an early 17th-century English pirate who sailed with Captain Bartholomew Roberts and later had a brief partnership with Thomas Anstis. Although much of his early career is unrecorded, he was a member of Captain Roberts's fleet in June 1719 to April 1720, until leaving with fellow member Thomas Anstis, who was awarded command of the 21-gun Morning Star shortly before leaving the West Indies for the West African coast during the night of April 21, 1721.
Armstrong : Born in London. A deserter from the Royal Navy. One of Captain Roberts's crew taken by H.M.S. Swallow, from which ship he had previously des...
Armstrong : Born in London. A deserter from the Royal Navy. One of Captain Roberts's crew taken by H.M.S. Swallow, from which ship he had previously des...
Ball , Roger: One of Captain Bartholomew's crew in the Royal Fortune. Captured by H.M.S. Swallow off the West Coast of Africa. He had been terribly burnt ...
Bill , Philip: Belonged to the Island of St. Thomas. One of Captain Roberts's crew. Hanged at the age of 27.
Fenn , John: an early 17th-century English pirate who sailed with Captain Bartholomew Roberts and later had a brief partnership with Thomas Anstis. Although much of h...
Hardy , Richard: One of Captain Bartholomew Roberts' crew. Hanged at Cape Coast Castle, West Coast of Africa, on April 6th, 1722, at the age of 25 years.
Harper , Abraham: Born at Bristol.
He was cooper on board Captain Bartholomew Roberts' Royal Fortune. When the pirates took a prize, it was Harper's duty to see that al...
Harris , Hugh: Of Corfe Castle, Dorsetshire.
One of Roberts's crew; tried and condemned to be hanged in 1722, but reprieved and sold to the Royal Africa...
Harris , Richard: A Cornishman.
One of Captain Roberts's crew and the oldest, being 45 years of age when he was hanged, an unusually advanced age to reach ...
Kennedy [2], Walter: Kennedy was a pickpocket and burglar before sailing from New Providence Island in the Bahamas in 1718 with Howell Davis. After Davis' murder in Ju...
Magnes , William: Born at Minehead in Somersetshire in 1687. Quartermaster of the Royal Fortune (Captain Bartholomew Roberts). Tried for piracy at Cape Coast Castle, and h...
Main [1], William: One of Captain Roberts's crew. Hanged in April, 1722, at the age of 28 years.
Main [2], William: Boatswain to Captain Bartholomew Roberts in the Royal Fortune. Was blown up, the explosion being caused by one of the crew firing his pistol into some gu...
Oughterlauney , Thomas: Acted as pilot in the Royal Fortune. Took an active part in taking and plundering the King Solomon on the West Coast of Africa in 1721.
Was...
Petty , William: Born at Deptford.
A sailmaker in Captain Bartholomew Roberts' Royal Fortune when the King Solomon was taken and plundered in West Africa. Petty, as sa...
Philips , James: Formerly of the Revenge, and afterwards in the Royal Fortune (Captain Bartholomew Roberts). When the Royal Fortune surrendered in 1722 to H.M.S. Swallow,...
Rice [1], David: Welsh pirate.
Of Bristol.
Taken out of the Cornwall galley by Captain Bartholomew Roberts, he served in the Royal Fortune. Tried and found guilty o...
Smith , George: Welsh pirate. One of Captain Roberts's pirates. Hanged at the age of 25.
Stephenson , John: Sailed as an honest seaman in the Onslow (Captain Gee) from Sestos. Taken in May, 1721, by the pirate Captain Bartholomew Roberts, he willingly joined th...
Watts [1], William: An Irishman. Hanged, at the age of 23, along with the rest of Roberts's crew.
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Ships:
Morning Star (1721), brigantine, 32 cannons, 100 men, with Thomas Anstis
Antelope, Sloop 24 Guns
The Pirates' Who's Who: (P. Gosse, 1924)
In the year 1721 Captain Anstis took prize a stout ship, the Morning Star, bound from Guiney to Carolina. This ship the pirates armed with thirty-two pieces of cannon, manned her with a crew of one hundred men, and placed Fenn in command, who had until then ...
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In the year 1721 Captain Anstis took prize a stout ship, the Morning Star, bound from Guiney to Carolina. This ship the pirates armed with thirty-two pieces of cannon, manned her with a crew of one hundred men, and placed Fenn in command, who had until then been gunner in Anstis's ship, the Good Fortune. Fenn was a one-handed man. By carelessness, or perhaps because of Fenn only having one hand, the Morning Star was run on to a reef in the Grand Caymans and lost. Fenn and a few others had just been taken on board by his consort when two King's ships arrived, and the Good Fortune barely escaped capture.
Fenn was soon given another ship, one armed with twenty-four guns. In April, 1723, while cleaning their ship at the Island of Tobago, they were suddenly surprised by the arrival of a man-of-war, the Winchelsea. Setting fire to their ship, the crew ran to hide in the woods. Fenn was caught a few days later struggling through the jungle with his gunner.
