Jack Ward, later Yusuf Reïs | |
|---|---|
| Born | John Ward c. 1553 |
| Died | 1622 (aged 68–69) |
| Nationality | English |
| Piratical career | |
| Nickname | Birdy, Sharky, Chakour (also spelled Chagour) |
| Type | Barbary Corsair |
| Allegiance |  Kingdom of England (until 1604) Tunisia (from 1605) |
| Years active | fl. 1605–1610 |
| Rank | Admiral,Reïs |
| Base of operations | La Goulette, Tunis |
| Commands | Gift, Little John, Reniera e Soderina |
| Wealth | £500,000 - £2,000,000 |
John Ward orJack Ward (c. 1553[1] – 1622), also known asBirdy,Sparrow[2][3] or later asYusuf Reis, was anEnglishpirate who later became aCorsair for theOttoman Empire operating out ofTunis during the early 17th century.
According to writerGiles Milton, though unverified, Jack Ward was an inspiration forJack Sparrow of thePirates of the Caribbean film franchise.[4]
What little is known about Ward's early life comes from a pamphlet purportedly written by someone who sailed with him during his pirate days. Ward seems to have been born about 1553, probably inFaversham,Kent, in southeast England.[5] Like many born in coastal areas, he spent his youth and early adult years working in the fisheries. After the failed invasion of England by theSpanish Armada in 1588, Ward found work as a privateer, plundering Spanish ships with a license fromQueen Elizabeth I of England. WhenJames I of England ended the war with Spain upon assuming the throne in 1603, many privateers refused to give up their livelihood and simply continued to plunder. Those who did were considered pirates because they no longer had valid licenses – calledletters of marque – issued by the state.[6]
Around 1604, Ward was allegedlypressed into service on a ship sailing under the authority of the King (theRoyal Navy had yet to become a formal institution), where he was placed in theChannel Fleet and served aboard a ship named theLyon's Whelp.[7]
According to Andrew Barker, a captive of Ward's who wroteA True & Accurate Account of the beginning, proceedings, overthrows, and now present estate of Captain Ward andDanseker, Ward was drinking in a Plymouth tavern with thirty of his shipmates. He is alleged to have said:
My mates, quoth he, whats to be done? Here's a scurvy world, and as scurvily we live in't, we feed here upon the water, on the Kings salt beef, without ere a pence to buy us a bissell [bushel of grain] when we come ashore. Revel, supp, and be merry, every one at the proper charge of his own purse. This night, when the Captain and Officers shall conjecture nothing but that we are drawing dry the pot, we'll be diving arm deep in the Fugitives bags.
— Andrew Barker,A True & Certaine Report of Captain Ward
Ward and his colleagues deserted and stole a small 25-tonbarque fromPortsmouth Harbour.[8] Ward's comrades elected him captain, one of the earliest precedents for pirates choosing their own leader.[9] They sailed to theIsle of Wight and captured another ship, theViolet, a ship rumored to be carrying the treasure of Roman Catholic refugees.[10] The ship turned out to be empty of treasure, but the enterprising Ward used her to capture a much larger French ship.[11]
Ward and his men sailed for theMediterranean where he was able to acquire a Dutch 32-gunflyboat, which he renamedThe Gift.[12] Ward first sailed for Algiers, but several of his men were arrested upon entering the city. Algiers had been attacked by another English mariner, Richard Giffard, only months earlier.[13] They sailed to the Moroccan Atlantic port citySalé,Morocco where in 1605 several English and Dutch sailors, including Richard Bishop and Anthony Johnson, joined Ward's crew.[11]
In the summer of 1606, Ward captured adhow in theStrait of Gibraltar allegedly carrying Catholic slaves. In August 1606 Ward arranged withUthman Dey to useTunis as a base of operations. Uthman Bey, or Kara Osman Bey, was the commander of theJanissary corps in Tunis. That garrison supplanted the Pasha of Tunis as the rulers of Tunis in 1598, making Uthman Bey the military dictator of the city.[14] According to their arrangement, Uthman Bey would have first refusal of all goods, up to ten percent of all goods captured.
In early November 1606 Ward captured the English merchantmanJohn Baptist under Captain John Keye. He renamed the merchantmanLittle John after the English folk hero.[15] From this base, Jack Ward was easily able to capture many ships from several European states. Ward's top lieutenant, William Graves, captured a small English merchantman called theYork Bonaventure captained by Andrew Barker. The richest hauls on these early cruises were the valuable Venetian shipsRubi (taken on 16 November 1606) andCarminati (taken on 28 January 1607).
John Ward outfittedGift, Little John, Rubi, & Carminati for piracy over the late winter and early spring of 1607. His fleet headed for theAdriatic Sea when they were scattered by a terrible storm. Ward, onboardGift, found only theRubi before heading for the Eastern Mediterranean. On 26 April 1607, between Cyprus and Turkey, Ward spotted "a great argosy of fourteen or fifteen hundred tons",[16] a Venetian ship namedReniera e Soderina.
