Robert Culliford

Robert Culliford (c. 1666 - ?) was an English pirate from Cornwall who is best remembered for repeatedly checking the designs of Captain William Kidd.

Culliford and Kidd first met as shipmates aboard the French privateer Sainte Rose in 1689; there were only six other Britons aboard. After the War of the Grand Alliance broke out, Kidd, Culliford, and their British comrades mutinied against a French prize crew, taking the ship and renaming it the Blessed William, with Kidd put in command. But in February, 1690, Culliford led his own mutiny and deprived Kidd of his command. The pirates elected William Mason as captain.

Culliford sailed with the pirates through the Caribbean, sacking ships and attacking a town. They went to New York to sell their booty. Mason was granted a letter of marque by Jacob Leisler, then acting governor of New York, and Culliford accompanied the pirates as they ransacked and laid waste two French Canadian towns. The pirates also captured a French frigate named L'Esperance. Mason granted this ship to Culliford, who renamed it the Horne Frigate, Culliford's first pirate command. However, the pirates lost most of their booty when the two ketches they sent to bring their wealth to New York fell into the hands of French privateers. The disappointed Culliford returned to New York with Mason, where they returned aboard a single ship, the Jacob, another captured French vessel, and set sail in December 1690. Culliford served as captain's quartermaster, one of two quartermasters aboard the Jacob.

Culliford and his fellow pirates eventually made their way to India, landing at Mangrol in 1692, where they robbed and abused the local population. The Gujaratis captured Culliford and seventeen of his comrades. Culliford spent the next four years in a Gujarati prison.

In spring, 1696, Culliford and some of his comrades escaped and made their way to Bombay, where they signed aboard the East India Company ketch Josiah. In Madras they commandeered the ship, returned to piracy, and sailed for the Bay of Bengal.

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