William Read (pirate)

William Read (died 1701, last name occasionally Reed) was a pirate active in the Indian Ocean near Madagascar. He is best known for rescuing fellow pirate captains John Bowen and Thomas White.

History

Read was captain of Alexander, a 60-ton[1] brigantine based out of Madagascar.[2] Around 1701 he stopped near the settlement of a local native king. Thomas White and John Bowen had been aboard a French pirate ship which wrecked nearby and had been in the care of the king for over a year.[2] The king was hospitable but insisted they leave on the first ship to arrive.[3] Read took them aboard and proceeded around the Madagascar coast, picking up stranded European sailors to increase his crew.[3] Bowen was elected sailing master and handled navigation for Alexander.[4]

Now with 40[1] to 60[3] men they sailed to the Persian Gulf and took a 200-ton grab loaded with bale goods. Thinking the bales worthless, the pirates threw them overboard, not realizing the ship’s crew had hidden their gold and valuables inside the bales.[3] Read soon died of illness, replaced by a Captain James, who was himself replaced by Bowen after they had exchanged Alexander for the captured grab.[3] Thomas White remained aboard until leaving to sail with Nathaniel North.[5]

William Read of Alexander should not be confused with William Read of Ranger, a pirate who served under Captain Charles Harris until Harris was abandoned by Edward Low and captured by HMS Greyhound in 1723.[6]

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See also
  • George Booth (pirate), another prominent pirate linked to White, Bowen, and North (and possibly Read) in the same time period

References
  1. Ellms, Charles (1837). The Pirates Own Book by Charles Ellms. Portland: Sanborn and Carter. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  2. Gosse, Philip (1924). The Pirates' Who's Who by Philip Gosse. New York: Burt Franklin. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  3. Grey, Charles (1933). Pirates of the eastern seas (1618-1723): a lurid page of history. London: S. Low, Marston & co., ltd. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  4. "The history of the famous pirate John Bowen | Pirate Shipwrecks - Pirate History and Pirates Treasure". pirateshipwrecks.com. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  5. Romano, Heidi Bosch. "Pirate History: Famous Pirates, Privateers, Buccaneers, and Corsairs U-Z". www.privateerdragons.com. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  6. Admiralty (Rhode Island), High Court Of (1723). Tryals of thirty-six persons for piracy, twenty-eight of them upon full evidence were found guilty, and the rest acquitted. At a Court of Admiralty for tryal of pirates, held at Newport within His Majesties Colony of Rhode-island and Providence-Plantations in America, on the tenth, eleventh and twelfth days of July, anno Dom. 1723. Pursuant to His Majesties commission, founded on an act of Parliament, made in the eleventh & twelfth years of King William the Third, entituled, An act for the more effectual suppression of piracy. And made perpetual by an act of the sixth of King George. Boston MA: Samuel Kneeland. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
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