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William Howard

Named by the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia as Blackbeard's quartermaster, convicted of piracy in 1718 and set at liberty under the royal pardon while under sentence of death.

Bornunknown (no birth record produced)Diednot establishedAlso writtenWm Howard (forename as contracted in the 1718 articles)

William Howard was in Virginia in 1718, prosecuted for piracy and named as one of Edward Tach's company. Articles were exhibited against him in a Virginia court, and Alexander Spotswood, the Lieutenant Governor, wrote home about the case.4

The name and the rank

The name is the solid part: Wm in the prosecution's own contraction, Howard wherever he is written of at all. The rank is thinner. Spotswood called him "Tach's Quartermaster", and the court that charged him never used the title.5,6

Charles Johnson usually gets the credit for the rank, and should not. The Blackbeard chapter of A General History of the Pyrates has a quarter-master in it who is never named, and Howard appears nowhere in the chapter, though several modern retellings say he does.7

What the articles charge

The articles open in the voice of the criminal courts. Howard, they charge, "not having the Fear of God before his Eyes nor Regarding the Allegiancy due to his Majesty nor the Just Obedience he Ow'd to the Laws of the Land did some time in the Year of our Lord 1717 Join and Associate him self with one Edward Tach and other Wicked and desolute Persons". That association was the Crown's charge against a man it meant to hang.8

Three dated acts follow, all 1717. The sloop Betty of Virginia, taken near Cape Charles on 29 September, robbed of pipes of Madeira and other goods, and sunk. The sloop Robert of Philadelphia and the ship Good Instant of Dublin, both taken in Delaware Bay on 22 October. Then in December the French ship the articles call the Concord of Saint Malo, taken near Saint Vincent, robbed of enslaved people, gold dust, money, plate and jewels, and renamed Queen Anne's Revenge. Her own master and lieutenant called her La Concorde of Nantes.9,3

The pirate who went to law

Howard came into Virginia with two enslaved people he admitted had been taken by piracy, one out of a French ship and one out of an English brigantine. Spotswood had them seized under the King's Instructions. Howard sued the officer who seized them. Neither of them was named, and both were counted among his effects.10

Howard applied himself to no lawful business, and the Justices of the Peace where he lodged had him put aboard one of the King's ships as a vagrant seaman. He had them arrested for it: the Justice who signed the warrant, the Captain and the Lieutenant of the man of war, each in an action for damages. One of the chief lawyers in the colony took his cause. Spotswood, who knew him as a pirate active in plundering vessels on that coast the year before, called the behaviour extraordinary and set an enquiry going into his course of life after he left the colony.11,12

Convicted, then pardoned

The enquiry produced a date. The proclamation of September 1717 pardoned piracies committed before 5 January 1718; Spotswood reported that Howard and the rest of Tach's crew had surrendered and claimed the benefit of it, then gone on taking ships after that day, which put them outside it. He was convicted of taking and destroying no fewer than twelve ships and vessels after 5 January, none of them itemised.13,14,2

Getting him before a court took an argument inside the Council. Some members opposed trying him by virtue of the commission under the great seal, pursuant to the Act of the eleventh and twelfth years of King William, a trial without a jury. Spotswood produced the King's Instruction directing that manner of trial and overcame their scruples.15

The verdict was death. A royal commission for pardoning pirates then reached Virginia and, in the governor's phrase, "came very seasonably to save Howard", then under sentence of death; the mercy ran to all piracies committed before 18 August, and he was set at liberty. He was never punished and never tried again. Spotswood put the hardest question to London next: whether remitting all forfeitures restored a pardoned pirate to the estate he held before his piracies, or gave him property in the goods he had piratically taken, the two people he had seized among them.16,17

Spotswood wrote from Virginia on 22 December 1718, with the conviction, the sentence and the reprieve all in the weeks behind him. A later account puts the sentencing in October, against his own dating.18

Other Howards

The surname makes trouble. A John Howard sailed with Rackham's crew and was executed at Kingston in 1721; a Tho. Howard was among the men taken out of Roberts's company; Thomas Howard the Indian Ocean pirate is a third man. Different oceans and different years, though the particulars that keep them apart are thin.19

Ocracoke Island has a Howard of its own. A William Howard bought the island in 1759 and is said to have died at about 108; local history has long wanted him to be the quartermaster. No document joins the two men. The genealogist Dora Padgett argued that this Howard cannot be placed on the coast before the 1740s and was born about 1700, too young to have been Blackbeard's quartermaster in 1718.20

When Howard left the company is not fixed. Later accounts put it in July or August 1718, and he was not in the Ocracoke fight, which fits without settling the month. Thache was killed there on 22 November 1718 and never came to trial, so no court pronounced on his guilt.21,1

