Yer probably familiar with the ship names of some of the more (in)famous pyrates from the 17th and 18th centuries: Henry Avery’s The Fancy, Bartholomew Roberts’ Revenge, Sam Bellamy’s Whydah Galley, William Kidd’s Adventure Galley, and Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge. Intriguing names, to be sure, but when I stumbled upon a pyrate ship that had been dubbed the The Fiery Dragon, (me being a dragon enthusiast), I kinda geeked out. A PYRATE ship named The Fiery Dragon? This required some deeper plundering…
Now, full disclosure: During my plunderin’, I was a little disappointed to learn that this ship was probably not actually named The Fiery Dragon. It seems that modern writers/historians/pyrate enthusiasts do call the ship The Fiery Dragon; however, the 1724 publication of Charles Johnson’s A General History of Pyrates calls the ship Flying Dragon and sources from the Golden Age almost always name the ship simply Dragon. To keep things simple, I will continue to refer to the ship as The Fiery Dragon because this is my blog, and I can do that.
The Fiery Dragon was originally a Dutch warship; it was captured and claimed near the Cape Verde Islands by pyrate Captain Christopher or Edward or William or John Condent (probably) in 1718. Aye, Condent is remembered in pyrate history with a long list of names that may (or may not) be aliases. “Christopher” is a name used in more modern writings. His nickname was “Billy One-Hand”. (Gotta be a story there, right? More plundering on that later!)
Condent and his crew had abandoned the pyrate haven of Nassau in the Caribbean (most likely) due to the arrival of a man that (most pyrate enthusiasts) have come to both admire and hate: Woodes Rogers. It’s not a certainty that Captain Condent left Nassau specifically because of Rogers’ arrival, but I think it’s safe to say that it influenced his decision to leave.
Condent left New Providence and eventually arrived at the pyrate colony in Sainte-Marie, Madagascar. Along the way, he wreaked pyrate havoc by capturing and plundering ships in the Caribbean, the Cape Verde Islands, and off the coast of Brazil. When Condent and the The Fiery Dragon arrived at Sainte-Marie in 1719, it was with a pyrate fleet of three ships.
The Fiery Dragon and her crew had quite a successful pyrating career in the East Indies. It was said that Condent and his men had so much loot that they need never plunder another ship. This was probably true as Condent went on to the French colony on the island of Bourbon, received a pardon from the governor, and married the governor’s sister-in-law. In 1723, Condent took his wife home to France where he became a (very wealthy) merchant. Condent died eleven years later in 1734.
Oh, cool pop culture sidebar: Captain Condent was also included in the (really good) video game, Uncharted: A Thief’s End. As the protagonists search for the treasure of Henry Avery and eventually end up in Madagascar, there are some neat references to Condent (and other pyrates of the East Indies). Condent even has a visual representation in the game in the form of an 18th century portrait where he is chilling with his pupper:
Back in early 2000, marine archaeologist and treasure hunter Barry Clifford thought that he might have found The Fiery Dragon just off the coast of Madagascar. It wasn’t, but he did find quite a collection of sunken ships that are very likely former pyrate ships. If you want to get the details of Clifford’s marine excavation in Madagascar, check this out: Pirate Shipwreck Research and Archaeology – Shipwreck Center . (Clifford also discovered the shipwreck of Sam Bellamy’s ship, the Whydah, off the coast of Cape Cod back in 1984.)
So, there you have it: The saga of the pyrate ship called The Fiery Dragon. I’m going to have a grog to toast Captain Condent’s most excellent chosen name for this ship, and a second toast to the rather amazing fact that Condent was able to pull off the greatest pyrate trick of all: Wealthy retirement. Not many of our pyrate brethren were able to do that, eh?
Next time…The Pyrate Ghost of Fenwich Hall. Until then…keep plunderin’
Virginia Chandler 