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Bartholomew Sharp

English buccaneer who commanded most of the 1680 to 1682 South Sea voyage, took a book of Spanish sea charts out of the San Rosario, and was acquitted of piracy in London in 1682.

Bornnot establishedDiednot establishedAlso writtenCaptain Sharp (Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World, 1697); Sharp (Dampier, 1697, and Burney's journal reproductions); Bartholomew Sharp (the printed Narrative and Sharp's own Journal, as Burney reproduces them)

Bartholomew Sharp commanded most of the buccaneering voyage that crossed the Isthmus of Darien in April 1680, spent two years in the Spanish South Sea and came home round Cape Horn to Barbados on 28 January 1682. Five of the men aboard wrote the voyage down afterwards: Basil Ringrose, Sharp himself, John Cox, William Dampier and Lionel Wafer. There are five because the company divided at the Isle of Plata in April 1681, Ringrose staying with Sharp while Dampier and Wafer left.1,2,3

The name

He sailed as Captain Sharp, or simply Sharp, and Dampier never once gives him a forename. Bartholomew comes from the anonymous printed Narrative and from Sharp's own published Journal. The company was English. Dampier came to anchor in Negril Way at the west end of Jamaica and found Captain Coxon, Sawkins, Sharp and other privateers lying there.4,5

A command that changed hands

Nobody in this company held command for long. John Coxon was elected first, Richard Sawkins next. At the end of May 1680, going in against the stockade at Pueblo Nuevo, Sawkins was killed, and Sharp, second in command, ordered the retreat and took the company. Dampier wrote that Sharp "was made chief commander upon Sawkins' being killed". He lost the command again at Juan Fernandez about Christmas 1680. Sharp was "displaced from being Commander; the Company being not satisfied either with his Courage or Behaviour", and John Watling was advanced in his stead. Watling was killed before Arica on 30 January 1681, and the company took Sharp back.6,7,8

What the company did

They stormed the Spanish fort of Santa Maria on the march. Between three and four hundred men had gone ashore near Golden Island on 5 April 1680. On 23 April they fought the Spanish armadilla in the roads before Panama and took vessels out of them, among the isles of Perico the Trinidad, which became their own ship and carried Sharp round the Horn.9,10,11

Then two years of commerce raiding and ransom. At Ilo on 28 October 1680 the company took water, wine, oil and provisions, and destroyed the buildings and plantations when the Spaniards would not ransom them. At La Serena on 3 December they asked ninety-five thousand pieces of eight, were refused, and burnt the place. The Spaniards answered in kind. Sharp was served such a trick at Coquimbo, a swimmer with combustible matter to stick about the rudder; his ship, Dampier wrote, "had like to have been burnt by it, if by meer accident it had not been discovered".12,13,14

Arica was the disaster of the cruise. On 30 January 1681 the buccaneers were beaten off with twenty-eight killed or taken and eighteen wounded, and the Spaniards killed the wounded who fell into their hands. Sharp was out of command that day; Watling had the company, and died with it. On 27 January, near Yqueque, an old Spanish prisoner had been shot for displeasing his captors over the strength of Arica, which Ringrose also lays at Watling's door.15,16

About August 1680 a captured friar was shot and thrown overboard alive. Ringrose's journal carries it; Sharp's own says nothing of it, and nobody is named as having given the order. On 27 October 1681, among the Duke of York's Islands in the far south, a native man was shot in the water and a youth carried off, whom the buccaneers named Orson. The hard words usually quoted of that day, "villainous crew" and "barbarity", are Burney's narration and not Ringrose's.17,18

The charts and the Marshalsea

In July 1681 they took the San Pedro out of Guayaquil with twenty-one thousand pieces of eight in chests and sixteen thousand in bags. About 28 July they took the San Rosario after she resisted, and killed her captain. Out of her came a great book of Spanish sea charts, the derrotero. In her they left seven hundred pigs of plate, having taken the metal for tin.19,20

In the words of the printed Narrative the book was "presented unto His Majesty on the return of some of the Buccaneers to England, and was translated into English by His Majesty's order".21

None of the cruise was done under a commission, as the buccaneers acknowledged themselves. That is the legal nub, whatever the men called the trade. In 1682 Sharp and a few others were apprehended in England and tried for piracy in the South Sea before a Court of Admiralty at the Marshalsea in Southwark, at the Spanish ambassador's instance, and escaped conviction from the defectiveness of the evidence. Three of the crew were tried at Jamaica; one was hanged.22,23

He was never convicted of piracy. One charge was adjudicated, the taking of the Rosario, and on that he was acquitted.24

All these dates are Old Style, as the men who kept the journals set them down.25

Two books carry this page. Dampier's New Voyage Round the World of 1697 was read directly; Ringrose, John Cox and Sharp's own Journal only as Burney reproduces them in 1816, and Burney is a compiler with opinions of his own. Ringrose's manuscript in Sloane 3820, Cox's in Sloane 49 and the printed Bucaniers of America of 1685 were located and never opened. The Admiralty record of the 1682 trial was not reached, so the acquittal this page ends on rests on one defendant's narrative.26

What the evidence does not settle

Birth and death

  • Sharp's origins, early life and fate after the 1682 trial

Name spelling

  • The earliest period use of Sharpe rather than Sharp

Trial and manuscript narratives

  • The Admiralty trial record and the Ringrose, Cox and Hack manuscriptsConfirmed

Each line is one question with its own grade, taken from the register where a claim carries it. Nothing here is graded as a whole.

