- Edward Coates (pirate)
Edward Coates was a colonial American
privateer in English service during theKing William's War and a laterpirate operating in theRed Sea andIndian Ocean during the mid-1690s.In 1689, Coates originally signed aboard the "Jacob" as a sailor in a privateer expedition, then under the command of a Captain
William Mason , and commissioned by the colonial officials inNew York to raid French shipping off the coast ofQuebec "to war as in his wisdom should seem fit". However, unable to find French vessels, Mason began raiding English shipping and distributing the spoils among his crew, including Coates, eventually adding up to 1,800 pieces-of-eight per crewman.Apparently withholding a portion of the crew's shares, Mason disappeared after stopping at an uninhabited island in the
Indian Ocean . Coates, later suspected to have murdered Mason, assumed command of the ship, stopping atSt. Mary's Island (nearMadagascar ) along with the 16-gun "Nassau" in October 1692 [http://www.angelfire.com/realm/peggiss/shipinfo.html#Jacob] , before returning to New York. Upon their arrival in April of the following year, Coates arranged a deal with Governor Fletcher to pardon their former acts of piracy, as well as assuring no interference from New York authorities against further attacks, in exchange for $1,800 which would be divided between the Governor and other colonial officials (as well as presenting Fletcher's wife withjewels ,silks , andcashmere shawls [http://www.kellscraft.com/DutchEnglishOnHudson/DutchEnglishOnHudsonCh10.html] ).Sailing to the
Red Sea in 1694, among Coates crew were quartermastersSamuel Burgess andRobert Culliford , operating for several years before his eventual capture and execution several years later.Further reading
*Carse, Robert. "The Age of Piracy". 1965.
*Rogozinski, Jan. "Pirates!: Brigands, Buccaneers, and Privateers in Fact, Fiction, and Legend" New York: Da Capo Press, 1996. ISBN 0-306-80722-X
*Dow, George Francis and John Henry Edmonds. "The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630-1730". Courier Dover Publications, 1996. ISBN 0-486-29064-6External links
* [http://www.angelfire.com/realm/peggiss/pirateID.html#Edward%20Coates Edward Coates] at Liberty Starcastle’s [http://www.angelfire.com/realm/peggiss/pirateID.html World of Pirates]
* [http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/COATES/2003-07/1057760712 RootsWeb: Coates-L (COATES-L) The pirate Capt. Edward Coates c. 1693]
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