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John Martel

A pirate captain in the Caribbean through 1716 and into 1717, who took Colonel Cranston's ship off Puerto Rico in September 1716 and lost a ship to HMS Scarborough at Santa Cruz in January 1716/17.

BornNot establishedDiedNot establishedAlso writtenCapt. John Martell (Boston News-Letter, 12 November 1716); John Martel (Johnson's New Providence list of commanders, 1724); Martel (Johnson, General History, Vol. I, 1724, Chap. II); Jean Martel (modern form, following the contemporary French identification)

John Martel was at sea in the Caribbean through 1716 and into 1717. In September 1716 he took Colonel Cranston's ship off Puerto Rico, and Cranston got home and told a Boston newspaper about him. In the middle of January 1716/17 HMS Scarborough destroyed a pirate ship, a sloop and their prizes at Santa Cruz; the ship burnt there is taken for his, though the governor who reported it named no captain. What he did between the two comes from Charles Johnson.1,2

The name and the nation

A pirate called Martel, spelt Martell in the newspaper, was at sea in the Caribbean through 1716 and into 1717. Cranston's account names Capt. John Martell; Johnson's list of the commanders then at New Providence prints John Martel.3

On his nation the two disagree, and the weaker guess is the one that travelled. Cranston, who had been aboard, described "a French Pyrate of 135 Men, being most of them French". Johnson, writing in London in 1724, thought Martel "and his Gang, were some Privateer's Men belonging to the Island of Jamaica, in the preceeding War". He was honest about the standing of that. "I have not enquired so far back, as to know the Original of this Rover," he wrote, and then made the guess anyway.4,5

The cruise of 1716

About 21 September 1716, off Puerto Rico, Martel took the ship carrying Cranston from Philadelphia to Jamaica. The company were made prisoners, then exchanged, and Cranston was given a sloop to get home in. He made a point of how civilly he had been used, which is not the note a robbed colonel is obliged to strike.6

In that same month he was cruising off Jamaica and Cuba in a sloop of eight guns and eighty men, and from there it is a list of takings. The Berkley Galley, Captain Saunders, plundered of a thousand pounds in money. The sloop King Solomon, for money, provisions and goods. Two sloops off Cavena on the Cuban coast, plundered and let go. Then the galley that changed the company's weight: the John and Martha, Captain Wilson, twenty guns, logwood and sugar, taken and fitted out as a flagship of twenty-two guns and a hundred men. After her a sloop and a brigantine, and the Dolphin of twenty guns bound for Newfoundland, whose men were made prisoners and whose ship the pirates kept. In the middle of December the Kent, Captain Lawton, homeward from Jamaica, stripped of her provisions and forced back for more. Then a small ship and a sloop of Barbados, and one last sloop on the passage to Santa Cruz. Beyond the months, none of it carries a calendar day.7,8

The Greyhound Galley of London, Captain Evans, bound from Guinea to Jamaica, is where the two Johnson volumes come apart. The 1724 chapter puts her in December, has the pirates take out gold dust, elephants' teeth and forty enslaved people, and sends her on her way. A letter printed in the second volume of 1728, offered as the Greyhound master's own, dates the taking 16 October, denies the ivory, and says she was taken by a crew under Kennedy, who by then had deposed Martel. Both cannot be right.9

Santa Cruz

Governor Hamilton reported that in the middle of January 1716/17 HMS Scarborough, Captain Hume, destroyed a pirate ship, a sloop and their prizes at St Croix; the pirate ship was burnt and about twenty men got away in a small sloop. The defence comes from Johnson alone: batteries thrown up ashore, a sloop warped across the mouth of the channel, and red-hot shot fired at the man of war between the fifteenth and the twentieth of January. Hamilton named no captain in any of it.10,11

The people aboard

Martel's company dealt in people. Forty enslaved men and women were taken out of the Greyhound, and there were more aboard the flagship when she burned. What became of them is where the two accounts part. Johnson writes that the pirates fired their own ship with twenty enslaved people in her, who were all burnt, and that the captain and the rest went into the woods with twenty more. Hamilton's report mentions no one burnt. Hume recovered six or eight enslaved people from the wreck, and the pirates who escaped were afterwards taken off by Bellamy.12,13

