Show AY AV ELNO ELMO SCOTT WATSON jf i tal r r nt i r ch union A certain pirate named hiram 0 you expect v a man inan with the lie prosale prosaic and sober sobe name nam of hiram to lie be a pirate hold but capt hiram 1 Cre akos the son of a well to do dutch councillor of the island of saba in the west indies was mot cot only a pirate but about as bloodthirsty and desperate a scoundrel as the history of piracy records in tile the year 1764 described ns as a hand handsome well built youth of nineteen was placed in command of a ship plying between saba and amsterdam in amsterdam Amter dam lie he fell in love with mth a mrs and although he and ills his lady love con conspired aired to murder her husband and succeeded in doing so 90 they were mere acquitted of the crime at the trial then hiram de ceded to go ft a lie ile stole his employers ship and cargo renamed the vessel ves sel the adventure and set forth upon his career ills his first exploit was to sail into vigo harbor in full view of the forts guarding it seize a ship the acapulco just in from valparaiso and make oft off with her the captain and crew were murdered and from the chilean ship the pirate took CO small bars of gold then freakes took over the acapulco for his own and sailed into the mediterranean at gibraltar lie he railed called upon the governor and tor for a consideration was granted a commission as aa a british privateer under this semiofficial license to plunder he preyed upon all shipping in the mediterranean british as well as any other A strange paradox this capt hiram breaker for one historian records the tact fact that lie he was one of the religious variety of pirate for after six da days ys of robbing and throat slitting ne he would order his crew to clean themselves on the sabbath and gather on the quarter deck there be would read prayers to them and would often preach a sermon after the lutheran style thus fortifying the brave fellows for another week of toll toil and bloodshed kereakes dreaker reached the full measure of his big infamy while sailing bailing near the balearic islands on the coast of minorca he saw a nunnery and proposed to his men that they should each ket get a wife apiece they gladly agreed and the diabolical plan was carried out after this affair breaker decided to retire from piracy he re to amsterdam to claim mrs only to find that she had been hanged for poisoning their little son with the career of his partner in crime ended captain kereakes fell a victim to melancholy slid and finally in a fit of madness threw himself into a canal and was drowned he cheated the gallows callows but as was the case with roost most of his kind death was the final victor pirate and millionaire IF F THESE pirate yarns were but fiction and the sort of fiction action which carries a moral in that good Is always alway triumphant and evil always ignominy bously defeated then would mould they all end nd the same way with the pirate leader mounting the gallows with the bitter knowledge that ills his pirating did not pay either financially or in the mental satisfaction of successful endeavor but since they are simple chronicles of fact those who read them fur for a moral must sometimes bt be disappointed consider the case of capt john bowen he did not die on the gallows his big pirating was profitable immensely so and so long as history lias has any record of him tie he was enjoying his gains ul ill gotten they were vere perhaps there was a certain element of poetic justice in this for he started on his career by the capture of a french vessel the speaker owned by an english company engaged in the infamous alave trade A at er r taking inking this prize captain bowen and his big merrle companie com began raiding in tile the south seas from bengal to madagascar then ills his vessel went on the rocks off mauritius but the shipwrecked pirates found an unexpected friend in the dutch governor of the island who mho supplied food and medical supplies tor for the marooned freebooters for three months they enjoyed his hospitality and then cowen bowen sailed away whatever else lie he may have been bowen was nut not ungrateful for his big parting gift to the dutch governor was 2500 pieces of f eight and the wreck of the speaker with all its guns nod and stores upon arriving at madagascar which by this time 1701 wa was 3 a notorious rendezvous for pirates lie he built a town and fort to protect it soon afterwards two ships ignorant of the character of the place cume came into port and you may be sure that bowen took advantage of this providential visit ile he seized tile the two bessels and again went a bowen held a gle position lo in ills his headquarter ii bt at madagascar for the trade upon the south seas was rich A quick dush from his town to intercept some clumsy merchantman luden laden with a valuable cargo and then lie and his fellows were buck back enjoying their loot it th ls estimated that in a short time this pirate had taken more than a million dollars la in money as well ug as great quantities of valuable merchandise then tie he wisely decided that it was time to quit so he and his men settled nettled down among the tb friendly dutch who no doubt enjoyed their chare of the captions i loot on anti athars dinoi in 0 o |