View source for Edward Low

{{short description|English pirate (1690–1724)}}
{{Other people||Edward Lowe (disambiguation){{!}}Edward Lowe}}
{{featured article}}
{{Infobox pirate
|name = Edward Low
|birth_date = 1690
|death_date = Disputed (1724, or 1739+)
|image= Edwardlowepicture.jpg
|caption = ''Capt Edward Low in ye Hurricane which He and All the Crew had Like to Perish'd'' by J Nicholls and [[James Basire]], hanging in the [[National Maritime Museum]] in [[London]]
|nickname = Ned Low
|type = [[Pirate]]
|birth_place  = [[Westminster, London]]
|death_place  = Place of death disputed
|serviceyears = {{circa}}1721{{ndash}}{{circa}}1724 (possibly to 1739+)
|base of operations = [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]]<br />[[Caribbean]]
|rank = Captain
|commands = {{hlist|''Rebecca''|''Fancy''|''Rose Pink''|''Ranger''|''Fancy''|''Merry Christmas''}}
}}

'''Edward Low''' (also spelled '''Lowe''' or '''Loe'''; c. 1690{{ndash}}1724) was a [[pirate]] of [[England|English]] origin during the latter days of the [[Golden Age of Piracy]], in the early 18th century. Low was born into poverty in [[Westminster]], [[London]], and was a thief from an early age. He moved to [[Boston]], [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts]], as a young man. His wife died in childbirth in late 1719. Two years later, he became a pirate, operating off the coasts of [[New England]] and the [[Azores]], and in the [[Caribbean]].

Low captained a number of ships, usually maintaining a small fleet of three or four. Low and his pirate crews captured at least a hundred ships during his short career, burning most of them.<ref name="guide"/> Although he was active for only three years, Low remains notorious as one of the most vicious pirates of the age, with a reputation for violently [[torture|torturing]] his victims before murdering them.<ref name="portcities">{{cite web|url=http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.57/chapterId/1004/London-and-the-pirates.html|title=London and the Pirates|access-date=2007-09-25|publisher=PortCities|year=2004|archive-date=2007-10-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071025045425/http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.57/chapterId/1004/London-and-the-pirates.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Sir [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] described Low as "savage and desperate," and a man of "amazing and grotesque brutality."<ref name="acd">{{cite book|title=The Green Flag|author-link=Arthur Conan Doyle|last=Doyle|first=Arthur Conan|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10446/10446.txt |chapter=III|publisher=[[Project Gutenberg]]|year=1900}}</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' called him a torturer, whose methods would have "done credit to the ingenuity of the [[Spanish Inquisition]] in its darkest days."<ref name="nyt">{{cite news|title=The "Great" Edward Low: The Most Merciless Pirate Known to Modern Times|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=1892-08-14}}</ref> The circumstances of Low's death, which took place around 1724, have been the subject of much speculation.

==Early life==
According to [[Captain Charles Johnson|Charles Johnson's]] ''[[A General History of the Pyrates]]'', Edward Low was born in [[Westminster]], [[London]], [[England]], in 1690.<ref name="pyrates">{{cite book |last=Johnson |first=Charles |author-link=Charles_Johnson_(pirate_biographer) |title=[[A General History of the Pyrates]] |publisher=Courier Dover |year=1999 |isbn=0-486-40488-9 |pages=318–336 |chapter=Chap. XIII—Of Captain Edward Low And his Crew |oclc=40473801 |orig-year=1742}} Some content available on [[Google Books]]: [https://books.google.com/books?id=FFLVgUvv3OYC&q=a+general+history+of+the+pyrates].</ref>
He was described as [[illiteracy|illiterate]], having a "quarrelsome nature", and always ready to cheat,<ref name="own">{{cite book | first=Charles | last=Ellms| title=The Pirates Own Book: Authentic Narratives of the Most Celebrated Sea Robbers|publisher=[[Project Gutenberg]]|chapter=The Life of Edward Low.|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12216/12216-h/12216-h.htm#THE_LIFE_OF_CAPTAIN_EDWARD_LOW |year=1837}}</ref>
running "wild in the streets of his native parish".<ref name="new1">{{cite book |author1=Dow, George Francis |title=The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630–1730 |author2=Edmonds, John Henry |publisher=Courier Dover |year=1996 |isbn=0-486-29064-6 |pages=141–156 |chapter=X—Ned Low of Boston and how he became a pirate captain |oclc=33246073 |orig-year=1923}} Some content available on [[Google Books]]: [https://books.google.com/books?id=0kEftr23bFAC&dq=%22ned+low%22+pirate&pg=RA1-PA141].</ref>
As a young man, he was said to be a [[pickpocket]] and gambler, playing games of chance with the [[footman|footmen]] of the nearby [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]].<ref name="pyrates"/>

Most of his family appear to have been thieves. While young, his brother, Richard, was small for his age and is said to have been carried around in a basket on a friend's back; in a crowd, Richard would snatch the hats and [[wig]]s of passers-by. Richard later took to other forms of criminal activity and ended up [[hanging|hanged]] at [[Tyburn]] in 1707 for the [[burglary]] of a house in [[Stepney]].<ref name="pyrates" /><ref name="new1"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?path=sessionsPapers%2F17071210.xml|title=Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 6.0), trial of Richard Low (t17071210-24)|date=10 December 1707|access-date=7 September 2011|publisher=[[Old Bailey]]}}</ref>

