SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS

Evening Star, Issue 21881, 19 November 1934, Page 11

SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS

MURDER AND THE BLACK FLAG A DISMAL PAIR OF PIRATES When Captain John Caffrey, master of the 31-ton cutter Sovereign of the Seas, was arrested near Fernmount, on the Bellinger River, New South Wales, late in September, 1886, the police found in his possession a black satin flag, which was to prove conclusively his participation in a crime that aroused the horror of a continent. Black flags are' not customarily harboured by’adults except for practical jokes. But this flag was no joke. It was the symbol of murder and piracy —the house flag of as villainous a seadog as ever sailed the South Seas (writes Edward Axford, in the ‘ Melbourne Argus). : Captain Caffrey must have been a cheerful companion for a trusting stranger- on a dark night. A man of powerful physique and ugly _ temper, he invariably carried about his person a small armoury of dirks and revolvers. During the many years he had sailed up and down the rugged coasts, of New Zealand it hid been his boast that some day he would visit Austral and be a bushranger, and as if to gain a little innocent practice for the stern days to come, he would occasionally feign a towering rage, brandish his daggers and guns, and loudly call upon his companions to “put up their hands!” It might be thought that such behaviour would alarm his acquaintances and warn them of his dangerous intentions, hut_ apparently people were not so ..sensitive in the ’eighties as they are to-day, for the spectacle of a man threatening to shoot his friends evoked little comment.

Abstractedly fondling his guns as he pored over the blood-curdling pages of the ‘ New York Police News, 1 Captain Caffrey sniffed at _ the . goodnatured tolerance 4 of society toward him, and he became convinced that a life of crime would be easy. He cast -his mind about for someone to murder, and his choice lighted on Robert Taylor, whom he hated more than anyone else in the world. Taylor was an elderly settler living on the coast of the Great Barrier Island, a mountainous. heavily-wooded island which stands guard, barrier fashion, outside the entrance to the Auckland harbour. Settlers’ homesteads werfc few and far between, timber cutters and gold prospectors kept to inaccessible ravines, and sixty miles of open sea separated the island from the mainland. Pursuit being difficult and strenuous, the island seemed to be an ideal place for a crime. Taylor seemed to be an odious person, for he had resolutely declined to allow his daughter to marry Caffrey. Instead, he had induced her to wed a fellow settler, whose manly character was in striking contrast with that of the disreputable seadog. FITTING OUT THE CUTTER. Caffrey made his preparations with thoroughness. He took one man into his confidence. Henry Penn was a reckless youth who smarted for adventure. When he learned that the master of the Sovereign of the Seas as planning an exploit which demanded a voyage acroSs the Pacific to Peru, he jumped at the opportunity to share an adventure that appealed to his turbulent spirit. Seeretly the cutter was provisioned for a long voyage. Great stocks of salted meat, potatoes, rice, flour, and sugar were smuggled on board, and additional water tanks Were fitted. New sails were purchased, the locker was filled with guns, revolvers, and ammunition. A chart was obtained of the South American coast. A day or two before the cutter was ready to sail Penn brought the startling news that he intended to take a passenger. The newcomer was Grace Cleary, a precocious girl whom Penn had befriended. Although Caffrey had some doubts about the expediency of adding to the number of conspirators, Pena’s persistency broke down his opposition, and on the night of June 17, 1886, the Sovereign of the Seas set sail with a crew of three. It was then that Caffrey played his trump card. Producing a piece of black satin from his pocket he handed it to the girl, saying : • Here, hem that up into a flag. We’ll need it before long.” “ What’s it for?” asked the bewildered girl. “ For the death of old ‘ Tusky,’ ” replied the buccaneer.

The cutter, bearing its message of death, entered the lanojocked harbour of Tryphena, on the Great Barrier Island, in the early hours of June 19. In a mood of piratical fervour Caffrey fired six shots from each of two revolvers when the little vessel roundhed the point near Taylor’s house. As the first Streaks of dawn were tinting the eastern sky Caffrey and Penn, armed with sheath knives and revolvers, landed on the beach from their dinghy and threw open the door of Taylor’s cottage. At the sight of the two men with revolvers in each hand Mrs Taylor screamed and pleaded for mercy. Her young son pulled helplessly at their jackets. Taylor ran into the bedroom and locked the door, but the two men burst it from its hinges and shot him dead. LONG TRAVEL TO AUSTRALIA.

The deed was done, but Caffrey’s blood was up, and he craved further victims. Announcing his intention of crossing to the other side of the bay and killing Taylor’s daughter and her husband, Caffrey called Penn to the dinghy and together they rowed back to the cutter. Once on board Caffrey ordered tjie black flag to be hoisted, and the Sovereign of the Seas turned her course to the other side of the bay. Taylor’s son, however, had been too smart for them. In a flat-bottomed boat he had rowed with the women to the little settlement, and when the pirate ship put in an appearance the men of the village had gathered on the beach ready to put up a fight. Caffrey and Penn thought better of their intention, and the cutter turned about, black flag flying ominously in the breeze.

With a courage that would have won commendation in another man, Caffrey set his cutter’s course for Soutn America. Sixty miles off the coast, however, a south-west gale sprang up, and for several days the little craft was hove-to in tempestuous seas. The westerly winds prevailed for so long that Caffrey abandoned hope of reaching Peru, and decided instead to make for Australia., With his pirate flag torn to tatters and his temper on edge he Was not the. most cheerful of captains. The fears of his companions increased when he began to speak of the dangers they would encounter in Australia, and of the sudden fate that would be theirs if they divulged even a hint of the crime they had committed. As week after week went by and the coast of Australia seemed to be as far away as ever, he suggested to Penn that it would be in the interests of both if they killed the girl and threw her body into the sea. This proposal so startled Penn that from then onward he and the girl took it in turns to remain awake and to keep Caffrey under observation.

Weeks became months, calms followed storms, and still the longed-for coast did not appear. Then the supply of fresh , water ran out. Caffrey was an experienced old salt, and by spreading a sail when it rained he was able to catch sufficient fresh water to supply the urgent needs of his .crew. Three months went by, Penn and the girl living in constant terror of death either by thirst, drowning, or the murderous knife of the captain. Then land hove in sight. It was the coast near Brisbane. Caffrey wanted to land farther south, so the Sovereign of the Seas ran down the coast to Sydney until the shipping became so crowded that the murderers took fright and made north again. Near Port Macquarie they made a landing, scuttled the Sovereign of the Seas, and hurried inland. For some days they wandered about, hiding as much as possible in the day ana walking at night, but Caffrey’s looks became blacker, he fingered his revolvers more frequently, and one night Penn and the girl abandoned him. CONSTABLE’S SUCCESSFUL RUSE. On September 29 the wreckage of the Sovereign of the Seas came ashore at Port Macquarie, and the police began to search the countryside. So it happened that Constable May made as clever an arrest as ever graced the annals of the New South Wales police force. Seeing a man painting a bridge near Fernniount he donned the grimy clothes of a “ swaggie ” and, while boiling his billy beside the bridge, engaged the stranger in conversation. Constable May completely deceived him, arrested him on suspicion, and examined his swag. it contained a fully-loaded revolver, eleven cartridges, a pair of sea boots, and a black flag. The gome was up. Penn and the girl were arrested soon afterward, and on February 21. 1887, two men who wore the last to fly the, bla.ck flag in Australian waters—a dismal pair of pirates —were hanged.