The Princess and The Pirates: Tales From The East

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On the evening of April 3, 1817, a very exhausted young woman knocked on a clergyman’s door in the village of Almondsbury, in Gloucestershire, England. She spoke no English, and her tattered, exotic clothing gave her an Asiatic appearance. Bewildered by the girl, the clergyman took her before his friend Samuel Worrall, a local magistrate.

Cover of Pirates (R-Rated Version)

Worrall and his wife gave the girl shelter for the night, and the questioned the mysterious foreigner about her circumstances. The young woman answered their questions, using signs and gestures. She made it clear that her name was Caraboo, and that she was a princess from the Far East. She had been kidnapped by pirates and sold to the captain of a ship bound for Europe. When the ship reached England she had escaped and was now wandering the countryside begging for food.

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The Worrals decided to are for Caraboo while they tried to solve the mystery of her nationality.

Feathers and a Tambourine

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The girl’s behavior was indeed odd. She insisted on cooking her own food, would rarely eat meat, and drank only tea and water. Reluctant to sleep in a bed, she preferred to lie on the floor. She put feathers in her hair and walked around the gardens beating a tambourine. She often jumped into the lake fully clothed, and one time was found perched in a tree – with a bow and arrow.

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News of the Worrall’s exotic guest spread. Men who ad traveled in the Far East came to interview her and observe her unusual habits. Although her language was gibberish to all, it was generally agreed that she must be from the East Indies.

After 10 weeks Caraboo disappeared. She was soon traced to the city of Bath, where she had become a celebrity in fashionable society. Mrs. Worrall went to Bath to collect her wayward charge and bring her back to Almondsbury.

The Great Pretender

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Not long afterward Mrs. Worrall heard from a Mrs. Neale in Bristol, who had read about Caraboo in a local newspaper. Mrs. Neale believed that she could shed some light on the mystery. Caraboo seemed remarkably like Mary Baker, a former lodger of Mrs. Neale’s. When confronted by Mrs. Worrall, the girl admitted to the deception and revealed her true identity.

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Caraboo’s real story was almost as remarkable as made-up one. Born Mary Wilcocks, she was from a poor family in Devon. Put to work at the age of 8, she was harshly treated and ran away from home when she was 16. She traveled to London with a band of Gypsies, from whom she acquired her odd behavior and dress.

Desertion and Disguise

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In London Mary met and married a widely traveled man named Bakerstendht (which she shortened to Baker). From her husband Mary picked up the smattering of Arabic and Malay that formed the basis of her strange language. When Bakerstendht deserted Mary after only a few months, she retreated into a fantasy world, eventually assuming the guise of the foreign princess.

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Mrs Worrall was moved by the hardship Mary had endured. When the girl expressed a desire to go to the United States, the kindly woman paid for her passage and put her on a ship in the care of a party of missionaries.

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But during the voyage the ship skirted St. Helena, the island where Napoleon Bonaparte was living in exile following his defeat at Waterloo. Mary became Caraboo once more, stole a boat, and rowed ashore. She apparently enchanted Napoleon and became his companion.

Nothing more was ever heard of the mysterious Caraboo, although a rumor some years later maintained that she had returned to London, where she made her living selling leeches.