Joseph Cooper

Joseph Cooper (died 1725) was a pirate active in the Caribbean and the American east coast. He was best known for sailing alongside Francis Spriggs, and for the manner of his death.

History

Cooper's early life is not known. In 1718 he and six other pirates were tried in Philadelphia for capturing the 22-ton sloop Antelope in the Delaware River. On November 14 they captured the Perry near Barbados and a French sloop the next day. Later Upton escaped and claimed he'd been forced to sign; witnesses contradicted him and he was hanged for piracy in 1729. Cooper intervened when Spriggs’ men threatened to torture a prisoner. The warships HMS Diamond and HMS Spence had been hunting Shipton and Spriggs in the area for a year. Spriggs and Shipton were caught ashore, but the Diamond engaged Cooper's ship at sea. Rather than face capture, Cooper used a cask of gunpowder to blow up the cabin of his ship.