sloop, meanwhile, had boarded and captured the pirate ship, and
Maynard sailed back to the James river with Teach's head at his bowsprit.
Fifteen of the pirates were taken alive, of whom thirteen were hung.
A year after Teach's death there appeared on the American coast
Bartholomew Roberts, a Welshman from Haverfordwest, who, for over two
years, was the scourge of the American and African traders. It was said of
him that he was a sober man who drank tea constantly, which made him an
object of suspicion to his crew. His temperance did not prevent him from
being the most wantonly wicked pirate who sailed the seas. In a
Newfoundland harbour, on one occasion, he burned and sank twenty-one
vessels, destroyed the fisheries and stages, and wrought all the havoc he
could, out of pure wantonness. On another occasion, he captured a slaver
with eighty slaves on board, and burned it, slaves and all, because it
would cost too much time and trouble to unshackle the unfortunate wretches.
At the same time, he was a man of order and method. He drew up a set of
rules, to which his crew subscribed, in which, among other things, it was
laid down that no women should be allowed on board; dice and gambling were
prohibited; lights were put out at 8 o'clock; and musicians were exempt
from playing on Sundays. The chaplain of Cape Coast Castle having been
captured, he was pressed to join the pirates, being promised that nothing
would be required of him except to make punch and say prayers. On his
declining the office, all church property was restored to him "except
three prayer books and a bottle-screw."
In pursuit of Roberts, the British Government despatched Captain Challoner
Ogle, with the _Swallow_ and _Weymouth_. Failing to find him in American
waters. Ogle steered for the African shore, and, on the 5th February, 1722,
when separated from the _Weymouth_, he came on the pirates at anchor off
Cape Lopez. Putting the _Swallow_ about, and handling his sails as if in
confusion and alarm, Ogle stood out to sea, pursued by the _Ranger_. When
well out of sight of land, the _Ranger_ was allowed to draw up, and the
pirate crew suddenly found themselves under the fire of a sixty-gun ship,
for which their own thirty-two guns were no match, and after a short
engagement the black flag was hauled down. On the 10th, Ogle stood in
again to engage the _Royal Fortune_, disposing his flags to make the
pirates believe his ship had been captured by the _Ranger_
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