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Hunting the Last Great Pirate: Benito de Soto and the Rape of the Morning Star
The true story of the pirate attack against the unarmed Quaker ship, Morning Star, in 1828.
In 1827 the Duke of Wellington – former Commander-in-Chief of the British Army and British Prime Minister – ordered the withdrawal of British soldiers from the island of Ceylon after years of bloody conflict there. English cargo vessels, including the unarmed English Quaker ship Morning Star , were dispatched to sail to Colombo to repatriate wounded British soldiers and a cargo of sealed crates containing captured treasure.
By January 1828, Morning Star was anchored at Table Bay, Cape Town, before joining an armed British convoy of East Indiamen, heading north. Heavily laden, she struggled to keep up with the ships ahead.
The notorious pirate Benito de Soto was the master of a heavily armed pirate ship, lying in wait off Ascension Island in the mid-Atlantic to pick-off stragglers from passing convoys. Morning Star was easily overhauled by the pirate and stopped with cannon fire. Her captain and officers were executed and the attackers fled to Spain with cargo stolen from the stricken ship.
Later de Soto buried the treasure and traveled to British-ruled Gibraltar with forged identity documents to sell the spoils. The authorities, however, discovered his identity and he was arrested. Despite the absence of eyewitness evidence that he was the pirate captain, he was convicted of piracy before a British judge and jury and hanged at Gibraltar in early 1830. It is clear that proof of de Soto’s guilt in court was lacking, but astonishingly, when renovations were being carried out at de Soto’s former home village in Galicia, Spain, in 1926, much of the treasures he had plundered from Morning Star were found buried in the grounds there.
Almost 100 years later, British justice administered in London and Gibraltar was vindicated…
In 1827 the Duke of Wellington – former Commander-in-Chief of the British Army and British Prime Minister – ordered the withdrawal of British soldiers from the island of Ceylon after years of bloody conflict there. English cargo vessels, including the unarmed English Quaker ship Morning Star , were dispatched to sail to Colombo to repatriate wounded British soldiers and a cargo of sealed crates containing captured treasure.
By January 1828, Morning Star was anchored at Table Bay, Cape Town, before joining an armed British convoy of East Indiamen, heading north. Heavily laden, she struggled to keep up with the ships ahead.
The notorious pirate Benito de Soto was the master of a heavily armed pirate ship, lying in wait off Ascension Island in the mid-Atlantic to pick-off stragglers from passing convoys. Morning Star was easily overhauled by the pirate and stopped with cannon fire. Her captain and officers were executed and the attackers fled to Spain with cargo stolen from the stricken ship.
Later de Soto buried the treasure and traveled to British-ruled Gibraltar with forged identity documents to sell the spoils. The authorities, however, discovered his identity and he was arrested. Despite the absence of eyewitness evidence that he was the pirate captain, he was convicted of piracy before a British judge and jury and hanged at Gibraltar in early 1830. It is clear that proof of de Soto’s guilt in court was lacking, but astonishingly, when renovations were being carried out at de Soto’s former home village in Galicia, Spain, in 1926, much of the treasures he had plundered from Morning Star were found buried in the grounds there.
Almost 100 years later, British justice administered in London and Gibraltar was vindicated…
240 pages, Hardcover
Published June 24, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 21, 2020
Hunting The Last Pirate is non-fiction and focuses on Benito De Soto and his attack on an unarmed Quaker boat and its passengers, the Morning Star, in 1828 near the Ascension Islands.
The author has put together an interesting tale which allows the reader to understand some of the historical evidence which surrounded attacks of ships in the Atlantic Ocean at this time. More specifically, the National Archives have been used as a source of information on De Soto and his attack on the Morning Star.
I went into this book expecting swashbuckling images to match my thoughts of Jack Sparrow, rather than the more gruesome real-life portrayal of the dangers of nineteenth century sea voyages. With the main focus on the one ship and its story I did find that the book dragged at times, with overlaps of information in places. So the book wasn’t quite what I had hoped for; however, if you are interested in true-stories of the period, or life at sea, then this book may well be an ideal fit.
The author has put together an interesting tale which allows the reader to understand some of the historical evidence which surrounded attacks of ships in the Atlantic Ocean at this time. More specifically, the National Archives have been used as a source of information on De Soto and his attack on the Morning Star.
