Furious and desperate, after his loss, Bull gathered about him a small force determined to attack the French and gain compensation. There is no record of any success, nor was there probably any, as Bull soon looked for other means of regaining what he felt was his due.
In late summer or early fall, accompanied by a crew of 16 or more men “from the eastern settlements,” he sailed into Pemaquid Harbor in some stolen boats and attacked the fort. This fort, or rather a stockade, had been built in 1630 or ‘31 as a protection from the French as the Indians at that time had not presented a problem to the English there. As opposed to the swarming horde of my childhood imagination, they would not have sailed into the harbor with cannons blazing. Known to the people there as fellow traders, they would have rowed to shore uneventfully. The 16 men occupied themselves with rifling through the stores and the furs, taking anything of value. As they were weighing anchor to leave, one of the traders at the fort got off a lucky shot and killed one of Bull’s men, dropping him to the deck. As far as can be determined, that was the only casualty.
On November 21 1632, Governor Winthrop in Boston received a letter recounting the piracy.
Leaders of the coastal settlement jumped into action to apprehend the man who was now considered a pirate. The men of Portsmouth readied a fleet of four boats and took off in pursuit. Back in Massachusetts, Winthrop agreed, after meeting with his council on December 5, to send off a boat with 20 armed men to accompany the Portsmouth crew. Contrary winds, probably bitter northeasterlies, allowed the company to proceed only as far as Cape Ann from where they returned to Boston on January 2, 1633.
Meanwhile news arrived that the vessels from Portsmouth had made it as far as Pemaquid, where they were harbor bound for three weeks, by high, contrary winds as well.
With winter closing in, there was little enthusiasm to pursue the gang of pirates in the small, relatively open boats of the time, and there appeared to be no more activity on the part of the buccaneers either. That did not, however, prevent the spread of fear and rumor up and down the coast.
In January, the Portsmouth men stopped at Richmond’s Island off Cape Elizabeth on their return journey, long enough to apprehend three deserters from Bull’s crew and to hang an Indian named “Black Will” for the murder of Walter Bagnell, an unscrupulous trader, whose dishonesty had finally caught up with him.
In the spring, a half-hearted attempt was made to locate the pirate, Dixie Bull. But then the governor received a letter purported to be from him and his crew, which read, in part, “ We next proceed south; never shall we hurt any more of your countrymen-rather be sunk than taken.” It was signed “Fortune de Garde.” Not wishing to force a bloody confrontation, the search for Dixie Bull was called off.
Dixie Bull and his band were said to have sailed off to the east and were lost to history.
But where did they go, and did they bury a treasure trove on either Damariscove Island or Cushing Island, as local legends have said.
The answer to the second, is “probably not.” Both islands were inhabited at the time, so it would have been extremely risky to even stop there. Damariscove already had a year round fishing settlement when the Pilgrims arrived. In fact, in the spring of 1622, the Pilgrims sent a party there to procure food for the starving Plymouth colony, and were given a boatload of cod. Without this fish, the Pilgrims might not have survived. Additionally, the plunder from Pemaquid would have consisted mainly of staples and furs, not something one would leave behind.
Stories abound about the fate of the pirates as well. Did they sail to the south? Did they sail to the eastward and join up with the French? There is no evidence any of that happened. A popular poem of the 1600’s has Bull dying in a sword fight, and another that he was hanged in London. There are no records of any of that happening.
There is a record, however, that in 1648, Dixie Bull, of London, was released from his obligations of his apprenticeship to his brother. It would appear, then, that the frightful pirate, Dixie Bull, went on to lead a rather mundane life and probably died an obscure death.
For more information, the author recommends A Brief Account of the Wicked Doings of Dixie Bull by Jim McLain.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Friday, November 5, 2010
Dixie Bull: New England's First Pirate
By Bill Millarrrrgh.
Rocky and windswept, Damariscove Island sits like a sentinel in the ocean guarding the approaches into Boothbay Harbor. Rugged, like most of its kind, it possesses a fair harbor and long history. It is here, that the pirate, Dixie Bull, was said to have buried his treasure.
As a child, our family would pack the cooler, fill the thermos bottle and load into the old Chevy for an annual trip up the coast to Pemaquid, where, having our fill of the beach, we would make the short drive over to Ft. William Henry and climb around the stone walls and tower. Visitor signs and artifacts in the museum told how, in 1632, the pirate, Dixie Bull, had sailed into the harbor and laid waste to the place. In my young imagination, I pictured a fleet of tall vessels, their cannon belching smoke and flame, disgorging a horde of black, bearded ruffians, who took plunder and no prisoners. And, I often wondered who this Dixie Bull, known as New England’s first pirate and the reason for the first large man hunt in the area, really was.
