Leigh Ashworth ( fl. 1716-1719) was a

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

and

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 ...

operating 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 ...

in the early 1700s.

History

Leigh Ashworth was captain of a sloop named ''Mary'', originally outfitted for privateering with a commission from

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

n governor

Lord Archibald Hamilton Lord Archibald Hamilton of Riccarton and Pardovan (1673 – 5 April 1754) was a British people, British officer of the Royal Navy, and Whig (UK), Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain, House of Commons between 1708 and ...

. Alongside

Henry Jennings Henry Jennings (died possibly 1745) was an 18th-century Kingdom of England, English privateer from the colony of Bermuda, who served primarily during the War of the Spanish Succession and later served as leader of the pirate haven or "Pirates' ...

, James Carnegie, and Samuel Liddell, they took a pair of French vessels in early 1716 in the Bay of Hounds. They also had to chase down

Benjamin Hornigold Captain Benjamin Hornigold (1680–1719) was an English pirate who operated during the tail end of the Golden Age of Piracy. Born in England in the late 17th century, Hornigold began his pirate career in 1713, attacking merchant ships in the Bah ...

, who'd made off with one of the French ships shortly afterwards. This caused a dispute with French officials in the area, who protested that the English ships were effectively pirates. In Jamaica Ashworth's quartermaster Joseph Eels was arrested, and on the testimony of Eels and others – given in exchange for a promise of avoiding prosecution - the ''Mary'' was seized by the authorities in Jamaica in 1716 on suspicion of piracy. His brother Jasper and his partner Daniel Axtell were also arrested, having acted as fences for Ashworth's stolen goods. The ill-equipped local government declared that they had uncertain authority to deal with the situation: "what to do with these men, we know not as yett, not having a Commission … nor Admiral, Vice Admiral or a deputy". When a

general amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offic ...

was offered in 1718 to pirates who gave up their ways, Ashworth, Jennings, Hornigold, and over 200 others accepted. Ashworth next spent time ferrying ships and goods back and forth from

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

to Jamaica, encountering

Blackbeard Edward Teach (alternatively spelled Edward Thatch, – 22 November 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was an English Piracy, pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's Thirteen Colonies, North American colon ...

. Late that year, Ashworth accepted another privateering commission against the Spanish and French. He was still attacking ships on flimsy pretenses: a former pirate operating a sloop out of

New Providence New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. It is the location of the national capital city of Nassau, whose boundaries are coincident with the island; it had a population of 246 ...

testified that Ashworth "pretended to take him for a Spaniard" because his ship ''Endeavour'' had formerly been a Spanish sloop. Ashworth was still privateering as of 1719 but there are few records of his activities beyond that point, though his brother Jasper Ashworth settled near

Port Royal Port Royal is a village located at the end of the Palisadoes, at the mouth of Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1494 by the Spanish, it was once the largest city in the Caribbean, functioning as the centre of shipping and co ...

, married, and became a regional official.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashworth, Leigh Year of birth missing Year of death missing British pirates 18th-century pirates British privateers Caribbean pirates Pardoned pirates

History

See also

References