"Piracy" on theChesapeake Bay in the 1600s

A First Mutiny and Pirate Crew of the Region In 1609 Jamestown was falling apart due to a combination of inept management, famine, disease, weak leadership and poor treatment by the native americans. This was known as the starving time and included starvation, cannibalism, and eventually desertion and the breakdown of societal  authority.  At first, the 30 or so men under the command of Captain Francis West were able to help the settlement survive by trade with the indians for corn, but then, winter pressed in, and these men rebelled and chose to steal the Swallow, one of the colonies two vessels, and give up settlement in favor of trying their hand at piracy. They offended the local indians and failed to continue to find foodstuffs for the settlement, writing it's death warrant, and left. The settlers, reduced to sixty, subsisting on roots nuts berries and what fish they could catch, were relieved in May of 1610, but their relief brought only food for two weeks, and a means of escape. The settlement was almost abandoned on June 7th, but they met a relief expedition farther down the James river near Mullbery Island, and were able to return. The pirates found the work less exciting and easy than they expected, some eventually joining other pirate crews, while the rest agreed to a story claiming desertion of the settlement or death, and returned to England.

As for the colony, Their utopian ideals of communal living in ruins, Captain John Smith led them in rebuilding, under a more free enterprise system, including the law that those who did not work did not eat, and they prospered.

First "Pirate" Hanged - A Question Of Point of View Captain Thomas Smith was brought before the bar of the Maryland Assembly in St. Marys, Maryland on charges of Piracy, found Guilty, and hanged in 1638. He was denied counsel, but was permitted to speak in his own defense after the evidence had been presented. Several of the men who indicted him were those who had fought against him earlier, and also served on the court that tried him. What were his crimes? Loyalty to his friends, neighbors, and the Colony of Virginia, apparently.

Nautical Combat - Colony vs. Colony Kent Island was originally settled by William Claiborne, as part of the Virginia Colony. Since this island lies within the borders of what was later set aside as Lord Baltimore's province, it was therefore in dispute as to which territory should properly have  jurisdiction. In 1631, William Claiborne, secretary of State in Virginia and a member of the Governor's council, established a post for trading with the Indians on Kent Island, off the mouth of the Chester River, with another outpost on Palmer's Island in the Susquehanna River, accompanied by Captain Smith. The Kent Island settlement grew to "120 men able to bear arms" and other inhabitants by 1638.

February 27, 1634, The Ark and The Dove arrived bearing Governor Leonard Calvert and nearly 200 others, ready to settle Lord Baltimore's province in Maryland. Claiborne and his settlement were right in the middle of Lord Baltimore territories. The Kent Islanders had no intention to acknowledge Lord Baltimore as their landlord, and were fiercely loyal to the colony of Virginia.  Rumors spread that they were enciting the natives to uprising against the new Marylanders. Supposedly Claiborne had told the Indians these Marylanders were not English at all, but were Spaniards, intent on enslaving the Indians. There was never any proof, and Claiborne claimed that these rumors were in fact started by the Maryland settlers, to give them an excuse to act against him.

Claiborne ordered Captain Smith to take the Long Tayle1, and trade with the Indians of the Pautuxant River. They were to trade for corn, to help feed the inhabitants of Kent Island. Since this put him less than a dozen miles from the seat of Maryland government, St Marys, it was a direct incitement to the Maryland colony. Maryland troops, lead by Captain Henry Fleet and Captain Humber arrived, travelling overland from St Marys, and seized the Long Tayle. They then forced Smith and most of his crew to walk back to St Marys unarmed, while the Marylanders sailed the boat to St Marys. Governor Calvert held a hearing, and the some of the Kent Islanders were sent homeward in a dugout canoe, unarmed and without food, the 20 leagues home. Others were held in St Marys.

In response, Claiborne sent Lieutenant Warren in a wherry to St Marys to demand the return of the Long Tayle, a goal which he did not attain. He did, however seize another Maryland vessel and brought it back to Kent Island.

Later, the Maryland Colony sent two ships, St Helenand St. Margaret, to trade on the Eastern Shore, at Pocomoke sound, which infuriated Claiborne.2 Lieutenant Warren was given command of the shallop Cocktrice. He proceeded to Pocomoke Sound with his crew of 13 men, ordered to seize both Maryland vessels and their commander, Captain Thomas Cornwallis.3 With his small vessel and smaller crew, Warren engaged the two larger, better armed Maryland Colony ships, but he and two of his crew were killed before finally disengaging from the fight.

Although Claiborne appealed to England he still outfitted two more armed expeditions. Phillip Taylor was ordered to recover the Long Tayle and the crew still held in St Marys, and Captain Thomas was ordered to capture Captain Cornwallis' pinnace, now in the        Wicomico. Although there is no record of their outcomes, we can safely assume they had some success, since for the next two years, Clairborne, Smith and the Kent Islanders experienced little interference from the Marylanders, and confined himself to the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay.

