It's been a while since I wrote that one!

Pilgrims in North America didn't have much to fear directly, at least so long as they stayed put... many did not or could not do that and faced pirates as a result. Others faced them in their attempts just to become New England colonists as the tangles of those colonists (and would be colonists), be they Puritans, Pilgrims, or otherwise, began almost as early as the first English ships began sailing with colonists for North American shores. The merchant vessels of New England (and "old" England) were very aware of the danger posed in crossing the Atlantic, particularly once they reached the Channel - after all, the problematic ship Little James was nearly within sight of English land and was in the Channel when it was taken by the pirates. As colonists flooded over to the New England colonies from 1628-1650 the frequency with which they engaged with pirates only increased. In 1645 a fourteen gun ship sailed from Cambridge, Massachusetts for the Canary Islands and came across and engaged with a Barbary Rover, this being the first ever naval engagement of an "American" ship according to some historians. By the 1660s, once the brief cessation of the colonists' push factor caused by the English Civil War became remedied, the clashes between the two reached an all time high. Traveler John Josselyn writes of the fear onboard upon seeing unknown ships on the horizon as he traveled to New England (they wound up being English merchant ships). Not quite as lucky was Captain William Foster and his son, of Roxbury, Massachusetts, who in 1671 were captured and held for three years. Worse still is the tale of the Harvard graduate Dr Daniel Mason of Charlestown, Massachusetts who was taken in 1678 by Algerian pirates... and never again was he heard of. In 1679 the ship Unity was taken enroute to England, having sailed from Boston. Also important to remember is that while this was happening those same colonists were shipping massive amounts of Natives south to be sold into slavery on sugar plantations, including the wife and son of Metacomet (King Philip) after shooting him dead and cutting off his head and hands on 12 Aug 1676, then placing his head on a pole at Fort Plymouth where it would remain for over two dozen years and become America's first tourist attraction. While we cannot say what impact the capture of Englishmen, women, and children had on those colonists in regards to them enslaving others, we can certainly see that the time was violent and brutal virtually across the board. It was also from the 1660s to 1690s that not just Massachusetts but also British colonies like Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina, Barbados, Jamaica, etc all codified slavery of Africans as being for life and as property (chattel), and being applied by hereditary status to their children.

Joshua Gee sailed from Boston Harbor in January of 1680 and was captured as well, not being emancipated by those holding him in bondage until 14 July 1687 and then returning to Boston around the end of that year. His son would go on to preach with Cotton Mather, Mather himself later giving no less than two sermons from the pulpit on the terror that was Barbary piracy and subsequent galley slavery (Mather, it should be noted here, also visited that pole holding the King's head and is said to have removed the lower jaw in a further act of desecration against the Native Sachem Metacomet, who was also the son of Massasoit, him being the Sachem that 55 years earlier had saved Bradford and the original Pilgrims in March of 1621 from an almost certain death by negotiating an alliance leading to a "Thanksgiving" feast after that year's harvest). Gee's story differs from these others in that he, as an "American" colonist, later gave a partial written acount of his experience which mimicked the writtings of English men from the 16th and 17th century which we do have - many of these speak gloriously of the English captives and their God yet are very derogatory towards their Muslim captors, unsurprisingly. Gee's partial account is no different. Of course, English men (and other nations) capturing those "pirates" often sold them into galley slavery as well.

One man was different, a Friend (Quaker) named Thomas Lurting. Lurting was aboard a vessel overrun by Barbary pirates in 1663 off a Spanish held island in the Mediterranean. He and his shipmates were actually able to trick their captors into the cabins below deck one stormy night and lock them there, ultimately deciding to return them to their own land without spilling one single drop of blood (though Lurting at one point does strike one of them). He writes of their departure;

And going along the Shoar, there was a small Rock, lay off the Shoar, which our Men would have me to put them on; but they not seeming willing, I would not: At last I espied a very convenient Place, in a small Bay, wherein was a Water-way, and we could see a Mile; we went thither, and finding it very convenient, turn'd our Boat, and hove out our Grapling; and with Signs of great Kindness, they took leave, and jump'd out not very wet, and when on Shoar, we put our Boat very close in, and gave them about half a Hundred of Bread and Match, and other things, and hove all their Arms on Shoar to them; And then they were not above 4 Miles from two Towns, and about 50 Miles from Algier and they would gladly have had us gone to the Town, telling of us, There was Wine, and many other things; and as for my Part, I could have ventured with them: So we parted in great Love, and stay'd until they had all got up the Hill, and they shook their Caps at us, and we at them. And as soon as we came on Board, we had a fair Wind; which we had not had all the while the Turks were on Board, nor many Days before.

Pirates of all types were a serious threat for most of the history of British America. Ben Franklin wrote about them. His brother, James, was arrested for implying the officials in Boston were in league with them. Their influence inspired royals, enraged officials, tempted governors, started wars, and even decided borders (looking at GA/Spanish FL line here). British America had become a thing, actually, as a direct result of the desire to raid Spanish shipping (and to also control the Northwest Passage). The Spanish were happy to return the favor, searching the Atlantic seaboard of North America for the colony founded at Roanoke in order to destroy it. When John White took two tiny vessels towards the colony the year after leaving his fellow colonists behind (1588) his effort was ended by French pirates that nearly took his life, it taking him some months to recover and being partially responsible for his inability to return to Roanoke for another two years (1590). Anyone traveling the seas needed to be cautious, from Canada down to Tierra del Fuego and all throughout the Atlantic world. Being laid simultaneously was the institutionalization of slavery, particularly that codified racial chattel system we imagine today with the word "slavery" but also those pressed into service for galleys, military service, as guides, as laborers, etc and against people from many nationalities including many Native nations of the Americas. While those forced labor systems are all unique and not equitable with the horror of chattel race based slavery, the enslavement and subjugation throughout the early modern Atlantic world provided a complicated landscape that left any sailors crossing the ocean constantly scanning the horizon, either being folks searching for their worst nightmare..... or folks hunting for their next target.