Edward Davis
Encyclopedia
Edward Davis or Davies was an English buccaneer active in the Caribbean during the 1680s and would lead successful raids against Leon
and Panama
in 1685, the latter considered one of the last major buccaneer raids against a Spanish stronghold. Much of his career was later recorded by writer William Dampier
in A New Voyage Round the World (1697).
ancestry, he is first recorded as one of the members of the "Pacific Adventure" led by Bartholomew Sharp
and John Coxon
in 1680. Briefly serving as a navigator, he and several others including James Kelly
left the expedition within a year and returned overland through Panama with John Cook or Cooke.
, he agreed to join a privateering expedition as a quartermaster under Cooke. Sailing eastward, they soon captured the 36-gun Delight (or Bachelor's Delight) shortly after arriving off West Africa. Sailing to the Pacific by way of Cape Horn
, Davis and the others were joined by John Eaton
before raiding Spanish cities along the coast of present day South
and Central America
.
Following the death of Cook in July 1684, the crew of the Delight elected Davis to succeed him. However, the expedition ran into some difficulty as a failed attack on El Realejo
, Nicaragua
would result in the departure of Eaton as well as raids against Paita, Peru and Guayaquil
, Ecuador
turning up little of value (although the capture of several slave ships resulted in 15 slaves joining the crew).
Turning back towards Panama
, he raided Spanish shipping carrying silver from Peru
to Spain before joining forces with a fleet under the command of Francis Grognet, Pierre le Picard
and a Captain Townley.
Sailing back towards Ecuador
, he encountered the Cygnet under Captain Charles Swan
and Peter Harris
(the nephew of privateer Peter Harris
killed in the "Pacific Adventure" only four years before) and persuaded them to join the expedition.
With the Delight, the Cygnet and various smaller captured Spanish vessels, he would successfully lead an attack with Charles Swan and others against Panama. Although they planned to attack the Peruvian silver fleet, Spanish officials managed to transfer over 500,000 pesos in two galleons and escorted by three smaller warships which was able to evade the awaiting pirate fleet by sailing in an outwardly westward course. While awaiting the treasure fleet, Davis and the others encountered a Spanish patrol off the coast of Peru on June 8 and were eventually chased by a Spanish fleet to Corba Island.
and sailed north with eight ships and 640 buccaneer
s.
However, raids against Leon and Realejo met with little success resulting in the departures of Swan and Townley who left for Mexico and Harris after much of his crew died from yellow fever
in Honduras
.
With William Knight, the buccaneers raided the coastal settlements of Peru taking £25,000 in jewels and silver from Sana in March 1686. Although later raids yielded smaller wealth, 39 African slaves were liberated from Paita and later joined the expedition. Raiding five more towns between the months of May and June, many priests and officials were killed attempting to hide the city's treasury until the defenders of Pisco agreed to pay £5,000 in ransom.
After arriving at the Juan Fernández Islands
in November, he and Knight decided to divide the spoils with each crew member receiving £1,150 according to Raveneau de Lussan
with Knight leaving for the Caribbean.
Davis continued with 80 men and looted £10,000 from Arica, Chile
in February 1687. Learning from captives of Spanish plans to send a squadron from Peru against Captain Pierre le Picard
, he arrived at Guayaquil
in May and helped defeat the flet and split £50,000 with the French buccaneer.
and Juan Fernández Islands
on his return voyage to the American colonies. He reported the discovery of land 600 leagues from the Galápagos at 27°20′S (later referred to as Davis' Land, this may have been Easter Island
). He and the Delight arrived in the West Indies in early 1688 and eventually arrived in Philadelphia in May. Although he and Lionel Wafer
would be imprisoned for piracy in Virginia
for two years http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=109752&ran=83167, he would eventually return to England in 1690 and successfully managed to have most of his former property and estates returned to him within two years.
He is claimed as one of the earliest buccaneers to have buried treasure on Cocos Island
with his flagship, the Bachelor's Delight, in 1684 and 1702. Anchoring in Chatham Bay, he supposedly left behind several chests containing ingots, pieces-of-eight and £300,000 in silver bar and plate taken from settlements in Peru and Chile http://www.bc-alter.net/dfriesen/cocosleads.html.
He may or may not have been the same privateer to accompany Captain William Kidd
to America after a meeting at St. Mary's Island in 1697.
León (department)
León is a department in Nicaragua. It covers an area of 5,107 km² and has a population of 389,600 . The capital is the city of León.- Municipalities :# El Jicaral# El Sauce# La Paz Centro# Larreynaga# León# Nagarote# Quezalguaque...
and Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
in 1685, the latter considered one of the last major buccaneer raids against a Spanish stronghold. Much of his career was later recorded by writer William Dampier
William Dampier
William Dampier was an English buccaneer, sea captain, author and scientific observer...
in A New Voyage Round the World (1697).
