Daniel Johnson

Daniel Johnson (1629–1675) was an English buccaneer who, serving under buccaneers such as Moyse Van Vin and Pierre le Picard, sailed against the Spanish during the late 17th century, becoming known among the Spanish as "Johnson the Terror". There is little record of his career aside from a single body of work, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography (1887), suggesting he may be a fictional character. Biography Born in Bristol, England in 1629, Johnson served as a merchant sailor for several years until his ship was captured by a Spanish warship in 1654 and was taken to Santo Domingo where he would be held as a slave for more than three years until escaping to the French-held island of Tortuga. He swore to revenge himself for the cruel treatment he had received at the hands of the Spaniards, and he kept his word so well that he was named by the Spanish "Johnson the Terror". Reportedly embittered by his experience, he readily enlisted as a crew member under Dutch buccaneer Captain Moyse Van Vin that same year. Johnson soon rose through the ranks and was soon promoted to chief, within two years, had become a lieutenant by 1659. However, they soon began to quarrel over the distribution of spoils, and eventually fought a duel in which Van Vin was seriously wounded. Leaving Van Vin soon after, he signed with Pierre le Picard and later participated in Sir Henry Morgan's expedition against Maracaibo and Panama in 1661. Two years later, he began attacking Spanish shipping and coastal settlements in the Bay of Honduras, burning the city of Puerto Cabello after looting an estimated $1,500,000.