==Life in Boston==
As he advanced in age, Low tired of pickpocketing and thievery and turned to [[burglary]]. Eventually, he left England, and traveled alone to the [[New World]] around 1710. He spent three to four years in various locations, before settling in [[Boston]], [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts]].<ref name="new1"/> On 12 August 1714, he married Eliza Marble at the First Church of Boston.<ref name="eliza">{{cite web|title=Boston, MA Marriages 1646–1751, from Record Commissioner's Reports 9 (1649–1699) and 150 (1700–1751)|year=1898|url=http://bos-gw.rays-place.com/bos/bos-mar-14.htm|access-date=2007-10-04|archive-date=2013-02-01|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130201063615/http://bos-gw.rays-place.com/bos/bos-mar-14.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> They had a son, who died when he was an infant, and then a daughter named Elizabeth, born in the winter of 1719.<ref name="new1"/>

Eliza died in childbirth, leaving Low with his daughter.<ref name="pyrates"/> The loss of his wife had a profound effect on Low: in his later career of piracy, he would often express regret for the daughter he left behind, and refused to [[Impressment|press-gang]] married men into joining his crews.<ref name="new1"/> He would also allow women to return to port safely.<ref name="annals">{{Cite book| url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/philadelphia/areahistory/watson0208.txt|title=Watson's Annals of Philadelphia And Pennsylvania|year=1857|chapter=4–5, Vol II|first=John Fanning|last=Watson|author-link=John F. Watson|publisher=USGenWeb Archives}}</ref> At first working honestly as a [[Rigging|rigger]], in early 1722 he joined a gang of twelve men on a [[sloop]] headed for [[Honduras]], where they planned to collect a shipment of logs for resale in Boston.<ref name="pyrates"/><ref name="own"/>

Low was employed as a patron, supervising the loading and carrying of the logs. One day, he returned to the ship hungry, but was told by the captain he would have to wait to eat, and that he and his men would have to be satisfied with their ration of [[rum]]. At this, Low "took up a loaded musket and fired at the captain but missed him, [and] shot another poor fellow through the throat".<ref name="bay">{{cite web |title=When Pirates Ruled... |url=http://www.bayislandsvoice.com/issue-v3-3.htm |author=Harper, Matthew |access-date=2007-09-27 |publisher=Bay Islands Voice |date=March 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620070935/http://www.bayislandsvoice.com/issue-v3-3.htm |archive-date=20 June 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Following this failed [[mutiny]], Low and his friends were forced to leave the boat. A day later, Low led the twelve-man gang, including [[Francis Spriggs|Francis Farrington Spriggs]], who went on to become a notorious pirate in his own right, taking over a small sloop off the coast of [[Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations|Rhode Island]]. Killing one man during the theft, Low and his crew turned pirate, determined "to go in her, make a black Flag, and declare War against all the World."<ref name="nyt"/><ref name="pyrates"/>

==Piracy==

===First mate===
Low, using his newly captured ship, lay in wait on a popular shipping route between Boston and [[New York City|New York]]. Within a few days, he and his crew seized a sloop out of Rhode Island and plundered it. His crew cut the rigging away to prevent the sloop returning too quickly to port to raise the alarm.<ref name="own"/> He then captured a number of unarmed [[cargo ship|merchantmen]] near Port Rosemary.<ref name="bucc">{{cite book |last=Stockton |first=Frank Richard|title=Buccaneers and Pirates of Our Coasts|publisher=Macmillan Books|isbn=0-02-788520-8|pages=263–277|chapter=XXIX—A Pirate from Boyhood|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17188/17188-h/17188-h.htm| year=1897}}</ref>

{{Rquote|right|Of all the pyratical crews that were ever heard of, none of the English name came up to this, in barbarity. Their mirth and their anger had much the same effect, for both were usually gratified with the cries and groans of their prisoners; so that they almost as often murdered a man from the excess of good humour, as out of passion and resentment; and the unfortunate could never be assured of safety from them, for danger lurked in their very smiles.|[[Captain Charles Johnson]] on Low's brutality.<ref name="pyrates"/>}}

Low headed south and began operating in the waters of [[Cayman Islands|Grand Cayman]], including being lieutenant to the established pirate [[George Lowther (pirate)|George Lowther]], who captained the ''Happy Delivery'',<ref name="guide"/><ref name="bucc"/> a 100-[[long ton|ton]] Rhode Island sloop with eight [[cannon]] and ten swivel guns. When she was "destroyed by Indians", Lowther and his crew transferred to a sloop named the ''Ranger''. Lowther's crew was constantly expanded by desperate sailors willing to join him.<ref name="ossian">{{cite web|url=http://www.thepirateking.com/bios/low_edward.htm|title=Edward Low|last=Ossian|first=Rob|access-date=2007-09-27|year=2006|publisher=thepirateking.com}}</ref> Fast acquiring a taste for cruelty, Low taught Spriggs a [[torture]] technique that involved tying a victim's hands with rope between their fingers and setting it alight, burning their flesh down to the bones.<ref name="bay"/>

