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Henriques the Englishman
AKA: Irish Pirate
In 1730 Henry Johnson, dubbed Henriques the Englishman
by his Spanish crew, was operating a pirate ship called the Two Brothers off
the coast of Rhode Island.
Although Henriques was missing a hand, it did little to slow him down. In
battle, he would often start off by balancing his rifle on the stub of his
arm and firing it with expert accuracy. Afterwards he would drop the rifle
and attack with his cutlass, swinging it madly at anyone in his way.
Attacking the John and Jane off Swan Island near Jamaica, Henriques'
pirates battled for almost five hours before boarding the vessel.
Henriques was known as pirate who gave no quarter and asked for none in
return, except in this instance. The pirates had stripped the crew and were
preparing to hang everyone on board in pairs when Henriques heard the scream
of a woman. Upon entering the cabin, he discovered one of his pirates had
stripped and was about to rape her. Henriques put a stop to it, forbade
anyone to hurt her, then had her belongings gathered up and let her go at
the next port. He also stopped the other hangings from taking place.
Henriques was wanted throughout the Americas yet he managed to have a
long career, confounding all pursuers and terrifying all in his wake. With
the exception of his staunch rule against violence against women, he was an
extremely blood-thirsty pirate who was never captured. |
