Christopher Condent

Who was Christopher Condent?

Christopher Condent, born in Plymouth in Devon, was an English pirate who led the return to the Eastern Seas. He and his crew fled New Providence in 1718, when Woodes Rogers became governor of the island.

On a trip across the Atlantic Ocean, an Indian member of the crew, who was severely beaten and mistreated, threatened to ignite the ship's powder magazine. Condent swiftly jumped into the hold, and shot the Indian in the face. Purportedly, the crew hacked the body to pieces, and the gunner slashed open his stomach, tore out his heart, boiled it, and ate it. Further into the voyage, the crew captured a merchant vessel. Roughly half of the crew sailed away, while the other half chose Condent as their captain.

At the Cape Verde Islands, Condent and his men captured a Portuguese wine vessel, a squadron of small ships, and a Dutch war ship. Condent kept the warship, and named it The Flying Dragon. The Flying Dragon then cruised the Brazilian coast, and Condent took more ships, occasionally torturing Portuguese prisoners by cutting off their ears and noses.

Condent took much more "booty" when he reached the African coast. In June or July 1719, he reached Madagascar. While he was at Sainte-Marie, he integrated some of John Halsey's old crew into his own.