Following a number of successful raids, Lowther eventually captured a large 6-gun [[brigantine]] named ''Rebecca'' on 28 May 1722.<ref name="pyrates"/> He gave it to Low to captain. With a crew of 44, Low amicably dissolved his partnership with Lowther.<ref name="bucc"/>

===Pirate captain===
In one notable raid in June 1722, Low and his crew attacked thirteen [[New England]] fishing vessels sheltering at anchor in Port Roseway, [[Shelburne, Nova Scotia|Shelburne]], [[Nova Scotia]]. Although outnumbered, Low hoisted his [[Jolly Roger]] flag and declared that no mercy would be given to the fishermen if any resisted. The fleet submitted and Low's men robbed every vessel. Low chose the largest, an 80-ton [[schooner]], which he renamed ''The Fancy,'' armed with 10 guns, to become his [[flagship]].<ref name="guide">{{cite web |year=2004 |title=Guide to Edward Low |url=http://www.chronofus.net/wargames/piracy/captains/low.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120214144701/http://www.chronofus.net/wargames/piracy/captains/low.htm |archive-date=2012-02-14 |access-date=2007-09-27 |publisher=chronofus.net}} Bibliography for data: [http://www.chronofus.net/wargames/piracy/bibliography.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921025258/http://www.chronofus.net/wargames/piracy/bibliography.htm|date=2018-09-21}}</ref> He sank the other ships of the fleet and abandoned the ''Rebecca''.

''[[The Boston News-Letter]]'' of 9 July 1722 published a list of those captured by Low.<ref name="desperate">{{cite book |author=Edward E. Leslie |url=https://archive.org/details/desperatejourney00edwa |title=Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |year=1988 |isbn=0-395-91150-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/desperatejourney00edwa/page/86 86–87] |oclc=17551819 |url-access=registration |orig-year=1998}} Some content available on [[Google Books]]: [https://books.google.com/books?id=X0_S5AtHuY0C&pg=PA86]</ref> A number of the fishermen were forced to join Low, including [[Philip Ashton]], who escaped in May 1723 on [[Roatán]] Island in the Bay Islands of Honduras, and who wrote a detailed account of life aboard Low's pirate ship.<ref name="guide"/><ref name="drake">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zeXgU9ujuSoC&q=%22Ned+Low%22&pg=PA213|title=New England Legends and Folk Lore|last=Drake|first=Samuel Adams|year=1833 | isbn=978-1-58218-442-5}}</ref> Before Ashton's escape, he had been beaten, whipped, kept in chains, and threatened with death many times - particularly by Low's quartermaster [[John Russell (pirate)|John Russell]] - as he refused to sign Low's [[Pirate code of the Brethren|articles]] and become a pirate.<ref name="new"/>
[[File:Edward Low, Torturing a Yankee, from the Pirates of the Spanish Main series (N19) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes MET DP835041.jpg|thumb|left|''Edward Low, Torturing a Yankee'', from the ''Pirates of the Spanish Main'' series (N19) for [[Allen & Ginter]]]]
Low's tactics consisted primarily of hoisting [[false colours]] and approaching an unsuspecting vessel.<ref name="bay"/> Off the coast of [[St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador|St John's]], [[Colony of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]], Low mistook a fully armed [[man-of-war]] for a fishing boat, and barely escaped.<ref name="drake"/> He moved on to [[Conception Bay (Canada)|Conception Bay]], capturing a number of boats around the [[Grand Banks]] southeast of Newfoundland before crossing the Atlantic to the [[Azores]]. There, he captured a [[Kingdom of France|French]] (or [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portuguese]]—sources differ) [[pink (ship)|pink]], a narrow-sterned former man of war, which Low rearmed and refitted as his new flagship, naming it the ''Rose Pink''.<ref name="new2"/> He also captured an English vessel with two Portuguese passengers aboard. Low had his crew hoist them up and drop them back down from the [[Yard (sailing)|yard arm]] several times, until they died.<ref name="nyt"/> He moved on to the [[Canary Islands|Canaries]], [[Cape Verde]] and then back to the coast of [[Brazil]], where he was driven back by foul weather.<ref name="drake"/>

{{Rquote|right|Captain ''Loe'', with the usual Compliments, welcomed me on board, and told me, ''He was very sorry for my Loss, and that it was not his Desire to meet with any of his Country-men, but rather with Foreigners, excepting some few that he wanted to chastise for their Rogueishness'', as he call'd it.|Captain George Roberts (possibly assisted by [[Daniel Defoe]]) on his meeting with Low.<ref name="thefour">{{cite book|last=Roberts|first=George|title=The Four Years Voyages of Capt. George Roberts|via=[[Internet Archive]]|url=https://archive.org/details/fouryearsvoyage00robegoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/fouryearsvoyage00robegoog/page/n11 1]|quote=Voyages of Capt. George Roberts.|year=1726}}</ref>}}

Low abandoned his plans of plundering the rich shipping trade off the coast of Brazil, and moved on to the Caribbean. George Roberts, captain of a sloop trading from Barbados to West Africa, recounted a meeting with Low aboard the ''Rose Pink'' at the [[Cape Verde|Cape de Verde Islands]]. Roberts' ship was captured by Low's fleet, of which he was now styling himself "Commodore".<ref name="new2">{{cite book |title= The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630–1730 |orig-year=1923 |publisher=Courier Dover |isbn=0-486-29064-6 |pages=157–199 |chapter=XI—Captain Roberts' Account of what Happened on Low's Ship |last1=Dow |first1=George Francis |last2=Edmonds |first2=John Henry |year=1996 |oclc=33246073}}</ref>

