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Christopher Goffe

New England mariner who surrendered at Boston in 1687 under the royal proclamation against pirates and was commissioned four years later to hunt privateers in the ship Swan.

BornNot establishedDiedNot establishedAlso writtenGoffe (the Massachusetts records as transcribed by Dow and Edmonds, 1923); Goff (modern usage, and the place name Goff's Caye)

In November 1687 Christopher Goffe walked into Boston and surrendered himself as a pirate. In August 1691 the governor of the same colony gave him a ship and sent him after two privateers. Four years, and a change of side.1

The name, and the other Goffes

Christopher Goffe is the form the Massachusetts papers use throughout. "Goff" belongs to modern usage and to the place name Goff's Caye. "Gouge" and "Goffee" are attached to him by popular accounts and by no period paper.2

He is not William Goffe the regicide, who died in hiding at Hadley about 1679, before any of this. He is not John or Edmund Goffe of the same colony either. The overlap is a surname. No surviving record names where he was born, or to whom: no baptism, no parish entry, no origin at all.3,4

The Boston depositions of 1687

John Danson, questioned by the Boston magistrates in 1687, said he had sailed from the town four years earlier "in a private man-of-war commanded by one Henley", and that the voyage went on into the Red Sea, where they had "plundered and taken what they could from the Malabars and the Arabs". He then left Henley and took passage with one Wollery, "a consort of Henley". Four years back from 1687 puts that sailing in 1683, though nobody wrote the year down. Danson named no act of Goffe's.5

Goffe himself appears at Newport in Rhode Island, aboard a ship commanded by William Wollery and "supposed to have come from the Great South Sea". A shot across her forefoot brought her to anchor. She sailed the next day for Andrews Island, "where the vessel was burnt and the men dispersed". The commander's forename is contested: the Massachusetts papers give William, popular accounts print Thomas, and Danson said only "one Wollery".6

The surrender

In November 1687 Goffe came into Boston and gave himself up under the royal Proclamation for Suppressing Pyrates and Privateers. He was "very sick and weak" when he did it. He gave a bond, "also signed by two Boston citizens", that as soon as he recovered he would go to England and receive the King's pardon. A surrender, a bond, and two sureties who go unnamed.7,8

The proceedings then went nowhere. "Nothing seems to have come of the lengthy investigations made by the magistrates", Dow and Edmonds write, and the seized plate and money went back to Captain Narramore and to Danson. No court ever tried him. Nothing he is supposed to have done was put to a bench, and the amnesty he came in under closed the matter without a verdict.9,10

The version in circulation is stronger. It has him openly admitting piracy in 1687, escaping prosecution for want of evidence, and keeping his treasure. What happened was a surrender and a bond. Of a confession, or of treasure, there is nothing.11

The Swan, 1691

He recovered, and the colony that had held his bond gave him a commission. In August 1691 Governor Bradstreet commissioned him to cruise in the ship Swan between Cape Cod and Cape Ann and off the Isles of Shoals, "for the safeguard of the coast", and to take two privateers.12,13

The trouble that put him to sea was at Piscataqua, now Portsmouth. A vessel under Capt. Thomas Wilkinson, inward bound from Cadiz, was taken there by two privateers commanded by Capt. Thomas Griffin and Captain Dew. Griffin landed and wrote to the governor. He carried a privateering commission, he said; he had mistaken Wilkinson for a French vessel reported on the coast; and finding prohibited goods aboard he had seized her, after three great shot and a volley of small arms.14,15

Griffin went further in the same letter, accusing the Bostonians of supplying the French at Fort Royal with arms, ammunition and cloth in return for beaver and other goods.16

Goffe was anchored near Portsmouth when the order reached him, and answered it on 14 August. He would "obay your honors Comand in making Seasuer of Capt. Griffin and Capt. Dew", if it lay in his power to meet with them. One of them was in sight as he wrote, "standing of and on between this place and the Isle of Sholes". Then the two lines that end the chase before it begins. "They sayle two foot to ower one". And: "Ower Bread and beare is all most Expended." A few days later he asked to be recalled to Nantasket for supplies. After that he drops out of the story.17

Between the Red Sea and the Swan

A career is supposed to fill those years. Later accounts give him a return to the Caribbean in 1684, an episode at Bermuda in 1685, and proclamations against him out of Jamaica and, it is said, New York. None of it has turned up in a period document.18

All of this comes through one book. George Francis Dow and John Henry Edmonds published The Pirates of the New England Coast in 1923; their three pages on Goffe transcribe three places in the Massachusetts Archives: Volume CXXVII, leaves 10 and 191, and Volume XXXVII, leaf 117. None of them has been read for this page. They hold the surrender, the commission and every word quoted above. Until somebody opens them Goffe is a transcription at second hand, and the two Boston men who signed his bond stay anonymous.19

What the evidence does not settle

Origins and death

  • Goffe's birth, parentage and birthplaceConfirmed
  • The date and place of Goffe's death

West Indies years

  • Independent evidence for Goffe's activities between the Red Sea voyage and 1687Possible

Massachusetts manuscripts

  • The originals behind the 1923 transcriptionsConfirmed

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. Christopher Goffe is fixed in the Massachusetts government records at two points, his surrender at Boston in November 1687 under the royal proclamation against pirates and his commission of August 1691 to cruise in the ship Swan, so that his turn from suspected pirate to commissioned pirate-hunter is documented at both ends while the years between are not. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Modern scholarship and colonial records: The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630-1730 (the Goffe passage at pp. 30-32), transcribing Massachusetts Archives, Vol. CXXVII, leaves 10 and 191, and Vol. XXXVII, leaf 117; the manuscripts not directly consulted
  2. The name is given as Christopher Goffe throughout the Massachusetts records as Dow and Edmonds transcribe them; "Goff" is a modern form and appears in the place name Goff's Caye, while the variants "Gouge" and "Goffee" carried by popular usage are attested in no source read for this record. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Modern scholarship: The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630 to 1730 (the Goffe passage at pp. 30 to 32)
  3. This Christopher Goffe is a different man from William Goffe the regicide, who died in hiding at Hadley about 1679, and from other New England Goffes such as John and Edmund Goffe; the connection is one of surname only. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Modern scholarship: The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630 to 1730 (the Goffe passage at pp. 30 to 32)
  4. Goffe's origins, birth, parentage and birthplace are established by no source read for this record, and no parish or baptismal entry for him has been located. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Modern scholarship: The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630 to 1730 (the Goffe passage at pp. 30 to 32)
  5. John Danson, examined at Boston in 1687, deposed that he had sailed from the town four years before in a private man-of-war commanded by one Henley and had gone into the Red Sea, where they plundered and took what they could from the Malabars and the Arabs, before he left Henley and took passage with one Wollery, a consort of Henley; the year 1683 is a back-count from that deposition and not a recorded date, and Danson itemises no act of Goffe's own. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Modern scholarship and colonial records: The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630-1730 (the Goffe passage at pp. 30-32), chapter Dixey Bull and Some Other Pirates, p. 30, transcribing Massachusetts Archives, Vol. CXXVII, leaf 10; the manuscript not directly consulted
  6. Goffe came into Newport in Rhode Island aboard a ship commanded by William Wollery that was supposed to have come from the Great South Sea; a shot across her forefoot brought her to anchor, and the next day she sailed for Andrews Island, where the vessel was burnt and the men dispersed. The commander's forename is given as William in the transcribed Massachusetts records, as Thomas in popular accounts, and not at all in Danson's deposition, which says only "one Wollery". Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Modern scholarship and colonial records: The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630-1730 (the Goffe passage at pp. 30-32), chapter Dixey Bull and Some Other Pirates, p. 30, the passage footnoted to Massachusetts Archives, Vol. CXXVII, leaf 191; the manuscript not directly consulted
  7. In November 1687 Goffe appeared at Boston and surrendered himself under the royal Proclamation for Suppressing Pyrates and Privateers, giving a bond to go to England and receive the King's pardon rather than face trial. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Modern scholarship and colonial records: The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630-1730 (the Goffe passage at pp. 30-32), transcribing Massachusetts Archives, Vol. CXXVII, leaves 10 and 191; the manuscripts not directly consulted
  8. Goffe was very sick and weak at his surrender, and the bond he gave was signed also by two Boston citizens, who are not named in the transcription. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Modern scholarship and colonial records: The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630-1730 (the Goffe passage at pp. 30-32), chapter Dixey Bull and Some Other Pirates, p. 30, the passage footnoted to Massachusetts Archives, Vol. CXXVII, leaf 191; the manuscript not directly consulted
  9. Nothing came of the Boston magistrates' investigations of 1687, and the plate and money that had been seized was returned to Captain Narramore and John Danson. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Modern scholarship: The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630-1730 (the Goffe passage at pp. 30-32), chapter Dixey Bull and Some Other Pirates, p. 31
