Meet metal detectorist James Bailey. He’s not a professional historian. But he does have a knack for digging up the past. Five years ago, he unearthed coins that may be linked to the English “King of the Pirates,” Henry Every. Now he has stumbled onto another clue.
He says documents from colonial times show that someone named Thomas Jones helped Captain Every. Thomas Jones was a wealthy, well-known man. Jones Beach in New York is named after him. More people visit Jones Beach than any other state park in New York besides Niagara Falls.
“You have millions of visitors and generations of New Yorkers going to this beach,” Mr. Bailey says. “Nobody knew that he was actually a major player in arguably the biggest heist in the history of piracy.”
Mr. Bailey is an amateur historian. The word amateur is French for “someone who loves.” And that title seems to suit Mr. Bailey. He has pored through documents about the raid of the ship Ganj-i-Sawai. The raid happened in 1695 on the Red Sea. (On a map, you can find the Red Sea between Northeastern Africa and West Asia.) Captain Every’s crew is said to have tortured and killed the people aboard the ship. Their crimes angered people all across the globe. Some of Captain Every’s men were caught and executed. Others were never heard from again—including Captain Every. Some are believed to have scatted to Europe and the American colonies.
Where does Mr. Jones fit in? Documents suggest he was hired to help the pirates escape.
Mr. Jones was rich. Eventually, he owned a whale hunting company on Long Island. But how did he get rich in the first place? Rumors flew.
He died in 1713. Robbers searching for treasure repeatedly dug up his grave. Meanwhile, one of his descendants wrote a family history. It denied Mr. Jones was a pirate at all.
Mr. Bailey hopes his research about Mr. Jones will be published. Has he absolutely proven Mr. Jones was a pirate? History professor Richard Blakemore says no—especially since Thomas Jones is a common name.
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. — Ephesians 4:28