What became of him

Martel has no recorded death. Johnson's chapter leaves him in the woods of Santa Cruz, "where 'twas probable they might starve, for we never heard what became of 'em afterwards"; Johnson's own list of the New Providence captains says instead that Martel's crew was destroyed and he was forced on an uninhabited island. The two do not agree, and neither of them is a death. Nor was he ever tried. No court heard evidence against him, convicted him or acquitted him.14,15

Both anchors of this page were read at one remove. No facsimile of the Boston News-Letter for 12 November 1716 has been seen and no shelfmark for it is established here; Hamilton's letter reaches the page as a printed calendar abstract rather than as the letter itself. The manuscript enclosures to it at The National Archives, C.O. 152/11 numbers 57 i to ix, and the Scarborough's own log book have not been consulted, and they are where the next work lies. There is no birth here, no parentage, no trial and no grave.16

What the evidence does not settle

Origin

  • French pirate or former Jamaica privateersman

Santa Cruz identification

  • Whether Martel commanded the pirate ship destroyed at Santa CruzVery likely

His fate

  • Which of Johnson's incompatible endings, if either, is correct

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. The whole surviving record of John Martel rests on four documents of unequal weight: a Boston News-Letter report of 12 November 1716 carrying a first-hand victim's account, a contemporary official colonial report of the naval action that destroyed his ship which names no captain, and the two Martel narratives in Charles Johnson's General History (Vol. I, 1724, and the contested Vol. II, 1728). Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Contemporary newspaper report, calendared state papers and period narrative: The Boston News-Letter, Monday 12 November 1716, p. 2 (Col. John Cranston's account of being taken off Puerto Rico by Capt. John Martell); Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol 29 (1716-1717), No. 484: Governor Hamilton to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Antigua; A General History of the Pyrates, Vol I, Chap. II 'Of Captain Martel, and his Crew'; The History of the Pyrates, Vol II (1728), 'Of Captain Martel. To Captain Johnson'
  2. The official colonial record of the action that destroyed the pirate ship at Santa Cruz does not name Martel: the calendared abstract of Governor Hamilton's report and the volume index carry no Martel or Martell, and the attachment of the name to that ship rests on Charles Johnson alone. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers and period narrative: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol 29 (1716-1717), No. 484: Governor Hamilton to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Antigua, and the vol 29 index; A General History of the Pyrates, Vol I, Chap. II 'Of Captain Martel, and his Crew'
  3. A pirate of the surname Martel, spelt Martell in the newspaper, was active in the Caribbean in 1716 and 1717, and the forename John is attested independently in the Boston News-Letter's 'Capt. John Martell' and in Johnson's list of the commanders then at New Providence, which prints 'John Martel'. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Contemporary newspaper report and period narrative: The Boston News-Letter, Monday 12 November 1716, p. 2 (Col. John Cranston's account of being taken off Puerto Rico by Capt. John Martell); A General History of the Pyrates, Vol I, Chap. II 'Of Captain Martel, and his Crew' (and the New Providence pirate-list naming John Martel)
  4. Contemporary opinion held Martel to be French: the Boston News-Letter, reporting Col. Cranston's first-hand account, calls him 'a French Pyrate of 135 Men, being most of them French', and that identification is better evidenced than Johnson's contrary guess. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Contemporary newspaper report: The Boston News-Letter, Monday 12 November 1716, p. 2 (Col. John Cranston's account of being taken off Puerto Rico by Capt. John Martell)
  5. Johnson surmised that Martel 'and his Gang, were some Privateer's Men belonging to the Island of Jamaica, in the preceeding War', while admitting in the same sentence that 'I have not enquired so far back, as to know the Original of this Rover'. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates, Vol I, Chap. II 'Of Captain Martel, and his Crew'
  6. The one firmly dated event of the 1716 cruise is the taking of Col. John Cranston's ship, bound from Philadelphia to Jamaica, off Puerto Rico about 21 September 1716, after which the company were made prisoners, then exchanged, and Cranston was given a sloop to return home; the report stresses Martel's civility to him. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Contemporary newspaper report: The Boston News-Letter, Monday 12 November 1716, p. 2 (Col. John Cranston's account of being taken off Puerto Rico by Capt. John Martell)
  7. Johnson's account of the cruise opens in September 1716 with a pirate sloop of eight guns and eighty men cruising off Jamaica and Cuba, and lists as her takings the Berkley Galley (Capt Saunders, plundered of 1000 pounds in money), the sloop King Solomon, two sloops off Cavena in Cuba, a sloop and a brigantine, the Dolphin of 20 guns bound for Newfoundland, the galley Kent (Capt Lawton) in mid-December, a small ship and a sloop of Barbados, and one more sloop on the passage to Santa Cruz; the sequence and its ordering are his alone and carry no calendar days. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates, Vol I, Chap. II 'Of Captain Martel, and his Crew'
