The Archives

The ArchivesPeopleJosiah Burgess

Josiah Burgess

Pirate captain at New Providence in 1717, keeping an unnamed sloop of eight guns and about eighty men, who took the King's pardon in 1718 and was never tried.

BornNot establishedDiedNot establishedAlso writtenBurgiss (Capt. Mathew Musson's report, 1717; no forename); Burgess (Johnson, General History, 1724); T. Burgess (Johnson's roll of the Providence commanders, 1724); Josiah (modern compilation only; no period warrant)

Capt. Mathew Musson named him to the Council of Trade and Plantations in the summer of 1717, a pirate captain with a sloop at New Providence. Charles Johnson's General History of the Pyrates mentioned him three times more in 1724. Nobody testified for him or against him, and not one prize is set against his name.1

The name

The surname is the solid part. Musson spells it "Burgiss" and gives no forename; Johnson, printing in 1724, spells it "Burgess". Whether the two are one man is not certain, though both put a pirate of that surname at New Providence in the same few years.2

The only forename he has from his own century is an initial. Johnson's roll of the captains then on the island is prefaced "besides Captain Jennings abovementioned, I think were these", and runs on through "Ed. England, T. Burgess, Tho. Cocklyn". Some modern writers expand the T. to Thomas. Johnson was not certain of his own list, and said so.3

"Josiah" has no period warrant whatever. It comes from modern compilation, and the one forename of his own century contradicts it.4

The sloop at New Providence

Musson wrote on 5 July 1717. Burgess kept a sloop of eight guns and about eighty men and used the harbour at New Providence as a rendezvous, and had taken nothing that Musson could name.5

He was one of five captains Musson listed at the harbour, with Benjamin Hornigold, Henry Jennings, White and Thatch. The "flying gang" that modern writing draws around that group is a later coinage and appears in neither Musson nor Johnson.6

Standing beside Jennings on a list is not the same as sailing with him. The confederacy the later writers describe is drawn out of the list itself, and Jennings is often placed instead in a more Jamaican privateering faction. The sloop has no name at all.7,8

The pardon

He took the King's pardon at New Providence in 1718, though no certificate with his name on it survives. The old pirates came in under Rogers, and Burgess is placed among the men who surrendered to Captain Vincent Pearse that February.9

Bennett, Lieutenant Governor of Bermuda, wrote home on 3 February 1718 that he had sent a sloop with the proclamations to Providence on the 19th of December, "where they were accepted of with great joy, there being near 300 of them".10

Names follow, and none of them is his. Bennett reports that Henry Jennings, "who left off that way of liveing some months since", had arrived "with seven others" and surrendered, and encloses the form of certificate he was issuing. He encloses too a letter written at Providence on 10 January 1718 by Thomas Nichols: "Some of us readily embrace the same". Peter Heywood, writing from Jamaica on 7 February, reports that one of the vessels he sent out "came up with Hornigold, and one or two more his consorts", and that six came in. Burgess is in none of it.11

He is said to have been in the room that February, among the commanders and ringleaders who pressed Pearse to let Charles Vane go.12

Death in Rogers's service

Johnson takes him to the end in one clause. Rogers, settled in his government, "formed into Companies, appointed Officers of those whom he most confided in, and then set about to settle a Trade with the Spaniards, in the Gulf of Mexico; in one of which Voyages, Captain Burgess abovementioned, died", four hundred of the old pirates being put into those companies. Yet the same Introduction has already listed "Hornigold, Williams, Burgess and la Bouche" among the men who "were afterwards cast away". He does not agree with himself.13

Abaco, the year 1719 and the rescue of George Rounsivell from the same loss are later additions to a sentence that gives neither place nor date.14

No court ever tried him, and nothing he is supposed to have done was ever put to a bench.15

