OCR Text |
Show ft? 1 1 0 I ELMO SCOTT VATS0N IJC. tiiern Ncwsjuptr Union.) "Vai tba Flank!" AIIOUNL the ii'ofrssinn of piracy there lutve ?nuvn up many a legend, leg-end, many :i tradition which have more foundation in fiction than in fact. One of these is the belief that the pirate leader invariably made his victims vic-tims "wall; the planl;." As a matter of fact, this practice was comparatively compara-tively rare anion.z Hie pirates of whom we have any authentic record and so far its is known the only one who actually ac-tually did It was Capt. John Derdrake or "Jack of the Baltic," a Danish pirate of Copenhagen. Perdrake began "as a carpenter In the king's dockyard in Copenhagen from which he was dismissed for drunkenness. He made a few voyages to London as a ship's carpenter and then, upon falling heir to 10,000 ris-dollars, ris-dollars, he built a fast brig sheathed with copper in which he carried lumber lum-ber between Norway and England. But the profits were small and Baltic Jack offered his services and ship to Peter the Great of Russia. They were accepted and lie became master ship-. wright in the royal dockyard at Neva. One day in a fit of anger he killed one of his superiors with an ax and immediately fled aboard his ship and sailed for London to escape the wrath of Peter the Great. In Londoii he armed his vessel with 12 guns and sailed for Norway. On tlte way he was attacked by a Russian man-of-war but defeated it and took pos session. By this time he had definitely defi-nitely decided upon a career of piracy so he gave tiis new vessel the awe-inspiring awe-inspiring name of Sudden Death and set out to plunder the Russian and British shipping. His prizes were many and he found a ready market in Sweden where the rule was no questions ques-tions asked and cash on delivery. To make sure that bis trail would be hard to follow Derdrake adopted the practice of drowning all prisoners by making them walk the plank and for a long time he was successful In making mak-ing his captures without mucVi trouble trou-ble afterwards. Then one day he attacked a Swedish Swed-ish vessel whose captain and crew escaped es-caped in a long boat and hastened to spread the news. The governor of St. Petersburg offered a reward of 4,000 rix-dollars for Baltic Jack's head. Soon afterwards Derdrake captured a Russian ship upon which the governor's gov-ernor's sister was a passenger. After reproaching her for her brother's doings, do-ings, the pirate leader cruelly stabbed her to. death in the back. But this was too much for one of his sailors. This pirate shammed sickness and was put ashore by the captain. He immediately went to St. Petersburg and betrayed the hiding place of the pirates. Two ships were dispatched to capture them and, although Derdrake Der-drake himself escaped at the time, bis whole crew was captured and hung up on books alive to die miserably, fourteen years later Derdrake was seen In Stockholm by the captain of the Swedish ship who bad once escaped es-caped from him. The pirate was arretted, ar-retted, tried and hanged. Doctor Dover's Busy Life A PIRATE'S life was, of necessity, one filled with action, but It Is doubtful if any of the brethren of the coast ever had a more varied career than Dr. Thomas Dover. He was educated at Caius college, Cambridge, Cam-bridge, England, where lie took the degree of bachelor of medicine, after which he practiced bis profession at Bristol. Then in 170S some adventur cms streak in bis character asserted St? el f and lie sailed from Bristol will. Capt. YVoodcs Rogers in two ships the .Duke and the Duchess, on a priva leering cruise in the South Seas. Although Doctor Dover knew notn Ing of navigation he insisted upon being be-ing placed in command of one of the ships and apparently made good at the ne.v job from the start. Soon after they had rounded Cape Horn they observed a light on the Island of Juan Fernandez and Dover went ashore the next morning. There he d'scovercd the lone inhabitant of the island, Alexander Selkirk, the original orig-inal of Robinson Cru.'-oe. Soon afterwards Rogers and Dover overhauled a Spanish ship, took possession pos-session of her and rechristened her the Bachelor. Dover was put in command com-mand Mid in April, 17011, he sacked the city of Ouayanuil. Some of his crew fell victims to the plague from sleeping in a church where some I'ocfes had recently been buried. Thr doctor commander took heroic measures, meas-ures, lie bled each i-ick man, drawing draw-ing olT UK) ounces of blood! Dover's next prize was the rich sl ip. Aiapaic-o. from which lie obtained loot valued at more than a million 'Oimds Sterling. Then he sailed on around the world and returned to r.n.-tol in October. 1711, where he decided de-cided to give up piracy and return to !i;s old profession. Me became one of :lie nio:t noted physicians in London anil wrote a book which ran into many iv'iiinns. Inciclt-n ! a 1 ly in this hook be recoiiMiienclc cl large do-.es of quicksilver quick-silver for every conceivable malady, ibis book won him the nickname of ti e "Quicks:!-, it Doctor." It is dnul'ira! if any other pirate leader has so many claims to fame as this "Quicksilver Doctor" who is remembered beau-e be was a success in two professions, invented Dover's powders, rescued Alexander Selkirk j and wrote an extraordinary look. "Tie At!' i i:i I'hyslcia'i's l.eirac- to tiis ' : ry." |