Letters about Peter Easton
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What we know about Peter Easton does not come from archaeology. The information comes from letters and books written at the time. When people write books and letters, they are telling stories from their own point of view, and each person sees each event that happens in a different way. For that reason, not everything that is written about an event is the same, and sometimes people contradict each other.
A number of letters written about Peter Easton have survived. One was a letter written by Richard Holworthy to John Slany on August 18th, 1612, and another was a letter by John Guy to John Slany and the Newfoundland Company, written on July 29th, 1612.
From a letter from Richard Holworthy to John Slaney, dated August 18th 1612
Attack on Ship. (Detail of 17th-century ship © Public Domain. Source: National Library of Canada)
Richard Holworthy, one of the Cupers Cove colonists, wrote a letter to John Slany on August 18th, 1612. He describes how Peter Easton and about 100 of his men spent about 14 days in Conception Bay. In modern English, Richard said â??... while they were drunk, Peter and his men announced that they were setting sail to attack the West India Fleet at the Island". [By the "West India Fleet" he meant the Spanish treasure fleet that was sailing from the West Indies. The "Island" he refers to is the Azores.] The pirates also bragged that they were very cruel to the Portuguese and French, "overthrowing almost all their fishing voyages, so that many of their men left their ships and fled into the woods".
He goes on to say that Peter Easton and his crew â??parted on friendly termsâ?? with the colonists at Cupers Cove. However, later, another incident happened. While John Guy was sailing with some of his men near Cape St. Francis, they were hailed by a pirate ship. When they did not respond, the pirates fired, wounding one of the colonists. Richard says that the pirates were sorry when they found out they had shot at John Guy and his men.
He goes on to say that John Guy removed all the people from the colony at Renews because they were afraid of being attacked by pirates. They brought them all back to Cupers Cove where they could be protected.
John Guy to John Slany and the Newfoundland Company, July 29, 1612 (Based on a transcription in D.B. Quinn’s New American World)
Later in a letter, John Guy describes Peter Easton in Harbor de Grace (Harbour Grace.) In modern English, based on a transcription by William Gilbert, John Guy said:
Until the 17th of July, Captain
Easton remained in Harbour Grace. While he was there, he trimmed and
repaired his ships. To do that, he commanded the carpenters of each
ship in the harbour to do work repairing his ships. He also took food,
munitions, and necessities from every ship in the bay. In addition, he
took about 100 men to work on his six ships. Before he leaves, he wants
to have five hundred men.
Before Captain Easton left, he sent
three ships into Trinity Bay to get food, munitions and men from the
people that were fishing there. He treated the ships there even worse
than he treated the ships here. He took a lot of cannons from them.
Captain Easton was recently in St. John's and, as far as I know, he is now in Ferryland. He is enjoying himself there and waiting for the rest of the pirates.
These two short letters describe just how dangerous the pirates made life for the early settlers in Newfoundland.