John Evans

John Evans (died 1723) was a Welsh pirate who had a short but successful career in the Caribbean.

History

Evans worked as a ship's mate for vessels operating out of Jamaica after losing his position aboard a Nevis-based sloop. With little work to be had, he and a few others from Port Royal conspired in September 1722 to row around the island in a canoe, robbing houses at night. Tiring of simple robbery, they located a Bermudan sloop, rowed out to it, and Evans announced “that he was Captain of the Vessel, which was a Piece of News they knew not before.” The pirates celebrated at a local tavern and spent so liberally they were invited back; instead the pirates returned at night and looted the tavern before returning to sea.

Sailing their four-gun sloop (now renamed “Scowerer”) to Hispaniola, they soon captured a Spanish sloop. Because their crew was so small, Evans and his men shared out loot of £150 per man. Taking yet another prize called Lucretia and Catherine in January 1723, they kept it and left to careen the Scowerer. The slow Lucretia kept them from chasing other ships, so after capturing a faster Dutch sloop, they kept it instead and released the Lucretia. They left the Scowerer with the Lucretia's mate, who sailed it back to Port Royal.