Eric Cobham and Maria Lindsey - Hoax?

Hoax?

Other than second hand mention, there is little proof on the ground that Cobham and his wife actually existed. It is extraordinarily unlikely that they could have had the career described in the mid-18th century without leaving a single documentary trace. However in a book, Buccaneers and Marooners of America, published in 1891; editor Howard Pyle mentions Cobham in passing as if his exploits were already well known to the public at large and details Cobham's attack on a Spanish ship in the Bay of Biscay wherein all persons of Spanish origin (approximately 20) aboard the seized vessel were sewn into the mainsail and thrown into the sea.