Some pirate stuff
There's a meme called 101 questions you should be able to answer about your character. So no, I guess this isn't a short story but it's character studies >_>
Forgive formatting fail
The story takes place in 1721
The quotes on the infamous Captain Benjamin McGregor of The Midas have been collected with care by Professor Callum McIntyre, who was fasinated by McGregor and planned on writing a biography about him. The biography was not finished at the time of McIntyre’s death in 1724 at age 32, but the information he gathered for over 10 years remains. In many instances McGregor is called by different names including Captain Midas, Captain O’Neal, Captain Bridges, Captain Inn, Captain Collins, and others. For the sake of simplicity they have all been changed to “McGregor.”
Basics
1. What is your full name? Do you have a nickname?
“There aren’t two men who he told the same name, even the same title. It’s just chance that we all know ‘im as Benjamin McGregor. But it ain’t chance that we all fear him more than the devil himself.”
- “Old Tom” Underwood, retired merchant captain of the Tyger (undetermined age) (Quoted 1718)
“I heard, and hold with, rumor that say he is not a man at all but a Faerie Changeling trying to pass himself off as one so he has no name.” - Danielle Turn, prostitute, Glasgow, Scotland (Undetermined age) (Quoted 1717)
2. How old are you? When is your birthday?
“Oh, he’s old. You know it from seeing him. I knew it the second he walked through my door about thirty years ago. Didn’t look so old then but you knew he was old. You knew. You could see it in those thoughtful blue eyes, in his too tan skin. Well, if you ask me how old he is I’ll tell you what I honestly believe. He was the snake that tricked Eve. The snake at the tree of knowledge, and here he still is tempting man kind to sin with his stories of adventure, pockets full of jewels, and his…promise…of the most rewarding client a girl could ever ask for.”
-Jezebel Rhodes, owner of the Sailor’s Companion brothel, New Orleans, Louisiana (aged 40) (Quoted 1720)
3. Where were you born? Where do you live now? Are you patriotic?
“Patriotism is a land lubber’s game and McGregor ain’t got nothing to do with land. They say he’s Scottish, but I believe that’s a damn lie. He was never born nowhere. Sprang to life like a god.”
-Hermes Counter, mercenary sailor aboard The Queen Anne’s Lace (aged 52) (Quoted 1719)
4. Who are/were your parents? (Names, occupations, personalities, etc.)
“We have never been able to find hide nor hair of ancestor of that man. And it is not for lack of trying. I have conducted research myself and if there is one skill I pride myself on it is research. Never before now have I failed so miserably in an investigation. To me this means that the unholy pirate in question has never truly let slip his name.”
- Samuel T. R. Richards, Hall of Records, London (Aged 23) (Quoted 1715) Richards and McIntyre were good friends after McIntyre’s persistent visits. Richards planned to assist McIntyre on his biography. The men had a falling out in 1721 when Richards became engaged to a woman whose name is all but lost (we know her only as Miss S. Mathers and “the harlot” from McIntyre’s diary. Much of the information gotten from Richards was burned as described in McIntyre’s diary. This was the beginning of the end for McIntyre.
“He is most certainly a Scot. No man of civilized breeding could be so cruel, bull-headed, ignorant, violent, God-less, and loud.”
-Lord Desmond Edwards, England (Aged 60) (Quoted 1710)
5. Do you have any siblings? What are/were they like?
“I doubt he’d ever mention them, even if they did exist. I never gave it much thought, truth be told.”
-Warren W. Scott, baker, Boston, Massachusetts (Aged 41) (Quoted 1712) According to Scott, he had once catered for the entire crew of The Midas shortly before this
6. What is your occupation?
“He is a pirate, there is no other occupation that could contain a man like him. And he is a captain, so cruel, so callus, and so good at pretending. Not even his crew know who they are really dealing with. That is the true power of Benjamin McGregor. If I were more like him I am sure I would live to see the sun set tomorrow. I admire him more than a priest does Christ, but I am glad that our exchanges were brief.”
- Pirate Captain William James Grace of The Dragon’s Mouth shortly before his execution in New York. (Aged 39) (Quoted 1717)
7. How tall are you? How much do you weigh?
“Bigger than God and more than a ton.”
-Wesley Shull, dock keeper, Charleston, South Carolina (Aged 37) (Quoted 1718)
8. What color is your hair? What color are your eyes?
“The man, the infamous Benjamin McGregor is brought before us for his trial. The court room hushed considerably when he entered. I dare say I was expecting less of a man. I would be delighted to tell you that every rumor that men hold about him is false, but I fear that every last one may be true. He is, in appearance, truly terrifying to behold. He is huge, over six feet easily. His arms and legs and shoulders bulge with sea toughened muscles. The kind a man his age should be almost ashamed to possess but would be much the pride of a man ten years his junior. Honestly, thirty or even forty years his junior. His hair is not the shocking red that he was famous for in his youth but white and gray and receding considerably. His beard and eyebrows however are still thick. He has a strong jaw and a rather dull nose. His eyes are blue in color and small and calculating but they have thin laugh lines at their corners. His skin is nut brown by the sun but he is clearly a European in ethnicity. He seemed unperturbed by his state and unaware of the fate he faced. Indeed he did not so much as flinch those huge muscles when he was condemned to hang.”
-from the diary of the Honorable Judge Charles Wellscock, London, England (Aged 55) (Written 1720) This is one of the few entries not found by McIntyre but a passage added to his work after his death. It is unknown who contributed it.
9. What is your race?
“The sea takes race from you, the longer you travel the more you resemble a new race. You are brown skinned and scarred by sun and sand and rough from salt air. Sailor. That is his only race.”
---Fredrick Smith, sailor (Aged 45) (Quoted 1716)
10. To which social class do you belong?
“Isn’t it clear? He is a pirate for a reason! He is a poor man, the most dangerous scum of the earth! He wants what they all want! What all poor men want! All of them who do not have it want it! But they shall not have it! They do not deserve it! The wealth belongs to the wealthy for good reason. Because unlike the savage poor we would never turn pirate and murderer.”
-Lord Dean Harrison, Kent, England (later killed in a duel with his younger brother over a dispute over twenty pounds) (Aged 30) (Quoted 1712)
11. Do you consider yourself to be attractive? Do others?
“If you asks any whores from here to Hell they’d tell you he’s had them. To men the man is a danger, to women there seems to be no more attractive cock in the world.”
- Devin Jinn, night watchman and barber, Liverpool (Aged 40) (Quoted 1715)
“Is it really your business to inquire into my work, sir? Would you make it worth my time or should I have to seal my lips? The stories I have of that man would make even the most…experienced…blush. I’ll tell you this for free anything more will cost you. There is no man who wets a girl more than he.”
- “Liza”, prostitute, Port Royale, Jamaica (Aged 48) (Quoted 1712)
12. What is your style of dress?
“I doubt that concerns him much. Got more to worry about as a wanted man then wardrobe.”
