pirate did his country a great service by
bringing to Plymouth the first tidings of the approach of the Spanish
Armada in 1585.

To quote John Smith, the great Elizabethan traveller and the founder of
the colony of Virginia, "Fleming was an expert and as much sought for as
any pirate of the Queen's reign, yet such a friend to his Country, that
discovering the Spanish Armada, he voluntarily came to Plymouth, yielded
himself freely to my Lord Admirall, and gave him notice of the Spaniards
coming: which good warning came so happily and unexpectedly, that he had
his pardon, and a good reward."

FLETCHER, JOHN.

Of Edinburgh.

Tried at Newport, Rhode Island, for piracy in 1723, found "not guilty."
His age was only 17 years.

FLY, CAPTAIN WILLIAM. Pirate and prizefighter.

He was boatswain in the _Elizabeth_, of Bristol, in 1726, bound for
Guinea. Heading a mutiny on May 27th, he tossed the captain over the
ship's side, and slaughtered all the officers except the ship's surgeon.
Fly was unanimously elected captain by the crew. His first prize was the
_John and Hannah_ off the coast of North Carolina. The next the _John and
Betty_, Captain Gale, from Bardadoes to Guinea. After taking several other
vessels, he cruised off the coast of Newfoundland where he took a whaler.
Fly was caught by a piece of strategy on the part of the whaler captain,
who carried him and his crew in chains in their own ship to Great
Brewster, Massachusetts, in June, 1726. On July 4th Fly and the other
pirates were brought to trial at Boston, and on the 16th were executed. On
the day of execution Fly refused to go to church before the hanging to
listen to a sermon by Dr. Coleman. On the way to the gallows he bore
himself with great bravado, jumping briskly into the cart with a nosegay
in his hands bedecked with coloured ribbons like a prizefighter, smiling
and bowing to the spectators. He was hanged in chains at Nix's Mate, a
small island in Boston Harbour, and thus was brought to a close a brief
though brilliant piratical career of just one month.

FORREST, WILLIAM.

One of the mutinous crew of the _Antonio_ hanged at Boston in 1672.

FORSEITH, EDWARD.

One of Captain Avery's crew. Hanged at Execution Dock, 1696.

FOSTER. Buccaneer and poet.

Only two facts are known about this adventurer. One is that he was
reproved on a certain occasion by Morgan (who thought nothing of torturing
his captives) for "harshness" to his prisoners