THE BOOK OF WELSH PIRATES & BUCCANEERS

Glyndŵr Publishing 388 pages paperback illustrated April 2003: ‘exemplary’; ‘an immense work of great scholarship’; effectively a study of the whole genre of piracy’

Books Council of Wales Book of the Month

The Western Mail Monday, 24 March 2003 by Beverley Jones.

'Long ago just the whisper of his name was enough to strike terror into the hearts of all who sailed the high seas. Dressed in his crimson jacket and hat, bloodthirsty Black Bart was a terrifying figure who ruled the oceans from the West Indies to the coast of North Africa. So why is it that no one has heard of the Pembrokeshire pirate who took 400 ships and had half the British navy determined to hunt him down and hang him?
  Historian and author Terry Breverton is about to put the record straight with his latest book, which chronicles the Welsh pirate's lost history. "Blackbeard, who is much more well known, was nothing but a rank amateur compared to Black Bart" said Mr Breverton, a lecturer at the University of Wales Institute of Cardiff. "He [Bart} was the most successful pirate in history. He would attack anything - he basically declared war against the world." Remarkably Bart, whose real name was John Robert, did not turn to piracy until he was 42 years old. He was captured at sea by Hywel Davis, the famous pirate from Milford Haven. “Davis was the most cunning of the lot", said Mr Breverton. "He was more like a highwayman who'd pretend to be a merchant and then pull a pistol." "But three weeks after Bart was captured Davis was killed and his notoriously fearsome crew, know as The House of the Lords, voted Bart as their new captain. From then on he practically paralysed the Atlantic shipping routes for two years." He stole so much booty from the sale of slaves that the British government sent the navy to hunt him down. He was eventually blown apart in a cannon fight in 1721 and his nemesis Captain Chaloner Ogle was made an admiral and knighted for his services to the Crown."
Mr Breverton hopes his book will give the remarkable tale a new audience and remind Wales of its prominent place in maritime history. "It is a shame that Black Bart and the other pirates have fallen out of memory", he said. "Nobody seems to be marketing Wales and its heritage - nobody knows about these things in our history." "But there is so much documented evidence out there. The people most interested are the two million Welsh Americans who love to learn about their forefathers - they called Bart 'the last and most lethal pirate of all'."
  The book also details the exploits of the infamous buccaneer Admiral Henry Morgan. He was given a special "marque" (permission) from King Charles II to plunder foreign ships and ended his colourful career as the fabulously wealthy governor of Jamaica. "He was captured and even tried at the Tower of London, but he was let off because basically his attacks on the Spanish helped Britain hang onto its last colony ", explained Mr Breverton. The book also contains information on subjects such as why pirates never buried their treasure and how so many of their sayings are in common use today.'

Programme Notes of 72nd Annual North American Festival of Wales, Richmond Vancouver 28-31 August 2003

‘Terry Breverton, Welsh Books Council ‘Book of the Month’ author:

The extrovert and entertaining style and knowledge of Terry Breverton will be seen at his seminars on Welsh Saints and Welsh Pirates. Both are topics upon which Terry has recently published and won five Welsh Book of the Month awards. Terry is a prolific author – in the last three years he has written and published nine books covering many aspects of Welsh history and life. Each has been received with considerable acclaim by the critics, and Terry has built a successful publishing company around his writings…’

Phil Carradice, writer and broadcaster

‘an immense work of great scholarship… effectively, a study of the whole genre of piracy… exemplary, yet the writing is light and accessible… wonderful, fascinating detail and essential reading…’

‘The Book of Welsh Pirates and Buccaneers" by Terry Breverton

This is the third of Terry Breverton’s books to be chosen by the Welsh Books Council for its ‘Book of the Month’ promotion. Wales can not only boast the most successful buccaneer in history, Admiral Sir Henry Morgan, but also the most successful pirate, ‘Black Bart’ Roberts. We have records of Roberts taking over 400 ships in two years, from the African coast to South America, from the West Indies to Newfoundland. He was ‘the last and most lethal pirate’, known across the oceans as ‘The Great Pirate’. Hywel (Howell) Davis, also from Black Bart’s Pembrokeshire, was the captain who turned Roberts to piracy. Research showed Davis to be perhaps the most cunning of all the sea rovers, a duplicitous yet brave rogue, ‘The Cavalier Prince of Pirates’, whose story deserves a film by Spielberg. We can also add ‘the most dangerous Pyrate in the realm’, Tintern’s John Callice of the 16th century, Henry VIII’s bastard son Sir John Perrot, and Sir Henry Mainwaring, the 17th century’s ‘most famous sea-rover of his day’ to the list of great pirates and buccaneers who are hardly known to history.

