Nathan Skiffe was the son of  James Skiffe and Sarah Barnard of Nantucket. He was b. on Nantucket in 1693 and died at sea in Jun. of 1723.


From "Pirates of the New England Coast" p. 208

"After this narrow escape Low's chagrin and rage knew no bounds and swearing many oaths, he vowed vengeance on the unfortunates that next fell into his hands. This happened only two days later, when he came upon a sloop out of Nantucket that was whale fishing about eighty miles off shore. She had two whale-boats and one of them fortunately was out and at some considerable distance from the sloop at the time she was taken. The men in this boat seeing what had happened got safely to another whaling sloop some distance away and all escaped.

   The captain of the captured sloop was Nathan Skiff, a young unmarried man living at Nantucket. Low first ordered him stripped and then cruelly whipped him about the deck. His ears were then slashed off. After a time they grew tired of beating the unfortunate man and telling him that because he had been a good captain he should have an easy death, at last they shot him through the head and sunk the sloop, Low forced a boy and two Indian men and allowed three others of the crew to go away in the whale-boat in which, fortunately, there was a little water and a few biscuits and with good weather these men at last safely reached Nantucket "beyond all Expectation," ends the account in the Boston News-letter. (Boston News-Letter, June 27, 1723.)"


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