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John Hawley of Dartmouth

Dartmouth, Devon

A privateer mayor who may have inspired Chaucer's Shipman.

John Hawley was a wealthy merchant, many times mayor of Dartmouth, and one of the most successful privateers of the 1300s, capturing French and Spanish ships. Chaucer visited Dartmouth in 1373, and many believe Hawley inspired the rough Shipman in The Canterbury Tales.

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When
Died 1408
Where
50.3510, -3.5780
Group
Pirates

Visiting

St Saviour's Church in Dartmouth. Dartmouth Castle guards the harbour mouth.

Cover of Blood and Gold by Cale Mills
Read the full story in the book

Blood and Gold

Sixteen true stories of mutiny, mercy, treasure and the gallows from the Golden Age of Piracy: Henry Every, Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts, Edward England, Howell Davis, Christopher Moody, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, Charles Vane, Benjamin Hornigold, Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet, Israel Hands, Calico Jack, Edward Low, Captain William Kidd and Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy. Where the record is uncertain, the book says so.

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