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The ArchivesShipsCharles II

Charles II

London merchantman, forty guns by the 1696 indictment, that lay at the Groyne under Captain Charles Gibson and was carried off by her own company on the night of 7 May 1694.

LaunchedNot establishedTotaken 7 May 1694, the GroyneAlso writtenThe Charles the Second (1696 trial print); the Charles (1696 trial print); the Duke (Johnson, General History, 1724)

She was an English merchantman, and the 1696 Admiralty sessions at the Old Bailey called her the Charles the Second: in the indictment, in the opening for the King, in the mouths of the men who had stood on her deck. Charles II is the modern short form. She was fitted out for the Spanish Indies and never got there. Her own people took her at anchor in Spain, and everything after that belongs to another name.2,3

The Spanish Expedition

She belonged to London men. The opening for the King called her an English vessel belonging to several merchants of the City of London, and William Bishop, defending himself at the second trial, put the same arrangement from below deck: they were "Shipt out of England, in Sir James Hubland's service, to the Spanish West-Indies". Hubland is Sir James Houblon.4

She did not sail alone. The James, under Captain Humphreys, and the Dove went with her. The ships lay at La Coruna, which every English witness calls the Groyne.5,6

Forty guns and a thousand pounds

The Crown priced her when it charged the men who took her: forty pieces of ordnance at five hundred pounds, the ship herself with her tackle, apparel and furniture at one thousand, and the place of the crime about three leagues from the Groyne.7,8,9

Her guns are counted three ways. Forty in the indictment. Forty-six in later accounts, which call her a privateer. "Thirty odd Guns" in Charles Johnson's General History of 1724, which also calls the ship the Duke and moves her owners to Bristol. Johnson is wrong on the name and wrong on the city.10,11

Her people

Her commander was Captain Charles Gibson. Henry Every was aboard as an officer under Gibson. The court was careful with the word, telling the jury that he was no captain but was under the command of Captain Gibson. The later accounts make him first mate; the trial gives him no rank at all, only a part, and the part is ringleader of the plot to carry her away.12,13

Six men stood trial for her in 1696, and they are the ones who can be named. John Gravet was her second mate. William May and John Sparks the court identified as "of this Ships Crew". David Creagh came aboard at the Groyne on 7 May 1694 and appeared at the trial as a witness, not as one of her standing company. The other three men at the bar in 1696 were not hers at all: Thomas Druit named Edward Foreseith, William Bishop and James Lewis as men who came over from the James.14

The night she was taken

The venture ran out of money before it ran out of coast. Wages fell into arrears, and Bishop dated the trouble from the anchorage: "at the Groyn the Men began to complain about wages". Creagh, coming aboard on 7 May, found Every, the ship's carpenter and some others drinking a bowl of punch, and May drank a health to the captain and prosperity to their voyage.15,16

Word reached the James that night that the Charles was going to be run away with, and her mate Thomas Druit manned the pinnace with ten men to recover her. The boat pulled for the Charles instead. Druit told them to put back and they would not, and about five and twenty men went aboard the ship they had been sent to save. Creagh, asked whether there was any uproar or opposition, said there could be none: the men came "from the whole Squadron". One or two guns were fired the whole night, and they came from the James, by Captain Humphreys.17,18,19

Gibson was sick in his cabin. He was set on shore by force, and the men who would not go with Every went into the boat with him. How many they were depends on which witness you take. Creagh, who was in her, counted sixteen, and remembered the four oars they were given in the pinnace and being set aboard the James afterwards. Gravet put it at about seventeen and added that the boat would have held more. John Dann's figure was about fifteen; he watched the men in her call up for a bucket, the boat making water, and handed one down. Nobody who wanted to go was stopped, except the ship's doctor. About a hundred and sixty men stayed aboard.20,21,22,23,24

Two dates

The date will not settle. Creagh put his coming aboard, and the seizure that followed it, on 7 May 1694. The indictment lays the offence on the thirtieth of May, in the sixth year of the reign.1

