The New Hampshire Gazette And Historical Chronicle

St. JOHN's, in Antigua, July 20. 1771.

The following account of a horrid murder and piracy, committed on board the Sloop Esther, Charles Finnie, master. is extracted from a memorandum taken on board the said vessel.

On Sunday eve, June 22d, 1771, Charles Finnie, master of the sloop Esther. Robert Dann, half owner & supercargo, & Richard Bolton, surgeon, were on the quarter-deck, the people at the same time diverting themselves at play seemingly :--At half past 8 in the evening Capt. Dann and Bolton retired to the cabin. After their leaving the deck.the doctor cried out, " Lord have mercy upon us ! the people have seized Captain Finnie," and directly after we.(Dann and Bolton) saw him going astern, calling out Capt. Dann ! Capt. Dann ! Immediately after this they called out to Capt. Dann to come on deck. swearing, " damn him, he shall go overboard after Finnie." Capt. Dann then begged them to save his life, as he had done no injury to any of them. George Washington then came down with several others. broke open: the arm chest which lay in the steerage, & loaded the arms, none of them being loaded before : Dann and Bolton had no time to get arms themselves ; the cry still continuing very strong, particularly by John Cooper, who was chief mate. for Capt. Dann to come on deck, where Thomas Jenkins stood ready with an ax to cut him down. Dann not coming upon deck, Thomas Ternay went down, with a cocked pistol to shoot him ; but a negro wench who was on board hung on him in such a manner, and begged on her knees that he would shoot her and spare her master's life that the villain relented and went on deck again. In this situation we passed the night : in the morning the revolters held another consultation, when it was determined to kill Capt. Dann : but falling out among themselves. his fate was respited : They at last resolved to land Dann and Doctor Bolton on some unfrequented Island, where they might perish. But the Almighty was pleased to interfere in our deliverance, in manner following.

On Wednesday, July 10th, 1771, at half past eleven at night, Capt. Dann and the Doctor being asleep in the cabin, they were alarmed & greatly terrified, by a prodigious noise and scuffling on deck, yet not daring to stir in their distressed situation. They retired under the cabin deck, where they soon after heard Thomas Jenkins call on Capt. Dann and the Doctor to come up and take possession of the vessel again. As they knew Jenkins to be as great a villain as any of them. tho' he & some others had separated on the first quarrel after the murder of Capt. Finnie, they thought he was only decoying them up to kill them, they therefore did not go up. Two of the wounded were at the same time calling repeatedly on the Doctor to come up & dress their wounds, or they would bleed to death. The Doctor at last ventured up, and was followed by Captain Dann, on the Doctor's assuring him he was safe. On their coming on deck, they found Francisco Maffo, a Spaniard, who could not speak a word of English, in possession of the deck ; and who with no other weapon than an axe, had cut and wounded in a terrible manner, George Washington, alias Fisher ; who acted as Captain, Thomas Parker,who acted as mate, James Watson, who was boatswain, & John Lamb who acted as gunner. The three last are since dead of their wounds.Bartholomew Lane he threw overboard ; John Cooper, who was shipped as chief mate. & John Burrell, seamen, made no resistance against the Spaniard,but hid themselves below. Thus was Capt. Dann, put into possession of his vessel again, in a most miraculous manner, and what most remarkably shews the immediate interposition of Providence in this discomfiture, is, that the honest Spaniard received only one blow on the head with a handspike which made a contusion of about 4 inches long, notwithstanding the pirates were in possession of the arm chest, and sleeping all round it on deck.. Jenkins and Terney, who were left out of irons. to assist in navigating the vessel. intended to have cut us off privately, a day or two before we made the land, but were timely secured in irons. The prisoners have since given information, that Washington and Terney had ground their knives. with intention of murdering Capt. Dann and Dr. Bolton, and that at another time the axes were brought up and put under the Boat for the same purpose ; that at other times it was resolved to seize and throw them overboard. as they were making their observations.-- What prevented these hellish designs has not yet came to light. William Nelson was at the helm when Finnie was thrown overboard, and does not appear to have been concerned in that action : but was privy to every matter concerted by them after the murder of Finnie, and deeply engaged in the conspiracy. Their intention was to have landed Capt.
Captain Dann and the Doctor on some desolate island about the Cape de Verds: then to have proceeded to the Brazils to sell the vessel and cargo: but on the 8th instant, being fearful of falling short of provisions, they altered their design and bore away for the Bay of Honduras. It appears also by the confession of Thomas Jenkins, that James Anderson, second mate, and John Barlow, carpenter, were both of them acquainted with the intentions of the pirates some time before their horrid scheme was put in execution, but never gave the least hint thereof to Capt. Dann, or Dr. Bolton, though it does not appear they had any hand in throwing Charles Finnie overboard.

Capt. Dann, of the Snow Esther, returns Lieut. Col. Reynolds of the 68th regiment, his most grateful thanks, for his politeness and extraordinary expedition in sending off a party of soldiers to escort on shore the band of inhuman pirates, from whose bloody machinations it has pleased the Almighty so very miraculously to deliver him and his surgeon Mr. Bolton.

On Tuesday night last, five of the pirates were brought ashore under a strong guard, and lodged in the gaol: And on Wednesday morning were brought to the court-house and underwent an examination before three of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace; when the evidence appearing clearly against them, they were remanded back to the prison, to take their trials before a court of Admiralty, as soon as a commission for that purpose can be obtained from his Honour the Lieutenant-General.