- William Wright (privateer)
William Wright (fl. 1675-1682) was an English
privateer in French service and laterbuccaneer who raided Spanish towns in the late1600s .Little is known of William Wright before he settled in
French Hispaniola in the mid1670s . Accepting a French commission of war from the French Governor in 1675 he later raided the Spanish colony ofSegovia (present dayNicaragua ) with several other privateers.Sailing to the
San Blas Islands in1679 he recruited several sailors before traveling to theMosquito Coast encountering an old friendJohn Gret . Returning to the San Blas Islands, Gret negotiated on Wright's behalf to form an alliance with the local natives. However despite this alliance the privateers, led by Jean Bernanos, were defeated after an attempted attack on the Spanish town of Chepo several weeks later.Soon after the raid Wright left
Petit Goâve with CaptainThomas Paine sailing theSpanish Main from Cartagena toCaracas capturing a ship escorted by the SpanishArmada de Barlovento .In May 1680, while at
Isla Blanca , Wright and Paine joined French buccaneer CaptainMichel de Grammont later capturingLa Guayra seaport in Caracas before being driven off by the Spanish defenders in July.In May of the following year Wright commanded a small
barque of four guns with a crew of forty men. Joined by eight other privateers, in addition to fifty EnglishSouth Sea buccaneers, Wright sailed from the San Blas Islands intending to raid a Spanish city, most likely the city of Cartago inCosta Rica , however many of the privateers missed the rendezvous atSan Andrés Island . Wright continued on capturing a Spanishtartane which he gave to thirty of the English South Seas sailors who had refused to sail under the French privateer whom they had sailed with from San Blas Island.Wright, with French Captains Archembeau and
Toccart , sailed toCorn Island and then to Bluefield's River where he left the French privateers. Arriving in Bocas del Toro several weeks later Wright joined with Dutch CaptainYankey Willems , who himself had no commission, and departed with Yanky from Boca del Toro in September sailing south alongColombia where Yanky captured a Spanish merchant ship carryingsugar andtobacco . Wright receiving Yanky's barque, as Yanky kept the merchant ship, burned his own ship and sold the Spanish tartane he had taken near Cartago to one of theJamaica n traders onboard. AtCuraçao they attempted to sell the Spanish cargo but were forced to leave by the Dutch Governor. They continued to sail to theIsla Aves and Islas Roques where they remained until February 1682.While there is nothing more known about Wright after this date however it is likely he later returned to his home in French Hispaniola.
External links
* [http://www.angelfire.com/realm/peggiss/pirateID.html#Captain%20Wright William Wright] at "Liberty StarCastle's" [http://www.angelfire.com/realm/peggiss/StarCastlesWorld.html World of Pirates]
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