John Pro

John Pro (died 1719) was a Dutch pirate best known for leading a pirate trading post near Madagascar.

History

Pro made his fortune as a pirate cruising the Indian Ocean against Moorish shipping, possibly alongside David Williams or Thomas Collins. They returned to the pirate trading post at Ile Ste Marie off the Madagascar coast to divide their treasure. Adam Baldridge had abandoned the settlement in 1697 after a Malagasy uprising, but Pro remained behind to rebuild. In 1703 Williams and Collins were captured by fellow ex-pirate Aert Van Tuyl after they and the crew of Thomas Howard’s ship Prosperous got into a fight with Van Tuyl and his native allies. Escaping six months later, Williams made his way to Pro’s outpost.

The following year the Royal Navy warships Severn and Scarborough sailed the region on a mission to eliminate piracy. Williams and Pro were captured but escaped shortly afterward, sailing canoes to Mohilla, Johanna, Mayotte, and finally back to Methelage (Messelege) on Madagascar. Afterwards Williams (and possibly Pro) sailed with Thomas White for a time, but they were not among the crew who disembarked at Don Mascarenas to retire from piracy.

By 1707 Pro had returned to Ile Ste Marie, leading the settlement with support of the Malagasy natives. With support from other pirates such as Samuel Burgess he made a business of slave trading. Pro charged trading fees to pirates and merchants who came looking to buy slaves cheaper than they could from the Royal African Company. Collins left to run a similar pirate outpost at Port Dauphin, which he took over after the death of its previous leader, former pirate Abraham Samuel.

Pro, Collins, and John Rivers (another ex-pirate who led the settlement at St. Augustine starting in 1686) all died in 1719.