Early career
Possibly of FlemishFlanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
ancestry, he is first recorded as one of the members of the "Pacific Adventure" led by Bartholomew Sharp
Bartholomew Sharp
Bartholomew Sharp an English buccaneer whose pirate career lasted only three years . His flagship was the Trinity....
and John Coxon
John Coxon
John Coxon may refer to:* John Coxon * John Coxon, member of English band Spring Heel Jack...
in 1680. Briefly serving as a navigator, he and several others including James Kelly
James Kelly
James Kelly or Jim Kelly is the name of: *James Kelly *James Kelly *James Kelly , 19th century Anglican bishop of Newfoundland and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, 1901–1904*James Kelly , UK MP for the Irish constituency of Limerick City 1844–1847*Jimmy Kelly James Kelly or Jim Kelly is...
left the expedition within a year and returned overland through Panama with John Cook or Cooke.
Davis & Cook
In August 1683, while selling captured prizes in VirginiaVirginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, he agreed to join a privateering expedition as a quartermaster under Cooke. Sailing eastward, they soon captured the 36-gun Delight (or Bachelor's Delight) shortly after arriving off West Africa. Sailing to the Pacific by way of Cape Horn
Cape Horn
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...
, Davis and the others were joined by John Eaton
John Eaton
John Henry Eaton was an American politician and diplomat from Tennessee who served as U.S. Senator and as Secretary of War in the administration of Andrew Jackson. He was the youngest U.S. Senator in history, having been 28 years old at the time of his swearing-in.-Biography:Eaton was born near...
before raiding Spanish cities along the coast of present day South
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
and Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
.
Following the death of Cook in July 1684, the crew of the Delight elected Davis to succeed him. However, the expedition ran into some difficulty as a failed attack on El Realejo
El Realejo
El Realejo is a municipality in the Chinandega department of Nicaragua. The town of El Realejo was constructed in 1532, during the first years of Spanish colonization. During this period it served as Nicaragua's principal port, and remained so until the beginning of the 17th century, when pirate...
, Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
would result in the departure of Eaton as well as raids against Paita, Peru and Guayaquil
Guayaquil
Guayaquil , officially Santiago de Guayaquil , is the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador,with about 2.3 million inhabitants in the city and nearly 3.1 million in the metropolitan area, as well as that nation's main port...
, Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
turning up little of value (although the capture of several slave ships resulted in 15 slaves joining the crew).
Turning back towards Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
, he raided Spanish shipping carrying silver from Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
to Spain before joining forces with a fleet under the command of Francis Grognet, Pierre le Picard
Pierre le Picard
Pierre le Picard was a 17th century French buccaneer. He was both an officer to l'Ollonais as well as Sir Henry Morgan, most notably taking part in his raids at Maracaibo and Panama, and may have been one of the first buccaneers to raid shipping on both the Caribbean and Pacific...
and a Captain Townley.
Sailing back towards Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, he encountered the Cygnet under Captain Charles Swan
Charles Swan
Charles Swan was a reluctant buccaneer, killed 1690.Captain Swan was forced into piracy by his crew in the 1680s, and proceeded to write letters to the owners of his ship Cygnet in London, begging them to intercede with James II of England for his pardon - even as he looted his way up and down the...
and Peter Harris
Peter Harris
Peter Harris , popularly known as Blu Peter, is an electronic dance music record producer and disc jockey from South Wales who pioneered the Nu-NRG music genre in the late 1990s...
(the nephew of privateer Peter Harris
Peter Harris (buccaneer)
Peter Harris was a British buccaneer, one of the captains in the Pacific Adventure, a privateering expedition headed by Richard Sawkins and John Coxon...
killed in the "Pacific Adventure" only four years before) and persuaded them to join the expedition.
With the Delight, the Cygnet and various smaller captured Spanish vessels, he would successfully lead an attack with Charles Swan and others against Panama. Although they planned to attack the Peruvian silver fleet, Spanish officials managed to transfer over 500,000 pesos in two galleons and escorted by three smaller warships which was able to evade the awaiting pirate fleet by sailing in an outwardly westward course. While awaiting the treasure fleet, Davis and the others encountered a Spanish patrol off the coast of Peru on June 8 and were eventually chased by a Spanish fleet to Corba Island.
Breakway from Grognet
Quarreling amongst themselves following their defeat, with many blaming Grognet, Davis left the expedition along with Swan, Townley, Harris, William KnightWilliam Knight (pirate)
William Knight was a 17th century English buccaneer who, in 1684, led a landing party consisting of forty English and twenty French buccaneers in an attack on La Serena, but was forced to retreat in the face of strong cavalry...
and sailed north with eight ships and 640 buccaneer
Buccaneer
The buccaneers were privateers who attacked Spanish shipping in the Caribbean Sea during the late 17th century.The term buccaneer is now used generally as a synonym for pirate...
s.
