Nova Scotia stretches 500 kilometres on a southwest-northeast axis from Cape Sable to Cape North, the shape of the province is often compared to that native delicacy, the lobster, with Cape Breton Island representing the outstretched claws, preparing to nip unsuspecting Newfoundland across the Cabot Strait.
The coastline of the uplands region is deeply indented, forming many good harbours, some of which are considered outstanding. Hundreds of islands dot the landscape along the entire Atlantic coast, most notably at St. Margarets Bay and Mahone Bay. Reefs and shoals abound, accounting for the many lighthouses erected along this coast. In many ways the Atlantic uplands coast epitomizes the North Atlantic coastline with its bare granite sheets plunging headlong into the raging surf to produce an awesome cataclysm between land and sea. When people think of Nova Scotia, they usually envisage the rocky granite shores of the uplands. King Eagle’s Priscilla Adams - The Lady Meant Business
We are all more or less familiar with Captain Kidd and his supposed activities off this coast. Today I am going to tell you a yarn, about a story which has come to me about a different kind of a pirate to Captain Kidd-a woman.
You know, if you chat with an old sailor, it is not very long before he will tell you a yarn of some far off happening, and in the course of my many travels for yarns and tales of the sea, with which Nova Scotia is so much associated, I have heard some weird and wonderful ones, but none more interesting than those of female pirates, one of which I will relate today.
As far as I know, there were no female pirates along the coast of Nova Scotia, but the sailors who sailed from these parts in bygone days have heard about them and so we can include a story like this in Tales Told under the Old Town Clock.
The story I’ll tell you today has been handed down from generation to generation and it dates back to 1799, just fifty years after the founding of Halifax. It’s the story of Priscilla Adams, who operated out in the Atlantic. It came to me in its original form, as a newspaper account from the pen of Captain Charterson. Most pirates operated off the coast of South America, or in places where no considerable naval strength was available to check their activities,-but not Miss Priscilla Adams. She operated right under the nose of the British Fleet, during the six years that she became famous. She is known to have robbed many craft and at all times to have operated within a day’s sail of where she might expect interference of naval vessels.
It is a mystery as to how she could have practiced as a pirate for so long without being caught. As the story goes, it was in December, 1799, that a vessel of less than forty tons, named The King Eagle, was known to be leaving a coastal port on the Atlantic on a so-called trading voyage. Merchants of her home port, knowing of her forthcoming voyage, requested space on board for freight, but her master refused, notwithstanding the fact that when he left port he carried nothing but ballast. Priscilla Adams found out somehow, just what this ship, The King Eagle, was up to. She found out that the King Eagle was not to be engaged in trade but was to go out into the Atlantic to meet a smuggler who was flying the flag of France, and there to take on a cargo which the smuggler had. She also found out that the smuggler was to receive, in return, bags of gold in payment for the contraband.
The King Eagle was out at sea for three or four days when she found she was accompanied by a long, rakish, dismal-looking craft of ugly lines. The skipper of The King Eagle tried to find out her name but even with the use of his telescope, he was unsuccessful, because the stranger had no name. If he had scanned the stranger a little more closely, he would have noticed the woman on the deck, was none other than the lady we have spoken of as Priscilla Adams. A brisk south-westerly gale came up and for two more days the vessels kept company with one another, until the gale had blown itself out, when Captain Roberts of The King Eagle continued on his voyage, and to his surprise he found that the mysterious, unknown craft sailed a similar course to that which he set. The mysterious craft was the much faster of the two, and in a few hours she outdistanced The King Eagle and disappeared over the horizon, much to the pleasure of Captain Roberts. Sailing with Captain Roberts, as first mate was a man named Evans, no doubt a Welshman, and to him Captain Roberts expressed his pleasure at seeing the mysterious boat disappear, as he had no liking for a ship that sailed the seas without even a name, and especially one so fast. Evans surprised the Captain by saying to him:” I believe that that ship is one known as The Black Devil, and overtook another ship and sent it to the bottom after stealing everything that the other ship had on board, including a number of bags of gold.” The mate continued, and told him that The Black Devil, had performed in exactly the same way as this ship had done during the past few days,-had caught up with them and sailed along with them and then sailed out over the horizon, but after dark had appeared from nowhere, as if from out of the sea, and had then sent on board a boarding party. He did not make Captain Roberts feel better by adding that while he was not reckoning on it, nevertheless, he felt that this mysterious ship, which he thought might be The Black Devil, was up to no good and might be heard of again.
