Pirates in the Age of Projects, 1688–1707 Oliver John Finnegan A dissertation submitted to the University of Cambridge for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Pembroke College September 2018 ii Contents Preface v Abstract vii Acknowledgements ix Abbreviations xiii Maps xv Introduction 1 I: The Colonising of Ireland, Franco–Irish Networks and Piracy, 1689–1697 40 II: The Darien Scheme and Venture Calvinism in the Caribbean Sea, 1695–1701 78 III: The Earl of Bellomont, the Madagascar Trade and John Locke’s Atlantis, 1695–1701 118 IV: Missionary Anglicanism, Quaker Outcasts and Pirates in Pennsylvania, 1691–1702 160 V: The Assada Projects, Pirates and East India Companies, 1688–1707 194 Conclusion 230 Bibliography 242 iii iv Preface This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing that is the outcome of work done in collaboration. It is not substantially the same as any that I have submitted or any that is being concurrently submitted for a degree or diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other university or similar institution. I further state that no substantial part of my dissertation has already been submitted or is being concurrently submitted for any such degree, diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution. It does not exceed the prescribed word limit for the relevant Degree Committee Dates have been given throughout in old style but with the year taken to begin on 1 January rather than 25 March. Quotations in other languages have been translated by the author and provided in the body of the text with modern spelling and grammar. The original quotation(s) are contained within a footnote. Total word count: 79,681 v vi Abstract This dissertation retells the history of pirates in the anglophone world, 1688-1707. It argues that the appellation “pirate” became applied to some within global seafaring communities as part of a contest among people of middling means to define the purpose and organisation of overseas expansion. These merchants, landowners, priests and politicians acted as part of an “Age of Projects”, a societal impulse triggered by the hardships of war, in which people attempted unlikely schemes for financial as well as political and social gain. Many of their plans were colonial or imperial in scope, and pirates – imagined as the absolute enemy of thalassocracy – retained a particular value within them, as they could be pinpointed as signifiers of larger moral and ideological deviance within the societies who hosted them. Defining who was or was not a pirate, eradicating or returning them to landed society, and rooting out their abettors became a means for individuals to demonstrate control over movements of people and, in turn, to advance a particular vision of empire. By exploring how pirates were created as part of this phenomenon, the thesis uses the methodologies of global history. Each chapter is oriented around a project in which the eradication of pirates became central, and traces the local, regional and global contexts which influenced its attempted realisation. In particular, Chapter 1 considers how admiralty courts attempted to suppress “piratical” Franco-Irish connections in Europe and the Atlantic. Chapter 2 traces the relationship between the Company of Scotland’s Darien Scheme and Caribbean piracy. Chapter 3 examines how the Earl of Bellomont attempted to use the existence of Madagascar pirates to transpose Irish colonisation strategies to North America. Chapter 4 focuses upon how Anglicans on both sides of the Atlantic used the sheltering of pirates in Pennsylvania to aid the creation of a missionary society. Chapter 5 covers three attempts to colonise Madagascar, which formed part of a larger contest over how exchange between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans should be managed. vii viii Acknowledgements In completing this dissertation, I am thankful, in particular, to my supervisor William O’Reilly, who has been a source of support and inspiration throughout my time at Cambridge. He has steered me through an extended period of research in Britain, Ireland and North America, nurturing but also at times managing my ambitions as an archival historian. During the writing up process, he has persistently encouraged me to consider new and wider contexts to my work, all the while working patiently through many chapter drafts. William’s guidance has shaped me as a historian in a great many ways, and without him, the following study would simply not have been conceived of. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Sarah Pearsall, who served as primary supervisor during my first year. Sarah played a fundamental role in honing the direction of this doctorate in those early days and her many insightful suggestions, on both style and argument, have stayed with me throughout the process of writing. This has also been a fairly expensive PhD, requiring visits to many different archives and libraries. Conducting research in these repositories has been possible only because a number of funds and institutions have seen fit to support my work financially – all of whom have my heartfelt thanks. The most substantial contribution has come from the Cambridge AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership. Not only did the DTP provide half of my studentship for three years, but also generous amounts for flights and accommodation. Pembroke College, Cambridge has been similarly open- handed, furnishing the other half of my studentship, along with additional money for fieldwork, books and conference attendance. For supporting my research in North America, I am deeply indebted to Boston University, who provided me with a base from which I could work across the northeastern United States, alongside the opportunity take part in the vibrant graduate community there. Further archive work in Britain and Ireland was made possible by the financial support of the Cambridge Faculty of History. I was fortunate enough to be granted money from its Fieldwork Fund, which was supplemented by the Lightfoot, Members History and the Sara Norton funds. I am also appreciative of a grant from the Royal Historical Society, which part-supported my work in London. For my final write-up year, I would like to thank Cambridge Muslim College, who sustained me with their well-remunerated teaching. I am equally grateful to Dagmar Freist, whose offer of a position on the Prize Papers Project, is not only a boon for my future career, but has also sustained me during what is often a financially difficult time for young researchers. ix I have also benefitted from the advice and the suggestions of a number of scholars. In particular, Esther Mijers, my former BA and MA supervisor, has continued to read my work and provide thoughtful feedback, along with much-needed morale boosts when times were challenging. It was also Esther who first encouraged me to pursue a career in history, for which I will be ever thankful to her. Other historians have also given invaluable guidance for parts of the thesis below. The first chapter benefitted from meetings I had with both Jane Ohlmeyer and Nicholas Canny, while the second was markedly improved through the suggestions of Ned Landsman, Murray Pittock and Esther Mijers. For the two North American chapters, I have drawn upon conversations with Gary Gersle and Bruce Schulman. My last chapter has been refined through advice offered by both Stephanie Jones and Leigh Denault. When actually conducting my research, I was only able to find important materials through the assistance of many committed librarians and archivists. Amanda Bevan at the British National Archives has been especially helpful, allowing me a window into the difficult to navigate records of the English High Court of Admiralty. When researching in Boston, I was fortunate to have the aid of Elizabeth Bouvier at the Massachusetts State Archives as well as Anna Clutterbuck-Cook at the Massachusetts Historical Society. For Philadelphia’s Quaker records, both Patricia O’Donnell and Christopher Densmore at the Friends Historical Library in Swarthmore were able to uncover important materials for me, much of which was unavailable to researchers previously. I am also grateful to Ralph McLean at the National Library of Scotland who assisted me in tracking down manuscript sources for the trial of Thomas Green. Fellow graduate students, at Cambridge and elsewhere, have also left their mark on this work. In particular, I have benefitted from regular talks with Rodrigo García-Velasco and Tom Young – my housemates of two years – both of whom have had more of an impact on this work than they will ever realise. The many other early modernists at Cambridge have also contributed, as both academics and friends, to the completion of this project, especially Tobias Roeder, Nailya Shamgunova, Eduardo Jones-Corredera, Daniel Robertson, Jens Åklundh, Victoria Bartels, Zoe Farrell, Robert Shimp, Annika Raapke, Harriet Lyon, Phillip Hitchings, Erin Trahey, Kennedy Sanderson and Raffaele Danna. Others have made studying at Cambridge one of the best experiences of my life, as well as assisting in myriad other ways. I would like to thank Stephanie Azzarello, Nicolò Morelli, Francesca Dytor, Matt Mahmoudi, Florent Dyé, Joel Hart, Tae Hoon Kim, Alain Naef, Susanne Schmidt, Farhan Samanani, Daniel Cowling, Yasmin Shearmur, Léonie x de Jonge, Sarah Rabinowe, Nicolò Serri, Perica Hadzi-Jovancic, Alina Kozlovski and Nadine Tschacksch. Long-term friends are crucial in any undertaking so large and demanding on personal time as a PhD dissertation. My old friend Benjamin Wakefield has been extremely tolerant of my various academic fixations over the past four years, always taking an interest, offering his thoughts and his keen eye as an editor. Peter Ashdown and Alexander French have also shared in my adjustment to life in Cambridge and whose company is, time and again, something I look forward to, even when work can be all-consuming.
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