George Cusack (died 18 January 1675) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

pirate active in northern Europe and the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

in the late 17th century.

History

Cusack served as a gunner and sailor on several ships but his attempts at mutiny landed him in

Marshalsea The Marshalsea (1373–1842) was a notorious prison in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. Although it housed a variety of prisoners, including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition, it became known, in ...

prison for a time. On his release in 1668 he traveled to Cadiz and signed aboard the ''Hopewell'' out of

Tangier Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the cap ...

as a gunner. He and several associates mutinied and seized the ship, setting the officers adrift in a rowboat. They renamed the vessel ''Valiant Prince'' and had a forced merchant draw up false papers for it. Cusack also had

Articles Article often refers to: * Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness * Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication Article may also refer to: G ...

written out which he had his crew swear to, generally referred to as his "Obligations." He threw out the previous captain's papers to avoid incriminating himself in piracy. He even threw out the ship's

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

; as the captured merchant Thomas Power recalled, Cusack “could not be perswaded to save a great large Bible that constantly lay upon the great Cabbin Table, from the mercy of the Waves, which whiles some of his own Crew endeavoured to perswade him to, he replyed, ‘''You Cowards, what do you think to go to Heaven and do such Actions as these? No, I will make you Officers in Hell under me''’; and with that threw the Bible out at the great Cabbin window, saying ‘''Go thou thy way Divinity, what have we to do with thee?''’” They sailed to the

Leeward Islands french: Îles-Sous-le-Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Leeward Islands. Clockwise: Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Saint kitts and Nevis. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean SeaNorth Atlantic Ocean , coor ...

and tried to take several small vessels but soon were captured while ashore, ending up imprisoned in

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

. They escaped and captured a 250-ton 28-gun

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

they named ''Flying Devil'', which they sailed up the

East Coast of the United States The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Eastern United States meets the North Atlantic Ocean. The eastern seaboard contains the coa ...

before abandoning it and sailing back to England aboard smaller boats. Cusack then served as a

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

for the

Kingdom of England The Kingdom of England (, ) was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 12 July 927, when it emerged from various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. On 1 ...

during the

Anglo-Dutch Wars The Anglo–Dutch Wars ( nl, Engels–Nederlandse Oorlogen) were a series of conflicts mainly fought between the Dutch Republic and England (later Great Britain) from mid-17th to late 18th century. The first three wars occurred in the second ...

, taking several Dutch prizes. When those conflicts ended in 1674 he falsely obtained a French commission to hunt Spanish and Dutch ships. He kept a small crew, forcing sailors to serve as needed, including his surgeon Jacob Marrelly. With only 23 men he took a cargo ship leaving

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, a 500-ton vessel called ''Saint Anne'' out of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

under Captain Shorter. Cusack and his pirates put the ship's crew aboard a

pink Pink is the color of a namesake flower that is a pale tint of red. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, ...

they had taken earlier as a prize, leaving them no gear or provisions, and set them adrift. They put into

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

to sell the ''Saint Anne'', claiming it was a Dutch ship they had found abandoned, and hid its paperwork to conceal their crime. Unfortunately for Cusack the crew they had set adrift was picked up by a passing merchantman and returned to

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. They spread news of Cusack's piracy and the ''Saint Anne'' was seized. Cusack and his men heard of this and avoided Aberdeen, sailing up the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

Lee Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese ...

to clean their ship. They spent their booty in local towns, who were glad to have the money, but which gave away their presence. They were pursued by local marshals and two armed vessels under Colonel Kennedy, who captured them and delivered Cusack back to Marshalsea prison with his crew. Cusack claimed to the Admiralty court that he had a commission, and when challenged tried to explain that his invalid commission was a mistake. The Court noted that valid or not, no commission would have allowed him to rob an English vessel, and he was convicted. He was executed on 18 January 1675 with thirteen of his crew, the rest acquitted for having been forced into piracy.

Obligations

Cusack's

pirate code A pirate code, pirate articles, or articles of agreement were a code of conduct for governing pirates. A group of sailors, on turning pirate, would draw up their own code or articles, which provided rules for discipline, division of stolen goods, ...

, or Articles, are one of the very few pirate articles preserved from the 17th and 18th centuries, and one of only two complete sets from the 17th century (the other belonging to

Nicholas Clough Nicholas Clough ( fl. 1682-1683) was a merchant captain, slave trader, and pirate active in the Caribbean and off the coast of Africa. He is best remembered for leaving behind a well-documented Pirate Code, his "Articles of Agreement". History T ...

). As reported, they read: :''"...declaring their resolution of running away with the Ships and Cargo, and of taking or sinking all Ships or Vessels they should meet with belonging to any Nation, English only excepted: promising to all persons aboard that joyned with them, their proportion and shares of the Ship and Cargo; together with all other Ships they should afterwards take or surprize, according to the Lawes of Pleron: to which end he ordered to be drawn up in Writing an Obligation to himself as Captain, and the said Parslow as Lieutenant, expressing the Resolutions of the Subscribers upon their Oaths to live and die with them in this their present design..."''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cusack, George Year of birth missing 1675 deaths 17th-century executions by England 17th-century Irish people 17th-century pirates Irish escapees Irish people executed abroad Irish pirates Mutineers People executed by Stuart England People executed for piracy Inmates of the Marshalsea Prisoners and detainees of Barbados English privateers Royal Navy personnel of the Anglo-Dutch Wars

History

Obligations

See also

Further reading

References