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A rape orgy took place on the Muslim pilgrim ship

Henry Every (also Avery; 1659–after 1699) was a blood-curdling name for his contemporaries.

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A rape orgy took place on the Muslim pilgrim ship

Henry Every (also Avery; 1659–after 1699) was a blood-curdling name for his contemporaries. Because he was one of the most successful pirates of his time, who had no scruples in the choice of his means and his booty. His most famous victim was a Muslim pilgrimage ship owned by the Mughal Emperor, Emperor of India. The loot is said to have totaled a phenomenal £600,000, as well as the women who survived the boarding of the ship and the ensuing orgy of violence.

Because Every, unlike many of his colleagues, was not caught and hanged, but instead disappeared into the murmur of folklore, he is still the subject of historians and treasure hunters to this day. "One ended up as an English country gentleman, the other as a drunken beggar in the gutter," writes the Flensburg historian Robert Bohn. Now the American historian Jim Bailey seems to have deciphered a dark chapter in Every's life story. After that, the pirate is said to have hid in the English colonies in North America for some time, as new finds show.

Bailey's most important pieces of evidence are 27 Arabic coins, almost all of which were found in New England. The hobby historian discovered the first in 2014 with his probe in Middletown (Rhode Island). Research has shown that it was minted in Yemen in 1693. All other pieces that have come to light in the meantime were also not created after 1695, the year in which Every on September 7th embarked the ship "Gang-i-Sawaii", a huge dhow with more than 500 passengers on board.

By this time, the son of a port manager from Plymouth in southern England had long since worked his way up from cabin boy to captain of a privateer. Alongside his cleverness and nautical talent, his most important tools were ruthlessness and brutality. Even in the inhumane slave trade, a source reports horrified Africans because "they were treated badly by such warhorses as Long Ben," as Every was also called. He also hunted down Dutch, English and Danish merchants who were sailing richly laden from the Indian Ocean to Europe.

However, the ships that transported Muslim pilgrims to Mecca were particularly popular with pirates. Because these sailors not only had great treasures on board, but also women. "Many accounts from survivors describe the brutal orgies of rape that took place on these ships as they fell into the hands of unrestrained pirates," writes Bohn.

The fact that he was able to assemble a fleet of six ships to hunt down pilgrim ships speaks for Every's reputation in his industry. His "Fancy" was a frigate optimized as a fast-sailing ship, which had 42 guns and a crew of 160. Although most of the other pirate captains stayed behind, Every had no qualms in attacking the much larger and more heavily armed Gang-i-Sawaii, which was returning from Mecca to Surat.

The fact that the huge ship belonged to the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb must have motivated Every and his men. The Fancy's first salvo knocked out some of the Gang-i-Sawaii's 62 cannons. Their captain barricaded himself in his cabin, so that his people, although clearly outnumbered, lacked orderly leadership. The man is said to have finally hidden among the women traveling with him, which, however, is unlikely to have been of much use to him.

Because the passengers "were exposed to the most appalling tortures after the hijacking so that they betrayed the hiding places of the treasures they had carried with them," writes Bohn. The surviving women, among them a relative of Aurangzeb, were kidnapped by the pirates and never seen again. Upon their arrival in Surat, the men reported on Every's atrocities.

In the meantime, he had separated himself from his cronies and sought refuge in the Bahamas. At least that is the usual assumption. Bailey counters: "There was no way that Every person stayed in the Bahamas to sit on the beach and work on his tan while awaiting capture." By now, England had launched a worldwide manhunt for the pirates.

The enraged Great Mogul blocked the bases of the East India Company in India by force of arms. The board of directors claimed the loss of £300,000 from their insurance company, the businessmen paid the remaining £300,000 from their own funds and also promised to pursue Every and his men by any means necessary. King William III. felt compelled to offer a high bounty. As a result, Every was no longer able to obtain a pardon from an English governor in the Caribbean – for a reasonable sum, of course.

Bailey points to historical evidence that a ship called the "Sea Flower" docked in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1696. Also reported is the statement by two of Every's followers, who were later caught and hanged, that their boss fled the Bahamas on this ship. He took his treasure with him, which must have contained many Arabic coins. Their find in New England could be evidence that the pirate was hiding from their hunters under the noses of the English government.

Perhaps he even began a civil life there. However, that would contradict the version according to which he reached Ireland with a few followers in June 1696, where he immediately separated from them. While these were soon exposed for their flaunted wealth, Every was never seen again. Bailey now wants to find out what happened to him.

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