After his vessel was seized by pirates at Ouidah in June 1719, Richard Blincko reported that the three pirate captains – Oliver La Buse, Thomas Cocklyn and Richard Taylor – had declared their intent to proceed to Brazil before settling at Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. After receiving Blincko's account in November 1719, the British East India Company began lobbying for naval support against Atlantic pirates. This resulted in the dispatch of four Royal Navy vessels to the Indian Ocean under the command of a commodore whose primary instruction was to suppress piracy. Operating in the Indian Ocean for three years from 1721 to 1724, this squadron constituted the most substantial naval force to be assigned with the specific directive to suppress pirates after the surge in Atlantic piracy in 1716. Yet, this squadron was assigned to the Indian Ocean before any reports were received that Atlantic pirates had committed depredations there and even before any verification that Atlantic pirates had voyaged around the Cape of Good Hope.

At least four pirate crews made their way from the West African coast to the Indian Ocean in 1720. These were Christopher Condent's crew as well as members of Oliver La Buse, Thomas Cocklyn and Edward England's crews who coordinated under the changing leadership of La Buse, Jasper Seager and Richard Taylor. Between 1720 and 1722, these crews committed a handful of depredations. The most significant of these were the captures of the Faza Ramance – a rich Arab trader travelling from Jeddah – by Condent and the Nossa Senhora do Cabo – a large Portuguese vessel carrying the Viceroy of Goa and a large quantity of treasure back to Portugal – by Richard Taylor and La Buse. The British East India Company suffered only one significant depredation by these crews when England and Taylor captured the Cassandra – a Company vessel – off the island of Anjouan in August 1720. The Company reported that this loss cost them approximately £40,000. The loss occurred nine months after the Company first began lobbying George I to send naval ships against pirates in the Indian Ocean.