I went into this book expecting swashbuckling images to match my thoughts of Jack Sparrow, rather than the more gruesome real-life portrayal of the dangers of nineteenth century sea voyages. With the main focus on the one ship and its story I did find that the book dragged at times, with overlaps of information in places. So the book wasn’t quite what I had hoped for; however, if you are interested in true-stories of the period, or life at sea, then this book may well be an ideal fit.
January 21, 2021
The day pirates attacked the Morning Star was the start of a horrific and nearly fatal experience for most of the passengers and crew of this barque, but like all stories it begins long before 19 February 1828. Although pirates had plagued British shipping for most of the decade, the Royal Navy lacked sufficient resources to protect commercial ventures and suppress piracy. One safeguard was to sail in a convoy protected by a warship, yet even this did not guarantee a merchantman reached port. The vessel set sail only to vanish. All those left behind knew was that she never arrived at her destination. Such was the fate of the packet ship Topaz. Evidence suggests that she fell victim to pirates rather than being lost because of weather or a lack of seaworthiness. Unlike her, Morning Star limped into port and word spread.
The pirates of this generation were mostly of Spanish or Portuguese descent and many came from western colonies. Their motto seemed to follow the adage, “Dead men tell no tales.” Benito de Soto certainly heeded that advice. He, like many pirates, came from a murky background. Whether childhood friends or fellow pirates, he and Nicholas Fernandez banded together to steal a schooner and went on the account in 1824. Since Commodore David Porter and his American naval squadron were hunting down pirates in the Caribbean, de Soto and his men sailed to richer waters, which led them to cross paths with Morning Star. The barque – built by Quakers and captained by a man of that religion – was the ideal target for de Soto. She carried an enticing cargo. Her sluggishness slowed down the convoy until the escort ship abandoned her to protect the rest of the ships. Most importantly, not a single cannon guarded her decks or the fifty-three men, women, and children on board.
What made this pillaging and the brutalities the passengers and crew endured stand out from similar attacks was that, although the pirates sealed them belowdecks and set the ship on fire, one woman was determined not to die. This volume provides a vivid account of what happened that fateful day, as well as how these two ships crossed paths. The book also includes a selected bibliography, an index, and a center section of black-and-white pictures. Some chapters include a few source notes for the quotations, yet other information that is presented isn’t footnoted. For example, the author mentions Jean Laffite and possible ties that de Soto and Fernandez may have had with Laffite, but no historical references are provided to support these facts, which differ from what historians have uncovered in recent years.
But Hunting the Last Great Pirate is more than just the story of a deadly encounter with pirates. Ford provides the backdrop of world events at the time, as well as background on the ships and people involved, including the victims, the pirates, and those whose lives and decisions impacted either group. While the criminals were captured, prosecuting de Soto and his men proved far more complicated than anyone expected or desired. Through quotes from contemporary documents and testimonies from some of the pirates, Ford recounts the events in chronological sequence and includes an eyewitness account of what unfolded as the convoy parted ways with Morning Star. He adeptly shares how that abandonment impacted the prosecution and why some officials strove to cover up the scandal. Readers seeking a thorough and surprising account of this incident will discover that this book meets those criteria. In the process, they will come away with a far better understanding of what happened and why.
The pirates of this generation were mostly of Spanish or Portuguese descent and many came from western colonies. Their motto seemed to follow the adage, “Dead men tell no tales.” Benito de Soto certainly heeded that advice. He, like many pirates, came from a murky background. Whether childhood friends or fellow pirates, he and Nicholas Fernandez banded together to steal a schooner and went on the account in 1824. Since Commodore David Porter and his American naval squadron were hunting down pirates in the Caribbean, de Soto and his men sailed to richer waters, which led them to cross paths with Morning Star. The barque – built by Quakers and captained by a man of that religion – was the ideal target for de Soto. She carried an enticing cargo. Her sluggishness slowed down the convoy until the escort ship abandoned her to protect the rest of the ships. Most importantly, not a single cannon guarded her decks or the fifty-three men, women, and children on board.
What made this pillaging and the brutalities the passengers and crew endured stand out from similar attacks was that, although the pirates sealed them belowdecks and set the ship on fire, one woman was determined not to die. This volume provides a vivid account of what happened that fateful day, as well as how these two ships crossed paths. The book also includes a selected bibliography, an index, and a center section of black-and-white pictures. Some chapters include a few source notes for the quotations, yet other information that is presented isn’t footnoted. For example, the author mentions Jean Laffite and possible ties that de Soto and Fernandez may have had with Laffite, but no historical references are provided to support these facts, which differ from what historians have uncovered in recent years.
