Ralph Stout

Ralph Stout (died 1697) was a pirate active in the Indian Ocean. He is best known for rescuing fellow pirate Robert Culliford after each of them spent separate 4-year periods in Mughal Empire prisons.

History

James Kelley had been a sailor aboard the Batchelor’s Delight with George Raynor and Edward Davis. In 1692 he was given command of the captured ship Unity but was arrested along with Ralph Stout and several others while ashore in India.[1] They remained in prison until early 1696 when they stole a small boat and made their way to Bombay. There they signed aboard the East India Company ship Mocha under Captain Edgecombe. A few days later Stout led a mutiny, murdering Edgecombe and renaming the ship Defence[2] (some records still refer to it as Mocha).[3] Stout was elected Captain for his role in the mutiny.[4]

Off of Burma they captured a ship with Robert Culliford’s crew aboard, who had only recently staged their own escape and mutiny.[5] Near the Nicobar Islands, Stout picked up the rest of the crew and Culliford himself, who had been marooned when prisoners on Culliford's captured ship rebelled and ejected the pirates.[5] Stout gained a reputation for cruelty,[6] one occasion trapping prisoners in their ship and burning them alive, on another mutilating a captured Portuguese priest.[1]

Later in 1696 Stout was sailing alongside Richard Bobbington and later John Ireland’s ship Charming Mary, looting a dozen ships.[1] They separated soon after;[6] Stout took the Mocha to the Laccadive Islands,[6] where he was killed in June 1697.[5] Conflicting reports have him either slain by angry natives,[6] or by his own crew when he announced he wanted to retire from piracy.[2] Robert Culliford was given command of the Mocha after Stout's death,[6] later sailing alongside Nathaniel North and Dirk Chivers,[7] and meeting William Kidd.[8]

See also

References
  1. Ossian, Rob. "Ralph Stout". www.thepirateking.com. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  2. Biddulph, John (1907). The Pirates of Malabar: And An Englishwoman in India Two Hundred Years Ago. London: Smith, Elder. pp. 32–34. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  3. Rennie, Neil (2013). Treasure Neverland: Real and Imaginary Pirates. Oxford: OUP Oxford. ISBN 9780191668654. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  4. Romano, Heidi Bosch. "Pirate History: Famous Pirates, Privateers, Buccaneers, and Corsairs J-L". www.privateerdragons.com. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  5. West, Matthew (2015). The Pirates. Bradenton FL: New Word City. ISBN 9781612308968. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  6. Office, Great Britain Public Record (1905). Calendar of State Papers: Colonial Series ... London: Longman. p. 366. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  7. Johnson, Captain Charles (1724). A GENERAL HISTORY OF THE PYRATES. London: T. Warner. p. 124. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  8. Defoe, Daniel (2012). A General History of the Pyrates (annotated edition, vol 1 and vol 2). Mineola NY: Courier Corporation. ISBN 9780486131948. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
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