Basil Ringrose

{{short description|English buccaneer (late 17th century)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}

Basil Ringrose (about 1653–1686) was an English buccaneer, navigator, geographer and author.

Early life

Ringrose was christened at St Martin-in-the-Fields on Jan 28 1653 by his father, Richard, and mother, Mary.South Sea Waggonier Pg.

In 1677 he and his wife Goodith had a son, Jonathan. Born to be Hanged

First voyage

Ringrose crossed the Isthmus of Darien in 1680 with a group of pirates.{{cite DNB|wstitle=Ringrose, Basil|volume=48|first=John Knox|authorlink=John Knox|last=Laughton}} On this trip he created extensive charts of the islands, soundings, exhaustive nautical instruction and symbols to mark rocks and shallow water.{{Cite web |url=http://sullacrestadellonda.it/ |title=Sulla Cresta dell'Onda |access-date=16 September 2014 |archive-date=8 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200208025746/https://www.sullacrestadellonda.it/ |url-status=dead }} Fluent in Latin and French, he quickly learned Spanish to act as an interpreter.Preston, Diana & Michael. A Pirate of Exquisite Mind,1952. p. 60{{cite book|first=Diana |last=Preston|title=A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: Explorer, Naturalist, and Buccaneer: The Life of William Dampier|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=c4ecAXUxxDMC|page=60}}|date=26 May 2009|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-0-8027-1813-6|page=60}}

Captain Bartholomew Sharp, Lionel Wafer, John Coxon, Edmund Cooke, William Dick and William Dampier were also crew members. Dampier refers to Ringrose as an apprentice to a planter in Jamaica. At the end of the voyage, Ringrose and several crewmates took the maps and charts to Dartmouth to sell.{{cite book|author=Lane|title=Pillaging the Empire: Piracy in The Americas 1500–1750|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=bRgFqADzOLkC|page=142}}|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=978-0-7656-3083-4|page=142}}

Second voyage

In October 1683, Ringrose sailed on the Cygnet with Captain Charles Swan, as the Supercargo. Damper writes "He had no mind for this voyage, but was necessitated to engage in it or starve." On the Mexican coast in Santa Pecaque, the crew looted the village. Capt. Swan sent 54 men with laden horses back to the anchorage, Ringrose among them. They were set upon by Spanish soldiers and massacred.{{cite book|author1=Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin|author2=Basil Ringrose|title=The Buccaneers of America|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=myFCWej85agC|page=28}}|year=1893|publisher=S. Sonnenschein & Company|pages=28–}}{{cite book|first=David |last=Cordingly|title=Pirates: Terror on the High Seas, from the Caribbean to the South China Sea|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=k7FKHAAACAAJ|page=73}}|year=1996|publisher=Turner Pub.|isbn=978-1-57036-285-9|page=73}}

Ringrose's journal gives an account of the early part of this trip.{{cite book|editor=Jennifer Speake|editor-link=Jennifer Speake|title=Literature of Travel and Exploration: An Encyclopedia|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=xZyOAwAAQBAJ|page=138}}|date=12 May 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-45663-4|pages=138–}} It is now in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich in England. His maps and charts have become "A Buccaneer’s Atlas" by William Hach, a noted cartographer in London of the time.{{cite book|first1=Basil |last1=Ringrose|first2=Derek |last2=Howse|title=A Buccaneer's Atlas: Basil Ringrose's South Sea Waggoner : a Sea Atlas and Sailing Directions of the Pacific Coast of the Americas, 1682|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=Zi0G3nwOxNIC}}|year=1992|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-05410-3}}

References