John Ireland (pirate)

John Ireland (fl. 1694-1701, occasionally spelled Yarland) was a pirate active in the Indian Ocean. He is best known for sailing with Thomas Tew.

Ireland was sailing between New York and Boston in 1694 when he was hired by privateer Thomas Tew to pilot his ship Amity up the coast. Ireland testified that the crew mutinied, demanding Tew take up piracy instead, and forcing Ireland to act as navigator. The crew told them “they came out for money and money they would have before they went home again.” Tew asked that they put him and Ireland ashore and offered them the sloop to do with as they wanted, but they refused, saying “if he would not pilot them to Madagascar he should be starved.” This would be Tew’s second “Pirate Round” voyage to the area.

Tew sailed with fellow pirates Joseph Faro, Thomas Wake, William May, Richard Want, and Henry Every in August 1695 to attack Mughal Empire treasure ships in the Indian Ocean. Most of the Moorish fleet slipped past in the night but two stragglers – the massive Gunsway and its escort, Fateh Mohammed – were caught and attacked. Tew sailed ahead of the others in the Amity, attacking the Fateh Mohammed early. A cannonball killed Tew during the battle, and Amity surrendered. After Every and the others defeated Gunsway and Fateh Mohammed both, the Amity was freed.

Ireland was now master of the 70-ton, 60-man, 8-gun Amity. They sailed to Adam Baldridge’s pirate trading post near Madagascar to repair and refit in December 1695. Baldridge tipped them off that the Charming Mary under captain Richard Glover left shortly before and was still nearby. Ireland pursued the Charming Mary, capturing it and putting Glover on the Amity. The crew elected Richard Bobbington as Captain of the Charming Mary. Glover and Amity would eventually by captured by Dirk Chivers, who stripped Amity and used it to repair his own ship, leaving Amity’s hulk stranded on a reef.

...
Wikipedia