===Capsizing of the ''Rose Pink''===
Forty [[League (unit)|leagues]] (120&nbsp;nautical miles or around 220&nbsp;km) to the east of [[Surinam (Dutch colony)|Surinam]], Low and his fleet of two ships (the ''Rose Pink'' and the ''Fancy'', captained by a young [[Charles Harris (pirate)|Charles Harris]]) dropped anchor to remove growth such as [[seaweed]] and [[barnacle]]s from the outside and bottom of the boats, in a process known as [[careening]]; no [[dry dock]] was available to pirates.<ref name="new3">{{cite book |author1=Dow, George Francis |title=The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630–1730 |author2=Edmonds, John Henry |publisher=Courier Dover |year=1996 |isbn=0-486-29064-6 |pages=200–217 |chapter=XII— The Brutal Career and Miserable End of Ned Low |oclc=33246073 |orig-year=1923}} Some content available on [[Google Books]]: [https://books.google.com/books?id=0kEftr23bFAC&dq=%22ned+low%22+pirate&pg=RA1-PA141].</ref>

Still relatively inexperienced, Low ordered too many men to the outside of the boat to work on the buildup, and the ''Rose Pink'' tipped too far. The [[porthole]]s had been left open, and the vessel took on water and sank, taking two men with her. The ''Rose Pink'' had been carrying most of the provisions. Low was captaining a [[schooner]], the ''Squirrel''—and his crew were forced to strictly ration their fresh water to half a [[pint]] (around 275&nbsp;[[litre|ml]]) per man, per day.<ref name="new3"/>

Failing to reach their initial destination of [[Tobago]] due to light winds and strong [[Ocean current|currents]], Low's depleted fleet made it to [[Grenada]], a French-owned island. Hiding most of his men below deck, he was permitted to send men ashore for water. The following day, a French sloop was sent out to investigate, but was captured when Low's men emerged from hiding. Low, now commanding the captured sloop (renamed the ''Ranger''), gave the schooner ''Squirrel'' to Spriggs, his [[quartermaster]], who renamed it the ''Delight,'' before sailing away in the middle of the night with a small crew following a disagreement with Low over the disciplining of one of Spriggs' crew.<ref name="spriggs">{{cite web|url=http://www.thepirateking.com/bios/spriggs_francis.htm|title=Francis Spriggs|first=Rob|last=Ossian|access-date=2007-09-27|publisher=thepirateking.com}}</ref>

===Early 1723===
{{Rquote|right|The Pyrates [were] waiting there for them, took them and Plundered them; they cut and whiped some and others they burnt with Matches between their Fingers to the bone to make them confess where their Money was, they took to the value of a Thousand Pistoles from Passengers and others, they then let them go, but coming on the Coast off of the Capes of Virginia, they were again chased by the same Pyrates who first took them, they did not trouble them again but wished them well Home, they saw at the same time his Consort, a Sloop of eight Guns, with a Ship and a Sloop which were supposed to be Prizes, they were Commanded by one Edward LOW. The Pyrates gave us an account of his taking the Bay of Hondoras from the Spaniards, which had surprised the English and taking them, and putting all the Spaniards to the Sword Excepting two boys, as also burning The King George, and a Snow belonging to New York, and sunk one of the New England Ships, and cut off one the Masters Ears and slit his Nose, all this they confessed themselves.|The American Weekly Mercury, 6 June–13, 1723<ref name="mercury">{{cite web|url=http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/nj/statewide/newspapers/colrec-v11/v11-03.txt|title=The American Weekly Mercury|publisher=[[Andrew Bradford]]|date=6–13 June 1723|access-date=2007-10-04| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070812045906/http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/nj/statewide/newspapers/colrec-v11/v11-03.txt| archive-date = August 12, 2007}}</ref>}}
Low's new fleet captured many more sloops, including one that Low kept, naming it the ''Fortune''. During a trial on 10 July 1723 for a number of Low's crew members, a sailor on board the ''Fortune,'' John Welland, recalled how Low stripped his boat, including gold to the value of [[GBP|£]]150, then beat him and cut off his ear with a [[cutlass]].<ref name="memo">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/memoirsrhodeisl00updigoog|quote=Edward Low.|author=Updike, Wilkins|title=Memoirs of the Rhode Island Bar|chapter=Appendix|pages=[https://archive.org/details/memoirsrhodeisl00updigoog/page/n266 260]–294|publisher=[[Harvard University]]|year=1833}} – recount of the trial of many of Low's men, including verdict and witness statements, and Low's articles.</ref>

