Edward Low

Strait from Wikipoetry:

Snip snip goes your lip,
There goes your nose,
And the ears you've had for years,
in the water go.

Edward Low operated out of New England in the early 18th Century, which if you may remember, is the cavalierest century ever.

Although he was active for only three years, Low remains notorious as one of the most vicious pirates of the age, with a reputation for violently torturing his victims before killing them. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle described Low as "savage and desperate," and a man of "amazing and grotesque brutality". The New York Times called him a torturer, whose methods would have "done credit to the ingenuity of the Spanish Inquisition in its darkest days". The circumstances of Low's death, which took place around 1724, have been the subject of much speculation.

Over his short career he captured literally hundreds of ships, and apparently, enjoyed depravity. Of course, when your vocation is piracy a reputation is as good as gold in the treasure chest.

One of his fellow crewmen described time aboard ship thusly:

Of all the pyratical crews that were ever heard of, none of the English name came up to this, in barbarity. Their mirth and their anger had much the same effect, for both were usually gratified with the cries and groans of their prisoners; so that they almost as often murdered a man from the excess of good humour, as out of passion and resentment; and the unfortunate could never be assured of safety from them, for danger lurked in their very smiles.

Various accounts exist of his death, all are contradictory, perhaps he died during a mutiny, perhaps his ship sank, maybe he sailed off into the sunset to retire, the truth is lost to history.