Benutzer:Shi Annan/Thomas Anstis
_for_Allen_%26_Ginter_Cigarettes_MET_DP835042.jpg)
Thomas Anstis (gest. April 1723) war ein Pirat des frühen 18. Jahrhunderts, der unter Captain Howell Davis und Captain Bartholomew Roberts diente, bevor er eigene Unternehmungen machte, vor allem Überfälle auf Frachtschiffe an der Ostküste der Amerikanischen Kolonien und in der Karibik, in einer Zeit, die häufig als „Goldenes Zeitalter der Piraterie“ bezeichnet wird.
Anfänge[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
Anstis taucht erstmals als Mitglied der der Crew auf der Sloop Buck auf. Diese segelte um 1718 von New Providence in den Bahamas. Im Verlauf der Reise machte Anstis eine Verschwörung mit sechs anderen Crew-Mitgliedern um eine Meuterei durchzuführen. Als dies gelang, starteten sie nach Süden um als Piraten zu leben. Howell Davis wurde zum Kapitän gewählt. Nach Davis’ Tod wurde Bartholomew Roberts Kapitän und er brachte es zu einer Gruppe mehrerer Schiffe. Anstis kommandierte eines davon, die Brigantine Good Fortune.[1]
Roberts, Fenn & Admiral Flowers[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
In der Nacht des 18. April 1721 war Roberts’ Schiff auf dem Weg nach Afrika, aber Anstis und seine Crew auf der Good Fortune schlüpften in der Nacht davon und begannen in der Karibik zu plündern. Zwischen Hispaniola und Jamaica plünderte die Good Fortune zwei Schiffe. An Bord des einen, der Irwin, verübte Anstis’ Crew eine Gruppenvergewaltigung und Mord an einer weiblichen Passagierin. Danach pausierten sie um ihr Schiff zu kielholen. Eine ähnliche Karriere hatte auch Walter Kennedy, ein weiterer von Roberts’ Kapitänen, like Anstis, took his prize ship and abandoned Roberts.
Continuing onward towards Bermuda, Anstis spotted a treasure ship out from Guinea heading towards the Carolinas, Morning Star. After its capture, the ship was outfitted with 32 guns and placed in the command of ships gunner John Fenn, Anstis opting to retain command of the smaller Good Fortune because of her superior handling. The two ships continued to sail along the southeastern coast of the colonies until fighting began to break out among many of the forced crew members, and they decided to petition George I of Great Britain for a pardon, claiming they had been forced into piracy by Anstis and Roberts.
Sailing to an island off Cabo San Antonio in Cuba, the crew awaited a reply from the British government for nine months until August 1722, when they received news from their courier ship that their pleas had been ignored, and the king had sent Admiral Sir John Flowers to eradicate the pirates. On their southward course they encountered the Grand Caymans, where the Morning Star ran aground and, as the survivors were being rescued by the Good Fortune, the pirates were sighted and pursued by HMS Hector and HMS Adventure. Anstis was forced to cut his anchor cable and run, finally making his escape under oars when the fresh wind subsided. Anstis lost more than forty of his men on Grand Cayman, most of these being captured by a landing party from the two Royal Navy vessels, under the command of Flowers.
Anstis and Fenn (who had been rescued from Grand Cayman before the interference of the Royal Navy) now sailed to the Bay of Honduras and careened on an offshore island, capturing three or four prizes en route and augmenting their depleted crew from their captives. Anstis next sailed for the Bahama Islands in early December 1722. On the way, he captured a sloop named Antelope, which he added to his squadron, and then a 24-gun ship, which was entrusted to Fenn.
Not all sources agree on the details of Anstis' associates or the ships in his group. Some sources have Anstis keeping Morning Star for himself and putting Brigstock Weaver in command of Good Fortune.[2] Weaver's ship had been captured by Roberts and Montigny la Palisse, who forced Weaver to sign their Articles.[3] When Anstis left Roberts, Weaver was first mate on the Good Fortune. Weaver eventually made his way back to England where he was pardoned after his trial.[3]
Final days[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
The pirates put in at Tobago in April 1723, intending to careen their new vessels, and having just started the task, they were surprised by the British man-of-war Admiral Sir John Flowers HMS Winchelsea. Antis and his men were forced to burn the ship and the sloop and flee into the island's interior, but the Winchelsea's marines overtook and captured them. Anstis escaped again in his swift brigantine Good Fortune, but his crew, discouraged by their losses, murdered him as he slept in his hammock, and took prisoner all who remained loyal. The mutineers then surrendered to Dutch authorities in Curaçao, where they received amnesty and their prisoners were hanged.
Einzelnachweise[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
- ↑ Charles Johnson: A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates.
- ↑ Philip Gosse: The Pirates' Who's Who by Philip Gosse. Burt Franklin, New York 1924 (gutenberg.org [abgerufen am 23. Juni 2017]).
- ↑ a b E. T. Fox: Pirates in Their Own Words. Lulu.com, Raleigh NC 2014, ISBN 978-1-291-94399-3 (englisch, google.com [abgerufen am 17. Juni 2017]).
Literatur[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
- Douglas Botting: The Pirates (The Seafarers; v.1). Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books 1978. ISBN 0-8094-2652-8
- Aubrey Burl: Black Barty: Bartholomew Roberts and his pirate crew 1718-1723. Sutton Publishing 2006. ISBN 0-7509-4312-2
- Peter Earle: The Pirate Wars. New York: St. Martin’s Press 2005. ISBN 0-312-33579-2
- Philip Grosse (hg.): A General History of the Pirates. London: Sainsbury 1927.
- Kris E. Lane: Pillaging the Empire: Piracy in the Americas - 1500-1750. London: M.E. Sharp 1998. ISBN 0-7656-0256-3
- Jan Rogozinski: Pirates!: Brigands, Buccaneers, and Privateers in Fact, Fiction, and Legend. New York: Da Capo Press 1996. ISBN 0-306-80722-X
- Don Carlos Seitz, Howard F. Gospel, Stephen Wood: Under the Black Flag: Exploits of the Most Notorious Pirates. Mineola, New York: Courier Dover Publications 2002. ISBN 0-486-42131-7
- Philip Steele: The World of Pirates. Boston: Kingfisher Publications 2004. ISBN 0-7534-5786-5
Weblinks[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
- Archivlink: 28. Oktober 2009: Brethren of the Coast: Captain Thomas Anstis
- Archivlink: Famous Historical Pirates - Thomas Anstis
- Bristol Ships captured by Pirates pages.prodigy.net
{{Normdaten|TYP=p|GND= |VIAF=|GNDName=|GNDfehlt=ja|GNDCheck=2020-09-24}} {{SORTIERUNG:Anstis, Thomas}} [[Kategorie: [[Kategorie:Geboren ]] [[Kategorie:Gestorben 1723]] [[Kategorie:Mann]] {{Personendaten |NAME=Anstis, Thomas |ALTERNATIVNAMEN= |KURZBESCHREIBUNG= englischer Pirat in Amerika und Karibik |GEBURTSDATUM= |GEBURTSORT= |STERBEDATUM= April 1723 |STERBEORT= }} [[Category:British pirates]]