John Coxon (pirate)

John Coxon
Piratical career
Type	Buccaneer (Pirate)
Allegiance	None
Years active	1677–1682
Rank	Captain
Base of operations	Spanish Main

Captain John Coxon, sometimes referred to as John Coxen, was a late seventeenth-century buccaneer who terrorized the Spanish Main. Coxon was one of the most famous of the Brethren of the Coast, a loose consortium of pirates and privateers. Coxon lived during the Buccaneering Age of Piracy.

Coxon's ship, a vessel of eighty tons that carried eight guns and a crew of ninety-seven men, is lost to date, with no traces of its name anywhere.

Very little is known about Coxon's early life. The act that brought Coxon to public notice was his surprising and plundering the Spanish town of Santa Marta in the Caribbean. Coxon was held responsible for abducting the governor and the bishop of Santa Maria to Jamaica.

Soon after, Coxon met with many privateers, staging a raid in the Gulf of Honduras. This raid proved to be useful, as the pirates and privateers collected a stash of five hundred chests of indigo dye, in addition to cocoa, cochineal, money, plate, and tortoiseshell.

Shortly afterwards, he made himself an ally of several other important buccaneers of the day, including Cornelius Essex, Bartholomew Sharp and Robert Allison. after which they set sail for Portobelo. Upon reaching, they travelled for around four days, and on 17 February, they plundered the town carelessly, escaping the Spanish armies. Through this, each man earned, at the very least, one-hundred pieces of eight.

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