I have a 4th great grandfather named Richard Cornish. A Richard Cornish was Capt/Master of the ship Helen when this account of piracy happened in 1820... another source I saw said Richard Cornish was also part owner of the ship Helen, a brig from Dartmouth. I am trying to figure out if this Richard Cornish could be mine or related to me. The Capt of the pirate ship was Christopher Delano. My Richard Cornish married Ann Morgan who was supposed born in Wales. They had my GGG Grandmother, Mary Ann Cornish who was born abt 1817 in North Shields, Northumberland, England. I don't know if she had siblings. But, Richard Cornish must have died young. On 25 May 1821 Ann Cornish married John Nutman (also a Mariner) at St. Hilda in South Shields England http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/Transcriptions/DUR/SSH1813.html Ann and John had at least one daughter, Elizabeth Butler Nutman, b. 1825, who later married William Frederick Stinson a Mariner from Bath, Maine. After William, a first mate, drowned at sea, Elizabeth married his brother James Huston Stinson. The Stinson's mother was a Hopestill Delano. So weird how all these family names seem to connect somewhere and are all Mariners in UK and America. Mary Ann Cornish married my 3rd GGF William James Reed who was also a Master Mariner. They had my 2nd great grandfather William John Reed (born in Liverpoool) and was also master mariner. His brother was Captain Richard Cornish Reed (born 1845 in Liverpool) and his obituary mentions sailing with his Uncle from Bath Maine, James Huston Stinson. Mary Ann Cornish Reed and Elizabeth Butler Nutman Stinson, the 1/2 sisters, both died in Andover, Massachusetts USA in the late 1800s. Any info or advice about how to research further, much appreciated! Sources of info: http://books.google.com/books?id=11pKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA226&lpg=PA226&dq=Richard+Cornish+Ship+Helen+delano&source=bl&ots=lgigmKk3n5&sig=2ggrjomwcwb__W2iJbpKQizaF9s&hl=en&sa=X&ei=jft3UtrmDMTXiAKN4oDgCg&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Richard%20Cornish%20Ship%20Helen%20delano&f=false This mentions the Captain's son who was also onboard, George Cornish. http://books.google.com/books?id=us8NAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=Richard+Cornish+Ship+Helen+delano&source=bl&ots=oBrwK6z7Ov&sig=1HY3ZGjTOwTPFfUkDq0iI-I-UmQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=jft3UtrmDMTXiAKN4oDgCg&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Richard%20Cornish%20Ship%20Helen%20delano&f=false Source: http://www.americanancestors.org/wg-vol-7-no-19/ Favorite – and Black Sheep – Ancestors By Sanford R. Delano, Ipswich, Massachusetts The Delano family has many famous relatives including four presidents: Ulysses S. Grant, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. In addition to these prestigious individuals, our family has some infamous relatives as well. One family black sheep is Christopher Delano born in 1778 in Friendship, Maine the second son of Alpheus Delano who received a pension for his service during the American Revolution. The Genealogy History and Alliances of the American House of Delano, 1621 to 1899 states only that he "died in England". In reality he was hanged by the British for piracy. As captain of the brig William from Liverpool, he took his men on board the brig Helen, locked the crew below decks and transferred the cargo onto the William. They then scuttled the Helen with its crew still on board. Unfortunately for Delano and his men, the Helen didn't sink but was washed up on the Spanish coast, and the crew rescued. In the meantime the William had called at Malta, sold some of the Helen’s cargo, and sailed for Turkey. When news of the Helen’s demise arrived at Malta from Spain, the Royal Navy sent two of the Helen's crew on a ship to Turkey, where they found the William and identified Captain Delano and his crew as the pirates. They were brought back to Malta for trial, found guilty, and sentenced to death. Two of them, John Curtis and Reuben Marshall, were pardoned the night before they were to be executed. The William was painted black brought into Grand Harbour at Malta. Christopher Delano, John Lewis, John Webb, and Benjamin Wilcock were hanged from the yardarms of the ship. Their bodies were later taken down and put in iron cages and hung from gibbetts at the entrance to Grand Harbour as a warning to others.