- Luke Byrd, Night watchman, Aberdeen, Scotland (Aged 21) (Quoted 1719)
13. Do you have any scars? Tattoos? Birthmarks? Other unique physical features?
“His tattoos? Now why would you think a nice girl like me could tell you all of Captain Midas’s tattoos? Peg me as something else, does you? No, I do know them, although I don’t see why you should be so fascinated. Hmm, let me think. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the old man in the flesh. He’s got a little boat on his chest, a weird swirly line, he says it’s a “Chinese character” or something like that, not that I see nobody in the line. There’s a star with many points. There’s a tree. There’s a cat, an eye, and a symbol like this…like…a cross with a bent hoop on top. Says it’s Egyptian, that one. There’s a circle with all lines connected in it. Irishy looking, my grandmother had a brooch with something like that on it. There’s a man with antlers and an angry face on a plate. There are things with teeth and feathers. It’s all very strange.”
-Annabelle Loore, prostitute, Isle of Jamaica (Aged 39) (Quoted 1710)
14. Do you have any allergies, diseases, or other physical weaknesses?
“If he had any no man would know. Even if he should die no one would believe it. McGregor is immortal.”
- Carlos Garcia, dockhand, Florida (Aged 35) (Quoted 1718)
15. Are you right- or left-handed?
“Sailors have to be able to use both arms in case they lose one.”
-Ebenezer Connal, Rear-Admiral of the British Navy, currently sailing aboard The Dream (Aged 56) It is notable to mention that McConnal himself lost his right arm to the shoulder and his left eye in battle. (Quoted 1715)
16. What does your voice sound like?
“He has a laugh that could shake the earth; a big man’s laugh, all stomach and throat. When he speaks you listen, he has a voice like thunder and a mind many times as dangerous.”
- Louis Barker, who sailed with McGregor twenty years ago in the War of Spanish Succession when McGregor was a privateer aboard Mary’s Song (Quoted 1717)
17. What kind of vocabulary do you use?
“Sailor talk, interesting, isn’t it? If you don’t sail even if you’ve lived by the sea your whole life you won’t be able to understand a single syllable out of their mouths. McGregor is one of the few completely able to converse in English too.”
- Martin Kaye, treasurer of New York City, American Colonies (Aged 40) (Quoted 1710) He was McGregor’s commanding officer in the war of Spanish succession.
18. List three quirks or other defining characteristics.
“I have heard him converse in French, Spanish, English, Portuguese, Gaelic, and more languages that I doubt even the most educated of men would be able to properly identify.”
- Dudley Knoles, navy officer (Admiral) aboard the Lion’s Mane during the War of Spanish Succession, enjoyed a brief relationship with McGregor, currently retired (Quoted 1718)
“There’s that damn cat. Had it with us the whole time. No one could get the wretch away from him even here. You’d think the bloody beast would have gone somewhere more preferable. Suppose we’ve got plenty of mice down here. Not that I never seen it hunt.”
- Dennis Manning, jailor, London, England (Aged 26) (Quoted 1721)
19. How often do you bathe? Do you wear perfumes?
“It’s probably his strangest habit, ‘sides the lemons of course. But he likes it. Baths, perfumes, like a regular fopping dandy. Strange old man.”
- Cornelius Edgebridge, former deckhand aboard The Midas interviewed in prison. Hanged one week later for crimes of piracy and treason against the crown. (Aged 35) (Quoted 1720)
20. What kind of facial expression do you commonly wear (dour glare, wry smile, etc)?
“He’d have to be mad to smile as much as he does. No man is that joyful.”
-Pedro Lemos, dock-worker, Barcelona (Aged 24) (Quoted 1720)
21. Do you use body language? How?
“Just as big as he is says more than anything he could ever do.”
- Gregory O’Brian, deckhand, The Bianca (Aged 31) (Quoted 1709)
22. Do you have a commonly used saying?
“Talks a lot, has his favorite tales, tell them to anyone who’ll listen and be amazed. He’s a mad old man, seems simple enough. I think he just likes to hear himself talk.”
-Henry Loring, first mate, His Love (Aged 31) (Quoted 1721)
Childhood
23. What is your earliest memory?
“Eve, I’m sure. Or perhaps the nothingness before Creation.”
- Ian Bryn, pastor-in-training, London (Aged 15) (Quoted 1713)
24. How much schooling have you had? Did you enjoy it?
“He knows more than most school teachers, I can tell you that.” - Nelson Fields, first mate, Beggar’s Tale (Aged 54) (Quoted 1718)
25. Where did you learn most of your knowledge and skill?
“The sea teaches you quickly and he’s listened well and lived long enough to learn almost everything she’ll ever be willing to teach.” -Pierre le Noir, Negro sailor aboard Le Oursin (Unknown Age) (Quoted 1716)
26. How would you describe your childhood in general?
“Doubt he ever really had a childhood. He just came into being.” - Hernando Martinez, plantation owner, Cuba (Aged 60) (Quoted 1710)
27. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
“He never coulda never been nothing but a sailor. Written on his skin. You cannot escape fate even if you want to.”
- Richard Maul, ex-sailor, Liverpool, England (Aged 69) (Quoted 1711)
28. When and with whom was your first kiss?
“He’s kissed and f***ed every woman between here and the Orient. God knows who knew him first.” - Timothy Haward, bar owner, Aberdeen (Aged 59) (Quoted 1716) The censoring was done by McIntyre
29. Are you a virgin? If not, when and with whom did you lose your virginity?
“Oooh! I doubt he ever was. It’s strange to think some girl musta taught him everything. That’s the only way men learn, see? But I suppose he musta been different. Unless he bedded Lilith. Which, if you’ve heard the rumors, is entirely possible.”
-Anne, prostitute, Isle of Hispaniola (Aged 38) (Quoted 1719)
30. Do you have a notorious or celebrated ancestor? Does that affect you?
“If he fathered a thousand babes and they each had ten and each of them ten more and onward and onward there would never be one in the line more notorious than he himself.” -Simon Robertson, mercenary captain aboard The Bear’s Fang, Isle of St. Thomas (Aged 42) (Quoted 1720)
Influences
31. What do you consider the most important event of your life so far?
“Lord only knows. Probably whatever turned him pirate in the first place. But only he knows and I’m sure he’ll take it to the grave.” - David Kobble, cook aboard the Unicorn’s Gait (Aged 50) (Quoted 1718)
“Maybe it’d have something to do with that Negro boy of his. Always has him with him. Must be important because what use would a six-seven-eight year old be on a ship full of men strong as oxes?” -Stephen Owl, Navigator aboard The October Moon (Aged 29) (Quoted 1708)
32. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
“He’s most famous for what we all call the Storm Battle. Say those words and every English official will look at you. Public doesn’t even know about it, see. Hushed up. This was in, oh, December of 1717. About fifty nautical miles off the Western coast of Britain. Six ships versus The Midas, easily two-hundred navy men against the eighty-eight of McGregor’s crew. And The Midas herself all heavy and slow with enough treasure to ransom a thousand kings; not even in the days of the Spanish Galleons did you get prizes like this.
Because, truth be told, he’d just taken the closest thing. A trading ship from India filled to the rim with the grandest and most expensive things in the world: silks and spices and medicines and drink so strong it’ll knock your nose off with just the smell. This they’d brought with them, I’m sure, since she’d, Neptune’s Bride, the trading ship they’d robbed, had been all over the damned world and the captain was a sentimental sort always kept something with him from the trip before and the trip before and the trip before. The Bride was an old girl and her captain’d been the same all those years. In other words the this-and-that had piled high as the Indian treasures. Now all of it was McGregor’s.
