View source for John Gow

{{Short description|Scottish pirate}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{other people}}
{{Infobox pirate
|name=John Gow
|birth_date=c. 1698
|death_date= June 11, {{death year and age|1725|1698}}
|image= John Gow, Execution of Gow, from the Pirates of the Spanish Main series (N19) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes MET DP835023.jpg
|caption= 
|nickname=
|type=Pirate
|birth_place = [[Wick, Highland|Wick]], Caithness
|death_place = [[Execution Dock]], London
|allegiance=
|serviceyears=1724–1725
|base of operations=
|rank=
|commands=
|battles=
|wealth=
|laterwork=
}}

'''John Gow''' (c. 1698–11 June 1725)<ref>''[[The Newgate Calendar]]'' wrongly asserts that Gow was hanged on 11 August 1729.{{says who|date=September 2022}}</ref> was a [[pirate]] whose short career was immortalised by [[Charles Johnson (pirate biographer)|Charles Johnson]] in the 1725 work ''The History and Lives of All the Most Notorious Pirates and Their Crews''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=Charles |title=The History and Lives of All the Most Notorious Pirates and Their Crews |date=1725 |location=London |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019gen31667/}}</ref> Little is known of his life, except from an account by [[Daniel Defoe]], which is often considered unreliable,{{says who|date=September 2022}} the report on his execution, and an account by Mr. Alan Fea, descendant of his captor, published in 1912, almost two centuries after his death.

==Early life==
Gow was probably born in [[Wick, Highland|Wick]], Caithness, to William Gow, a merchant, and Margaret Calder.<ref name=Seitz>{{cite book |last=Seitz |first=Don Carlos |author2=Howard F. Gospel |author3=Stephen Wood  |title=Under the Black Flag: Exploits of the Most Notorious Pirates |orig-year=2002|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i7NLrJnuzHQC&q=%22john+gow%22+pirate&pg=PP5 |access-date=15 April 2007 |publisher=Courier Dover Publications |isbn=0-486-42131-7 |page=341 |year=2002}}</ref> He was raised in [[Stromness]], Orkney, where he went to school and learned to sail a ship.

==Pirate==
[[File:John Gow pirate 1698 - 1725, in The Chronicles of Newgate Vol 1 by Arthur Griffiths.oga|thumb|right|John Gow in ''The Chronicles of Newgate'' (1884), by [[Arthur Griffiths (author)|Arthur Griffiths]]]]
[[File:John Gow pirate 1698 - 1725 in Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals 1735 ed. Arthur L. Hayward 1927.mp3|thumb|right|John Gow in ''Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals'' (1735), ed. Arthur L. Hayward]]
Prior to August 1724 he crewed a voyage from London to [[Lisbon]] and back, during which he plotted to seize control of the vessel. He failed to attract sufficient numbers, however, and the effort went nowhere. In London, word spread about the attempt, so Gow fled to [[Amsterdam]], where he joined the [[Canary Islands]]-bound ''Caroline'' as second mate.<ref name="odnb">Samuel Menefee, "Gow, John" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.''</ref>

After several months' layover in [[Santa Cruz de la Palma|Santa Cruz]] on the island of [[La Palma]], on 3 November 1724 the ''Caroline'' departed for [[Genoa]], Italy, with a cargo of beeswax, leather, and woolens.<ref name="odnb" /> The shipboard climate, however, was troubled. There were complaints about the food on board the ship, and Freneau, the captain of the ''Caroline'', was accused of treating the other crewmen of the vessel improperly. Grousing of short allowance, the crewmen of the ''Caroline'' started to disobey some of the captain's orders. The captain, realising that his orders were being disobeyed, consulted his mate. The two men agreed to stash some small arms in the cabin so they could defend themselves in case of mutiny. Unfortunately for the captain, two of the conspirators on the upper deck overheard the conversation.

Not realising that Gow was the [[Leadership|ring leader]] of the attempted [[mutiny]], Freneau ordered Gow to prepare arms to defend the crew. Upon hearing this, the mutineers decided to act that night. At ten p.m., after half the ship's company had retired following evening prayer, shots echoed across the deck. Told that someone had fallen overboard, Freneau ran to the rail, where he was stabbed in the neck and shot twice in the stomach by Gow, then thrown overboard by the other conspirators. Still alive, he managed to clutch a rope dangling from the side of the ship, but when the conspirators realised this, they cut the rope and he tumbled into the sea. The next morning, the remainder of the crew was given the option of following their captain or joining the mutineers. Accounts indicate that they all accepted their former position. The ship was renamed ''Revenge''.<ref name="orkneyjar">{{cite web |url=http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/historicalfigures/pirategow/index.html |title=John Gow – The Orkney Pirate |access-date=15 April 2007 |work=Orkneyjar, the heritage of the Orkney Islands |archive-date=4 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204021628/http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/historicalfigures/pirategow/index.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Over the next few weeks the ''Revenge'' began attacking [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] ships in the area, starting with the ''Delight'' (12 November) and the ''Sarah'' (21 November). The crews were usually set adrift, though some deemed useful were given the option of joining Gow's crew. Over the next few months, Gow attacked several other ships plying the region.