With the thought of what the mate had told him, Captain Roberts proceeded to the point of rendezvous in the Atlantic and there awaited the coming of the French smuggler, whose cargo would be transferred to his ship and to which he would hand out the bags of gold he had brought with him. The King Eagle slow as she was, reached her meeting point well before time and the sea being fairly calm, just cruised around and waited. He calculated that the Frenchman would turn up some time that night and by the next night the job would be done, but he was mistaken. What he did receive that night was a visit from a lady heading a boarding party of well armed pirates, who, just as in the story related by the mate, seemed to appear from nowhere in the night. The long, ugly, black-painted craft suddenly loomed up astern and easily overhauled The King Eagle. His ship was boarded before he had time to do anything about it, and as soon as the lady was aboard she said very sweetly: “If I am not mistaken, Sir, I am addressing the master of The King Eagle, who is hanging around these parts awaiting the coming of a Frenchman.” To which captain Roberts replied: “It was most kind of you, Mistress, to take so much trouble to come and tell me that.” The soft-spoken female voice replied: “I am glad that you are grateful, and since that is the case, I know you will grant me a little favor.” Captain Roberts, of course, was greatly surprised at such a statement, and said; “What might that be?” To which the lady said: “will you please hand me over some gold coins that you have done up in four canvas bags, marked with crosses on each.” Captain Roberts then said: “Oh, you have seen them.” To which the lady replied;’ I have not, but I intend to, and I am going to see them in a hurry, so don’t delay.” By this time Captain Roberts decided, lady or no lady, she was not going to take his money away from him that easily, and he swore by heaven, that he would have nothing to do with her and that she would not get the money. Still very much the lady, this woman pirate replied, “It is a pity that you cannot be persuaded,” and then she turned to her men and said: “Get ready, boys,” and commanded her boarding party to guard Captain Roberts and his mate, whom they promptly surrounded, and then she ordered the rest of them to male for the crew’s quarters. Evans, the mate, was evidently impressed that the lady meant business, and he whispered to the Captain” It is better to give the money to her as it will be of no good to us if they throw us overboard. If we give her the money, we will live to come out again, and if we don’t it looks like she is going to get it anyway.” Apparently Captain Roberts decided that the mate was right, as they had been caught unprepared. So he addressed the lady with the remark that a woman had never altered his plans before but this time it looked as if he could no help himself. He suggested that she go aft with him to get hi money, or rather the Frenchman’s, and then he received a piece of news that did not make him feel any better, when Priscilla Adams said: “The Frenchman has no use for the money, sir, for he was rude to me a few hours ago, and, well, there isn’t any Frenchman now.”
In the Captain’s cabin, beneath the glimmer of an old lantern, Priscilla Adams, carelessly doffed her oilskin hat and threw off her coat, and revealed herself to Captain Roberts as the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. In fact, she was described as a dream of beauty. Captain Roberts was a man who prided himself in never having succumbed to the wiles of maidens, a seasoned sailor, but there he sat, gazing with amazement. He had already fallen in love with the pirate, who with her men had captured his vessel and had now come to take his money. Suddenly he said to her: “I have changed my mind, you will not have my money until you make a promise.” To which she replied: “If you have changed your mind, Sir, I have not. I have come for your gold and I am going to have it, but, however, I will listen to what you have to say.” And so Captain Roberts made this proposition: “Take my money if you will, but if you promise to do what I want you to do, I will never speak of you being a pirate. I want you to meet me ashore;-you have no need to be afraid.” To which the lady replied: “Afraid, Sir! You insult me. Afraid! I certainly will meet you ashore. I have not seen the man I am afraid of yet. I will meet you ashore when and wherever you choose.” And she stood to her promise. She met Captain Roberts, some four or five days later, on an island in the Atlantic, and there on a chill, winter morning, they walked and talked. Three hours or more went by before Priscilla and Captain Roberts made their way down to their boats. “And this is the last, I suppose, I will see of you,” said Captain Roberts. “Certainly no,” replied Priscilla, “I can see that you have never made love before. I have captured your gold and now I’ll give it back. I’ll admit you have captured my heart but I’ll not take it back. Take me aboard your ship and we will set a course for church.”
The Black Devil may have continued her career as a pirate craft, and The King Eagle may have still sailed many seas, but Priscilla Adams was never more seen on the decks of the ugly vessel and Roberts never again was known to give money in exchange for contraband, and as far as can be ascertained these two strange characters of the sea spent the rest of their days in the Channel Islands,- those beautiful islands in the English Channel where for generations retired people have found a haven in which to live in peace and quietness in their old age, amidst the most lovely surroundings, where there was not even any Income Tax. Where life was considered ideal, until this war we are now engaged in overtook the world. No longer are those lovely islands the land of peace and plenty, as with the fall of France, the Nazi hordes moved in on them and many old people were forced to flee and leave their homes and belongings behind. The homes that they had saved all their lives to obtain, and which we all hope they get back in the not far-distant future, where the Union Jack will once more fly in the breeze, in place of the crooked cross.