Jasper Seagar[a] (died 1721) was a pirate active in theIndian Ocean, best known for sailing withEdward England,Olivier Levasseur, andRichard Taylor.
Some sources claim Edward England was born Edward Seegar,[1] or that Jasper Seagar was England's real name.[2] Other accounts from trial depositions make clear that Seagar was a separate person,[3] and that he took over captaincy of England's ship after England was marooned by his crew: "...the sd Ship theVictory under ye Comand of the sd Richard Taylor and theCassandra under the Comand of Jaspar Seater who was made Captain of her in the room of ye sd Edward England (who was turned out of Comand) proceeded to the East India...".[4]
In 1719, pirateThomas Cocklyn in theVictory put intoMadagascar alongside Edward England'sFancy andJohn Galley.[4] Cocklyn died there; England burned theJohn Galley, transferring Cocklyn's crew to the other two ships, and Richard Taylor was placed as captain aboard theVictory.[4] Seagar commanded theFancy while England remained in command of the overall fleet.[3]
Off the island ofJohanna they engaged theCassandra under CaptainJames Macrae (also McCrae or Mackra),[4] who was forced to beach his ship and flee inland but not before heavily damaging theFancy and killing a number of pirates.[5] TheCassandra had sailed with theGreenwich under Captain Kirby, who reported England commanding theVictory and Seagar commanding theFancy.[3] Richard Lazenby, a carpenter's mate taken from theCassandra and pressed into service by the pirates, later reported to theEast India Company and named Seagar as captain of theFancy, with Taylor captaining theVictory.[2] Macrae eventually surrendered to the pirates. England spared him and gave him the crippledFancy; this enraged Taylor, who had England removed from command andmarooned.[5]
TheCassandra was fitted out for piracy and Jasper Seagar was placed in command.[4] Sailing alongside Taylor, Seagar proceeded toward theEast Indies and plundered several ships. After unsuccessfully engaging a fleet fromBombay they put in atCochin to sell their booty.[4] From there they sailed out, repaired theVictory, and in early 1721 captured ships nearMauritius, includingNossa Senhora do Cabo, which carried the Bishop of Goa[7] and the retiringPortuguese Viceroy[4] and netted the pirates immense treasure. In his report on the incident the Viceroy noted Seagar as commanding theFancy, not theCassandra (which the pirates may have renamed), and claimed Levasseur was commanding theVictory, with Taylor serving as quartermaster.[8]
Sailing toÎle Sainte-Marie near Madagascar, they burned theVictory and fitted out theCabo for piracy; Seagar died while on Madagascar of unknown causes.[4] Levasseur captained theCassandra after Seagar's death, eventually exchanging ships with Taylor[4] who sailed it to the Caribbean and traded it to the governor ofPorto Bello for amnesty.[2] Oliver Levasseur took the refittedNossa Senhora do Cabo until his retirement and recapture.[9]
