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no ways anſwer the Comlineſs of his Perſon, his Life being almoſt one continued Scene of Villany, before he was diſcovered to have committed the horrid Murders we are now ſpeaking of.
This inhumane Monſter had been concerned with others, in inſuring Ships to a great Value, and then deſtroying them; by which Means, and other Rogueries, he had got a little Money; and being Mate of a Ship, was dilligent enough in trading for himſelf between Ireland and France, ſo that he was in a Way of getting himſelf a comfortable Livelihood: But, as he reſolved to be rich, and finding fair Dealing brought in Wealth but ſlowly, he contriv’d to put other Things in Execution, and certainly had murthered ſeveral innocent Perſons in the Proſecution of his abominable Schemes; but as I have now forgot the particular Circumſtances of thoſe Relations, I ſhall confine my ſelf at preſent to the Fact for which he ſuffer’d.
Roche getting acquainted with one Neal, a Fiſherman at Cork, whom he found ready for any villainous Attempt, he imparted his Deſign to him, who being pleas’d with the Project, brings one Pierce Cullen and his Brother into the Confederacy, together with one Wiſe, who at firſt was very unwilling to come into their Meaſures, and, indeed, had the leaſt Hand in the Perpetration of what follows.
They pitch’d upon a Veſſel in the Harbour, belonging to Peter Tartoue, a French Man, to execute their cruel Intentions upon, becauſe it was a ſmall one, and had not a great Number of Hands on Board, and ’twas eaſy afterwards to exchange it for one more fit for Pyracy; and therefore they apply’d themſelves to the Maſter of her, for a Paſſage to Nantz, whereto the Ship was bound; and accordingly, the Beginning of November 1721, they went aboard; and when at Sea, Philip Roche being an experienced Sailor, the Maſter of the Veſſel readily