However, raids against Leon and Realejo met with little success resulting in the departures of Swan and Townley who left for Mexico and Harris after much of his crew died from yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
in Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
.
With William Knight, the buccaneers raided the coastal settlements of Peru taking £25,000 in jewels and silver from Sana in March 1686. Although later raids yielded smaller wealth, 39 African slaves were liberated from Paita and later joined the expedition. Raiding five more towns between the months of May and June, many priests and officials were killed attempting to hide the city's treasury until the defenders of Pisco agreed to pay £5,000 in ransom.
After arriving at the Juan Fernández Islands
Juan Fernández Islands
The Juan Fernández Islands are a sparsely inhabited island group reliant on tourism and fishing in the South Pacific Ocean, situated about off the coast of Chile, and is composed of three main volcanic islands; Robinson Crusoe Island, Alejandro Selkirk Island and Santa Clara Island, the first...
in November, he and Knight decided to divide the spoils with each crew member receiving £1,150 according to Raveneau de Lussan
Raveneau de Lussan
Raveneau de Lussan was a French buccaneer.He belonged to a noble but impoverished family, and embraced a military career at the age of 14. In 1679 he embarked for Santo Domingo in search of fortune, but was unsuccessful, and joined the buccaneers under Laurens de Graaf, sailing from Petit-Goâve,...
with Knight leaving for the Caribbean.
Davis continued with 80 men and looted £10,000 from Arica, Chile
Arica, Chile
Arica is a commune and a port city with a population of 185,269 in the Arica Province of northern Chile's Arica and Parinacota Region, located only south of the border with Peru. The city is the capital of both the Arica Province and the Arica and Parinacota Region...
in February 1687. Learning from captives of Spanish plans to send a squadron from Peru against Captain Pierre le Picard
Pierre le Picard
Pierre le Picard was a 17th century French buccaneer. He was both an officer to l'Ollonais as well as Sir Henry Morgan, most notably taking part in his raids at Maracaibo and Panama, and may have been one of the first buccaneers to raid shipping on both the Caribbean and Pacific...
, he arrived at Guayaquil
Guayaquil
Guayaquil , officially Santiago de Guayaquil , is the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador,with about 2.3 million inhabitants in the city and nearly 3.1 million in the metropolitan area, as well as that nation's main port...
in May and helped defeat the flet and split £50,000 with the French buccaneer.
Later years
Leaving Guayaquil on June 12, he stopped at the Galápagos IslandsGalápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part.The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a...
and Juan Fernández Islands
Juan Fernández Islands
The Juan Fernández Islands are a sparsely inhabited island group reliant on tourism and fishing in the South Pacific Ocean, situated about off the coast of Chile, and is composed of three main volcanic islands; Robinson Crusoe Island, Alejandro Selkirk Island and Santa Clara Island, the first...
on his return voyage to the American colonies. He reported the discovery of land 600 leagues from the Galápagos at 27°20′S (later referred to as Davis' Land, this may have been Easter Island
Easter Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
). He and the Delight arrived in the West Indies in early 1688 and eventually arrived in Philadelphia in May. Although he and Lionel Wafer
Lionel Wafer
Lionel Wafer was a Welsh explorer, buccaneer and privateer.A ship's surgeon, Wafer made several voyages to the South Seas and visited the Malay archipelago in 1676. The following year he settled in Jamaica to practise his profession...
would be imprisoned for piracy in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
for two years http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=109752&ran=83167, he would eventually return to England in 1690 and successfully managed to have most of his former property and estates returned to him within two years.
He is claimed as one of the earliest buccaneers to have buried treasure on Cocos Island
Cocos Island
Cocos Island is an uninhabited island located off the shore of Costa Rica . It constitutes the 11th district of Puntarenas Canton of the province of Puntarenas. It is one of the National Parks of Costa Rica...
with his flagship, the Bachelor's Delight, in 1684 and 1702. Anchoring in Chatham Bay, he supposedly left behind several chests containing ingots, pieces-of-eight and £300,000 in silver bar and plate taken from settlements in Peru and Chile http://www.bc-alter.net/dfriesen/cocosleads.html.
He may or may not have been the same privateer to accompany Captain William Kidd
William Kidd
William "Captain" Kidd was a Scottish sailor remembered for his trial and execution for piracy after returning from a voyage to the Indian Ocean. Some modern historians deem his piratical reputation unjust, as there is evidence that Kidd acted only as a privateer...
to America after a meeting at St. Mary's Island in 1697.
External links
- Notable Voyagers, W.H.G. Kingston and Henry Frith - Chapter XXI: Voyages and adventures of William Dampier — from A.D. 1674
- Rogozinski, Jan. Pirates!: Brigands, Buccaneers, and Privateers in Fact, Fiction, and Legend. New York: Da Capo Press, 1996. ISBN 0-306-80722-X