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John Taylor

Pirate captain who succeeded Edward England in the Cassandra, took the Viceroy of Goa's diamond ship off Mascarine, and surrendered at Porto Bello instead of standing trial.

BornNot establishedDiedNot establishedAlso writtenCaptain Taylor (Johnson's General History, 1724, which gives no forename)

Everything here comes out of one chapter of Charles Johnson's General History of the Pyrates of 1724. Taylor took the company over when the crew pulled Edward England out of his government and marooned him for sparing a prisoner, and what follows is the Cassandra, the diamonds and the surrender at Porto Bello.1,2

The name, and what is missing from it

He is Captain Taylor throughout, and never has a Christian name. The John at the head of this page is the Archive's settled usage, not an attestation. No birthplace, no nationality, no trade before the sea.3,4

The Cassandra

The East India Company ship Cassandra was taken off Juanna on 17 August 1720, after a hard resistance: three of her wounded men were cut to pieces when the pirates came aboard. Her captain, Mackra in that spelling, wrote from Bombay on 16 November 1720 and set down the firmest dates in the sequence: the action on 17 August, the pirates gone on 3 September, Bombay on 26 October.5,6

Taylor is the hard man of that chapter, "a Fellow of a most barbarous Nature, who was become a great Favourite amongst them for no other Reason than because he was a greater Brute than the rest". The company fell into a tumult over whether to make an end of Mackra, and Taylor was talked out of it with difficulty.7,8

What talked him out of it was drink, and one sentence of Johnson's holds the whole of the mercy: "This put an End to the Dispute, and Captain Taylor was so mellow'd with the Punch, that he consented that the old Pyrate Ship, and so many Bales of Cloth should be given to Captain Mackra, and so he fell asleep."9

The India cruise

A gallivat out of Gogo, bound for Calicut, was taken next. The pirates wanted to know about a fleet they had met and supposed her people had been in it. Though the men protested they had seen no ship or boat since leaving Gogo, their cargo went over the side and their joints were squeezed in a vice to extort a confession. Next day they were put into a boat with a trysail, no provisions and four gallons of water, half of it salt, out of sight of land.10

At Melinda in the Laccadives the men had fled to the neighbouring islands, leaving the women and children. The pirates forced the women, destroyed the cocoa trees and fired several of the houses and the churches.11

Lasinby, one of Mackra's officers, was kept aboard and exposed to shot at Calicut. The beating he got was the quarter-master's work: it was the captain's privilege, but Taylor was "lame of his Hands, and unable". Off the Malabar coast they counted "no more than 300 Men in both Ships, and 40 of them Negroes".12,13

The diamond ship

They kept the Christmas of 1720 at sea, then came in to Mauritius about the middle of February, refitted the Victory and sailed on 5 April, leaving an inscription on a wall to say they had gone to Madagascar for limes. Three days later, at Mascarine, they found a Portuguese ship of seventy guns at anchor, her masts lost and most of her guns thrown overboard after a storm. She was a wreck before they touched her.14,15

Aboard her was the Conde de Ericeira, Viceroy of Goa. The passengers put the diamonds alone at between three and four millions of dollars. The Viceroy was made prisoner and ransomed for two thousand dollars. Two hundred Mozambique slaves were carried off in the ship. The taking falls on the eighth of April; the year is nowhere given, and is worked back from the Christmas before.16

At Madagascar the plunder came to forty-two small diamonds a man. One man drew a single stone reckoned equal to the forty-two, grumbled at it, broke it in a mortar and swore he had the best share of them all, for he had beaten it "into 43 Sparks".17

The famous version of this prize is fuller than that. It dates the taking 26 April 1721, names the ship, and puts an Archbishop of Goa aboard beside the Viceroy; the period account has none of the three. The two disagree over England as well: the Portuguese record names him among her captors, where the chapter has him marooned already and puts only Taylor's company in her. Later accounts give Olivier Levasseur a hand in her too.18

Porto Bello

They went back to the African main, put in at Delagoa, found a small Dutch fort of six guns and battered it down. Its garrison had been landed a few months before and was starving; sixteen were taken aboard. The company left Delagoa at the end of December 1722, could not agree where to go, and parted. Those who kept the Cassandra sailed for the Spanish West Indies and gave her up, with everything in her, to the Governor of Porto Bello. No day is given for it; the year comes out of the sequence.19,20

Taylor was afterwards said to have taken a commission in the Spanish service and commanded the man of war that attacked the English logwood cutters in the Bay of Honduras; the chapter puts it no higher than "'Tis said". No court ever tried him.21,22

