Nicholas Brown (pirate)

Nicholas Brown (died 1726, first name also Nicolas) was an English pirate who was active off the coast of Jamaica during the early 18th century.

Nicholas Brown
Born
England
Died1726
Caribbean Sea, off the coast of Jamaica
Piratical career
NicknameThe Grand Pirate[1]
TypePirate
AllegianceSpain
Years active1721-1726
RankCaptain
Base of operationsCaribbean Sea

History

Brown was among a large group of pirates who accepted the 1717-1718 pardon offered to pirates by King George.[2] Like several others, he soon returned to piracy, surrendering to the Spanish on Cuba before sailing in their service out of Trinidad.[3] Governor Nicholas Laws of Jamaica wrote to Spanish magistrates in Trinidad in 1722 demanding “Satisfaction of you for so many notorious Robberies which your People have lately committed on the King's Subjects of this Island; particularly by those Traytors, Nicolas Brown and Christopher Winter, to whom you have given Protection.”[3]

In 1723 he captured an English ship near Hispaniola with over 300 slaves aboard. He set the captain and crew adrift and brought the ship to Baracoa, Cuba. Brown paid another sailor to pretend to be the ship’s captain so he could have Spanish officials in Baracoa condemn and sell the ship and slaves as a lawful prize.[4]

He was finally caught and defeated in battle by pirate hunter and former schoolmate John Drudge in November 1726, dying of wounds sustained in the fight.[5] Drudge had Brown's body decapitated and his head pickled in rum so he could collect the reward of £500 offered by the Jamaican government.[6]

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See also
  • John Auger, another pirate who’d accepted the 1717 pardon but later returned to piracy.

References
  1. Romano, Heidi Bosch. "Pirate History: Famous Pirates, Privateers, Buccaneers, and Corsairs A-B". www.privateerdragons.com. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  2. Some sources (such as Woodard) claim that Brown, like Christopher Winter, was present when the pardon was announced but left for Spanish service without accepting it.
  3. Johnson, Captain Charles (1724). A GENERAL HISTORY OF THE PYRATES. London: T. Warner. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  4. Headlam, Cecil (1934). America and West Indies: Miscellaneous, 1723 | British History Online (Vol 33 ed.). 1934: His Majesty's Stationery Office. pp. 425–429. Retrieved 13 September 2017.CS1 maint: location (link)
  5. Earle, Peter (2013). The Pirate Wars. New York: Macmillan. p. 206. ISBN 9781466849075. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  6. Cordingly, David (2013). Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates. New York: Random House Publishing Group. ISBN 9780307763075. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
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