What the record does not hold

What the surviving record will not give is almost everything a life needs: no birth, no birthplace, no name for his sloop and not one vessel he took. Two documents that might change some of that were identified and not read: the deposition of John Vickers in C.O. 5/1317 of 1716, and Captain Pearse's returns of certificates of protection taken at Providence in early 1718.16

What the evidence does not settle

Forename

  • Whether the period initial T. stood for Thomas rather than Josiah

Origins and vessel

  • Burgess's birth, birthplace and the name of his sloop

Pardon

  • Whether Burgess received a certificate of protection in 1718
  • Johnson places his death on a Gulf of Mexico voyage after the 1718 pardon

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 documentary record of Josiah Burgess read for this record is one contemporary official document that names him, Capt. Mathew Musson's report to the Council of Trade and Plantations of July 1717, and three brief mentions in the Introduction to Charles Johnson's General History of the Pyrates (1724), with no testimony by or against him and no named prize. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers and period narrative: America and West Indies: July 1717 (Capt. Mathew Musson to the Council of Trade and Plantations, calendar item 635), C.O. 5/1265, No. 73; A General History of the Pyrates (Introduction, on the pirates of Providence and their fates under Woodes Rogers), Gutenberg ebook 40580
  2. The attested period forms of the name are "Burgiss", used by Musson in 1717 without a forename, and "Burgess", used by Johnson in 1724; that the two refer to one man is an identification rather than a certainty. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers and period narrative: America and West Indies: July 1717 (Capt. Mathew Musson to the Council of Trade and Plantations, calendar item 635), C.O. 5/1265, No. 73; A General History of the Pyrates (Introduction, on the pirates of Providence and their fates under Woodes Rogers), Gutenberg ebook 40580
  3. The only period forename for him is an initial: Johnson's roll of the commanders then at Providence, which he prefaces "besides Captain Jennings abovementioned, I think were these", runs through "Ed. England, T. Burgess, Tho. Cocklyn", and some modern writers expand the T. to Thomas. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Introduction, on the pirates of Providence and their fates under Woodes Rogers), Gutenberg ebook 40580
  4. No period source read supports the modern forename "Josiah", which comes from later compilation and is contradicted by Johnson's initial "T.", and no primary source read gives his birth date, his birthplace, the name of his sloop or any prize he took. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers and period narrative: America and West Indies: July 1717 (Capt. Mathew Musson to the Council of Trade and Plantations, calendar item 635), C.O. 5/1265, No. 73; A General History of the Pyrates (Introduction, on the pirates of Providence and their fates under Woodes Rogers), Gutenberg ebook 40580
  5. Capt. Mathew Musson's report of 5 July 1717 records Burgess keeping an armed sloop of eight guns and about eighty men and using the harbour at New Providence as a rendezvous, that is, operating as a working pirate captain, but names no capture and no prize. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers: America and West Indies: July 1717 (Capt. Mathew Musson to the Council of Trade and Plantations, calendar item 635), C.O. 5/1265, No. 73
  6. Burgess was one of five pirate captains Musson named as using New Providence as a rendezvous in 1717, alongside Hornigold, Jennings, White and Thatch; the modern label "flying gang" appears in neither Musson nor Johnson. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers and modern scholarship: America and West Indies: July 1717 (Capt. Mathew Musson to the Council of Trade and Plantations, calendar item 635), C.O. 5/1265, No. 73; Quelling a Pirate Revolt
  7. Musson names Burgess and Henry Jennings together among the five Providence captains, which establishes their co-location in 1717 but not that they were confederates, since Musson nowhere states that they were and Jennings is often placed instead in a more Jamaican-privateer faction; the closer alliance between the two rests on modern narrative rather than on the primary sources read. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Calendared state papers and modern scholarship: America and West Indies: July 1717 (Capt. Mathew Musson to the Council of Trade and Plantations, calendar item 635), C.O. 5/1265, No. 73; Quelling a Pirate Revolt
