Richard Coyle & John Richardson

 

 

As pirates go, Richard Coyle and John Richardson have gone down in history as the stooges of the piece. Their unfortunate story came to light because their trial and subsequent hangings were recorded in the Newgate Calendar, but it must be representative of thousands of other young men, who aspired to be pirates but had neither the brains, nor the brawn, to carry it off.

 

 

The criminal world has always attracted its fair share of blunderers and idiots, and the world of piracy is no exception. In the 17th century, during the period sometimes called ‘the golden age of piracy’ – although the reality was a good deal more sordid and violent than the name would suggest – the high seas became a haven for thieves, vagabonds and ne’er-do-wells from all over the world. Richard Coyle and John Richardson fell into this category, two incompetent thugs who murdered their captain while at sea, turned pirate, and were caught before they could make a single attack on an enemy vessel.

 

Confidence trickster

The Newgate Calendar, a record of all those tried at Newgate Prison in London, gives a lurid and somewhat salacious account of John Richardson’s life up until the time of the captain’s murder. He was apparently born in New York, went to school, and was then apprenticed as a cooper, or barrel-maker, which was his brother’s trade. However, young John evidently found the trade dull, and sailed off on a merchant ship, before coming home to work as a carpenter. All went well for five years, but he then seduced his master’s daughter, and when she became pregnant, instead of owning up, he fled, serving on a warship bound for England.

In England, he began a pattern that he was to repeat over and over again in his life. He would form an illicit relationship with a woman, usually one married to a seafaring man, and then when her husband returned, disappear, making off with the valuables in her household. At other times, he would gain the friendship of a man, only to seduce his wife. In one case, he made friends with a Mr Brown, who had three daughters and four maidservants. The writer of The Newgate Calendar recounts that ‘Richardson made presents of India handkerchiefs to all the girls, and so far ingratiated himself into their favour that in a short time all of them were pregnant.’ Needless to say, when he was found out, he immediately absconded.

Despite his behaviour, Richardson must have had considerable personal charm, because over and over again his friends and lovers forgave him, allowing him a second chance. In one instance, he seduced a woman, and then both her daughters, who each became pregnant. The woman finally persuaded him to marry one of them, which in this instance he did, only to disappear to sea the day after the wedding.

 

Murder plot

These escapades continued until, putting his old trade to use, Richardson took a job as a ship’s carpenter, on board the vessel of one Captain Benjamin Hartley. It was here that he met Richard Coyle, a sailor who, according to Newgate, had a blameless record up to that point. Coyle was from Exeter, Devon, and had been apprenticed as a sailor at a young age. He had made his way up in the seafaring world, finally becoming a captain. For 17 years, he sailed his vessel to and from the port of London. However, by the time he met Richardson, his fortunes had changed, and he had been reduced to working as a ship’s mate. It may have been this disappointment that prompted him to make the biggest mistake of his life.

Together, Coyle and Richardson decided to murder their captain and turn pirate. However, it appears that they did not give much thought to the details of their plan, such as what they would do afterwards, and how they would gain the support of the rest of the crew, including three boys who were apprentices on the ship. Philip Wallis, one of the boys, later testified at the Old Bailey, giving a graphic description of what happened.

According to Wallis, when Coyle approached Hartley with an axe, Hartley begged for his life, crying out plaintively, ‘Dear Mr Coyle, why are you against me?’ and – seeing Richardson behind him – ‘my dear Carpenter, are you against me too?’ However, his pleas fell on deaf ears, and the two murderers, along with another man, a Dutchman named Larson, brutally attacked Hartley with an axe and a blunderbuss, pushing him overboard into the sea.

 

No remorse

Having dispensed with the captain, they ransacked his cabin, but found no money. So when they put ashore to get provisions, they had to take the captain’s silver spoons and his watch to sell. Meanwhile, under cover of darkness, while the ship was at anchor, the boys stole out, rowed ashore, and raised the alarm on land. Coyle and Richardson were pursued and later arrested. They were both charged with murder.

Not surprisingly, once in the dock Coyle and Richardson told different stories, each blaming the other for the murder. However, they did not persuade the judge of their innocence. It was clear that they were lying, and there were numerous witnesses, in the shape of the cabin boys, to prove it. They were both sentenced to death.

The Newgate Calendar relates that after the conviction, Coyle confessed his guilt, and showed a great deal of remorse for what he had done. In letters to friends, he said that he was ready to give his life in atonement for his crime. Richardson, however, appeared not to care in the slightest: ‘he seemed regardless of the dreadful fate that awaited him; and having lived a life of vice and dissipation, appeared altogether indifferent to the manner in which that life should end.’

Richard Coyle and John Richardson were hanged at Execution Dock on 25 January 1738. The Newgate Calendar’s writer commented, rather sanctimoniously: ‘With regard to Coyle, we do not hear that he had been guilty of any notorious crime but that for which he died; but the life of Richardson was such a continued scene of irregularity, deception and fraud, as is almost unequalled. His treachery to the many unhappy women of whom he pretended to be enamoured was, alone, deserving of the fate which finally fell to his lot.’