A Pirate Profile: The Most Vicious Ned Low
jolly Roger, the Pirate ‘s Flag. source : ( gettyimages.com )
nowadays, there is glamour associated with pirates from the 17th to 18th centuries – think Johnny Depp. But curiously there was nothing glamorous about them. The huge majority had lives that were nasty, beastly, and short. such was the case of the cruelest pirate of them all – Edward “ Ned ” Low. One chronicler of the Pirate Age summed up low : “ …if ever a man sailing the seas deserved to be hanged and gibbeted in chains, it was Low. If one-half of the tales that have been told about him are on-key he must at times have been little unretentive of a lunatic. ” How does a person become so ill-famed ? In Low ’ randomness lawsuit, it was circumstance .
An image of Edward Lowe. visualize is from the National Maritime Museum in London. source : ( wikipedia.org )
Early Life
Born in 1690 in Westminster Ned Low was raised in and influenced by the poverty of his historic period. He could neither read nor write and the despairing polish about him was awash in ferociousness and crime. His older brother was a thief and like him, Ned took to thievery. Proceeds were punctually gambled away. From there, it was but a few steps to becoming the most ill-famed commandeer of his age. In about the class 1710 he went to sea with his brother. He ended up in Boston where he worked at a rig house. While in Boston he met Eliza Marble who was from a goodly family. They married on August 12, 1714. moo at this point may have had a chance for a clean start in the New World, as many immigrants did. But that was not to be. Eliza conceived two children. A boy who died in infancy and then a daughter born in 1719. however, Eliza died from the trauma of childbirth leaving Low a widower and a single rear. depleted by all accounts loved his daughter and for a short while tried to work honestly as a rigger. But he besides was choleric and arrogant. He argued with his employer and soon found himself out of work. With nothing else for it, he left his child and took to sea in 1721 .
ill-famed pirate Ned Low who commanded the sloop ‘Fancy ‘. Taken from ‘The Pirates Own Book ‘, circa 1750. reservoir : ( Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images )
A Pirate is Born
Ned Low shipped on a sloop limit for Honduras to illegally harvest logwood from spanish territory. however, Low ’ sulfur short temper took halt of him again. An affray broke out between him and the master of the sloop. Low and twelve followers deserted the ship in a steal boat. Until this point, Low might be a charitable character, but the choices he made would destine him to become one of the most vilify men of his time. But in an earned run average filled with course differentiation, capital discrepancies of wealth and exponent, and few freedoms, those that wished to live liveliness on their own terms had few options. He and his men made a black ease up, and the next day they captured a small vessel. A pirate was born .
Plate Nr. 89 as shown in “ The Sailing Ships of New England 1607-1907 ” caption : Brigantine “ Experiment, ” of Newburyport, 114 Tons, Built at Amesbury in 1803. source : ( pirateglossary.com )
Pirate Team-Up
They sailed for the Grand Caymans, a ill-famed pirate frequent, and found Captain George Lowther, a b-lister as pirates go. They teamed up and Low became Lowther ’ mho lieutenant. They then went on a plundering spree in the Caribbean. They captured merchantmen, and those crew that showed resistor were whipped, cut, and beaten. Others were forced to join the pirate crew, and therefore their numbers increased. Lowther and Low were moderately successful, but Lowther found Low to be argumentative and disobedient. After a brigantine was taken off the middle atlantic Coast, Lowther saw the opportunity to get rid of Low. The two parted ways on May 28, 1722, with Low taking the raw brigantine .
real commandeer gem at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. source : ( commons.wikimedia.org )
Low Goes Solo
low ’ s solo career was the stuff of pirate caption. He ranged from the waters of New England to the Azores, to the south american seashore. With every capture, his violent reputation grew. On June 15 he took 13 ships at anchor in Nova Scotia by magic trick. On August 3, he took seven ships in the St. Michael ’ s Roads. He didn ’ t need to fire a shoot – he just threatened them all with clamant death. He then ransomed six of the vessels to the local governor who gave him water and supplies in change for the ships. All this time, Low was constantly changing ships, upgrading to better vessels as he caught them. Pirate hunters could not catch him, and his achiever was remarkable .
One of Ned Low ‘s crowd killing a wounded Spaniard, engraving. NL : ( Edward, Loe, Lowe ), English buccaneer active off the New England seashore, in the Caribbean and Atlantic ocean, born c. 1690 – c. 1724. source : ( Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images )
Extremes in Violence
Coming into 1723, his string of successes continued, although it was accompanied by extremes in violence. In one case, calling a ship ’ s fudge they had captured “ a greasy boyfriend that would fry good, ” had him tied to the mainmast of a ship and burned alive with the transport. In other cases, away from the normal beatings and slashings of the crew that offered resistance, he had ears and limbs lopped off. One extreme subject was when they had captured a portuguese embark, the Nostra Signora de Victoria. Low and his gang tortured those aboard to divulge where their money was. The master confessed that he threw out his cabin window and into the ocean a money bag with 11,000 moidores in gold, a belittled fortune. first gear flew into a fury. He massacred the crew of the Victoria, killing them all. He had the captain ’ s lips cut off and boiled in movement of him before he excessively was murdered .
Privateers attacking spanish ships. Source ( en.wikipedia.org )
Defeat
The beginning of the end of Ned Low ’ randomness brutal spree started on June 10, 1723, when commandeer hunters led by Peter Solgard of the Greyhound out of New York caught up with him. In a ferocious action, Low was defeated. Rather than be captured, he stole away in one of his remaining ships leaving his remaining men to be captured. If this kill might have mellowed the plagiarist, think again. Two days after his miss he captured a sloop out of Nantucket. They beat the crew and Low had the captain whipped, cut off his ears, and then shot. low sunk the sloop. It got worse. In another example, he had a captain ’ s ears cut off, roasted with salt and pepper, and forced him to eat it. In another example, he forced a mate to eat his captain ’ mho roasted center. The violence was so hideous that many of his own crowd deserted him or compelled him to stop. By now some sources indicate that Low had amassed closely £150,000 in aureate, ash grey, and plate .
The cruelties of Ned Low. ( Taken from the Pirates Own Book, gutenberg.org )
The End of Ned Low
gloomy ’ s final fortune is stranger, but of the versatile accounts, the most probable is that his own rage did him in. Low quarreled with his quartermaster and then shot him in his rest. His own horrified crowd took him and a few of his supporters and cast them adrift in a gravy boat. He was then picked up by french authorities and executed on the island of Martinique in 1724. other accounts allege that he escaped to Brazil, but by 1725, Ned Low was pirating no more .
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Joseph A. Williams
writer
Joseph A. Williams is the generator of Seventeen Fathoms Deep : The Saga of the Submarine S-4 Disaster and The Sunken Gold : A Story of World War I, Espionage, and the Greatest Treasure Salvage in History .