Christopher Condent
Encyclopedia
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
in Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
, was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
pirate who led the return to the Eastern Seas. He and his crew fled New Providence
New Providence
New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. It also houses the national capital city, Nassau.The island was originally under Spanish control following Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World, but the Spanish government showed...
in 1718, when Woodes Rogers
Woodes Rogers
Woodes Rogers was an English sea captain, privateer, and, later, the first Royal Governor of the Bahamas. He is known as the captain of the vessel that rescued the marooned Alexander Selkirk, whose plight is generally believed to have inspired Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.Rogers came from an...
became governor of the island.
On a trip across the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
, an Indian member of the crew, who was severely beaten and mistreated, threatened to ignite the ship's powder magazine. Condent swiftly jumped into the hold, and shot the Indian in the face. Purportedly, the crew hacked the body to pieces, and the gunner slashed open his stomach, tore out his heart, boiled it, and ate it. Further into the voyage, the crew captured a merchant vessel. Roughly half of the crew sailed away, while the other half chose Condent as their captain.
At the Cape Verde Islands
Cape Verde
The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...
, Condent and his men captured a Portuguese wine vessel, a squadron of small ships, and a Dutch war ship. Condent kept the warship, and named it The Flying Dragon. The Flying Dragon then cruised the Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian coast, and Condent took more ships, occasionally torturing Portuguese prisoners by cutting off their ears and noses.
Condent took much more "booty
Booty
Category:Article Feedback Blacklist...
" when he reached the African coast. In June or July of 1719, he reached Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
. While he was at Sainte-Marie, he integrated some of John Halsey
John Halsey
John Halsey was a colonial American privateer and a later pirate who was active in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans during the early 18th century. Although much of his life and career is unknown, he is recorded in A General History of the Pyrates which states "He was brave in his Person, courteous...
's old crew into his own.
He cruised the Indian Coast and the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
for a further year or so. In 1720, near Bombay, Condent and his crew captured a huge Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
ship, which contained an abundance of treasure and valuables, to the tune of £150,000. In an attempt not to further enrage the East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
, Condent's crew were ordered not to abuse crew or passengers.
He and his crew returned to the island of Saint-Marie, dividing their haul into around £2000 each. Condent and forty other members of his crew sailed to the island of Bourbon
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
where they negotiated with the governor for a French pardon. Twenty or more of the men settled on the island, but Condent went on to marry the governor’s sister-in-law, travel to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, settle down with his wife in Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
and became a wealthy merchant.
Other pirates, namely Edward England
Edward England
Edward England, born Edward Seegar in Ireland, was a famous African coast and Indian Ocean pirate captain from 1717 to 1720. The ships he sailed on included the Pearl and later the Fancy, for which England exchanged the Pearl in 1720...
and John Taylor
John Taylor (pirate)
John Taylor was a pirate who lived in the early 18th century.At Reunion Island in April 1721, he together with Olivier Levasseur captured the most valuable prize in pirate history, variously described as "Nostra Senora della Cabo", "Nostra Senhora do Cabo", or "Nossa Senhora do Cabo" .-Further...
aboard their ship the Pearl, followed Condent from New Providence to Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
.
External links
- Christopher Condent at Rob Ossian's Pirate Cove!
- Christopher Condent at Swashbuckler's Cove