Following this, Low's fleet captured a Portuguese ship called the ''Nostra Signiora de Victoria'' on 25 January 1723. The ''Victoria's'' captain allowed a bag containing approximately 11,000 gold [[moidore]]s (worth at the time around £15,000) to fall into the sea rather than see it captured.<ref name="new3"/> One of Low's most noted episodes of cruelty followed: in his rage, he slashed off the Portuguese captain's lips with a cutlass, [[broiling|broiled]] them, and forced the victim to eat them while still hot.<ref name="own"/><ref name="new3"/> He then murdered the remaining crew.<ref name="guide"/> Low's own men described him as "a maniac and a brute."<ref name="new">{{cite web|url=http://www.piratemuseum.com/edbiogra.htm|title=Pirate Biography|publisher=New England Pirate Museum|access-date=2007-09-27}}</ref>
[[Image:The Cruelties practised by Captain Low.jpg|thumb|left|''The Cruelties practised by Captain Low'', from ''A Pirate's Own Book'' (1837)]]
One story describes Low burning a French cook alive, saying he was a "greasy fellow who would fry well"; another tells how he once killed 53 [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] captives with his cutlass.<ref name="own"/> Some historians, including [[David Cordingly]], believe this was deliberately done to cultivate a ferocious image.<ref name="potcdvd">{{cite video |people= [[David Cordingly|Cordingly, David]] |date= 2003-12-02 |title= [[Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl]] DVD extra |medium= DVD|publisher= [[Walt Disney Pictures]]|quote=My theory is that he deliberately cultivated a terrifying image, because it made their life easier—when they came up beside somebody, ran up the Jolly Roger flag, hopefully everybody would surrender without a fight. So, I think that was part of it, this terror image cultivated by torture and nasty things.}}</ref> Historian Edward Leslie described Low as a [[psychopath]] with a history filled with "mutilations, [[disembowelment|disembowelings]], [[decapitation]]s, and slaughter".<ref name="desperate"/>

Low, like other pirates of the time, tried to intimidate his victims into surrendering by threatening to kill or torture them. The crew of the targeted ship would hinder their officers from defending her, so afraid were they of reprisals.<ref name="rediker">{{cite book |author=Rediker, Marcus |title=Villains of all Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age |publisher=Beacon Publishing |year=2004 |isbn=1-84467-008-2 |pages=14–15 |chapter=1—A Tale of Two Terrors |oclc=55884381 |orig-year=2004}} Some content available at [[Google Books]]: [https://books.google.com/books?id=jQyoDRbGgucC]</ref> One failed [[torture]] session led to one of Low's crew members accidentally cutting him in the mouth. Botched surgery left Low scarred.<ref name="pyrates"/>

A [[snow (ship)|snow]] called the ''Unity'' was added to the fleet and used as a [[Ship's tender|tender]], but was abandoned during an encounter with a man of war named the ''Mermaid''.<ref name="guide"/> As Low's success increased in the Caribbean, so did his notoriety. Eventually, a [[bounty (reward)|bounty]] was placed on his head, and Low set out for the Azores, again teaming up with Charles Harris. As they terrorised the Azores, the pressure increased from the authorities, who by then had taken special notice of Low, despite the other hordes of pirates in operation at the time.<ref name="own"/>

===A defeat===
{{main|Capture of the sloop Ranger}}
[[Image:Low presenting a Pistol and Bowl of Punch.jpg|thumb|250px|''Low presenting a Pistol and Bowl of Punch'', from ''A Pirate's Own Book'' (1837)]]

Low, Harris and their ships left the Azores for the [[Carolinas]]. On 10 June 1723, they suffered a resounding defeat in a [[Capture of the sloop Ranger|battle]] with {{HMS|Greyhound|1719|6}}, a heavily armed man of war.<ref name="bucc"/> ''Greyhound'' had been dispatched under the command of Peter Solgard to hunt down Low and his fleet. Low fled in the ''Fancy'' with a skeleton crew and £150,000 in gold on board<ref name="annals"/> and headed back to the Azores, leaving Harris and the ''Ranger'' behind.<ref name="own"/>

Twenty-five of the crew of the ''Ranger'', including the ship's doctor, were tried between 10 July and 12 July, with Solgard giving evidence and recounting the battle.<ref name="memo"/> The men were hanged for felony, piracy, and robbery near [[Newport, Rhode Island|Newport]], Rhode Island, on 19 July 1723.<ref name="guide"/><ref name="bucc"/> Harris was sent back to England and hanged at [[Execution Dock]] in [[Wapping]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Gosse|first=P|title=The Pirates' Who's Who, Giving Particulars Of The Lives and Deaths Of The Pirates And Buccaneers|publisher=Lenox Hill|page=155|year=1968}}</ref> When Solgard returned to New York, he was presented with the [[freedom of the city]] and a gold [[Decorative boxes#Snuff box|snuffbox]] for his part in bringing some of Low's crew to justice.<ref name="annals"/>

===End of Low's career===
Low, still captaining the ''Fancy'', sailed north. He captured a [[whaling]] vessel 80&nbsp;miles (130&nbsp;km) out at sea, and in a foul mood following the encounter with the ''Greyhound'' and the loss of Harris, he tortured the captain before shooting him through the head. He set the whaler's crew adrift with no provisions, intending them to starve to death. They were lucky and reached [[Nantucket, Massachusetts|Nantucket]], Massachusetts after a difficult journey.<ref name="nyt"/> Remaining off the coast of [[North America]], Low's crew took a fishing boat near [[Block Island]]. Low decapitated the ship's master, and sent the crew ashore. When he captured two more fishing boats near Rhode Island, his actions became so savage that his crew refused to carry out his orders to torture the fishermen.<ref name="nyt"/>

