Dixie Bull (or Dixey Bull) was an English

sea captain A sea captain, ship's captain, captain, master, or shipmaster, is a high-grade licensed mariner who holds ultimate command and responsibility of a merchant vessel.Aragon and Messner, 2001, p.3. The captain is responsible for the safe and efficie ...

, and the first

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 ...

known to prey on shipping off the

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

coast, especially

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

Biography

Born in

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cromwell was born there ...

about 1611, he was apprenticed Skinner to his elder brother Seth in 1627 for a period of 9 years, but did not complete his

indenture An indenture is a legal contract that reflects or covers a debt or purchase obligation. It specifically refers to two types of practices: in historical usage, an indentured servant status, and in modern usage, it is an instrument used for commercia ...

s until 1648 when he was granted freedom of the city of London in the

Worshipful Company of Skinners The Worshipful Company of Skinners (known as The Skinners' Company) is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. It was originally an association of those engaged in the trade of skins and furs. It was granted Royal Charter in 1327 ...

. He came to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

in 1632 having been granted a patent of land and started sailing the

coast with a small vessel, trading with the Indians, largely for furs, especially beaver. The Skinners were the livery company whose business was the trade in skins and furs, so he may have been acting as agent for his brother in London. In 1632, traveling in the

Penobscot Bay Penobscot Bay (french: Baie de Penobscot) is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine and Atlantic Ocean in south central Maine. The bay originates from the mouth of Maine's Penobscot River, downriver from Belfast, Maine, Belfast. Penobscot Bay has many ...

area, he was attacked by a roving band of French in a small

pinnace Pinnace may refer to: * Pinnace (ship's boat), a small vessel used as a tender to larger vessels among other things * Full-rigged pinnace The full-rigged pinnace was the larger of two types of vessel called a pinnace in use from the sixteenth c ...

; or possibly he was present in Castine Harbor when a French force attacked the trading post there. Whatever the details, his ship was captured and all his trade goods and provisions confiscated. Fired with revenge, he traveled back to Boston, assembled a crew of 20-25 men, and entered upon a career of piracy to recoup his losses. Ironically, he did not target French shipping, probably because the English traders were wealthier. His fame as "the dread pirate" derived from his attack in 1632 on the settlement of Pemaquid, which was then center of the lucrative

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...

in Maine. Few pirates had the temerity to attack a defended town. Sailing into the harbour, with what is said to be three ships, he opened fire on the

stockade A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls, made of logs placed side by side vertically, with the tops sharpened as a defensive wall. Etymology ''Stockade'' is derived from the French word ''estocade''. The French word was derived ...

there, and sacked the town. The booty seized is variously said to have been £55 or $2,500. Some stories say he joined the French, others that he returned to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and others that he was hanged in

Tyburn Tyburn was a manor (estate) in the county of Middlesex, one of two which were served by the parish of Marylebone. The parish, probably therefore also the manor, was bounded by Roman roads to the west (modern Edgware Road) and south (modern Ox ...

. Legend says that he buried treasure on

Damariscove Island Damariscove is an uninhabited island that is part of Boothbay Harbor, Lincoln County, Maine, United States, about off the coast at the mouth of the Damariscotta River. The long, narrow island is approximately long and at its widest point. The ...

and Cushing Island in

Casco Bay Casco Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine on the southern coast of Maine, New England, United States. Its easternmost approach is Cape Small and its westernmost approach is Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth. The city of Portland sits along its south ...

. The fact of his being admitted as a Skinner in 1648 shows that he did survive his piratical career and return to England. Administration of his estate was granted to his sister Susan Kendricks née Bull in Huntingdon in 1656. The legend of Dixie Bull was soon enshrined in ballads, the most famous of them being "The Story of Dixie Bull" and "The Slaying of Dixie Bull".Dixie Bull ballad: '' Minstrelsy of Maine, Folk-Songs and Ballads of the Woods and the Coast '',

Fannie Hardy Eckstorm Fannie Pearson Hardy Eckstorm (1865–1946) was an American writer, ornithologist and folklorist. Her extensive personal knowledge of her native state of Maine secured her place as one of the foremost authorities on the history, wildlife, culture ...

and Mary Winslow Smith; Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1927 This ballad describes a duel between Dixie Bull and a fisherman from Pemaquid, Daniel Curtis, on an island near that town, in which Dixie Bull was killed, saving the town.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bull, Dixie 1610s births Year of death unknown Year of birth uncertain Criminals from London Kingdom of England emigrants to Massachusetts Bay Colony English pirates American pirates American folklore People of colonial Maine People from colonial Boston 17th-century pirates