{{short description|American pirate}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox pirate | honorific_prefix = | name = George Peterson | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = | baptised = | disappeared_date = | disappeared_place = | disappeared_status = | death_date = | death_place = | death_cause = | body_discovered = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | monuments = | residence = | nationality = | other_names = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = | occupation = Pirate | years_active = 1686–1688 | era = | employer = | organization = | agent = | known_for = | notable_works = | style = | home_town = | salary = | net_worth = | height = | weight = | television = | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | movement = | opponents = | boards = | criminal_charge = | criminal_penalty = | criminal_status = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | callsign = | awards = | website = | nickname = | alias = | type = | allegiance = | serviceyears = | base of operations = New England and Nova Scotia and in the West Indies | rank = | commands = | battles = | wealth = | laterwork = | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | footnotes = }} '''George Peterson''' (fl. 1686–1688) was a pirate active off New England and Nova Scotia and in the West Indies.
==History== Peterson was a known pirate by 1686 when he was sighted near Newport, Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, where he put in to resupply his ship.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Radune|first1=Richard A.|title=Pequot Plantation: The Story of an Early Colonial Settlement|date=2005|publisher=Research in Time Publications|location=Branford CT|isbn=9780976434108|page=247|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8l1ebdXYh3EC|accessdate=25 August 2017|language=en}}</ref> He reappeared at Newport in 1688 in a 10-gun 70-man Spanish ''barca longa''. Part of his crew consisted of the remnants of the crews of Jean Hamlin and two recently deceased pirates, Jan "Yankey" Willems and Jacob Evertson.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Marley|first1=David|title=Pirates of the Americas|date=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara CA|isbn=9781598842012|page=830|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bU6ML_VnXTwC|accessdate=25 August 2017|language=en}}</ref> Peterson was seized by local authorities and put on trial for piracy. His friends and neighbors made up enough of the grand jury that they refused to indict him or the traders who had helped him. He sold off prize ships he’d captured in the Caribbean as well as loot he had plundered, including hides and elephant tusks.<ref name="Gosse - Who’s Who">{{cite book|last1=Gosse|first1=Philip|title=The Pirates' Who's Who by Philip Gosse|date=1924|publisher=Burt Franklin|location=New York|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19564/19564-h/19564-h.htm|accessdate=23 June 2017}}</ref>
Some of his men were detained in Boston, and two ships which had traded with Peterson were impounded, one of which had helped guide a prize ship of Peterson's into Martha's Vineyard.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dow|first1=George Francis|last2=Edmonds|first2=John Henry|title=The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630-1730|date=1923|publisher=Courier Corporation|location=New York|isbn=9780486290645|page=9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0kEftr23bFAC|language=en}}</ref> Avoiding the warship HMS ''Rose'' which had been sent to chase him, Peterson headed north toward Newfoundland where he burned the prize ship and took its crew aboard.<ref name="CSP">{{cite book|last1=Fortescue|first1=J.W.|title=America and West Indies: August 1688 {{!}} British History Online|date=1899|publisher=Her Majesty's Stationery Office|location=London|pages=576–593|edition=Vol 12|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/america-west-indies/vol12/pp576-593|accessdate=25 August 2017|language=en}}</ref> He took several ships in the vicinity and held the Governor aboard his ship for a time after capturing and sacking the fort at Chebucto.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Laprise|first1=Raynald|title=Descente d'un flibustier anglais en Acadie en 1688|journal=Les Cahiers de la Société historique acadienne|date=March–June 2002|volume=33|issue=1 and 3|pages=33–40|url=http://membre.oricom.ca/yarl/livre/3F/0304acadie88.html|accessdate=29 August 2017}}</ref> At the Governor's request they left the fort's defenders enough arms and cannon to repulse Indian attacks.<ref name="CSP" />
Peterson then captured a French ship, releasing it with a message that "French rogues had no business with other people's vessels," and tried to free an English vessel which had been captured by the French.<ref name="CSP" /> Fleeing HMS ''Rose'' once again, he released sailors he had taken from fishing vessels onto a captured ship. At last report he had collected a hundred men and a year's worth of supplies and prepared to sail to the Gold Coast.<ref name="CSP" />
==See also== * John Graham and Captain Veale, two other New England pirates active off Massachusetts.
==References== {{reflist}}
{{pirates}}
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