William Coward (pirate)

He is known for a single incident involving the seizure of one small vessel, largely thanks to events surrounding his trial.

Coward and three other men[a] slipped their rowboat alongside the ketch Elinor in November 1689 in Boston Harbor off Nantasket.

[3] He was imprisoned with Pound, Hawkins, and the others, as well as "Mary Glover the Irish Catholic Witch,"[c] and both Sewall and Cotton Mather prayed with him.

[6] Pound and Hawkins also escaped the gallows, as did all but one of their crew; they sailed back to England as prisoners aboard Coward's former ship HMS Rose.

A French privateer attacked Rose en route; Pound fought in the ship's defense and was granted a pardon for his piracy conviction, though Hawkins was killed during the battle.