Eric Cobham and Maria Lindsey
Eric Cobham | |
---|---|
Born | 1700 |
Died | 1760 (aged 59–60) |
Occupation(s) | Pirate, later a judge |
Known for | Practising piracy in the Gulf of St. Lawrence |
Spouse | Maria Lindsey |
Maria Lindsey | |
---|---|
Died | unclear Le Havre, France |
Cause of death | Suicide or murder |
Occupation | Pirate |
Known for | Practising piracy in the Gulf of St. Lawrence |
Spouse | Eric Cobham |
Eric Cobham (c. 1700 – 1760 or after) a
History
According to Philip Gosse in The Pirate's Who's Who (1924) and Horwood and Butts in The Pirates and Outlaws of Canada (1984), the Cobhams were among the first
Possibility of non-existence
Other than second hand mention, there is little historic proof that Eric Cobham and his wife actually existed. To some historians, it seems unlikely that the couple could have had the career described in the mid-eighteenth century without leaving documentary traces.[4] However, in a book, Buccaneers and Marooners of America, published in 1891, editor Howard Pyle mentions Cobham in passing as if his exploits were already well known to the public at large and details Cobham's attack on a Spanish ship in the Bay of Biscay wherein all persons of Spanish origin (approximately 20) aboard the seized vessel were sewn into the mainsail and thrown into the sea. While some doubt the stories and are even skeptical that the Cobhams actually existed, Dan Conlin, the historian and curator of marine history at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, believes the stories are probably true, but exaggerated.[5]
References
- ^ Pyle, Howard (1903). Book of Pirates. New York: Harper & Brothers. pp. 22–23.
- ^ Gosse, Philip (1924). The Pirate's Who's Who (1st ed.). London: Dulau and Company,. Ltd. pp. 78–80.
- ISBN 9798883341945.
- ^ Janzen, Olaf. "2015 George Story Lecture: The Pirate Who Never Was? Eric Cobham and Invention in History". Newfoundland & Labrador Historical Society Website.
- ISBN 9780887807411.
- Fitzgerald, Jack. The Hangman is Never Late
- Gosse, Philip, "The Pirate's Who's Who"
- Horwood, Harold, and Butts, Ed, "Pirates and Outlaws of Canada"
- Rogozinski, Jan, "Pirates! An A-Z Encyclopedia"
- Pyle, Howard, "Buccaneers and Marooners of America" 1891, 2nd Edition p. 20
- De Chastelaine, Alexander, "The Terror of Saint Lawrence" 2024, ISBN 9798883341945