John Bear (pirate)

[3] In turn Russell complained of St. Loe: "His insolence to me, and his abuses to all Deputy-Governors and Councils of these Islands want a better pen than mine to describe".

[3] Governor Molesworth of Jamaica wrote in August 1687 that Bear had turned pirate, openly attacking English ships.

[7] Molesworth dispatched HMS Guernsey "to demand the surrender of the pirate Bear, or failing that, to seek him out and destroy him", though the Spanish would not give him up.

[8] After England allied with Spain thanks to King William's War, Bear continued to hunt English ships, having sailed to Petit Goave to take a French commission from the Comte de Blenac.

[9] In French service he turned against his former Spanish sponsors, joining with Jean-Baptiste du Casse for a time, then sailing to France where he received a fresh commission before returning to the Caribbean and sacking Caracas.