Two searches for an independent witness came back empty. Jameson's Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period has Taylors in its index, a London merchant of 1664, a William Taylor of the Phillips crew, none of them this man, and no Cassandra anywhere in it. The Calendar of State Papers volume fetched for the West Indies in these years turned up neither Taylor nor the ship. So the surrender and the Spanish service stand where Johnson left them. There is no origin here, no forename and no trial.23,24,25

What the evidence does not settle

Name and origins

  • Taylor's forename, birth, nationality and early life

The Goa prize

  • The prize's date and name, and whether England was still with the company

His end

  • Taylor's life after the reported Spanish commission
  • He was last reported in Spanish service after the surrender at Porto Bello

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. Every narrative statement about the pirate captain Taylor read for this record comes from a single carrier, the Of Captain England chapter of Charles Johnson's A General History of the Pyrates of 1724, and no independent East India Company, colonial or Admiralty text was reached. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Of Captain England chapter, carrying Taylor, the Cassandra, and the letter of Captain Mackra dated Bombay 16 November 1720)
  2. A pirate captain surnamed Taylor commanded the Cassandra in the Guinea and Indian Ocean cruise of 1720 to 1723 and succeeded Edward England in that command after England was deposed and marooned by their crew for showing Captain Mackra too much mercy. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Of Captain England chapter, carrying Taylor, the Cassandra, and the letter of Captain Mackra dated Bombay 16 November 1720)
  3. Johnson names him only Captain Taylor and gives no forename at any point; the form John Taylor is the Archive's own settled usage rather than an attestation. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Of Captain England chapter, carrying Taylor, the Cassandra, and the letter of Captain Mackra dated Bombay 16 November 1720)
  4. No source read for this record states Taylor's birthplace, nationality, origin or early life, and Johnson gives none. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Of Captain England chapter, carrying Taylor, the Cassandra, and the letter of Captain Mackra dated Bombay 16 November 1720)
  5. The East India Company ship Cassandra was taken off Juanna on 17 August 1720 after a desperate resistance, and three of her wounded men were cut to pieces when the pirates came aboard. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Of Captain England chapter, carrying Taylor, the Cassandra, and the letter of Captain Mackra dated Bombay 16 November 1720)
  6. Captain Mackra's letter of 16 November 1720 from Bombay supplies the firmest dates in the sequence, the action on 17 August 1720, the pirates gone on 3 September and Bombay on 26 October, but it is read only as Johnson reproduces it inside his own chapter and so is not an independent first-hand text. 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 (Of Captain England chapter)
  7. Johnson draws Taylor as the harder man who displaced the milder England, 'a Fellow of a most barbarous Nature' who 'was become a great Favourite amongst them for no other Reason than because he was a greater Brute than the rest'. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Of Captain England chapter, carrying Taylor, the Cassandra, and the letter of Captain Mackra dated Bombay 16 November 1720)
  8. The pirates fell into a tumult over whether to make an end of Captain Mackra, and Taylor was dissuaded from killing him only with difficulty. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Of Captain England chapter, carrying Taylor, the Cassandra, and the letter of Captain Mackra dated Bombay 16 November 1720)
  9. Taylor, mellowed with punch, consented that the old pirate ship and a quantity of bales of cloth should be given to Captain Mackra, and then fell asleep. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Of Captain England chapter, carrying Taylor, the Cassandra, and the letter of Captain Mackra dated Bombay 16 November 1720), Chap. V
  10. The crew of a gallivat from Gogo bound for Calicut had their joints squeezed in a vice to extort a confession about a fleet they knew nothing of, their cargo was thrown overboard, and they were put into a boat with a trysail, no provisions and four gallons of water, half of it salt, out of sight of land. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Of Captain England chapter, carrying Taylor, the Cassandra, and the letter of Captain Mackra dated Bombay 16 November 1720), Chap. V
  11. At the island of Melinda in the Laccadives, deserted by its men, who had fled to the neighbouring islands and left the women and children behind, the pirates forced the women, destroyed the cocoa trees and fired several of the houses and churches. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Of Captain England chapter, carrying Taylor, the Cassandra, and the letter of Captain Mackra dated Bombay 16 November 1720), Chap. V
  12. Mr Lasinby, an officer of the Cassandra kept aboard by the pirates, was exposed to shot and beaten, the beating carried out by the quarter-master because Taylor, whose privilege it was, was 'lame of his Hands, and unable'. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Of Captain England chapter, carrying Taylor, the Cassandra, and the letter of Captain Mackra dated Bombay 16 November 1720)