The early 17th century brought an end to the period of exploration along the east coast and ushered in the age of settlements. Both the English and the French began settling and building trading posts along the shore of New England, in some cases in competing areas. This was the New England into which Dixie Bull arrived.
Born in Huntingdonshire in England, sometime in the early 1600’s, he was apprenticed to his older brother, Seth, a skinner and tanner in London. Skinners, at that time, ranked among the wealthiest trade guilds in that they regulated the fur trade. Bull became a “trader for bever,” and, in fact may have used his apprenticeship as a form of indenture to finance his passage to America.
His name first appears in New England along with his elder brother and nephew in a patent for land from Sir Fernando Gorges “east of the Aquamentiquos River (Now the York River)” Since Bull’s name does not carry with it the title of “gentlemen” or “esquire,” he was probably not considered wealthy. There is also no indication that he settled the land granted to him.
Setting himself up as a trader, he purchased a shallop, the pick-up truck of early colonial shipping. Small, open, sometimes half decked, these boats were fitted with sails, oars, or both, and were designed for operating in shallow waters. Sailing up and down the Maine coast, Bull traded for beaver pelts, a staple in the economy of the time.
While beginning a life he hoped would be prosperous, international events overtook Dixie Bull. By the Treaty of St. Germain en Laye in March of 1632, the English had returned to France, Quebec and Acadia. Interpreting the treaty to include those lands in what is now eastern Maine, French Lt. Governor Isaac de Razilly warned the English not to expand east of Pemaquid and sent an expedition to the trading post at the Penobscot Plantation. A French vessel, piloted by a “treacherous Scotsman,” robbed the trading post there, taking away everything of value, taunting the English as they left. In this one instance, Bull lost everything, including his boat. The up and coming businessman was left destitute.
To be continued
Rocky and windswept, Damariscove Island sits like a sentinel in the ocean guarding the approaches into Boothbay Harbor. Rugged, like most of its kind, it possesses a fair harbor and long history. It is here, that the pirate, Dixie Bull, was said to have buried his treasure.
As a child, our family would pack the cooler, fill the thermos bottle and load into the old Chevy for an annual trip up the coast to Pemaquid, where, having our fill of the beach, we would make the short drive over to Ft. William Henry and climb around the stone walls and tower. Visitor signs and artifacts in the museum told how, in 1632, the pirate, Dixie Bull, had sailed into the harbor and laid waste to the place. In my young imagination, I pictured a fleet of tall vessels, their cannon belching smoke and flame, disgorging a horde of black, bearded ruffians, who took plunder and no prisoners. And, I often wondered who this Dixie Bull, known as New England’s first pirate and the reason for the first large man hunt in the area, really was.
The early 17th century brought an end to the period of exploration along the east coast and ushered in the age of settlements. Both the English and the French began settling and building trading posts along the shore of New England, in some cases in competing areas. This was the New England into which Dixie Bull arrived.
Born in Huntingdonshire in England, sometime in the early 1600’s, he was apprenticed to his older brother, Seth, a skinner and tanner in London. Skinners, at that time, ranked among the wealthiest trade guilds in that they regulated the fur trade. Bull became a “trader for bever,” and, in fact may have used his apprenticeship as a form of indenture to finance his passage to America.
His name first appears in New England along with his elder brother and nephew in a patent for land from Sir Fernando Gorges “east of the Aquamentiquos River (Now the York River)” Since Bull’s name does not carry with it the title of “gentlemen” or “esquire,” he was probably not considered wealthy. There is also no indication that he settled the land granted to him.
Setting himself up as a trader, he purchased a shallop, the pick-up truck of early colonial shipping. Small, open, sometimes half decked, these boats were fitted with sails, oars, or both, and were designed for operating in shallow waters. Sailing up and down the Maine coast, Bull traded for beaver pelts, a staple in the economy of the time.
While beginning a life he hoped would be prosperous, international events overtook Dixie Bull. By the Treaty of St. Germain en Laye in March of 1632, the English had returned to France, Quebec and Acadia. Interpreting the treaty to include those lands in what is now eastern Maine, French Lt. Governor Isaac de Razilly warned the English not to expand east of Pemaquid and sent an expedition to the trading post at the Penobscot Plantation. A French vessel, piloted by a “treacherous Scotsman,” robbed the trading post there, taking away everything of value, taunting the English as they left. In this one instance, Bull lost everything, including his boat. The up and coming businessman was left destitute.
To be continued
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
