Matthew Luke (died 1722, occasionally named Mateo Luque or Matteo Luca) 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 ...

History

Luke, originally from

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

, had been cruising the Caribbean under commission from the Spanish Governor of

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

as a ''guarda costa''

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 ...

. With his sloop ''Vengeance'' (or ''Venganza'') he had earlier captured four English vessels and murdered their crews. In April 1722 he spotted a merchant ship off of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and th ...

and moved alongside to attack it. The ship turned out to be Captain Candler’s 40-gun

fifth-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a fifth rate was the second-smallest class of warships in a hierarchical system of six " ratings" based on size and firepower. Rating The rating system in the Royal N ...

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 ...

''HMS Launceton'' (or ''Lauceston / Lanceston''), sent to the Caribbean to replace the scrapped ''HMS Ludlow Castle''. Candler’s men boarded the ''Vengeance'', whose sailors claimed she was a merchant trader. The paper wrap from a powder cartridge was determined to be a page from the journal of a

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

named ''Crean'', whose crew had been murdered. In the ship’s hold they found the rest of the 58-man crew in hiding, all of which were arrested and returned to

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 ...

. The Launceton's logbooks note, "25 Apr 1722 - Cape Tiberon - captured boat from Puerto Rico with hiding crew." The crewmen were tried and shown to be pirates, one of whom confessed to killing twenty English men with his bare hands. Despite Spanish objections that the vessel had a legitimate privateering commission, over forty of the pirates were hanged.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luke, Matthew Year of birth missing 18th-century pirates Spanish pirates People executed for piracy 1722 deaths Caribbean pirates Italian mass murderers Executed mass murderers People from Genoa

History

See also

References