But Hunting the Last Great Pirate is more than just the story of a deadly encounter with pirates. Ford provides the backdrop of world events at the time, as well as background on the ships and people involved, including the victims, the pirates, and those whose lives and decisions impacted either group. While the criminals were captured, prosecuting de Soto and his men proved far more complicated than anyone expected or desired. Through quotes from contemporary documents and testimonies from some of the pirates, Ford recounts the events in chronological sequence and includes an eyewitness account of what unfolded as the convoy parted ways with Morning Star. He adeptly shares how that abandonment impacted the prosecution and why some officials strove to cover up the scandal. Readers seeking a thorough and surprising account of this incident will discover that this book meets those criteria. In the process, they will come away with a far better understanding of what happened and why.
December 18, 2020
By 1827, the heyday of the pirates was long over, but piracy continued, and this new breed were every bit as dangerous as their predecessors. Enter Benito de Soto, a career pirate who attacked the British ship, the Morning Star, off the coast of Africa, killed some of its crew and took its treasure. The British hunted him down, capturing de Soto in Gibraltar, before trying and executing him. In Hunting the Last Great Pirate, Michael Ford narrates this fascinating story.
Benito de Soto was a particularly vicious pirate even for that profession. An advocate of the dead-men-tell-no-tales approach to piracy, his cruelty was limited only by opportunity. In 1827, he encountered the sluggish British merchant ship, Morning Star, near Ascension Island. After plundering it, he thought he had sunk the ship with all hands, but he was wrong. The Morning Star limped back to London, setting off a howl of protests over piracy and lack of naval protection. A convoluted series of events led to De Soto being arrested at Gibraltar in July 1828. His trial proved problematic, however, because there was little available evidence of his piracy. He therefore languished in prison until a trial could be rigged against him by the British government. De Soto was executed in January 1830. In his epilogue, Ford reveals that evidence uncovered many years after the events determined de Soto’s guilt beyond doubt, but that Spanish cooperation at the time could have made the prosecution case far safer without the need for government machinations.
That basic outline underplays Ford’s skilful weaving of a compelling multifaceted story, involving not just the base piracy at its heart, but corruption and complicity running through the British and Spanish governments. Ford deploys multiple sources gleaned from careful research to bolster his well-written account. Moreover, his novelistic approach heightens the tension in the story and avoids becoming bogged down in some of the drier aspects of the wider context. Ford’s book is a useful addition to the history of piracy and will appeal to students of early 19th century international relations and historical criminology. It is also a very good read.
Benito de Soto was a particularly vicious pirate even for that profession. An advocate of the dead-men-tell-no-tales approach to piracy, his cruelty was limited only by opportunity. In 1827, he encountered the sluggish British merchant ship, Morning Star, near Ascension Island. After plundering it, he thought he had sunk the ship with all hands, but he was wrong. The Morning Star limped back to London, setting off a howl of protests over piracy and lack of naval protection. A convoluted series of events led to De Soto being arrested at Gibraltar in July 1828. His trial proved problematic, however, because there was little available evidence of his piracy. He therefore languished in prison until a trial could be rigged against him by the British government. De Soto was executed in January 1830. In his epilogue, Ford reveals that evidence uncovered many years after the events determined de Soto’s guilt beyond doubt, but that Spanish cooperation at the time could have made the prosecution case far safer without the need for government machinations.
That basic outline underplays Ford’s skilful weaving of a compelling multifaceted story, involving not just the base piracy at its heart, but corruption and complicity running through the British and Spanish governments. Ford deploys multiple sources gleaned from careful research to bolster his well-written account. Moreover, his novelistic approach heightens the tension in the story and avoids becoming bogged down in some of the drier aspects of the wider context. Ford’s book is a useful addition to the history of piracy and will appeal to students of early 19th century international relations and historical criminology. It is also a very good read.
April 4, 2020
I Enjoyed everything about this book there was nothing I didn't like about the book. I Like the setting,the writing style,the plot,the plot twists and the characters in the book were amazing.I would gladly reread it again.
June 19, 2020
Decent book if just looking at the Morning Star and Bonito. Paths it took, people, conditions and more to look at. Good for those interested at this time.
May 30, 2021
I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. You can find my review over on my blog: https://allthebookblognamesaretaken.b...
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews