Pirates &
Privateers and the rumors that follow them.
Privateer - A person or ship authorised by a government by letters of marque to attach foreign vessels during wartime.
‘ The drums of civic pride can beat curious tunes in Bristol.. ’ Basil Davidson
Pirate - A person who attachs and robs ships at sea.
In the Georgian bar there is a cartoon which lists some of the inn’s activities as a smugglers’ haunt with secret passages and Press Gangs thrown in.
Bristol’s strong links with the ocean and it’s key role in trading tobacco and slavery, inevitably lead to the city’s involvement in piracy. At the time piracy was illegal, however ‘privateering’ was not.
T
he geography of Bristol and the huge tidal range of the Avon had always caused problems for ships docking in Bristol. As the water in the river ebbed back towards the sea the ships anchored in the harbour would rest on the river bed and be subject to immense pressure from the weight onboard, often causing considerable damage to the timbers. As a result Bristolbuilt ships were constructed using the finest materials and the most skilled techniques, and quickly became famous for their sturdy craftsmanship. Sailors visiting the port would comment on this, coining the famous saying:
‘ Ship shape and Bristol fashion. ’
I
n May of 2007 The Llandoger Trow was shown an a three part special of Most Haunted Live! The other two locations were the Redcliffe Caves and Blackbeard’s house. Blackbeard may have even drunk at the Llandoger.
G
ovenor Woodes Rogers was a famous privateer, born in Bristol in 1679. He circumnavigated the globe between the years 1708 and 1711 and famously rescued Alexander Selkirk from Juan Fernandez island, where he had been marooned for over 5 years. The story goes that after Selkirk was rescued by Rodgers’ crew and taken back to Bristol, he met Daniel Defoe in the Llandoger Trow. Selkirk later became inspiration for Defoe’s chatacter Robinson Crusoe in his famous books (of the same name).
D
aniel Defoe was 60 years old, father of seven childrem, broke and unable to get work as a journalist when, in desparaion, he began to write fiction. During the next 12 years he wrote 9 novels, one of them considered a classic today. The first volume of ‘The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe’ was published on April 25th 1719. The second volume, ‘Further Adventures’ appaered in August. Few except schollars know there was a weak third volume, ‘Serious Reflections’. Robinson Crusoe sold through eight editions in a year. It has been translated into virtually every language and millions of copies have been sold throughout the world. There are also an unaccountable number of versions that have been watered down for children. The story was suggested by the experience of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor who quarrelled with his captain and at his own request was set ashore on an uninhabitable island 300 miles off the coast of Chile. There he managed to survive for 5 years. Resqued and brought back to England, he became a nine-days wonder, and Defoe went to Bristol to talk with the man. He mulled over the story for seven years. By that time Selkirk, the brutish, surly sailor, had become the resourceful, courageous Robinson Crusoe, named for Defoe’s preacher friend, Timothy Crusoe. Thousands of imagined details gave the tale the illusion of reality, Defoe was the first author to use this method and none since have ever used it more masterfully. Defoe’s ‘A Journal of the Plague Year’ indeed, was widely accepted as a genuine document. His unique genius in the same way transmuted Selkirk’s dullish narrative into a romance that is unexelled for verisimilitude and for drama.
T
he Llandoger Trow was also supposed to be the model for The Admiral Benbow Inn pub in Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic adventure book ‘Treasure Island’.
Sadly this story is an unlikely one, befcause Defoe came to Bristol to avoid creditors and stayed at the Star Inn in Cock and Bottle Lane, Castle Street. He only braved the city on Sundays because this was the one day a week when he could not be arrested for debt. His earliest biographer says that he met Selkirk at Mrs Damaris Davies’ house in St James Square but either way by the time he wrote Robinson Crusoe in 1719 it was already a well-known one.
T
here was for a time a rumour about one of the previous land ladies of the Llandoger around the time of 1720. So it went that the woman was ‘busty and mischievous’ and enjoyed the attention of her clientelle far too much and, if she favoured a particular customer, used to rent the rooms out by the hour.
I
have found documents in the pub about a woman who appeared to be manager of the Trow, Margaret Braine, who blacked out the ‘busty ladies adorning the pubs ceilings’ who she felt took the attention of her customers away from herself. This proves there was some truth in the rumour.
Siena Clarke