Daniel Stillwell (active 1715–1718, last name also Stilwell) was a minor pirate in the Caribbean, best known for his association with Benjamin Hornigold.
History
Formerly of Jamaica, Stillwell married the daughter of retired pirate Jonathan Darvill before settling on Eleuthera. Borrowing Darvill’s shallop, he and a small crew (including Darvill’s son) captured a Spanish ship off of Cuba which carried over 11,000 pieces of eight around 1714. Deputy Governor Thomas Walker of Nassau heard about the attack and as Spain and England had recently concluded a peace treaty, had Stillwell and his crew seized. Lacking authority to try Stillwell locally, he had Stillwell sent to Jamaica for trial. Hornigold had been using Darvill’s sloop Happy Return for his own piracy (and some sources indicate Hornigold had been with Stillwell off of Cuba), and had declared that all the Bahamas pirates were under his protection. He intercepted the ship carrying Stillwell and freed him, returning to Nassau to threaten Walker for interfering.
Stillwell later sailed as a crewmember aboard Hornigold’s ship. When King George offered a general pardon to all pirates who surrendered before September 1718, Stillwell accepted. He later became a ship owner, purchasing several vessels that operated out of the islands, including his father-in-law Jonathan Darvill’s old Happy Return.
See also
- Admiralty court - the venue which would have tried Stillwell on Jamaica, and whose authority Walker lacked.
References
- Riley, Sandra; Peters, Thelma B. (2000). Homeward Bound: A History of the Bahama Islands to 1850 with a Definitive Study of Abaco in the American Loyalist Plantation Period. Miami FL: RILEY HALL. p. 55. ISBN 9780966531022. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
- Craton, Michael; Saunders, Gail (2011). Islanders in the Stream: A History of the Bahamian People: Volume Two: From the Ending of Slavery to the Twenty-First Century. Athens GA: University of Georgia Press. p. 112. ISBN 9780820342733. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
- Woodard, Colin (2008). The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down. Orlando FL: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0547415758.
- Vallar, Cindy. "Pirates & Privateers: Benjamin Hornigold -- The Pirates' Pirate". www.cindyvallar.com. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
- Fictum, David (26 July 2015). ""The Strongest Man Carries the Day," Life in New Providence, 1716-1717". Colonies, Ships, and Pirates. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
- "Pearse to Admiralty 3 Jun 1718". baylusbrooks.com. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
- Brooks, Baylus C. (2017). Quest for Blackbeard: The True Story of Edward Thache and His World. Lake City FL: Lulu Press, Inc. ISBN 9781365795923. Retrieved 4 August 2017.Archived 2021-08-13 at the Wayback Machine
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