Fancy (ship)

	A contemporary image of the Fancy (shown in background) attacking Every's prey
History
(Attributed)
Name	Fancy
Renamed	Originally Charles II; Renamed Fancy in 1694;
Reclassified	May have ceased to be a pirate ship in 1695
General characteristics
Class and type	Man-of-war
Complement	150
Armament	46 guns

Fancy was a 46-gun frigate commanded by pirate Henry Every between May 1694 to late 1695.

History

Fancy was initially a 46-gun privateer named Charles II – after Charles II of Spain – in Spanish service, commanded by a Captain Gibson, and was anchored at A Coruña, Spain. On 7 May 1694, Henry Every and a few other conspirators organised and carried out a successful mutiny and, setting Captain Gibson ashore, left A Coruña for the Cape of Good Hope. At this time, Charles II was renamed Fancy.

Upon arriving at the Cape, Every sailed to the island of

Comoros Islands, where he had Fancy careened, removing barnacles and weed from the section of the hull that was permanently below water, increasing her speed. He also had Fancy razeed, intentionally removing parts of the ship's superstructure in order to increase her speed. Following this work, Fancy became one of the fastest ships active in the Indian Ocean

, and Every used this speed to attack and take a French pirate ship, looting the vessel and recruiting approximately 40 of the crew to his own ship, leaving him with a total complement of around 150.

Every continued to be active in the Indian Ocean, where he worked alongside other famous pirates of his time, including

Nassau in April 1696, in the Bahamas. He returned to Britain aboard the sloop

Sea Flower, arriving in Ireland in June 1696 and promptly disappearing.

Although the fate of Fancy is unknown, it was rumored that Every gave her to the governor of Nassau as a bribe. There is supporting documentary evidence that Fancy ran aground on New Providence and Governor Trott had the guns and everything of value stripped.^[1]

References

^ E. T. Fox (2008) King of the Pirates, The Swashbuckling Life of Henry Every, page 109

Sources

FOX, E.T., King of the Pirates: The Swashbuckling Life of Henry Every, The History press, Stroud, Glos. 2008,
ISBN 978-0-7524-4718-6

History

References

Sources

Further reading