The Pirates' Who's Who Part 45

The pirates took the cargo of slaves to the West Indies, where they sold them. De Soto plundered many vessels in the Caribbean Sea, then sailed to the South Atlantic, naming his s.h.i.+p the _Black Joke_. The fear of the _Black Joke_ became so great amongst the East Indiamen homeward bound that they used to make up convoys at St. Helena before heading north.

In 1832 de Soto attacked the _Morning Star_, an East Indiaman, and took her, when he plundered the s.h.i.+p and murdered the captain. After taking several more s.h.i.+ps, de Soto lost his own on the rocky coast of Spain, near Cadiz. His crew, although pretending to be honest s.h.i.+pwrecked sailors, were arrested, but de Soto managed to escape to Gibraltar. Here he was recognized by a soldier who had seen de Soto when he took the _Morning Star_, in which he had been a pa.s.senger. The pirate was arrested, and tried before Sir George Don, the Governor of Gibraltar, and sentenced to death. He was sent to Cadiz to be hanged with the rest of his crew. The gallows was erected at the water's edge, and de Soto, with his coffin, was conveyed there in a cart. He died bravely, arranging the noose around his own neck, stepping up into his coffin to do so; then, crying out, "Adios todos," he threw himself off the cart.

This man must not be confused with one Bernado de Soto, who was tried for piracy at Boston in 1834.

SOUND, JOSEPH.

Of the city of Westminster.

Hanged, at the age of 28, at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1723.

SPARKS, JAMES.

A Newfoundland fisherman.

In August, 1723, with John Phillips and three others, ran away with a vessel to go "on the account." Sparks was appointed gunner.

SPARKES, JOHN.

A member of Captain Avery's crew, and described by one of his s.h.i.+pmates as being "a true c.o.c.k of the game." A thief, he robbed his fellow-s.h.i.+pmates, and from one, Philip Middleton, he stole 270 pieces of gold.

Hanged at Execution Dock in 1696.

SPRATLIN, ROBERT.

Was one of Dampier's party which in 1681 crossed the Isthmus of Darien, when he was left behind in the jungle with Wafer. Spratlin was lost when the little party attempted to ford the swollen Chagres River. He afterwards rejoined Wafer.

SPRIGGS, CAPTAIN FRANCIS FARRINGTON.

An uninteresting and b.l.o.o.d.y pirate without one single redeeming character.

He learnt his art with the pirate Captain Lowther, afterwards serving as quartermaster with Captain Low and taking an active part in all the barbarities committed by the latter.

About 1720 Low took a prize, a man-of-war called the _Squirrel_. This he handed over to some of the crew, who elected Spriggs their captain. The s.h.i.+p they renamed the _Delight_, and in the night altered their course and left Low. They made a flag, bearing upon it a white skeleton, holding in one hand a dart striking a bleeding heart, and in the other an hourgla.s.s.

Sailing to the West Indies, Spriggs took several prizes, treating the crews with abominable cruelty. On one occasion the pirates chased what they believed to be a Spanish s.h.i.+p, and after a long while they came alongside and fired a broadside into her. The s.h.i.+p immediately surrendered, and turned out to be a vessel the pirate had plundered only a few days previously. This infuriated Spriggs and his crew, who showed their disappointment by half murdering the captain. After a narrow escape from being captured by a French man-of-war near the Island of St. Kitts, Spriggs sailed north to the Summer Isles, or Bermudas. Taking a s.h.i.+p coming from Rhode Island, they found her cargo to consist of horses.

Several of the pirates mounted these and galloped up and down the deck until they were thrown. While plundering several small vessels of their cargo of logwood in the Bay of Honduras, Spriggs was surprised and attacked by an English man-of-war, and the pirates only escaped by using their sweeps. Spriggs now went for a cruise off the coast of South Carolina, returning again to Honduras. This was a rash proceeding on Spriggs's part, for as he was sailing off the west end of Cuba he again met the man-of-war which had so nearly caught him before in the bay.

Spriggs clapped on all sail, but ran his s.h.i.+p on Rattan Island, where she was burnt by the _Spence_, while Captain Spriggs and his crew escaped to the woods.

SPRINGER, CAPTAIN.

He fought gallantly with Sawkins and Ringrose in the Battle of Perico off Panama on St. George's Day in 1680. He gave his name to Springer's Cay, one of the Samballoes Islands. This was the rendezvous chosen by the pirates, where Dampier and his party found the French pirate s.h.i.+p that rescued them after their famous trudge across the Isthmus of Darien.

STANLEY, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.

With a few other buccaneers in their stronghold at New Providence Island in 1660, withstood an attack by a Spanish fleet for five days. The three English captains, Stanley, Sir Thomas Whetstone, and Major Smith, were carried to Panama and there cast into a dungeon and bound in irons for seventeen months.

STEDMAN, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.

In 1666, with Captain Searle and a party of only eighty men, he took and plundered the Dutch island of Tobago. Later on, after the outbreak of war with France, he was captured by a French frigate off the Island of Guadeloupe. Stedman had a small vessel and a crew of only 100 men, and found himself becalmed and unable to escape, so he boldly boarded the Frenchman and fought for two hours, being finally overcome.

STEPHENS, WILLIAM.

Died on January 14th, 1682, on board of Captain Sharp's s.h.i.+p a few days before their return to the Barbadoes from the South Seas. His death was supposed to have been caused by indulging too freely in mancanilla while ash.o.r.e at Golfo Dulce. "Next morning we threw overboard our dead man and gave him two French vollies and one English one."

STEPHENSON, JOHN.

Sailed as an honest seaman in the _Onslow_ (Captain Gee) from Sestos.

Taken in May, 1721, by the pirate Captain Roberts, he willingly joined the pirates. When Roberts was killed on board the _Royal Fortune_, Stephenson burst into tears, and declared that he wished the next shot might kill him. Hanged in 1722.

STILES, RICHARD.

Hanged in Virginia in 1718 with the rest of Captain Teach's crew.

STOREY, THOMAS.

One of William Coward's crew which stole the ketch _Elinor_ in Boston Harbour. Condemned to be hanged on January 27th, 1690, but afterwards reprieved.

ST. QUINTIN, RICHARD.

A native of Yorks.h.i.+re.

One of M'Kinlie's crew that murdered Captain Gla.s.s and his family in the Canary s.h.i.+p. Afterwards arrested at Cork and hanged in chains near Dublin on March 19th, 1765.

STURGES, CAPTAIN.

An Elizabethan pirate, who had his headquarters at Roch.e.l.le. In company with the notorious pirate Calles, he in one year pillaged two Portuguese, one French, one Spanish, and also a Scotch s.h.i.+p. His end is not known.

O'SULLIVAN, LORD. Receiver of pirate plunder.

The Sulivan Bere, of Berehaven in Ireland.

A notorious friend of the English pirates, he bought their spoils, which he stored in his castle. He helped to fit out pirate captains for their cruises, and protected them when Queen Elizabeth sent s.h.i.+ps to try and arrest them.