Heading south again, Low captured a 22 gun French ship and a large [[Virginia]]n merchant vessel, the ''Merry Christmas'', in late June 1723. Following the defeat by the ''Greyhound'', Low became "peculiarly cruel" to his English victims.<ref name="annals"/> His fleet of three ships rejoined forces with George Lowther in July. In late 1723, Low and Lowther's fleet captured the ''Delight'' off the coast of [[Guinea]], mounting fourteen guns on her, with command being given to Spriggs. Two days later, Spriggs and Lowther both abandoned Low, leaving him the ''Merry Christmas'', by now mounted with 34 guns, as his sole ship.<ref name="pyrates"/>

===Fate===
There are conflicting reports on the circumstances of Low's death. Captain Charles Johnson{{mdash}}considered by some to be [[Daniel Defoe]] writing under a [[pseudonym]]<ref name="flag">{{cite book|author-link=David Cordingly|last=Cordingly|first=David|title=Under the Black Flag|orig-year=1996|publisher=[[Random House]]|isbn=0-15-600549-2|year=1997|oclc=36969645|no-pp=true|page=xix}}</ref>—in his ''A General History of the Pyrates'', stated that Low and the ''Fancy'' were last sighted near the Canaries and Guinea. However, at the time of his 1724 book, no further reports had surfaced. He noted one rumour that Low was sailing for Brazil and another that Low's ship sank in a storm with the loss of all hands.<ref name="pyrates"/> The [[National Maritime Museum]] in London states that he was never caught, ending his days in Brazil.<ref name="portcities"/>

Charles Ellms suggests in ''The Pirates Own Book'' that Low was set adrift without provisions by the crew of the ''Merry Christmas'' in a [[mutiny]] brought about by Low's murder of a sleeping subordinate following an argument.<ref name="ossian"/> His crew elected [[Captain Shipton]] to command the ''Merry Christmas'';<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dow|first1=George Francis|last2=Edmonds|first2=John Henry|title=The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630–1730|date=1923|publisher=Courier Corporation|location=New York|isbn=9780486290645|page=217|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0kEftr23bFAC|access-date=5 June 2017|language=en}}</ref> they would go on to sail alongside Spriggs in the Caribbean. Low was subsequently rescued by a French ship. When the French authorities learned of his identity he was brought to trial and was hanged in [[Martinique]] in 1724.<ref name="own"/>

Men of HMS ''Diamond'' reported encountering a [[periagua]] with nine men aboard in March 1726, recognising one of them as Low. ''Diamond'' had lost her canoe and could not give chase, leaving Low to his fate near [[Roatán|Roatan]], where he was supposedly killed by the indigenous [[Miskito people|Miskito]].<ref name="Nielsen - Ned Low" /> Still later in late 1739, a man identified as the "famous Ned Low, formerly well known here for his piracies" was spotted escaping a Spanish fort at [[Portobelo, Colón|Porto Bello]]. He had been among the fort's gun crews when the city was attacked by British forces during the [[War of Jenkins' Ear]].<ref name="Nielsen - Ned Low">{{cite book |last1=Nielsen |first1=Nicky |title=The Pirate Captain Ned Low: His Life and Mysterious Fate |date=20 July 2022 |publisher=Pen and Sword History |location=Yorkshire |isbn=978-1-3990-9434-4 |pages=185–186 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZrtzEAAAQBAJ |access-date=18 March 2023 |language=en}}</ref> However, this may have been a mistake and may have been referring to George Lowther; Admiral [[Edward Vernon]] reported receiving intelligence from Lowther before his assault on Portobelo, indicating that it was Lowther spotted earlier at Porto Bello, not Low: 

<blockquote>The ''Strafford'' and ''Norwich'', with all the small vessels being watered, the admiral got out to sea on the 22d, being the better enabled to undertake the expedition as during his stay at Porto Bello, he had got an exact draught of all the coast from Porto Bello to Chagre, and of the mouth of that river, and the shoal before it, from Lowther the pirate, who by this piece of service to his country, took the opportunity of obtaining his pardon, and returning to England.<ref name="Hervey">{{cite book |last1=Hervey |first1=Frederic |title=The naval, commercial, and general history of Great Britain; including the lives of the admirals, ... from the earliest times to the present. ... To each volume is prefixed a political and illustrative preface; ... By Frederick Hervey, ... In five volumes.  1786: Vol 4 |date=1786 |publisher=J. Bew |location=London |pages=111-112 |url=https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_the-naval-commercial-a_hervey-frederic_1786_4/page/115/mode/1up?q=lowther |access-date=21 May 2025}}</ref></blockquote>

==Flags==
[[File:Edward_Low_Death_Skeleton_Flag.svg|thumb|Artist's impression of Low's alleged initial flag]]
[[Image:Edward Low Flag.svg|thumb|Artist's impression of the [[pirate flag]] used by Low]]
[[File:Edward Low The Green_Trumpeter flag.svg|thumb|Artist's impression of the ''Green Trumpeter'' flag used by Low]]

