Josiah Raynor (1665–1743) (also known as ‘George’ Raynor) was a pirate active in the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

. Before he was briefly a pirate captain, he was a sailor on the ''Batchelor’s Delight'' on which he sailed alongside

William Dampier William Dampier (baptised 5 September 1651; died March 1715) was an English explorer, pirate, privateer, navigator, and naturalist who became the first Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumnav ...

Biography

In 1683 near

Guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...

, privateer John Cook captured a Dutch merchantman which he named ''Batchelor’s Delight'', which itself had been the ''Portsmouth'' when captured by Dutch privateers from its English owners. With Cook were William Dampier and Edward Davis, who would later captain the ship after Cook died in 1684, as well as sailor Josiah Raynor. They sailed around

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

raiding Spanish shipping and towns in concert with Charles Swan's ''Cygnet'' and others. After scarce success and meeting defeat near

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

, the

buccaneer Buccaneers were a kind of privateers or free sailors particular to the Caribbean Sea during the 17th and 18th centuries. First established on northern Hispaniola as early as 1625, their heyday was from Stuart Restoration, the Restoration in 16 ...

fleet broke up in August 1685. Davis took the ''Batchelor’s Delight'' back around

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramírez ...

, eventually returning to 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 1688 and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

by that May. In 1687 Raynor married Sarah Higby in Lyme CT. Shortly afterwards the 14-gun, 80-man ship was sold to its former crew, and Raynor had now become Captain of the ''Batchelor’s Delight'', returning to the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

to sail against Portuguese and English shipping. He put in at Adam Baldridge’s pirate trading post near

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

in late 1691 after capturing a Moorish ship, along with William Cotter. After resupplying and repairing the ship, renamed ''Loyal Jamaica'' (occasionally cited as ''Royal Jamaica''), they shared out treasure from their voyage and sailed back to the

Province of South Carolina Province of South Carolina, originally known as Clarendon Province, was a province of Great Britain that existed in North America from 1712 to 1776. It was one of the five Southern colonies and one of the thirteen American colonies. The monar ...

. He and his crew may have captured one last ship before ending their voyage, taking a vessel belonging to Carolina plantation owner Jonathan Amory. Raynor ran the ship aground and gave its guns to Charles Town. Absolved of piracy by 1692, he and the crew settled locally. Records show him recognized as a merchant, having been indemnified against accusations stemming from his pirate days. Raynor purchased a series of properties on Kiawah Island. His daughter married the son of former Carolina governor James Moore, and together with some of Moore's other children, eventually moved to Cape Fear. Raynor's name appears again a few years later as an associate of

Thomas Tew Thomas Tew (died September 1695), also known as the Rhode Island Pirate, was a 17th-century English privateer-turned-pirate. He embarked on two major pirate voyages and met a bloody death on the second, and he pioneered the route which became kn ...

and

Henry Every Henry Every, also known as Henry Avery (20 August 1659after 1696), sometimes erroneously given as Jack Avery or John Avery, was an English pirate who operated in the Atlantic and Indian oceans in the mid-1690s. He probably used several aliases ...

. Raynor may have signed aboard for Thomas Tew's second voyage alongside Every in 1694, which resulted in Tew's death. Eventually making his way back to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

around 1700, possibly with William Mayes, Raynor was suspected of piracy and had to petition a friend to intercede with Governor

Benjamin Fletcher Benjamin Fletcher (14 May 1640 – 28 May 1703) was colonial governor of New York from 1692 to 1697. Fletcher was known for the ''Ministry Act'' of 1693, which secured the place of Anglicans as the official religion in New York. He also built ...

to release his treasure chest. After selling his

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

property he settled in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. Some sources show the ''Batchelor's Delight'' in the hands of former crewman (and associate of Cook's) James Kelley after Raynor's departure; Kelley continued his piracy in the Indian Ocean before he was captured by Moorish pirates in 1692. They burned his ship and killed many of the pirates, but Kelley and a few of his crew escaped their captors and made their way back to Madagascar. There they sailed with

Robert Culliford Robert Culliford (c. 1666 - ?, last name occasionally Collover) was a pirate from Cornwall who is best remembered for repeatedly ''checking the designs'' of Captain William Kidd. Early career and capture Culliford and Kidd first met as shipmates ...

for a time before returning to America alongside

William Kidd William Kidd, also known as Captain William Kidd or simply Captain Kidd ( – 23 May 1701), was a Scottish sea captain who was commissioned as a privateer and had experience as a pirate. He was tried and executed in London in 1701 for murder a ...

; soon afterwards they were arrested, transported to London for trial, and executed. However, there were known to be multiple ships of the same name (''Bachelor's Delight / Batchelor's Delight'') operating in the same time period; some sources say that Raynor and crew abandoned the ''Batchelor's Delight'' at Madagascar (where Kelley claimed it), so it is possible that the ship ''Loyal Jamaica'' in which Raynor returned to the Carolinas was a captured prize ship (perhaps renamed) and not Davis' original ship.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raynor, George British pirates 17th-century pirates 1743 deaths Piracy in the Indian Ocean 1665 births

Biography

See also

Notes

Further reading

References