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Ranger (Roberts's consort)

The French-built prize Bartholomew Roberts's company took out of Whydah Road and sailed as consort to the Royal Fortune, carrying 32 guns put into her by the pirates and 132 men on Ogle's report, 23 of them Black, when HMS Swallow took her off Cape Lopez on 5 February 1722 under Captain James Skyrm.

LaunchedNot establishedTotaken 5 February 1722, off Cape LopezAlso writtenthe Ranger (Ogle's report and the Cape Corso trial record); the French Ranger (the Cape Corso trial record); the new Ranger (Johnson's General History, in Harry Glasby's evidence)

The Ranger was the consort to Bartholomew Roberts's Royal Fortune, and she is the ship HMS Swallow took off Cape Lopez on 5 February 1722. She was called the Ranger, the French Ranger and the new Ranger, three names for one hull. Her captain that day was James Skyrm.1

Which Ranger

Three vessels lay under the cape that morning; one weighed. The ship that gave chase was the new French consort of thirty-two guns: not the 24-gun ship the company had quitted that same morning to man her, which was found abandoned on the 12th, and not the Little Ranger, the storeship that held the company's gold dust.2

The prize out of Whydah Road

She came into the company's hands at Whydah Road. She was French built and had formerly been a privateer of St Malo, and the pirates fitted her for their own service, quitting an older consort of 24 guns to man her.3

Ogle's report says they "had put into her 32 Guns", and the charge read against her people describes "a French built Ship of 32 Guns, call'd the Ranger". Modern accounts give her sixteen guns and call her the Comte de Toulouse, a French sloop of war; sixteen guns sits badly with a St Malo privateer refitted for a pirate company.4

Her company

Ogle counted "132 Men, 23 of whom were Blacks" aboard her in the action. Johnson breaks the complement down differently, at sixteen Frenchmen, twenty Black men and seventy-seven English, about 113.5

By the company's custom the hands who went aboard for a chase were volunteers out of the Royal Fortune, and Harry Glasby's evidence had Roberts hail the new Ranger and bid them get under sail after what he took the Swallow to be, a sugar ship.6

An hour and a half

The Swallow was hauling off to clear the Frenchman's Bank, and Ogle held that course, so that a working ship looked like a running one. The Ranger came after her, and when they closed she fought under a black flag and, with it, a red English ensign, a King's jack and a Dutch pendant. Her main-topmast came down, and by Ogle's account "she struck and called for Quarter" after an hour and a half. Johnson gives two hours' firing. The colours came down about three, and the black ones went over the side, so that they might not rise in judgment against her people.7,8

Ogle reports twenty-six of her men killed and wounded. Johnson tallies ten killed outright and twenty hurt, and adds that the King's ship lost not a man.9

Skyrm

Skyrm commanded her in the fight, and the evidence at his trial was that he ordered every man to his quarters and the guns loaded and fired. He had been forced out of a mate's place aboard the sloop Greyhound of St Christopher's in October 1720, and was captain of the Ranger afterwards. He pleaded at his trial that he was a forced man. The court took that for an aggravation of the offence rather than an excuse for it.10,11

A shot took his leg off during the action. He would not be dressed or carried below while anything was left to fight. Ogle wrote of him only that he was the captain, "who had a Leg shot off".12

The court at Cape Corso

Her people were tried at the Royal African Company's castle at Cape Corso, for want of an admiralty court on that coast. The commission opened on 28 March 1722 under Captain Mungo Heardman, and Ogle could not sit on it: "I being Captor, was disqualified from sitting". The court convicted Skyrm, and gave its reason in a line: "a Commander of a Pyrate-ship who fought against the King's Colours, must in the highest degree be Guilty".13,14

He was sentenced to be carried to the place of execution and "there within the Flood-marks to be hanged by the Neck 'till ye are Dead, Dead, Dead". The warrant is dated 2 April 1722; he was hanged outside the castle gates within days, and the roll of the executed enters him as a Welshman of forty-four. Of the whole company, 74 were acquitted, 52 executed, 2 respited, 20 sent to servitude and 17 to the Marshalsea; 10 were killed in the Ranger and 3 in the Fortune, 15 died on the passage to Cape Corso and 4 afterwards in the castle, and 70 Black men were taken in the two ships. 276 in all.15,16

What became of her

The Swallow lay by her about two days, patched her rigging, and on the night of the 6th sent her to Princes Island with the French men aboard and four of the Swallow's own hands. On the morning of the 10th Ogle was back under the cape, and in the action that followed he took the Royal Fortune, formerly the Onslow, of 40 guns and about 152 men, and Roberts was killed.17,18

