George Lowther

"Ruthless George"

George Lowther was known for his cruel torture methods he used to force plundered ships' crewmen to tell the location of their hidden valuables. He often placed slow burning ropes between the victim's fingers which would slowly burn at the flesh and in time burn to the bone.

Lowther's early history is not well known but his pirating career began when he served as second mate on the Royal African Company ship Gambia Castle.

After a mutiny, Lowther spoke to the crew and told them that they could no longer safely return to England because of their actions and instead they should seek their own fortunes at sea. The Gambia Castle was renamed Delivery and she was modified into a pirate ship and Lowther was named captain.

After many plunders, Lowther met up fellow pirate Edward Low and his crew of about a dozen. Low and his crew joined the larger Lowther pirate crew on board his vessel while Low's smaller one was sunk. In January 1722, Lowther stumbled upon the 200 ton merchant Greyhound and after an hour long running battle, Greyhound eventually surrendered. Before setting fire to the ship, Lowther's crew proceeded to beat and torture the crew. Several other vessels were taken soon after.

While off the coast of the Americas, Lowther was able to plunder several small vessels easily but most were not too valuable. One English vessel off South Carolina though did put up a fight that would cost Lowther. To the suprise of Lowther, the vessel Amy did not surrender at sight of the pirates but instead fought back fiercely. Lowther's loss of crew and damage to the ship was great, so they set sail for North Carolina and eventually spent the entire winter there in the woods.

When spring 1723 arrived the pirates set sail again and by August were again roaming in the Caribbean. 1723. Pirate hunters soon found Lowther and after a long battle the pirates surrendered. Lowther and about a dozen crewmen escaped out the cabin windows before being captured. Moore sent 25 of his men to search for the missing pirates but only five were caught in the following five days, not including Lowther.

It is said that Lowther's body was found sometime later with a pistol wound and his pistol at his side. So in the end, Lowther escaped the typical pirate's end when he took his own life (rare for a pirate) and with it was the end of the cruel and barbaric tortures he was known for inflicting.