The last of the Buccaneers
William Henry "Bully" Hayes
William Henry Hayes was born in 1822 in Cleveland Ohio. His father Henry owned a bar that atracted a crowd of all the wrong sorts. Murderers, theives, indians, sailors, and other do-gooders came from all directions. Hayes loved the tales that these criminals and outcasts told, and could read and write and do simple math even though he had very little formal schooling.
By age 20, he captained his own vessel. Even by now there were accusations of piracy, though the law was to busy with other matters to take action. He found a wife in Cleveland, though he was soon caught up in a horse stealing syndacate. He was chased to San Francisco where he found a second wife. Some sources say he went to New York City first and took some 49ers around the Cape Horn first.
One night, he was playing cards with some less-than savory characters. He
was, however, caught playing with marked cards. One of the other players pulled out a knife and stabbed the hand to the table, along with Hayes' actual hand! He then used his left hand to grab the player's throat. The other players tore the player from Hayes' grip and Hayes from the table. Hayes grabbed the knife and threw it across the room. Another player pulled out his gun and threatened Hayes with it. While under the eye of the trigger, the other players tied him up with rope. They then fantisized about whipping Hayes. Hayes then began to laugh at there fantasy. One of the players grew so enraged that he retreaved the knife and sliced off Hayes' right ear. Hayes, in all of his pain and anger, punched the player out cold. Hayes then ran ofter the other players who were, by now, running for their lives.
After this, he was hired by a man to sail a ship out to the Far East and sell the cargo. Hayes, however, sold ship and cargo in Singapore. It is said that he would repeat this trick 15 times over the course of his life.
Once out in the Pacific, Hayes got involved in numerous illegal activities, like forging Hawaiian stamps. He would also engage in "blackbirding", where
he would kidnap islanders to work in mines elsewhere, be paid and then returned home. However, the blackbirding usually ended in slavery instead of liberation. He even kidnapped for ransom during times of slow bussiness. When in port, he would steal everything from pearls to other ships. he would even repaint his ship to fool the law. Whenever he did pay for something, the credit was invalid, though he was long gone by the time the merchants found out. He also took another wife while in the islands, never bothering to obtain a divorce for the previous two. However, he did receave some punishment, because in 1874 he lost his ship, the LEONORA (pictured right) in Utwe Harbor during a storm.
On the night of March 31, 1877, he and a cook named the Dutchman were on watch aboard the LOTUS. However, when the Dutchman failed to follow an order, Hayes
moved as if to attack him. The Dutchman pulled out a revolver and shot Hayes numerous times, though he pressed forward. The Dutchman then struck Hayes in the head with the tiller bar. Hayes then fell overboard and disappeared into the vast sea.
Hayes, like Colonel Plug, has been featured in our recent pop culture. He was the main character in the 1983 feature film, Nate and Hayes, which was, unfortunatly, a box offcie flop. He was played by Tommy Lee Jones. Nate and Hayes also caused the rumor that swashbuckling movies were box offcie poison, untill the box office monster of a hit Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was released in 2003, the plot of which resembles that of Nate and Hayes .
This site created by Jon Lamphere, May 8, 2007
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