The Archives

The ArchivesPeopleFrancis Spriggs

Francis Spriggs

Quartermaster to Edward Low who broke away with a ship of his own and raided the Caribbean and the Bay of Honduras in 1724; called Farrington Spriggs by a man he took off Utila, and never tried.

BornNot establishedDiedNot establishedAlso writtenSpriggs (Johnson, General History, 1724); Captain Spriggs (Johnson, General History, 1724); Mr. Spriggs (Johnson, General History, 1724); Farrington Spriggs (deposition of Roger Stevens, 6 May 1725, and the vol. 34 calendar index); Francis Spriggs (modern usage; no period source read carries it)

Spriggs served with George Lowther and Edward Low, broke away from Low with a ship of his own, and raided the Caribbean and the Bay of Honduras. The men who met him knew him as Spriggs, and hardly anyone wrote down his Christian name.1

The forename problem

Johnson never gives him a Christian name: he is Spriggs, Captain Spriggs, Mr. Spriggs, and nothing further. One man gave him a forename, and it is not the Francis of the modern books. Roger Stevens, swearing at New Providence on 6 May 1725, named his captor "Farrington Spriggs, a pirate", and the state papers index him as "Spriggs, Farrington, pirate". Stevens had been taken in the Bay of Honduras logwood trade by a captain sailing in company with Philip Lyne, which is this Spriggs.2

Quartermaster to captain

He was quartermaster to Low's company, and had probably come away from Lowther with him. The break came about Christmas 1723. Spriggs took a vessel and left Low in the night, and the cause was a quarrel over a piece of justice Spriggs wanted done on a crewman who had killed in cold blood, one insisting he should be hanged and the other that he should not.3,4

The vessel was the Delight, twelve guns, taken off the coast of Guinea near Sierra Leone, formerly the Squirrel man of war and commanded by Captain Hunt. The counts will not sit together: in the Low chapter she is mounted with sixteen guns and manned with sixty, in the Spriggs chapter he takes her with eighteen men. The same book then has Low taking a ship called the Squirrel from a Captain Stephenson in January, tangling the two names past unpicking.5

A day or two after the parting the company chose him captain and made a black ensign they called Jolly Roger, carrying Low's own device: "a white Skeliton in the Middle of it, with a Dart in one Hand striking a bleeding Heart, and in the other, an Hour-Glass".6

The cruise

The cruise that follows carries days and months but no year. A Portuguese bark was burnt and her crew sweated; a Barbados sloop plundered and burnt near St Lucia, her men forced to sign the articles or beaten for refusing; a Martinico ship abused but spared; Captain Pike's Rhode Island sloop taken on 27 March, whose sober mate got ten lashes from every man aboard; a Boston schooner sunk off Bermuda; Nicholas Trot's sloop of St Eustatia taken on 4 June, her crew hoisted to the tops and let run down; and a ship of provisions and horses, the horses ridden about the deck. The year was 1724, counted forward from the Christmas parting.7

The longest episode is Captain Hawkins, out of Jamaica with logwood, detained from 22 to 29 March and robbed of his mates Burridge and Stephens. Days after they let him go he fell in with them again; they burnt his ship and put him ashore at Rattan near the Bay of Honduras. Burridge did not stay forced. He signed the articles the next day, and the company fired all their guns and made him master.8

Spriggs also lay off St Christophers waiting for Captain Moor of the Eagle sloop, who had taken Lowther on the careen at Blanco. He meant to put Moor to death for falling upon "his Friend and Brother".9

Men swore to two things: that Spriggs forced them to serve, and that he kept company with Philip Lyne. The candles, the sweatings and the whippings are Johnson's alone.10

Taken off Utila

Roger Stevens deposed at New Providence on 6 May 1725. In October the year before he had been taken off the Islands of Utile, now Utila, in the Jolly Batchelor of London, bound with logwood from Honduras to Jamaica, "by Farrington Spriggs, a pirate", and forced to serve. Spriggs took a sloop called the Susannah and put him aboard her "under the command of Philip Lyne", from whom he later escaped. John Ekines deposed too, and Governor Phenney forwarded both statements to the Duke of Newcastle on 5 June 1725.11,12

