Christopher Condent
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Christopher Condent (died 1734), born in Plymouth in Devon, was an English pirate who was best known for his piracies in the Indian Ocean.
His real name is uncertain; French sources from the time of his retirement refer to him as "Edward Congdon."<ref name="brooks - misunderstood" /> He has been known under the surnames Condent, Congdon, Coudon, Comdon, Connor, Condell, or Gonwel; various given names also arise, including William, Christopher, Edmond, Edward, or John. His frequently-encountered nickname was "Billy One-Hand".Template:Sfnp He is most commonly known as Christopher Condent but "Christopher" as his given name was not seen in period sources and dates only to the 1950s.<ref name="brooks - misunderstood">Template:Cite web</ref>
History
Around 1718, when Woodes Rogers became governor of the Bahamas, and was tasked with ridding the Caribbean of pirates, Condent and his crew left New Providence. During a trip across the Atlantic Ocean, Condent killed an Indian crewmember, who threatened to ignite the ship's powder magazine. Shortly after, the ship captured a merchantman, the Duke of York. After a dispute, the crew split up between the two ships, with Condent elected captain of the sloop.<ref name=Piat>Piat, Denis. Pirates & Privateers of Mauritius, Editions Didier Millet, 2014 Template:ISBN</ref> At the Cape Verde Islands, Condent and his men captured a ship carrying Portuguese wine. Condent then sailed to Brazil, where he took more prizes, occasionally cutting off the ears and noses of Portuguese prisoners. He then returned to the area around Cape Verde, where he captured a flotilla of twenty small ships and a Dutch war sloop off Santiago. Condent kept the warship, and named it Dragon.<ref name=Piat/>Template:Efn
Condent seized the English galley, the Wright, a Portuguese ship, and a 26-gun Dutch vessel. Leaving the Wright behind, he led a fleet of three ships to the Gold Coast (Ghana) where they captured the Indian Queen, the Fame, and another Dutch ship.<ref name=Piat/>
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By April 1719, Condent had reached the island of Sainte-Marie, Madagascar. There he integrated some of John Halsey's old crew into his own. After a successful cruise to the East Indies they captured a rich Arab trading ship called Faza Ramance.<ref name="Wilson - Suppressing">Template:Cite book</ref> Condent and his crew returned to the island of Sainte-Marie, dividing their haul into around £3,000 each.<ref name=Leeson>Leeson, Peter T., Anarchy Unbound, Cambridge University Press, 2014 Template:ISBN</ref> While there he traded with visiting British slavers and merchants, one of whom reported that Condent and his crew had so much treasure, they "need not go to sea again as long as they lived".<ref name="Wilson - Suppressing" /> In 1721 Condent and forty other members of his crew sailed to the island of Bourbon where they negotiated with the French governor for a pardon; twenty or more of the men settled on the island; Condent went on to marry the governor's sister-in-law.<ref name="Johnson - A General History Vol 2" /> At Réunion he was visited by pirates Levasseur, Taylor, and Seagar who had captured the Portuguese Viceroy of Goa aboard the fantastically wealthy Nossa Senhora do Cabo. Condent negotiated between the pirates and the island's Governor for the Viceroy's release.<ref name="Hostin - Cotinga">Template:Cite journal</ref> In 1723 Condent travelled to France, where he settled down with his wife in Brittany and became a wealthy merchant in Saint-Malo.<ref name="Johnson - A General History Vol 2">Template:Cite book</ref> The last of his surviving crew died in the Mascarene Islands in 1770.<ref name="Grey" /> One of his former crew who remained at Madagascar was James Plaintain, who established a trading post and set himself up as a local "King" with his share of treasure from the Faza Ramance.<ref name="Wilson - Suppressing" />
His ship
At first thought to be William Kidd's Adventure Galley, the Fiery Dragon was claimed to have been found by Barry Clifford off the coast of Sainte-Marie, Madagascar, where it was purposely sunk in 1721.<ref>Ayoub, Nina. C., review of X Marks the Spot: The Archaeology of Piracy by Russell K. Skowronek and Charles R. Ewen, East Carolina University</ref> However, a UNESCO analysis of Clifford's discovery reported that Clifford had instead found an unrelated ship of Asian origin.<ref name="WP Clifford UNESCO">Template:Cite web</ref>
Flag
The Jolly Roger flag generally associated with Condent - three skulls-and-crossbones on a black flag or banner - first appeared in Mariner's Mirror in 1912, though it was not attributed to Condent and was dated to 1704.<ref name="Fox-Jolly Rogers">Template:Cite book</ref> A similar design was printed in Basil Lubbock's “Blackwall Frigates” in 1922<ref name="Lubbock">Template:Cite book</ref> and F. Bradlee's "Piracy in the West Indies and its suppression” in 1923, again not attributed to Condent.<ref name="Bradlee">Template:Cite book</ref> Charles Grey attributed it to him in 1933 in “Pirates of the Eastern Seas” but without citing any evidence.<ref name="Grey">Template:Cite book</ref> The only period source describing his flag is an article in The St. James Post from June 1718 describing his ships "who appear'd with flags having a Deaths Head on them."<ref name="Fox - Own Words Vol2">Template:Cite book</ref>