Ned Low
| Edward Low | |
|---|---|
Capt Edward Low in ye Hurricane which He and All the Crew had Like to Perish'd by J Nicholls and James Basire, hanging in the National Maritime Museum in London
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| Born | 1690 Westminster, London |
| Died | 1724 (aged 33-34) Disputed, probably Martinique |
| Piratical career | |
| Nickname | Ned Low |
| Type | Pirate |
| Years active | c.1721—c.1724 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Base of operations |
Atlantic Caribbean |
| Commands |
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Edward "Ned" Low (also spelled Lowe or Loe; 1690—1724) was a notorious English pirate during the latter days of the Golden Age of Piracy, in the early 18th century. Low was born into poverty in Westminster, London, and was a thief from an early age. He moved to Boston, Massachusetts, as a young man. His wife died in childbirth in late 1719. Two years later, he became a pirate, operating off the coasts of New England and the Azores, and in the Caribbean.
Low captained a number of ships, usually maintaining a small fleet of three or four. Low and his pirate crews captured at least a hundred ships during his short career, burning most of them. Although he was active for only three years, Low remains notorious as one of the most vicious pirates of the age, with a reputation for violently torturing his victims before murdering them.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle described Low as "savage and desperate," and a man of "amazing and grotesque brutality".The New York Times called him a torturer, whose methods would have "done credit to the ingenuity of the Spanish Inquisition in its darkest days". The circumstances of Low's death, which took place around 1724, have been the subject of much speculation.
According to Charles Johnson's A General History of the Pyrates, Edward Low was born in Westminster, London, England, in 1690. He was described as illiterate, having a "quarrelsome nature", and always ready to cheat, running "wild in the streets of his native parish". As a young man, he was said to be a pickpocket and gambler, playing games of chance with the footmen of the nearby House of Commons.
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