Initially, Low used the same flag as his associates [[Francis Spriggs]] and [[Charles Harris (pirate)|Charles Harris]]: [[Old Roger (Jolly Roger)|a skeleton holding an hourglass and a spear stabbing a heart on a black field]]. Later, he used his own flag, a red [[skeleton]] on a black background, which became notorious.<ref name="psite">{{cite web|url=http://www.piratesinfo.com/main.php |access-date=2007-09-27 |title=piratesinfo.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011031042/http://www.piratesinfo.com/main.php |archive-date=2007-10-11 }}</ref> He first flew his own flag in late July 1723.<ref name="pyrates"/> Low also used a green silk flag with a yellow figure of a man blowing a trumpet; this ''Green Trumpeter'' was hoisted on the [[mizzen]] peak to call his fleet's captains to meetings aboard the flagship.<ref name="guide"/>

==Articles==
Low had a set of [[Pirate code|Articles]], a [[code of conduct]].<ref name="memo"/> The Articles listed below are attributed to Low by ''The Boston News-Letter''. The first eight of these articles are essentially identical to those attributed to Lowther by Charles Johnson.<ref name="pyrates"/>

It is likely that both reports are correct and that Low and Lowther shared the same articles, with Low's two extra articles being an ''[[ordonnance]]'', or amendment, adopted after the two crews separated.

{{Blockquote|
'''I.''' The Captain is to have two full Shares; the [Quarter] Master is to have one Share and one Half; The Doctor, Mate, Gunner and [[Boatswain]], one Share and one Quarter.

'''II.''' He that shall be found guilty of taking up any Unlawfull Weapon on Board the Privateer or any other prize by us taken, so as to Strike or Abuse one another in any regard, shall suffer what Punishment the Captain and the Majority of the Company shall see fit.

'''III.''' He that shall be found Guilty of Cowardice in the time of Ingagements, shall suffer what Punishment the Captain and the Majority of the Company shall think fit.

'''IV.''' If any Gold, Jewels, Silver, &c. be found on Board of any Prize or Prizes to the value of a [[Spanish dollar|Piece of Eight]], & the finder do not deliver it to the Quarter Master in the space of 24 hours he shall suffer what Punishment the Captain and the Majority of the Company shall think fit.

'''V.''' He that is found Guilty of Gaming, or Defrauding one another to the value of a Royal of Plate, shall suffer what Punishment the Captain and the Majority of the Company shall think fit.

'''VI.''' He that shall have the Misfortune to loose a Limb in time of Engagement, shall have the Sum of Six hundred pieces of Eight, and remain aboard as long as he shall think fit.

'''VII.''' Good Quarters to be given when Craved.

'''VIII.''' He that sees a Sail first, shall have the best Pistol or Small Arm aboard of her.

'''IX.''' He that shall be guilty of Drunkenness in time of Engagement shall suffer what Punishment the Captain and Majority of the Company shall think fit.

'''X.''' No Snaping of Guns in the [[Hold (ship)|Hould]].
}}

==Legacy==
[[Image:Ned Low at PTOC.jpg|thumb|upright|Artist's impression of Ned Low by Marc Davis in 1962, now on the [[Pirates of the Caribbean (theme park ride)|Pirates of the Caribbean theme park ride]] at [[Disneyland Park (Anaheim)|Disneyland]]. Photo by [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4297325 Mike Johansen].]]
Edward Low's acts, along with those of other pirates of the period such as [[Blackbeard|Edward "Blackbeard" Teach]], [[Bartholomew Roberts]], and [[William Fly]], led to a great increase in the military presence to protect shipping lanes, resulting in the effective end of the [[Golden Age of Piracy]].<ref name="rediker"/>

By 1700, the European states had enough troops and ships at their disposal, following the end of a number of wars, to begin better protecting their important colonies in the West Indies and in the Americas without relying on the aid of [[privateer]]s. [[Piracy in the Caribbean|Pirates based in the Caribbean]] were chased from the seas by a new British squadron based at [[Port Royal]], [[Jamaica]], and a smaller group of Spanish privateers, sailing from the [[Spanish Main]], known as the ''Guarda de Costa'', or simply the ''Guarda''.<ref name="own"/><ref name="rediker"/>

Less is recorded of Low than of other equally prolific pirates such as Teach and [[Stede Bonnet]]. [[Howard Pyle]], in an 1880 children's book on pirates, said: "No one stood higher in the trade than [Low], and no one mounted to more lofty altitudes of bloodthirsty and unscrupulous wickedness. 'Tis strange that so little has been written and sung of this man of might, for he was as worthy of story and of song as was Blackbeard."<ref name="pyle">{{cite book|title=Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates|author-link=Howard Pyle|last=Pyle|first=Howard|publisher=[[Project Gutenberg]]|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/973/973-h/973-h.htm|year=1903}}</ref> Sir [[Arthur Conan Doyle]], in his work ''The Green Flag'', described Low as "savage and desperate", and a man of "amazing and grotesque brutality".<ref name="acd"/> ''[[The New York Times]]'' said "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".<ref name="nyt"/>