  8. Johnson has the company take the 20-gun galley John and Martha, Captain Wilson, laden with logwood and sugar, and fit her out as their flagship of 22 guns and 100 men. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates, Vol I, Chap. II 'Of Captain Martel, and his Crew'
  9. The taking of the Greyhound Galley of London, Captain Evans, from Guinea to Jamaica, is contradicted between the two Johnson volumes: Vol I (1724) dates it December 1716 and has gold dust, elephants' teeth and forty enslaved people taken out of her, while the Vol II letter of 1728 dates it 16 October, denies the ivory, and says she was taken by a crew under Kennedy after Martel had been deposed. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative and later contested print: A General History of the Pyrates, Vol I, Chap. II 'Of Captain Martel, and his Crew'; The History of the Pyrates, Vol II (1728), 'Of Captain Martel. To Captain Johnson' (a purported letter from the master of the Greyhound)
  10. Governor Hamilton's contemporary official report confirms the destruction of a pirate ship, a sloop and their prizes at St Croix by HMS Scarborough under Captain Hume in mid-January 1716/17, the burning of the pirate ship, and the escape of about twenty men in a small sloop. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol 29 (1716-1717), No. 484: Governor Hamilton to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Antigua
  11. The fortified defence of the anchorage at Santa Cruz between 15 and 20 January 1716/17, with batteries ashore, a sloop warped across the mouth of the channel and red-hot shot fired at the man of war, is carried by Johnson alone; the official report records the action and the burning but nothing of the batteries. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative and calendared state papers: A General History of the Pyrates, Vol I, Chap. II 'Of Captain Martel, and his Crew'; Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol 29 (1716-1717), No. 484: Governor Hamilton to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Antigua
  12. Martel's company trafficked in enslaved people: forty were taken out of the Greyhound Galley, and more were aboard the flagship at Santa Cruz, and the numbers and their fate differ between Johnson and the official report and are recorded here exactly as each states them. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative and calendared state papers: A General History of the Pyrates, Vol I, Chap. II 'Of Captain Martel, and his Crew'; Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol 29 (1716-1717), No. 484: Governor Hamilton to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Antigua
  13. Johnson states that the pirates fired their own ship at Santa Cruz with twenty enslaved people aboard, who were all burnt, and that the captain and the rest went into the woods with twenty more, whereas Governor Hamilton's report mentions no one burnt and records that Captain Hume recovered six or eight enslaved people from the wreck and that the escaped pirates were afterwards taken off by Bellamy. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative and calendared state papers: A General History of the Pyrates, Vol I, Chap. II 'Of Captain Martel, and his Crew'; Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol 29 (1716-1717), No. 484: Governor Hamilton to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Antigua
  14. No source read for this record gives Martel a death: Johnson's chapter leaves him in the woods at Santa Cruz where 'twas probable they might starve, and his New Providence list says instead that Martel's crew was destroyed and he was forced on an uninhabited island, so his fate after the January 1717 action is unrecorded. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative and calendared state papers: A General History of the Pyrates, Vol I, Chap. II 'Of Captain Martel, and his Crew' (and the New Providence pirate-list naming John Martel); Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol 29 (1716-1717), No. 484: Governor Hamilton to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Antigua
  15. Martel was never tried and no court adjudicated his guilt, so every act attributed to him is alleged and none of it is proven. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative and calendared state papers: A General History of the Pyrates, Vol I, Chap. II 'Of Captain Martel, and his Crew'; Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol 29 (1716-1717), No. 484: Governor Hamilton to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Antigua
  16. The strongest documentary anchors for Martel are the Boston News-Letter of 12 November 1716, for which no facsimile shelfmark has been established, and the calendared abstract of Governor Hamilton's report; the manuscript enclosures to that report (TNA C.O. 152/11 Nos. 57 i-ix) and the log book of HMS Scarborough have not been consulted and are the priority for further work. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers and contemporary newspaper report: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol 29 (1716-1717), No. 484: Governor Hamilton to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Antigua (TNA C.O. 152, 11. Nos. 57, 57 i-ix; and 153, 13. pp. 22-27); The Boston News-Letter, Monday 12 November 1716, p. 2