Sources for this record

Every statement above that rests on a checked claim carries a small number; the numbers lead here. Each entry gives what is claimed, how far the record supports it, and where it comes from.

  1. An English buccaneer named Bartholomew Sharp led the South Sea expedition of 1680 to 1682 and became its principal commander, his existence and his leading role carried by two independent participant journals. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative and reproduced journals: A New Voyage Round the World; History of the Buccaneers of America (Chapters 9 and 10)
  2. The voyage is anchored by two dated participant journals that agree on its pivots: the landing near Golden Island on 5 April 1680, the fight before Panama on 23 April 1680, Juan Fernandez about Christmas 1680, the repulse at Arica on 30 January 1681, the division at Plata on 17 April 1681, the return round Cape Horn and Barbados on 28 January 1682. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative and reproduced journals: A New Voyage Round the World; History of the Buccaneers of America (Chapters 9 and 10)
  3. Five participants left accounts of the same voyage, Basil Ringrose, Sharp himself, John Cox, William Dampier and Lionel Wafer, a corpus that exists because the company divided at the Isle of Plata in April 1681 and sent its witnesses home by two routes. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative and reproduced journals: A New Voyage Round the World; History of the Buccaneers of America (Chapters 9 and 10)
  4. The forename Bartholomew is attested in the anonymous printed Narrative and in Sharp's own Journal as Burney reproduces them in his History of the Buccaneers of America of 1816, while Dampier's narrative gives only "Captain Sharp" and the surname "Sharp". Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative and reproduced journals: History of the Buccaneers of America (Chapters 9 and 10); A New Voyage Round the World
  5. Sharp and his company were English, and Dampier's narrative places Captain Coxon, Sawkins, Sharp and other privateers together at Negril Way, at the west end of Jamaica, before the 1680 expedition set out. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A New Voyage Round the World, the author's account of his first entering the South Seas; History of the Buccaneers of America (Chapters 9 and 10)
  6. Command of the expedition changed hands repeatedly: John Coxon first, then Richard Sawkins, then Sharp after Sawkins was killed, then John Watling after Sharp was deposed at Juan Fernandez, then Sharp again after Watling was killed at Arica. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative and reproduced journals: A New Voyage Round the World; History of the Buccaneers of America (Chapters 9 and 10)
  7. Sawkins was killed at the assault on Pueblo Nuevo about the end of May 1680, and Sharp, who was second in command, ordered the retreat and became principal commander immediately after; Dampier's own words are that Sharp "was made chief commander upon Sawkins' being killed". Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative and reproduced journals: History of the Buccaneers of America (Chapters 9 and 10), Sharp's own Journal and Ringrose as reproduced there; A New Voyage Round the World
  8. Dampier's narrative states that at Juan Fernandez Sharp was, by general consent, "displaced from being Commander; the Company being not satisfied either with his Courage or Behaviour", and that Captain Watling was advanced in his stead. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A New Voyage Round the World, the author's introductory summary of Sharp's expedition, running head 'His Company disagree'
  9. The company crossed the Isthmus of Darien and stormed the Spanish fort of Santa Maria on the march to the South Sea about April 1680, with Sharp present as a participant under Coxon's command. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative and reproduced journals: A New Voyage Round the World; History of the Buccaneers of America (Chapters 9 and 10)
  10. Dampier's narrative puts the party that went ashore on the isthmus near Golden Island on 5 April 1680 at between three and four hundred men. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A New Voyage Round the World, the author's account of his first entering the South Seas
  11. On 23 April 1680 and the days after, the company fought the Spanish armadilla before Panama and took vessels in the roads, including the ship Trinidad among the isles of Perico, which became the buccaneers' principal ship and the ship Sharp later commanded round Cape Horn. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Reproduced journals and period narrative: History of the Buccaneers of America (Chapters 9 and 10), Ringrose and Sharp as reproduced there; A New Voyage Round the World
  12. At Ilo on 28 October 1680 the company landed, seized water, wine, oil and provisions, and destroyed the buildings and plantations when the Spaniards would not ransom them, with Sharp in command. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Reproduced journals and period narrative: History of the Buccaneers of America (Chapters 9 and 10), Ringrose and Sharp as reproduced there; A New Voyage Round the World
  13. La Serena, at Coquimbo, was plundered and burnt on 3 December 1680 after a ransom of 95,000 pieces of eight was demanded and not paid, with Sharp in command. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Reproduced journals and period narrative: History of the Buccaneers of America (Chapters 9 and 10), Ringrose as reproduced there; A New Voyage Round the World
