Edward Low - Biography of Famous Pirates
Edward Low
(born around 1690, died around 1724) was one of the most notorious pirates that ever operated in the waters of the
Caribbean. During his short career
he managed to capture over 100 ships, and together with his crew he tortured, maimed and killed hundreds of people. His
vicious nature soon gave him
reputation that prompted action from the European and American governments, who soon united their military fleets and
started weeding out the piracy in
the Atlantic and Indian Sea. As for Low himself, he met his doom by the hands of his own crew who mutinied and left him
marooned on an island. To this
day there are conflicting reports about his death.
Edward Low was born around 1690 in Westminster, London in a very poor family. Ever since he was young, he had bad nature.
The loved to fight, cheat and
cause mischief. Soon, encouraged by his criminal family, he started pickpocketing, gambling and stealing even after his
brother Richard was hanged in
1707 for burglary and other crimes. Eventually, Edward became bored with live in England and he traveled alone to America
around 1710. At after a
period of drifting across eastern coast, he settled in Boston, Massachusetts where he married his wife Eliza Marble on 12
August 1714 (she died shortly
after giving birth to his daughter Elizabeth in 1719).
After the death of his wife, he left her daughter on land and started working at the ship. At first he worked an honest job
of rigger on a small shit
that transported tree logs. After witnessing horrific conditions of crew and vicious command of his captain, Edward tried to
mount a mutiny. After they
were forced to leave, Edward Low with a help of 12 men soon managed to steal small sloop of the coast of Rhode Island and
start his pirate career. At
first they operated in the waters between Boston and New York. After plundering two ships, they stole enough loot to start
their transition to Grand
Caymans. There Edward started working as a lieutenant to the veteran pirate Captain George Lowther who
operated from his 100-ton sloop
"Happy Delivery". After several successful raids, Captain Lowther gave Edward command of a large 6-gun Librantine ship
called "Rebecca".
The most notable raid from Edward Low's early pirate career was the one when he successfully captured 13 fishing vessels in
the harbor of Port Roseway,
Shelburne, Nova Scotia. After the fisherman surrendered seeing that Low will give no mercy if they fought, Pirates managed
to steal much goods and took
the largest 80-ton schooner to be their flagship called "The Fancy". In the following years, Low continued
to attack shipping lanes in
the waters of US, Brazil and Caribbean. Eyewitnesses from these raids started to tell the tales of their horrific
experiences, which gave birth to the
Low's notorious reputation (according to their stories he mutilated, chained, and even burned captives). Modern historians
describe Low as a psychopath
who sought the way to inflict violence onto others. However, he carried deep sadness toward him leaving daughter back home,
and because of that he
never hurt women and never demanded of married sailors to join his crew.
After terrorizing shipping lanes in the Azures, vicious nature of Low's attack brought him under attention of authorities.
Even though that area was
full of countless pirates, authorities wanted as soon as possible to destroy Low. On 10 June 1723 Low suffered a resounding
defeat in a battle with
heavily armed English warship HMS Greyhound, which was under command of Captain Peter
Solgard. Although Low managed
to escape on "The Fancy" with small skeleton crew and majority of his wealth, majority of his pirate crew was captured by
Solgard and promptly hanged
for the crimes of piracy and robbery.
Enraged by the loss of his crew, Low managed to capture whaling ship that far out in the sea and viciously tortured and
murdered much of his crew. As a
final act of torture, he stripped entire ship from supplies and food and left the surviving fishing crew to die from
starvation (they however managed
to reach the coast after very difficult journey). Soon his torturing rose in intensityso much, that even Low's crew started
refusing following his
commands. In 1724, all records of Edward Low vanished from existence. There are several theories about his death. Some claim
that he continued sailing
with the crew of his last surviving ship "Merry Christmas" until he died in a storm near a coast of Brazil, but other claim
that he was marooned by his
crew on a lonely island after he killed one of his subordinates in his sleep. He was subsequently rescued by French, and executed in
Martinique in late 1724.