Robert Culliford was born in about 1666 in East Looe, Cornwall. He was sometimes referred to as Collover. In his early career he was an associate of the later infamous William Kidd, serving with him aboard the French privateer Sainte Rose in 1689. When the Nine Years’ War broke out in 1688, they both, together with the six only other British seamen aboard, mutinied and seized a the ship as a prize from its captain, Jean Fantin. They renamed it Blessed William. In February 1690, Culliford led a mutiny against Kidd, abandoning him and electing William Mason as captain. They then roamed the Caribbean taking prizes, eventually heading to New York to sell their ill-gotten gains. Mason was granted a commission by Jacob Leisler, acting governor of New York and leader of Leisler’s Rebellion, and Culliford accompanied him when they raided two French Canadian towns and captured the French frigate L’Esperance. Culliford was given command of the captured vessel, renaming it Home Frigate. Unfortunately for them, their booty fell into the hands of French privateers, so the disgruntled pirates returned to New York on another captured ship called the Jacob. They remained there until 1690 before leaving for the Indian Ocean with Culliford as one of two appointed quartermasters.
Culliford in the Indian Ocean
The pirates arrived in Mangrol in India in 1692, where they terrorized the local population until they were captured and imprisoned by the Gujarati authorities, spending the next four years in an Indian gaol in Junegadh. Eighteen pirates were captured in all, including Jan Swann, William Mason, and James Gilliam. They eventually escaped by overpowering a guard after several other failed attempts. They made it to Bombay in March 1696, where Culliford signed onto a Ketch called Josiah as a gunner. The vessel carried cargo for the East India Company. Culliford hijacked it and sailed to the Nicobar Islands near Sumatra, where James Croft, one of the loyal crewmembers, stole the ship back, leaving Culliford and a few others stranded until some of his old pirate mates passed by on the Mocha Frigate, which was commanded by Ralph Stout after he had mutinied against its original commander, Captain Edgecombe. Culliford became captain after Stout was killed in 1697. He joined forces with the Charming Mary and pursued an English ship called Dorill, which managed to damaged the mast of Mocha Frigate, forcing Culliford to retreat to the island of Sainte Marie. Despite the damage, he still managed to plunder any ships he met along the way.
Culliford on Sainte Marie
On arriving in Sainte Marie, he and his men captured a French ship, which was anchored there, seizing £2000 worth of cargo. A little later, William Kidd, who possessed a commission to hunt pirates in the Indian Ocean, discovered Culliford’s ship moored off the island, but Kidd’s crew had grown dissatisfied with his failure to obtain any wealth for them, so many of them defected to Culliford. Culliford left the island in June 1698, leaving Kidd with his depleted crew behind him. After leaving Sainte Marie, Culliford joined forces with Dutch pirate Dirk Chivers and English pirate Joseph Wheeler, and in September of 1698 they captured the Great Mohammed in the Red Sea, seizing £130,000 worth of coins. They plundered another vessel on their way back to Saint Marie, arriving their again in February 1699. Culliford stayed a while at the settlement there, which was run by Edward Welch.
Culliford’s fate
Four British men of war commanded by Commodore Thomas Warren arrived off the coast of the island not long later. The pirates were offered a royal pardon under the 1698 Act of Grace, which had been offered to all pirates east of the Cape of Good Hope with the exception of William Kidd and Henry Avery. Culliford accepted the offer, although he was later arrested despite the pardon, being taken to Marshalsea prison in August 1700. He was tried for the capture and plundering of the Great Mohammed, his pardon being ruled invalid. Needed as a witness for the trial of Samuel Burgess, he wasn’t immediately hanged and simply disappeared from the records. There are rumours that he subsequently served on a naval ship, but his ultimate fate remains unknown to this day.