  14. Dampier's narrative, describing a man coming out to a ship with combustible matter to stick about the rudder, states that Sharp was served such a trick at Coquimbo, and that his ship "had like to have been burnt by it, if by meer accident it had not been discovered". Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A New Voyage Round the World, the narrative of the Spanish fireship at Taboga in the Bay of Panama, 1685
  15. The assault on Arica on 30 January 1681 was repulsed with 28 of the buccaneers killed or taken and 18 wounded, wounded prisoners being killed by the Spaniards; Sharp had been deposed and John Watling led the assault, in which Watling was killed. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Reproduced journals and period narrative: History of the Buccaneers of America (Chapters 9 and 10), Ringrose as reproduced there; A New Voyage Round the World
  16. An old Spanish prisoner was shot near Yqueque on 27 January 1681 after displeasing his captors over the strength of Arica, the journal attributing the killing to Watling, who then had the command. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Reproduced journals: History of the Buccaneers of America (Chapters 9 and 10), Ringrose as reproduced there
  17. A captured friar was shot and cast overboard alive about August 1680, while Sharp commanded the company; Ringrose's manuscript journal carries the episode, Sharp's own Journal does not mention it, and the source does not fix responsibility for the order. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Reproduced journals: History of the Buccaneers of America (Chapters 9 and 10), Ringrose's manuscript journal as reproduced there
  18. On 27 October 1681, among the Duke of York's Islands in the far south, a native man was shot in the water and a native youth was seized, whom the buccaneers named Orson; the condemnatory words "villainous crew" and "barbarity" belong to Burney's own narration and not to Ringrose, whose quoted words describe only the captured youth. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Reproduced journals: History of the Buccaneers of America (Chapters 9 and 10), Ringrose as reproduced there, with Burney's surrounding narration
  19. The San Pedro was taken out of Guayaquil in July 1681, with 21,000 pieces of eight in chests and 16,000 in bags besides plate, Sharp being then in command again. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Reproduced journals: History of the Buccaneers of America (Chapters 9 and 10), Ringrose and the printed Narrative as reproduced there
  20. About 28 July 1681 Sharp's company took the San Rosario after resistance and killed her captain, carried off a great book of Spanish sea charts, the derrotero, and left behind 700 pigs of plate mistaken for tin. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Reproduced journals and modern scholarship: History of the Buccaneers of America (Chapters 9 and 10), the printed Narrative as reproduced there; 'As it Was' (Sharp's captured Spanish atlas and William Hack)
  21. The printed Narrative states that the captured book of charts was "presented unto His Majesty on the return of some of the Buccaneers to England, and was translated into English by His Majesty's order". Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Reproduced journals: History of the Buccaneers of America (Chapters 9 and 10), the printed Narrative as reproduced there
  22. The whole two-year South Sea cruise was conducted without any commission, as the buccaneers themselves acknowledged. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Reproduced journals: History of the Buccaneers of America (Chapters 9 and 10), Ringrose and his fellow journalists as reproduced there
  23. On reaching England in 1682 Sharp and a few others were apprehended and tried for piracy in the South Sea before a Court of Admiralty at the Marshalsea in Southwark, at the instance of the Spanish ambassador, and escaped conviction from the defectiveness of the evidence; three of the crew were tried separately at Jamaica, one of whom was condemned and hanged. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Reproduced journals: History of the Buccaneers of America (Chapters 9 and 10), the printed Narrative as reproduced there
  24. Sharp was never convicted of piracy: on the one charge that was adjudicated, the taking of the Rosario, he was acquitted, and the remainder of his acts were never brought to proof against him. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Reproduced journals: History of the Buccaneers of America (Chapters 9 and 10), the printed Narrative as reproduced there
  25. The dates in the buccaneer journals are the writers' own Old Style reckoning and are read as the participants recorded them, without silent conversion. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative and reproduced journals: A New Voyage Round the World; History of the Buccaneers of America (Chapters 9 and 10)
  26. Dampier's A New Voyage Round the World (1697) was read directly for this record, while Ringrose, John Cox and Sharp's own Journal were read only as Burney reproduces them in 1816; Ringrose's manuscript (Sloane 3820), John Cox's manuscript (Sloane 49) and the printed Bucaniers of America of 1685 were located but not read, and the Admiralty record of the 1682 trial was not reached at all. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative and reproduced journals: A New Voyage Round the World; History of the Buccaneers of America (Chapters 9 and 10)