- Source: Eric Cobham and Maria Lindsey
Eric Cobham (c. 1700 – 1760 or after) a pirate in the early eighteenth century who with his wife, Maria Lindsey, practiced piracy in the Gulf of St. Lawrence from their base in Newfoundland. They were both born in England – Eric Cobham from Poole and Maria Lindsey from Plymouth.
History
According to Philip Gosse in The Pirate's Who's Who (1924) and Horwood and Butts in The Pirates and Outlaws of Canada (1984), the Cobhams were among the first St. Lawrence pirates to become known for giving "no quarter," meaning all the captured crews were killed and the ships sunk. They were famous for their sadism and cruelty, including using survivors for target practice. They were pirates between 1720s–40s after which they relocated to Le Havre, France. They became members of the community and Eric was appointed a judge. Maria could not make the adjustment and went insane, finally committing suicide (or possibly being murdered by Eric). Eric had an attack of conscience after her death, confessed his sins to a priest, and requested the true story of his life be published. This book was printed after his death, the family tried to buy and destroy this book, however there is allegedly a copy in the Archives Nationales in Paris. They were survived by two sons and a daughter. Gosse describes Eric Cobham as a native of Poole, who took to smuggling at age 18, and was caught. Later, he met Maria Lindsay at Plymouth, and brought her on board his ship, sailing to Newfoundland, where the couple assumed a career in piracy. The couple is said to have operated out of Sandy Point (Flat Island) on the Western Shore of Newfoundland Island. They are a part of Canadian pirate lore, and Maria Lindsay has been dubbed "the Canadian Pirate Queen." A fictional, romantic novel based on described events in pirate literature about Eric Cobham and Maria Lindsay exists.
Possibility of non-existence
Other than second hand mention, there is little historic proof that Eric Cobham and his wife actually existed. To some historians, it seems unlikely that the couple could have had the career described in the mid-eighteenth century without leaving documentary traces. However, in a book, Buccaneers and Marooners of America, published in 1891, editor Howard Pyle mentions Cobham in passing as if his exploits were already well known to the public at large and details Cobham's attack on a Spanish ship in the Bay of Biscay wherein all persons of Spanish origin (approximately 20) aboard the seized vessel were sewn into the mainsail and thrown into the sea. While some doubt the stories and are even skeptical that the Cobhams actually existed, Dan Conlin, the historian and curator of marine history at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, believes the stories are probably true, but exaggerated.
References
Fitzgerald, Jack. The Hangman is Never Late
Gosse, Philip, "The Pirate's Who's Who"
Horwood, Harold, and Butts, Ed, "Pirates and Outlaws of Canada"
Rogozinski, Jan, "Pirates! An A-Z Encyclopedia"
Pyle, Howard, "Buccaneers and Marooners of America" 1891, 2nd Edition p. 20
De Chastelaine, Alexander, "The Terror of Saint Lawrence" 2024, ISBN 9798883341945
External links
Article in the Canadian Encyclopedia
Buccaners and Marooners of America by Howard Pyle 1905