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Victory

The second ship of Edward England's and John Taylor's Indian Ocean squadron, taken from Bristol owners as the Peterborough Galley and renamed, present at the taking of the Cassandra at Johanna in August 1720, and reportedly burnt as unseaworthy at Madagascar the following year.

Launchedc. 1719, Guinea coastToburnt 1721, MadagascarAlso writtenPeterborough Galley of Bristol (her name before England renamed her, in A General History of the Pyrates); Peterborough (short form in the same narrative)

Edward England and John Taylor had two ships in the Indian Ocean in 1720. Captain Macrae, who fought them both, and A Compendious History of the Indian Wars name only the Fancy and the Cassandra. Victory is the name A General History of the Pyrates gives the second ship, and nobody else gives her any.1,2

The Peterborough Galley

Going down the Guinea coast about 1719, England took the Peterborough Galley of Bristol, Captain Owen. He went into a harbour afterwards, cleaned his own ship, and "fitted up the Peterborough, which he call'd the Victory".3

A second ship of the name comes in the same breath. England "took the Peterborough Galley of Bristol, Captain Owen; and the Victory, Captain Ridout; the former they detained, but plundered the latter, and let her go". Ridout's Victory was robbed and released, and sails out of the story there. A third has to be kept clear as well, the Victory Frigate of Commodore Matthews' anti-pirate squadron, in which Clement Downing later served. None of the three is the Royal Navy's Victory of 1765.4,5

The company voted on what voyage to take. The majority carried it for the East Indies, and they were at Madagascar at the beginning of 1720.6

Thirty guns, or thirty-four

Macrae was ready to sail out of Johanna on the morning of the 17th of August 1720, Old Style, when he saw "two Pyrate Ships standing into the Bay of Juanna, one of thirty four, and the other of thirty Guns". He does not say which figure belonged to which ship.7,8

Nor does he name either of them. Through the action he tells them apart by what they do. The biggest "received some Shot betwixt Wind and Water, which made her keep off a little to stop her Leaks". The other tried to board, rowing with her oars, and lay within half a ship's length of the Cassandra above an hour, until his own men "shot all her Oars to Pieces".9

Later writers make John Taylor commander of the Victory and Edward England commander of the Fancy. Downing and Macrae both put England and Taylor in the bay, and neither says whose deck either man stood on, and the allocation runs against the very book that gives her the name, in which England fits up the Peterborough and calls her the Victory himself.10

Four pumps at work

The pirates had so disabled the Fancy that they had no use for her, and made Macrae a present of "the said shattered Ship, which was Dutch built, called the Fancy, about three hundred Tons", with a hundred and twenty nine bales of the Company's cloth. They kept the Victory.11

Her people were never counted apart from her consort's. Macrae reckoned that when the pirates left him they were "about three hundred Whites and eighty Blacks in both Ships". Later in the cruise, off the Malabar coast, the pirates fell in among a fleet they had taken for Angria's and had "no more than 300 Men in both Ships, and 40 of them Negroes". The two do not agree, and neither is a count of the Victory alone.12,13

In that same chase "the Victory had then four Pumps at Work, and must inevitably been lost before, had it not been for some Hand-Pumps, and several pair of Standards brought out of the Cassandra, to relieve and strengthen her". On the passage to Mauritius the company were about to quit her, and had done it, but for a quantity of arrack and sugar she had on board.14,15

At Mauritius about the middle of February 1721 they "sheathed and refitted the Victory", and sailed on 5 April, leaving a line on one of the walls: "Left this Place the 5th of April, to go to Madagascar for Limes". That was the last work done on her.16,17

Burnt at Madagascar

By the one account of her end she was burnt at Madagascar in 1721, "the Victory being leaky, she was burnt, the Men (as many as would) coming into the Cassandra, under the Command of Taylor". No anchorage was named for it and no day, only the island and the year.18

No wreck, no site and no object has been attributed to her.19

What the surviving paper does not give is the ship. No ship's register, no builder's certificate, no survey, no muster: nothing of the kind was located for her, and her Bristol origin, her tonnage and her gun figure all rest on later narrative rather than on primary documentation. She has no picture, and no name in anything written by a man who stood on her deck or fought her.20

