The dreaded pirate Maurice Keating!

THE LONDON CHRONICLE, April 7, 1785  The third column on page 336 contains the report stating George Barrington (of eventual Botany Bay fame) was tried for larceny (see background below). Page 335 also contains a lengthy report on the "Dreaded Pirate Maurice Keating", which includes details of his life, capture, sentencing, and death. The issue also contains considerable news from Jamaica (see images).

Complete in 8 pages and is in nice condition.

Background (source - Wikipedia): George Barrington (14 May 1755 – 27 December 1804), an Irish-born pickpocket, popular London socialite, Australian pioneer (following his transportation to Botany Bay), and author. His escapades, arrests, and trials, were widely chronicled in the London press of his day. For over a century following his death, and still perhaps today, he was most celebrated for the line "We left our country for our country's good." The attribution of the line to Barrington is considered apocryphal since the 1911 discovery by Sydney book collector Alfred Lee of the 1802 book in which the line first appeared.

At Botany Bay - One account states that on the voyage out to Botany Bay a conspiracy was hatched by the convicts on board to seize the ship. Barrington disclosed the plot to the captain, and the latter, on reaching New South Wales, reported him favourably to the authorities, with the result that in 1792 Barrington obtained a warrant of emancipation (the first issued), becoming subsequently superintendent of convicts and later high constable of Parramatta.