Alex Colville

Piracy pays: how history’s greatest buccaneer got off scot-free

After attacking the richly laden Gunsway in 1695, Henry Every foiled a global manhunt to pocket the equivalent of $20 million

Above the fray: Henry Every was ashore when the Gunsway was attacked. Getty Images

In 1694 London’s streets echoed with a call to the piratical life:

Come all you brave boys, whose courage is bold, Will you venture with me, I’ll glut you with gold?Make haste unto Corona, a ship you will findThat’s called the Fancy, will pleasure your mind.

In a week-long orgy of savagery, women flung themselves overboard to escape gang rape

The ballad was supposedly written by the ‘pirate king’ Henry Every, who was about to pull off an astonishingly daring raid. In one fell swoop he’d landed the equivalent of $20 million by today’s reckoning, and — some said — married an Indian princess to boot. He’d also vanished off the face of the earth. His crime not only sent shock waves round the globe; it insulted the world’s richest man and gravely jeopardised the fledgling East India Company.

In the summer of 1695 the Ganj-i-Sawai (or Gunsway, as it was anglicised), a vast, armed dhow belonging the Grand Mughal Aurangzeb of India, was returning from the Hajj filled with treasure and pilgrims when it was intercepted between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The Fancy, a smaller, much faster ship, commanded by Every, pulled alongside and opened fire, throwing the Gunsway into turmoil. A cannon unexpectedly exploded on her deck, adding to the chaos, and her main mast was felled by a direct hit, allowing her to be boarded by Every’s crew. A week-long orgy of savagery and torture followed, during which many of the female passengers flung themselves overboard, preferring death to gang rape.

After his great ship was eventually sent on its way, Aurangzeb blamed the outrage on the East India Company — some of
Every’s crew having declared vengeance for the siege of the Company’s fort in Bombay — and stipulated there should be no further trade with the English until Every was caught.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in