Charles was an enslaved American Indian man of an unknown tribal origin. In March 1698 he came before the court to answer charges of theft. The court alleged that Charles, along with several other residents of North Carolina's outer banks, looted the HMS Swift Advice in February 1698 after the vessel had shipwrecked along the coast. A jury found Charles not guilty of the crime. Jacob Peterson, Charles' enslaver, died later that year, after which James and Mary Coles, as Peterson's executors, continued to enslave Charles. Later Charles could have been the enslaved American Indian man that ran away from the Coles' home in May 1698. Any further records about this individual have not been located.