John Taylor

Richard Taylor (fl. 1718–1723), also called John Taylor, was an English pirate active in the Indian Ocean, best known for participating in two of the richest pirate captures of all time.

History Taylor's Jolly Roger pirate flag, described as “Fought under the black flagg at ye main topmast head. with deaths head in it” Prior to his time as a pirate, Taylor had risen to the rank of Lieutenant in the Royal Navy. Taylor began his piratical career in 1718 as a crewman aboard the trading sloop Buck when Howell Davis staged a mutiny, took over the ship, and convinced the crew to take up piracy.

They captured ships off Ouidah in 1720 after which Leveasseur left to raid the East Indies. England gave Macrae the badly damaged Fancy and let him keep some of the pirates’ less-valuable loot. Taylor was enraged at England's generosity and organized a vote to remove him from command and leave him marooned.

Levasseur, Seagar, and Taylor took the Victory and Cassandra, with sources differing on who was in command of which ship. There they encountered pirate trader John Plantain and fellow pirate Edward Condon. The pirates spent Easter of 1721 at the Mascarene Islands.

At Reunion Island in April 1721 Taylor, Levasseur, and Seagar captured probably the most valuable prize in pirate history, the 700-ton Portuguese treasure ship Nossa Senhora do Cabo (Our Lady of the Cape). (The Cabo is referred to as the Guelderland in some accounts.) Levasseur took Cabo and Taylor took Cassandra, swapping ships after burning the decrepit Victory. Taylor headed for the West Indies, arriving there in 1723. The governor of Spanish Portobello pardoned Taylor and his crew in exchange for his ship the Cassandra. Taylor thereafter sailed in Spanish service, hunting logwood cutters in the Caribbean. Jacob de Bucquoy, who spent time as Taylor's prisoner, reported that Taylor eventually left Portobello, returning to his family at Jamaica before leaving again for Cuba, where he operated a plantation and a small trading vessel as late as 1744.