Edward England

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Edward England
England's version of Jolly Roger

Edward England (real name Edward Seegar , * ~ 1685 , † late 1720 in Madagascar ) was a pirate from Ireland who was active from 1717 to 1720 . He was the second pirate, after Emanuel Wynne , to hoist the famous skull and crossbones flag, now known as the classic pirate flag .

Life

England's pirate career began when the ship on which he rode from Jamaica to Providence was seized by pirate captain Christopher Winter in 1717. Edward's crew liked Edward and was soon given command of his own sloop . When the new Governor of the Bahamas , Woodes Rogers , arrived in July 1718 and launched a military campaign against the pirates, their situation quickly deteriorated. Mary Read , Anne Bonny , Calico Jack Rackham and other pirates were captured and most of them executed. The age of the pirates came to an end quickly.

Edward England withdrew with his crew and sailed to Madagascar, where he wanted to make a fresh start. During the voyage he captured the Pearl , which became his main ship as the Royal James .

After England and his mate John Taylor had been in Madagascar for a few weeks, they set sail northwards. A Dutch ship with 34 cannons was captured, renamed Fancy and made the new main ship of England in place of the Royal James . Fancy was also the name of the ship with which the pirate Henry Every had made his legendary prize some 25 years earlier . After England returned to Madagascar in August 1720, he and Taylor provided two Dutch ships and one ship for the East India Company . Taylor chased the Dutch ships while England bombarded the English ship Cassandra for a few hours until its captain James Macrae ran aground and brought his crew ashore. The spoils of Cassandra yielded 75,000 pounds sterling , but the battle cost around 90 crew members of the fancy life.

When the crew of the Cassandra came out of the woods a few days later, Taylor wanted to take revenge on her. However, England's pity gained the upper hand: he let the men sail away on the Fancy . Thereupon Taylor rebelled and let England and three others sit out in Mauritius . England managed to build a raft and use it to get to the bay of Saint Augustin in Madagascar. To survive, he had to beg for food there. England died here in late 1720.

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personal data
SURNAME England, Edward
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Seegar, Edward
BRIEF DESCRIPTION pirate
DATE OF BIRTH 17th century
PLACE OF BIRTH Ireland (island)
DATE OF DEATH 1720
Place of death Madagascar