Joseph Culliford (born 1682) was an English pirate who was active off the Ivory Coast of West Africa during the Golden Age of Piracy.
Biography[]
Joseph Culliford was born in Bristol, England in 1682, and he served in the merchant marine as a youth. Culliford was kidnapped by pirates while serving on a slave ship as a youth, and he became determined to seize wealthy prizes from the European nations off the coast of West Africa. Culliford was in command of three vessels by the time that he was eighteen, and he plundered Portuguese shipping. Culliford's actions angered King William III of England, who was in an alliance with Portugal, but Culliford made a profit from the capture of the wealthy Portuguese merchant ships as they left their ports with trade goods.