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Edward England

Pirate captain on the Guinea coast and in the Indian Ocean, deposed by his own crew and marooned on Mauritius for sparing the captain of the Cassandra.

BornNot establishedDiedNot establishedAlso writtenCapt. EDW. ENGLAND (Johnson's chapter heading, 1724); Captain England (Johnson's General History); Edward England (Captain Mackra's letter, printed within Johnson); Ed. England (Johnson's roll of the commanders at Providence)

Captain Mackra wrote from Bombay on 16 November 1720 to tell what had become of the Cassandra: taken in the bay of Juanna that August after a hard fight, and himself let go alive, with a battered ship under him, by the pirate captain who had beaten him. That captain was Edward England. Everything else known of him is one chapter of Charles Johnson's General History of the Pyrates of 1724, which is also where Mackra's letter was printed, and in that chapter the mercy is what costs him his command.1,2

The name, and the way in

The surname stands in the chapter heading, "Of Capt. EDW. ENGLAND, and his CREW.", which abbreviates the forename. The opening sentence spells it out: "EDward England went Mate of a Sloop that sail'd out of Jamaica". Mackra's letter calls him "the chief Captain, Edward England". He is "Captain England" through the rest of the chapter, and his own men, resenting his kindness to a prisoner, cursed "d--n England".3

He was mate of a Jamaica sloop when the pirate Winter took her, "just before their Settlement at Providence", and from that he had a sloop of his own and sailed for Africa. He was one of the commanders at Providence when the pardon reached them, entered on the roll as "Ed. England" among Hornigold, Teach, Vane, Cocklyn and Winter. Johnson, writing in 1724, put him in the present tense: "England lives now at Madagascar".4,5

The Guinea coast

The first vessel taken under him was the Cadogan snow of Bristol, at Sierra Leone, and it is the ugliest thing in his story. Skinner, her master, had quarrelled with some of his men, put them aboard a man of war and refused them their wages, and they were now in England's company. They made him fast to the windlass, pelted him with glass bottles and shot him through the head. England took the vessel and is not named as the killer; the men who killed Skinner had been his own. The snow and her cargo went to her mate, Howel Davis.6,7

Davis said afterwards that England pressed him to sign the pirates' articles and he answered he would sooner be shot to death. England, "pleased with his Bravery", sent him back aboard the snow as her captain with orders to pursue his voyage.8

He exchanged his sloop for the Pearl, Captain Tyzard, renamed her the Royal James, and took prizes at the Azores and the Cape Verde Islands. Back on the African coast in the spring of 1719, he took nine vessels down from the River Gambia between 25 March and 27 June. The first entry is the Eagle pink of Cork, Captain Rickets, taken on 25 March with six guns and seventeen men aboard, seven of whom turned pirate. Three were let go. The Charlotte, the Bentworth, the Carteret and the Coward galley were burnt. Two were fitted out as pirate ships, the Queen Anne's Revenge and the Flying King.9,10,11

Below Cape Corso the Whydah and the John slipped their cables and got in under the castle guns. The pirates made a fire ship of a prize and went at them, and the castle drove them off. They were not one farthing the better for it. Then several weeks ashore, and an open rupture with the people of the coast, several of them killed and one of their towns burnt.12,13

The Cassandra

The company put it to a vote and the majority carried the East Indies. They were at Madagascar at the beginning of 1720, went on to the Malabar coast, took several Indian country ships and a Dutch ship they swapped for one of their own, and came back. On the morning of 17 August 1720 two pirate ships stood into the bay of Juanna, one of thirty four guns and the other of thirty, and after a hard fight they took Captain Mackra's Cassandra. Mackra had come to the island on 25 July; the pirates were gone by 3 September, and he was at Bombay on 26 October.14,15

He had thirteen men killed and twenty four wounded, and believed the pirates had lost ninety or a hundred. When they came aboard they cut three of his wounded men to pieces.16

The mercy, and the fall

England took Mackra's part. He helped talk Captain Taylor round, got him the old pirate ship, a shattered Dutch built vessel called the Fancy, and a hundred and twenty nine bales of the Company's cloth, and told him to get off quickly. England had "a great deal of good Nature, and did not want for Courage", "was not avaritious, and always averse to the ill Usage Prisoners received", and was "generally over-rul'd".17,18

The favour cost him the ship. His crew thought such usage inconsistent with their polity, and on a report that Mackra was fitting out against them they pulled him out of his government and marooned him on Mauritius with three others. They made a little boat of staves and old deal and crossed to Madagascar, where they lived on the charity of other pirates. No court ever tried him.19,20