What the paper does not give is the ship. No builder's certificate, no tonnage, no place or year of building, no rig and no picture: nothing read for this record establishes any of them. The indictment and the evidence of the men who were aboard that night are what is left of her.25

What the evidence does not settle

Construction

  • Charles II's builder, tonnage, build place and build yearConfirmed

Armament

  • Thirty-odd, forty or forty-six gunsPossible

Seizure

  • 7 or 30 May 1694, and the number of men in the departing boat

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 mutiny indictment dates the taking of the Charles the Second to 30 May 1694, a regnal-year form ('the 30th of May, in the 6th Year of the Reign'); the working date of 7 May 1694 rests on Every's declaration and Creagh's testimony, and the two dates do not reconcile. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial indictment: Printed 1696 trial record (A63217), indictment read verbatim; no '30 April' variant exists in the print; the 7 May / 30 May conflict stays logged as unresolved
  2. The vessel was an English merchant ship named the Charles the Second, so named in the indictment and in the prosecution's opening at the 1696 Old Bailey Admiralty sessions. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis, and John Sparkes... in the company of Every the grand pirate (Old Bailey Admiralty Sessions, 1696)
  3. Her designed voyage was to the Spanish Indies, and it was never made under the name Charles the Second, the mutiny cutting it off. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis, and John Sparkes... in the company of Every the grand pirate (Old Bailey Admiralty Sessions, 1696)
  4. She belonged to London merchants, described in court as several merchants of the City, and her men were 'Shipt out of England, in Sir James Hubland's service, to the Spanish West-Indies', that is in the service of Sir James Houblon. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis, and John Sparkes... in the company of Every the grand pirate (Old Bailey Admiralty Sessions, 1696)
  5. She sailed in a squadron, the James under Captain Humphreys and the Dove being named as her consorts in the trial. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis, and John Sparkes... in the company of Every the grand pirate (Old Bailey Admiralty Sessions, 1696)
  6. The ships lay at La Coruna, the port the English witnesses call the Groyne. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis, and John Sparkes... in the company of Every the grand pirate (Old Bailey Admiralty Sessions, 1696), for the ship's lying at the Groyne
  7. The 1696 indictment lays forty pieces of ordnance, valued at five hundred pounds, in the ship at her seizure. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis, and John Sparkes... in the company of Every the grand pirate (Old Bailey Admiralty Sessions, 1696)
  8. The same indictment prices the ship herself, with her tackle, apparel and furniture, at one thousand pounds. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis, and John Sparkes... in the company of Every the grand pirate (Old Bailey Admiralty Sessions, 1696), the indictment read at the Admiralty sessions of Saturday 31 October 1696, print p. 10
  9. The indictment lays the taking about three leagues from the Groyne, within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty of England. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis, and John Sparkes... in the company of Every the grand pirate (Old Bailey Admiralty Sessions, 1696), the indictment read at the Admiralty sessions of Saturday 31 October 1696, print p. 10
  10. The gun counts given for her disagree: forty in the 1696 indictment, forty-six in later accounts that describe her as a privateer, and 'thirty odd Guns' in Charles Johnson's General History of 1724. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Trial pamphlet and period narrative: The Tryals of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis, and John Sparkes... in the company of Every the grand pirate (Old Bailey Admiralty Sessions, 1696); A General History of the Pyrates (Life of Captain Avery)
  11. Johnson's General History of 1724 calls the ship the Duke and places her owners at Bristol, against the trial's Charles the Second and its London merchants. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Life of Captain Avery)
  12. Her commander was Captain Charles Gibson. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis, and John Sparkes... in the company of Every the grand pirate (Old Bailey Admiralty Sessions, 1696)
