{{Short description|17th-century pirate and privateer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox pirate | honorific_prefix = | name = Christopher Goffe | 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 and privateer | years_active = 1683–1691 | 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 = Piracy | criminal_penalty = Pardoned | criminal_status = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | callsign = | awards = | website = | nickname = | alias = | type = | allegiance = | serviceyears = | base of operations = Red Sea and the Caribbean | rank = | commands = | battles = | wealth = | laterwork = Hunting down his former comrades | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | footnotes = }}
'''Christopher Goffe''' (fl. 1683–1691) was a pirate and privateer active in the Red Sea and the Caribbean. He was eventually trusted to hunt down his former comrades.
==History== Thomas Henley departed Boston for the Red Sea in 1683 alongside Thomas Woolerly and Christopher Goffe.<ref name="Marley">{{cite book|last1=Marley|first1=David|title=Pirates of the Americas|date=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara CA|isbn=9781598842012|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bU6ML_VnXTwC|accessdate=17 August 2017|language=en}}</ref> Successful, they returned to the Caribbean the following year. In May 1685 Goffe and Henley arrived in Bermuda with a Dutch prize ship. Governor Coney tried to have Henley arrested but his own citizens and soldiers refused to prosecute him and Coney was forced to release Henley.<ref name="Marley" /> Though Henley had a privateering commission from Governor Lilburne of the Bahamas, the governments of Jamaica and New York publicly proclaimed both Henley and Goffe to be pirates.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Office|first1=Great Britain Public Record|last2=Fortescue|first2=J. W.|title=Calendar of State Papers: Colonial series ...|date=1899|publisher=Longman, Green, Longman & Roberts|location=London|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9xEFAAAAYAAJ|accessdate=17 August 2017|language=en}}</ref> Goffe was prolific enough in the area that a small island was named for him, known as Goff's Caye; another nearby island was named for pirate Joseph Bannister.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Winzerling|first1=E. O.|title=The Beginning of British Honduras, 1506-1765|date=1946|publisher=North River Press|location=New York|page=70|url=http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00099216/00001|accessdate=17 August 2017|language=en}}</ref>
Woolerly sailed to New Providence in June 1687 asking to resupply. He announced that he had Goffe aboard, having taken him in when he was in dire need of assistance.<ref name="Marley" /> Because Goffe had been named as a pirate, Woolerly was denied entrance, despite having his own commission from Lilburne. Instead Woolerly left and sailed to Andrews Island where he burned his ship, shared out his loot, and purchased another vessel to return to New England.<ref name="Marley" />
Goffe made his way to Boston, and “in a very sick and weak condition” asked for and received a pardon for his piracies in late 1687.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Weeden|first1=William Babcock|title=Economic and Social History of New England, 1620-1789|date=1890|publisher=Houghton, Mifflin|location=Boston|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_dkEOAAAAIAAJ/page/n357 341]|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_dkEOAAAAIAAJ|accessdate=17 August 2017|language=en}}</ref> Goffe, members of Henley's crew, and others admitted to having been pirates, but were not prosecuted for lack of evidence and witnesses, and were allowed to keep their treasure.<ref name="Dow">{{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|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0kEftr23bFAC|accessdate=17 August 2017|language=en}}</ref>
By August 1691 Goffe had been commissioned as a privateer by Massachusetts Governor Simon Bradstreet.<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> Assigned to patrol Cape Cod and Cape Ann, he was tasked with bringing in pirates George Dew and Thomas Griffin.<ref name="Dow" /> They outpaced Goffe's ''Swan'', sailing “two feet to our one,” and Goffe gave up the chase.<ref name="Marley" /> By 1696 he had retired to Boston where he ran a mercer's shop using the proceeds from his career of piracy.<ref name="CSP15">{{cite book |last1=Fortescue |first1=J W |title=America and West Indies: December 1696, 11-20 {{!}} British History Online |date=1904 |publisher=His Majesty's Stationery Office |location=London |pages=248-267 |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/america-west-indies/vol15/pp248-267 |access-date=25 June 2025}}</ref>
==See also== *Pirate Round – later name for the voyage from America to the coast of Africa, then to the Indian Ocean via Madagascar, a route refined by pirate Thomas Tew.
==References== {{reflist}}
{{pirates}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goffe, Christopher}} Category:English pirates Category:17th-century pirates Category:Caribbean pirates Category:Piracy in the Indian Ocean Category:Year of birth missing Category:Year of death missing Category:Pardoned pirates