But he was cornered. Supplies were running low on The Midas after a battle for the Bride. Men must have been tired, tucked away their swords for the time being. They were headed to France, waiting for wine, women, and song. Men lose themselves when they spend too long at sea. They’re blinded by the thoughts of land. And you could see it in The Midas’s crew. As I said they were cornered. Heading west would drop him at the king’s doorstep, he had two vessels, The Conqueror and Elizabeth’s Angel (that one named for its captain’s dead daughter) in front and behind him, another, The Dash, to the East one on its way after spotting the smoke from the cannon and the final, The Flutist, with its cannon at the ready.
And somehow, someway, he won! The damned bastard slipped away! When it looked like he was going to lose the wind changed the storm swept in from God knows where and he escaped in the downpour. Astounding.
How do I know, you ask, laddie? My name is Edward Birch and I was the captain of one of the ships firing at him, Elizabeth’s Angel. Beaten only once and beaten badly and that time by the storm that came to the Midas’s rescue. Damned pirate must have a deal made with the Devil. Only way to explain it. Or some kind of good luck charm. Now, for my kindness I expect two drinks rather than the one promised. That’s a good lad.”
- Edward Birch, dismissed navy Commodore, Isle of Jamaica (Aged 64) (Quoted 1720) This was just two months before McGregor’s capture. The battle mentioned happened in 1717 and is denied by many military officials as “impossible.”
33. What is your greatest regret?
“Regrets? You must be thinking of a man, not something like McGregor. He has failings but never, never regrets. Too human, too compassionate for the likes of him. He is a pirate, he is cold, he is a monster bound for Hell where he will be tortured by those perhaps less horrible than himself. Men like him do not regret, nor do they repent, nor do they return. But they all burn.”
- Father Paul Sinclair, Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, Dublin, Ireland (Aged 32) (1719) This was shortly after the capture of the Irish ship Dawn in which most of the crew was injured and several, including the captain, killed by McGregor and his men.
34. What is the most embarrassing or shameful thing ever to happen to you?
“Probably getting caught and not getting hanged. Now he’s Charles Roe’s little play-thing, ain’t he?” -Daniel Essex, plantation overseer, Isle of Hispaniola (Aged 35) (1721) McGregor was forced to be a Privateer on the vessel His Love captained by Charles Roe in order to find McGregor's protegee Felix West, captain of the Albatross better known as the Negro Gentleman.
35. Do you have any secrets? If so, what are they?
“All men have secrets but I doubt even the Lord himself has as many secrets as McGregor. They’d be interesting, I can say that.” - Kate Blanche, seamstress, Philadelphia, Colony of Pennsylvania (Aged 17) Blanche claimed to have had a brief relationship with Felix West, later to be known as the Negro Gentleman.
36. What is the most evil thing you have ever done?
“His life, simple answer. But I’m sure he enjoyed doing it.” - Henri DuPont, New Orleans, Louisiana (Aged 61) (Quoted 1720)
37. When was the time you were the most frightened?
“Men like him don’t show fear, not in the normal way. They bare their teeth and swallow their anger and strike when they can like a wolf. Really, in McGregor’s case, like a snake. Like a venomous snake.” - Samuel McCoy, merchant sailor, The Bonny Prince (Aged 46) (Quoted 1715)
38. Have you ever traveled outside of your country? If so, to where?
“He has no real ‘country.’ Not really. Not like most men do. He makes his home wherever he is. And so long as he can smell the ocean he’s not too far away from home.” - Kimberly Kimmel, prostitute, Isle of St. Thomas (Aged 36) (1712)
Beliefs
39. What is your alignment?
“No one but hisself and maybe the devil.” -Louis Jameson, first-mate, The Broken Grin (Aged 65) (1719)
40. Are you basically optimistic or pessimistic?
“Optimist most certainly. Look at him now. Any other man would be broken, most certainly.” - Peter Simmons, Quarter-Master, His Love (Aged 39) (1721) This was shortly before His Love left London in 1721.
41. Do you believe in a god? If so, which one and why?
“If you trust what he says? All of ‘em.” -Marilyn Loe, prostitute, Charleston, Colony of South Carolina (Aged 29) (1719)
42. Do you believe in an afterlife?
“Probably one with no Hell.” - Bernard Harris, chief gunner, Blind Man’s Eye (Aged 41) (1713)
43. What is your greatest fear?
“If he has one he’s probably met it and most likely extinguished it. Men like him don’t hold with fear, wise trait for a man to have. Not that many can achieve it.” - Albert Greely, navigator, The Lion and Unicorn (Aged 53) (1716) Later this same year, Greely lost his hand in an accident at sea.
44. What makes you angry? Sad? Happy? Why?
“No one knows because he’ll most certainly lie. Or smile and laugh and walk away humming.” - Bart Holton, navigator, His Love (Aged 39) (1721)
45. Do you think people are basically good or basically evil?
“As far as he’s concerned men are basically foolish and soon to be impoverished. He makes me doubt the goodness of humanity, that’s for certain.” -Collin Kole, cotton plantation owner, colony of Virginia (Aged 59) (1719)
46. What are your views on politics? Religion? Sex?
“Pirates, they got their own view of government. Strange one. Every man says what he wishes and the captain must stand the abuse. If it is decided among the crew by vote then the captain must allow anything from mutiny to new treasure count. Hard to believe a man like McGregor stood all those trials and passed each time. Pirates is strange men, all I can say.” - Leon Richards, deck-hand The Tribute (Aged 56) (1719)
“In the democracy of a pirate ship as long as the river of treasure keeps flowing there will be no mutiny and no second guessing.” - Carl Wells, pirate deckhand aboard Paradise Lost, hanged in 1714 in New York City (Aged 19) He never sailed with McGregor but McIntyre found the quote relevant
“He ain’t a Christian, knows nothing of church, and little of scripture besides what men hear from day to day the ‘our fathers’ and the ‘hail marys’ if you be in Irish territory (you should be able to tell that by the number of barefooted brats around you) but he knows nothing beyond this. He couldn’t be bothered by immaculate conceptions and resurrections but the man knows every story of everything Jupiter fathered and the creatures that sprung from Sedna’s fingertips. No, I don’t know either but these are the things he says. Most of all though he knows about Monkey and Loki and Anansi and Hermes and Gwydion and the like. Tricksters of the heathen gods. Suppose he’s like one himself, ain’t he?” - Gabriel Peterson, dockhand, Boston (Aged 37) (1711)
“If you know anything of his reputation you should know about McGregor’s infamous perversion and love for flesh. You should ask the girls if you want to know more about him or it. Most have gotten at least one good ride from him. Treats a girl right and pays real nice too. For once they don’t feel like just some whore but a well cared for mistress.” - Samantha Shaw, proprietor of Shining Eyes brothel, Isle of Hispanola (Aged 50) (1712)
“A pervert, a menace, and a wretched whoring beast sent up from Hell to steal the souls of innocent young virgins for the devil. He takes their head, and then he takes their soul. He is an agent of darkness perhaps even the Beast itself signifying the end of times. Repent all ye faithful for your immortal soul.” - “The White Priest”, traveling preacher (unknown age) (1720)
