{{short description|English buccaneer (late 17th century)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}} '''Basil Ringrose''' (about 1653–1686) was an English buccaneer, navigator, geographer, and author.
==Early life== Ringrose was christened at St Martin-in-the-Fields on Jan 28 1653 by his father, Richard, and mother, Mary.<ref>South Sea Waggonier Pg.</ref>
In 1677, he and his wife, Goodith, had a son, Jonathan.<ref> Born to be Hanged </ref>
==First voyage== Ringrose crossed the Isthmus of Darien in 1680 with a group of pirates.<ref name="laughton">{{cite DNB|wstitle=Ringrose, Basil|volume=48|first=John Knox|authorlink=John Knox|last=Laughton}}</ref> On this trip, he created extensive charts of the islands, soundings, exhaustive nautical instruction, and symbols to mark rocks and shallow water.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://sullacrestadellonda.it/ |title=Sulla Cresta dell'Onda |access-date=16 September 2014 |archive-date=8 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200208025746/https://www.sullacrestadellonda.it/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Fluent in Latin and French, he quickly learned Spanish to act as an interpreter.<ref name="preston">Preston, Diana & Michael. ''A Pirate of Exquisite Mind'',1952. p. 60</ref><ref name="Preston2009">{{cite book|first=Diana |last=Preston|title=A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: Explorer, Naturalist, and Buccaneer: The Life of William Dampier|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=c4ecAXUxxDMC|page=60}}|date=26 May 2009|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-0-8027-1813-6|page=60}}</ref>
Captain Bartholomew Sharp, Lionel Wafer, John Coxon, Edmund Cooke, William Dick, and William Dampier were also crew members. Dampier refers to Ringrose as an apprentice to a planter in Jamaica. At the end of the voyage, Ringrose and several crewmates took the maps and charts to Dartmouth to sell.<ref name="Lane">{{cite book|author=Lane|title=Pillaging the Empire: Piracy in The Americas 1500–1750|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=bRgFqADzOLkC|page=142}}|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=978-0-7656-3083-4|page=142}}</ref>
==Second voyage== In October 1683, Ringrose sailed on the ''Cygnet'' with Captain Charles Swan, as the Supercargo.<ref name="laughton "/> Damper writes "He had no mind for this voyage, but was necessitated to engage in it or starve."<ref name="preston "/> On the Mexican coast in Santa Pecaque, the crew looted the village. Capt. Swan sent 54 men with laden horses back to the anchorage, Ringrose among them. They were set upon by Spanish soldiers and massacred.<ref name="ExquemelinRingrose1893">{{cite book|author1=Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin|author2=Basil Ringrose|title=The Buccaneers of America|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=myFCWej85agC|page=28}}|year=1893|publisher=S. Sonnenschein & Company|pages=28–}}</ref><ref name="Cordingly1996">{{cite book|first=David |last=Cordingly|title=Pirates: Terror on the High Seas, from the Caribbean to the South China Sea|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=k7FKHAAACAAJ|page=73}}|year=1996|publisher=Turner Pub.|isbn=978-1-57036-285-9|page=73}}</ref>
Ringrose's journal gives an account of the early part of this trip.<ref name="Speake2014">{{cite book|editor=Jennifer Speake|editor-link=Jennifer Speake|title=Literature of Travel and Exploration: An Encyclopedia|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=xZyOAwAAQBAJ|page=138}}|date=12 May 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-45663-4|pages=138–}}</ref> It is now in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich in England. His maps and charts have become "A Buccaneer’s Atlas" by William Hach, a noted cartographer in London of the time.<ref name="RingroseHowse1992">{{cite book|first1=Basil |last1=Ringrose|first2=Derek |last2=Howse|title=A Buccaneer's Atlas: Basil Ringrose's South Sea Waggoner : a Sea Atlas and Sailing Directions of the Pacific Coast of the Americas, 1682|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=Zi0G3nwOxNIC}}|year=1992|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-05410-3}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
{{Authority control}} {{Pirates}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ringrose, Basil}} Category:1683 deaths Category:English maritime navigators Category:Year of birth uncertain Category:17th-century pirates Category:Piracy in the Pacific Ocean Category:Piracy in the Caribbean