N2NH
10-13-2012, 07:12 AM
There were two kinds of pirates that lived in New York in it's 400 year history. Those who were the scourge of the seven seas, and river pirates...
History shows that the city has long held pirates in high regard. Successful ones, that is. Under Col. Benjamin Fletcher (http://www.thepiratesrealm.com/New%20England.html), who became the British governor of New York in 1692, piracy was a leading economic development tool in the city’s competition with the ports of Boston and Philadelphia.
At the time, Britain and France were at war, a nearly chronic condition, and each country commissioned private vessels to attack the other side’s ships. These privateers carried “letters of marque” that granted them authority to seize enemy cargo, which they were supposed to bring to a court for proper disposition.
It turned out that it was far more profitable to simply skip the legal requirements and board any vulnerable ship, no matter whether it was flying the flag of friend or foe. The big challenge was to find a port where pirated goods — rather than those seized under the privateering laws — could be sold.
In Governor Fletcher, the pirates found a most willing host, who could be bought for 100 Spanish dollars, according to Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/mike_wallace/index.html?inline=nyt-per) in “Gotham” (Oxford University Press). Pirate money pulsed through New York. “This boodling was worth a hundred thousand pounds a year to the city,” they wrote. “Tavern keepers, whores, retailers and others flourished as buccaneers swaggered through the streets with purses full of hard money — Arabian dinars, Hindustani mohurs, Greek byzants, French louis d’or, Spanish doubloons.”
AMONG the most successful privateers of the era was Captain William Kidd, who was hanged in England after being convicted of piracy. Kidd used some of his wealth to build a fine home and helped establish the first Trinity Church, which to this day remains one of the city’s most important landowners. Other financiers of piracy, whose names endure in various forms around New York, were Frederick Philipse, Stephanus Van Cortlandt, Peter Schuyler and Thomas Willet.
During the Revolutionary War, privateering became a vital element in the rebellion against England. One merchant, John Broome, moved to Connecticut to set up a privateering operation that worked Long Island Sound.
It was not only tactically useful, but a lucrative business as well, with thousands of American seamen involved in one way or another, said Mr. Burrows.
This was written when the Somali pirate was brought to NYC for prosecution. (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/nyregion/22about.html?_r=1&)
Then there were the pirates that preyed in the waters of the East River. Corlears Hook is in the present day Lower East Side neighborhoods of Two Bridges and Knickerbocker.
Patsy Conroy, leader of one of the East River's most ruthless and ambitious gangs, terrorizing shipping vessels throughout New York Harbor.
More here at the Bowery Boys website (podcast). (http://theboweryboys.blogspot.com/2009/11/corlears-hook-and-pirate-gangs-of-east.html)
History shows that the city has long held pirates in high regard. Successful ones, that is. Under Col. Benjamin Fletcher (http://www.thepiratesrealm.com/New%20England.html), who became the British governor of New York in 1692, piracy was a leading economic development tool in the city’s competition with the ports of Boston and Philadelphia.
At the time, Britain and France were at war, a nearly chronic condition, and each country commissioned private vessels to attack the other side’s ships. These privateers carried “letters of marque” that granted them authority to seize enemy cargo, which they were supposed to bring to a court for proper disposition.
It turned out that it was far more profitable to simply skip the legal requirements and board any vulnerable ship, no matter whether it was flying the flag of friend or foe. The big challenge was to find a port where pirated goods — rather than those seized under the privateering laws — could be sold.
In Governor Fletcher, the pirates found a most willing host, who could be bought for 100 Spanish dollars, according to Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/mike_wallace/index.html?inline=nyt-per) in “Gotham” (Oxford University Press). Pirate money pulsed through New York. “This boodling was worth a hundred thousand pounds a year to the city,” they wrote. “Tavern keepers, whores, retailers and others flourished as buccaneers swaggered through the streets with purses full of hard money — Arabian dinars, Hindustani mohurs, Greek byzants, French louis d’or, Spanish doubloons.”
AMONG the most successful privateers of the era was Captain William Kidd, who was hanged in England after being convicted of piracy. Kidd used some of his wealth to build a fine home and helped establish the first Trinity Church, which to this day remains one of the city’s most important landowners. Other financiers of piracy, whose names endure in various forms around New York, were Frederick Philipse, Stephanus Van Cortlandt, Peter Schuyler and Thomas Willet.
During the Revolutionary War, privateering became a vital element in the rebellion against England. One merchant, John Broome, moved to Connecticut to set up a privateering operation that worked Long Island Sound.
It was not only tactically useful, but a lucrative business as well, with thousands of American seamen involved in one way or another, said Mr. Burrows.
This was written when the Somali pirate was brought to NYC for prosecution. (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/nyregion/22about.html?_r=1&)
Then there were the pirates that preyed in the waters of the East River. Corlears Hook is in the present day Lower East Side neighborhoods of Two Bridges and Knickerbocker.
Patsy Conroy, leader of one of the East River's most ruthless and ambitious gangs, terrorizing shipping vessels throughout New York Harbor.
More here at the Bowery Boys website (podcast). (http://theboweryboys.blogspot.com/2009/11/corlears-hook-and-pirate-gangs-of-east.html)