Joseph Cooper (died 1725) was a pirate active in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

and the American east coast. He was best known for sailing alongside

Francis Spriggs Francis Spriggs (died 1725?) was a British pirate who, associated with George Lowther and Edward Low, was active in the Caribbean and the Bay of Honduras during the early 1720s. Early career Although much of his early life is unknown, Francis Sp ...

, and for the manner of his death.

History

Cooper's early life is not known. In 1718 he and six other pirates were tried in

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 ...

for capturing the 22-ton

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

''Antelope'' in the

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. They were released for lack of evidence. By 1725 Cooper was captain of the sloop ''Night Rambler.'' On November 14 they captured the ''Perry'' near

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). ...

and a French sloop the next day. Cooper took both ships to

Aruba Aruba ( , , ), officially the Country of Aruba ( nl, Land Aruba; pap, Pais Aruba) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands physically located in the mid-south of the Caribbean Sea, about north of the Venezuela peninsula of ...

to divide the plunder, forcing their crews ashore, where the ship's doctor interceded and gave them food. The ''Perry’s'' boatswain John Upton willingly signed the pirates’

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 ...

and joined them. Later Upton escaped and claimed he'd been forced to sign; witnesses contradicted him and he was hung for piracy in 1729. Shortly after capturing the ''Perry'', Cooper was sailing alongside Francis Spriggs and

Captain Shipton Richard Shipton (died 1726?; last name occasionally spelled Skipton) was a pirate active in the Caribbean, best known for sailing alongside Edward Low and Francis Spriggs. In 1723 Shipton was elected captain of ''Merry Christmas'', and he subseq ...

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. ...

; Cooper intervened when Spriggs’ men threatened to torture a prisoner. The warships ''HMS Diamond'' and ''HMS Spence'' had been hunting Shipton and Spriggs in the area for a year. Spriggs and Shipton were caught ashore, but the ''Diamond'' engaged Cooper's ship at sea. Rather than face capture, Cooper used a cask of gunpowder to blow up the cabin of his ship.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Joseph Year of birth missing 18th-century pirates 1725 deaths Caribbean pirates Suicides by explosive device People of colonial Pennsylvania

History

See also

References