“Having been so many years upon this Island, it may be imagined their Cloaths had long been worn out, so that their Majesties were extremely out at the Elbows:  I cannot say they were ragged, since they had no Cloaths, they had nothing to cover them but the Skins of Beasts without any tanning, but with all the Hair on, nor a Shoe nor Stocking, so they looked like the Pictures of Hercules in the Lion’s Skin; and being overgrown with Beard, and Hair upon their Bodies, they appeared the most savage Figures that a Man’s Imagination can frame."[5]

One remarkable settlement was founded in the north, near Diego Suarez, by Misson, a Frenchman, and the most humane of pirates, with whom was allied Tew, the English pirate.  Misson’s aim was to build a fortified town “that they might have some place to call their own; and a receptacle, when age and wounds had rendered them incapable of hardship, where they might enjoy the fruits of their labour and go to their graves in peace.”  The settlement was named Libertatia.  Slavery was not permitted, and freed slaves were encouraged to settle there.  The harbour was strongly fortified, as a Portuguese squadron that attacked them found to its cost.  A dock was made; crops were sown; a Lord Conservator was appointed for three years, with a Parliament to make laws.  The colony was still in its infancy when it was surprised and destroyed by the natives, while Misson was away on a cruise; and so Libertatia came to an end.  Tew succeeded in escaping to his sloop with a quantity of diamonds and gold in bars.  On Misson rejoining him, they determined to go to America.  Misson’s ship foundered in a storm, while Tew made his way to Rhode Islands, and lived there for a time unquestioned.  But the fascinations of a rover’s life were too much for him.  He fitted out a sloop and made again for the Red Sea, and was killed in action there with a Mogul ship.

From their Madagascar settlements the pirates scoured the east coast of Africa, the Indian Ocean as far as Sumatra, the mouth of the Red Sea, where the Mocha ships offered many rich prizes, the Malabar coast, and the Gulf of Oman.  From time to time, ships from New England and the West Indies brought supplies and recruits, taking back those who were tired of the life, and who wished to enjoy their booty.  European prisoners were seldom treated barbarously when there was no resistance, and the pirate crews found many recruits among captured merchantmen.  Their worst cruelties were reserved for the native merchants of India who fell into their hands.  They believed all native traders to be possessed of jewels, as was indeed often the case, and the cruellest tortures were inflicted on them to make them surrender their valuables.  One unhappy Englishman we hear of, Captain Sawbridge, who was taken by pirates, while on a voyage to Surat with a ship-load of Arab horses from Bombay.  His complaints and expostulations were so annoying to his captors that, after repeatedly telling him to hold his tongue, they took a sail needle and twine and sewed his lips together.  They kept him thus several hours, with his hands tied behind him, while they plundered his ship, which they afterwards set on fire, burning her and the horses in her.  Sawbridge and his people were carried to Aden and set on shore, where he died soon after.