The precarious path from piracy to prosperity
The Resurrected Pirate by Craig S Chapman
Being a pirate captain in the age of sail wasn't an easy career choice. With piracy defined as a capital crime, those unlucky enough to be caught could find themselves, like Captain Kidd or Charles Vane, 'dancing the hempen jig'.
The subject of this biography, George Lowther, managed to beat the odds by beginning his career as a desperate deserter and ending it as a rehabilitated family man in London.
Born before 1695 and probably raised in humble beginnings in Westminster, Lowther began his career at sea as an able seaman with the Royal Navy, serving under the expert eye of Captain Edward Vernon.
The author contends that Lowther only became a pirate reluctantly – though deliberately – after leaving the Navy and signing up with the Royal African Company, which posted him as second mate onboard the slave ship Gambia Castle. Facing disease and death in the tropical conditions off the Gambia – and imprisonment due to a disagreement with his captain – Lowther conspired to seize the ship and escape.
So began a career which took Lowther to the West Indies, raiding ships as much for sustenance as to obtain wealth, and earning plenty of notoriety along the way.
Eventually he commanded (and lost) his own small pirate fleet, but a pirate's luck can only hold out for so long. While careering his ship on Blanco Island near St Kitts, Lowther was attacked by a British slave ship and forced to flee with a handful of his men. He was left marooned.
Later a force was dispatched to find and either arrest or kill the infamous pirate. Finding only a skeleton with a pistol nearby, the searchers declared Lowther dead.
Yet this was far from the case. Having somehow escaped his fate, Lowther went into hiding for 16 years, but when Lowther's old captain Admiral Vernon arrived to attack Porto Bello, he received an unexpected letter from the well-known pirate with an offer of assistance – in return for a pardon.
It's a remarkable story told in an engaging way, illustrating for the modern reader the desperately narrow passage between life and death that a seafarer in this period might have to navigate.
The Resurrected Pirate
By Craig S Chapman
Schiffer Military History, £27.99
ISBN: 978 07643 69070
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