In the 17th century, Esquemeling, a prime source, fought with the buccaneers under Admiral Morgan, and reported his ventures in cutting across Panama. For “The Golden Age of Piracy” in the early 18th century, we have court records, trial proceedings, shipping movements etc., and can corroborate the stories of our Welsh pirates. Daniel Defoe, under the pseudonym Charles Johnson, talked to ex-pirates who knew Black Bart and Hywel Davis. Defoe’s account of the Caribbean pirates is a brilliant evocation of the times as well as the facts. Snelgrave (captured by Davis) and Atkins (who tended Robert’s injured men) wrote at first-hand about the great days of piracy. Another Welsh buccaneer, Llewellin (William) Williams, was captured by the Spanish, marooned, wrote America’s first novel (The Journal of Llewellin Penrose - Seaman), and taught America’s most famous artist, Benjamin West, to paint!’

The Western Mail Monday, 24 March 2003 by Beverley Jones.

'Long ago just the whisper of his name was enough to strike terror into the hearts of all who sailed the high seas. Dressed in his crimson jacket and hat, bloodthirsty Black Bart was a terrifying figure who ruled the oceans from the West Indies to the coast of North Africa.
So why is it that no one has heard of the Pembrokeshire pirate who took 400 ships and had half the British navy determined to hunt him down and hang him?
Historian and author Terry Breverton is about to put the record straight with his latest book, which chronicles the Welsh pirate's lost history.
"Blackbeard, who is much more well known, was nothing but a rank amateur compared to Black Bart" said Mr Breverton, a lecturer at the University of Wales Institute of Cardiff.
"He was the most successful pirate in history. He would attack anything - he basically declared war against the world."
Remarkably, Bart, whose real name was John Robert, did not turn to piracy until he was 42 years old. He was captured at sea by Hywel Davis, the famous pirate from Milford Haven.
"Davis was the most cunning of the lot", said Mr Breverton. "He was more like a highwayman who'd pretend to be a merchant and then pull a pistol."
"But three weeks after Bart was captured Davis was killed and his notoriously fearsome crew, know as The House of the Lords, voted Bart as their new captain. From then on he practically paralysed the Atlantic shipping routes for two years."
He stole so much booty from the sale of slaves that the British government sent the navy to hunt him down. He was eventually blown apart in a cannon fight in 1721 and his nemesis Captain Chaloner Ogle was made an admiral and knighted for his services to the Crown."
Mr Breverton hopes his book will give the remarkable tale a new audience and remind Wales of its prominent place in maritime history. "It is a shame that Black Bart and the other pirates have fallen out of memory", he said. "Nobody seems to be marketing Wales and its heritage - nobody knows about these things in our history."
"But there is so much documented evidence out there. The people most interested are the two million Welsh Americans who love to learn about their forefathers - they called Bart 'the last and most lethal pirate of all'."
The book also details the exploits of the infamous buccaneer Admiral Henry Morgan.
He was given a special "marque" (permission) from King Charles II to plunder foreign ships and ended his colourful career as the fabulously wealthy governor of Jamaica.
"He was captured and even tried at the Tower of London but he was let off because basically his attacks on the Spanish helped Britain hang onto its last colony ", explained Mr Breverton.
The book also contains information on subjects such as why pirates never buried their treasure and how so many of their sayings are in common use today.'

INDEX OF CONTENTS FOR 'THE BOOK OF WELSH PIRATES & BUCCANEERS'

