Abraham Samuel
Abraham Samuel
History
In 1696 Samuel arrived in the Arabian Sea, serving as
In 1698 John Cruger was appointed as Supercargo under Captain Henry Appel of the New York slave ship Prophet Daniel. It was bound for Madagascar to purchase slaves and put in at Samuel’s settlement at Fort Dauphin in August 1699. While Cruger was ashore, pirate Evan Jones anchored his ship Beckford Galley alongside the Prophet Daniel. His pirates partied with the Daniel’s sailors, and that night seized and looted their ship.[5] Cruger rushed back to the ship and had Samuel’s soldiers attack the pirates with musket fire. When this was ineffective he tried to have Samuel’s soldiers cut the ships’ anchor cables. Samuel intervened and ordered his soldiers to stand down; when Cruger protested, Samuel robbed him of all the trade goods he’d brought, revealing that he’d been paid to assist the pirates.[5] Cruger had antagonized his sailors during the voyage to Madagascar (a number of whom were owed back wages) and many of them willingly joined Jones, who sailed away to continue his own piracy. Samuel sold the Prophet Daniel to four other pirates led by Edward Woodman, giving them a signed bill of sale.[5] The Prophet’s previous captain Henry Appel joined the pirates as well. Cruger returned to New England aboard another slave ship and would go on to serve as the mayor of New York from 1739 until his death in 1744.[6]
Samuel continued luring ships ashore to loot them, though on occasion he traded with them instead after charging them fees for "trading licenses." In 1700 the Royal Navy’s Captain Littleton met with Samuel, entertaining him and two of his wives aboard his ship. The following year the slave ship Degrave passed by "Port Dauphine," electing not to stop there because "the King of that part of the island was at enmity with all white men, and treated all the Europeans he met with very barbarously." The Degrave soon sank, leaving a few surviving sailors (including Robert Drury, who would later write an account of his ordeal) to make their way among the Malagasy natives.[3]
Abraham Samuel was still King as of late 1705, leading his followers into battle against a neighboring kingdom despite his failing health. He died before the year was out.[3] A Dutch slave ship anchored in Fort Dauphin in December 1706 to find Abraham Samuel no longer there and the new Antanosy king of the area unwilling to discuss what had happened to him.[4] By 1707 another ship found Fort Dauphin again open for trading, this time led by Tom Collins, who had once been the Degrave’s carpenter.[7]
See also
- Adam Baldridge and James Plaintain, two other ex-pirates who established trading posts on or near Madagascar.
- John Leadstone, an ex-pirate nicknamed "Old Captain Crackers" who established a similar trading post on the west coast of Africa.
Notes
References
- ISBN 9780307763075. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
- ^ Jameson, John Franklin (1923). Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period. New York: Macmillan. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ a b c d Defoe, Daniel; Oliver, Samuel Pasfield; Rochon, Alexis (1890). Madagascar; or, Robert Drury's journal, during fifteen years' captivity on that island. And a further description of Madagascar, by the Abbé Alexis Rochon. London: T.F. Unwin. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
- ^ a b Vallar, Cindy. "Pirates & Privateers: the History of Maritime Piracy - Black Pirates". www.cindyvallar.com. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
- ^ a b c Wilson, James Grant (1892). The memorial history of the city of New York, from its first settlement to the year 1892. New York: New York History Co. pp. 285–286. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
- ISBN 9782867812477. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
- ^ Grey, Charles (1933). Pirates of the eastern seas (1618-1723): a lurid page of history. London: S. Low, Marston & co., ltd. Retrieved 26 June 2017.