RICHARD INGLE.
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Captain Richard Ingle, ... a pirate and a rebel, was discovered hovering about the settlement.McSherry, History of Maryland, p. 59.
The destruction of the records by him [Ingle] has involved this episode in impenetrable obscurity, &c.Johnson, Foundation of Maryland, p. 99.
Captain Ingle, the pirate, the man who gloried in the name of The Reformation.Davis, The Day Star, p. 210.
That Heinous Rebellion first put in Practice by that Pirate Ingle.Acts of Assembly, 1638-64, p. 238.
Those late troubles raised there by that ungrateful Villaine Richard Ingle.Ibid., p. 270.
I hold it that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.Jefferson, Works, Vol. III, p. 105.
CAPTAIN RICHARD INGLE,
The Maryland Pirate and Rebel,
1642-1653.
A Paper read before the Maryland Historical Society,
May 12th, 1884,
BY
EDWARD INGLE, A. B.
PEABODY PUBLICATION FUND.
Committee on Publication.
1884-5.
| HENRY STOCKBRIDGE, |
| JOHN W. M. LEE, |
| BRADLEY T. JOHNSON. |
Printed by John Murphy & Co.
Printers to the Maryland Historical Society,
Baltimore, 1884.
CAPTAIN RICHARD INGLE,
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THE MARYLAND PIRATE AND REBEL.
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I n the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the American colonies, from Massachusetts to South Carolina, were at intervals subject to visitations of pirates, who were wont to appear suddenly upon the coasts, to pillage a settlement or attack trading vessels and as suddenly to take flight to their strongholds. Captain Kidd was long celebrated in prose and verse, and only within a few years have credulous people ceased to seek his buried treasures. The arch-villain, Blackbeard, was a terror to Virginians and Carolinians until Spotswood, of Horseshoe fame, took the matter in hand, and sent after him lieutenant Maynard, who, slaying the pirate in hand to hand conflict, returned with his head at the bowsprit.
A thorough defence of him would be almost impossible in view of the comparative scarcity of records and the complicated politics of his time. In a review of his relations with Maryland, however, and by a presentation of all the facts, some light may be thrown upon his general character, and explanations, if not a defence, of his acts may be made.
Richard Ingles name first appears in the records of Maryland under date of March 23rd, 1641/2, when he petitioned the Assembly against Giles Brent touching the serving of an execution by the sheriff. He had come to the province a few weeks before, bringing in his vessel Captain Thomas Cornwallis, one of the original council, the greatest man in Maryland at that time, who had been spending some months in England.
These are to publish & pclaym to all psons as well seamen as others, that Richard Ingle, mr of his ship, is arrested upon highe treason to his Maty; & therefore to require all psons to be aiding & assisting to his Lops officers in the seizing of his ship, & not to offer any resistance or contempt hereunto, nor be any otherwaise aiding or assisting to the said Richard Ingle upon perl of highe treason to his Maty.
Notwithstanding this proclamation Ingle escaped in the following manner. Parker had no prison, and, consequently, had to keep personal guard over his prisoner. He supposed, from certain words spoken by the Secretary, that Brent and the council had agreed to let Ingle go on board his vessel, and when Captain Cornwallis and Mr. Neale came from the council meeting and carried Ingle to the ship, he accompanied them.
On January 20th, 1643/4, the following warrant was issued to the sheriff.
I doe hereby require (in his Maties name) Richard Ingle, mariner to yield his body to Rob Ellyson, Sheriff of this County, before the first of ffebr next, to answer to such crimes of treason, as on his Maties behalfe shalbe obiected agst him, upon his utmost perl, of the Law in that behalfe. And I doe further require all psons that can say or disclose any matter of treason agst the said Richard Ingle to informe his Lops Attorny of it some time before the said Court to the end it may be then & there prosequuted
G. Brent.
Ingle, however, was not again arrested, though he still remained in the neighborhood of St. Marys, for on January 30th his vessel was riding at anchor in St. Georges river, and mention is made of him in the records as being in the province. For nearly two months the Ingle question was agitated and for the sake of clearness an account will be given of the acts concerning him in the order of their occurrence.
The information given by Hardige to Lewger which had caused Ingles arrest was: that in March or April, 1642, he heard Ingle, who was then at Kent Island, and at other times in St. Marys, say, that he was Captain of Gravesend for the Parliament against the King; that he heard Ingle say that in February of that year he had been bidden in the Kings name to come ashore at Accomac, in Virginia, but he, in the parliaments name had refused to do so, and had threatened to cut off the head of any one who should come on his ship. If Ingle did commit these depredations he was, no doubt instigated by the proceedings instituted on that day against him, and moreover by the fact that Henry Bishop had been among the witnesses to be summoned against him.
Nothing more was done in the matter, for from a copy of a certificate to Ingle under date of February 8th, it is learned that Upon certaine complaints exhibited by his Lops attorny agst Mr R. Ingle the attending & psequution whereof was like to cause great demurrage to the ship & other damages & encumbrances in the gathering of his debts it was demanded by his Lops said attorny on his Lops behalfe that the said R. I. deposite in the country to his Lops use one barrell of powder & 400 l of shott to remaine as a pledge that the said R. I. shall by himself or his attorny appeare at his Lops Cort at S. Maries on or afore the first of ffebr next to answere to all such matters as shalbe then and there obiected agst him * * * * and upon his appearance the said powder & shott or the full value of it at the then rate of the country to be delivered to him his attorny or assigne upon demand.
