Peter Harris (buccaneer)
{{Short description|Two related late 17th-century bucaneers and pirates}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} File:Rectangular green flag.svg
Peter Harris was the name of two buccaneers, an uncle and his nephew, who were active (separately) in the late 17th century.
Peter Harris (the elder)
Peter Harris (died May 1680) was a British buccaneer. As early as 1671 Harris was part of Henry Morgan's flotilla which sacked Panama.{{cite book |last1=Rogoziński |first1=Jan |title=The Wordsworth Dictionary of Pirates |date=1997 |publisher=Wordsworth Reference |location=New York |isbn=9781853263842 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uM9uAAAACAAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions |accessdate=11 July 2019 |language=en}} By 1677 he had received a privateering commission to legitimize his activities.{{cite web|last1=Laprise|first1=Raynald|title=Les flibustiers de l'Amérique (1648-1688)|url=https://diable-volant.github.io/flibuste/proue.html|website=La Diable Volant|accessdate=13 April 2018}} After capturing a powerful 28-gun Dutch vessel in late 1679, he played a significant role in the Pacific Adventure, a privateering expedition led by Richard Sawkins and John Coxon. Harris served as one of the captains during this expedition, alongside Bartholomew Sharp and Edmund Cooke. HMS Success caught Sawkins and was on the hunt for Harris in early 1680 but ran ashore and was lost.{{cite book |last1=Sainsbury |first1=Noel |title=America and West Indies: May 1680, 17-31 {{!}} British History Online |date=1896 |publisher=His Majesty's Stationery Office |location=London |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/america-west-indies/vol10/pp524-543 |access-date=27 March 2025}} On 25 April 1680, the buccaneers raided the mining town of Santa Maria, situated east of Panama City, Sharpe having mediated an argulent between Coxon and Harris. After plundering the town, they set it ablaze and traveled downstream to the Pacific using canoes.
By 3 May, the buccaneers arrived at the port on Perico island, off the coast of Panama City. There, they encountered a Spanish fighting force composed of several barques and other ships. Despite ultimately emerging victorious, the buccaneers suffered the loss of twenty men, including Captain Harris.{{cite book |last1=Gerhard |first1=Peter |title=Pirates of the Pacific, 1575-1742 |date=1960 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |location=Lincoln and London |isbn=978-0-8032-7030-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/piratesofpacific0000gerh/page/n5/mode/2up |access-date=27 March 2025}}
Peter Harris (the younger)
There was another buccaneer named Peter Harris, who was a nephew of the elter Captain Harris. This second Peter Harris was active in the same region during the years 1684 to 1685. In July 1684 he led an alliance of pirates and natives to repeat his uncle's sack of Santa Maria. After a skirmish against Spanish ships he joined Charles Swan in August to attack Paita. He was later given command of one of William Knight's prize ships, participated in annother attack on Panama, then joined Edward Davis. He may have crosed the Pacific but records of his activities stop there. Some witnesses reported him still sailijng alongside Davis as late as mid-1686.
See also
Basil Ringrose - another member of the Pacific Adventure who, like Wafer, afterwards wrote a book about their expedition
References
{{reflist}}
{{pirates}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Peter}}
Category:Year of birth missing
Category:Piracy in the Caribbean
{{England-bio-stub}}