Black William Cowlishaw

[atropica]

I was prepared to find skeletons in cupboards when i started on the family history but wasn't expecting to find a pirate. The Ashover parish records have an entry for the burial of 'Black William Cowlishaw' on the 25th April 1713 whereas the Bishops Transcripts just record him as William Cowlishaw. Could it be that the local vicar just didn't like him or more likely that he had done something 'wicked' and was carrying that label around with him at the end of his life?