Richard Coyle

Richard Coyle (died 1738) was an English pirate active in the Mediterranean Sea. He is known for a single incident involving the murder of the Captain of the ship St. John. History Coyle was first mate aboard the St. John, a fish-hauler pink under Captain Benjamin Hartley. At Ancona, they took aboard American John Richardson as their new ship’s carpenter. Richardson had been a thief, con man, and womanizer. Together they conspired to take over the ship, and off Turkey they staged a mutiny. They attacked Hartley with an axe, a blunderbuss, and even a feed trough, chasing him across the deck and through the rigging. Finally, they threw him overboard where he clung to a rope until they hit him with an axe, causing him to fall into the sea and drown. Coyle was elected captain of the St. John but was rebuffed by the crew when he proposed sailing for Malta. Instead they sailed for Menorca before foul weather forced them to the Spanish island of Foviniano. They lacked the proper paperwork to dock and were refused entry. Two boys on the ship took a boat to shore and informed the authorities, who sent out troops to apprehend Coyle and crew. Richardson and Coyle set sail before the troops arrived.