Born in Plymouth, England, little is known about the early years of Christopher Condent. He was a skilled sailor known to have been quartermaster aboard a New York merchant's sloop. It is not clear if the ship was a privateer or pirate at this time.

Condent was eventually elected captain of the sloop after the pirates took on a merchant ship. He then set course for the Cape Verd Islands. At the Isle of Mayo he took on an entire fleet of 20 ships. He then departed for St.Jago and captured a Dutch privateer, renaming it the "Flying Dragon". Condent also took on a number of Portuguese ships (one of them a 70 gunner) off coast of Brazil.

After receiving a pardon from the French governor of Mascarenes, Condent supposedly married the Governor's daughter and retired to St.Malo France to prosper as a merchant ship owner.