It was said that Spriggs sailed from London in March 1721 alongside George Lowther on board the Gambia Castle, and was one of those that joined him when he seized control of the ship and turned pirate. Spriggs served a s quartermaster under Lowther and continued in that capacity when Edward Low joined as second in command. He sailed with them and was wholly involved in their various atrocities until the may of 1722. This was the time when Low took command of the Brigantine Rebecca and Spriggs took the opportunity to join his company when he went his separate way.
By Christmas of the same year however, Low and Spriggs had fallen out over whether a crew member who had murdered one of his mates in cold blood should be hanged or not. So bitter was their disagreement that when they captured a 12 gunner called the Delight off the coast of Sierra Leone and Spriggs took command of her with a crew of sixty men, he promptly departed to try his luck in the Caribbean.
The following day the crew elected Spriggs captain and continued on their journey with a newly made Jolly Roger flying. On their on their way to the Caribbean they came across and boarded a Portuguese ship. After taking her cargo the pirates decided to have a little fun with the crew and their idea of fun was to subject their captives to what they called sweating. (A circle of lighted candles were placed around the mizzen mast below decks, then the unfortunate victim was placed inside the circle and made to run around the mast ten minutes or so, while the pirates on the outside of the circle stabbed him with any sharp implement that came to hand.) After the Portuguese crew had been subjected to this torture they were cast adrift in a boat and the ship was torched.
Later during their cruise, off the Island of St Lucia, Spriggs and his crew took a ship out of Barbados. Some of the crew were forced to join the pirates and those that refused were beaten and slashed before being put in a boat and cast adrift. (Despite their wounds, the crewmen eventually made it to Barbados and safety.) After stripping the vessel of all that was of use the pirates set her on fire.
Not long afterwards a ship commanded by a Captain de Haws was plundered, but after forcing two of the crew to join them they released the vessel.
Next to fall prey to the pirates was a vessel belonging to Martinique, this time, after torturing the crew in the normal manner, the ship was allowed to sail on.
After sailing to the bay of Honduras and capturing several more vessels Spriggs put into a small island to careen his ship. Once the work was complete he set off for St Christopher in the West Indies to lie in wait for Captain Moore, of HMS Eagle, the man who had put an end the career of George Lowther, the previous October. But instead of finding the Eagle, he ran into a French Man-of-War and had to flee for his life. Luckily for Spriggs the French ship lost her topsail during the chase and this allowed him to escape.
At the end of April 1724 Spriggs took a schooner belonging to New York. While on board he informed Captain Richardson, her master that he intended to sink ever ship he encountered off the coast to the north of Philadelphia.
A couple of days later a Brigantine, the Daniel, commanded by Captain John Hopkins, was captured and pillaged. After forcing two men to join him Spriggs then swore to the captain that he intended to "Increase his company on the Banks of Newfoundland and with his new company search the coasts of New England for Captain Peter Solgard, master of HMS Greyhound." (Solgard had captured another of the associates of Spriggs, Charles Harris the previous June and then handed him over for execution).
The boastful Spriggs however, did not carry out this threat; instead he set sail for the Caribbean where in the first days of June, not far from St Christopher, he took a ship that was out of St Eustatia. After they had stripped the vessel of her cargo, the pirates decided on a bit of entertainment and tying the individual crew members around the middle, proceeded to haul them up as high as main and fore-tops, then dropped them repeatedly onto the deck. Then for the finale, they whipped the by now crippled men about the deck, before leaving the captain to sail his ship with an injured crew.
A week later Spriggs captured a vessel out of Rhode Island as she was on her way into St Christopher. In addition to her normal cargo the ship was also carrying some horses. This was something new and the pirates had a great time riding them at full tilt about the deck. That is, until the poor animals became so agitated that they threw the riders from their backs. With their pride dented after being dumped unceremoniously onto the deck, the pirates turned on the crew, beating and cutting them for failing to supply the boots and spurs that would have enabled them ride properly.
Spriggs sailed next to Port Royal where he seized a ship within sight of land, a daring move since HMS Diamond and HMS Spence were in port ay the time. The king's ships immediately weighed anchor and gave chase but unfortunately Spriggs gave them the slip and the Spence returned to port. Captain Wyndham however, of the Diamond had an idea that Spriggs would return to his old hunting grounds so he sailed for the Bay of Honduras.
His idea turned out to be a good one, because when he reached the Bay of Honduras he surprised Spriggs and a companion sloop commanded by one of his hands, a man called Shipton. The pirates were so busy plundering a fleet of twelve ships that were loading logwood that they didn't notice the king's ship until the Diamond opened fire on them. Shocked into action the pirate fire a few shots back, then since there was no wind rowed their ships into shallow water. The Diamond with a deeper draught was unable to follow and the pirates used the opportunity to make good their escape.
After their close brush with the Diamond, Spriggs and Shipton decided it would be better if they tried somewhere else for a while and set sail for North America. On the way they took a sloop sailing to Jamaica with a cargo of slaves and loaded them onto both vessels. If they planned to profit from the sale of the slaves, the plan went array; with so many extra on board the supplies were running dangerously low. So bad did the situation become that when Spriggs took another vessel that was sailing to New England he proposed to put all the slaves on board, but her captain managed to talk him out of it, by informing him that having little in the way of stores on board they would all die of starvation before they reached land. Making the best of a bad job Spriggs then gave him ten of the slaves and let him go.
With provisions running desperately low, Spriggs solved the problem by taking another ship off Rhode Island, after plundering her, he took off the mate and the crew, filled the ship with slaves and sailed off leaving her master Captain Durffie to get on with it.
Spriggs and Shipton re-provisioned by taking more vessels, but growing weary of the gales and cold of the north, sailed back to the Bay of Honduras and from there to the Bahamas. When they reached Cuba however, they had the misfortune to run once again into HMS Diamond and fled for the coast of Florida with the King's ship in hot pursuit. On reaching the coast Shipton's ship ran aground and while the crew got ashore they were captured by the Indians who killed and ate sixteen of them before transporting the other forty-nine to Cuba. The Diamond recovered £2000 worth of gold from the stricken ship, but failed to catch Spriggs, who got clean away. Later, after the diamond had moved on, Spriggs returned and managed to pick up Shipton and the handful of men who had escaped capture by the Indians.
By the April of 1728 Spriggs accompanied by a small fleet was in action off the coast of Carolina. Then nothing more being heard of him it was assumed that he had gone off to the pirate haven of Madagascar to enjoy his ill-gotten gains.
A year later, a rumour began to circulate that Spriggs and Shipton had been marooned by their men on the coast of Honduras and were last seen amongst the Mosquito Indians.
