John Coxon

Captain John Coxon, sometimes referred to as John Coxen, was a late-seventeenth-century buccaneer who terrorized the Spanish Main. Coxon was one of the most famous of the Brethren of the Coast, a loose consortium of pirates and privateers. Coxon lived during the Buccaneering Age of Piracy.

Coxon's ship, a vessel of eighty tons that carried eight guns and a crew of ninety-seven men, is lost to date, with no traces of its name anywhere.

John Coxon as a pirate Very little is known about Coxon's early life. The act that brought Coxon to public notice was his surprising and plundering the Spanish town of Santa Marta in the Caribbean. John Coxon took part in a raid in June 1677 where he and his crew sacked the town, taking the Governor and Bishop as prisoners for ransom. Soon after, the three warships of Armada de Barlovento advanced upon them with 500 soldiers, forcing them to retreat to Port Royal. With these two men were other famous pirates such as Bartholomew Sharp, Basil Ringrose, William Dampier, William Dick, John Cox, Edmund Cooke, and Lionel Wafer, some of whom left journals of their exploits.

Heated arguments Having done both of these feats, Coxon quarreled with the other buccaneer captains resulting in them moving in their separate ways. Coxon, in naught but an Indian canoe, travelled to the Pacific Coast , and with his crew of seventy, stole two sloops. Coxon then returned, with his crew, to Jamaica, as a legendary pirate.

In 1682, Coxon received a Bahamian commission permitting the capture of Spanish ships. In October, Coxon was employed by Governor Thomas Lynch of Jamaica. Lynch reported that Coxon suppressed an attempted mutiny.

In November 1683, Coxon returned to piracy; however, early in 1684, he obtained a commission to hunt pirates and Indians from the governor of the Leewards. In January 1686, colonial authorities in Jamaica arrested Coxon, who subsequently escaped. Coxon later received a pardon, after surrendering to Jamaican authorities in September 1688.

Disappearance To date, no one is sure of what happened to John Coxon or his ship, but several accounts, including those of his crew's, stated that his ship weighed around eighty tons and was equipped with eight guns.