John Warde

John Warde , also John Ward , Jack Ward or later Yusuf Raïs was a British captain and pirate of the 17th century.

details

Warde began his professional life as a fisherman and began during the last reign of Queen Elizabeth I with the first successful pirate trips in the Mediterranean. He was put in jail for plundering a Danish ship in the Caribbean, and after James I took office , Warde was forced to join the Royal Navy as a sailor , with whose strict discipline he could not cope with.

He later succeeded with around 30 colleagues at Plymouth in capturing a ship sailing towards France, with the help of which he again attacked a loaded merchant ship near the Isles of Scilly . Trade driver he named after Lieutenant of Robin Hood in Littlejohn around and sailed into the Mediterranean for further raids. Once there, more men joined his crew in 1605, including better-known ones such as Richard Bishop and Anthony Johnson. Warde served himself with his ship to the Bey of Algiers , who refused Warde's offer. Warde then offered his services to Uthman Dey, the Bey of Tunis , who welcomed him with goodwill. In the following years Warde focused on the capture of Venetian and Maltese ships and thus achieved prosperity. In the winter of 1607 Warde escaped on a French ship that sank with 250 Muslims and 150 British sailors. Ward's request for a pardon for King James I was rejected, so the British pirate returned to Tunis to Uthman Dey, who had forgiven him.

The pirate had a magnificent palace built in Tunis, accepted Ottoman citizenship, but remained a Christian.

literature

• Fernand Salentiny: The Lexicon of Navigators and Explorers. Horst Erdmann Verlag for International Cultural Exchange, Tübingen 1974.