Joseph Bradish

Captain Joseph Bradish

More of a thief than a true pirate. He was born at Cambridge, Massachusetts, on November 28th, 1672. In March, 1698, Bradish was in London and shipped as mate in the hake-boat "Adventure" bound for Borneo on an interloping trade. In September, 1698, when most of the officers and passengers were ashore at the Island of Polonais, Bradish and the remaining crew cut the mooring lines and simply sailed away with the ship. The crew shared in the money and jewelry that was found in the storeroom, which was said to have filled nine chests.

Bradish then sailed the Adventure to Long Island, arriving there on March 19th, 1699. After leaving their money and jewels on Nassau Island, they sank their ship. Most of the crew bought horses at the neighboring farmhouses and disappeared. Bradish and a few others were rash enough to go to Massachusetts, where they were promptly arrested and placed in the Boston jail. But the jailkeeper, one Caleb Ray, was a relation of Bradish, and allowed him to escape. However an offer of a reward of 200 swiftly brought the escaped prisoner back, and he sailed in irons on H.M.S. Advice with William Kidd and some other pirates, to England. There he was hanged in London at Hope Dock in 1700. A sad end for this poor rogue who was not much of a pirate to begin with.

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