Eric Cobham a pirate in the early 18th century who with his wife, Maria Lindsey, practiced piracy in the Gulf of St. Lawrence from their base in Newfoundland. They were both born in England – Eric Cobham from Poole

Poole

Poole is a large coastal town and seaport in the county of Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester, and Bournemouth adjoins Poole to the east. The Borough of Poole was made a unitary authority in 1997, gaining administrative independence from Dorset County Council...

 and Maria Lindsey from Plymouth.

History

According to Philip Gosse in "The Pirate's Who's Who" (1924) and Horwood and Butts in "The Pirates and Outlaws of Canada" (1984), the Cobhams were among the first St. Lawrence pirates to become known for giving “no quarter”, meaning all the captured crews were killed and the ships sunk. They were famous for their sadism and cruelty, including using survivors for target practice. They were pirates between 1720 and 1740 after which they relocated to Le Havre

Le Havre

Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...

, 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...

. They became members of the community and Eric was appointed a judge. Maria could not make the adjustment and went insane, finally committing suicide

Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

 (or possibly being murdered by Eric). Eric had an attack of conscience after her death and confessed his sins to a priest and requested the true story of his life be published. This book was printed after his death, the family tried to buy and destroy this book, however there is allegedly a copy in the Archives Nationales, Paris. They were survived by 2 sons and a daughter.

Hoax?

Other than second hand mention, there is little proof on the ground that Cobham and his wife actually existed. It is extraordinarily unlikely that they could have had the career described in the mid-18th century without leaving a single documentary trace. However in a book, Buccaneers and Marooners of America, published in 1891; editor Howard Pyle mentions Cobham in passing as if his exploits were already well known to the public at large and details Cobham's attack on a Spanish ship in the Bay of Biscay

Bay of Biscay

The Bay of Biscay is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Brest south to the Spanish border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Cape Ortegal, and is named in English after the province of Biscay, in the Spanish...

wherein all persons of Spanish origin (approximately 20) aboard the seized vessel were sewn into the mainsail and thrown into the sea.

External links

• The Canadian Encyclopaedia entry on Eric Cobham
• Buccaners and Marooners of America by Howard Pyle 1905