Richard Coyle (died 1738) was an English pirate active in the Mediterranean Sea. [1] He is known for a single incident involving the murder of the Captain of the ship St. John.
Coyle was first mate aboard the St. John, a fish-hauler pink under Captain Benjamin Hartley. At Ancona, they took aboard American John Richardson as their new ship’s carpenter. Richardson had been a thief, con man, and womanizer. Together they conspired to take over the ship, and off Turkey they staged a mutiny. [2] They attacked Hartley with an axe, a blunderbuss, and even a feed trough, chasing him across the deck and through the rigging. Finally, they threw him overboard where he clung to a rope until they hit him with an axe, causing him to fall into the sea and drown. [3]
Coyle was elected captain of the St. John but was rebuffed by the crew when he proposed sailing for Malta. Instead they sailed for Menorca [1] before foul weather forced them to the Spanish island of Foviniano. They lacked the proper paperwork to dock and were refused entry. Two boys on the ship took a boat to shore and informed the authorities, who sent out troops to apprehend Coyle and crew. Richardson and Coyle set sail before the troops arrived. [3]
They headed for Tunis, where Richardson was arrested. He told the governor a story of being lost at sea; the governor believed him, put him up in a house, and gave him some money. Richardson shared the money with Coyle, who got drunk and let slip the truth of their piracy. [1] Coyle was arrested and sent to Marshalsea prison in London. Richardson escaped, using cover stories to make his way to Sicily. There he was recognized by a captain who’d lived at Ancona and arrested. Talking his way out of prison, he traveled to Italy and signed aboard a ship; the ship’s captain knew he was a wanted man and had him arrested. [3]
Richardson was tried and convicted for Hartley’s murder and was executed. While awaiting his sentence he learned that Coyle had also been convicted and had been hanged some months earlier. [4] Coyle had tried to paint himself as an innocent man, victim of accidents and circumstances, but testimony from several other crewmen sealed his fate. [2]