In 1703 John Quelch, a man of resource, hoisted what he called
"Old Roger" over the Charles--a brigantine which had been
equipped as a privateer to cruise against the French of Acadia.
This curious flag of his was described as displaying a skeleton
with an hour-glass in one hand and "a dart in the heart with
three drops of blood proceeding from it in the other." Quelch led
a mutiny, tossed the skipper overboard, and sailed for Brazil,
capturing several merchantmen on the way and looting them of rum,
silks, sugar, gold dust, and munitions. Rashly he came sailing
back to Marblehead, primed with a plausible yarn, but his men
talked too much when drunk and all hands were jailed. Upon the
gallows Quelch behaved exceedingly well, "pulling off his hat and
bowing to the spectators," while the somber Puritan merchants in
the crowd were, many of them, quietly dealing in the merchandise
fetched home by pirates who were lucky enough to steer clear of
the law.
This was a shady industry in which New York took the more active
part, sending out supplies to the horde of pirates who ravaged
the waters of the Far East and made their haven at Madagascar,
and disposing of the booty received in exchange. Governor
Fletcher had dirtied his hands by protecting this commerce and,
as a result, Lord Bellomont was named to succeed him.
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