Nathaniel “Nat” Burches (
fl.
''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...
1705–1707, last name occasionally Burchet) was a
privateer who operated out of
New England. He was known for sailing alongside
Regnier Tongrelow and
Thomas Penniston
Thomas Penniston (fl. 1704-1706) was a privateer who operated out of New England. He was known for sailing alongside Adrian Claver and Regnier Tongrelow.
History
The first records of Penniston’s privateering are from July 1704 when French p ...
,
and for single-handedly defeating a huge Spanish ship.
History
Regnier Tongrelow was a well-known privateer in New York who had already taken a number of prize ships when he planned yet another cruise in his newly purchased ship ''New York Galley'' in September 1705. Thomas Penniston joined him with his
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 ...
''Setty'', and alongside Burches - whose 27-man, 6-gun sloop acted as the flotilla's
tender – they sailed that December.
Avoiding terrible weather (which killed fellow privateer
Otto Van Tuyl
Van Tuyl is the surname of the Dutch family from which many North American Van Tuyls, Van Tuyles, Van Tyls and Van Tyles are descended. The family name derives from the ancient village of Tuil (Tuijl), in the central Netherlands. The family's earli ...
when his ship ran aground),
the group made their way to the Caribbean. Operating from
Barbados and
Bermuda through early 1706, they captured a number of vessels in short order.
Burches’ sloop was alone in July 1706 when he found a 600-ton, 24-gun, 250-man Spanish ship off
Cuba. Attacking fearlessly, he fired six cannon shots at the Spaniard. Two shots hit the Spanish ship below the waterline, causing it to take on water quickly; another broke the ship's mainmast, which toppled down across the deck; and one shot hit the ship's roundhouse, killing the Captain.
The Spanish ship fled, beaching itself near
Baracoa, while Burches left to find Tongrelow, who was well known for attacking the largest ships he could find. Tongrelow searched for the Spanish ship but never found it.
Burches returned to the scene and located it, attacking the Spaniards who fought back from ashore. Finally they made Burches an offer: they would surrender their cargo of wine and brandy if Burches would spare their ship and the remainder of their cargo. He agreed, sailing away with “fifty pipes of Canary and Brandy.”
Penniston was killed in July 1706 after engaging two ships at the same time. Tongrelow himself sailed back to New York after capturing a large ship, then returned to the Caribbean in early 1707. After capturing a few more
prizes
A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements. Tongrelow was forced away from
Havana by the Spanish governor's fleet.
Burches is thought to have been killed at sea when he failed to rendezvous with Tongrelow; this may have happened shortly after Penniston was killed,
or early in Tongrelow's 1707 cruise.
See also
*
War of Spanish Succession – the European conflict which spilled into the Americas as “Queen Anne’s War,” sparking a rise in privateering activity.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burches, Nathaniel
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
British privateers