47. What are your views on gambling, lying, theft, and killing?
“Aren’t those what he does best?” - Gustav Hertz, banker, Wilhelmshaven, Germany (Aged 38) (1718) In 1718 McIntyre and Richards went on a short tour of Germany, France, and Holland
48. How far will you go to defend your beliefs?
“What are a pirate’s beliefs, besides stealing and killing? I think he has gone many hundreds of victims to prove that.” - Willem Verdonk, salesman, Amsterdam (Aged 50) (1718)
49. How much do you value money?
“For most pirates I would say it is what drives them. But most pirates would then retire as rich men. Me, I think for McGregor it is otherwise. He doesn’t want riches, at least not in silver and gold and diamonds, he wants something else. I doubt even he knows what it is. Why else would he keep sailing as he does like a desperate man? As a common criminal? Someone like McGregor could have been something had he wanted. But that is just what I say, what I see.” - Mareike Reve, wife of deceased Captain Jan Reve and former sailor, South Africa (Aged 64) This was also not contributed by McIntyre
50. In your opinion, what is the most evil thing any human being could do?
“Who knows what a pirate views as evil. Taking McGregor’s life in account I would say ‘not much.’” - Nicholas Bridge, scholar, Oxford (Aged 60) (1720)
51. Do you believe in self-sacrifice for the greater good?
“You ask as if the man had a soul or concept of good!” -Cardinal Orlando Sallamanca, The Vatican (Aged 70) (1713) Sallamanca was visiting Ireland when he made this statement. It was only by chance that McIntyre was able to interview him.
52. Do you believe in the existence of soul mates and/or true love?
“No. No he believes in sharing love and showing love. And he’s too big a man to have just one girl.” - Faye Cloude, prostitute, New Orleans (Aged 31) (1715)
53. Are you superstitious?
“All sailors are. You have to be because when it comes down to it the only thing gonna save you from the shark’s belly is a prayer.” - Marc Chatt, first-mate on the Canary Bound (Unknown Age, roughly 34) (1713)
54. How much do you respect the beliefs and opinions of others?
“Don’t think he cares none, long as their money’s made of gold.” - Baxter Cook, carpenter, The Sun (Aged 40) (1716)
55. How honest are you about your thoughts and feelings?
“I don’t think he is capable of honesty. Perhaps it has been so long he has forgotten the truth.”
- Sancho Soto, Almeria, Spain (Aged 29) (1715) The Spanish quotes were gathered by McIntyre’s sister, Lillian Domingo, who married a Spaniard in 1700.
56. Do you have any biases or prejudices?
“Against the honest. Besides that, I doubt it. Not even the healthy beliefs held by educated men. He sails with Negros, women, Catholics, and all other manner of wretch.”
- Harrison Greyton, landowner, Cheshire, England (Aged 56) (1718)
Dealing With Others
57. Who is the most important person in your life, and why?
“There are those in his crew who he would never part. He speaks of them as if they were more than just his employees. There is the Negro boy, called Felix who has adopted the name ‘West,’ his companion a captive called Derek, the surgeon, a woman named Madelyn, his cook is Humphrey, his carpenter is named Dax, and he has just taken on a new young man named Oliver Trowbridge. I saw that man by the dock. If he were to offer his patronage a handsome man like that might give ol’ McGregor some competition with the girls.” - Bianca, prostitute, Boston, Massachusetts (Aged 18) (1715) Found strangled in bed by a client later that same year. The man did not receive punishment for the crime
“Himself. Plain and simple. Easiest answer I can give you. Some would say that slave boy, his servant, or whatever he is. But it’s a lie. A man like him. No one but himself.”
- Hardy Abbott, carpenter, Oriental Queen (Aged 57) (1719)
58. Who is the person you respect the most? Despise the most? Why?
“I would say the Devil and God respectively.” - Brother Jaime de Cataluña, Spain (Aged 45) (1712)
“He probably hates no one more than Charles Roe right now, I’d say!” - John Smith, Hull, England (Aged 67) (1720)
59. Do you have a significant other? Who?
“He’s covered in that sailor smell. You know. When you kiss him you feel the brine tightening your lips. When you touch him you feel the myriad of scars and cuts and scrapes and burns making up the map of his skin, when he touches you, you can feel the sun that browned his skin so completely warming you, when you love him you know that he will disappear before the sun rises setting off to meet his only love the damned sea. That is his only home, wherever the scoundrel was born now the ocean is his only home and that is his only lover.” -Marie Le Blanc, prostitute (Aged 30) (1716)
60. Do you have a lot of friends? Who is your best friend?
“As someone you’d expect to call himself one of them I tell you that McGregor has none. Anyone who says otherwise is a damned fool. A damned fool.” - Hywel Wyn, former sailor aboard The Midas, killed himself a month later (Aged 50) (1719)
61. How do you relate to members of the same race? Class? Sex?
“Who can say? No one knows what or who the mysterious McGregor is! For all we know beneath that tan he could be half Chinaman and half Greek or a third Welsh and sixteenth Croatian a fourth Irish, etc. etc. In his former life was he rich? Was he poor? There is no man behind the legend, only the legend himself. That is all we can work from. So in terms of relation we must guess that all men are different from him, at least now they are.” - Gavin Godfrey, unknown occupation, London, England (1718) met in a pub
62. How do you relate to members of a different race? Class? Sex?
“From what I hear say and how I met him he treats us all as people. Equally. Don’t get that much around here.” - Hannah, Negro Slave, Isle of Jamaica (Aged approximately 29) (1711)
63. Have you ever been in love? If so, describe what happened.
“Only with the sea I should think and that is why he’s never left her no matter how much of a b**ch she becomes. I seen it before. Usually it’s young men like yourself. Young fools who think they see something out there. They get all hot and determined. Can’t turn back even if they want to. Fools. Usually they’ll meet their end on the rocks or the waves or in the bellies of fish and whales or to scurvy sores or other plague. Most of ‘em don’t last so long as he. Maybe just this once she loves the sailor back.” - Henry Brown, captain of George’s Sword (Aged 44) (1710)
64. What do you look for in a potential lover?
“Far as I can tell he ain’t discerning.” - Fredrick O'Flaherty, tavern owner, Ireland (Aged 56) (1714)
65. How close are you to your family?
“He has none, I’m sure. If he once did no doubt they are dead now, killed by grief, shame, and horror at what he has become. I wonder if he was once a good child or if he did anything that made his parents proud once. Or was he always something else, always guilty. Did they know from his birth that he was destined to be a sea rover?” - Elizabeth Carpenter, house servant to Admiral Henry Lloyd, London, England (Aged 20) (1720)
66. Do you want a marriage, family, and/or children?
“If he did he would have had it long before now. Women throw themselves at him, anyone of them would gladly consent to be his bride. If he longs for an heir he hides it well and if he ever gets lonely having only a single night of sin to keep him warm he never shows it.” -Walter Grey, tavern owner, Isle of Jamaica (Aged 58) (Quoted 1718)
67. Do you tend to argue with people, or avoid conflict?
“He is conflict. He causes it wherever he goes. He’s like a storm cloud.” - Carter Rook, currently unemployed, Liverpool, England (Aged 48) (Quoted 1713)
68. Are you a listener or a talker?
“Both and neither.” - Katherine Wilson, owner of a brothel on the Isle of Hispaniola
Forgive formatting fail
The story takes place in 1721
The quotes on the infamous Captain Benjamin McGregor of The Midas have been collected with care by Professor Callum McIntyre, who was fasinated by McGregor and planned on writing a biography about him. The biography was not finished at the time of McIntyre’s death in 1724 at age 32, but the information he gathered for over 10 years remains. In many instances McGregor is called by different names including Captain Midas, Captain O’Neal, Captain Bridges, Captain Inn, Captain Collins, and others. For the sake of simplicity they have all been changed to “McGregor.”