==Capture==
After a successful career as a pirate off the [[Iberian Peninsula]], Gow decided to return to the Orkney Islands. He was running low on supplies, and the authorities were on his trail. Arriving in early 1725, he adopted the name Mr. Smith ([[Gow (surname)|Gow]] being [[Scottish Gaelic|Gaelic]] for Smith), and renamed his vessel the ''George'',<ref name="orkneyjar"/> and passed as a wealthy trader, even courting a Miss Gordon. He was eventually recognised by a merchant passing through the islands, and his true identity was revealed.<ref>[http://www.walterscott.lib.ed.ac.uk/works/novels/pirate.html A summary of Scott's ''The Pirate'' and its sources]</ref> According to other accounts, some of his prisoners escaped there and notified the authorities.<ref>[http://www.kipar.org/piratical-resources/pirate-fame.html#John%20Gow%20(John%20Smith) Famous Pirates.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061208155820/http://www.kipar.org/piratical-resources/pirate-fame.html |date= 8 December 2006 }}</ref> Rather than surrender, Gow and his men successfully raided the [[Hall of Clestrain]] on 10 February 1725,<ref name="orkneyjar"/> but when they attempted to attack another remote mansion, they ran aground on the [[Calf of Eday]], where they were captured.<ref name="Gazetteer">{{cite web |url= http://www.scottish-places.info/people/famousfirst2783.html |title= Overview of John Gow|access-date=15 April 2007 |publisher= Gazetteer for Scotland}}</ref>

==Death==
[[File:Execution Dock2.jpg|thumb|The Execution Dock, where John Gow's adventures came to an end]]
According to the ''[[Newgate Calendar]]'', Gow was slow to die when he hanged. To relieve his pain, some of his friends pulled at his legs, but this just broke the rope, causing him to tumble to the ground, from where he was gathered up and hanged again.<ref name="newgate">{{cite web |url=http://www.exclassics.com/newgate/ng182.htm |title=JOHN GOW |access-date=15 April 2007 |work=[[The Newgate Calendar]] }}</ref>

After his death, his body (along with those of his crew) was left in the [[River Thames]]. The bodies were then tarred and suspended on the riverbank, as a warning to other would-be pirates.<ref name="Gazetteer"/>

He was tried alongside pirate [[Brigstock Weaver]], whose crimes were unrelated to Gow's. While Gow was hanged for his piracies, Weaver was reprieved and soon pardoned.<ref name="Historical Register">{{cite book|title=The Historical Register|date=1725|publisher=H.B. Meere|location=London|pages=23, 30|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UdQpAAAAYAAJ|access-date=7 July 2017|language=en}}</ref>

==In literature==
[[Daniel Defoe]] wrote a fictional account, ''The Pirate Gow''. Gow also served as the model for Captain Cleveland in [[Walter Scott|Sir Walter Scott]]'s novel ''[[The Pirate (novel)|The Pirate]]''.<ref>Warren S. Walker, "A 'Scottish Cooper' for an 'American Scott'", 537; John Robert Moore, "Defoe and Scott," 729.</ref> Gow was also featured in some of the writings of [[George Mackay Brown]]. The factual account of the capture of Gow was featured in the book ''The Real Captain Cleveland'' by Allan Fea (1860-1956), a distant relative of the pirate catcher, and published by Secker, London, in 1912.

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite encyclopedia | encyclopaedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography | last=Menefee | first=Samuel | title=Gow, John | volume=23 | year=2004 | pages=92–93}}
* {{cite journal | title=Defoe and Scott | first=John Robert | last=Moore | author-link = John Robert Moore | journal=PMLA | volume=56 | issue=3 |date=September 1941 | pages=710–735 | doi=10.2307/458991 | publisher=PMLA, Vol. 56, No. 3 | jstor=458991}}
* {{cite journal | title=A 'Scottish Cooper' for an 'American Scott' | first=Warren S. | last=Walker | journal=American Literature | volume=40 | issue=4 |date=January 1969 | pages=536–537}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.exclassics.com/newgate/ng182.htm|title=JOHN GOW|access-date=15 April 2007|work=The Newgate Calendar}}
* [[Ivan Drever]] - [https://ivandrever.bandcamp.com/track/the-ballad-of-pirate-gow The Ballad of Pirate Gow]
* Allan FEA. "The Real Captain Cleveland". Secker, London. 1912.

==External links==
{{commonscatinline}}

{{Pirates}}

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gow, John}}
[[Category:1690s births]]
[[Category:1725 deaths]]
[[Category:People associated with Orkney]]
[[Category:People executed by the Kingdom of Great Britain]]
[[Category:Executed Scottish people]]
[[Category:Scottish pirates]]
[[Category:People executed for piracy]]
[[Category:People executed by England and Wales by hanging]]