Neither document behind this page was read from the manuscript. The governor's letter survives here as a printed calendar abstract with no Colonial Office reference established, the articles as an online transcription of an original in Richmond. No minute of the court that convicted Howard has been found, so the manner of trial, the exact day and the pardon cutoff, 18 August in the letter and 23 July in a secondary account, wait on record sources. No defence account survives, and there is no birth, no parentage, no death. What became of Howard after his release, and what became of the two people seized with his goods, the record does not say.22,23

What the evidence does not settle

Life outside Blackbeard's company

  • Howard's life before 1717 and after his release in 1718

Ocracoke namesake

  • Whether the pirate was the William Howard who bought Ocracoke Island in 1759Speculative

Pardon cutoff

  • 18 August or 23 July 1718

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. Thache was killed resisting arrest at Ocracoke on 22 November 1718 and was never tried, so no court adjudicated his personal guilt for any act. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Colonial and naval reports: Spotswood's dispatch and the near-contemporary naval and press accounts; he was never tried, and these pages never call him convicted
  2. The first proclamation, given at Hampton Court on 5 September 1717, pardons piracies "committed before the fifth Day of January next ensuing" (5 January 1718) for pirates who surrender "in or before the fifth Day of September ... One thousand seven hundred and eighteen"; its recital dates the piracy wave to "since the twenty fourth Day of June ... One thousand seven hundred and fifteen" (the start of the problem, not the cut-off), and a reward schedule (100/40/30/20 pounds by rank, 200 for delivering up a commander) follows the deadline. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Printed proclamation: The London Gazette, issue 5573, page 1, read verbatim from the issue PDF
  3. The ship lost at this inlet was a former French slave ship, La Concorde of Nantes, owned by the merchant Rene Montaudoin, which sailed from Nantes on 24 March 1717 under Pierre Dosset, embarked 516 enslaved Africans at Whydah on 8 July 1717, and was taken by Blackbeard's pirates near Martinique in late November 1717 and renamed Queen Anne's Revenge; the reported mortality on the passage and the disposal of the survivors are internally inconsistent in the project literature and are not carried here. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Official reports and modern project research: Queen Anne's Revenge Project, Who was Aboard La Concorde and The Pirate Ship's Journey, resting on the reports of Pierre Dosset and Francois Ernaud; North Carolina highway historical marker C-86 essay
  4. A William Howard came into Virginia in 1718 and was prosecuted there for piracy; his existence and his prosecution are attested independently by Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood's letter and by the surviving articles exhibited against him, and both documents attach him to Edward Tach's company. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers and court indictment: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol. 30 (Aug. 1717 to Dec. 1718), No. 800: Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood to the Council of Trade and Plantations, pp 430-432; Articles (indictment) exhibited against William Howard for piracy and robbery on the high seas, 1718
  5. The forename is given as Wm in the 1718 articles and the surname Howard in both the articles and Spotswood's letter, so the name itself is securely attested. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Court indictment and calendared state papers: Articles (indictment) exhibited against William Howard for piracy and robbery on the high seas, 1718; Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol. 30, No. 800, pp 430-432
  6. Howard's rank as quartermaster rests on Spotswood's description of him as "Tach's Quartermaster"; the 1718 articles do not use the title. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol. 30, No. 800: Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood to the Council of Trade and Plantations, p 430
  7. Charles Johnson's General History (1724) does not name Howard: its Blackbeard chapter mentions only an unnamed quarter-master, contrary to a common modern assertion. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. III, Of Captain Teach alias Black-beard), Gutenberg ebook 40580
  8. The 1718 articles open by charging that Howard "not having the Fear of God before his Eyes nor Regarding the Allegiancy due to his Majesty nor the Just Obedience he Ow'd to the Laws of the Land did some time in the Year of our Lord 1717 Join and Associate him self with one Edward Tach and other Wicked and desolute Persons"; the wording is the document's, and the association it alleges is a prosecution charge. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Court indictment: Articles (indictment) exhibited against William Howard for piracy and robbery on the high seas, 1718
  9. The articles charge three dated acts in 1717: the taking, plundering and sinking of the sloop Betty of Virginia near Cape Charles on 29 September; the taking of the sloop Robert of Philadelphia and the ship Good Instant of Dublin in Delaware Bay on 22 October; and the taking of the French ship Concord of Saint Malo near Saint Vincent in December, robbed of enslaved people, gold dust, money, plate and jewels and afterwards renamed Queen Anne's Revenge. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Court indictment: Articles (indictment) exhibited against William Howard for piracy and robbery on the high seas, 1718
  10. Howard held as property two enslaved people whom he admitted had been piratically taken, one from a French ship and one from an English brigantine; Spotswood caused them to be seized under royal instructions and Howard sued the officer who made the seizure. The source does not name the two people and counts them among his effects. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol. 30, No. 800: Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood to the Council of Trade and Plantations, p 430