Basics
1. What is your full name? Do you have a nickname?
“There aren’t two men who he told the same name, even the same title. It’s just chance that we all know ‘im as Benjamin McGregor. But it ain’t chance that we all fear him more than the devil himself.”
- “Old Tom” Underwood, retired merchant captain of the Tyger (undetermined age) (Quoted 1718)
“I heard, and hold with, rumor that say he is not a man at all but a Faerie Changeling trying to pass himself off as one so he has no name.” - Danielle Turn, prostitute, Glasgow, Scotland (Undetermined age) (Quoted 1717)
2. How old are you? When is your birthday?
“Oh, he’s old. You know it from seeing him. I knew it the second he walked through my door about thirty years ago. Didn’t look so old then but you knew he was old. You knew. You could see it in those thoughtful blue eyes, in his too tan skin. Well, if you ask me how old he is I’ll tell you what I honestly believe. He was the snake that tricked Eve. The snake at the tree of knowledge, and here he still is tempting man kind to sin with his stories of adventure, pockets full of jewels, and his…promise…of the most rewarding client a girl could ever ask for.”
-Jezebel Rhodes, owner of the Sailor’s Companion brothel, New Orleans, Louisiana (aged 40) (Quoted 1720)
3. Where were you born? Where do you live now? Are you patriotic?
“Patriotism is a land lubber’s game and McGregor ain’t got nothing to do with land. They say he’s Scottish, but I believe that’s a damn lie. He was never born nowhere. Sprang to life like a god.”
-Hermes Counter, mercenary sailor aboard The Queen Anne’s Lace (aged 52) (Quoted 1719)
4. Who are/were your parents? (Names, occupations, personalities, etc.)
“We have never been able to find hide nor hair of ancestor of that man. And it is not for lack of trying. I have conducted research myself and if there is one skill I pride myself on it is research. Never before now have I failed so miserably in an investigation. To me this means that the unholy pirate in question has never truly let slip his name.”
- Samuel T. R. Richards, Hall of Records, London (Aged 23) (Quoted 1715) Richards and McIntyre were good friends after McIntyre’s persistent visits. Richards planned to assist McIntyre on his biography. The men had a falling out in 1721 when Richards became engaged to a woman whose name is all but lost (we know her only as Miss S. Mathers and “the harlot” from McIntyre’s diary. Much of the information gotten from Richards was burned as described in McIntyre’s diary. This was the beginning of the end for McIntyre.
“He is most certainly a Scot. No man of civilized breeding could be so cruel, bull-headed, ignorant, violent, God-less, and loud.”
-Lord Desmond Edwards, England (Aged 60) (Quoted 1710)
5. Do you have any siblings? What are/were they like?
“I doubt he’d ever mention them, even if they did exist. I never gave it much thought, truth be told.”
-Warren W. Scott, baker, Boston, Massachusetts (Aged 41) (Quoted 1712) According to Scott, he had once catered for the entire crew of The Midas shortly before this
6. What is your occupation?
“He is a pirate, there is no other occupation that could contain a man like him. And he is a captain, so cruel, so callus, and so good at pretending. Not even his crew know who they are really dealing with. That is the true power of Benjamin McGregor. If I were more like him I am sure I would live to see the sun set tomorrow. I admire him more than a priest does Christ, but I am glad that our exchanges were brief.”
- Pirate Captain William James Grace of The Dragon’s Mouth shortly before his execution in New York. (Aged 39) (Quoted 1717)
7. How tall are you? How much do you weigh?
“Bigger than God and more than a ton.”
-Wesley Shull, dock keeper, Charleston, South Carolina (Aged 37) (Quoted 1718)
8. What color is your hair? What color are your eyes?
“The man, the infamous Benjamin McGregor is brought before us for his trial. The court room hushed considerably when he entered. I dare say I was expecting less of a man. I would be delighted to tell you that every rumor that men hold about him is false, but I fear that every last one may be true. He is, in appearance, truly terrifying to behold. He is huge, over six feet easily. His arms and legs and shoulders bulge with sea toughened muscles. The kind a man his age should be almost ashamed to possess but would be much the pride of a man ten years his junior. Honestly, thirty or even forty years his junior. His hair is not the shocking red that he was famous for in his youth but white and gray and receding considerably. His beard and eyebrows however are still thick. He has a strong jaw and a rather dull nose. His eyes are blue in color and small and calculating but they have thin laugh lines at their corners. His skin is nut brown by the sun but he is clearly a European in ethnicity. He seemed unperturbed by his state and unaware of the fate he faced. Indeed he did not so much as flinch those huge muscles when he was condemned to hang.”
-from the diary of the Honorable Judge Charles Wellscock, London, England (Aged 55) (Written 1720) This is one of the few entries not found by McIntyre but a passage added to his work after his death. It is unknown who contributed it.
9. What is your race?
“The sea takes race from you, the longer you travel the more you resemble a new race. You are brown skinned and scarred by sun and sand and rough from salt air. Sailor. That is his only race.”
---Fredrick Smith, sailor (Aged 45) (Quoted 1716)
10. To which social class do you belong?
“Isn’t it clear? He is a pirate for a reason! He is a poor man, the most dangerous scum of the earth! He wants what they all want! What all poor men want! All of them who do not have it want it! But they shall not have it! They do not deserve it! The wealth belongs to the wealthy for good reason. Because unlike the savage poor we would never turn pirate and murderer.”
-Lord Dean Harrison, Kent, England (later killed in a duel with his younger brother over a dispute over twenty pounds) (Aged 30) (Quoted 1712)
11. Do you consider yourself to be attractive? Do others?
“If you asks any whores from here to Hell they’d tell you he’s had them. To men the man is a danger, to women there seems to be no more attractive cock in the world.”
- Devin Jinn, night watchman and barber, Liverpool (Aged 40) (Quoted 1715)
“Is it really your business to inquire into my work, sir? Would you make it worth my time or should I have to seal my lips? The stories I have of that man would make even the most…experienced…blush. I’ll tell you this for free anything more will cost you. There is no man who wets a girl more than he.”
- “Liza”, prostitute, Port Royale, Jamaica (Aged 48) (Quoted 1712)
12. What is your style of dress?
“I doubt that concerns him much. Got more to worry about as a wanted man then wardrobe.”