He was seen once more that year. Off the Bay of Honduras on 31 August 1724, HMS Diamond ran down Spriggs and his consort Shipton and fired on them, and the two got away into shoal water.13

No ending

Spriggs was never tried. No court ruled on anything he did, and neither his capture nor his death was ever written down. Johnson loses him after the horses: that episode is "the last Account we have had of Captain Spriggs". He goes out somewhere in 1724 or 1725, whether run to ground, escaped, or simply lost among consorts such as Lyne.14,15

Nothing survives of the man himself: no birth, no origin, no nationality, no age, no description of his face. The narrative spine is a single book whose two accounts of him disagree, so it is one witness and not two, and the papers that would test it are unread: the original depositions in C.O. 23, the logbooks of HMS Diamond and HMS Spence, and the Boston News-Letter and American Weekly Mercury for 1724.16,17,18

What the evidence does not settle

Forename

  • Whether Farrington, rather than Francis, was Spriggs's forenameVery likely

Origins

  • Spriggs's birth, nationality, age and appearanceVery likely

His end

  • What became of Spriggs after June 1724

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 whose surname was Spriggs served in the George Lowther and Edward Low companies, broke away from Low with a vessel of his own, and raided the Caribbean and the Bay of Honduras. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative and sworn depositions: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. XVI, Of Captain Spriggs, and his Crew; and the Spriggs passage within the Captain Low chapter), Gutenberg ebook 40580; and Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 34 (1724-1725), entry 653 with enclosures 653 i and 653 ii (C.O. 23, 13. ff. 209-224)
  2. The only forename for Spriggs in a period document is Farrington: the deposition of Roger Stevens, sworn 6 May 1725, names his captor "Farrington Spriggs, a pirate", and the index to the same volume reads "Spriggs, Farrington, pirate", while Johnson names him by surname alone. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Sworn deposition and calendar index: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 34 (1724-1725), entry 653 i (deposition of Roger Stevens, 6 May 1725), C.O. 23, 1. Nos. 57, 57 i, ii; and vol. 34 Index: S, pp. 556-561
  3. Spriggs was quartermaster to Edward Low's company, is believed by Johnson to have come away from George Lowther with Low, and took a vessel and left Low in the night about Christmas 1723. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. XVI, Of Captain Spriggs, and his Crew; and the Spriggs passage within the Captain Low chapter), Gutenberg ebook 40580
  4. Johnson gives the cause of the separation as a quarrel with Low over a piece of justice Spriggs would have executed upon one of the crew for killing a man in cold blood, one insisting the man should be hanged and the other that he should not. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. XVI, Of Captain Spriggs, and his Crew), Gutenberg ebook 40580
  5. The vessel was the Delight, of twelve guns, taken off the coast of Guinea near Sierra Leone, formerly the Squirrel man of war and commanded by Captain Hunt; Johnson's two passages disagree on her, the Low chapter giving sixteen guns and sixty men and the Spriggs chapter eighteen men, and the same book has Low taking a ship called the Squirrel from a Captain Stephenson in January. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. XVI, Of Captain Spriggs, and his Crew; and the Spriggs passage within the Captain Low chapter), Gutenberg ebook 40580
  6. A day or two after the parting the company chose Spriggs captain and made a black ensign they called Jolly Roger, carrying the same device as Low's: "a white Skeliton in the Middle of it, with a Dart in one Hand striking a bleeding Heart, and in the other, an Hour-Glass". Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. XVI, Of Captain Spriggs, and his Crew), Gutenberg ebook 40580
  7. Johnson narrates a Caribbean cruise after the split comprising a Portuguese bark burnt and her crew sweated, a Barbados sloop plundered and burnt near St Lucia, a Martinico ship abused but spared, a Rhode Island sloop under Captain Pike on 27 March whose mate was given ten lashes from every man aboard, a Boston schooner sunk while standing towards Bermuda, Nicholas Trot's sloop of St Eustatia on 4 June, and a ship of provisions and horses taken within two or three days of it, with days and months given but no years. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. XVI, Of Captain Spriggs, and his Crew), Gutenberg ebook 40580
  8. Captain Hawkins, coming from Jamaica laden chiefly with logwood, was detained from 22 to 29 March, his mates Burridge and Stephens taken out of him by force, his ship burnt after he fell in with the pirates again, and himself put ashore at Rattan near the Bay of Honduras; Burridge signed the pirates' articles the next day and was appointed master. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. XVI, Of Captain Spriggs, and his Crew), Gutenberg ebook 40580
