Canoot

Canoot (fl. 1698, real name unknown) was a French pirate active off the coast of New England. Governor William Markham of Pennsylvania described Canoot and his crew: "They are begarly rogues, and will pillage for a trifle."[1]

History

In early 1698 John Redwood of Philadelphia was sailing out of Maryland’s Sinepuxent Bay toward Cape May when he was attacked by Canoot and his pirates.[2] They exchanged ships with Redwood, leaving him their slower vessel and taking his sloop. That September Canoot sailed to the waters off Sussex County, Delaware.[3] Residents saw the sloop but were not alarmed, thinking him "little dreaded of being an enemy or French, both which they proved."[1] The following day he stormed the town of Lewes with fifty men,[4] plundering everything of value, including the residents’ clothes, leaving them "scarce anything in the place to cover or wear."[3] Canoot’s pirates also stole all the town’s livestock and forced the inhabitants to help load their sloop. He then anchored offshore until he left to chase a passing ship. Canoot was equally violent to his own men, having "shott one of his owne men for some misdemeanor."[1] This was not his first attack - “Many other crimes of similar nature were traced to Canoot and his pirate ship” - so local officials levied a tax to raise funds for coastal defense, though Canoot escaped.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Hazard, Samuel (1851). Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, from the organization to the termination of the proprietary government. [Mar. 10, 1683-Sept. 27, 1775]. Philadelphia: Philadelphia : Printed by J. Severns. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
  2. ^ Productions, Moonshell. "Legends of Eastern Shore Pirates - Delmarva Almanac". delmarva-almanac.com. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  3. ^ a b c Scharf, John Thomas (1888). History of Delaware : 1609–1888: General history. Philadelphia: L. J. Richards. p. 100. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  4. ^ Mervine, William M. (1908). "Pirates and Privateers in the Delaware Bay and River". The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 32 (4): 459–470. JSTOR 20085447.
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