  8. The sloop Burgess commanded is unnamed in the primary record, Musson giving only her eight guns and about eighty men. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Calendared state papers: America and West Indies: July 1717 (Capt. Mathew Musson to the Council of Trade and Plantations, calendar item 635), C.O. 5/1265, No. 73
  9. Burgess accepted the King's pardon at New Providence in 1718, an inference from Johnson's statement that the former pirates were formed into companies under Woodes Rogers and from modern accounts of the February 1718 surrender to Capt. Vincent Pearse; no pardon certificate naming Burgess has been located. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Period narrative and modern scholarship: A General History of the Pyrates (Introduction, on the pirates of Providence and their fates under Woodes Rogers), Gutenberg ebook 40580; America and West Indies: February 1718, 1-15 (Peter Heywood to the Council of Trade and Plantations, calendar item 357), C.O. 137/13, Nos. 5, 5.i; Quelling a Pirate Revolt
  10. Lt. Governor Bennett of Bermuda reported to the Council of Trade and Plantations on 3 February 1718 that he had sent a sloop with the King's proclamations to Providence on 19 December, "where they were accepted of with great joy, there being near 300 of them". Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: America and West Indies: February 1718, 1-15 (Lt. Governor Bennett to the Council of Trade and Plantations, calendar item 345), C.O. 37, 10. Nos. 7, 7 i.-iii.
  11. The surviving pardon correspondence of early 1718 names other Providence men and not Burgess: Bennett reports Henry Jennings, "who left off that way of liveing some months since", arriving at Bermuda "with seven others" and surrendering, and encloses both his form of certificate and a letter written at Providence on 10 January 1718 by Thomas Nichols saying "Some of us readily embrace the same", while Peter Heywood reported from Jamaica on 7 February that one of his vessels "came up with Hornigold, and one or two more his consorts" and that six of them came in. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: America and West Indies: February 1718, 1-15 (Lt. Governor Bennett to the Council of Trade and Plantations, calendar item 345, with enclosures 345. i and 345. ii), C.O. 37, 10. Nos. 7, 7 i.-iii.; America and West Indies: February 1718, 1-15 (Peter Heywood to the Council of Trade and Plantations, calendar item 357, enclosing Hornigold and other pirates' acceptance of the Act of Grace), C.O. 137/13, Nos. 5, 5.i
  12. Burgess is reported by modern scholarship to have been among the pirate commanders and ringleaders, with Hornigold, Leslie and Nichols, who urged Capt. Vincent Pearse to release Charles Vane in February 1718; Pearse's own return has not been read. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Modern scholarship: Quelling a Pirate Revolt; Pirates and Privateers: Benjamin Hornigold
  13. Johnson's Introduction states that Woodes Rogers "formed into Companies, appointed Officers of those whom he most confided in, and then set about to settle a Trade with the Spaniards, in the Gulf of Mexico; in one of which Voyages, Captain Burgess abovementioned, died", giving the number of those former pirates as 400, having already listed "Hornigold, Williams, Burgess and la Bouche" among the men who "were afterwards cast away". Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Introduction, on the pirates of Providence and their fates under Woodes Rogers), Gutenberg ebook 40580
  14. No despatch of Woodes Rogers reporting the death of Burgess has been located, and the place Abaco, the year 1719 and the rescue of George Rounsivell from the same loss are later additions that Johnson does not supply. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Introduction, on the pirates of Providence and their fates under Woodes Rogers), Gutenberg ebook 40580
  15. No court ever tried Burgess or adjudicated his guilt, so nothing attributed to him can be called proven. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Introduction, on the pirates of Providence and their fates under Woodes Rogers), Gutenberg ebook 40580
  16. The deposition of John Vickers (C.O. 5/1317, 1716) and Capt. Vincent Pearse's returns of those who took certificates of protection at Providence in early 1718 are the key primary documents that could confirm Burgess's associations and his pardon by name, and neither has been read. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Modern scholarship: Pirates and Privateers: Benjamin Hornigold