- Luke Byrd, Night watchman, Aberdeen, Scotland (Aged 21) (Quoted 1719)
13. Do you have any scars? Tattoos? Birthmarks? Other unique physical features?
“His tattoos? Now why would you think a nice girl like me could tell you all of Captain Midas’s tattoos? Peg me as something else, does you? No, I do know them, although I don’t see why you should be so fascinated. Hmm, let me think. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the old man in the flesh. He’s got a little boat on his chest, a weird swirly line, he says it’s a “Chinese character” or something like that, not that I see nobody in the line. There’s a star with many points. There’s a tree. There’s a cat, an eye, and a symbol like this…like…a cross with a bent hoop on top. Says it’s Egyptian, that one. There’s a circle with all lines connected in it. Irishy looking, my grandmother had a brooch with something like that on it. There’s a man with antlers and an angry face on a plate. There are things with teeth and feathers. It’s all very strange.”
-Annabelle Loore, prostitute, Isle of Jamaica (Aged 39) (Quoted 1710)
14. Do you have any allergies, diseases, or other physical weaknesses?
“If he had any no man would know. Even if he should die no one would believe it. McGregor is immortal.”
- Carlos Garcia, dockhand, Florida (Aged 35) (Quoted 1718)
15. Are you right- or left-handed?
“Sailors have to be able to use both arms in case they lose one.”
-Ebenezer Connal, Rear-Admiral of the British Navy, currently sailing aboard The Dream (Aged 56) It is notable to mention that McConnal himself lost his right arm to the shoulder and his left eye in battle. (Quoted 1715)
16. What does your voice sound like?
“He has a laugh that could shake the earth; a big man’s laugh, all stomach and throat. When he speaks you listen, he has a voice like thunder and a mind many times as dangerous.”
- Louis Barker, who sailed with McGregor twenty years ago in the War of Spanish Succession when McGregor was a privateer aboard Mary’s Song (Quoted 1717)
17. What kind of vocabulary do you use?
“Sailor talk, interesting, isn’t it? If you don’t sail even if you’ve lived by the sea your whole life you won’t be able to understand a single syllable out of their mouths. McGregor is one of the few completely able to converse in English too.”
- Martin Kaye, treasurer of New York City, American Colonies (Aged 40) (Quoted 1710) He was McGregor’s commanding officer in the war of Spanish succession.
18. List three quirks or other defining characteristics.
“I have heard him converse in French, Spanish, English, Portuguese, Gaelic, and more languages that I doubt even the most educated of men would be able to properly identify.”
- Dudley Knoles, navy officer (Admiral) aboard the Lion’s Mane during the War of Spanish Succession, enjoyed a brief relationship with McGregor, currently retired (Quoted 1718)
“There’s that damn cat. Had it with us the whole time. No one could get the wretch away from him even here. You’d think the bloody beast would have gone somewhere more preferable. Suppose we’ve got plenty of mice down here. Not that I never seen it hunt.”
- Dennis Manning, jailor, London, England (Aged 26) (Quoted 1721)
19. How often do you bathe? Do you wear perfumes?
“It’s probably his strangest habit, ‘sides the lemons of course. But he likes it. Baths, perfumes, like a regular fopping dandy. Strange old man.”
- Cornelius Edgebridge, former deckhand aboard The Midas interviewed in prison. Hanged one week later for crimes of piracy and treason against the crown. (Aged 35) (Quoted 1720)
20. What kind of facial expression do you commonly wear (dour glare, wry smile, etc)?
“He’d have to be mad to smile as much as he does. No man is that joyful.”
-Pedro Lemos, dock-worker, Barcelona (Aged 24) (Quoted 1720)
21. Do you use body language? How?
“Just as big as he is says more than anything he could ever do.”
- Gregory O’Brian, deckhand, The Bianca (Aged 31) (Quoted 1709)
22. Do you have a commonly used saying?
“Talks a lot, has his favorite tales, tell them to anyone who’ll listen and be amazed. He’s a mad old man, seems simple enough. I think he just likes to hear himself talk.”
-Henry Loring, first mate, His Love (Aged 31) (Quoted 1721)
Childhood
23. What is your earliest memory?
“Eve, I’m sure. Or perhaps the nothingness before Creation.”
- Ian Bryn, pastor-in-training, London (Aged 15) (Quoted 1713)
24. How much schooling have you had? Did you enjoy it?
“He knows more than most school teachers, I can tell you that.” - Nelson Fields, first mate, Beggar’s Tale (Aged 54) (Quoted 1718)
25. Where did you learn most of your knowledge and skill?
“The sea teaches you quickly and he’s listened well and lived long enough to learn almost everything she’ll ever be willing to teach.” -Pierre le Noir, Negro sailor aboard Le Oursin (Unknown Age) (Quoted 1716)
26. How would you describe your childhood in general?
“Doubt he ever really had a childhood. He just came into being.” - Hernando Martinez, plantation owner, Cuba (Aged 60) (Quoted 1710)
27. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
“He never coulda never been nothing but a sailor. Written on his skin. You cannot escape fate even if you want to.”
- Richard Maul, ex-sailor, Liverpool, England (Aged 69) (Quoted 1711)
28. When and with whom was your first kiss?
“He’s kissed and f***ed every woman between here and the Orient. God knows who knew him first.” - Timothy Haward, bar owner, Aberdeen (Aged 59) (Quoted 1716) The censoring was done by McIntyre
29. Are you a virgin? If not, when and with whom did you lose your virginity?
“Oooh! I doubt he ever was. It’s strange to think some girl musta taught him everything. That’s the only way men learn, see? But I suppose he musta been different. Unless he bedded Lilith. Which, if you’ve heard the rumors, is entirely possible.”
-Anne, prostitute, Isle of Hispaniola (Aged 38) (Quoted 1719)
30. Do you have a notorious or celebrated ancestor? Does that affect you?
“If he fathered a thousand babes and they each had ten and each of them ten more and onward and onward there would never be one in the line more notorious than he himself.” -Simon Robertson, mercenary captain aboard The Bear’s Fang, Isle of St. Thomas (Aged 42) (Quoted 1720)
Influences
31. What do you consider the most important event of your life so far?
“Lord only knows. Probably whatever turned him pirate in the first place. But only he knows and I’m sure he’ll take it to the grave.” - David Kobble, cook aboard the Unicorn’s Gait (Aged 50) (Quoted 1718)
“Maybe it’d have something to do with that Negro boy of his. Always has him with him. Must be important because what use would a six-seven-eight year old be on a ship full of men strong as oxes?” -Stephen Owl, Navigator aboard The October Moon (Aged 29) (Quoted 1708)
32. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
“He’s most famous for what we all call the Storm Battle. Say those words and every English official will look at you. Public doesn’t even know about it, see. Hushed up. This was in, oh, December of 1717. About fifty nautical miles off the Western coast of Britain. Six ships versus The Midas, easily two-hundred navy men against the eighty-eight of McGregor’s crew. And The Midas herself all heavy and slow with enough treasure to ransom a thousand kings; not even in the days of the Spanish Galleons did you get prizes like this.
Because, truth be told, he’d just taken the closest thing. A trading ship from India filled to the rim with the grandest and most expensive things in the world: silks and spices and medicines and drink so strong it’ll knock your nose off with just the smell. This they’d brought with them, I’m sure, since she’d, Neptune’s Bride, the trading ship they’d robbed, had been all over the damned world and the captain was a sentimental sort always kept something with him from the trip before and the trip before and the trip before. The Bride was an old girl and her captain’d been the same all those years. In other words the this-and-that had piled high as the Indian treasures. Now all of it was McGregor’s.
