John Norcross

John Nicolas Norcross (1688–1758, last name occasionally Northcross) was an English Jacobite pirate and privateer who sailed in service to Sweden.

When you have occasion for a pirate, he may be of use, excelling in that noble calling, and, I am told, being a good seaman.”[5]A priest wrote to the Duke of Mar at the same time describing him as "a mad fellow such as Northcross."

[5] Sweden's King Charles XII died that December, and Norcross was arrested when it came to light that he had been seizing vessels outside the bounds of his privateering commission.

[1] Norcross served Sweden for a time, acting as an agent in their attempts to establish a trading post on Madagascar by pardoning the pirates present at Ile Ste.-Marie.

During his imprisonment he conducted two failed escape attempts, which lead him to be shackled day and night and confined to a small wooden cage.