Down Memory Lane: When pirates plundered the ships of Highland traders in Scottish waters – and courted royal attention
When you think of where pirates sailed, you think of Jamaica or Virginia and the Pirates of the Caribbean films. But the Scottish islands were once such a haven for these seagoing robbers that other European countries expressed concern.
Ruaridh The Turbulent was the chieftain of the MacNeils of Barra in the late 16th century and his followers became notorious for attacking ships.
It proved profitable and, as well as cellars packed with fine wines, it is reported he kept three pairs of black horses “whose shoes were made of the gold which he derived from melting down the precious ornaments captured on the high seas.”
When Queen Elizabeth complained to James VI, MacNeil insisted he attacked English ships out of loyalty to Mary Queen of Scots. James swallowed the tale and the bold buccaneer returned home with a Royal Pardon.
When Inverness was a busy trading port the shipping of freight was an extremely hazardous business, the waters plagued by Swedish pirates.
Further south, the danger was from Moors. These Barbary Coast corsairs, had many-oared galleys and plundered at will off a large part of the British coastline. In three years from 1677, 160 British ships were captured and between 7000 and 9000 crewmen taken captive.
Leading Inverness merchant Bailie John Stuart, who was factor to the Earl of Moray’s Lordship of Petty, owned a dozen ships, many built “at the Shore at Inverness”.
Bailie Stuart – he served on Inverness Town Council for 13 years from 1703 and was a magistrate for three years – brought oak from the slopes of Loch Ness and from Darnaway, near Forres to build his trading vessels.
From Danzig came the ready-made iron and timber frame and the finished ships would commute from Inverness to London, Belgium, Denmark and Norway.
On October 8, 1717 Stuart’s barque, the Alexander, sailed out from Inverness Harbour bound for Cork with a cargo of herring. Stuart’s cousin, Alexander Stuart, was unwell and Thomas Greig was substitute skipper.
As Greig turned the ship towards Irish waters he was attacked by a pirate vessel commandered by Englishman John Norwood, who had fought for the Jacobites in the 1715 Rebellion and then fled to Sweden.
The ship was captured but Greig and his crew attacked the Swedes off the Norwegian coast and, after some fierce fighting, set the Swedes adrift in a small boat.
The captain of a Danish warship had observed the Scots’ brave act but promptly claimed the Alexander as his prize and took the ship and crew to Copenhagen. The Invernessians were prisoners again!
Bailie Stuart demanded action from the British Ambassador who secured their release.
The resourceful Greig managed to sell his herring in the Baltic and in 1718 he and his men were acclaimed as heroes when they returned home.
But that same year Alexander Stuart was less fortunate. His ship was boarded and captured by Barbary pirates. Stuart and his comrades arrived in Morocco as slaves. Weeks turned in to months and then to years.
Eventually, they did escape and arrived home to a tremendous welcome near Christmas 1721.
Strengthened British and European naval forces eventually ended the era of the Barbary corsairs, to the great relief of those in places like Inverness from where men set out in ships to trade with the world.