  10. Goffe was never tried or convicted of piracy in any record read for this account; his acts before 1687 are alleged and not adjudicated, and the royal amnesty under which he surrendered closed the matter without a verdict. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Modern scholarship and colonial records: The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630-1730 (the Goffe passage at pp. 30-32), transcribing Massachusetts Archives, Vol. CXXVII, leaves 10 and 191; the manuscripts not directly consulted
  11. The popular account that Goffe openly admitted piracy in 1687, escaped prosecution for want of evidence and kept his treasure goes beyond the transcribed record, which carries a surrender under the proclamation and a bond to seek the King's pardon and no itemised confession or finding about retained treasure. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Modern scholarship: The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630-1730 (the Goffe passage at pp. 30-32)
  12. Goffe recovered from his sickness and in August 1691 held a commission from the Massachusetts government to command the ship Swan and to pursue the privateers Thomas Griffin and George Dew off the New England coast. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Modern scholarship and colonial records: The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630-1730 (the Goffe passage at pp. 30-32), transcribing Massachusetts Archives, Vol. XXXVII, leaf 117; the manuscript not directly consulted
  13. The commission of August 1691 was granted by Governor Bradstreet and set Goffe's station between Cape Cod and Cape Ann and off the Isles of Shoals, for the safeguard of the coast. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Modern scholarship and colonial records: The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630-1730 (the Goffe passage at pp. 30-32), chapter Dixey Bull and Some Other Pirates, p. 31, the passage footnoted to Massachusetts Archives, Vol. XXXVII, leaf 117; the manuscript not directly consulted
  14. The occasion of the 1691 commission was the capture at Piscataqua, now Portsmouth, of a vessel commanded by Capt. Thomas Wilkinson and inward bound from Cadiz, taken by two privateers commanded respectively by Capt. Thomas Griffin and Captain Dew. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Modern scholarship: The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630-1730 (the Goffe passage at pp. 30-32), chapter Dixey Bull and Some Other Pirates, p. 31
  15. Griffin landed at Portsmouth and wrote to the Governor claiming that he carried a privateering commission, that he had mistaken Wilkinson's vessel for a French one said to be on the coast, and that he had seized her on finding prohibited goods aboard, after firing three great shot and a volley of small arms. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Modern scholarship: The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630-1730 (the Goffe passage at pp. 30-32), chapter Dixey Bull and Some Other Pirates, p. 31
  16. In the same letter Griffin accused the Bostonians of supplying the French at Fort Royal with arms, ammunition and cloth in return for beaver and other goods; the record establishes that the accusation was made and not that it was true. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Modern scholarship: The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630-1730 (the Goffe passage at pp. 30-32), chapter Dixey Bull and Some Other Pirates, p. 31
  17. Writing to the Governor from near Portsmouth on 14 August 1691, Goffe undertook to obey the command to seize Griffin and Dew if it lay in his power to meet with them, reported one of them then in sight standing off and on between his position and the Isles of Shoals, and gave as the reasons the chase must fail that the privateers sailed two foot to his one and that his bread and beer were almost expended; a few days later he asked to be recalled to Nantasket for supplies. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Modern scholarship and colonial records: The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630-1730 (the Goffe passage at pp. 30-32), chapter Dixey Bull and Some Other Pirates, p. 32, quoting Massachusetts Archives, Vol. XXXVII, leaf 117; the manuscript not directly consulted
  18. The West Indies phase attributed to Goffe, a return to the Caribbean in 1684, an episode at Bermuda in 1685 and proclamations against him by Jamaica and reportedly New York, rests on later compilation and was corroborated by no first-hand record read for this account; a direct search of two pages of the Calendar of State Papers Colonial, the index to volume 11 for 1681 to 1685 and June 1690 in volume 13, returned no entry naming Goffe, Goff, Gouge or Henley. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, index to vol. 11 (1681-1685), pp. 777-783, and vol. 13, June 1690, pp. 276-291
  19. The whole evidentiary base for Goffe read for this account is one modern edition, Dow and Edmonds (1923), which transcribes three Massachusetts Archives locations, Vol. CXXVII leaves 10 and 191 and Vol. XXXVII leaf 117; none of those manuscripts was directly consulted, and they are the first priority for verification because they carry the surrender, the commission and the only substantial quotations. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Modern scholarship and colonial records: The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630-1730 (the Goffe passage at pp. 30-32), transcribing Massachusetts Archives, Vol. CXXVII, leaves 10 and 191, and Vol. XXXVII, leaf 117; the manuscripts not directly consulted