But he was cornered. Supplies were running low on The Midas after a battle for the Bride. Men must have been tired, tucked away their swords for the time being. They were headed to France, waiting for wine, women, and song. Men lose themselves when they spend too long at sea. They’re blinded by the thoughts of land. And you could see it in The Midas’s crew. As I said they were cornered. Heading west would drop him at the king’s doorstep, he had two vessels, The Conqueror and Elizabeth’s Angel (that one named for its captain’s dead daughter) in front and behind him, another, The Dash, to the East one on its way after spotting the smoke from the cannon and the final, The Flutist, with its cannon at the ready.
And somehow, someway, he won! The damned bastard slipped away! When it looked like he was going to lose the wind changed the storm swept in from God knows where and he escaped in the downpour. Astounding.
How do I know, you ask, laddie? My name is Edward Birch and I was the captain of one of the ships firing at him, Elizabeth’s Angel. Beaten only once and beaten badly and that time by the storm that came to the Midas’s rescue. Damned pirate must have a deal made with the Devil. Only way to explain it. Or some kind of good luck charm. Now, for my kindness I expect two drinks rather than the one promised. That’s a good lad.”
- Edward Birch, dismissed navy Commodore, Isle of Jamaica (Aged 64) (Quoted 1720) This was just two months before McGregor’s capture. The battle mentioned happened in 1717 and is denied by many military officials as “impossible.”
33. What is your greatest regret?
“Regrets? You must be thinking of a man, not something like McGregor. He has failings but never, never regrets. Too human, too compassionate for the likes of him. He is a pirate, he is cold, he is a monster bound for Hell where he will be tortured by those perhaps less horrible than himself. Men like him do not regret, nor do they repent, nor do they return. But they all burn.”
- Father Paul Sinclair, Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, Dublin, Ireland (Aged 32) (1719) This was shortly after the capture of the Irish ship Dawn in which most of the crew was injured and several, including the captain, killed by McGregor and his men.
34. What is the most embarrassing or shameful thing ever to happen to you?
“Probably getting caught and not getting hanged. Now he’s Charles Roe’s little play-thing, ain’t he?” -Daniel Essex, plantation overseer, Isle of Hispaniola (Aged 35) (1721) McGregor was forced to be a Privateer on the vessel His Love captained by Charles Roe in order to find McGregor's protegee Felix West, captain of the Albatross better known as the Negro Gentleman.
35. Do you have any secrets? If so, what are they?
“All men have secrets but I doubt even the Lord himself has as many secrets as McGregor. They’d be interesting, I can say that.” - Kate Blanche, seamstress, Philadelphia, Colony of Pennsylvania (Aged 17) Blanche claimed to have had a brief relationship with Felix West, later to be known as the Negro Gentleman.
36. What is the most evil thing you have ever done?
“His life, simple answer. But I’m sure he enjoyed doing it.” - Henri DuPont, New Orleans, Louisiana (Aged 61) (Quoted 1720)
37. When was the time you were the most frightened?
“Men like him don’t show fear, not in the normal way. They bare their teeth and swallow their anger and strike when they can like a wolf. Really, in McGregor’s case, like a snake. Like a venomous snake.” - Samuel McCoy, merchant sailor, The Bonny Prince (Aged 46) (Quoted 1715)
38. Have you ever traveled outside of your country? If so, to where?
“He has no real ‘country.’ Not really. Not like most men do. He makes his home wherever he is. And so long as he can smell the ocean he’s not too far away from home.” - Kimberly Kimmel, prostitute, Isle of St. Thomas (Aged 36) (1712)
Beliefs
39. What is your alignment?
“No one but hisself and maybe the devil.” -Louis Jameson, first-mate, The Broken Grin (Aged 65) (1719)
40. Are you basically optimistic or pessimistic?
“Optimist most certainly. Look at him now. Any other man would be broken, most certainly.” - Peter Simmons, Quarter-Master, His Love (Aged 39) (1721) This was shortly before His Love left London in 1721.
41. Do you believe in a god? If so, which one and why?
“If you trust what he says? All of ‘em.” -Marilyn Loe, prostitute, Charleston, Colony of South Carolina (Aged 29) (1719)
42. Do you believe in an afterlife?
“Probably one with no Hell.” - Bernard Harris, chief gunner, Blind Man’s Eye (Aged 41) (1713)
43. What is your greatest fear?
“If he has one he’s probably met it and most likely extinguished it. Men like him don’t hold with fear, wise trait for a man to have. Not that many can achieve it.” - Albert Greely, navigator, The Lion and Unicorn (Aged 53) (1716) Later this same year, Greely lost his hand in an accident at sea.
44. What makes you angry? Sad? Happy? Why?
“No one knows because he’ll most certainly lie. Or smile and laugh and walk away humming.” - Bart Holton, navigator, His Love (Aged 39) (1721)
45. Do you think people are basically good or basically evil?
“As far as he’s concerned men are basically foolish and soon to be impoverished. He makes me doubt the goodness of humanity, that’s for certain.” -Collin Kole, cotton plantation owner, colony of Virginia (Aged 59) (1719)
46. What are your views on politics? Religion? Sex?
“Pirates, they got their own view of government. Strange one. Every man says what he wishes and the captain must stand the abuse. If it is decided among the crew by vote then the captain must allow anything from mutiny to new treasure count. Hard to believe a man like McGregor stood all those trials and passed each time. Pirates is strange men, all I can say.” - Leon Richards, deck-hand The Tribute (Aged 56) (1719)
“In the democracy of a pirate ship as long as the river of treasure keeps flowing there will be no mutiny and no second guessing.” - Carl Wells, pirate deckhand aboard Paradise Lost, hanged in 1714 in New York City (Aged 19) He never sailed with McGregor but McIntyre found the quote relevant
“He ain’t a Christian, knows nothing of church, and little of scripture besides what men hear from day to day the ‘our fathers’ and the ‘hail marys’ if you be in Irish territory (you should be able to tell that by the number of barefooted brats around you) but he knows nothing beyond this. He couldn’t be bothered by immaculate conceptions and resurrections but the man knows every story of everything Jupiter fathered and the creatures that sprung from Sedna’s fingertips. No, I don’t know either but these are the things he says. Most of all though he knows about Monkey and Loki and Anansi and Hermes and Gwydion and the like. Tricksters of the heathen gods. Suppose he’s like one himself, ain’t he?” - Gabriel Peterson, dockhand, Boston (Aged 37) (1711)
“If you know anything of his reputation you should know about McGregor’s infamous perversion and love for flesh. You should ask the girls if you want to know more about him or it. Most have gotten at least one good ride from him. Treats a girl right and pays real nice too. For once they don’t feel like just some whore but a well cared for mistress.” - Samantha Shaw, proprietor of Shining Eyes brothel, Isle of Hispanola (Aged 50) (1712)
“A pervert, a menace, and a wretched whoring beast sent up from Hell to steal the souls of innocent young virgins for the devil. He takes their head, and then he takes their soul. He is an agent of darkness perhaps even the Beast itself signifying the end of times. Repent all ye faithful for your immortal soul.” - “The White Priest”, traveling preacher (unknown age) (1720)
