Sir Michael Geare

 

 

A man of humble birth, the life, and death, of Sir Michael Geare represents something of an exception in his field. A successful privateer who relied on his own skills as a seaman, businessman and courageous fighter rather than high-profile connections in the navy and aristocracy, he eventually retired from his career as a sea dog and died of natural causes in an atmosphere of wealth and comfort. Who says that crime never pays?

 

 

Many of the privateers who rose to prominence in the 16th century were the sons of aristocrats or of wealthy merchants. Sir Michael Geare, however, is thought to have been from a poor background, having been brought up in the East End of London. In an age where the British monarchy encouraged free enterprise, both on land and sea, in the form of bloodthirsty raids against the Spanish, Geare was able to make his way up in the maritime world by standing out as a skilled seaman and courageous fighter. By the time he died, he had become one of the richest privateers of his day.

Smooth operator

Michael Geare was born in Limehouse, in the East End of London, in 1565. Little is known about his family, but it seems likely that it was a poor one, as when he was still in his teens he was apprenticed to a mariner. He proved an able and willing pupil, and before long was setting out on voyages with some of the best-known privateers of the day, including Sir George Carey, a cousin of Queen Elizabeth I. From 1588 to 1591 he rose steadily through the ranks, and at the end of that time was made captain of his first ship, the Little John. This was one of a fleet of five ships financed by Sir Francis Drake and others, whose purpose was to take part in the privateering wars raging between England and Spain in the Caribbean. During the voyage, and once engaged in battle, Geare proved to be a highly competent sailor and a fearless fighter, so much so that, on the fleet’s return, the fleet’s commander, William Lane, commended him to the expedition’s financiers in London.

Not only was Geare a courageous sailor, he was also extremely adept at amassing wealth for himself. Having often led the charge in battle, he had also helped himself wherever possible to the choicest booty on offer, and had supplemented this by making money from smuggling operations on his home territory. It seems that, as well as being a rough and ready fighter, he was also a slick business operator; indeed, he could be viewed as one of the East End’s earliest gangsters.

 

Jumping Ship

In 1592, Geare was able to buy himself a share in the Little John, and went into partnership with William Lane. The pair renamed the ship the Michael and John and set off on a series of voyages to the West Indies. Over the following three years, Lane and Geare made four successful expeditions in the ship, returning each time loaded with Spanish treasure. However, in 1595, their luck began to run out. Sailing past Havana, Cuba, they encountered a Spanish man-of-war – the most powerful type of armed ship at that time – and engaged in battle with it. At least 50 of Geare’s crew were killed or drowned in the fighting, and the Spanish also reclaimed a small ship, or pinnace, that Geare had captured earlier. Geare managed to escape the battle unscathed, and returned home, making good some of his losses by capturing another Spanish ship on the way.

The following year, Geare joined a privateering expedition with, among others, the famous explorer and privateer Christopher Newport. Numerous adventures followed, until he jumped ship in Jamaica and joined forces with Sir Anthony Shirley. (Shirley, or Sherley, was a former Member of Parliament who had travelled the world and who later became known for his writings about a voyage into Persia.) Along with another prominent privateer, William Parker, Geare and Shirley set sail for Honduras. On this voyage, Geare commanded a warship by the name of Archangel, and captured three treasure ships. Unfortunately for him, he did not manage to bring all three prizes home. On the way, the crew of one of the captured ships sailed off in the other direction, selling the ship and its contents in Morocco.

 

Dagger at the door

Geare continued his privateering career into the early 17th century, when he joined forces with Newport once again to make an armed raid on Santiago, Cuba. This proved unsuccessful when he and his men were driven back by cannons and a herd of stampeding cattle, loosed on them by the Spanish governor of the city. After this debacle, Geare rather sensibly decided to retire.

In 1603, after receiving a knighthood from King James I, Geare retired to a luxurious home in Stepney, East London, where he proceeded to enjoy his immense wealth until he died. To the end, he remained proud of his reputation as a freebooting privateer, and made no attempt to hide the provenance of his ill-gotten gains: he even hung a dagger outside the door of his home in Stepney to remind passers-by of his days as a salty ‘sea dog’, fighting in the cause of king, country and his own coffers.