What the evidence does not settle

Name

  • Independent evidence for the name VictoryConfirmed

Armament and command

  • Which hull carried thirty-four guns and which captain commanded it

Construction

  • Victory's builder, register, tonnage and musterConfirmed

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 name Victory for the second ship of Edward England's and John Taylor's Indian Ocean squadron rests on A General History of the Pyrates alone; the two first-hand accounts read for this record, Captain Macrae's letter from Bombay and A Compendious History of the Indian Wars, name only the Fancy and the Cassandra. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative and first-hand accounts: A General History of the Pyrates (Chapter of Captain England); A Letter from Captain Mackra, dated at Bombay, Nov. 16, 1720 (as printed in Johnson); A Compendious History of the Indian Wars... Also the Transactions of a Squadron of Men of War under Commodore Matthews
  2. England's and Taylor's squadron in the Indian Ocean in 1720 comprised two pirate ships, the Fancy and the Victory. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chapter of Captain England)
  3. Going down the Guinea coast about 1719 England took the Peterborough Galley of Bristol, Captain Owen; he afterwards went into a harbour, cleaned his own ship, and "fitted up the Peterborough, which he call'd the Victory". Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chapter of Captain England)
  4. A different and unrelated merchantman was also named Victory: on the same coast England "took the Peterborough Galley of Bristol, Captain Owen; and the Victory, Captain Ridout; the former they detained, but plundered the latter, and let her go". Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chapter of Captain England)
  5. A third vessel of the name must be kept apart from the pirate Victory and from Ridout's, the Victory Frigate of Commodore Matthews' anti-pirate squadron in which Clement Downing later served, and none of the three is the Royal Navy's Victory of 1765. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Period narrative and library catalogue record: A General History of the Pyrates (Chapter of Captain England); WorldCat record: full title of Downing's Compendious History of the Indian Wars (OCLC 642253168)
  6. Coming out to sea the pirates put it to a vote what voyage to take, the majority carried it for the East Indies, and they were at Madagascar at the beginning of 1720. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chapter of Captain England)
  7. Macrae, ready to sail out of Johanna, saw "two Pyrate Ships standing into the Bay of Juanna, one of thirty four, and the other of thirty Guns", and does not say which figure belonged to which ship. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Printed letter: A Letter from Captain Mackra, dated at Bombay, Nov. 16, 1720 (as printed in Johnson)
  8. Macrae dates the sighting of the two pirate ships at Johanna to the morning of the 17th of August 1720, Old Style. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Printed letter: A Letter from Captain Mackra, dated at Bombay, Nov. 16, 1720 (as printed in Johnson)
  9. Through the engagement Macrae distinguishes the two pirate ships only by what they did, the biggest "received some Shot betwixt Wind and Water, which made her keep off a little to stop her Leaks" while the other tried to board by rowing with her oars until Macrae's men "shot all her Oars to Pieces", and he names neither. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Printed letter: A Letter from Captain Mackra, dated at Bombay, Nov. 16, 1720 (as printed in Johnson)
  10. Later writers make John Taylor commander of the Victory and Edward England commander of the Fancy, an allocation that the first-hand accounts do not make, since they name both captains but assign neither to a named ship, and that runs against A General History of the Pyrates, in which England fits up the Peterborough and calls her the Victory himself. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Period narrative and first-hand narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chapter of Captain England); A Compendious History of the Indian Wars... Also the Transactions of a Squadron of Men of War under Commodore Matthews
  11. After the action the pirates did not give Macrae the Victory but the disabled Fancy, "the said shattered Ship, which was Dutch built, called the Fancy, about three hundred Tons", with a hundred and twenty nine bales of the Company's cloth, and kept the Victory. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Printed letter: A Letter from Captain Mackra, dated at Bombay, Nov. 16, 1720 (as printed in Johnson)
  12. Macrae reckoned that when the pirates left him they were "about three hundred Whites and eighty Blacks in both Ships", a figure for the two ships together and not for the Victory alone. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Printed letter: A Letter from Captain Mackra, dated at Bombay, Nov. 16, 1720 (as printed in Johnson)
  13. In the encounter with the fleet off the Malabar coast that the pirates had taken for Angria's, A General History of the Pyrates gives them "no more than 300 Men in both Ships, and 40 of them Negroes", which does not agree with Macrae's count. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chapter of Captain England)
  14. In that same chase "the Victory had then four Pumps at Work, and must inevitably been lost before, had it not been for some Hand-Pumps, and several pair of Standards brought out of the Cassandra, to relieve and strengthen her". Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chapter of Captain England)
  15. On the passage to Mauritius the company were about to quit the leaky ship and would have done it but for a quantity of arrack and sugar she had on board, without which most of them must have perished. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chapter of Captain England)
  16. At Mauritius about the middle of February 1721 the pirates "sheathed and refitted the Victory", and sailed again on 5 April 1721. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chapter of Captain England)
  17. Sailing from Mauritius the pirates left an inscription on one of the walls reading "Left this Place the 5th of April, to go to Madagascar for Limes". Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chapter of Captain England)
  18. At Madagascar in 1721, the plunder shared and the company having no occasion for two ships, "the Victory being leaky, she was burnt, the Men (as many as would) coming into the Cassandra, under the Command of Taylor", and no independent confirmation of the burning was located. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chapter of Captain England)
  19. No wreck, archaeological site or material object has been attributed to the pirate Victory, which is consistent with the report that she was burnt at Madagascar. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (Chapter of Captain England)
  20. No contemporary ship's register, builder's certificate, survey or muster for the Victory was located, and her Bristol origin, her tonnage and her gun figure all rest on later narrative rather than on primary documentation. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative and printed letter: A General History of the Pyrates (Chapter of Captain England); A Letter from Captain Mackra, dated at Bombay, Nov. 16, 1720 (as printed in Johnson)