John Cook (died 1684) was an English

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 the Restoration in 1660 until about 168 ...

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 ...

, and pirate.

History

In 1679, when he was still a merchant captain, Cook abandoned his ship on the island of Bonaire to escape the Spanish. He then joined the assembly of buccaneers serving under

Bartholomew Sharp Bartholomew Sharp (c. 1650 – 29 October 1702) was an English buccaneer and privateer. His career of piracy lasted seven years (1675–1682). In the Caribbean he took several ships, and raided the Gulf of Honduras and Portobelo. He took command ...

e. The fleet separated in 1681 after disagreements between Captains Sharpe, John Coxon, and

John Watling John, or George, Watling (died 1681) was a 17th-century English buccaneer. It was said that he would never plunder on the Sabbath and refused to allow his crew to play cards on this holy day. John Watling is best known for making his headquart ...

; Cook led a group electing to leave the South Seas and return 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 Greate ...

. Among the sailors joining him were surgeon

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 navigator

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 ...

. Cooke then sailed with the crew of William Wright and Jan Willems (aka "Yankey"), serving as

quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In ...

until granted command of a ship they had taken. Unfortunately, the French authorities of

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

confiscated the ship for piracy because he had failed to obtain a privateering commission. In 1682 Cook and a few men (including Edward Davis) joined the French captain Jean Tristan, whose boat he stole and sailed to the west coast of

. While back in the Caribbean Cook and other buccaneers were protected by Adolph Esmit, Danish Governor of St. Thomas. With his new ship Cook captured two others, one of which became his personal ship which he renamed ''Revenge'' after returning to Virginia to refit and sell their captured prizes. Leaving Virginia in 1683 with a crew of 70 (with Davis, Dampier, Wafer, and now

Ambrose Cowley William Ambrosia Cowley was a 17th-century English people, English buccaneer who surveyed the Galápagos Islands during his circumnavigation of the world while serving under several Captains such as John Eaton (pirate), John Eaton, John Cook (pir ...

as well), Cook sailed to the Guinea coast off western Africa. With more than 70 men under his command he arranged a ruse, pretending to lead a wayward merchant vessel to capture a large Danish ship which he kept and renamed ''Bachelor's Delight''. He took his new ship to the South Sea via the Strait of Magellan in 1684. That January they recorded sighting a " phantom island" which Cowley named Pepys Island. Cook joined then with English buccaneer

John Eaton John Eaton may refer to: * John Eaton (divine) (born 1575), English divine * John Eaton (pirate) (fl. 1683–1686), English buccaneer *Sir John Craig Eaton (1876–1922), Canadian businessman * John Craig Eaton II (born 1937), Canadian businessman ...

in March, visiting the Galapagos Islands where Dampier made many observations of flora and fauna. Cook soon took ill and died aboard ''Bachelor's Delight'' in the

Gulf of Nicoya The Gulf of Nicoya ( es, Golfo de Nicoya) is an inlet of the Pacific Ocean. It separates the Nicoya Peninsula from the mainland of Costa Rica, and encompasses a marine and coastal landscape of wetlands, rocky islands and cliffs. The first Spanish ...

near

Cabo Blanco, Costa Rica The Cabo Blanco Absolute Natural Reserve is a Nature Reserve of Costa Rica, part of the Tempisque Conservation Area in the province of Puntarenas, covering an area of terrestrial and marine on the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula near Mon ...

in July 1684. The crew then unanimously elected Edward Davis as new leader of the expedition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, John 17th-century pirates Year of birth missing English pirates English privateers 1684 deaths Piracy in the Caribbean

History

See also

References