cossey, the Governor of Dominica, and joined forces with the famous buccaneer Laurens de Graff at the Isle of Vache, and sailed with 11,000 men for Campeachy. Taking the town, he reduced it to ashes and blew up the fortress, returning with the plunder to Hispaniola. Before leaving, however, to celebrate the Festival of St.

Louis, they burnt a huge bonfire, using 200,000 crowns worth of logwood.

Grammont at this time commanded a fine ship, _Le Hardy_ (fifty guns and a crew of 300 men).

In 1686 de Grammont was granted a commission of "Lieutenant du Roi," in order to keep him from hara.s.sing the Spaniards, and yet not to lose his valuable services to his country.

In order to have one last fling at the old free buccaneering life before settling down to the more sedate and respectable calling of an officer in the French King's navy, de Grammont sailed off with a party of 180 desperadoes, but was never heard of again.

GRAND, PIERRE LE.

A native of Dieppe in Normandy.

Le Grand was the man who, having made one great and successful exploit, had the good sense to retire. He was the first pirate to take up his quarters at Tortuga Island, and was known amongst the English as "Peter the Great." His name will go down to posterity for his "bold and insolent"

action when in a small open boat with a handful of men he seized a great Spanish galleon.

Pierre had been out on the "grand account" for a long while, meeting with no success. When almost starving and in despair, a great Spanish fleet hove in sight, and one ship, bigger than the rest, was observed sailing at some little distance behind the other vessels. The mad idea entered the head of the now desperate pirate to take this ship. The pirates all took an oath to their captain to fight without fear and never to surrender. It was dusk, and in these tropical lat.i.tudes night follows day very quickly.

Before the attack, orders were given to the surgeon to bore a hole in the bottom of the boat so that it would quickly sink, thus taking away any hope of escape should the enterprise fail. This was done, and the boat was paddled quietly alongside the great warship, when the crew, armed only with a pistol and a sword a-piece, clambered up the sides and jumped aboard. Quickly and silently the sleeping helmsman was killed, while Pierre and a party of his men ran down into the great cabin, where they surprised the Spanish admiral playing cards with his officers. The admiral, suddenly confronted by a band of bearded desperadoes in his cabin with a pistol aimed at his head, e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed "Jesus bless us! are these devils or what are they?" While this was going on others of the pirates had hurried to the gun-room, seized the arms, killing every Spaniard who withstood them. Pierre knew, as scarcely any other successful pirate or gambler ever did, the right moment to stop. He at once put ash.o.r.e all the prisoners he did not want for working the ship, and sailed straight back to France; where he lived the rest of his life in comfortable obscurity, and never again returned to piracy.

The news of this exploit spread rapidly over the West Indies, and caused the greatest excitement amongst the pirate fraternity of Tortuga and Hispaniola.

Men left their work of killing and drying beef, while others deserted their plantations to go a-pirating on the Spaniards, in much the same way as men went to a gold rush years after. Those who had no boat would venture forth in canoes looking for rich Spanish treasure ships.

It was this wild deed of Pierre le Grand that was the beginning of piracy in the West Indies, towards the latter half of the seventeenth century.

GRANGE, ROGER.

One of Captain Lowther's crew of the _Happy Delivery_. Tried for piracy at St. Kitts in 1722, but acquitted.

DE GRAVES, CAPTAIN HERBERT.

This Dutch pirate sailed as captain of his own merchant vessel during the reign of King Charles II. He took to landing his crew on the south coast of England and raiding gentlemen's houses. The first he ever pillaged was that of a Mr. Sturt, in Suss.e.x. In those days, when banks were almost unknown, the houses of the rich often contained great sums of money. De Graves was wont to sail along the Devonshire coast, sometimes landing and robbing a house, sometimes taking a ship, which he would carry to Rotterdam and sell. He made several daring raids into Cowes and Lowestoft, getting off with valuable plunder.

In the war between England and the Dutch, Graves was given command of a fire-ship. This vessel he handled very capably, and in the action off the Downs he ran her on board the _Sandwich_, setting her on fire. James, Duke of York, escaped from the _Sandwich_ with great difficulty, while the Earl of Albemarle and most of the crew perished. At the conclusion of the war, De Graves returned to piracy, but his ship was wrecked in a storm close to Walmer Castle. The captain and a few of his crew were saved, and, being made prisoners, were hanged on a tree.