In 1722 Commodore Matthews came to St Mary's and offered him favour for what he knew of the Cassandra and the rest of them. England thought that was surrendering at discretion and would not take it. The mischief this crew did in about five years was reckoned beyond computing, but the count is the whole company's, and much of it was Taylor's, after England was gone.21,22

William Snelgrave was taken by the pirates at Sierra Leone in that spring of 1719, and published his account of it in 1734. He named Cocklyn, Le Boose and Davis. He never named England, who by Johnson's chapter was on that coast in those months.23

Nothing official has been found. Jameson's Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period, searched through, has no mention of England, the Cassandra, Mackra, the Cadogan or Skinner, and the October 1720 pages of the Calendar of State Papers Colonial carry Caribbean piracy correspondence and nothing on him. The East India Company's own records for 1720, which would test Mackra's letter, are not in that Colonial series and are unread. There is no birth, no nationality, no death and no trial, no alias and no second spelling of the name, and the one eyewitness page in the story is a letter printed inside the book it ought to be testing.24

What the evidence does not settle

Origins

  • England's birth, birthplace and nationality

The Cassandra action

  • Captain Mackra's original East India Company letter

His end

  • What became of England after the last report from MadagascarPossible
  • He was last recorded alive at Madagascar in 1722

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. A pirate captain called England was active on the Guinea coast and in the Indian Ocean between about 1718 and 1722; the surname stands in the heading of Charles Johnson's chapter, Of Capt. EDW. ENGLAND, and his CREW., the full name in the chapter's opening sentence and in the letter of Captain Mackra that Johnson prints, so that every attestation runs through the one book. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. V, Of Capt. Edward England, and his Crew), with the letter of Captain Mackra printed within it
  2. The one eyewitness document in the England story is Captain Mackra's letter of 16 November 1720 from Bombay, first-hand in origin but reached only inside Johnson's chapter, so it stands as a text Johnson carries rather than as an independent witness. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. First-hand letter within a period narrative: Letter from Captain Mackra, dated Bombay, 16 November 1720, as printed within Johnson's General History (England chapter)
  3. The forename is abbreviated to EDW. in Johnson's chapter heading and spelled out in the chapter's first sentence, EDward England went Mate of a Sloop that sail'd out of Jamaica, and in Mackra's letter, which calls him the chief Captain, Edward England; the other attested forms are Captain England and the men's curse d--n England, and no alias or alternative spelling of the surname has been found. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. V, Of Capt. Edward England, and his Crew), with the letter of Captain Mackra printed within it
  4. Johnson gives England no birthplace and no nationality, his earliest datum being that England went mate of a sloop out of Jamaica and was taken by Captain Winter, a pirate, just before their settlement at Providence, from which he had the command of a sloop and sailed to the coast of Africa. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. V, Of Capt. Edward England, and his Crew), opening of the chapter
  5. The name appears once outside its own chapter, in the introduction to Johnson's book, where Ed. England is listed among the commanders lying at Providence when the King's pardon reached them, with Hornigold, Teach, Vane, Cocklyn, Sample and Christopher Winter, and where the same passage says of him, in the present tense of the 1724 printing, that England lives now at Madagascar. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (1724), the Introduction, the roll of commanders then at Providence and their several fates
  6. England's company took the Cadogan snow of Bristol at Sierra Leone about 1718, where her master Skinner was made fast to the windlass, pelted with bottles and shot through the head by former crewmen of his own who were now serving with England, after which the snow and her cargo were given to her mate Howel Davis; England is not named as the killer. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. V, Of Capt. Edward England, and his Crew), the taking of the Cadogan snow
  7. Johnson's England chapter gives the grievance behind the killing of Skinner, that after a quarrel he had removed the men aboard a man of war and at the same time refused them their wages. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. V, Of Capt. Edward England, and his Crew), the taking of the Cadogan snow
  8. Johnson's Davis chapter reports that Davis claimed England had solicited him to sign the pirates' articles, that he answered he would sooner be shot to death, and that England, pleased with his bravery, sent him and the rest of the men back aboard the snow and appointed him captain of her. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. VIII, Of Captain Howel Davis, and his Crew), opening of the chapter
  9. England took a ship called the Pearl, Captain Tyzard, exchanged his own sloop for her, renamed her the Royal James, and took vessels of several nations at the Azores and the Cape Verde Islands. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. V, Of Capt. Edward England, and his Crew), the taking of the Pearl
  10. In the spring of 1719 England ran down the Guinea coast from the River Gambia and took nine named merchant vessels on dated days between 25 March and 27 June; three were let go, four of them, the Charlotte, the Bentworth, the Carteret and the Coward galley, were burnt, and two were fitted out as pirate ships under the names Queen Anne's Revenge and the Flying King. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. V, Of Capt. Edward England, and his Crew), the list of vessels taken between the River Gambia and Cape Corso
