Richard Bobbington (died 1697?, name occasionally Philip or Babbington) was a pirate active in the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

, and

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...

in the late 1690s.

History

Adam Baldridge ran a trading post for pirates off

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

, and was willing to double-cross them. In December 1695

John Ireland John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 – March 21, 1992) was a Canadian actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in ''All the King's Men'' (1949), making him the first Vancouver-born actor to receive an Oscar nomin ...

sailed the sloop ''Amity'' into the settlement after the ''Amity’s'' previous captain

Thomas Tew Thomas Tew (died September 1695), also known as the Rhode Island Pirate, was a 17th-century English privateer-turned-pirate. He embarked on two major pirate voyages and met a bloody death on the second, and he pioneered the route which became kn ...

was killed raiding Moors alongside Henry Every. Baldridge helped them quickly refit and tipped them off that he had traded with and resupplied the ''Charming Mary'' shortly before. The ''Amity'' sailed after the ''Charming Mary'' and captured it, giving its captain Richard Glover the ''Amity'' in exchange. Ireland had been the ship's master but was not formally captain; the pirates subsequently elected Irishman Richard Bobbington as captain of the ''Charming Mary''. Bobbington sailed back to

Île Sainte-Marie Nosy Boraha , previously known as Sainte-Marie, main town Ambodifotatra, is an island off the east coast of Madagascar. The island forms an administrative district within Analanjirofo Region, and covers an area of 222 km2. It has a popul ...

in May 1696 to refit before heading into the Red Sea. In July they raided

Tellicherry Thalassery (), formerly Tellicherry, is a municipality, Commercial City on the Malabar Coast in Kannur district, in the state of Kerala, India, bordered by the districts of Mahé (Pondicherry), Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kasaragod and Kodagu (Karnat ...

; Bobbington personally led the shore party to threaten the local

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

officials into letting them repair and resupply at Company expense. Now with 90 men and 22 guns, in September of that year they took a Moorish ship off Rajapur, killing a great many of the crew in revenge for their stubborn resistance. In December 1696 they sailed into the Persian Gulf near

Jask Jask ( fa, جاسک, Balochi: جاشک also Romanized as Jāsk; also Bandar-e Jask ( fa, بَندَرِ جاسک), ( Balochi: بندن ءِ جاشک) also Romanized as Bandar-e Jāsk) is a city and capital of Jask County, Hormozgan Province, I ...

to raid local settlements for supplies, and again Bobbington joined the landing party. The Persians fought back, capturing Bobbington and the shore party. English officials wanted Bobbington extradited to Bombay to answer for crimes against Mughal ships, while the Persians accused the English of robbery after Bobbington declared that he was English. He was never heard from again. The remainder of the crew sailed off in the ''Charming Mary'', possibly with Joseph Skinner as captain, or possibly with no captain at all, John Ireland still serving as master. They sailed alongside Robert Culliford and

Ralph Stout Ralph Stout (died 1697) was a pirate active in the Indian Ocean. He is best known for rescuing fellow pirate Robert Culliford after each of them spent separate 4-year periods in Mughal Empire prisons. History James Kelley had been a sailor aboar ...

in the ''Mocha'' for a time, returning to

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) ...

in 1697 to divide their loot. They appeared again off Madagascar in 1699 under captain William May (Mayes/Mues), who had captained the ''Pearl'' during Tew and Henry Every's attack on the treasure ship Gunsway.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bobbington, Richard Year of birth missing 17th-century pirates English pirates Piracy in the Indian Ocean

History

See also

References