Captured by slavers – to become Empress of Morocco
Alison Campsie recounts the tales of Scots who had run-ins with buccaneers on the high seas – or even became one themselves
Scotland’s shores might seem far from the Pirates of the Caribbean, but as part of an island nation, Scotland has encountered its fair share of salty seadogs. Here are some lesserknown tales of marine marauders to shiver your timbers!
In 1769, the actions of pirates had an astonishing impact on the life of one young Perthshire woman.
Helen Gloag was the daughter of a blacksmith. It seems her childhood in the village of Muthill was an unhappy one. Her mother died when she was young and her father remarried. It is thought that her stepmother was abusive.
By the time she was 19, Helen signed up to emigrate to South Carolina as an indentured servant, setting sail from Greenock in 1769. Two weeks into the voyage, off the coast of Spain, the ship was raided by Barbary slaver pirates from the north coast of Africa. The future looked very bleak for Helen.
The pirates took her to the slave market in Algiers where she was bought and gifted to Sultan Sidi Mohammid ibn Abdullah. With red hair and green eyes, it seems Helen was a striking looking woman. The sultan added her to his harem and over time she became his wife and was given the title of Empress.
Sadly, it’s likely that Helen’s life was cut short violently. When the sultan died in 1790, his son Yazid inherited the throne and killed Helen’s two sons. It is probable that Helen was executed too.
In 1627, Andrew Bruce from Shetland was left destitute after pirates attacked Muness Castle, Scotland’s most northerly, on a summer’s day in August. We can only imagine what the inhabitants of Unst thought when privateers from Dunkirk came ashore. There were international shipping routes around Shetland and rich fishing grounds which may have drawn the privateers in search of ships to plunder. Perhaps Bruce’s castle looked like easy pickings?
The looting of Muness Castle had a lasting impact on Andrew Bruce. In 1631, The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland records an appeal from him, begging for more time to repay debts after the “unhappie burning of his house of Mones”.
The Lords did grant Bruce an extension. However, it seems that the family fortunes did not revive.
Muness Castle was sold in 1718. An inventory of the time makes for sorry reading. It lists a parcel of old pewter, one old small kettle, a parcel of old leather and timber chairs.
In his last speech, John Stewart, who was executed in Leith on 4 January 1721 for piracy and robbery, said: “I do solemnly declare as a dying man, that whatever I did while I was aboard of the pirate ship, was by force, and upon peril of my life.”
This apparently reluctant pirate was one of 21 men captured in Argyll in 1720, who were intercepted while abandoning their ship, the Eagle. Local laird Campbell of Stonefield boarded the ship and was amazed to find a hold full of gold.
The ragtag bunch were taken to Edinburgh and imprisoned at the castle. Their trial lasted six months and Stewart’s testimony paints a picture of grave misfortune.
He said that he left Dartmouth on a merchant ship bound for the East Indies in 1719. Upon reaching the coast of Guinea, the ship was seized by the Welsh pirate Howell Davis.
He said: “After we had made what resistance we could, they compelled me and several others to go along with them; and upon our refusal threatened to put us immediately to death, or leave us upon some desolate island.”
Most of the men, like John Stewart, claimed that they had been forced into a life of piracy. Only two admitted their guilt.
Nineteen men went to trial – seven were freed and the remaining dozen, including John Stewart, were found guilty. Robert Hews and John Clark, who had admitted their guilt, were taken to Leith Sands and ‘hanged by the neck upon the gibbet’ on 14 December 1720. The dozen men found guilty were hanged, proclaiming their innocence until the last.