John Noble (privateer)
9°05′51″N 81°33′29″W / 9.09750°N 81.55806°W
Captain John Noble | |
|---|---|
| Died | June 1574 |
| Cause of death | Hanged |
| Era | Elizabethan |
| Known for | cruising off Veraguas |
| Opponent | Pedro Godínez Osorio / Gov. |
| Criminal charge | Piracy |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Piratical career | |
| Type | Privateer |
| Allegiance | England |
| Years active | 1574 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Base of operations | |
John Noble (d. 1574) was an Elizabethan privateer who cruised the Caribbean coast of Veragua.
Career
[edit]Expedition
[edit]Veragua
[edit]In early June 1574, Noble, with 28 men aboard a ship of four heavy pieces and four falcons, landed at the Escudo de Veraguas Isle (12 Spanish nautical leagues from the port of Veragua). The Englishmen seem to have chosen this island for its location, as it lay in the route of all Spanish vessels bound to Veragua. Here, they cruised the coast aboard two launches, seizing many Spanish merchant frigates and barques off the Cativas headland and the Chagres River.[1][2][3][4][5][note 1]
Capture
[edit]At some point in mid-June, Noble and company attempted to seize a Spanish merchant barque, but the latter managed to escape, whereupon they informed the governor of Veragua, Pedro Godinez Osorio, of the Englishmen's cruise. The governor immediately manned a rowing frigate with thirty harquebusiers out of Nombre de Dios. The frigate soon discovered Noble and company, firing four or five shots at them, whereupon the men crowded into a launch and made their escape. The governor gave chase right away, however, aboard a brig and a launch, eventually capturing two of the crew, drowning four, and forcing the rest to run aground near Chagres River. The marooned pirates were there apprehended by a former victim of theirs. All were convicted of piracy, and hanged (except two boys, who were served life sentences).[1]
The galleons having left Nombre de Dios, in the direction of Veragua there appeared one morning an English corsair calling himself John Noble, who had been in that vicinity when the last fleet was here. He pillaged certain barks and frigates of the coastwise trade and began to disturb this realm. God granted that by means of the measures taken both at Nobre de Dios and also at Veragua he should be captured with all his men, twenty-eight in all. They were all killed, excepting two boys who were condemned to the galleys for life and are now serving in your majesty's galleons. The captain and two of them were hanged at Nombre de Dios, which has occasioned great joy and animated all, and the realm is entirely quiet.
— Panama, 22 Sept. 1574, Gonzalo Nuñez de la Cerda to Crown, trans. Wright.[6]
Aftermath
[edit]Certainly this province is much vexed by corsairs. They never leave these ports, because only from here do the frigates get gold [...].
— Veragua, 3 April 1575, Godinez Osorio to Crown, trans. Wright.[1]
Legacy
[edit]It has been suggested that Noble may have cruised the shores of colonial Honduras in the first quarter of 1573, simultaneous to Francis Drake's or John Oxenham's cruise.[7]
Notes
[edit]- ^ Pike 2007, pp. 255–256, 259 suggests Noble (unsuccessfully) attempted to secure the assistance of the cimarrons, as Francis Drake (successfully) had in July 1572.
Citations
[edit]- ^ a b c Wright 1932, pt. 1 doc. no. 33.
- ^ Wright 1932, pp. xlv–xlvi.
- ^ Bradley 1999, p. 75.
- ^ Williamson 1938, p. 129.
- ^ Marley 1998, p. 104, item 'JUNE 1574.'.
- ^ Wright 1932, pt. 1 doc. no. 32.
- ^ Wright 1932, p. 74, pt. 1 doc. no 29 footnote no. 5.
References
[edit]- Bradley, Peter T. (1999). British maritime enterprise in the New World : from the late fifteenth to the mid-eighteenth century. Studies in British history ; v. 57 (1st ed.). Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press. hdl:2027/mdp.39015054149409. ISBN 9780773478664. OCLC 42290563.
- Hakluyt, Richard, ed. (1600). The principal nauigations, voiages, traffiques and discoueries of the English nation made by sea or ouer-land, to the remote and farthest distant quarters of the earth, at any time within the compasse of these 1500. yeeres: deuided into three seuerall volumes, according to the positions of the regions, whereunto they were directed. Vol. 3 (2nd expanded ed.). London: George Bishop, Ralfe Newberie, & Robert Barker. OCLC 252871354. ProQuest 2248550788.
- Marley, David F. (1998). Wars of the Americas : a chronology of armed conflict in the New World, 1492 to the present (1st ed.). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. hdl:2027/mdp.49015002845379. ISBN 9780874368376. OCLC 39024726.
- Pike, Ruth (October 2007). "Black Rebels: The Cimarrons of Sixteenth-Century Panama". Americas. 64 (2): 243–266. doi:10.1353/tam.2007.0161. JSTOR 30139087. S2CID 143773521.
- Williamson, James A. (1938). The age of Drake. Pioneer histories, edited by V. T. Harlow ... And J. A. Williamson (1st ed.). London: Adam and Charles Black. hdl:2027/mdp.39015014588183. OCLC 1421005.
- Wright, Irene A., ed. (1932). Documents concerning English voyages to the Spanish main, 1569-1580. Works issued by the Hakluyt Society ; 2nd ser., no. 71 (1st ed.). London: Printed for the Hakluyt Society. hdl:2027/mdp.39015012306133. OCLC 1476408.