Introduction

Chapter I
PIRATE AND PRIVATEERING TERMS

Chapter II
WELSH PIRATES AND BUCCANEERS 13th - 17th centuries

13TH CENTURY
William Marsh fl. 1231-1242

FIFTEENTH CENTURY
Colyn Dolphyn fl. 1470

SIXTEENTH CENTURY
William Hughes fl. 1529
Thomas Carter fl. 1535
Walter Herbert fl. 1537
Captain Griffith fl. 1540
John Phillips fl. 1540
Captain Owen fl. 1540
Walter Vaughan of Dunraven fl. 1542
Sir John Wogan fl. 1542 - 1555
Michael James fl. 1546
Richard Vaughan fl. 1546
Morgan Matthew fl. 1548
Griffiths of Cefnamlwch fl. 1563
Welsh Buccaneers on the Pelican 1570-72 (1595)
John Salisbury fl. 1570-1591
The Legend of Captain Jones
Miles Phillips fl.1574-1582
Captain Henry Roberts fl. 1576-1595
David Gwynne fl. 1588
Welsh Buccaneers under Francis Drake 1585-1595
JOHN CALLICE f. 1571-1587 The Most Dangerous Pyrate in the Realm
Tom Clarke fl. 1577 - 1578
SIR JOHN PERROT 1550-1600 The Son of Henry VIII
John Wyn ap Hugh d. 1576
Pirs Griffith 1568-1628
William Vaughan fl. 1582
Thomas Beavin d. 1583
Sir Richard Bulkely fl. 1591
Captain William Myddleton c.1550 - c.1600
David Myddelton d. 1615
John Myddleton fl. 1563 - 1595

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
Tomas Prys 1564-1634
William Hughs fl. 1611
John Norman fl. 1631
Sir Sackville Trevor d.1634
Admiral Sir Thomas Button d. 1634
Davy Jones fl. 1636
Nicolas Hookes d. 1637
Admiral Sir Robert Mansell 1573-1653
HENRY MAINWARING 1587-1653 The Most Famous Sea-Rover of his Day
Morris Willams fl. 1659-64
Bledri Morgan fl. 1660
Lt-Colonel Edward Morgan d.1664
Lt-Colonel Thomas Morgan fl. 1665 - 1685
William James fl. 1660-1663
Captain James
Captain Lewis 1687 - 1726
Captain John James fl. 1699
Captain Evan Jones fl. 1699

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
Tom Collins fl. 1695 - 1715
Samuel Hopkins d.1709
Henry Jennings fl. 1714
William Lewis d. 1718
James Williams d. 1725
Captain Robert Jenkins fl. 1731-1738
Christopher Bassett d.1760
Lt. Paul Lewis fl. 1763
Thomas Knight fl.1783
O'Neill

Chapter III
ADMIRAL SIR HENRY MORGAN 'THE GREATEST OF ALL THE BRETHREN OF THE COAST', 'THE SWORD OF ENGLAND' 1635-1688
Footnote on the Recovery of the Jamaica Merchant
Footnote on Captain Kidd, Henry Morgan and the Oak Island Money Pit

Chapter IV
David Williams fl. 1698 - 1708

Chapter V
John Bowen d. 1704
Note on Thomas Howard
Footnote on Captain Richard Bowen

Chapter VI
Paulsgrave Williams and 'Black Sam' Bellamy fl. 1715 - 1717
Postscript on the Maria Hallett Legend

Chapter VII
HOWELL DAVIS 'THE CAVALIER PRINCE OF PYRATES' d.1719
Book III of 'A New Account of Some Parts of Guinea and the Slave Trade' - Capt. William Snelgrave 1734
Footnote on Edward England
Footnote on John Taylor
Footnote on Olivier Levasseur
Seychelle News report of Levasseur's treasure
Treasure Islands of the Indian Ocean

Chapter VIII
BLACK BART ROBERTS 'THE BLACK CAPTAIN',' THE MOST LETHAL PYRATE OF THEM ALL' 1682 - 1722
Footnote on Chaloner Ogle
Fotnote on Walter Kennedy
Footnote on Thomas Anstis
The Trial and Verdicts
The Kru Tribe
Black Bart, 'Boulevardier Bandit'

Chapter IX
John Phillips d. 1724

Chapter X
John Evans d. 1723

Chapter XI
WILLIAM WILLIAMS - LLEWELLIN PENROSE 1727 - 1791

APPENDICES
A. A Proclamation for the Suppressing of Pyrates
B. The White Women of Lundy
C. The Legend of Thomas Lacy and the Pirate
D. The Robert Edwards Heirs' Claim to Manhattan
E. Dick Hughes (from the Newgate Calendar)
F. William Davis, 'The Golden Farmer' (from the Newgate Calendar)
G. Thomas Stradling, Alexander Selkirk and Robinson Crusoe
H. Excerpts from Hakluyt's 'Voyages of the English Nation to America'
    John Hawkins' deposition
    Miles Phillips' deposition (7 chapters)
Booklist