  11. The Justices of the Peace where Howard resided sent him aboard one of the King's ships as a vagrant seaman, whereupon he had the Justice who signed the warrant and the Captain and Lieutenant of the man of war arrested in actions for damages. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol. 30, No. 800: Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood to the Council of Trade and Plantations, p 430
  12. One of the chief lawyers in Virginia took Howard's cause, and Spotswood, who described him as a pirate well known to have been very active in plundering vessels on that coast the year before, called the behaviour extraordinary and had a stricter enquiry made into his course of life after he left the colony. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol. 30, No. 800: Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood to the Council of Trade and Plantations, p 430
  13. Spotswood reported that Howard and the rest of Tach's crew had surrendered and claimed the benefit of the King's Proclamation, but had committed piracies after 5 January for which they were not entitled to the pardon. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol. 30, No. 800: Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood to the Council of Trade and Plantations, p 430
  14. Howard was convicted of taking and destroying no less than twelve ships and vessels after 5 January 1718, and the twelve are not itemised in the source. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol. 30, No. 800: Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood to the Council of Trade and Plantations, p 430
  15. Some of the Virginia Council opposed trying Howard by virtue of the commission under the great seal pursuant to the Act of 11 and 12 King William III, a trial without a jury, and Spotswood overcame the objection by producing the King's Instruction directing that manner of trial. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol. 30, No. 800: Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood to the Council of Trade and Plantations, p 430
  16. Howard was convicted and sentenced to death, and the royal commission for pardoning pirates reached Virginia in time to save him, its mercy extending to all piracies committed before 18 August, so that he was set at liberty without suffering any punishment and was never re-tried. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol. 30, No. 800: Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood to the Council of Trade and Plantations, pp 430-432
  17. Spotswood asked the Council of Trade and Plantations whether the remission of all forfeitures restored pardoned pirates only to the estates they held before their piracies or gave them property in the effects they had piratically taken. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol. 30, No. 800: Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood to the Council of Trade and Plantations, p 432
  18. The chronology of the trial rests on Spotswood's letter of 22 December 1718, which places the conviction, death sentence and reprieve in the weeks immediately before it; a secondary account dating the sentence to October 1718 is unsupported by the letter and unresolved. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol. 30, No. 800: Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood to the Council of Trade and Plantations, 22 December 1718, pp 430-432
  19. This William Howard is a different man from the John Howard of Rackham's crew executed at Kingston in 1721, from the Tho. Howard among Roberts's captured men, and from Thomas Howard the Indian Ocean pirate, the particulars distinguishing them resting on Johnson alone. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chap. III, Of Captain Teach alias Black-beard), Gutenberg ebook 40580
  20. A local-history tradition identifies the pirate with the William Howard who bought Ocracoke Island in 1759 and reputedly died aged about 108; no document links the two men, and the genealogist Dora Padgett argued that this Howard cannot be placed on the coast before the 1740s and was born about 1700, too young to have been Blackbeard's quartermaster in 1718. Speculative An inference, not a finding. Local-history article: Island centenarian and a pirate shared a name, maybe more (November 2021); William Howard (Ocracoke Island Journal, July 2019)
  21. Howard's departure from Blackbeard's company before the final fight rests on secondary accounts giving July or August 1718; no primary document fixes the date, though his absence from the Ocracoke action is consistent with the record. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Local-history article and calendared state papers: William Howard (Ocracoke Island Journal, July 2019); Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol. 30, No. 800, pp 430-432
  22. Both primary documents are held at one remove: the Calendar entry is a printed abstract of Spotswood's manuscript letter, its Colonial Office reference not established, and the articles were read only in an online transcription of an original in Richmond. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers and court indictment: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol. 30, No. 800, pp 430-432 (printed calendar abstract, ed. Cecil Headlam, 1930); Articles (indictment) exhibited against William Howard for piracy and robbery on the high seas, 1718 (online transcription)
  23. No minute of the court that convicted Howard has been located and no defence account survives, so the manner of trial, the exact date and the pardon cutoff (18 August in Spotswood's letter against 23 July in a secondary account) remain to be settled from record sources. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers and secondary article: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol. 30, No. 800, pp 430-432; When Blackbeard Scourged the Seas (Colonial Williamsburg Journal)