Cornelius Essex (fl. 1679-1680) was a
buccaneer and
privateer best known for sacking Spanish
Puerto Bello
Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to:
Places
*El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain
*Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines
*Puerto Colombia, Colombia
*Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela
*Puerto Galera, Orient ...
as part of a larger contingent of pirates.
History
In August 1679 Essex was among a group of pirates who attacked Spanish traders in the
Bay of Honduras
The Gulf or Bay of Honduras is a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea, indenting the coasts of Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. From north to south, it runs for approximately 200 km (125 miles) from Dangriga, Belize, to La Ceiba, Honduras.
...
, looting
indigo and other cargo. His vessel ''Great Dolphin'' was captured after attacking an English homestead on Jamaica and he was put on trial with 20 of his crew. Two of them were sentenced to hang but Essex was not.
The Jamaican Assembly pleaded with the Governor “in view of the many depredations committed by pirates and privateers, to take some speedy and effectual course for putting an end to the same.”
Essex sailed his
barque to
Port Morant
Port Morant is a town in Saint Thomas Parish, southeastern Jamaica. It was, in the early years of European settlement, one of the island's chief ports, with export of bananas and production of rum being major industries. Following the English ...
, Jamaica in December 1679 to join
John Coxon,
Bartholomew Sharpe,
Robert Allison, and
Thomas Magott in planning an assault on Puerto Bello.
En route Essex’s vessel was leaking so badly his crew was forced to wrap the hull with
hawsers
Hawser () is a nautical term for a thick cable or rope used in mooring or towing a ship.
A hawser passes through a hawsehole, also known as a cat hole, located on the hawse.The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, third edition ...
to keep it intact: “his vessell being ould gave way in her boue
owthat if shee had not been
wolded, Could never a he
dtogether.”
They attempted to justify the attack under
privateering commissions; these were forgeries and the attack was in fact piracy. The flotilla joined with French buccaneers
Rose and
Bournano but Sharpe and Essex missed the rendezvous, Essex meeting them at Golden Islands days later.
Together they took the town in February 1680, capturing enough treasure to afford each man 100
pieces of eight. Afterwards the buccaneers regrouped at
Boca del Toro to prepare for an assault on
Panama, though Essex was not mentioned in the many accounts of the Panama expedition.
Some modern sources claim Essex was killed during the attack on Puerto Bello.
However, a buccaneer witness confirmed that Essex survived but left his leaky vessel behind - “Capt. Essex leaveing his Barkque their she being so rotten” - after which he likely joined with Coxon or one of the other captains.
He returned to Jamaica in 1682 and soon left for New York as a passenger aboard a sloop which was itself plundered by pirates.
See also
*
William Dampier,
Lionel Wafer
Lionel Wafer (1640–1705) was a Welsh explorer, buccaneer and privateer.
A ship's surgeon, Wafer made several voyages to the South Seas and visited Maritime Southeast Asia in 1676. In 1679 he sailed again as a surgeon, soon after settling in ...
, and
Basil Ringrose - all three were present on the Panama expedition and wrote journals and books documenting it on their return
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Essex, Cornelius
17th-century pirates
Year of birth missing
Year of death missing
English pirates