  13. Henry Every served as an officer under Gibson and was the ringleader of the plot to carry the ship away; the court told the jury he was no captain but was under the command of Captain Gibson, and the rank of first mate comes from later accounts rather than from the trial. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Trial pamphlet and period narrative: The Tryals of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis, and John Sparkes... in the company of Every the grand pirate (Old Bailey Admiralty Sessions, 1696), for his standing in the ship and the plot; with A General History of the Pyrates (Life of Captain Avery) for the rank of first mate
  14. The trial names John Gravet as her second mate and William May and John Sparks as 'of this Ships Crew'; David Creagh came aboard at the Groyne on 7 May 1694 and is not established as a standing member of her company, and the other three men tried in 1696, William Bishop, James Lewis and Edward Foreseith, belonged to the consort James. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis, and John Sparkes... in the company of Every the grand pirate (Old Bailey Admiralty Sessions, 1696), the evidence of John Gravet, Thomas Druit and John Dann at the trial of 31 October 1696
  15. The venture's wages fell into arrears, and William Bishop told the court that at the Groyne 'the Men began to complain about wages'. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis, and John Sparkes... in the company of Every the grand pirate (Old Bailey Admiralty Sessions, 1696), the defence of William Bishop
  16. David Creagh told the court that when he came aboard he found Every, the ship's carpenter and some others drinking a bowl of punch, and that May drank a health to the captain and prosperity to their voyage. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis, and John Sparkes... in the company of Every the grand pirate (Old Bailey Admiralty Sessions, 1696), the evidence of David Creagh at the trial of 31 October 1696, print p. 15
  17. Thomas Druit, mate of the consort James, was told the Charles the Second was going to be run away with and went with ten men to recover her. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis, and John Sparkes... in the company of Every the grand pirate (Old Bailey Admiralty Sessions, 1696), the evidence of Thomas Druit at the trial of 31 October 1696, print p. 14
  18. The men in Druit's boat refused his order to put back and went away to the Charles, about five and twenty of them. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis, and John Sparkes... in the company of Every the grand pirate (Old Bailey Admiralty Sessions, 1696), the evidence of Thomas Druit at the trial of 31 October 1696, print p. 14
  19. The seizure met no opposition, the men coming 'from the whole Squadron', and only one or two guns were fired, from the James by Captain Humphreys. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis, and John Sparkes... in the company of Every the grand pirate (Old Bailey Admiralty Sessions, 1696), the evidence of David Creagh
  20. Gibson, sick in his cabin, was set on shore by force on the night of 7 May 1694 and the ship was carried off with about a hundred and sixty men aboard. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis, and John Sparkes... in the company of Every the grand pirate (Old Bailey Admiralty Sessions, 1696)
  21. Creagh said sixteen of them came into the boat, that they were given four oars in the pinnace, and that they were set adrift and put aboard the James. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis, and John Sparkes... in the company of Every the grand pirate (Old Bailey Admiralty Sessions, 1696), the evidence of David Creagh at the trial of 31 October 1696, print p. 16
  22. Gravet said about seventeen went off in the boat and that it would have held more. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis, and John Sparkes... in the company of Every the grand pirate (Old Bailey Admiralty Sessions, 1696), the evidence of John Gravet at the trial of 31 October 1696, print p. 13
  23. John Dann said about fifteen went, and that the men in the boat cried that there was water in her and were given a bucket to heave it over. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis, and John Sparkes... in the company of Every the grand pirate (Old Bailey Admiralty Sessions, 1696), the evidence of John Dann at the trial of 31 October 1696, print p. 17
  24. Nobody who wished to leave the ship was stopped except her doctor. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis, and John Sparkes... in the company of Every the grand pirate (Old Bailey Admiralty Sessions, 1696), the evidence of David Creagh at the trial of 31 October 1696, print p. 16
  25. No contemporary builder's certificate, tonnage, build place or build year for the Charles the Second has been located. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Joseph Dawson, Edward Forseith, William May, William Bishop, James Lewis, and John Sparkes... in the company of Every the grand pirate (Old Bailey Admiralty Sessions, 1696)