There was an ugly coda. After she struck, a few of the most desperate of her people fired a pistol into powder left in the steerage and burned several of themselves instead. William Main and Roger Ball were among them, and Ball died of a mortification the next day.19

Nothing of her has ever been found. No wreck, no salvaged timber, no object has been identified as the Ranger, and she sailed out of the story on Ogle's order for Princes Island.20

What the record does not give is the ship. No builder, no tonnage, no dimensions, no rig, no French name before the pirates had her, no date for her building. Her armament is known only as the pirates left it, thirty-two guns put into a hull that had carried some other number, and her complement and her dead are each two counts that disagree. Nobody has established how the 24-gun ship abandoned under the cape stands to Johnson's Little Ranger, and no wreck or salvaged object has been tied to her.

What the evidence does not settle

Build

  • Ranger's builder, tonnage, dimensions and rig

Armament

  • Her guns are given as sixteen by modern accounts, thirty-two by Ogle

Identity as Little Ranger

  • Whether the abandoned 24-gun ship is Johnson's Little Ranger is unresolved

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 vessel HMS Swallow took off Cape Lopez on 5 February 1722 was the pirate consort to Bartholomew Roberts's Royal Fortune, named in the sources as the Ranger, the French Ranger and the new Ranger, and commanded by James Skyrm. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Naval report and trial record: Report of Captain Chaloner Ogle of His Majesty's Ship Swallow (printed in the 1723 Tryal account); The particular Tryal of Captain James Skyrm (Cape Coast Castle); A General History of the Pyrates
  2. Three pirate vessels lay at Cape Lopez on 5 February 1722, and the ship taken that day was the new 32-gun French consort, distinct both from the older 24-gun ship the pirates quitted that morning and found abandoned on the 12th, and from the Little Ranger storeship of Johnson's narrative. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Naval report and period narrative: Report of Captain Chaloner Ogle of His Majesty's Ship Swallow (printed in the 1723 Tryal account); A General History of the Pyrates
  3. The Ranger was a French-built ship that the pirates carried off from Whydah Road, reported to have been formerly a privateer of St Malo, and fitted for their own service in place of an older consort of 24 guns. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Naval report: Report of Captain Chaloner Ogle of His Majesty's Ship Swallow (printed in the 1723 Tryal account); A General History of the Pyrates
  4. The Ranger mounted thirty-two guns as fitted by the pirates, Ogle's report stating that they had put into her 32 guns and the charge at Cape Coast Castle describing a French-built ship of 32 guns called the Ranger, against which the sixteen-gun figure of the modern accounts, and their identification of her as the Comte de Toulouse, are not carried. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Naval report and trial record: Report of Captain Chaloner Ogle of His Majesty's Ship Swallow (printed in the 1723 Tryal account); Deposition of Isaac Sun, Ralph Baldrick and Daniel Maclauglin at the Cape Coast Castle trial; A General History of the Pyrates
  5. Ogle's report gives the Ranger 132 men in the action, 23 of them Black, while Johnson's narrative gives her complement as sixteen Frenchmen, twenty Black men and seventy-seven English, about 113 in all. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Naval report and period narrative: Report of Captain Chaloner Ogle of His Majesty's Ship Swallow (printed in the 1723 Tryal account); A General History of the Pyrates
  6. The men who went aboard the Ranger for the chase were, by the company's custom, volunteers out of the Royal Fortune, and Harry Glasby's evidence has Roberts hailing the new Ranger and bidding them right ship and get under sail after the sugar ship he took HMS Swallow to be. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates
  7. On 5 February 1722 the Ranger was decoyed away from Cape Lopez by HMS Swallow, which held her course while hauling off to clear the Frenchman's Bank, and after about an hour and a half of close action, two hours in Johnson's account, the Ranger's main-topmast was shot down and she struck and called for quarter. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Naval report and trial record: Report of Captain Chaloner Ogle of His Majesty's Ship Swallow (printed in the 1723 Tryal account); Deposition of Isaac Sun, Ralph Baldrick and Daniel Maclauglin at the Cape Coast Castle trial; A General History of the Pyrates
  8. The Ranger fought under a black flag together with a red English ensign, a King's jack and a Dutch pendant, which were struck at about three in the afternoon, the black colours being thrown overboard on Johnson's account so that they might not rise in judgment. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Trial deposition and period narrative: Deposition of Isaac Sun, Ralph Baldrick and Daniel Maclauglin at the Cape Coast Castle trial; A General History of the Pyrates
