The sanguinary scenes through which Gibbs had passed, now effectually wrought up his desperation to the highest pitch, and being as remarkable for his coolness and intrepidity as he was for his skill in navigation, he was unanimously chosen to be their leader in all future enterprises. To reap a golden harvest without the hazard of encountering living witnesses of their crimes, it was unanimously resolved to spare no lives, and to burn and plunder without mercy. They knew that the principle inculcated by the old maxim that “dead men tell no tales,” was the safe one for them, and they scrupulously followed it. Gibbs states that he never had occasion to give orders to begin the work of death.
He now directed his course towards the Bahama Banks, where they captured a brig, believed to be the William of New-York, from some port in Mexico, with a cargo of furniture, destroyed the crew, took her to Cape Antonio, and sent the furniture and other articles to their friend in Havana. Sometime during this cruise, the pirate was chased for nearly a whole day by a United States ship, supposed to be the John Adams; he hoisted Patriot colors, and finally escaped. In the early part of the summer of eighteen hundred and seventeen, they took the Earl of Moira, an English ship from London, with a cargo of dry goods. The crew were destroyed, the vessel burnt, and the goods carried to the Cape. There they had a settlement with their Havana friend, and the proceeds were divided according to agreement.
During the cruise which was made in the latter part of eighteen hundred and seventeen, and the beginning of eighteen hundred and eighteen, a Dutch ship from Curacoa was captured, with a cargo of West-India goods, and a quantity of silver plate. The passengers and crew, to the number of thirty, were all destroyed, with the exception of a young female about seventeen, who fell upon her knees and implored Gibbs to save her life. The appeal was successful, and he promised to save her, though he knew it would lead to dangerous consequences among his crew. She was carried to Cape Antonio, and kept there about two months; but the dissatisfaction increased until it broke out at last into open mutiny, and one of the pirates was shot by Gibbs for daring to lay hold of her with a view of beating out her brains. Gibbs was compelled in the end to submit her fate to a council of war, at which it was decided that the preservation of their own lives made her sacrifice indispensable. He therefore acquiesced in the decision, and gave orders to have her destroyed by poison, which was immediately done.