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| Replica of Ned Low's pirate flag |
Edward Lowe, aka Ned Low, became so reviled by his enemies and chroniclers that you might say he was considered loathsome, a description that became part of his nickname. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle mentions Low in his book The Green Flag, grouping him with other brigands and describing them as capable of "amazing and grotesque brutality."
The English Wikipedia entry for Low quotes The New York Times as saying "Low and his crew became the terror of the Atlantic, and his depredations were committed on every part of the ocean, from the coast of Brazil to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland."
A children's book on pirates written by Howard Pyle said "No one stood higher in the trade than [Low], and no one mounted to more lofter altitudes of bloodthirsty and unscrupulous wickedness." Pyle went on to wonder why Low had not received the attention of pirates such as Blackbeard (William Teach), Black Bart Roberts and other contemporaries of the age. Like that was a bad thing.
He sounds pretty bad, but just how bad do you have to be to earn such scathing disapprobation? Pretty bad, it turns out.
Low began his life as a scoundrel at a young age, according to some of the early sources on his life.Thievery, gambling and grifting were his trade in stock. He and at least one of his brothers practiced their felonious craft in the Westminster part of London. Bucking him would be an occasion for a thrashing.
Eventually, though, he signed onto a merchant ship and made his way to the colonies where, after a time, he settled in Boston, MA, obtained a job as a ship rigger, married and had children. He and his wife actually attended Second Church in Boston, where they had their children baptized.
After the death of his wife from complications of childbirth, he entrusted the newborn girl, their third child, to his in-laws and left to do other things. He first obtained a position on a sloop that was slated to pick up a cargo of logwood, a particular species of tree apparently.
While loading the wood, he and some crew members decided to return to the ship, arriving around chow time. The captain wanted them to return, but Low suggested they be allowed to eat before returning, an offer that was countered with the proposal that they have some of their ration of rum and get back to work so the ship could leave before attracting unwanted attention.
Low's responded angrily, grabbed gun and tried to shoot the captain. He missed but hit another crewman. Ned and his cohorts ran off with one of the sloop's boats. The next day they commandeered a larger vessel and began their life of piracy.
They ran down to the Leeward Islands and the Caribbean, capturing ships to add to their fleet, burning others to the water, and threatening the ships' crews -- join us or die. His reputation grew until all he had to do was show up, set his pirate flag, and their prey would surrender without a fight -- for the most part.
Several tales are told of his encountering recalcitrant captains whose resistance would meet with loss of various body parts, mostly facial, before being executed. One particularly gruesome incident involved a captured ship's cook, whom the crew decided was a greasy fellow. Think about cooks and grease, and you may figure out what happened to him.
Low seemed to be solicitous toward English ships and would avoid plundering them if they were clearly British, and also, probably because of tenderness for his wife and daughter, would free women and children before pillaging a ship, seemingly his only redeeming character traits.
At some point, Low turned his sights to American shipping, attacking and burning boats from Massachusetts -- just because their crews were New England men -- doing the same to a Connecticut ship, letting go a ship from Virginia after its crew relinquished the cargo, and co-opting a Jamaican ship.
More American ships fell to Low's predations all the way up to Maine. From there he headed to Newfoundland (at last we get to Canada!) As he and his crews approached St. Johns, they thought they spotted a large ship suitable for taking in the foggy harbor. But on hailing a passing ship, they learned the ship was a British naval vessel. This prompted a retreat from the harbor and a continuation north, where they plundered a village and harassed shipping.
Low's time in the area gave rise to a rumor that he and his crew had landed on an island in the Bay of Fundy, which abuts Nova Scotia, and buried some of their loot there. Many people have searched over the years for the treasure -- which also sometimes is attributed in lore as actually being Captain Kidd's treasure.
One treasure seeker who visited the island in 1929 claimed to have found jewels and coins, though this was never verified. And another adventurer visited the island in 1952 and claimed to have found a skeleton along with silver and gold coins. He published photos in Life magazine, but the discovery has never been authenticated. Others have surely searched since so I'd not be booking a trip to Nova Scotia.
Karma may have caught up to Low a couple of times. He received a sword wound in battle once and had the ship's surgeon sew him up. But he was unhappy with the result and began berating the surgeon, who then struck Low's wound, causing the stitches to pull loose. The surgeon then left him to stitch himself back up.
You can find multiple accounts of the end of Low's career, so we don't know for sure what happened to him, but the likelihood is that he was captured, tried and executed. One of the capture tales provides a second possible karmic consequence. Low had been involved in a set-to with one of his crewmen and later attacked the man while he was sleeping. This prompted the crew to decide they'd had enough of Low's temper and violence, and they set him adrift.
Those who live by the sword ...
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