Daniel Elfrith
| Daniel Elfrith | |
|---|---|
| Born | fl. 1607 England |
| Died | 1641 |
| Piratical career | |
| Type | Privateer |
| Allegiance | England |
| Years active | 1610s–1640s |
| Rank | Admiral |
| Base of operations | Bermuda |
| Commands | The Robert The Treasurer |
| Later work | Colonist |
Daniel Elfrith (fl. 1607–1641) was a 17th-century English privateer, colonist and slave trader. In the service of the Earl of Warwick, Elfrith was involved in privateering expeditions against the Spanish from his base in Bermuda. He was particularly known for capturing Spanish slave ships bound for the Spanish Main and selling the slaves himself to rival colonies in the Caribbean and the American colonies.
He and John Jupe were the first men to arrive in the Colony of Virginia to sell slaves. Arriving only four days ahead his partner, Jupe had sold the first African slaves in the American colonies in exchange for provisions, however Elfrith's arrival sparked considerably more controversy and was turned away by the colony.
He is also one of the earliest Englishmen, along with Sussex Camock, to discover and later take part in the initial settlement of the Providence Island colony in 1629. A personal friend of the Earl of Warwick, his son-in-law Philip Bell became the colony's first governor while he assumed the position of its admiral.
An active privateer in the West Indies as early as 1607, Elfrith commanded the Treasurer (owned by the Earl of Warwick) for several years. In mid-1613, Elfrith arrived in Bermuda with a Spanish caravel full of grain for the starving island colonists. As England and Spain were not at war, this was technically considered an act of piracy although this fact went unnoticed by the colony. However, the ship also contained black rats which escaped from the ship as the grain was being unloaded in a harbor off St. George's. They quickly bred and were soon nesting in palm trees as well as the thatched roofs of cottages, churches and storehouses. The rats dug holes in the soft coral, feeding on corn and wheat in storehouses and eating the crops and other plants grown by the colony. Despite the colonists attempts to exterminate them, which included using traps, hunting dogs and setting cats into the wild, the rats plagued the colony for several years before the problem was finally brought under control.
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