[[Image:1936 Low card.jpg|thumb|left|A 1936 Pac-Kups Jolly Roger Pirate card featuring an artist's impression of Edward Low]]
Low has featured on stamps and commemorative currency around the Caribbean. A [[postage stamp]] featuring Low was [[Postage stamps and postal history of the Cayman Islands|commissioned by the Cayman Islands]] in 1975,<ref name="scott">[[Scott catalogue]], volume II</ref> and in 1994 the government of [[Antigua and Barbuda]] featured Low and his [[brigantine]] ''Rebecca'' on a legal tender one hundred-[[East Caribbean dollar|dollar]] bill made of [[gold leaf]].<ref name="100dollar">{{cite web|url=http://www.larryvoyer.com/Piratical/pirate%20pages/banknotes-antiqua.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040704191155/http://larryvoyer.com/Piratical/pirate%20pages/banknotes-antiqua.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2004-07-04 |title=Pirates, Buccaneers & Privateers—An English Graphical Biography |last=Voyer |first=J. Larry |access-date=2007-10-04 |publisher=larryvoyer.com }}</ref>

"Ned Low" is one of the pirates featured on the [[Pirates of the Caribbean (theme park ride)|Pirates of the Caribbean ride]] at the [[Disneyland Park (Anaheim)|Disneyland]] theme park in [[California]]. A duplicate of Low's flag was used for the fictional pirate [[Sao Feng]] in Disney's [[Pirates of the Caribbean (film series)|''Pirates of the Caribbean'' films]].<ref name="POTC">{{cite web|publisher=Disney.com Network|year=2007|title=Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End—Official Website|url=http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/pirates/atworldsend/|access-date=2007-09-27}}</ref> [[Tadhg Murphy (actor)|Tadhg Murphy]] portrayed Low in the 2015 season of the [[Starz (TV channel)|Starz]] TV series ''[[Black Sails (TV series)|Black Sails]]''.<ref name="tvinsider">{{cite web|url=https://www.tvinsider.com/1124/black-sails-tadhg-murphy-season-2-ned-low/|title=Black Sails: Meet Season 2's Ruthless New Villain|last=Bottinick|first=A|date=2015-01-24|publisher=[[TV Insider]]|language=en|access-date=2017-11-23}}</ref> [[Bronson Pinchot]] depicted Low in a 2023 episode of the [[Max (streaming service)|Max]] TV series ''[[Our Flag Means Death]]''.<ref name="thedirect">{{cite web|url=https://thedirect.com/article/our-flag-means-death-season-2-cast-characters-actors|title=Full Cast of Our Flag Means Death: Every Main Actor & Character In Both Seasons|date=2023-10-10|publisher=the-direct|language=en|access-date=2023-10-28}}</ref>

Some of Low's haunts, such as the waters around the [[Isles of Shoals]] off [[New Hampshire]] and Isle Haute in [[Nova Scotia]], attract [[treasure hunter]]s who seek artifacts from ships he sank.<ref name="haute">{{cite news|work=The Register|date=1997-07-23|url=http://www.rootsweb.com/~canbrnep/sarakeddywork.htm|last=Keddy|first=Sarah|title=Elusive Isle Haute captures scientists' imaginations|access-date=2007-10-04}}</ref>
{{clear}}

==See also==
*[[List of pirates]]
*[[Piracy in the Caribbean]]
*[[Privateer]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
*Flemming, Gregory. ''At the Point of a Cutlass: The Pirate Capture, Bold Escape, and Lonely Exile of Philip Ashton.'' (http://gregflemming.com), ForeEdge (2014) {{ISBN|978-1611685152}}.
*[[John Barnard (American clergyman)|Barnard, John]]. ''History of the Strange Adventures and Signal Deliverances of Mr. Philip Ashton'', publ. by [[Samuel Gerrish]], Boston (1725) ([https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/evans/N02186.0001.001 online source])
*Scoggins, Rebekah. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20090225150421/http://portfolio.agnesscott.edu/rscoggins/freshman/fall/fys/piratesresearch.doc Methods of Torture among the Caribbean Pirates]''. [[Agnes Scott College]] (2005)
*Gibbs, Joseph. ''[https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0843871416647228 John Massey, George Lowther, and the taking of the Gambia Castle, 1721].'' in ''The International Journal of Maritime History'' (2016), Vol. 28(3), pages 461–479.
*Roberts, George, and Matt McLaine (editor). ''[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DQ96JGCW The Four Years Voyages of Capt. George Roberts (Annotated).]'' KDP (2024).
*Travers, Len. ''[https://www.westholmepublishing.com/book/notorious-edward-low-travers/ The Notorious Edward Low: Pursuing the Last Great Villain of Piracy's Golden Age]''. Westholme (2023).

==External links==
{{Spoken Wikipedia|Edward_Low.ogg|date=2008-05-19}}
*[https://www.worldhistory.org/Edward_Low/ World History Encyclopedia - Edward Low]
*[http://www.gregflemming.com/americas-worst-pirates/ "America's Worst Pirates" from gregflemming.com]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120214144701/http://www.chronofus.net/wargames/piracy/captains/low.htm Guide to Edward Low]

{{Pirates of the Modern Age}}
{{Pirates}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Low, Edward}}
[[Category:1690s births]]
[[Category:18th-century English people]]
[[Category:18th-century American criminals]]
[[Category:18th-century pirates]]
[[Category:English pirates]]
[[Category:People from colonial Boston]]
[[Category:People from Westminster]]
[[Category:American pirates]]
[[Category:British emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies]]