  11. Johnson sets that run down as a dated list, its first entry the Eagle pink of Cork, Captain Rickets, taken on 25 March with six guns and seventeen men aboard, seven of whom turned pirate. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. V, Of Capt. Edward England, and his Crew), the list of vessels taken between the River Gambia and Cape Corso
  12. At Cape Corso Road England's company made a fire ship of a vessel they had taken and attempted to burn the Whydah, Captain Prince, and the John, Captain Rider, which had got in under Cape Corso Castle, but the castle fired on them and they withdrew; Johnson observes that they could not have been one farthing the better for it. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. V, Of Capt. Edward England, and his Crew), the attempt at Cape Corso Road
  13. After several weeks lying ashore the company came to an open rupture with the people of the coast, killed several of them and set one of their towns on fire. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. V, Of Capt. Edward England, and his Crew), the stay ashore after Cape Corso
  14. The company voted for the East Indies, reached Madagascar at the beginning of 1720, cruised the Malabar coast where they took several Indian country ships and one Dutch ship which they exchanged for a vessel of their own, and returned to Madagascar. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. V, Of Capt. Edward England, and his Crew), the passage to the East Indies
  15. Two pirate ships, one of thirty four guns and the other of thirty, stood into the bay of Juanna on the morning of 17 August 1720 and took Captain Mackra's Cassandra after a hard fight; the day-dates come from Mackra's own letter, which gives his arrival at the island on 25 July, the action on 17 August, the pirates' sailing on 3 September and his arrival at Bombay on 26 October. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. First-hand letter within a period narrative: Letter from Captain Mackra, dated Bombay, 16 November 1720, as printed within Johnson's General History (England chapter)
  16. Mackra had thirteen men killed and twenty four wounded in the action and believed the pirates had lost about ninety or a hundred, and when the pirates came aboard they cut three of his wounded men to pieces. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. First-hand letter within a period narrative: Letter from Captain Mackra, dated Bombay, 16 November 1720, as printed within Johnson's General History (England chapter)
  17. England favoured Mackra after the action, helped talk Captain Taylor round, secured him the shattered Dutch built pirate ship the Fancy and a hundred and twenty nine bales of the Company's cloth, and advised him to get off quickly. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. V, Of Capt. Edward England, and his Crew), with the letter of Captain Mackra printed within it
  18. Johnson's portrait of England is of a man who had a great deal of good Nature, and did not want for Courage, who was not avaritious, and always averse to the ill Usage Prisoners received, but who was generally over-rul'd by his companions; no first-hand source read corroborates it. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. V, Of Capt. Edward England, and his Crew), the character of England
  19. On a report that Mackra was fitting out against them, England's crew pulled him out of his government and marooned him with three others on Mauritius, from where they made a little boat of staves and old pieces of deal and crossed to Madagascar to live on the charity of other pirates. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. V, Of Capt. Edward England, and his Crew), the deposition and marooning
  20. England was never brought before any court; the only punishment recorded against him was inflicted by his own company, who deposed and marooned him for his good usage of Mackra. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. V, Of Capt. Edward England, and his Crew), the deposition and marooning
  21. The last datum for England in any source read is at St Mary's, Madagascar in 1722, when he declined Commodore Matthews's offer of favour in return for intelligence about the Cassandra and the other pirates and for his help as a pilot, thinking it was to surrender at discretion; no source read records his death. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. V, Of Capt. Edward England, and his Crew), Commodore Matthews at St Mary's
  22. Johnson closes by saying it is a difficult matter to compute the mischief done by this crew in about five years, more than the plunder they gained, because they often sank or burnt what they took; the computation covers the whole company, including the career Taylor continued after England was put out. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. V, Of Capt. Edward England, and his Crew), the close of the chapter
  23. William Snelgrave, first-hand among the pirates at Sierra Leone in the spring of 1719, names Cocklyn, Le Boose and Davis but does not name England anywhere in his book and attributes no act to him; since Johnson independently places England on the same coast that spring, the silence is not evidence that he was absent from it. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. First-hand captive narrative: A New Account of Some Parts of Guinea, and the Slave-Trade (1734), the author's being taken by pirates at Sierra Leone
  24. Jameson's Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period, read and searched through, contains no mention of Edward England, the Cassandra, Captain Mackra, the Cadogan or Skinner; the October 1720 pages of the Calendar of State Papers Colonial carry Caribbean piracy correspondence but nothing on England or the Indian Ocean pirates, and the relevant East India Company records for 1720 are not in that Colonial series and remain unread. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers and an edited document collection: Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (1923); Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Volume 32 (1720 to 1721), October 1720 (pp. 165 to 187)