Samuel Axe
Encyclopedia
Samuel Axe was an English privateer
in Dutch service during the early 17th century.
Serving with English forces in the Netherlands during the Dutch War of Independence, Axe traveled to the British colony of Providence Island
, in the western Caribbean Sea
, where he assisted in the construction of its central fortress in 1629. However, after a disagreement with Daniel Elfrith
(possibly over the capture of Spanish and Portuguese slavers during the early 1630s http://bz.llano.net/gowen/melungia/article1.htm), he soon left the island with Abraham Blauvelt
and Sussex Camock and sailed for Honduras
in 1633.
In 1635, he accepted Dutch letters of marque despite being in the employ of the Providence Island Company
and, from 1636 to 1641, acted as a privateer for the English trading company.
Although briefly returning to Providence to assist the island's defense against Spanish attacks in 1636, Axe had a successful privateering career delivering a captured prize, with a cargo including gold, silver, jewels, indigo and cochineal, as he returned to England in May 1640.
Following the capture of Providence by Spain in 1641, the Providence Island Company was dissolved. Escaping to St. Kitts, Axe would later take part in a privateering expedition under Captain William Jackson
to the West Indies from 1642 to 1645, in which the privateers managed to capture Jamaica
.
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
in Dutch service during the early 17th century.
Serving with English forces in the Netherlands during the Dutch War of Independence, Axe traveled to the British colony of Providence Island
Providence Island
Providence Island may refer to:*Providencia Island, part of the Archipelago of San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina in Colombia, which was settled by the Providence Island Company*Providence Island is an island*Providence Atoll in Seychelles...
, in the western Caribbean Sea
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
, where he assisted in the construction of its central fortress in 1629. However, after a disagreement with Daniel Elfrith
Daniel Elfrith
Daniel Elfrith was a 17th-century English privateer, colonist and slave trader. In the service of the Earl of Warwick, Elfrith was involved in privateering expeditions against the Spanish from his base in Bermuda...
(possibly over the capture of Spanish and Portuguese slavers during the early 1630s http://bz.llano.net/gowen/melungia/article1.htm), he soon left the island with Abraham Blauvelt
Abraham Blauvelt
Abraham Blauvelt was a Dutch privateer and explorer mapping much of Central America in the 1630s, after whom both the Bluefield River and the neighboring town of Bluefields, Nicaragua were named....
and Sussex Camock and sailed for 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...
in 1633.
In 1635, he accepted Dutch letters of marque despite being in the employ of the Providence Island Company
Providence Island Company
The Providence Company or Providence Island Company was an English chartered company founded in 1629 by a group of Puritans including Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick in order to settle Providence Island, off the Spanish Mosquito Coast of what became Nicaragua.Besides Lord Warwick, among the twenty...
and, from 1636 to 1641, acted as a privateer for the English trading company.
Although briefly returning to Providence to assist the island's defense against Spanish attacks in 1636, Axe had a successful privateering career delivering a captured prize, with a cargo including gold, silver, jewels, indigo and cochineal, as he returned to England in May 1640.
Following the capture of Providence by Spain in 1641, the Providence Island Company was dissolved. Escaping to St. Kitts, Axe would later take part in a privateering expedition under Captain William Jackson
William Jackson (pirate)
William Jackson was an English privateer who, based in Guanaja and Roatan , was in the service of the Providence Island Company from 1639 until around 1641. During that year, he captured a Spanish slave ship at the port of and received a ransom of 8,000 pounds of indigo as well as 2,000...
to the West Indies from 1642 to 1645, in which the privateers managed to capture Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
.
Further reading
- Kupperman, Karen Ordahl. Providence Island, 1630-1641: The Other Puritan Colony. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. ISBN 978-0-521-55835-8
- Rogozinski, Jan Pirates!: Brigands, Buccaneers, and Privateers in Fact, Fiction, and Legend. New York: Da Capo Press, 1996. ISBN 978-0-306-80722-0
External links
- Pirates and Privateers by Rick Vermunt
- Famous Historical Pirates