  9. Spriggs sailed towards St Christophers to wait for Captain Moor of the Eagle sloop, who had taken Lowther on the careen at Blanco, and resolved to put him to death for falling upon "his Friend and Brother". Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. XVI, Of Captain Spriggs, and his Crew), Gutenberg ebook 40580
  10. The cruelties Johnson attributes to Spriggs rest on his narrative alone, while the sworn testimony independently attests only that Spriggs forced men to serve and that he consorted with Philip Lyne. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Sworn depositions and period narrative: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 34 (1724-1725), entry 653 with enclosures 653 i and 653 ii; and A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. XVI, Of Captain Spriggs, and his Crew), Gutenberg ebook 40580
  11. Roger Stevens deposed that in October 1724 he was taken off the Islands of Utile in the Jolly Batchelor of London, bound with logwood from Honduras to Jamaica, "by Farrington Spriggs, a pirate", and forced to serve, and John Ekines deposed to the same capture. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Sworn depositions: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 34 (1724-1725), entry 653 i (deposition of Roger Stevens, 6 May 1725) and 653 ii (deposition of John Ekines), C.O. 23, 13. ff. 209-224
  12. Spriggs took the sloop Susannah and put Roger Stevens aboard her "under the command of Philip Lyne", from whom Stevens later escaped; Governor Phenney forwarded the depositions of Stevens and Ekines to the Duke of Newcastle from New Providence on 5 June 1725. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 34 (1724-1725), entry 653 (Gov. Phenney to the Duke of Newcastle, New Providence, 5 June 1725) with enclosures 653 i and 653 ii; entry 654
  13. A running fight with HMS Diamond off the Bay of Honduras on 31 August 1724, in which Spriggs and his consort Shipton were fired on and escaped into shoal water, is reported from the ship's logbook by Gregory N. Flemming. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Modern secondary account: Rare logbooks from HMS Diamond (blog post by Gregory N. Flemming, author of At the Point of a Cutlass), 1 December 2013
  14. Spriggs was never tried, no court adjudicated his personal guilt, and no capture or execution is recorded, so no act attributed to him is proven. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative and sworn depositions: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. XVI, Of Captain Spriggs, and his Crew), Gutenberg ebook 40580; and Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 34 (1724-1725), entry 653 with enclosures
  15. Spriggs's end is not documented and the versions of it compete: Johnson's loss of track after the horse ship, which he calls "the last Account we have had of Captain Spriggs", the escape from HMS Diamond, the dispersal of his men through consorts such as Philip Lyne, and a later marooning report. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative and sworn depositions: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. XVI, Of Captain Spriggs, and his Crew), Gutenberg ebook 40580; and Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 34 (1724-1725), entry 653 with enclosures
  16. No birth, origin, nationality, age or physical description of Spriggs is carried by any source read for this record. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative and sworn depositions: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. XVI, Of Captain Spriggs, and his Crew), Gutenberg ebook 40580; and Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 34 (1724-1725), entry 653 with enclosures
  17. The original depositions in C.O. 23, 13 and C.O. 23, 1 beyond the calendar abstract, the logbooks of HMS Diamond and HMS Spence at The National Archives, and the Boston News-Letter and American Weekly Mercury reports of the 1724 raids were located but not read, and nothing on this page rests on them. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 34 (1724-1725), entry 653 with enclosures (C.O. 23, 13. ff. 209-224; C.O. 23, 1. Nos. 57, 57 i, ii); and Rare logbooks from HMS Diamond (blog post by Gregory N. Flemming), 1 December 2013
  18. The only continuous narrative of Spriggs is Charles Johnson's General History of the Pyrates, which treats him both inside the Edward Low chapter and in a chapter of his own, and the two passages disagree on crew numbers, on the manner of the split and on the Squirrel and Delight names, so the book is one witness rather than two. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. XVI, Of Captain Spriggs, and his Crew; and the Spriggs passage within the Captain Low chapter), Gutenberg ebook 40580