  13. In the action with the Bombay fleet off the Malabar coast the two pirate ships carried 'no more than 300 Men in both Ships, and 40 of them Negroes'. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Of Captain England chapter, carrying Taylor, the Cassandra, and the letter of Captain Mackra dated Bombay 16 November 1720), Chap. V
  14. The company kept the Christmas of 1720 at sea, came in to Mauritius about the middle of February, sheathed and refitted the Victory and sailed again on 5 April, leaving an inscription on a wall to say they had gone to Madagascar for limes. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Of Captain England chapter, carrying Taylor, the Cassandra, and the letter of Captain Mackra dated Bombay 16 November 1720), Chap. V
  15. They went not to Madagascar but to the island of Mascarine, and found there on the 8th a Portuguese ship of 70 guns lying at anchor with her masts lost and most of her guns thrown overboard after a storm. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Of Captain England chapter, carrying Taylor, the Cassandra, and the letter of Captain Mackra dated Bombay 16 November 1720), Chap. V
  16. The Portuguese prize carried the Conde de Ericeira, Viceroy of Goa, and diamonds which the passengers valued at between three and four millions of dollars; the Viceroy was made prisoner and ransomed for 2000 dollars, and about 200 Mozambique slaves were carried off in the ship, Johnson dating the taking to the 8th of April without stating the year. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Of Captain England chapter, carrying Taylor, the Cassandra, and the letter of Captain Mackra dated Bombay 16 November 1720)
  17. The plunder was divided at 42 small diamonds a man, and one man who drew a single stone judged equal to the 42 broke it in a mortar and swore he had beaten it 'into 43 Sparks'. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Of Captain England chapter, carrying Taylor, the Cassandra, and the letter of Captain Mackra dated Bombay 16 November 1720)
  18. The date of 26 April 1721 usually printed for this prize, the ship's name, and the Archbishop of Goa usually placed aboard her are carried by no source read for this record; they belong to a Portuguese record that has not been read, which also names England as a captor where Johnson has him already marooned and names only Taylor's company, and Olivier Levasseur's part in the taking is left as it stood. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Of Captain England chapter, carrying Taylor, the Cassandra, and the letter of Captain Mackra dated Bombay 16 November 1720)
  19. At Delagoa on the African main the company battered down a small Dutch East India Company fort of six guns, newly built and its garrison already reduced by sickness, and took sixteen of the starving garrison aboard. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Of Captain England chapter, carrying Taylor, the Cassandra, and the letter of Captain Mackra dated Bombay 16 November 1720)
  20. The company left Delagoa at the latter end of December 1722, could not agree how to proceed and parted, those who kept the Cassandra sailing for the Spanish West Indies and surrendering with all their riches to the Governor of Porto Bello, an event Johnson does not date and whose year is inferred from his sequence. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Of Captain England chapter, carrying Taylor, the Cassandra, and the letter of Captain Mackra dated Bombay 16 November 1720)
  21. Johnson reports, in the form 'Tis said' and without vouching for it, that Taylor took a commission in the Spanish service and commanded the man of war that attacked the English logwood cutters in the Bay of Honduras. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Of Captain England chapter, carrying Taylor, the Cassandra, and the letter of Captain Mackra dated Bombay 16 November 1720)
  22. No court ever adjudicated Taylor's guilt: by Johnson's account he escaped English justice by surrendering to the Governor of Porto Bello and passing into Spanish service, so that every act attributed to him is alleged and none is proven. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Of Captain England chapter, carrying Taylor, the Cassandra, and the letter of Captain Mackra dated Bombay 16 November 1720)
  23. Jameson's Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period, searched for this record as a possible independent documentary carrier, contains nothing on the Taylor of the Cassandra: its index lists a 1664 London merchant, a William Taylor of the Phillips crew and a John Taylor of the Revenge, none of them this man, and the ship name Cassandra does not occur in it at all. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period document collection: Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents
  24. No contemporary English record of the surrender at Porto Bello or of the reported Spanish commission was reachable for this record, the Calendar of State Papers Colonial volume fetched for America and the West Indies yielding no entry for Taylor or the Cassandra. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Calendared state papers and period narrative: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 33, searched without result; the surrender itself rests on A General History of the Pyrates (Of Captain England chapter)
  25. Nothing read for this record gives Taylor an origin, a forename or a trial: Johnson states no birthplace, nationality or early life, supplies no Christian name, and no court ever adjudicated his guilt. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Of Captain England chapter, carrying Taylor, the Cassandra, and the letter of Captain Mackra dated Bombay 16 November 1720)