History Bytes: Newport’s Pirate Uprising

July 17, 2014

A Guest History Bytes by author Greg Flemming.

Jonathan Barlow, Nicholas Simmons, and Matthew Perry were three young sailors who, purely by chance, were all captured by the same crew of pirates over the course of several months in 1723 and 1724.

A section from the first page of the trial that was held in Newport in 1725. Image courtesy Greg Flemming.

Page from the Newport Trial of Matthew Perry and Others, High Court of Admiralty Records 1/99, National Archives, London.

Barlow was working aboard a ship out of London when he was captured, Simmons had sailed from Newport in November 1723, and Perry was the first mate of the ship John and Mary, from Boston. When the pirates attacked the John and Mary in December 1724, all three of the young men were put aboard the ship, along with three members of the pirate crew. But the young men were confident it was an even match and decided to fight back. When the pirates anchored for the evening near a remote island off the coast of Honduras, the men grabbed several weapons and staged a daring revolt. They almost failed when Perry’s first pistol shot misfired, but moments later the captives were able to overpower the pirates. Barlow, Simmons, and Perry then sailed the John and Mary back to Newport, arriving in January of 1725. Their long-forgotten story is preserved today in a series of brittle, hand-written documents — depositions, narratives, and Newport trial records — that detail the captives’ incredible voyage and safe return home.

Gregory N. Flemming is the author of At the Point of a Cutlass: The Pirate Capture, Bold Escape, and Lonely Exile of Philip Ashton (UPNE June 2014). He will discuss his new book at the Colony House on October 30, 2014. For lecture details click here.

References

  • Deposition by Henry Hunt, late commander of the Delight Galley, Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 34, January 1724.
  • Seybolt, Robert Francis, Jonathan Barlow, and Nicholas Simmons. “Captured by Pirates: Two Diaries of 1724-1725.” The New England Quarterly (2:1929), pp. 658-669.
  • Statement concerning Matthew Parrey (sic) mate & ship John & Mary out of Boston, Feb. 1, 1724, Rhode Island Land & Public Notary Records, vol. 4, 1721 – 1741, pp. 76-78 (C#00481).
  • Trial of Matthew Perry and Others, High Court of Admiralty Records 1/99, National Archives, London.