Charles Gibbs

Jeffers would later claim to have enlisted in the United States Navy during the War of 1812 and to have served under James Lawrence on USS Hornet and Chesapeake before being captured following a battle with HMS Shannon in Boston Harbor in 1813.

During a cruise Jeffers took part in a mutiny after which the crew abandoned their letter of marque from Cartagena, Colombia and began engaging in piracy.

He was said to have once had the arms and legs chopped off of a captured captain and, in another incident, ordered an entire merchantman's crew to be burned alive after setting fire to the ship.

On October 21, 1821, Jeffers encountered the brig USS Enterprise under Lieutenant Commander Lawrence Kearny while his fleet of four ships were attacking three merchantmen off Cape San Antonio, Cuba.

After signing with the brig Vineyard (using the Charles Gibbs alias), he and an accomplice, Thomas J. Wansley (born Milford, Delaware, December 8, 1807 [4]), led a mutiny with several others, killing the captain and his first mate on the night of November 23, 1830 in an attempt to seize its cargo of silver.