‘The Cannon Shot’, by Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633-1707), who had settled in England by 1673, where his patrons included King Charles II and his brother the Duke of York, later King James II. After seizing the ‘Charles II’ (named after the Spanish king) in 1694 and rechristening her ‘Fancy’, Henry ‘Long Ben’ Every had her cleaned, stripped of unnecessary weight, and fitted out with 62 guns, making her one of the fastest ships in the Indian Ocean and more than a match for Aurangzeb’s treasure ships.
Introduction
From 1688 to 1697, William III’s England and Louis XIV’s France were locked in the Nine Years’ War. Louis took the dispute to England’s colonies in North America, the Caribbean, and even India, but the French fleet was not the only peril upon the high seas.
IN 1694, Henry Every, a former Master’s mate in the Royal Navy and unlicensed slave trafficker, joined the crew of Sir James Houblon’s merchantman ‘Charles II’. While she was in Corunna, Every masterminded a mutiny, renamed the ship ‘Fancy’, and began a new career as Captain Benjamin Bridgeman, pirate.
A year later, Every and five co-conspirators held up the fleet of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb as it returned from Mecca, looting at least £325,000 of treasure amid scenes of bloodshed and rape that haunted even Ben’s unsentimental crew. Aurangzeb held four East India Company factories to ransom until he was reimbursed; the Board of Trade offered £500 for Long Ben’s capture, and the Company twice that.
Every took refuge in New Providence, offering Fancy’s services as a gunboat against the French fleet. Governor Sir Nicholas Trott kept London guessing long enough for Every to slip away to Ireland, and though several of his crew were arrested after passing stolen gems, Long Ben himself simply vanished.
At this time, the international slave trade was still legal, but regulated by Europe’s various major governments, including Spain, Portugal, and England, and by the Ottoman Empire in Asia. Every operated outside the law, however, trafficking slaves on his own account.
That was the East India Company’s estimate when negotiating with Aurangzeb for reparations. Emperor Aurangzeb himself put the figure at £600,000, which curiously enough was the amount given on the East India Company’s insurance claim. In modern terms, Every got away with anything from £45m to £82m, making it one of the biggest successful heists in history. See Measuring Worth.
Précis
Henry Every was an English sailor who seized a trading ship in 1694, and used it to pull off a lucrative heist in the India Ocean, stealing treasure from the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Every fled to the Caribbean, and from there to Ireland, with a price on his head, but was never apprehended. (53 / 60 words)
Henry Every was an English sailor who seized a trading ship in 1694, and used it to pull off a lucrative heist in the India Ocean, stealing treasure from the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Every fled to the Caribbean, and from there to Ireland, with a price on his head, but was never apprehended.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, besides, may, must, or, otherwise, unless, until.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Join. Pirate. Trafficker.
2 Conspirator. Factory. Governor.
3 Board. Return. Scene.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
x
0
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