John Gow
| John Gow | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1698 Wick, Caithness |
| Died | June 11, 1725 (aged 26–27) Execution Dock, London |
| Piratical career | |
| Type | Pirate |
| Years active | 1724–1725 |
John Gow (c. 1698–11 June 1725) was a notorious pirate whose short career was immortalised by Charles Johnson in A General History of the Pyrates. Little is known of his life, except from an account by Daniel Defoe, which is often considered unreliable, the report on his execution, and an account by Mr. Alan Fea, descendant of his captor, published in 1912, almost two centuries after his death.
Gow was probably born in Wick, Caithness, to William Gow, a merchant, and Margaret Calder. He was raised in Stromness, Orkney where he went to school and learned to sail a ship.
Prior to August 1724 he crewed a voyage from London to Lisbon and back, during which he plotted to seize control of the vessel. He failed to attract sufficient numbers, however, and the effort went nowhere. In London, word spread about the attempt, so Gow fled to Amsterdam, where he joined the Santa Cruz-bound Caroline as second mate.
After several months' layover in Santa Cruz, on 3 November 1724 the Caroline departed for Genoa, Italy, with a cargo of beeswax, leather, and woolens. The shipboard climate, however, was troubled. There were complaints about the food on board the ship, and Freneau, the captain of the Caroline, was accused of treating the other crewmen of the vessel improperly. Grousing of short allowance, the crewmen of the Caroline started to disobey some of the captain's orders. The captain, realising that his orders were being disobeyed, consulted his mate. The two men agreed to stash some small arms in the cabin so they could defend themselves in case of mutiny. Unfortunately for the captain, two of the conspirators on the upper deck overheard the conversation.
Not realising that Gow was the ring leader of the attempted mutiny, Freneau ordered Gow to prepare arms to defend the crew. Upon hearing this, the mutineers decided to act that night. At ten p.m., after half the ship's company had retired following evening prayer, shots echoed across the deck. Told that someone had fallen overboard, Freneau ran to the rail, where he was stabbed in the neck and shot twice in the stomach by Gow, then thrown overboard by the other conspirators. Still alive, he managed to clutch a rope dangling from the side of the ship, but when the conspirators realised this, they cut the rope and he tumbled into the sea. The next morning, the remainder of the crew was given the option of following their captain or joining the mutineers. Accounts indicate that they all accepted their former position. The ship was renamed Revenge.
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