Rubi was 400 tons, and Gift only 200 tons, yet the crew elected to attack theReniera e Soderina. They fought a three-hour firefight, butReniera e Soderina was too large to maneuver in the light winds, so her guns never scored a hit. Ward's ships managed to pierce her hull five times, lighting bales of hay aflame inside. Finally, Ward ordered his ships to close and prepare to board.
The crew ofReniera e Soderina voted to fight and repel the boarding party, and the captain handed out small arms. However, a well-timed volley ofchain shot fromRubi hit at least two defenders, tearing them apart. The carpenter aboardReniera e Soderina confronted his captain, telling him to surrender or face a mutiny. The captain consented, and Ward capturedReniera e Soderina with no further fighting. According to Andrew Barker her cargo was "esteemed to be worth two millions in the least."[16]
The English government didn't concur. They estimated the cargo to be worth only £500,000. Still, a report from the Venetian Ambassador in London told the privy council that Venice was close to declaring war on England due to Ward's piracy. That ambassador, Secretary Esposizioni, wrote:
That famous pirate, Ward, so well-known in this port for the damage he has done, is beyond a doubt the greatest scoundrel that ever sailed from England. He has refitted a Venetian shipSoderina and turned her into a berton, with forty pieces of bronze artillery on the lower, and twenty on the upper deck. He has given his old ship to Captain [Graves] and these two and some other four ships form six fighting ships in all.[17]
The English Ambassador in Venice assured the Council "As to Ward, who captured theSoderina and transformed her into a berton, he will meet with a warm reception if he comes into these waters."[18]
Following his return to Tunis in June 1607, Ward outfittedReniera e Soderina into a powerful Man-o-War. The crew cut at least 20 new gun ports into her hull to accommodate all 60 brass guns. He set out to sail in early 1608. Then, in March, a ship spotted wreckage of a ship off the coast of Greece, and rumors began to spread that it wasReniera e Soderina and John Ward was dead.[citation needed]
Ward askedJames I of England for aroyal pardon which was refused, due to a threat of war from Venice, as Ward had attacked many Venetian ships, and he reluctantly returned to Tunis.Uthman Dey, an Ottoman officer of Tunis, kept his word and granted him protection. He converted to Islam along with his entire crew and changed his name to Yusuf Reis, with a nickname of Chakour or Chagour, because he used an axe in his piracy acts. He used the city of Aquilaria (El Haouaria) as an acting port, and married an Italian woman while continuing to send money to his English wife. In 1612 a play calledA Christian Turn'd Turk was written about his conversion by the English dramatistRobert Daborne.[19]
It is doubtful that English converts to Islam in Tunis had to follow the religion strictly: French travellerLaurent d'Arvieux visited the city later that century, and made note of its liberal attitude to religion.[20]
An English sailor who saw him in Tunis in 1608 allegedly described Ward as "very short with little hair, and that quite white, bald in front; swarthy face and beard. Speaks little and almost always swearing. Drunk from morn till night...The habits of a thorough salt. A fool and an idiot out of his trade."[21]
During the next few yearsballads andpamphleteers condemned John Ward for turningcorsair.
Ward continued raiding Mediterranean shipping, eventually commanding a whole fleet of corsairs, whose flagship was a Venetian sixty-gunner. After 1612 he ended his career in piracy, electing to teach younger corsairs gunnery and navigation. He profited greatly by his piracy, retiring to Tunis to live a life of opulent comfort until his death in 1622, at the age of 68 or 69, possibly from theplague.
From 1609 until 1615 dozens of plays, ballads, memoirs, pamphlets, and books would be written about England's Arch-Pirate. The most prominent includeA Christian Turn'd Turk by Robert Daborne,Nevves from Sea, Of two notorious Pyrats Ward the Englishman and Danseker the Dutchman,Captain Ward and the Rainbow, andA True and Certain Report of the Beginning, Proceedings, Overthrows, and Now Present Estate of Captain Ward and Danseker, the Two Late Famous Pirates from their First Setting forth to this Present Time by Andrew Barker.
It has been suggested that his nickname was "Sharkey" and was the origin of this nickname, now given to anyone in theRoyal Navy with the surname "Ward".[22]
To his contemporaries, Ward was an enigmatic figure, in some ways like a Robin Hood, but in the 16th and 17th centuries, many English pirates operated out of the mouth of theSebou River and preyed on Mediterranean shipping. Ward was supposed to have spared English ships while attacking "papist" vessels. John Ward andSimon Danseker are credited with introducing Barbary corsairs to the use ofsquare-rigged ships of northern Europe.
The ballad "Captain Ward and the Rainbow" is very likely based on Jack Ward.[23]
A fictionalized account of Ward's career appears inThomas Costain's historical novelFor My Great Folly, which was published in 1942.
In the 2010s, various Turkish newspapers and websites popularised an unverified hypothesis put forth in the monthly Derin Tarih that John Ward could be the inspiration for the characterJack Sparrow from the film seriesPirates of the Caribbean.[24][25] The BBCHistory Magazine also presented John Ward as an inspiration for the character.[4]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)| International | |
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