  9. Ogle reports twenty-six of the Ranger's men killed and wounded, while Johnson tallies ten killed outright and twenty wounded and states that the King's ship lost not a man. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Naval report and period narrative: Report of Captain Chaloner Ogle of His Majesty's Ship Swallow (printed in the 1723 Tryal account); Prisoners taken in the Ranger; list of pirates executed; and the account of the whole (Cape Coast Castle); A General History of the Pyrates
  10. James Skyrm, a Welshman, commanded the Ranger in the action and was proved at trial to have ordered the men to their quarters and the guns loaded and fired. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Trial record: The particular Tryal of Captain James Skyrm (Cape Coast Castle); Report of Captain Chaloner Ogle of His Majesty's Ship Swallow (printed in the 1723 Tryal account); A General History of the Pyrates
  11. Skyrm had been forced from a mate's employ on board the sloop Greyhound of St Christopher's in October 1720 and afterwards became captain of the Ranger, and his plea at trial that he was a forced man was rejected by the court as an aggravation rather than an excuse. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Trial record: The particular Tryal of Captain James Skyrm (Cape Coast Castle); Prisoners taken in the Ranger; list of pirates executed; and the account of the whole (Cape Coast Castle)
  12. Skyrm lost a leg to a shot during the action and refused to be dressed or carried off the deck until all was lost. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Naval report and trial record: Report of Captain Chaloner Ogle of His Majesty's Ship Swallow (printed in the 1723 Tryal account); The particular Tryal of Captain James Skyrm (Cape Coast Castle)
  13. The Ranger's people were tried at Cape Corso Castle before a commission opened on 28 March 1722 under President Captain Mungo Heardman, Ogle being disqualified from sitting as the captor. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Trial pamphlet: A Full and Exact Account, of the Tryal of all the Pyrates, Lately Taken by Captain Ogle, on Board the Swallow Man of War, on the Coast of Guinea (London, 1723); Report of Captain Chaloner Ogle of His Majesty's Ship Swallow (printed in the 1723 Tryal account)
  14. Skyrm was found guilty in the highest degree, the court holding that his title of captain, which gave him no precedence out of battle, was here proved a title of authority directing an engagement against the King's colours. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Trial record: The particular Tryal of Captain James Skyrm (Cape Coast Castle)
  15. Skyrm was sentenced to be hanged within the flood-marks and was executed outside the gates of Cape Corso Castle in early April 1722, the warrant in the record being dated 2 April 1722 and the roll of the executed entering him as a Welshman of forty-four. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Trial record: The particular Tryal of Captain James Skyrm (Cape Coast Castle); Prisoners taken in the Ranger; list of pirates executed; and the account of the whole (Cape Coast Castle)
  16. The record's own account of Roberts's whole company from both ships stands at 74 acquitted, 52 executed, 2 respited, 20 to servitude, 17 to the Marshalsea, 10 killed in the Ranger, 3 killed in the Fortune, 15 dead in the passage to Cape Corso, 4 dead afterwards in the castle and 70 Black men in the two ships, 276 in all. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Trial record: Prisoners taken in the Ranger; list of pirates executed; and the account of the whole (Cape Coast Castle)
  17. HMS Swallow lay by the disabled prize for about two days, repaired her rigging, and on the night of the 6th sent her to Princes Island with the French men and four of the Swallow's own hands. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Naval report: Report of Captain Chaloner Ogle of His Majesty's Ship Swallow (printed in the 1723 Tryal account); A General History of the Pyrates
  18. On the morning of 10 February 1722 HMS Swallow returned to Cape Lopez and took Roberts's flagship, the Royal Fortune, formerly the Onslow, of 40 guns and about 152 men, Roberts being killed in that action a few days after the Ranger was taken. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Naval report and period narrative: Report of Captain Chaloner Ogle of His Majesty's Ship Swallow (printed in the 1723 Tryal account); A General History of the Pyrates
  19. Johnson's narrative has a few of the most desperate of the Ranger's people firing a pistol into powder left in the steerage after she struck, burning several of themselves, William Main and Roger Ball among them, Ball dying of a mortification the next day. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates
  20. No wreck, artefact or other physical remains of the Ranger has been identified, and the last record of her afloat is as a prize sent to Princes Island. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Naval report: Report of Captain Chaloner Ogle of His Majesty's Ship Swallow (printed in the 1723 Tryal account)