Christopher Myngs

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Sir Christopher Myngs (1625–1666), British admiral and pirate, came of a Norfolk family. Pepys' story of his humble birth, in explanation of his popularity, is said to be erroneous. His name is often given as Mings.

It is probable that he saw a good deal of sea-service before 1648. He first appears prominently as the captain of the Elisabeth, which after a sharp action during the First Anglo-Dutch War brought in a Dutch convoy with two men-of-war as prizes. From 1653 to 1655 he continued to command the Elisabeth, high in favour with the council of state and recommended for promotion by the flag officers under whom he served.

In 1655 he was appointed to the frigate Marston Moor, the crew of which was on the verge of mutiny. His firm measures quelled the insubordinate spirit, and he took the vessel out to the West Indies, where he remained for many years, acting as a commerce raider operating from Jamaica. During these actions he got a reputation for unnecessary cruelty, sacking and massacring entire towns in command of whole fleets of buccaneers. In 1658, failing to capture a Spanish treasure fleet, he destroyed Tolú and Santa Maria in present-day Colombia instead; in 1659 he plundered Cumana, Puerto Caballos and Coro in present-day Venezuela. The Spanish government considered him a common pirate and mass murderer, protesting to no avail to the British government of Oliver Cromwell about his conduct. Because of his refusal to share the bounty with the English governor of Jamaica, he was arrested and sent to England in 1660. The Restoration government retained him in his command however, and in 1662 he was sent to Jamaica commanding the Centurion in order to resume his activities. In 1663 he directed an enormous fleet, with such notorious privateers as Henry Morgan and Abraham Blauvelt, that sacked San Francisco and Campeche on Cuba in February. The atrocities led to an outrage and Charles II of England was forced to forbid further attacks in April. In 1664 or 1665 he returned to England and he was made Vice-Admiral in Prince Rupert's squadron. As Vice-Admiral of the White under the Lord High Admiral James Stuart, Duke of York and Albany, he flew his flag during the Second Anglo-Dutch War at the Battle of Lowestoft in 1665, and for his share in that action received the honour of knighthood.

In the same year he then served under Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, as Vice-Admiral of the Blue and after the disgrace of Montagu under the next supreme fleet commander, George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle. He was on detachment with Prince Rupert's Green squadron when on 11 June 1666 the great Four Days' Battle began, but returned to the main fleet in time to take part on the final day, and in this action when his flotilla was surrounded by that of Vice-Admiral Johan de Liefde he received a wound — being hit first through the cheek and then in the left shoulder by musket balls fired by a sharpshooter when his Victory was challenged by De Liefde's flagship, the Ridderschap van Holland — of which he died shortly after returning to London.