47. What are your views on gambling, lying, theft, and killing?
“Aren’t those what he does best?” - Gustav Hertz, banker, Wilhelmshaven, Germany (Aged 38) (1718) In 1718 McIntyre and Richards went on a short tour of Germany, France, and Holland
48. How far will you go to defend your beliefs?
“What are a pirate’s beliefs, besides stealing and killing? I think he has gone many hundreds of victims to prove that.” - Willem Verdonk, salesman, Amsterdam (Aged 50) (1718)
49. How much do you value money?
“For most pirates I would say it is what drives them. But most pirates would then retire as rich men. Me, I think for McGregor it is otherwise. He doesn’t want riches, at least not in silver and gold and diamonds, he wants something else. I doubt even he knows what it is. Why else would he keep sailing as he does like a desperate man? As a common criminal? Someone like McGregor could have been something had he wanted. But that is just what I say, what I see.” - Mareike Reve, wife of deceased Captain Jan Reve and former sailor, South Africa (Aged 64) This was also not contributed by McIntyre
50. In your opinion, what is the most evil thing any human being could do?
“Who knows what a pirate views as evil. Taking McGregor’s life in account I would say ‘not much.’” - Nicholas Bridge, scholar, Oxford (Aged 60) (1720)
51. Do you believe in self-sacrifice for the greater good?
“You ask as if the man had a soul or concept of good!” -Cardinal Orlando Sallamanca, The Vatican (Aged 70) (1713) Sallamanca was visiting Ireland when he made this statement. It was only by chance that McIntyre was able to interview him.
52. Do you believe in the existence of soul mates and/or true love?
“No. No he believes in sharing love and showing love. And he’s too big a man to have just one girl.” - Faye Cloude, prostitute, New Orleans (Aged 31) (1715)
53. Are you superstitious?
“All sailors are. You have to be because when it comes down to it the only thing gonna save you from the shark’s belly is a prayer.” - Marc Chatt, first-mate on the Canary Bound (Unknown Age, roughly 34) (1713)
54. How much do you respect the beliefs and opinions of others?
“Don’t think he cares none, long as their money’s made of gold.” - Baxter Cook, carpenter, The Sun (Aged 40) (1716)
55. How honest are you about your thoughts and feelings?
“I don’t think he is capable of honesty. Perhaps it has been so long he has forgotten the truth.”
- Sancho Soto, Almeria, Spain (Aged 29) (1715) The Spanish quotes were gathered by McIntyre’s sister, Lillian Domingo, who married a Spaniard in 1700.
56. Do you have any biases or prejudices?
“Against the honest. Besides that, I doubt it. Not even the healthy beliefs held by educated men. He sails with Negros, women, Catholics, and all other manner of wretch.”
- Harrison Greyton, landowner, Cheshire, England (Aged 56) (1718)
Dealing With Others
57. Who is the most important person in your life, and why?
“There are those in his crew who he would never part. He speaks of them as if they were more than just his employees. There is the Negro boy, called Felix who has adopted the name ‘West,’ his companion a captive called Derek, the surgeon, a woman named Madelyn, his cook is Humphrey, his carpenter is named Dax, and he has just taken on a new young man named Oliver Trowbridge. I saw that man by the dock. If he were to offer his patronage a handsome man like that might give ol’ McGregor some competition with the girls.” - Bianca, prostitute, Boston, Massachusetts (Aged 18) (1715) Found strangled in bed by a client later that same year. The man did not receive punishment for the crime
“Himself. Plain and simple. Easiest answer I can give you. Some would say that slave boy, his servant, or whatever he is. But it’s a lie. A man like him. No one but himself.”
- Hardy Abbott, carpenter, Oriental Queen (Aged 57) (1719)
58. Who is the person you respect the most? Despise the most? Why?
“I would say the Devil and God respectively.” - Brother Jaime de Cataluña, Spain (Aged 45) (1712)
“He probably hates no one more than Charles Roe right now, I’d say!” - John Smith, Hull, England (Aged 67) (1720)
59. Do you have a significant other? Who?
“He’s covered in that sailor smell. You know. When you kiss him you feel the brine tightening your lips. When you touch him you feel the myriad of scars and cuts and scrapes and burns making up the map of his skin, when he touches you, you can feel the sun that browned his skin so completely warming you, when you love him you know that he will disappear before the sun rises setting off to meet his only love the damned sea. That is his only home, wherever the scoundrel was born now the ocean is his only home and that is his only lover.” -Marie Le Blanc, prostitute (Aged 30) (1716)
60. Do you have a lot of friends? Who is your best friend?
“As someone you’d expect to call himself one of them I tell you that McGregor has none. Anyone who says otherwise is a damned fool. A damned fool.” - Hywel Wyn, former sailor aboard The Midas, killed himself a month later (Aged 50) (1719)
61. How do you relate to members of the same race? Class? Sex?
“Who can say? No one knows what or who the mysterious McGregor is! For all we know beneath that tan he could be half Chinaman and half Greek or a third Welsh and sixteenth Croatian a fourth Irish, etc. etc. In his former life was he rich? Was he poor? There is no man behind the legend, only the legend himself. That is all we can work from. So in terms of relation we must guess that all men are different from him, at least now they are.” - Gavin Godfrey, unknown occupation, London, England (1718) met in a pub
62. How do you relate to members of a different race? Class? Sex?
“From what I hear say and how I met him he treats us all as people. Equally. Don’t get that much around here.” - Hannah, Negro Slave, Isle of Jamaica (Aged approximately 29) (1711)
63. Have you ever been in love? If so, describe what happened.
“Only with the sea I should think and that is why he’s never left her no matter how much of a b**ch she becomes. I seen it before. Usually it’s young men like yourself. Young fools who think they see something out there. They get all hot and determined. Can’t turn back even if they want to. Fools. Usually they’ll meet their end on the rocks or the waves or in the bellies of fish and whales or to scurvy sores or other plague. Most of ‘em don’t last so long as he. Maybe just this once she loves the sailor back.” - Henry Brown, captain of George’s Sword (Aged 44) (1710)
64. What do you look for in a potential lover?
“Far as I can tell he ain’t discerning.” - Fredrick O'Flaherty, tavern owner, Ireland (Aged 56) (1714)
65. How close are you to your family?
“He has none, I’m sure. If he once did no doubt they are dead now, killed by grief, shame, and horror at what he has become. I wonder if he was once a good child or if he did anything that made his parents proud once. Or was he always something else, always guilty. Did they know from his birth that he was destined to be a sea rover?” - Elizabeth Carpenter, house servant to Admiral Henry Lloyd, London, England (Aged 20) (1720)
66. Do you want a marriage, family, and/or children?
“If he did he would have had it long before now. Women throw themselves at him, anyone of them would gladly consent to be his bride. If he longs for an heir he hides it well and if he ever gets lonely having only a single night of sin to keep him warm he never shows it.” -Walter Grey, tavern owner, Isle of Jamaica (Aged 58) (Quoted 1718)
67. Do you tend to argue with people, or avoid conflict?
“He is conflict. He causes it wherever he goes. He’s like a storm cloud.” - Carter Rook, currently unemployed, Liverpool, England (Aged 48) (Quoted 1713)
68. Are you a listener or a talker?
“Both and neither.” - Katherine Wilson, owner of a brothel on the Isle of Hispaniola