In 1636, a representative of Claiborne's English principles, Cloberry and Company arrived, with a letter summoning Claiborne back to England. This representative, George Evelin, was left in charge of the fort and settlement, and soon after Claiborne's leaving, visited Maryland Governor Leonard Calvert in St Marys, and accepted a commission from the Maryland Colony as "Governor of Kent Island". This failed to be accepted by the Kent Islanders, and lead by Captain Smith and John Butler (Claiborne's brother-in-law), they continued to recognize only the Virginia Colony and Claiborne.

Again the rumor was spread that Smith was inciting the Susquehannok Indians to attack Marylanders, and Governor Calvert sent a force of 20 men to take Kent Island by force, which was forced back by bad weather, but a second group of thirty men left St Marys on Feb. 25 1638. Calvert himself was in command, with Cornwallis as second, and Evelin as part of the raiding party.

The fort (Claiborne's home) was taken without incident in a pre-dawn raid. With their leaders taken to St Marys, the people of Kent Island were forced to submit to Maryland Colony authority.  Butler was censured by the Assembly and imprisoned, but removed from the Sherif's custody to Governor Calvert's house.

Smith was hanged for piracy against the Colony of Maryland. This enraged the Kent Islanders and their reaction caused them to once again be invaded. this time their goods were seized and many of their homes were burned. Some were hanged without trial. Palmer's Island was treated to the same rough handling. Evelin was made commander of Kent Island and presented with a manor.

The Maryland Assembly not only confiscated all of Claiborne's property, but also brought in a bill of attainder against him "for grievous crimes of pyracy and murther, and that he forfeite to the Lord Proprietarie all his lands and tenements, good and chatels... In the province of Maryland."

Politics Overseas Strangle Bay Commerce

When the English Civil War started, it had profound effects upon the settlements of Virginia. Indians, witnessing the battle between the Parliament and Crown vessels near Blanck Point on April 15, 1644, decided that since the English were quarrelling amongst themselves, it was the perfect time to eliminate the English from Virginia. On April 18, Chief Opechancanough massacred of over 500 settlers, and it took acts of Parliament in England to provide the necessary equipment and arms, and Cavalier's dedicated to Virginia to mount the expeditions to put down the uprising.

Richard Ingle

Richard Ingle carried one of the first Letters of Marque issued by parliament, rather than the crown, and was authorized by the Lord High Admiral of England to seize any ships"hostile to parliament, or having traded with any of the inhabitants of such a place since their desertion of King and Parliament." Needless to say this as left open to a rather broad interpretation as to what qualified a ship as a legal prize. Much of the concern was that the Dutch had made significant inroad into the trade, being of neither warring faction. His armed ship, the Reformation, arrived in Maryland waters, and decided to "plunder the Papists" of Maryland, even writing to the protestants of Maryland for their support, and claiming (falsely) to posses a commission from parliament to these ends. Most of this was actually his need for revenge, after a previous conviction for Piracy in Maryland.

Governor Calvert attempted to prevent this by sending Ingle a repreave and license to free trade, but he said that it came too late, and in February of 1645 seized the fort protecting St Marys, then the Speagle, putting his mate in command, and seized the capital of Maryland on February 14. They then seized the home of Captain Cornwaleys, garrisoned it, and the crew stationed there proceeded to plunder the estate.

Over the next two years, over 2,000 pounds of the Church's property was seized or destroyed. Thousands of pounds of tobacco and property were taken from the Catholic/s of Maryland, and Ingle required all colonists to take an oath against Lord Baltimore and King Charles, and those that refused were plundered. The population of Maryland dropped from 400 to 100 as many fled to Virginia, most official records were destroyed, and the Great Seat of the Province of Maryland was lost He also "reapportioned" much of the confiscated property to protestants in Maryland loyal to the Parliament, much of this perishables or livestock that he could not readily dispose of for profit or transport, and in April of 1645 he simply sailed back to England, leaving the Marylanders on their own.

(The government was restored in 1646, with the aid of Virginia, Governor Calvert was able to reseize St Marys.)

1652, William Claiborne, after years residing in Virginia, returned to St Marys aboard the Guinea, with Captain Edmund Curtis,        who carried a commission from the English Parliament "to reduce all the plantations within the Bay of Chesapeake to their due obedience to the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England . Then Maryland Governor William Stone surrendered, and when the frigate Guinea sailed away, Claiborne and Richard Bennet were left to carry out the administrative details, Claiborne extracted no revenge.

1 First ship, a pinnace, ever build on the eastern shore, she was supplied with a lamp, quadrant, compass, and eighteen fathoms of sounding line. Powered by either sail or oars, and with a crew of 20 men, she flew an ensign and had several small boats for tenders. 2 Much of these early disputes could have been avoided, if Claiborne had stuck to the Eastern Shore, and the Marylanders to the Western Shore. 3 First naval battle in Continental Americas?

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