An Account of the Barbarous and Debauched Pyrate Menace of the Bahama Islands is a pamphlet about the threat that the pirates pose and it details their supposed acts of evil. The cover bears the title and an illustration containing a caricature of a pirate holding a severed head and preparing to strike a woman. The woman on the cover is meant to be an illustration of Mrs. Thompson.
History[]
In 1705, Thomas Hamilton shows Lieutenant James McGraw the pamphlet and says that it represents the problem that they face if they are going to try and save Nassau, and it has only gotten worse over the past generation. James glibly asks if he means illiteracy, but Thomas says it is the Governor Robert Thompson, the Governor of New Providence Island. He accepts bribes from the pirate captains in exchange for catering to their needs. He then sends word back to his and his wife’s pamphleteer friends in London about the “scourge of the pirate menace,” which gains him sympathy and support. That then solidifies his position and makes all the problems in Nassau worse.
Text[]
“They abuse themselves from Worship and God, scarcely knowing when it is the Lord’s Day on the Seas and mock the Ministers and Messengers of God with outrageous Insolence. They suffer of unquenchable Thirst after inordinate Gain and Immoderate (?) Desire of Worldly Possessions, taking advantage of remote and Solitary Places where the weak and Defenseless can expect no Assistance, the absence of Power adding Cruelty to their Thefts. Upon their threat to the Wealth, Strength, Reputation and Glory of the English Nation to contest and Defiance of his Majesty’s good and Wholesome Laws, we proclaim these Sea Monsters- for the name of Men they do not deserve- hostis humani generis, the common enemies of Mankind, all Societies and every State, Christian or Infidel.”
“Instead of repenting for their Murderous Crimes, they Celebrate these Atrocities with Riots, Revelries and Debauches, living only in accordance to their Wicked Inclinations, submerged in a perpetual Din of Madness, These Sons of Violence, determined to keep all Thoughts of God out of their Minds, are led captive by Satan into patronage of Lewd Women, spreading Disease of the Mind and Body. The Crime of Pyracy subverts and extinguishes Natural and Civil Rights of Mankind and is a Crime so odious and horrid in all its Circumstances that those who have tested (?) on that Subject have been at a loss for Words and Terms to stamp a sufficient Ignominy to this Violence and an attack on the Sacredness of our Freedom from such…”
Gallery[]
Notes[]
- The quotes are taken from what is decipherable from the pictures of the text posted on auction sites when the prop was sold. They can be found here: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/black-sails-flint-toby-stephens-1864333117.