Jon Hagadorn

For the plunder he had taken, he would often give them presents for stores and provisions took from them, that is, when he happened to be in a giving humor.

At other times he made bold with them, and took what he liked without saying, "'Buy your leave,' knowing well they dared not send him a bill for the payment."

he often diverted himself with going ashore among the planters, where he reveled night and day.

By these he was well received, but whether out of love or fear I cannot say.

Sometimes he used them courteously enough, and made them presents of rum and sugar, in recompense of what he took from them.

But, as for liberties, which tis said, he and his companions often took with the wives and daughters of the planters.

I cannot take upon me to say whether he paid them ad valorem or no."

At other times he carried it in a lordly manner towards them, and would lay some of them under contribution.

Nay, he often proceeded to bully the governor, not that I could discover the least cause of quarrel betwixt them.

But it seemed only to be done, to show that he dared to do it.

The sloops trading up and down this river, being so frequently pillaged by Blackbeard, consulted with the traders, and some of the best of the planters, what course to take."

they saw it plainly would be in vain to make any application to the governor of North Carolina, to whom it properly belonged, to find some redress, so that if they could not be relieved from some other quarter, Blackbeard would like to reign with impunity.

Therefore, with as much secrecy as possible, they sent a deputation to Virginia to lay the affair before the governor of that colony, and to solicit an armed force from the men of war lying there, to take or destroy this pirate."

This governor consulted with the captains of the two men of war, the Pearl and the Lime, who had lain in the James River about ten months.

It was agreed that the governor should hire a couple of small sloops, and the men of war should man them.

This was accordingly done, and the command of them given to Mr. Robert Maynard, First Lieutenant of the Pearl, an experienced officer and a gentleman of great bravery and resolution, as will appear by his gallant behavior in this expedition.

The sloops were well manned and furnished with ammunition and small arms, but had no guns mounted.

About the time of their going out, the governor called an assembly in which it was resolved to publish a proclamation offering certain rewards to any person or persons who, within a year after that time, should take or destroy any pirate.

The original proclamation being in our hands is as follows.

by His Majesty's Lieutenant Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia, a proclamation, publishing the rewards given for apprehending or killing pirates.