On this day in 1704, John Quelch, captain of the Charles and six crewmen were marched to a waiting gallows at Boston's Scarlet's Wharf. After enduring a sermon from a clergyman in attendance, Quelch and five of the crewmen met their fates dangling at the ends of the hangman's nooses. One received a last-minute reprieve, but history doesn't record how or why. What history does record is that Quelch was seemingly unrepentant of his crime, but warned the crowd in attendance that the should be careful how they bring gold into New England if they didn't want to be hanged for it.
When the Charles left Boston one year earlier, it was under the command of Captain Daniel Plowman, under whom Quelch served as lieutenant. Captain Plowman was a privateer, which is a nice way of saying that he was a pirate operating under the sanction of his government. Plowman's license, issued by the English government, only covered his activities against French and Spanish ships operating off of the northeast coast.
Plowman became ill while the ship was at sea, and his crew seized the opportunity to turn against him. They elected Quelch as their new captain and tossed Plowman overboard. It's not clear whether or not he was still alive when they threw him into the ocean. If he was, then he didn't stay that way for long. With their captain dead and colonial authorities hundreds of miles away, Quelch and crew sailed for South America and started attacking Portuguese ships off the coast of Brazil.
Quelch was a remarkably successful pirate: He and his crew sacked nine Portuguese ships, and returned to New England with about a million dollar's worth of treasure (by today's standards). The authorities were none too pleased: Plowman's privateering license didn't cover attacks on Portuguese ships--not that it really applied to a pirate like Quelch--and to make matters worse, England had recently entered into an alliance with that nation. Knowing well and good that they were all guilty of mutiny and piracy, the former crew members of the Charles took their shares of the bounty and made a run for it.
Quelch was arrested within a week, but they only caught a handful of his former crewmen. Only seven men were marched to Scarlet's Wharf, and just six of them died there. The men were buried "between the tide" markers, probably facedown in the sea muck, as was the tradition at the time. The rest of the crew--the vast majority--got away free.
Intrigued by Quelch's story, I reached out to noted expert on pirate history Gail Selinger, author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pirates, with a few questions about life aboard a pirate ship.
How did you become interested in pirates?
It was my sisters fault really. I use to watch everything she did (she's older). Around the age of 9 she was watching a pirate movie (I don't remember which one) and told me that the character on screen was about a real pirate. I was hooked. I started reading everything I could about real pirates. We lived in New York, so when I got older I travelled up and down "The Thirteen Colonies", England and Caribbean and talked my way into researching authentic trial documents of captured pirates and ship logs. It started as a personal interest and when I became older I started lecturing and writing on the subject.
Were pirate crews diverse in any way? How accurate is the popular image we have of pirates?
Pirate crews were extremely diverse. From men and yes women from many European countries to runaway slaves.
Which popular image are you asking about? There are two: Johnny Depp's and cutthroats. The majority were cutthroats and not comical at all. There were political and economic reasons that many became pirates.
There's an idea that pirate ships were operated under relatively egalitarian conditions. Is this true? What about that other old cliche about there being a code of the sea?
Equality among crews of pirate ships was what I consider the first true democracy. The ship's articles where every man had a say in the laws of the ship and signed in a circle so that no one man had total control over the others is true. The ships articles weren't "just guidelines" as in the POTC movies, but rules not to be broken. With few exceptions captains could be voted from the position by the majority of the crew and another voted into the position. There was a very strict "pirate code" among pirates when pirate ships were met at sea.
Are there any books on pirates that you consider a must- read? Did any pirates write memoirs or autobiographies?
Besides my book, which is a general history from the ancient sea people to modern day, the book Under the Black Flag is a great book about Golden Age of Piracy and pirates.
The Buccaneers of America by Alexander Esquemelin is supposed to be written by a former buccaneer writing about his experiences and those of pirates he knew. It is a great book.
Want to know more about John Quelch and his trial? Check out the digital collection at the Library of Congress. Want to read some great pirate fiction? Here's three tales of pirates of the sea, sky, and space! Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch (Gentleman Bastards, vol. 2) Complications that arise when Locke and Jean scheme to rob a legendary gambling house force them to sea to take down Zamira Drakasha, the leader of a notorious pirate fleet. Out of their element and on their own, will these two landlubbers survive? Sky Pirates by Liesel Schwarz (Chronicles of Light and Shadow, book 3) With her husband dead, the forces of Shadow closing in, and pirates on the horizon, Elle Chance takes the wheel of the airship Water Lily and steers toward a new and uncertain life. Things look darker than they've ever been, but with a little luck, she can set things right yet. Starship: Pirate by Mike Resnick (Starship, Vol. 2) Made a scapegoat by the powers that be, Captain Wilson Cole is rescued from a possible court martial by the still-loyal crew of the Theodore Roosevelt. Reunited, captain and crew make way for a new life of piracy in the shadows of the Inner Frontier.
