Like many a pirate before and after him, Welsh-born Howell Davis
seemed to have stumbled into a life of piracy. A good liar, he was
personally well-equipped for pirate life and is remembered as
having lied, bluffed, and acted his way into riches and out of
trouble.
He was originally the First Mate of a slave ship called The
Codagan which was captured by the infamous pirate Edward England
off the West African coast in 1718. Edward England enjoyed the
reputation of being a generous scoundrel and actually offered The
Cadogan to Davis. Davis gladly accepted the offer, planning to sell
the ship in Brazil. The crew insisted upon sailing to Barbados
instead, however, there Davis was accused of piracy and thrown into
to prison for three months.
Upon his release, however, Howell Davis took up piracy in
earnest. He sailed to the Bahamas in the hope of putting together a
new crew. Once there, he discovered that the new governor, Woodes
Rogers, had introduced a very active policy against piracy. Davis
became part of the crew of a ship loaded with cargo and the
governor's men. During a voyage to Martinique, he managed to
convince all aboard, many of them having been former pirates, to
mutiny. Chosen captain, Davis and his crew then managed to capture
two larger French ships north of Hispaniola: He tricked the second
ship by having the first captured ship appear to be a pirate
ship.
They then sailed off to the Cape Verde Islands. Here Davis
deceived another governor by claiming to be a privateer (a
privately-owned ship authorized by a government during wartime to
attack enemy vessels) and loaded up on needed supplies. From here
he sailed to the island of Maio and plundered at will. They decided
to keep one such plundered vessel, The Saint James, and then sailed
to Gambia where, dressed like fine gentlemen, tricked the governor
there into inviting them to dinner. The governor was later rewarded
for his hospitality by being taken ransom and released for a
stately sum of gold.
Soon after this, Davis managed to seize four large English and
Dutch ships loaded with ivory and gold. He made one of these new
vessels, The Rover, his flagship and then proceeded to capture an
additional three English slave ships in the area. From here his
fleet of pirates sailed on to Principe Island off the coast of
Guinea and captured one of their last great prizes: A great Dutch
ship and £15,000 of booty.
Once on Principe Island, Davis' deceptive tactics finally let
him down. He told the Portuguese governor there that he was
actually a pirate hunter. He even went so far as to seize a French
ship he claimed to have been trading with pirates. But his trick
failed this time and he and his crew were killed by Portuguese
soldiers. Although, Davis in true pirate fashion, took five bullets
before dropping and had to be finished off by having his throat
cut.
Some of his remaining crew managed to escape and later elected
the infamous Bartholomew Roberts as their new captain.