Francis Verney

Who was Francis Verney?

Sir Francis Verney was an English adventurer, soldier of fortune, and pirate. A nobleman by birth, he left England after the House of Commons sided with his stepmother in a legal dispute over his inheritance, and became a mercenary in Morocco and later a Barbary corsair.

Verney was among the most successful captains to operate on the Barbary coast during the early 17th century and, despite having no seafaring experience, was one of four leaders of the Tunisian pirate fleet commanded by John Ward. His supposed conversion to Islam with Ward in 1610 was the cause of considerable controversy in his native country. Verney was later captured and spent two years in the Sicily slave galleys. He was rescued by an English Jesuit in 1614 and converted to Catholicism shortly before his death.